Chapter 31: Ancient Creature
A few hours passed before Fin jerked awake with a splitting headache. He blinked several times, his vision gradually clearing as he took in his surroundings. The abandoned building, the broken zombie corpse nearby, the dried green blood on his knuckles.
"Shit," he muttered, pulling himself up and wincing at the pain shooting through his ribs. His mind snapped back to the mission, to Juliana, to the tower. He stumbled to the door and burst outside.
The streets were empty. No zombies, no Hunters, nothing but silence.
"How long was I out for?" He glanced at the sky, trying to gauge the time. The quiet unsettled him. No distant sounds of battle, no roars, nothing.
He ran toward the tower, hoping to find the other Hunters there. His legs felt stronger than before, powered by the energy he’d absorbed from the zombie. The streets passed in a blur as he pushed himself faster.
When he reached the area where the Guild teams had gathered, he found nothing but signs of battle—broken weapons, splashes of blood, crumbling buildings. But no bodies, no survivors. Just emptiness.
The tower loomed ahead, and he noticed something different. The massive door at its base stood open, darkness yawning beyond.
"This seems like a bad idea," he said to himself, approaching cautiously. He peered inside, expecting an ambush, but saw no movement. No zombies lurked in the shadows, no vines writhed along the walls.
He stepped through the doorway, and lights flickered on around him. The interior stretched impossibly far, much larger than the tower’s exterior suggested. Polished floors, high ceilings, pristine walls—it looked nothing like the crumbling ruin outside.
"What the hell?" he whispered, moving deeper inside. The place seemed untouched by the chaos that had consumed the city.
He wandered through empty hallways, checking rooms that appeared to be labs or living quarters. Nothing moved, and the overwhelming presence he’d felt earlier had vanished.