The mutant staggered back, black ichor leaking from its wounds. Ethan didn't let up.
With a final, brutal thrust, he drove both knives into its chest.
The creature froze.
Its grotesque mouth opened in a silent scream, body twitching as if trying to resist death itself. But it was over.
Ethan ripped the blades free.
The mutant collapsed.
For a moment, there was silence.
Ethan exhaled, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His arms ached, his body burned, and his mind screamed for him to rest.
But then—something strange happened.
A small, dark sphere rolled out from the mutant's body, stopping just inches from Ethan's boot.
"What the hell…?"
Before he could react, the sphere cracked.
A low, inhuman whisper echoed from within.
Then—
SHRIEK.
A horrifying, ear-piercing scream tore through the night, loud enough to rattle Ethan's skull. He clutched his ears, staggering back.
The sound was unnatural, something that wasn't meant to exist in this world.
And then—
The city responded.
Ethan heard it before he saw it.
A chorus of shrieks, growls, and roars erupted from every direction.
He turned toward the edge of the rooftop—and his blood ran cold.
From the ruins of New York, from the shadows of broken buildings, from the depths of the city's gaping sinkholes—
They were coming.
Hundreds.
No—thousands of them.
More mutants.
More monsters.
All rushing toward his location, their glowing eyes locking onto him.
"...Shit."
Ethan's mind raced. No guns. No backup. No way to fight them all.
His only option—RUN.
His eyes darted across the rooftop. There had to be an escape route.
Then he saw it—a fire escape on the side of the parking garage.
He sprinted toward it, vaulting over debris and sliding down the first ladder. The metal groaned under his weight.
He hit the second platform and jumped onto a neighboring building's rooftop.
The mutants were already climbing up the walls, crawling like insects.
Ethan didn't look back. He just kept running.
The city was no longer just a battlefield.
It was a hunting ground.
And he was the prey.