Hope

The Fall of the Vanguard

The sound came first—a hiss like boiling water, low and endless.

Then came the movement.

The pods along the walls began to open one by one, releasing white steam into the cold air. Figures stepped out—pale, thin, shaking. Their eyes glowed faint blue in the flickering light.

Riven’s heart froze. “What are they?”

Nyra raised her rifle, her voice calm but sharp. “They’re what’s left of the ARC experiments. Weapons that used to be people. Everyone—defensive line!”

The creatures began to scream.

It was not a human sound—it was like glass grinding against metal.

The Vanguard opened fire.

Blinding flashes filled the chamber. Jax’s rifle thundered, Sera’s knives sliced through the fog, and Tarin’s sniper bolts cracked through skulls. Still, they kept coming—hundreds of them, crawling from the shadows, climbing the walls, dripping with black fluid that hissed where it touched the floor.

Dray yelled over the chaos. “We need a way out!”

“Elevator shaft behind the control hub!” Nyra shouted. “Move!”

Riven covered Lio as they ran, heart pounding so hard he thought it would burst.

He saw one of the Changed leap at Sera. She spun, stabbing its throat, but another grabbed her arm and bit deep into her shoulder. She screamed and slammed her knife through its skull.

Blood soaked her jacket.

“Keep moving!” she gasped, limping toward the others.

Nyra pushed open the control-room door. Inside, screens flickered with static and alarms screamed “BREACH DETECTED. CONTAINMENT FAILURE.”

Dray ran to the console, typing fast. “I can override the elevator lock—but it’s going to take power. We’ll need a manual start.”

Jax slammed a new battery into his rifle. “Then we split. I’ll cover the main corridor. No one gets past me.”

Nyra’s eyes met his. “You’ll die if you stay.”

He grinned. “I know.”

Riven stepped forward. “No—there’s got to be another way—”

But Jax just put a hand on his shoulder, heavy and warm. “Kid… sometimes the only way is through.”

Then he turned and walked back toward the hall, the thunder of his rifle echoing behind him.

In the control room, sparks flew as Dray rerouted the power. Sera leaned against the wall, her skin pale. Eloen tried to stop the bleeding on her shoulder, but she pushed her away.

“I’m fine,” she said, though her voice was weak. “Just hurry.”

Riven stared at her. He could see the tremor in her hands.

The floor shook again. The wall behind them buckled as Jax’s gunfire grew distant—then stopped.

Silence.

Then a roar, deep and final.

Nyra closed her eyes. “He’s gone.”

Dray slammed his fist on the console. “Power online! Elevator’s ready!”

“Move!” Nyra ordered.

They ran through the lower corridor, following the arrows glowing faintly on the walls. Behind them, fire spread through the pipes—Jax’s final explosions taking half the chamber with him.

The elevator was ahead—massive, steel, and rusted with age. Tarin reached it first and pulled the lever to open the gate.

“Get in!” he shouted.

They piled inside. The doors screeched as they closed. Dray hit the control panel, and the lift lurched upward, gears grinding.

Riven looked down the shaft. Through the gaps in the floor, he could still see faint blue light far below—hundreds of eyes staring up from the dark.

Then something slammed into the elevator from beneath. Metal groaned. The whole lift shook violently.

“They’re climbing!” Lio cried.

Tarin leaned over the edge, firing down. One, two, three shots—each hit clean. But then, a clawed hand shot up and grabbed his leg.

He fired again, but another reached up—then another.

“Help him!” Riven shouted.

Nyra lunged forward, grabbing Tarin’s arm, but his grip was slipping. The Changed yanked him halfway out the gate.

“Cut the cable!” Tarin shouted. “Do it now!”

Nyra’s eyes widened. “No—”

“Now, Nyra!”

For a heartbeat, no one moved. Then she pulled the emergency lever.

The elevator dropped for a second, severing the climbing creatures—but Tarin lost his balance.

He fell with them.

Riven’s scream echoed in the shaft as the lift rose again, leaving the dark far below.

When they finally reached the top, the doors opened into a narrow access tunnel. Smoke drifted through cracks in the ceiling, and the ground shook with distant explosions from below.

Only five of them remained.

Riven. Nyra. Dray. Eloen. Lio.

They walked in silence until the tunnel opened up into a broken platform—an emergency exit that led to the surface.

The first breath of open air hit them like cold fire.

The sky was gray and endless, filled with drifting ash. Ruins stretched in every direction—skyscrapers half-buried in dust, cars melted into the ground, rivers of black water cutting through cracked concrete.

Lio stared at it all, trembling. “This… this is the surface?”

Dray nodded numbly. “What’s left of it.”

Riven’s chest felt hollow. He wanted to scream, to cry, but nothing came out. All he could see were faces—Sera’s tired smile, Jax’s grin before the door closed, Tarin’s hand slipping from Nyra’s grip.

Eloen placed a hand on his shoulder. “They knew what they were doing. They bought us time.”

Nyra opened her wristpad, scanning the data Dray had taken from the lab. A small hologram flickered—a Raider voice recording, distorted but clear.

“Transporting Phase Two subjects to Epsilon Sector. One of them—a girl, blue scarf—special priority. Orders from the Overseer.”

Riven’s head snapped up. “Mira…”

Nyra nodded slowly. “She’s alive. And if Epsilon exists, that’s where we go next.”

The others looked at her—exhausted, broken, but still standing.

Riven clenched his fists, the ash swirling around his boots. “For Sera. For Jax. For Tarin.”

He looked toward the horizon, voice low but steady.

“And for Mira.”

The wind carried the smell of smoke and burnt steel as they stepped out into the dead world—five survivors walking into the unknown.”