They didn't hear the ambush coming.
That was the first mistake.
The land dipped into a shallow ravine littered with broken stone and dead brush. Narrow enough to funnel movement. Wide enough to hide people if they stayed low.
Aiden felt it half a second too late.
"Stop—"
A shape burst from the left.
Aiden twisted as something slammed into his shoulder, knocking him sideways into the dirt. Pain flared instantly, sharp and breath-stealing. Stone bit into his back as he rolled, barely avoiding a second strike that cracked against the ground where his head had been.
She screamed his name.
Four of them emerged.
Thin. Hollow-eyed. Desperate.
Not soldiers.
Hungry people.
"Drop everything!" one of them shouted, voice shaking. He held a blade that looked more chipped than sharp. "Now!"
Another rushed her from behind.
She turned just in time, swinging her pack hard into his face. He staggered, surprised more than hurt, and that hesitation saved her. She backed away, eyes wide, breathing fast.
Aiden pushed himself up.
The man who'd tackled him lunged again, pipe raised overhead. Aiden stepped inside the swing on instinct, shoulder slamming into the man's chest. The impact drove the air out of him in a harsh grunt.
Too close.
Too fast.
Aiden didn't think.
He grabbed the man's wrist as the pipe fell, twisted hard, and felt something give. Bone cracked. The man screamed and collapsed.
Silence fractured.
Then panic took over.
One of them rushed Aiden blindly, slashing low. Aiden recoiled, pain tearing across his ribs as the blade caught flesh. He hissed, vision narrowing, but stayed upright.
He couldn't fall.
If he fell, she'd be next.
Aiden moved forward instead.
One strike. Short. Direct.
The man went down hard, skull striking stone with a dull, final sound.
The ravine went still.
Blood soaked into the dirt, dark and fast.
The remaining two froze.
"We didn't want this," one of them said, voice breaking. "We were just—"
A sound cut him off.
Low.
Laughing.
Aiden's head snapped up.
Ashbacks stepped from the brush, scarred shapes moving with lazy confidence. Teeth flashed as they circled the ravine, drawn by blood, fear, and noise.
The survivors didn't hesitate this time.
They ran.
Aiden grabbed her wrist. "Move. Now."
They climbed hard out of the ravine, lungs burning, legs shaking. The sounds behind them shifted—snarls, snapping, wet crunches.
Neither of them looked back.
They didn't stop until the land leveled and the night swallowed the path behind them.
Aiden collapsed to one knee, breath ragged. His hands shook violently now that the danger had passed.
She crouched in front of him immediately. "You're bleeding."
"I know."
She pressed cloth against his ribs, hands unsteady. "You killed him."
The words weren't accusation.
They were disbelief.
Aiden stared at the dirt.
"I didn't plan to," he said quietly. "I didn't even think."
She swallowed hard. "You didn't hesitate."
"No," Aiden admitted.
That scared him.
They sat there in silence for a long time, listening to the world settle back into itself.
Far away, something shifted.
Not reacting.
Acknowledging.
Aiden felt the pressure again—faint, distant, like a gaze passing over him and moving on.
He wiped the blood from his hands.
This world didn't reward mercy.
It punished delay.
And hunger, left unchecked, turned people into monsters faster than any creature ever could.
End of Chapter 13