Colonel Veltin tried the transmission again. Static. Nothing. Exactly as Kato had reported.
Major Harrow stepped closer, voice low. "Colonel, is there something wrong?"
Veltin removed the headset, setting it on the table with a sigh. "I've tried reaching HQ several times. Every attempt—dead air. Just like Echo Needle reported."
Her gaze hardened. "Major, I don't like this. Call it gut instinct—call it a woman's intuition—but I think something's happened to HQ."
Harrow's jaw tightened at the thought. "I don't doubt your instincts, Colonel. But this time—I hope you're wrong."
"Me too, Major," she said quietly. "Me too."
A soldier nearby raised his voice, hesitant. "Colonel… do we turn back?"
Veltin shook her head firmly. "No. We keep course. Have faith in the General—and those left behind. They'll hold. Our mission is Echo Needle and Angelo. Once we have him, then we return."
She moved to the front and told the driver, "Pull over when you find a safe spot. Switch drivers and refuel."
The soldier nodded sharply and scanned for a clearing. Soon, both Warden and Howler rolled into an open field, engines cooling as crews refilled and rotated shifts.
Veltin stepped forward, her voice carrying over the idle hum of machinery.
"Attention all personnel. Our connection to HQ has been severed. Cause unknown."
Murmurs spread like wildfire, fear etched on every face.
"I know you're worried," Veltin pressed on, her tone cutting through their unease. "So am I. But have faith in the General. He will keep HQ safe. Our task is clear—link with Echo Needle, secure Angelo, and return. Nothing else."
A beat, then: "Understood?"
The chorus rang out sharp and unified: "Yes, Colonel!" Their voices carried across the field, solid and strong.
"Good," Veltin nodded. "You have twenty minutes. Eat, rest, refuel. Then we move."
The units fell to their tasks, disciplined but subdued. Twenty minutes passed, and Warden and Howler were moving again. Silence hung heavy inside both transports. Night crept in, shadows lengthening across the barren roads.
Back in the town, Nero sat slumped in the kitchen table, forehead pressed to the wood, fingers laced tightly over his head. He hadn't moved in some time.
Vinn watched him from the corner, arms crossed. Finally, he stepped forward. "You done cooling off?"
Nero didn't lift his head. His voice came muffled, raw. "Fuck off. I'm not in the mood."
"Yeah? Me neither," Vinn shot back. "But if you keep acting like you did outside, the backup team won't see you as an ally. They'll see you as a threat."
Silence.
Vinn exhaled. "I hate to admit it, but Kato or Rhea would probably handle this better than me." He jabbed Nero lightly with his rifle. "Come on. At least eat something."
Nero's voice snapped, low and edged. "Not hungry. Keep pushing me, and I'll kill you."
Vinn stilled, then lowered the gun. "Fine. Just answer one thing, and I'll stop bothering you."
No response. Vinn pushed anyway. "We were sent to find you—and your family. We heard you were taken by creatures. Suspected your family was too. So… what happened? How did you end up here?"
Nero's hands slowly slid down from his head. He raised his face slowly, eyes flat and lifeless. His voice was almost hollow.
"They're dead. All of them. The Colonel's rescue team. My family. The creatures. Sophia. Every last one."
Vinn stiffened. The weight of the words hung between them. After a long silence, he asked, voice taut, "Who? Did you…?"
Nero's gaze didn't falter. "Yes. It was me."
And inside his mind, Angelo laughed faintly. "Playing the killer now, are we?"
"It's the truth," Nero answered in the silence of his own head. "Doesn't matter if it was you or me. We're the same person."
Vinn's jaw clenched. The admission hit like a blade—but it didn't cut deep. He stared hard into Nero's eyes. "That… can't be true. Stop lying. I've killed more than a hundred men. I know when someone carries blood on their hands and when they're faking it."
Nero's irritation cracked. He rose suddenly, the chair scraping against the floor. In a blur, his hand snatched Vinn's sidearm with inhuman speed. Before Vinn could react, the barrel pressed cold against his forehead. The safety clicked off.
Nero's voice was a blade of ice. "Should I pull the trigger? Prove I'm not faking it?"
Vinn met his gaze—silver eyes burning inches from his own. But there was no fear in him now. Only iron.
"Go ahead. Do it. Pull the fucking trigger."
Nero's eyes narrowed. "I'm not bluffing."
"Then do it," Vinn said, louder. "Prove it. Or maybe—" He grabbed the gun himself, forcing the barrel aside. "—you've never killed a human before."
The words hung like a hammer. Nero froze. His hand loosened.
Vinn tore the weapon from his grip, re-engaged the safety, and slid it back into his holster. His expression was steady, unwavering.
"Killing monsters, beasts… that's survival. Like hunting. But killing people?" He leaned closer, voice quieter now. "That's different. Even if you're not human—you were raised by them. Loved by them. You could never do it willingly."
Nero's head lowered, eyes locked on the floor. In his mind, Angelo's voice stirred again. "That man… knows what he's saying."
Vinn dragged a chair closer and sat, his tone firm but less sharp. "Now sit. And tell me what really happened."
Nero no longer argued with Vinn. He knew it was pointless. Instead, he sat down in the chair, his voice low as he began.
"I was trying to lead the creatures away from Fort Blackspear where I was staying. The plan was working—until those things attacked and killed Hale and Ryan. They knocked me out and dragged me before their general. When I came to, I was chained up. Somehow, those chains… they stopped me from using my powers."
"After a while, they captured the Colonel and his team, who had come to rescue me. Then… they brought in my family. And Sophia."
His voice wavered.
"They looked terrified. Emma was crying. Even she was bound in chains."
Nero's hands began to tremble violently.
"And then it started. They tortured and killed the Colonel and his team, one by one. I kept my eyes shut—just like the man with the Colonel told me to. But the monsters forced them open. They made me watch. As they started torturing my family."
"My family… right in front of me. I begged them to stop. They didn't. Alex—he apologized with his dying breath for calling me a monster. Emma… my little sister… they tortured her. She screamed, thrashed, begged—"It hurts… it hurts… make it stop." Over and over. And still, they laughed, until her soul left her body with one final jolt."
Vinn's face went pale. His stomach twisted violently. He staggered to the sink and vomited, but Nero kept speaking.
"My father told my mother to stay strong, right up to his last breath. Then they turned to Sophia. She didn't cry. She just looked at me, even as they stripped the skin from her body. She said she was sorry—for not being able to keep my family safe."
Tears slid down Nero's face—but his voice kept going.
"Then… my mother. They dragged her closer to me, so I could see her suffer clearly. Small cuts—slow, deliberate, cruel. They made sure she didn't die quickly. They severed her legs. I pulled against the chains until my wrists and ankles tore open. I collapsed onto the blood-soaked floor. My mother dragged herself to me—broken, bleeding—and held me. She told me to keep living, to be happy."
Nero's voice cracked.
"They pulled her away. And then… they crushed her skull under their heel."
He wiped his tears roughly and lifted his gaze to Vinn, who stood trembling by the sink.
"Seeing everything I loved destroyed in front of me—I let the Void take over. I was ready… to never come back from it." Nero pointed at himself. "But this part of me resisted being swallowed whole."
"And yet, in those few moments the Void was in control, it erased everything in range. Everything. The creatures. The remains of the people I loved. Even the smallest stones in that place—gone. As if none of it had ever existed."
Vinn froze where he stood, staring at Nero in silent horror. He didn't know what to do.