Chapter 131: Special
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
The sound wasn’t just loud—it vibrated, deep and thunderous, like the earth itself had caught its breath and begun to shudder. Steve froze, muscles tensing as the noise rolled across the broken terrain like distant drums of war.
’They’re close...’
The thought dropped into his chest like a stone in a still pond—ripples of excitement and fear overlapping inside him.
’They’re close. Damn it, they’re here already.’
His grip on the bundle of firewood slackened. The dry branches tumbled from his arms and hit the dirt with a soft clatter that suddenly seemed far too loud. His breath hitched. Then—he bolted.
He turned on his heels and sprinted, kicking up dust and ash, darting between broken beams and half-toppled walls. His eyes were flicking left and right, scanning, searching, calculating, judging every shadow and silhouette as he raced back toward the safety of the old ruins—toward the crude shelter he had rigged up beneath the collapsed edge of what used to be a watchtower.
The sound was still there—thud, thud, thud—pounding into the air like some primitive war chant.
’Where are they coming from?’ he thought, eyes wide and darting, his breath ragged as he pressed his back against the moss-covered stone. ’I can’t see them... but I can feel it. The tension. It’s thick, it’s coming in heavy. Like it’s sitting on my shoulders.’