Softened

As they neared the exit, Ariel's grip on her hamster tightened. The small creature stiffened in her hands, its tiny body tense, whiskers twitching. Then it snarled—a deep, guttural sound unnatural for something so small.

Ariel followed its gaze into the darkness behind them.

A certain point. Unmoving. Unseen. But something was there.

"What is it?" she whispered.

The hamster didn't respond. It just bared its teeth and let out another low snarl, a warning wrapped in instinct.

The others turned to look at her, expressions shifting between confusion and irritation.

"You talking to that thing again?" Rolf scoffed.

They didn't know. None of them did. They hadn't seen what she had seen—the hamster tearing through the throat of a feral like a beast out of hell. It wasn't a pet. It wasn't normal. It was something else entirely, something smart enough to mask its true nature. Even Marcus, with his heightened senses, hadn't detected a thing.

But Ariel trusted it more than any of them.

"I think we're not alone," she said, voice steady.

Frank turned with a frown. "What do you mean?"

"Something is following us."

Rolf raised an eyebrow. "And you figured that out… how?"

"My hamster sensed it."

Osbert let out a sharp laugh. "Your hamster? Oh, come on. I have heightened senses. If there was something supernatural, I would've noticed it. And I'm telling you—there's nothing. Just us."

"But—"

"Look, if Osbert didn't pick up anything, then it's probably a fluke," Frank cut in, his voice measured, diplomatic. "Let's just keep moving. Even if something is out there, we'll be gone soon."

Ariel clenched her jaw, her fingers tightening around the handle of her pistol. She hated this—hated working in a team. Hated relying on others.

Hated that no one trusted her the way she trusted her hamster.

But Osbert wasn't wrong.

Minutes later, they reached the exit.

"Damn," Frank muttered, eyeing the collapsed rocks that blocked their way out. "That's more than just some little boulders." He exhaled. "Good thing is, we only need to remove one."

They dropped their packs—heavy with yellow stones—and got to work.

Using a chisel and a sledgehammer, Rolf and Frank took turns hammering into the natural cracks in the boulder. Dust rose in small clouds, the rhythmic thunk-thunk-thunk of metal against stone echoing through the cave.

Osbert, growing impatient, decided to scout ahead. He shifted, bones contorting, flesh shrinking, until nothing remained but a small bat. With a flutter of leathery wings, he slipped through a narrow opening in the rock wall.

Ariel and Violet, finding themselves with nothing useful to do, leaned against the damp cave walls and waited.

The hamster curled in Ariel's lap, its small body warm against her hands. She stroked its fur absentmindedly, grounding herself in its softness.

Then, out of nowhere—

"Why do you hate vampires so much?" Violet asked.

Ariel stilled.

"Is it that obvious?"

"The whole shelter knows."

Ariel scoffed. She had never cared for gossip, and she wasn't about to start now.

"Most of us joined the resistance because we were rejected by our own kind," Violet continued. "But you're different. You're strong. Smart. No clan would've just cast you aside."

Ariel exhaled, her fingers brushing against the hamster's fur. "I'm not here for the resistance. I only joined because my goals align with theirs. I want to find Leo, my younger brother. We were separated during the outbreak." Her voice dropped. "And I hate vampires because they killed my parents right in front of us."

The memory was old, but the wound still ached beneath the scab.

She could still see it.

The darkened kitchen. The cupboard doors barely cracked open.

Her parents—alive one moment, drained the next.

Ferals. Freshly turned. Wild.

She could still feel Leo trembling beside her, his breath coming in shallow gasps. He had been about to scream—but Ariel had clamped a hand over his mouth, holding him still. Holding him silent.

But it hadn't been enough.

They had heard them.

The cupboard door had been ripped away, and Ariel had stared into the face of death itself.

But, for some reason—

It never came for them.

A soft pressure pulled her back to the present.

A hand on hers. Warm. Steady.

Ariel blinked and found Violet smiling at her.

"You'll find Leo one day."

Ariel, who had long accepted loneliness as her only company, found herself strangely touched.

"You really believe that?" she asked quietly. "It's a huge world."

Violet nodded. "Yeah. But your determination is just as big."

Ariel parted her lips to respond—

But a sound cut her off.

CRACK. THUD.

She snapped her head up.

Rolf and Frank stood triumphantly over the now-split boulder. The narrow gap Osbert had used to scout ahead had been widened—now large enough for a person to pass through.

"That should do it," Frank said, clapping the dust off his hands.

And that was the exact moment their guard dropped.

A shadow burst from the darkness.

A figure—inhumanly fast—lurching forward.

Straight for Violet.

O