For a moment, everything was still.
The fires crackled. Smoke twisted in the air like dying serpents. Shadow Team remained low behind cover, weapons still raised, scanning the molten crater ahead of them.
Inside the command center, Thomas leaned closer to the main screen. His knuckles were white against the edge of the table. He was waiting. Listening. Hoping for that one chime—the system alert that always confirmed a kill.
It never came.
Instead, the ground began to rumble again.
"Seismic activity!" Marcus shouted. His console lit up with warning markers. "Localized under the crater!"
Phillip's voice burst across the comms. "Command, we've got movement! It's still alive!"
Before anyone could react, the ashen pit exploded outward. Flaming debris and shattered concrete rained down like shrapnel. From the center, the thing that had once been cocooned inside the Worm clawed free.
It wasn't humanoid anymore.
