Darkness.
Pain pulsed through Elias Thorne's skull. The world tilted beneath him.
He blinked against the blur, his surroundings slowly sharpening into focus.
The ground was cold stone. Blood stained his forearm. Above, a fractured night sky shimmered with distant stars.
Grimm stood over him, growling low, eyes scanning the shadows.
Ash crouched at his other side, ears perked, muzzle wet with someone else's blood.
Volrek was gone.
The transport lay overturned fifty meters away, its wheels still spinning weakly. Fire licked at the edges of its frame.
The commander had escaped. But not unscathed.
---
THE AFTERMATH
Isaac's voice crackled over the comms.
— "Elias? Chambers reports eastern perimeter secure. Volrek's forces are in full retreat."
Elias coughed, pushing himself up. His ribs screamed protest.
— "Minimal casualties?"
— "Twenty-five wounded. Four dead."
Elias closed his eyes briefly. He knew each name.
Every victory came at a price.
---
Grimm nudged his shoulder. Ash barked once, soft and insistent.
We're alive. Move.
Elias rose, staggering slightly. Blood loss. Concussion. Nothing new.
The battle was over.
But the war had just changed.
---
RETURN TO THE FORTRESS
By dawn, Elias returned to the fortress. Survivors gathered at the gate, faces smeared with soot and exhaustion.
Cheers rose at the sight of him.
Not for the myth.
For the man who had refused to abandon them.
---
COUNCIL OF THE RESISTANCE
In the makeshift command room, Chambers, Isaac, and Sara waited.
The table before them was littered with maps, ammunition counts, and casualty reports.
Sara spoke first. "Volrek's transmission logs confirm contact with Aurora's High Council."
Isaac frowned. "They're mobilizing reinforcements. Not just soldiers—Suppressant elites. Worse."
Chambers leaned in. "They won't stop at us. They'll burn every cell that defied them."
Elias nodded. "Then we take the fight to them."
---
THE NEW MISSION
Sara projected a holographic map.
— "Volrek is regrouping at Outpost K-47. Heavy fortifications. Reports suggest another facility for augment experimentation."
Isaac added, "If we don't strike now, they'll rebuild. Stronger."
Chambers looked to Elias.
All eyes did.
His decision would chart the course of the resistance.
---
DILEMMA
Elias paced the room.
Memories clawed at him—Voss's betrayal, the ruined labs, the faces of the children forced to fight.
He could fortify the fortress. Defend. Survive.
But survival was not victory.
Survival was a pause.
---
Finally, he spoke.
— "We form a strike team. Chambers, Isaac, Sara. Volunteers only. We infiltrate K-47. We finish this."
No one hesitated.
---
PREPARATIONS
Over the next forty-eight hours, the resistance mobilized.
Vehicles repaired.
Ammunition stockpiled.
Wounded stabilized.
The children rescued from the previous battle were moved to safe zones in the northern reaches, guarded by defectors too injured to fight.
Grimm and Ash shadowed Elias constantly, sensing the shift in the air.
This was no longer a battle for survival.
It was a campaign for justice.
---
THE HUNTER'S INSTINCT
On the third night, as preparations neared completion, Grimm and Ash alerted.
At the northern perimeter, they intercepted a scout.
Not Aurora.
A lone mercenary.
Captured, the man revealed he had been tracking the resistance on behalf of the Dawn's Council—but had defected upon witnessing the suppression experiments.
His name was Vance. A sniper. Experienced. Disillusioned.
Elias interviewed him personally.
Vance's words were simple.
"I've killed for money. I'd rather kill for something that matters now."
Elias nodded once. "Welcome to the resistance."
---
THE STRIKE TEAM ASSEMBLES
Twelve fighters.
Elias.
Chambers.
Isaac.
Sara.
Vance.
Six battle-hardened defectors.
Grimm.
Ash.
Vehicles armored. Supplies packed.
The rest of the survivors would maintain the fortress, defend the wounded, and prepare for potential retaliation.
---
THE NIGHT BEFORE DEPARTURE
Elias stood alone atop the fortress wall.
Stars burned cold overhead.
Chambers approached quietly.
— "You could choose to stay. Lead from here."
Elias shook his head. "Leaders can't ask others to bleed if they won't bleed first."
She smiled faintly. "That's why we follow you."
---
THE JOURNEY TO K-47
The strike team moved under cover of darkness.
Old roads twisted through valleys scarred by war and time.
Along the way, they passed burned villages, skeletal cities, and monuments to humanity's failures.
Sara gathered intelligence from old communication towers. Enemy chatter was light.
Too light.
---
AMBUSH AT THE RAVINE
As dawn broke on the fourth day, the team entered a narrow ravine.
Grimm froze.
Ash growled.
Elias raised a fist. "Hold."
An instant later—detonation.
The lead vehicle exploded into flame.
Suppressants charged from the cliffs above.
An ambush.
---
THE FIGHT
Isaac and Vance provided covering fire.
Chambers led a flanking maneuver.
Grimm and Ash attacked with precision, turning the tide at the right flank.
Sara activated an improvised EMP—disabling three enemy drones.
The battle was fierce. Close quarters.
But the resistance prevailed.
Cost: One defector dead. Two wounded.
The strike team pressed on.
---
APPROACH TO K-47
By sunset, the compound loomed ahead.
Massive. Brutalist architecture. High walls. Searchlights sweeping the dark.
Drone patrols circled overhead.
But defenses were focused outward—expecting an army. Not a scalpel.
They would not see the blade until it was too late.
---
FINAL COUNCIL
Hidden in a nearby cave, the team gathered for one last briefing.
Elias outlined the infiltration points.
Vance and Sara would disable external comms.
Chambers and Isaac would breach the south wall.
Elias, Grimm, and Ash would lead the central assault.
No speeches. No false hopes.
Only resolve.
---
A PRIVATE MOMENT
Before departure, Elias crouched beside Grimm and Ash.
— "You've carried me this far. If I fall—"
Grimm bumped his head against Elias's chest. Ash licked his hand.
No.
Not this time.
---
THE INFILTRATION BEGINS
Under cover of moonless night, the resistance moved.
Silencers hissed.
Guards fell.
The south wall breached.
Vance's shots echoed in the dark—silent thunder.
Sara's EMP fried communications.
The fortress trembled with the silent advance of retribution.
---
CLIFFHANGER: DISCOVERY
Inside the main lab complex, Elias paused.
Rows of cryo chambers lined the walls.
Inside—dozens of figures.
Not children. Not soldiers.
Clones.
Each bore his face.
Each labeled: Project Genesis—Phase I Completed.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
Volrek's voice:
— "You can't stop evolution, Thorne."
Elias turned, eyes cold.
— "I'm not here to stop it."
He raised his rifle.
— "I'm here to end it."
Darkness. Gunfire. The reckoning had begun.