They do not rest for long.
The forbidden area does not allow stillness, even when the land appears quiet, it feels as though something is always shifting just beyond sight, adjusting itself to their presence.
Growths flex slowly, membranes tightening and relaxing, as if the terrain itself is breathing.
SC works quickly, hands steady despite the unease crawling up his spine. He seals Kaelen's wound with salvaged gel and fabric torn from his own sleeve, pressing hard to stop the bleeding.
The scanner readings make little sense.
Tissue regeneration is slowed, distorted, as if the environment itself resists healing. The numbers fluctuate without pattern, rejecting known biological models.
Kaelen pushes himself upright despite the pain. Fire flickers faintly inside beneath his skin, visible through cracked armor like embers trapped beneath ash. His breathing is shallow but controlled.
"We move," he says. "Staying invites attention."
SC does not argue.
They press deeper into the Zone, following the path to upward into a forest of towering growths stretching toward the dim sky.
These structures resemble trees only in silhouette. Their trunks are segmented and semi translucent, layers overlapping like hardened membranes, with veins of pale light pulse beneath the surface, slow and rhythmic. The air hums faintly, vibrating against SC's teeth, setting his nerves on edge.
Every step feels observed.
Then the sound comes.
At first it is distant, a sharp buzzing that vibrates through the canopy. It grows rapidly, swelling into a roar that shakes the air itself.
SC freezes mid step, every sensor screaming.
"That's not a drone!!," he says.
The sky darkens as shadows pass overhead.
Shapes descend in spirals, wings beating so fast they blur into solid halos of motion. The creatures are massive, each the size of a small vehicle, with their bodies are elongated and armored like insects, yet fused with bone plating and exposed muscle.
Spiraled horns crown their heads, glowing faintly with contained energy.
"Sky Devouring Hornets," SC mutters. "Experimental predators. They're real."
"They're hunting," Kaelen says. "Move."
The first hornet dives.
Kaelen raises the laser rifle he scavenged earlier. A coherent beam slices through the air, striking the hornet mid flight. It shrieks, its sound sharp and piercing, before crashing into a nearby growth. The impact ruptures its body, ichor and fragments scattering across the ground.
The swarm reacts instantly, and hornets attack in unison, in return discharging blasts of energy that tear through their skeleton .
SC dives behind a massive root as debris rains down, the heat of passing energy scorching the air around him.
Kaelen fires with disciplined precision despite the pain tearing through his side. He does not waste shots.
He targets wings, focusing beams on vulnerable joints. Hornets spiral out of control, colliding with one another, bodies shattering against the forest floor.
Every step Kaelen takes is deliberate. He guides the swarm toward a narrow corridor SC prepared earlier, where portable energy charges lie buried beneath shifting soil.
When the hornets surge forward, SC detonates the trap.
The ground erupts. Soil and other matters explode upward, tossing bodies through the air.
Some hornets disintegrate instantly, with others spiral away, damaged and shrieking, retreating into the upper canopy.
Silence follows.
Kaelen drops to one knee, breathing hard, sweat and blood streaking his face.
"Too many," SC says quietly. "You pushed too hard, now your injuries are reopened."
"Better than getting overwhelmed and die," Kaelen replies.
They move again.
Deeper into the Zone.
The growths become denser, more unnatural. Veins merge into conduits. Bark becomes plating.
The landscape no longer resembles nature at all. It resembles an unfinished thought.
SC's scanner struggles to maintain coherence, readings spiking and collapsing without warning.
Then the forest opens.
A clearing stretches ahead, perfectly circular, making it more like deliberate and precise.
At its center stands a willow like structure. Its branches hang low, tendrils swaying gently despite the still air. The bark shimmers dark red, veins glowing faintly, pulsing like a living heart.
Movement erupts near its base.
A hybrid creature emerges, massive and twisted. Chitin, flesh, and mechanical plating fuse into one grotesque form. Tubes and restraints wrap around its core, pulsing in sync with the tree.
Within it is a human.
Alive.
The man lifts his head slowly. His eyes lock onto Kaelen.
"You…" Kaelen says sharply.