The Moon Rot

Chapter Eleven: The Stranger’s Path

I took Lena’s hand.

The moment our skin touched, a strange cold feeling ran up my arm. Not painful, but wrong. The wolf inside me growled low in warning.

We ran through the abandoned park, weaving between dead trees and broken benches. Lena moved fast and quiet, like she had done this many times before.

“Where are we going?” I asked, breathing hard.

“Somewhere the trackers can’t reach,” she replied without slowing down. “Underground tunnels. Old subway lines the Order doesn’t know about.”

My shoulder throbbed worse with every step. The drop from Dr. Voss was starting to wear off, and the wolf was pushing harder, wanting control. My vision kept flashing between normal and sharper, more animal.

We reached an old subway entrance blocked by a chained gate. Lena pulled out a small bolt cutter from her coat and snapped the chain like it was nothing. She noticed me watching.

“I’ve been preparing for this for years,” she said.

We slipped inside and descended the dark stairs. The air grew damp and cold. Water dripped from the ceiling. Our footsteps echoed in the empty tunnel.

After ten minutes of walking in near darkness, Lena stopped at a hidden metal door. She pressed her palm against a small panel. It beeped and opened.

Inside was a surprisingly clean room — concrete walls, a few cots, shelves with supplies, and a generator humming softly in the corner.

“Sit,” she said, pointing to one of the cots. “Let me look at that shoulder.”

I hesitated. The wolf was still uneasy around her.

“You don’t trust me,” Lena said with a small smile. “Smart. But if I wanted you dead, I could have let the Order take you back there.”

She had a point.

I sat down and let her check the wound. Her fingers were cool. She cleaned it carefully and wrapped it with fresh bandages.

“You’re healing faster than normal,” she murmured. “The silver should have done more damage.”

“Why are you helping me?” I asked.

Lena sat back on her heels. Her blue eyes glowed faintly in the dim light. “Because I was like you once. Moon-touched. Until the Order took everything from me.”

She pulled up her sleeve. Her arm was covered in old scars — perfect circles that looked like they came from silver burns.

“I lost my pack,” she continued quietly. “Now I help others like us disappear… or fight back.”

I thought about Zara and Max. Were they still alive? Had they escaped?

As if reading my mind, Lena said, “Your friends are strong. They’ll find their way here. I left signs for them.”

I wanted to believe her.

The generator flickered for a second. In that moment of weaker light, I saw something strange — a small tattoo on Lena’s neck. A silver circle with a line through it. The same symbol I had seen on the hunters’ gear.

My stomach tightened.

Before I could say anything, a loud banging came from the tunnel outside.

Lena stood up quickly. “They’re here already? That’s impossible.”

She grabbed a bag from the shelf and tossed it to me. “There’s a map inside. Follow the red line. It leads to the north exit. Go now.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll hold them off.” Her blue eyes flashed. “This is what I do.”

I stood up, pain shooting through my shoulder. The wolf screamed at me to stay and fight, but I knew I was still too weak.

I ran deeper into the tunnel, following the map with a small flashlight.

Behind me, I heard shouting and the sound of fighting start again.

My mind raced.

Could I trust Lena?

Was this another trap?

Or was she really trying to help?

The tunnel split ahead. Left or right?

I stopped, breathing hard, the wolf howling inside my head for direction.

Then I heard Zara’s voice echo faintly from somewhere far behind me.

“Arian!”

My heart jumped.

They had found me.

But so had the Order.

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**To be continued…**