The creature's sound echoed through the metallic passages.
Each step Elias took was shadowed by a distant, muffled roar and the heavy pounding of enormous feet on the corroded floor.
Grimm and Ash sprinted ahead, sniffing desperately, trying to find a way out.
Morrow, unconscious, was an unbearable weight in Elias's arms.
But abandoning him was not an option.
The old scientist carried more than just his own fate.
He held the key to something much larger.
Something the Fallen were willing to kill for.
---
Elias quickly scanned their surroundings.
Broken pipes crossed the ceiling and walls like the veins of a rotting corpse.
Iron doors stood rusted shut, some welded closed in desperation.
Corridors branched in all directions.
Choices.
Decisions.
Every second of hesitation could mean death.
A screech of metal behind them propelled Elias into motion.
He followed Grimm and Ash down one of the narrower corridors.
The failing light from ancient bulbs cast trembling shadows on the walls.
The air reeked of burnt oil, rust, and something worse — the thick, sweet stench of decay.
---
As they moved, Elias heard other noises.
Far away, distant echoes.
Movement.
Maybe more Fallen.
Maybe something far worse.
The facility was a maze, a labyrinth of forgotten chambers and crumbling tunnels.
A true underground hell.
Fear clawed at his mind, but he kept it buried.
There was no room for panic.
Only action.
---
Suddenly, Grimm stopped.
The dog sniffed intently at a ventilation grate mounted low on the wall.
Ash growled softly, his nose pointed at the same spot.
Elias understood immediately.
An escape route.
Maybe a way to outmaneuver the monster.
The grate was rusted but firmly attached.
Without hesitation, Elias set Morrow down and pulled out his knife.
He began prying at the metal, breaking away chunks of brittle steel.
Grimm and Ash stood guard, tense and ready.
The screech of tearing metal sounded deafening in the oppressive silence.
---
Only meters away, the creature roared again.
Louder.
Closer.
The ground beneath them trembled with its approach.
Every thudding step made the ancient facility quiver.
With a final snap, the grate tore free.
Elias shoved Morrow into the narrow duct first, sliding him in roughly.
Grimm scrambled in next, followed by Ash.
Finally, Elias squeezed through the gap, dragging himself painfully.
The walls of the tunnel scraped his clothes, his skin.
The air inside reeked of mold, rust, and ancient death.
But it was safety.
It was escape.
---
Behind them, a terrible crash.
The monster had reached the corridor.
A primal roar filled the air, so powerful it made the ventilation shaft shudder.
Elias pushed forward as fast as he could.
The tunnel was tight, crooked, filthy.
But it was hope.
Grimm led the way, his nose finding every twist and turn.
Ash followed close behind, alert.
Elias crawled, dragging Morrow along with one arm, every muscle burning with effort.
The monster's sounds hammered at his senses.
It would not give up.
It would hunt them to the bitter end.
---
After what felt like an eternity, a faint light appeared ahead.
An exit.
A glimmer of salvation.
Elias felt a surge of hope.
But he was cautious.
Nothing came easy down here.
As they neared the end of the tunnel, Grimm growled.
Ash stiffened, his body taut.
Elias peered out.
The vent opened into a large maintenance room, wide and cluttered with old machinery.
Scattered across the floor like broken dolls were bodies.
Fallen soldiers.
Torn apart.
Limbs ripped from torsos.
Viscera steaming in the cold air.
Blood still fresh.
---
Whatever that creature was, it didn't care about sides.
It killed indiscriminately.
Elias quickly assessed.
No immediate movement.
No sounds but the humming of distant generators.
They needed to cross that room — fast — and find another way out.
Staying in the shaft was death.
The beast was coming.
He slid out, pulling Morrow after him.
Grimm and Ash leaped down, instantly scanning the surroundings.
Elias lifted his rifle.
Every nerve screamed to run.
But mindless running was suicide.
He had to move smart.
---
They slipped across the room in silence.
Stepping over bodies.
Dodging twisted wreckage.
Each footfall felt like an invitation to death.
The stench of blood clung to their nostrils, thick and suffocating.
Grimm and Ash stayed close, tense and ready.
They knew too well where they were — at death's doorstep.
They made it halfway when the sound returned.
A scraping.
A dragging.
The monster.
Elias whirled, eyes searching.
In the broken doorway at the far end of the room, it emerged.
Larger than before.
Mutated.
Barely human in shape.
Eyes glowing faintly in the shadows.
And then it charged.
---
Elias shouted for Grimm and Ash to run.
He heaved Morrow into his arms again, forcing his exhausted body into motion.
They bolted.
The monster roared, a sound like an earthquake tearing through the facility.
Metal shrieked as it tore through the entrance.
Grimm and Ash sprinted ahead.
Elias ran with every ounce of strength left.
He fired over his shoulder, bullets striking the creature — but only angering it further.
It barely flinched.
No chance.
Not against that.
---
Ahead, a door.
Half-open.
Grimm slammed against it with his body.
Ash slipped through.
Elias barreled in after them, dragging Morrow.
Behind them, the creature smashed into the doorway.
But miraculously, the old iron door held.
For now.
Elias collapsed to the floor, gasping.
Cold sweat soaked his skin.
Grimm growled, Ash stood guard.
Morrow still breathed — barely.
---
The new corridor was narrow.
Darker.
But it led forward.
That was enough.
With aching muscles, Elias forced himself up.
He looked back one last time.
He knew this wasn't over.
The creature would not quit.
And there was something deeper still within this labyrinth of metal and stone.
Something the Fallen sought.
Something Morrow might know.
Something that could explain not just the existence of this horror — but perhaps even the apocalypse itself.
And maybe... even his own immortality.
---
He clenched his fists.
Glanced at Grimm and Ash.
"We move," he whispered.
"We don't die today."
And so they vanished into the dark.
Chasing survival into the deeper unknown.
Toward horrors the dead world had long forgotten.
---
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