They ran.
Branches cut skin.
Breath burned.
Behind them, the forest snapped like bones breaking.
Sameer tripped.
Maya grabbed him.
The ground beneath Sameer bulged.
Something pressed upward from below.
A black limb burst out and wrapped his ankle.
Sameer screamed,
"DON'T STOP—"
The ground opened.
Pulled him under.
No blood.
Just silence folding over him like soil closing its mouth.
Aditi sobbed.
Rohan whispered,
"…It ate him vertically."
The monster rose behind them — taller now.
Thicker.
With something human in its posture.
It wore Sameer's limp like a memory.
And it was still learning.