The rain hadn't stopped for two days straight. Acidic droplets hissed as they struck broken rooftops and rusted-out vehicles, melting metal and bone alike. The survivors had long learned to stay inside during these storms. But tonight, under the deep red glow of the shattered sky, something felt different.
Cira stood by the narrow window of the abandoned subway station they now called home. Her breath fogged the glass, though the air inside was cold enough to chill her bones. The others were asleep—or at least pretending to be. Sleep had become a luxury in this world. A dangerous vulnerability. But Cira wasn't tired. Not tonight.
She clutched her father's journal tightly to her chest, the leather cover cracked and stained with time and ash. The last entry was only half finished, ending mid-sentence.
"They're coming through the tunnels now. If we don't…"
It was dated just a day before he vanished.
A soft shuffle behind her broke her focus. Kael, his dark hoodie soaked with rain and mud, stepped into the pale emergency light's reach. His eyes were hollow from lack of sleep, but alert—always alert.
"You should rest," he said quietly, his voice raspier than usual. "We're heading deeper tomorrow."
"I know." She didn't look at him. "Did you check the perimeter?"
Kael nodded. "East tunnel's flooded, but the west... something moved down there. Fast. Didn't look like a Scorcher, but I didn't get close enough to confirm."
Cira finally turned to face him. "It's always the west tunnel."
"Yeah. Like something wants us to go that way."
"Or wants to keep us from it."
Kael leaned against the wall beside her, letting silence stretch between them. The rain above drummed like distant drums of war. Every few minutes, a shriek or moan would echo up from the city ruins above, sending shivers down their spines. Even after everything, even after what they'd seen, the cries of mutated beasts and broken men still unsettled them.
"We need to find it," she said suddenly.
"Find what?"
"The lab," she whispered, holding up the journal. "My father left clues. Not just warnings. He wanted me to find something."
Kael frowned. "You really think it's still intact?"
"I have to." She stared at the red-lit skies. "I think he knew what caused the Sundering. Or at least how to stop what came after. The Crimson Effect… it all started near the old Genesis Sector."
Kael exhaled through his nose. "That place is a graveyard now. No one who went there ever came back."
"Then we'll be the first."
A sudden rumble made them freeze. Not thunder. Not natural. Mechanical. Slow. Grinding.
Cira grabbed her makeshift rifle. Kael already had his blades in hand.
"It's coming from the tunnel," he muttered.
Both moved silently, alerting the others with a system of soft taps and gestures. Within moments, a small group of six stood ready: Aaren, the tech scavenger; Nyra, with her sniper rig; Jin, barely fifteen but deadly with traps; and Vex, the ex-cultist with scars that told stories no one wanted to hear.
They gathered at the west tunnel entrance. Darkness swallowed it entirely.
The rumble came again. Closer. Then—a light.
Dim, flickering.
"Not one of ours," Aaren muttered, checking his pulse rifle.
The group tensed.
Then, out of the shadows, it emerged.
A tram car.
Or… what used to be one.
Metal twisted and welded into grotesque shapes, like it had been stitched together by machines with no understanding of form or function. Inside the windows, silhouettes moved. Not human. Not anymore.
Kael took aim. "They're bringing the Redborne."
Nyra cursed under her breath. "We need to fall back. Now."
But Cira stepped forward.
"No. We follow it."
"What?!"
"They're heading somewhere important. Look at the insignia—" She pointed at the rusted side of the tram. "That's Genesis Tech. The same logo in my father's notes."
Kael hesitated. "Even if it is, we don't know where it leads."
"We'll never know if we don't follow." Her eyes burned with determination. "This is our only chance."
Vex spoke for the first time. "If you're wrong, we'll be dead before dawn."
"Then let me be wrong," she said. "But I'm not staying here to rot like the rest."
Silence fell. The tram was already vanishing into the tunnel again.
Kael sighed. "Fine. But we follow at a distance. No light. No sound. We lose it, we turn back."
They agreed.
They descended into the tunnel behind the beast-like machine, the red glow from above fading with every step.
As the rain poured harder and thunder cracked through the surface world, Cira's heart beat with something she hadn't felt in a long time—hope.
Hope that maybe, just maybe, answers lay beneath the crimson rain.