The darkness was absolute.

  Billy’s cybernetic overlay adjusted instantly, switching to infrared mode. His vision flooded with red and orange hues, scanning the room for heat signatures.

  But there was nothing.

  The Cerberus agent moved beside him, back pressed against the terminal. Her disruptor pistol hummed to life, casting a faint blue glow in the pitch-black chamber.

  “We’re trapped,” she muttered, voice tight.

  Billy’s jaw clenched. “Yeah. But the real problem is—”

  A distortion flickered in the corner of his vision.

  A ripple in the air. A shape that wasn’t quite there.

  Then it moved.

  Fast.

  Billy barely had time to react before something lashed out. A tendril of pure darkness, shifting like liquid shadow, struck toward him with inhuman speed. He twisted, barely dodging as it slammed into the floor with a wet, unnatural hiss.

  The agent fired. Her disruptor’s energy blast illuminated the room for a split second—long enough for Billy to see it.

  A figure. Tall. Twisted. Its body was wrong, shifting between solid and incorporeal, its form constantly breaking apart and reforming.

  Billy fired twice, his bullets tearing through nothing.

  “Shit,” he muttered. “It’s phasing.”

  The agent moved swiftly, flipping a switch on her weapon. “Switching to pulse rounds.”

  Billy did the same, activating the shock-mod rounds in his pistol. If it was phasing, then brute force wouldn’t cut it. They needed something that could disrupt its form.

  The creature screeched—a sound that wasn’t made for human ears.

  Then it lunged.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Billy dropped low as the agent fired a burst of energy rounds, forcing the creature back. It flickered, its body distorting violently, as if struggling to hold its shape.

  “That’s working,” Billy noted.

  The creature hissed, its form warping again—this time splitting into two.

  “Of course it can do that,” the agent muttered, already moving.

  Billy gritted his teeth. “We need to get that damn door open.”

  He sprinted toward the control panel while the agent covered him. The system was ancient, barely functioning. But it still had power. He jammed his cybernetic interface into the port, bypassing the damaged OS.

  Accessing emergency override…

  The creatures howled.

  One of them rushed Billy.

  The agent pivoted, firing another disruptor shot, but this time the creature anticipated it. Its form flickered, dodging the blast, and then—

  It was on top of Billy.

  He had no time to think.

  He twisted, shoving his pistol against where its chest should have been, and fired a point-blank pulse round.

  The shockwave exploded outward, sending Billy skidding across the floor. The creature shrieked, its body unraveling, flickering between dimensions before finally disintegrating.

  Billy coughed, forcing himself up. “One down.”

  The agent was still engaged with the second one, dodging its wild, erratic attacks. Billy turned back to the console.

  Come on, come on…

  His interface finally cracked the system.

  Emergency override activated.

  The blast doors rumbled.

  The creature froze.

  Then, with a final screech, it dissipated, vanishing like smoke in the wind.

  Silence.

  Billy exhaled, rolling his shoulders. “That wasn’t fun.”

  The agent holstered her pistol. “Whatever those things were, Holloway must’ve been experimenting on them.”

  Billy looked at the dead scientist slumped over the terminal. “And I’m guessing it didn’t end well for him.”

  The agent nodded, then pointed at the console. “Check if anything’s left.”

  Billy plugged back in, scanning for surviving data. Most of it was corrupted, overwritten by the automated purge. But one log file remained intact.

  He pulled it up.

  A video recording.

  He played it.

  The feed was grainy, distorted, but Holloway’s face was visible.

  He looked… terrified.

  “They promised me it would be contained,” he muttered, breath ragged. “They said we could control it. But it’s… it’s sentient.”

  The lights in the background flickered. Something moved behind him.

  “They were wrong,” Holloway whispered. “It’s not from our world. It doesn’t follow our rules.”

  A cold, mechanical voice interrupted the feed.

  “You should not have looked too deep, Dr. Holloway.”

  Holloway’s eyes went wide. “Please. I—”

  The feed cut out.

  Billy frowned. “That voice.”

  The agent’s expression darkened. “Not Kane.”

  Billy nodded.

  This was bigger than Kane Industries.

  Much bigger.

  And whoever was pulling the strings?

  They were still out there. Watching.

  Billy exhaled. “Looks like the real game just started.”

  The agent smirked. “Then let’s make sure we win.”