The wind reeked of decay.
Xin sat silent in the back of the jeep, eyes locked on the broken road ahead. Tara was driving. Alaric sat up front with the map screen glowing faintly. Three new recruits rode with them — grim-faced, silent types who'd barely survived the last Dive sweep. Names were barely exchanged: Marven, Jex, and Talla.
Nobody talked much.
The road ahead was warped. Trees drooped unnaturally toward the ground. The sky was overcast, but the clouds didn't move right — like they were watching.
They were headed toward the outskirts of Bellmare, a ruined town deep in Zone 7. Intel said strange things had been happening there. Missing signals. Radio silence. And pulses of Black Bloom activity.
They didn't know it yet, but they were walking into hell.
Scene: Arrival Near Bellmare
The jeep rumbled past a burnt checkpoint. Signs of battle. Dried blood. Charred armor.
Marven glanced out the side. "No bodies?"
Jex checked his weapon. "Or something took them."
Talla stayed quiet.
Alaric pulled out the scanner. "No signals yet. But the bloom's close. I can feel it."
Xin still said nothing. His eyes never blinked.
Scene: The Ambush
They never saw it coming.
One second — silence.
The next — a blur of flesh and violence.
A massive tentacle slammed down from above. Not a simple arm. This thing was the size of a truck tire, glistening, twitching, and fast as hell. It moved at the speed of sound — tearing through the air with a sonic snap.
The tentacle struck the front of the jeep, flipping it end over end.
Xin was thrown out, rolling across the ground like a ragdoll. He hit a wall, bounced, and hit the dirt. Blood dripped from his lip.
Marven never got that far.
The tentacle whipped around and snatched him mid-air. One second he was screaming.
The next — BOOM.
His entire body exploded from the pressure. Just red mist.
Talla screamed. Jex ran. Tara grabbed Alaric by the collar and pulled him out of the burning wreck.
Scene: Chaos and Blood
The tentacle slammed again. Trees split. A concrete wall shattered.
It wasn't alone.
More slithered from the treetops — four in total, sprouting from a distant mass in the fog. A hulking, grotesque octopus-like creature was shifting across the ruined town. Its body wasn't fully solid. Flesh rippled, forming and reforming. Faces appeared in it. Screaming. Begging. They looked human. Recently taken.
Jex tried firing.
A tentacle stabbed through his chest.
He gurgled, dropped.
Harper fired shot after shot. Screaming.
Xin rose from the ground, sprinted to Tara, helped her drag Alaric behind cover.
But it was too late for Harper.
Scene: Harper's Flashback
The tentacle wrapped around her waist. She screamed as her ribs cracked. It lifted her high into the air, dangling her above the broken buildings.
Her vision blurred.
She was a child again.
Her mother was screaming in the kitchen. Her father yelling. Glass breaking. Then silence.
Her mother grabbed her hands.
"You'll grow up strong," she whispered.
"One day, you'll come close to me again. Not now. But one day."
Then the door slammed. Her mother never came back.
Harper had been alone since.
She whispered through her tears.
"I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't get strong in time."
The tentacle squeezed once more.
She burst.
Her bones rained down across the street.
Scene: Aftermath
Tara dragged Xin and Alaric into a collapsed shop. Talla followed, shaking, bleeding from the ear.
The creature roared in the distance — a deep, wet, gurgling sound that vibrated the ground.
Alaric spat blood. "What the hell is that?"
Xin stood slowly. He stared into the distance, teeth clenched.
"I don't know," he said.
"We need to do something."