The silence felt unnatural, too heavy, as if the city itself had been forced to hold its breath. Claire’s pulse pounded in her ears as she scanned the ruined streets. The subway had vanished behind them, swallowed by an abyss of static and distortion, but the terror that had followed them up was still here—somewhere.

Riley hunched over, hands on his knees, struggling to breathe. “Did you see that thing? It was—it wasn’t real.”

“It was real enough,” Elena shot back, rubbing her arms as if trying to chase away a chill that had settled into her bones.

Daniel straightened, his jaw tight. “We can’t stay here. If it’s watching us, we need to move before it finds a way back.”

The streetlights flickered erratically. Something was wrong with the air—it shimmered, bending light in unnatural ways. The buildings around them seemed intact one moment, then broken and aged the next, as if time itself was struggling to decide what belonged and what didn’t.

Then, the sound returned.

A low, crackling hum, like an old radio tuning in to a dead channel. It slithered through the night, vibrating through the concrete beneath their feet. Claire’s breath hitched as shadows stretched unnaturally along the pavement, twisting toward them.

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A faint voice crackled through the distortion. "You shouldn't be here."

Claire spun, but there was no one behind them.

“Run,” Riley whispered, barely audible, his wide eyes locked on something in the distance.

They turned—and saw it.

The entity had returned, hovering at the far end of the street, its form a pulsing mass of jagged lines and fragmented shapes. It flickered between states, one moment humanoid, the next something far worse—something clawed, elongated, writhing. The air around it warped violently, and the ground beneath it fractured like glass under pressure.

Then it lunged.

They ran.

Claire felt the world stretch and twist around her, her vision blurring as reality buckled. The city no longer followed its own rules—alleyways became endless corridors, streets folded in on themselves, and time stuttered, looping in dizzying fragments.

Daniel grabbed her wrist, yanking her down an abandoned passageway. The walls pulsed, flickering between brick, steel, and something unrecognizable.

“There!” Elena pointed to a door—a rusted service entrance hanging open just ahead.

They dove inside, slamming it shut just as the distortion surged past them, rattling the walls with an electric screech. For a moment, the air shimmered violently, the door vibrating as if it were on the verge of collapsing into static.

Then—silence.

Claire pressed her back against the wall, heart hammering. The others were just as shaken, their breathing ragged, their faces pale.

Daniel exhaled sharply. “We can’t outrun this thing forever.”

Riley swallowed hard. “Then what do we do?”

Nobody had an answer.

Outside, the world was still shifting, unraveling. And somewhere, in the fractured remains of the city, the entity was waiting.

Watching.

Hunting.