The air was thick with tension as we stumbled out of the bunker, the faint glow of dawn on the horizon casting an eerie light on the ruined streets. My heart was still racing from what we’d seen—the tank, the figure, and that message flashing on the monitors.
Welcome back‚ Liora.
I couldn’t get the words out of my head.
Elias was unusually quiet beside me, his crowbar clutched tightly in one hand. The faint hum of the bunker still echoed in my ears, even though we were far from it now.
“Are you going to explain what just happened?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended. “Or are we just going to pretend that... thing didn’t look right at me?”
Elias glanced at me, his jaw tight. “I don’t know what to tell you, Liora. But if it knew your name...” He trailed off, his brow furrowing.
“It doesn’t make sense,” I muttered, mostly to myself. “None of this does.”
“It will.” His tone was grim, but there was an edge of certainty that made me want to believe him.
We moved in silence for a while, the streets eerily still. The Faded weren’t as active during the early hours of the day, but that didn’t mean they were gone. My knife was in my hand, my fingers wrapped tightly around the handle, ready for anything.
As we turned a corner, a soft sound made me stop in my tracks.
“Wait,” I whispered, holding out a hand to stop Elias.
He froze, his eyes scanning the shadows. “What is it?”
I pointed to the figure ahead of us—a lone Faded standing in the middle of the street. Its back was to us, its movements slow and deliberate.
“Stay quiet,” I murmured, motioning for him to follow me as I ducked behind a crumbling wall.
But as I peered around the corner, I noticed something strange. The Faded wasn’t moving toward anything. It wasn’t searching or wandering like they usually did.
It was... sweeping?
“What the hell?” I muttered under my breath.
Elias leaned over to see what I was looking at. His eyes narrowed. “It’s repeating something.”
The Faded’s arms moved back and forth in a jerky, repetitive motion, as if sweeping an invisible floor. It didn’t make sense. These things weren’t supposed to act like this.
“Do they... do this often?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” Elias said, his voice low. “I’ve seen it before. They reenact something—an action from their past lives, maybe.”
“Why?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” His tone was grim, his gaze fixed on the Faded. “It’s like they’re caught in a loop, reliving the last moments of who they used to be.”
The idea sent a chill down my spine. These weren’t just mindless monsters. They were fragments of people, echoes of what they once were.
As if sensing our presence, the Faded stopped. Its head twitched to the side, and for a moment, I thought it would turn toward us. But then it started the same motion again—sweeping the ground, over and over.
“What happens if we stop them?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
Elias shook his head. “Don’t.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know what triggers them,” he admitted. “But I’ve seen what happens when they break out of their routine. It’s not pretty.”
I swallowed hard, the weight of his words sinking in.
“Let’s move,” I said, standing slowly and motioning for him to follow.
We slipped past the Faded, keeping to the shadows. The streets were littered with debris, and the oppressive silence made every sound we made feel deafening.
As we walked, I noticed more of them. Faded scattered throughout the ruins, each one caught in some strange, repetitive action. One was sitting on the ground, rocking back and forth. Another stood in front of a crumbling wall, clawing at it endlessly.
The farther we went, the worse the behavior became.
“Why are they like this?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“I think it’s tied to the way the apocalypse happened,” Elias said. “Whatever caused this—it didn’t just kill them. It trapped them. Like their minds were fragmented.”
“You’re saying they’re still... human?”
He hesitated. “I’m saying they were human. But whatever they are now, it’s not natural.”
The thought made my stomach turn.
We turned another corner, and Elias suddenly stopped.
“What is it?” I asked, but he held up a hand, silencing me.
Ahead of us, a group of Faded had gathered in a tight circle. They moved in unison, their heads jerking side to side in an unnerving rhythm. It was like watching a choreographed performance, except every movement was wrong—disjointed and unnatural.
“They’re grouped together,” Elias said, his voice tense. “That’s never a good sign.”
“Why not?”
“Because it means they’re reacting to something.”
As if on cue, one of the Faded broke away from the group, its movements frantic. It slammed its clawed hands against a nearby wall, its hollow scream splitting the air.
The others followed, their cries echoing through the empty streets.
“We need to go,” Elias said urgently, grabbing my arm.
But as we turned to leave, I felt it again—that strange pull in the back of my mind. It was the same feeling I’d had in the bunker, when the flashes of memory hit me.
I stopped, turning back to look at the Faded.
“Liora, what are you doing?” Elias hissed.
“I... I think they’re trying to show us something.”
“That’s insane,” he snapped. “They’re not showing us anything—they’re reacting. And we don’t want to be here when they’re done.”
But I couldn’t move. The pull was stronger now, like an invisible thread tethering me to the Faded.
One of them turned suddenly, its hollow eyes locking onto mine.
And in that instant, a memory hit me like a freight train.
A lab. Bright lights. People in white coats shouting. Alarms blaring.
And then—
A voice, clear and cold: “Activate Protocol Faded.”
The memory vanished as quickly as it came, leaving me gasping for air. My knees buckled, and Elias caught me before I hit the ground.
“Liora!” His voice was distant, like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel.
“They know me,” I whispered, my vision blurring. “I was there. I saw...”
The sound of screeching metal snapped me back to reality.
The group of Faded was no longer circling. They were charging toward us.
“Run!” Elias shouted, dragging me to my feet.
We sprinted down the street, the guttural cries of the Faded growing louder behind us. My heart pounded in my chest, my legs burning with effort.
We turned a corner, ducking into an alley. Elias pulled me behind a pile of debris, his hand clamping over my mouth to muffle my breathing.
The Faded stormed past, their movements frenzied and chaotic.
When the last of them disappeared, Elias let out a shaky breath.
“What the hell just happened back there?” he demanded, his eyes boring into mine.
“I don’t know,” I said, my voice trembling. “But I think... I think I’ve seen this before.”
He stared at me, his expression unreadable. “Then we need to figure it out. Fast.”
From somewhere in the distance, the sound of more Faded echoed through the ruins.
And for the first time, I felt the full weight of what Elias had said earlier.
This wasn’t just survival anymore. This was something bigger.
Something that tied me to the end of the world.
The alley was quiet, too quiet. Parang ang tahimik para sabihin na wala na ang panganib. My pulse was still racing as I leaned against the crumbling wall, trying to steady my breathing. Beside me, Elias was watching the street, his crowbar ready in case the Faded doubled back.
“You okay?” he asked without looking at me.
I nodded, even though my chest was tight and my hands were trembling. “I’m fine.”
But that wasn’t true. The memory—or whatever it was—still clung to me like a shadow. The voice, the blinding lights, the chaos. It was as if my mind had opened a door that I didn’t even know existed, and now I couldn’t close it.
Elias turned to me, his expression grim. “What did you see back there?”
I hesitated, the words catching in my throat. “A lab. People shouting. Something about a protocol.”
“Protocol?” His brow furrowed. “What kind of protocol?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, frustration seeping into my voice. “It was just... fragments. Bits and pieces. But it felt real, Elias. Like I was actually there.”
He studied me for a moment, his jaw tightening. “If you were there, it means you’re more connected to this than I thought.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of it all. “You keep saying that, but I don’t even remember half of my own life. How can I be connected to something this big?”
Before he could answer, a soft, rhythmic sound reached us.
Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.
We both froze.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered.
Elias motioned for me to stay quiet as he crept toward the edge of the alley. He peered around the corner, his body tensed like a spring ready to snap.
Then he stepped back, his face pale.
“Liora,” he whispered, his voice tight. “You need to see this.”
My stomach churned as I moved to his side. I leaned out just enough to see—and immediately wished I hadn’t.
The Faded we’d escaped earlier were back. But they weren’t chasing us. They were... kneeling.
They formed a perfect circle in the middle of the street, their heads bowed and their clawed hands resting on the ground. It was a grotesque mimicry of reverence, like they were worshipping something unseen.
“Tangina,” I muttered under my breath. “Ano ‘yan?”
“I don’t know,” Elias said, his voice barely audible. “But I’ve never seen them do this before.”
The sound came again—tuk, tuk, tuk—louder now, like something heavy striking stone.
Then I saw it.
A figure emerged from the shadows, its movements slow and deliberate. At first, it looked human, but as it stepped into the faint light, I realized it wasn’t.
The creature was taller than any Faded I’d ever seen, its body unnaturally elongated. Its skin was ashen and cracked, like old stone, and its hollow eyes glowed faintly in the dim light.
In its hand was a long, jagged staff that it slammed against the ground with every step. Tuk. Tuk. Tuk.
The Faded didn’t move as it approached. They stayed kneeling, their heads bowed lower, as if in submission.
“What the hell is that?” I whispered, my voice shaking.
Elias didn’t answer. His grip on the crowbar tightened, his knuckles white.
The creature stopped in the center of the circle, its glowing eyes scanning the Faded. Then it tilted its head, as if listening to something we couldn’t hear.
And that’s when it turned.
Its gaze locked onto the alley where we were hiding, and my blood turned to ice.
It raised a hand, its bony finger pointing directly at me.
“Run,” Elias said, his voice barely more than a breath.
But I couldn’t move. My legs felt rooted to the ground, my mind screaming at me to do something, anything.
The creature let out a low, guttural sound that sent shivers down my spine.
Then it began to move toward us.