The lantern swayed gently between the trees.

Maya kept her revolver raised.

Rain began falling through the forest canopy, soft at first, then heavier. The distant sirens near the silos still echoed faintly across the valley like dying screams.

“Show yourself,” Maya ordered.

For several seconds, nothing moved.

Then the woman stepped forward from the darkness.

She looked to be in her early thirties. Pale skin. Long black coat soaked by rain. A hunting crossbow rested across her back, and several knives hung from her belt. A faded scar ran from her neck to her left eyebrow.

Most unsettling were her eyes.

Calm.

Far too calm for this world.

“My name is Selena Voss,” she said quietly. “And if you stay here another minute, the Harvesters will tear both of you apart.”

Ethan nearly collapsed against a tree.

“The blood,” Selena said, staring at his infected shoulder. “They can smell it from half a mile now.”

Maya didn’t lower the gun.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve studied them.”

Lightning flashed above the forest.

For a split second, Maya noticed something strange hanging around Selena’s neck.

A BLACKTHORN identification badge.

Selena saw her looking.

“That’s why you shouldn’t trust me,” she said calmly. “But you should still follow me.”

A low screech suddenly echoed through the woods nearby.

Every muscle in Selena’s body tightened instantly.

“They’re hunting.”

Without another word, she turned and disappeared deeper into the trees.

Maya hesitated only briefly before pulling Ethan after her.

The forest became denser as they moved downhill through mud and dead leaves. Rain hammered the branches overhead while distant growls echoed in every direction.

Ethan stumbled repeatedly.

His skin was getting worse.

The black veins had spread across his neck now, pulsing slowly beneath the surface.

“How long after infection?” Maya asked quietly.

Selena glanced back.

“Usually six hours.”

Ethan stopped walking.

“What happens after that?”

Selena didn’t answer immediately.

“When the transformation begins,” she said finally, “you hear the signal.”

“The horn?”

She nodded once.

“They don’t become violent instantly anymore. First they listen.”

A branch snapped nearby.

Selena froze.

Maya raised the revolver again.

Shapes moved between the trees around them.

Too many.

The Harvesters had found their trail.

“Run,” Selena whispered.

The forest exploded with movement.

Infected figures burst through the darkness from every side. Some moved on all fours. Others climbed trees with horrifying speed. Their clicking sounds filled the night air like insects communicating.

Maya fired twice.

One creature spun backward into the mud.

Another leapt directly toward Ethan.

Before Maya could react, Selena drew a curved blade and slashed the Harvester across the throat in one fluid motion.

Black blood sprayed across the rain.

“Move!” Selena shouted.

They sprinted downhill through the storm until an enormous steel hatch appeared hidden beneath moss-covered rocks.

Selena grabbed a rusted wheel lock and forced it open.

Cold air rushed upward from underground.

“Inside!”

Maya shoved Ethan through first.

The moment they climbed down the metal ladder, Selena slammed the hatch shut above them.

Darkness swallowed everything.

Then emergency lights flickered on weakly.

Maya stared around in shock.

The underground chamber stretched far beneath the forest like a hidden bunker. Old computers lined the walls. Medical beds stood abandoned beneath dusty plastic sheets.

And painted across the far wall in faded black letters were two words:

BLACKTHORN DIVISION

Ethan looked terrified.

“You worked here?”

Selena said nothing.

Then Maya noticed something sitting inside a containment chamber at the center of the room.

A chained Harvester.

Alive.

Its white eyes slowly opened.

And when it looked directly at Ethan—

It smiled.