My fingers fumbled for the small earpiece in my jacket pocket, the communication device every Shadow Crane trainee received on their first day. I'd rarely used it, mostly because I had nothing worth reporting and nobody wanted to hear from the failure of the group.
But now, with that thing charging at me like a freight train of teeth and claws, I jammed it into my ear with shaking hands.
"Code Red! Code Red!" I gasped into the mic, my voice cracking. "Jonakvi High School, main gates. There are...these things...people are turning into monsters!"
The creature was ten meters away. Then five.
"Hajidan?!" A female voice crackled through, sharp and familiar. Yuki. She was my age, eighteen, but already a full operative. While I struggled with basic forms, she'd completed three actual missions. Infiltration. Extraction. One rumored assassination, though she never confirmed it. "Where the hell are you? What's happening?"
"Outside the school! There are these creatures—"
"HIDE!" she screamed into my ear, making me wince. "You're not ready for combat! Find cover NOW!"
The creature lunged.
Instinct took over. I threw myself sideways, rolling across the concrete, just pure survival reflex.
Pain exploded through my already-battered ribs, but the creature's claws scraped empty air where my head had been a second before.
"I can't hide!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet. "It's right on me!"
"Then RUN, you idiot!"
But I couldn't run. Behind me, students were still running out of the school building, panicked and oblivious. If I ran, this thing would tear through them like paper. Miraza was back there somewhere.
The creature spun toward me, its neck cracking at an unnatural angle. Saliva dripped from its distended jaw, mixed with something black and viscous.
"I'm engaging," I said, trying to sound braver than I felt.
"HAJIDAN, NO! You're not—"
I pulled the earpiece slightly away from my ear—I needed to focus. Master Kurogane's voice echoed in my head: "A Crane does not face the enemy head-on. We are wind. We are shadow. We strike from angles they cannot see."
The creature charged again.
This time, I was ready. Sort of.
I sidestepped at the last possible second, just like I'd practiced a hundred times in the dojo. The creature's momentum carried it past me, and I drove my fist into what I thought might be its kidney area, or where a kidney used to be before it became whatever this thing was.
My knuckles connected with something hard and wrong. It felt like punching a bag of rocks wrapped in rubber.
The creature barely flinched.
"Shit," I breathed.
It whirled around faster than anything that size should move. One massive arm swept toward me. I ducked, feeling the air whistle above my head. Counter-attack—go for the joints, the weak points. I aimed a strike at its knee.
My fist bounced off uselessly.
"Hajidan, status!" Yuki's voice was frantic in my ear. "Answer me!"
"It's not working!" I dodged another swipe, my feet dancing backward. "Nothing I do is hurting it!"
The creature was learning my pattern. Each dodge was getting closer, its claws grazing my uniform, my hair. My body screamed in protest from the beating I'd taken earlier. My ribs felt like they were grinding together with every breath.
I threw another punch, a strike aimed at its throat. Connected. The creature's head snapped back.
For one beautiful second, I thought I'd done something.
Then it looked at me, and if that thing could smile, it was smiling.
Its claw shot out faster than I could react. I tried to dodge, but my battered body was too slow.
The impact felt like being hit by a car.
I flew backward, my body ragdolling through the air before slamming into the concrete. The world spun. The taste of blood filled my mouth. I tried to stand, but my legs wouldn't cooperate.
The creature stalked toward me, taking its time now. It knew I was finished.
"Hajidan!" Yuki was screaming. "HAJIDAN!"
I could hear her, but my voice wouldn't work. I tried to push myself up, but my arms gave out. The creature loomed over me, its shadow swallowing me whole. Its jaw unhinged impossibly wide, revealing rows of jagged teeth dripping with black ichor.
I don't wanna die..
The creature's head shot down toward my throat.
Then a blade erupted through its skull.
Black blood sprayed across my face, burning like acid. The creature's body went rigid, its jaw frozen inches from my neck. Behind it, standing on its back, was a figure in dark tactical gear.
Master Kurogane.
He twisted the blade, a sleek, matte-black combat knife, and the creature collapsed sideways like a puppet with its strings cut.
The master landed in a perfect crouch, his movements was fluid. Even in the chaos, he made it look effortless.
"Stupid boy," he groaned. "I told you that you weren't ready."
He grabbed my jacket collar and hauled me to my feet with one hand. I stumbled, my legs barely supporting my weight.
"I had to—" I gasped. "The students—"
"You nearly died." His eyes were hard behind his mask. "Your form was sloppy. Your strikes had no power. You telegraphed every move."
"I know, but—"
"Silence." He shoved something into my hand—a small, black cylinder. "Smoke grenade. When I say run, you run. Understood?"
Before I could answer, three more of those creatures burst from around the corner of the school building. They moved together, coordinated, like a pack of wolves.
Master Kurogane's stance shifted subtly. "Run. NOW."
I didn't argue. I pulled the pin on the smoke grenade and dropped it. White smoke billowed out instantly, engulfing everything. Through the haze, I could hear the master moving—the whisper of his blade, the wet sounds of impact, the screeches of the creatures cut short.
I ran.
Behind me, the sounds of combat faded into the smoke. My earpiece crackled.
"Hajidan! Kurogane found you?" Yuki's voice was slightly calmer now. "Listen carefully. We're establishing a rally point at the old warehouse on Seventh Street. Can you make it there?"
"I—" I looked back at the white smoke, now tinged with black. "Master Kurogane is—"
"He can handle himself. We need all operatives at the rally point. The whole city is going to hell."
I wanted to argue, wanted to go back and help, but I knew the truth: I'd just be in the way. Master Kurogane had saved my life because I was too weak to save my own.
"Understood," I whispered. "I'm heading there now."
"And Hajidan?" Yuki's voice softened slightly. "I'm glad you're alive. Even if you are a stubborn idiot."
The line went dead.
I started running through streets that had become a warzone, weaving between abandoned cars and fleeing civilians. Screams echoed from every direction. Buildings burned.
My body was failing. I froze when another creation ran towards me.
Move. Move, you idiot!
But my legs wouldn't obey. I stood there, frozen, as the thing took a step toward me. Then another. It was savoring the moment, like it knew I couldn't run.
A car horn blared.
Someone grabbed my arm and yanked me backward just as a pickup truck swerved between me and the creature, clipping its shoulder and sending it sprawling. I didn't see who saved me. They were already gone, swallowed by the chaos.
"Hajidan!"
I spun around and saw Miraza running toward me from across the street. Her school uniform was dirty, her hair a mess, but she was alive. Thank God, she was alive.
"What the hell is happening?" she shouted as she reached me.
"We need to get out of here," I said, grabbing her hand. "We need to find somewhere safe."
"My parents are still at home!" She cried out.
"Then we go there. Come on!"
We ran.
The streets were a war zone. Cars abandoned in the middle of the road, some still running with doors hanging open. Store windows shattered. Fires burning unchecked. Bodies lying in the street—some still human, some already changing.
I tried not to look at the bodies. Tried not to think about the fact that I knew some of these people. The baker who always gave me extra bread. The old man who fed the stray cats. All gone.
We cut through an alley, our shoes splashing through something wet I didn't want to identify. Behind us, the snarls and screams continued. The creatures were spreading too fast.
"There!" Miraza pointed ahead.
A group of people had gathered near the old community center, maybe fifteen or twenty of them. Some were trying to board up the windows while others stood guard with whatever they could find, baseball bats, pipes, even a fire extinguisher.
We sprinted toward them.
"Help! Let us in!" Miraza screamed.
A guy maybe a few years older than us saw us coming and waved frantically. "Hurry up!"
We were almost there when I heard a low, guttural growl right behind us.
I glanced back and my heart stopped. Three of them. Three of those twisted, mutated things, running on all fours like rabid dogs. They were fast. Way faster than they should be.
"Don't stop!" the guy yelled, pushing the door open wider.
Ten feet away. Five feet.
We dove through the entrance, and hands immediately grabbed us, pulling us inside. Someone slammed the door shut just as one of the creatures crashed into it, the impact shaking the entire frame. Claws scraped against the wood, and that horrible snarling echoed through the building.
"Are you bitten?" a woman demanded, grabbing Miraza by the shoulders and checking her over.
"No! No, we're fine!" Miraza gasped, bent over, trying to catch her breath.
The woman checked me next, her hands rough but efficient. "You're lucky. One bite is all it takes. I've seen people turn in minutes."
MINUTES. That's all it takes to lose your HUMANITY. Minutes.
I looked around the room. Most of the people here were in shock, sitting against walls with blank stares. A few were crying quietly. One man was frantically trying to call someone on his phone, but I could hear the automated message even from here: "All circuits are busy."
"What crashed in the forest?" I asked the woman. "What started this?"
She shook her head, her face pale. "No one knows for sure. Some are saying it was a meteor. Others think it's a chemical weapon, or a virus. The news was reporting on it this morning, said scientists were being sent to investigate."
A meteor. That's what the news said. Could a space rock really do this? Turn people into monsters?
There has to be more to it. This isn't natural.
Outside, the scratching at the door continued. More of them were gathering, drawn by the noise, by the scent of prey trapped inside.
"We can't stay here," a teenage boy said from the corner. He was holding a metal pipe so tight his knuckles were white. "They'll break through eventually. We need to find somewhere more secure."
"Like where?" someone snapped. "The whole city is overrun!"
"The police station! The military base on the outskirts!"
"You think they're still standing? Wake up! This is everywhere!"
The argument escalated, voices rising, panic spreading like its own infection. I felt it creeping into my chest too, realizing that there might be no safe place, that this might be it.