Hope

The Hollowed Earth

The gate opened with a deep rumble.

Cold air rushed in, dry and thin. It smelled of metal and dust.

Riven stepped outside for the first time in his life.

The ground under his boots was cracked and gray. The sky above wasn’t blue—it was a dirty orange, covered in thick clouds that hid the sun. Everything felt dead and heavy.

He looked around. The world he’d heard about in stories was gone. No trees. No birds. Only broken buildings leaning against each other like tired giants.

Behind him, Captain Nyra spoke through the radio in his helmet.

“Stay close. Keep your mask sealed. We don’t know what’s out here.”

The rest of the Vanguard walked out slowly.

Jax’s heavy armor made deep marks in the dust. Tarin moved lightly, scanning the area with his rifle. Eloen checked her scanner, the small screen glowing blue.

“Radiation’s low,” she said. “We’ve got a few hours.”

“That’s long enough,” Nyra answered. “Let’s move.”

They followed a cracked road that stretched between ruined cars and pieces of old buildings. Everything was quiet—too quiet. The only sound was the wind blowing across the empty land.

Riven couldn’t stop staring.

He had seen pictures of the surface in the archives—green hills, rivers, blue skies. This wasn’t that. This was a graveyard.

He passed an old car half buried in dust. Inside, two dark shapes sat frozen in the front seats. He looked away quickly.

“Keep your head forward, kid,” Tarin said, walking beside him. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Used to what?” Riven asked.

“The dead world,” Tarin said with a grin. “She stares back if you look too long.”

Riven tried to smile, but it didn’t come out right.

After an hour of walking, they reached the edge of a ruined city. Tall buildings stood around them, broken and blackened by old fire. The streets were covered in ash.

“This must be Zone E,” Nyra said, checking her map. “The air filter core should be near the old river.”

“River?” Riven asked. “There’s water out here?”

“Not water,” Dray said. “Something worse.”

They found an old store with part of the roof still standing and stopped to rest. Jax set up a small energy shield that shimmered faintly around them.

Riven sat on the floor, staring at the light coming through the cracks in the wall. He couldn’t help thinking of Mira—his sister—out here somewhere. Was she alive? Was she scared?

He held the small metal pendant she’d given him and whispered, “I’ll find you.”

A sudden noise broke the silence.

A sharp c***k echoed from outside.

Tarin froze. “Did anyone hear that?”

Everyone went still. The wind had stopped.

Dray sent his drone out through a hole in the wall. The little machine flew quietly above the street, its camera showing shaky images on his wrist screen.

“Nothing… wait,” he whispered. “Something moved.”

Riven leaned closer. On the screen, something crawled out from under a car—pale, thin, moving on all fours. Its skin looked stretched and dry, and its eyes glowed faintly in the dust.

Eloen’s voice shook. “That’s not human.”

Nyra’s hand went to her rifle. “The Hollowed.”

The creature lifted its head and screamed. The sound was high and broken, like metal tearing.

“Positions!” Nyra shouted.

More screams answered the first.

Shapes started appearing between the buildings—dozens of them, running, crawling, stumbling toward the noise.

Jax spun up his heavy gun. “Here they come!”

“Back up! Form a line!” Nyra ordered.

The creatures rushed them. Riven aimed his rifle, his hands shaking. He fired once—missed. Fired again—hit one in the chest, but it kept moving.

“Headshots, Riven!” Tarin yelled. “They don’t die otherwise!”

He aimed again and fired. This time, the Hollowed dropped.

They kept coming. Claws scratched at the energy barrier. The shield sparked and hissed as the monsters slammed against it.

Sera threw a knife through the gap, catching one in the eye. Jax’s gun thundered, mowing down another line. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Eloen shouted, “The shield’s losing power!”

“Hold!” Nyra yelled. “Don’t break formation!”

Riven’s rifle clicked empty. He reached for another magazine, hands slick with sweat. The sound of screaming filled his ears.

The barrier flickered once, twice—then died.

“Fall back!” Nyra shouted.

They ran through the back of the store, down a broken stairway into the tunnels below. Riven looked back just long enough to see the Hollowed pouring through the door, their pale faces twisted in hunger.

Jax slammed the door shut and welded it with his plasma torch. The pounding on the other side began at once.

Everyone stood there, catching their breath. The metal door shook again and again, then went silent.

No one spoke for a long time.

Finally, Nyra said quietly, “Now you’ve seen them. Remember that sound—it means run.”

Riven nodded, his heart still racing. He didn’t say it out loud, but he already knew one thing:

If Mira was really out here, she was living in a nightmare.

And he was going to walk through hell to find her.