Chapter 6: The Unknown Rises

Mark’s Decision – To Hunt or to Watch?

The Martian sky flickered.

A pulse of golden energy rippled across the wasteland—faint, distant, but undeniable. It wasn’t the sun. It wasn’t a storm.

Mark saw it. Everyone saw it.

From their vantage point, overlooking the scorched remains of the parasite crater, they watched the strange light disappear into the upper atmosphere.

Jonathan, gripping his hammer, muttered, "Tell me I wasn’t the only one who saw that."

Sophie lowered her rifle. "That wasn’t normal."

Mark’s mind raced. The fight against the parasites was already brutal, but now? Something else was happening.

Then, his radio crackled.

A survivor’s voice, breathless, panicked:

"Command—do you copy?! The sky—it's changing! Something—happened up there! The Bastion—oh God, it's—"

Static.

Then, silence.

The Situation: Two Threats, One Choice

Mark clenched his fists.

There were two dangers now.