The tense silence was her only answer, seasoned by a new seismic tremor nearby.
"The noisy distraction it is, then."
Evelyn engaged the gear and accelerated sharply until the ambulance sat in the middle of an exposed intersection. She left the engine revving and climbed out, leaving the strobe panel and siren at maximum power. The deafening wail of the WEE-OOO tore through the night.
She ran back toward us, stumbling over the debris.
"Let’s move, now!"
We dragged the rolling stretcher into the shadows of a rear alley and flattened ourselves against the brick wall, holding our breath. The ground rumbled. Five agonizing seconds. Ten.
The titan burst into the intersection, drawn like a grotesque moth to the acoustic beacon. Without breaking its charge, it rammed the ambulance with its shoulder. The impact folded the chassis like aluminum foil and sent the van flying until it crashed into a shop window. The sound of twisting metal and shattering glass was swallowed by the creature’s roar.
Evelyn lost all color as she watched her escape vehicle annihilated.
"Holy God..." she stammered.
I covered her line of sight with my uninjured hand.
"Cut the visual contact."
"What are you doing?"
"That image is going to paralyze you. Look away and walk."
Evelyn pushed my hand aside, scrutinizing me with a mixture of reproach and amazement.
"Do you have ice in your veins, or do you lack empathy?"
I turned to check the vital signs of the man on the stretcher, avoiding her eyes.
"Panic makes me unbearably pragmatic. It’s my defense mechanism."
The man on the stretcher let out a wet, rattling groan. His eyes were open now, staring at nothing. His hand moved weakly, grasping at the air.
"Hey. Hey, stay with me," Evelyn said, kneeling beside him. She pressed her fingers to his neck, checking his pulse. Her jaw tightened.
"He’s hemorrhaging internally. The pressure from the movement must have—" She stopped. She didn’t need to finish the sentence. I could see it in her face.
The man’s eyes found mine. Something lived there—a plea, maybe. Or just the animal terror of a creature that knows it’s dying.
"What’s his name?" I asked.
Evelyn looked at me, confused.
"What?"
"His name. Do you know it?"
She shook her head slowly.
"No. He was already unconscious when I found him. I don’t know anything about him."
The man’s lips moved. A whisper, barely audible.
"...Daniel..."
"Daniel," I repeated. "Okay, Daniel. We’re going to get you out of here."
It was a lie. We both knew it. But it was the only thing I could think to say.
Daniel’s hand found mine. His grip was surprisingly strong for a dying man. His eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that made my chest ache.
"...Don’t... leave me..." he rasped.
I looked at Evelyn. She looked at me. Neither of us said anything.
"We’re not leaving you," I said. "We’re going to find help. There’s a minimarket a couple of blocks away. We can barricade ourselves inside, and Evelyn can—"
Daniel’s grip loosened. His eyes went still. The wet rattle in his chest stopped.
Just like that. One moment he was there. The next, he was gone.
Evelyn closed his eyes with two fingers. She stayed kneeling beside him for a long moment, her head bowed. I didn’t interrupt.
"We need to go," I said finally.
She nodded without looking at me. She stood, wiped her hands on her scrubs—a useless gesture, they were already soaked—and grabbed the stretcher.
"We can’t carry him," I said.
"I know."
"We have to leave him."
"I know."
She didn’t argue. She didn’t cry. She just started walking. I followed.
We left Daniel’s body in the alley. We didn’t cover it. We didn’t have time.
We continued the escape along secondary roads until we came upon a neighborhood minimarket a couple of blocks away. The metal shutters were halfway down, and the main door was blocked. I forced the handle, getting only a dull rattle.
"Any medical tricks for opening locks?" I asked.
The doctor shook her head, exhausted.
I gripped my steel pry bar and adjusted my hold.
"I’ll use the universal key."
Three forceful blows cracked the tempered glass, opening a gap large enough to get inside.
"Too much noise for people who are supposed to be hiding," Evelyn scolded in a furious whisper, shaking the glass fragments from her uniform.
"I accept complaints, but I left my lockpick kit in my other pants."
The doctor snorted, conceding victory to brute pragmatism.
"Point for the psychopath plumber."
I rummaged through my backpack and switched on the work flashlight, sweeping the interior with the beam. The establishment had suffered the ravages of the initial panic. The shelves were overturned, forming improvised barricades full of canned goods, torn-open packages of crackers, and water bottles scattered across the dirty floor tiles.
A paradise of intact supplies. A front-counter pharmacy at the back crowned the loot. For the first time all damn night, a sigh of genuine relief escaped my lips.
The blessed System decided to make itself known, chiming with pleasant notifications in bright blue.
[Resources detected in the perimeter.]
[Potable water.]
[Survival rations.]
[Basic medical supplies.]
[Portable energy sources.]
[Functional tools.]
"Well, look at that. This damn thing actually works as a radar," I commented under my breath.
Evelyn looked up from the shelves she was inspecting.
"Radar? What are you talking about?"
"Stress-induced ramblings of mine. Ignore me."
She frowned but didn’t press. She was too tired. Too numb.
I spread my backpack on the counter and activated hoarding mode. I prioritized sealed water bottles, followed by energy bars, easy-open cans, a handful of double-A batteries, and sterilized bandages.
I tried to store a can of beans in the spatial inventory. The panel flickered red.
[Item rejected: Not System-approved.]
"Of course," I muttered. "Only what the System considers a reward."
I had no idea how long this apocalyptic nightmare would last, but I had one certainty branded into my mind: starvation and thirst did their work with the same lethal efficiency as a monster’s claws.
Evelyn watched me pile up the loot, crossing her arms.
"Are you giving yourself over to blatant pillaging?"
"I’m managing the community redistribution of abandoned resources."
"That’s a very elaborate euphemism for ’looting.’"
"It adds elegance to our misery."
A genuine smile broke the mask of tension on her face. It was a fleeting flash, a glimmer of humanity amid the debacle, but it was registered. Regaining her composure, she leaned over the medical supplies. With expertise, she sorted through the boxes, selecting antibiotics, painkillers, and surgical material.
"Whoever stocked this place knew what they were doing," she murmured. "Broad-spectrum antibiotics. Analgesics. Even some basic surgical tools."
"Lucky us."
"Lucky us," she echoed, without conviction.
Silence settled between us, interrupted only by the distant rumble of the titan destroying the adjacent block.
"Evelyn Cross," she introduced herself formally, extending a stained hand. "General surgery resident."
I shook her hand firmly.
"That explains the bloodbath on your uniform."
Evelyn lowered her gaze to her athletic shoes, dyed a rusty red.
"To be fair, eighty percent of this blood belongs to third parties."
"A fact that reinforces my absolute peace of mind, Dr. Cross."
A short, tired laugh escaped her throat.
"What’s your story, Gabriel Bowman?" she inquired, leaning against the magazine rack.
I took a moment to define my dull pre-apocalyptic existence.
"I’m a multi-purpose technician. I fix all kinds of broken things."
She assessed the steel bar resting against my thigh, covered in blackish ichor.
"Including the restructuring of alien skulls, apparently."
I let myself fall against the drinks refrigerator, feeling the weight of exhaustion in every muscle fiber. The burning in my lacerated arm had evolved into a stabbing pain.
Evelyn closed the distance, taking a bottle of saline solution from a shelf.
"Uncover your arm. Let me check that cut."
"It’s barely a scratch. I’ll survive."
"You lack the medical degree to make that diagnosis, Technician Bowman."
She undid the torn sleeve of my jacket, exposing the three bleeding furrows. Her fingers, firm and professional, palpated the edges of the wound.
"The tissues are dirty. It requires immediate disinfection to prevent necrosis."
"Go ahead, Doctor. I trust your steady hand."
While she poured the antiseptic, I fixed my gaze on the outside. The metropolis had fallen back into a sepulchral stillness, an icy silence that had already lost its mystery to reveal its true nature: the prelude to an imminent massacre.
Evelyn finished the bandage with medical tape, applying just the right pressure.
"Sealed and protected."
"I owe you one."
"Add it to the account of my rescue."
The holographic text shone with unusual intensity, displaying a golden banner in my peripheral vision.
[System skill unlocked: BASIC ANALYSIS.]
[Grants the ability to scan and identify elemental properties of resources, and categorize common biological threats.]
[BASIC ANALYSIS — Level 1]
[Range: 50 meters.]
[Limitations: Cannot analyze Resonance-based entities or objects. Cannot penetrate solid barriers thicker than 30 cm.]
[Evolution: Reach 100% mastery to unlock next level.]
I read the announcement avidly, clenching my fists.
"About time I got a real advantage."
Evelyn tilted her head, confused.
"Sudden improvement in pain?"
"Exactly, Doctor. A mental relief."
She frowned, studying me with clinical precision. I could feel her analyzing me, filing away the inconsistencies in my behavior. She was too smart for her own good.
The banner dissolved, giving way to an ominous blood-red countdown.
[Survival Mission — Time remaining: 21:47:12.]
Twenty-two hours ahead. An eternity of terror and loose beasts.
Evelyn gazed at the starry horizon through the fragments of the shop window. Her profile showed infinite exhaustion.
"Gabriel... Do you think the army will arrive soon to contain all this?"
I delayed my answer, raising my eyes to the celestial vault. The cosmic fissure remained suspended over the skyscrapers. Its magnitude had tripled; the lacerated edges bled a violet energy that tinged the surrounding clouds.
"Things are going to get worse before they get better," I declared.
The panel alert confirmed my worst fears.
[CRITICAL WARNING.]
[Rupture Zone instability has reached critical mass.]
A grave-cold chill churned my stomach.
The clatter of multiple footsteps on the asphalt froze us. Dragging, heavy steps, coming from all directions, converging toward our position.
Evelyn extinguished the flashlight with a dry click, plunging us into darkness. I pressed myself against the front wall, peering through the broken glass with one eye. The outside was teeming with activity. An immense pack surrounded the supermarket. Dozens of those skeletal abominations, identical to the one in my apartment, flanked the sidewalk.
To my complete bewilderment, they ignored our presence entirely. Their bodies remained in a state of lethargy, their heads raised toward the firmament, hypnotized by the celestial spectacle.
Imitating the beasts, I focused my gaze upward. The core of the dimensional rift collapsed outward in a burst of purple light. From the bowels of that cosmic portal, a cyclopean mass began to descend.
My mind tried to assimilate the scale of the nightmare. That thing surpassed the biological nature of the monsters; it was inconceivable architecture. A monolith of pure obsidian, floating gracefully over the city. Its size eclipsed the tallest skyscrapers, possessing the flawless geometry of an unfathomable technology.
Lines of phosphorescent energy began to trace patterns across the smooth basalt of the tower. The channels lit up sequentially, pulsing like the nervous system of a deity awakening from its slumber.
The System interface spiked with massive errors in intermittent red text, drowning any hope of getting answers.
[SCAN ERROR.]
The notice flickered, quickly replaced by an even more terrifying line.
[MACRO-STRUCTURAL ENTITY OUTSIDE THE JURISDICTION OF THE SURVIVAL PROTOCOL.]
Evelyn grabbed my left shoulder, digging her fingers into my jacket.
"Gabriel... What the hell is that obelisk?"
I kept my lips sealed, unable to articulate a word in the face of the majestic and apocalyptic descent of the alien structure.
The panel emitted a sharp beep directly into my eardrums, displaying an absolute, personalized command that blocked all other notifications.
[GABRIEL BOWMAN.]
[EVADE DETECTION BY THE OBELISK AT ALL COSTS. RISK OF FATAL ANALYSIS.]
At the apex of the black tower, a blinding glare took shape. The rings of energy aligned with mathematical precision, focusing their power toward the Earth’s surface. A pillar of concentrated light, the diameter of an entire city block, projected from the heights, sweeping the neighboring buildings and advancing unstoppably toward our glass refuge.
I felt a metallic taste in my mouth as I swallowed.
"Evelyn..." I whispered.
"Tell me you have a plan."
I pointed toward the eradicating beam consuming the darkness of the asphalt outside.
"Immediate and absolute retreat."
The alien luminescence bathed the façade of the minimarket. In perfect unison, like puppets manipulated by the same insane string, dozens of aberrations turned their necks and fixed their empty sockets directly on us.