The city pulsed with an unnatural rhythm, its jagged skyline rippling as if caught between dimensions. The air crackled, charged with unseen forces, making every breath feel heavier, every step more treacherous. Claire led the way through the fractured streets, her heart hammering as reality distorted around them.

"Keep moving," Daniel urged, his voice barely above a whisper. "Don't look too long at anything that shifts."

Buildings flickered like mirages, their structures dissolving into pixelated nothingness before reforming in grotesque new shapes. One moment, they were passing an abandoned bookstore, its neon sign stuttering with static. The next, the store was gone—replaced by a yawning abyss where the city simply ended. Riley stumbled, nearly slipping into the void before Claire caught him.

"Watch your step," she hissed, pulling him back.

Elena gritted her teeth. "How the hell do we navigate a place that won’t stay in one piece?"

A deep, resonating hum cut through the shifting landscape. The ground trembled beneath them. Then, from the swirling chaos ahead, something emerged.

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The entity was unlike anything they had seen before. It towered over the ruins, a silhouette of twisting, half-formed limbs and flickering light. Its presence warped everything nearby—lamp posts bent in its wake, cars crumpled inward as if crushed by invisible hands. The air itself seemed to scream around it.

"Move!" Daniel barked, shoving them into motion.

They sprinted down the unstable street, the world glitching violently around them. Pavement peeled away beneath their feet. Reality folded in on itself. Claire’s vision blurred as time and space twisted like a corrupted video feed. The entity surged forward, its presence distorting gravity itself.

Ahead, an alleyway flickered into existence. "There!" Claire shouted, leading them toward it.

Just as they reached the entrance, a wave of distortion rippled through the air, sending them sprawling. The entity loomed above them, its shifting form pulsating with unfathomable energy. Claire scrambled to her feet, dragging Riley up as Daniel and Elena braced themselves for the inevitable.

Then—

A sudden burst of static exploded through the air, like the world itself was screaming in defiance. The entity let out an inhuman wail, its form flickering erratically before it vanished, dissolving into the void. The city trembled once more, then settled into an eerie stillness.

Panting, Claire looked at the others. "We need to figure out what just happened. Fast."

Daniel wiped the sweat from his brow. "Whatever that was, it won't be the last. And I don't think we're the only ones still left in this city."

A low, distant sound echoed through the streets—something unmistakably human.

Someone else was out there.

And they weren’t alone.