Hollowed?

Elian.

I didn't sleep.

Not after the flicker.

Not after the message.

The slate was still on the floor beside my bed when morning came. Screen dark. Cold. No light. Like it was dead after doing its job. 

But I remembered the words. Every one of them.

I did my routine. Mechanical. Boots. Gloves. Straps. Belt. Slate. Water bottle half-full. I didn't check the mirror. Didn't want to see what stared back.

The assignment came in late. Rerouted again. Sector F. 

Just a line of text on my slate. "Sanitation Required. Sector F. Post-incident. Temporary."

Five of us assigned. Cleaners from different sectors, different dorms. Strangers. Same uniform.

And him. 

Kalen? I think. 

He was there again.

Back straight. Arms behind him. An unlit cigar in his mouth. He didn't speak. Just stared at me longer than necessary. 

The air was wrong here. 

Not just heavy.

Wrong.

Sector F smelled… Weird. Ash ? Acid? I can't recognize it. But it's not something you get from an acid spill.

Like…Burned air….

Burned something.

They said it was a toxin release. Said it was contained. Neutralized. Said we were safe. But deployed a gifted. 

For a cleaning job?

That's when I started watching everything. Every detail.

Kalen didn't speak much. Just waved us forward with two fingers and assigned the tasks. 

Panels torn loose. Vents melted. The corridor lights flickered at perfect intervals. Twelve seconds on. Two seconds off. I counted.

Didn't move when they went dark. Didn't even blink.

Didn't dare to. 

Behind me, someone muttered, scrubbing dried fluid at a cracked panel. "Did something die here? Why is there blood?"

She wasn't wrong. Something died. But not Hollowed.

Hollowed don't bleed red. 

There were no bodies. Just residue. Just too much blood to be nothing.

They lie. The system. The slates. The high command. They all lie. I know it well. 

This isn't an acid spill or toxin release. I am sure of it. 

Suddenly then the lights flickered again.

Not the regular rhythm. Not the twelve-two.

Three seconds on. Then black.

I froze.

Didn't move. Didn't breathe. Not even a twitch.

It hit like instinct. Not just fear. 

"Faulty power?" Someone said. 

Someone behind me cursed. Another stepped forward.

Then everything went silent.

Not quiet. Silent.

The kind of silence where you hear your own Breath. Your heartbeat. Pulse. Everything. 

I knew this feeling. I knew what it meant. 

Then the ground pulsed. Once.

A thump. Not from below. From elsewhere else.

The air split. A tear. A door. 

The flickering stopped. So dis some breaths. 

It wasn't open yet. Still, it was enough. The four workers with me? They died in under a second.

They didn't even get to scream.

Their bodies convulsed, then split. Organs burst through uniforms. Eyes popped. Ribs pierced skin.

Their deaths weren't loud. Too quick to call violent. Too quiet to call human. 

Blood hit the wall behind me. Covered my face. Slid past my collarbone and down my chest. 

It was warm.

I didn't move. I couldn't.

Didn't wipe it off. Didn't even flinch when it reached my lips.

Kalen dropped to his knees. Fingers clawing his scalp. Eyes wild. Mouth open like he was choking on something not physical. Like he was trying not to scream.

Whatever was behind that door - it wasn't Hollowed. 

Hollowed don't do this.

From the gap, something slid forward.

A leg.

Human? Almost.