Their footsteps echoed through the empty subway tunnels as they advanced, flashlights cutting through the oppressive darkness. Adam led forward, Beth's knife still gripped tightly in his right hand.
Jackie tapped his earpiece and spoke, his voice low. "Beth, are you sure this plan will work? If it's smart, it might've already seen you."
Beth's voice crackled back through the earpiece. "Scent disturbers were scattered across the area. I never showed myself near the subway entrance either. From my vantage point, I'll be able to see which subway exit it takes. Your job is just to lure or flush it out."
Jackie sighed, glancing around the shadowy tunnel. "And what's stopping it from just bolting straight out of the city through these tunnels?"
Beth answered coolly, "Now that most of the animals have been dealt with, almost all officers are free. We've stationed a dozen at every tunnel outpost. They won't engage, just drive it back. We've already lost enough good people. I'm not risking more."
Jackie grunted in acknowledgment.
Adam spoke up, concern lacing his voice. "How's the others?"
A brief crackle, then Beth responded, "Sarah and Arnold haven't found anything yet. They're pushing deeper. Peter and Tia found some human remains. Seems this cunning bastard has built multiple dens around the tunnels. Tia's Tiggy is tracking it with fervor."
Adam sighed. "Just make sure they don't try to fight it. Let it get lured out."
Beth's voice came a second later, tinged with a hint of dry humor. "You don't have to worry about them. If anything, you two are the slowest when it comes to running away."
Jackie chuckled. "True. We don't have a speedy old man—or a damn tiger to ride on."
"Keep me updated," Beth said.
"Will do," Adam replied.
They continued down the tunnel, boots echoing against the damp concrete. After several minutes of tense silence, Adam's flashlight flickered over something up ahead. He narrowed his eyes, stepping closer.
"I see something," he called out.
They hurried closer—and froze.
It was a severed human leg.
Jackie knelt down, inspecting the grisly sight. "Say, don't wolves usually eat back in their dens?"
Adam shrugged, keeping his flashlight scanning the dark corridor. "I don't know. I'm not exactly a wolf expert."
Jackie poked the leg gently with the tip of his knuckle. "Wait... it's fresh. See? Blood's still warm. Still flowing."
Adam's heart pounded faster. He immediately swept his light up and around, surveying the endless darkness stretching both ahead and behind them.
Far down the tunnel, his beam caught something—an alcove in the wall, barely visible—a maintenance door.
Adam pointed. "There. I see a small space in the wall. Looks like a door."
Jackie squinted. "Beth, we might've found it."
There was a pause before Beth answered. "Are you confident you can handle it?"
Jackie grinned, slipping on his brass knuckles. "I'm more confident it'll run away."
They moved cautiously toward the maintenance door. It hung half off its hinges, a black void yawning beyond it.
Jackie gestured at the door. "It's busted. Definitely hiding in there."
Adam shifted the knife in his grip, his voice steady. "I'll go in first. Hit it when it tries to bite me."
Jackie gave a casual 'okay' sign.
Adam took a deep breath, flashlight in one hand, knife in the other, and slowly stepped into the darkness beyond the door.
Adam stepped inside, sweeping his flashlight around the dark maintenance room. Jackie followed closely behind, moving cautiously. A pungent, rotting smell filled the air, making Adam grimace.
Suddenly, his flashlight started flickering.
"Damn it," Adam muttered, smacking it with his palm. For a moment, the light steadied—then it sputtered and died completely, plunging everything into darkness.
Adam turned instinctively, glancing behind him—but he couldn't see Jackie.
"Jackie? Did your flashlight die too?"
Silence.
"Jackie?" he called again, voice tense.
Nothing.
Panic gripped him. Adam lunged backward, reaching blindly for where Jackie had been—but he grabbed nothing but empty air.
Frantically, he tapped his earpiece. "Beth! Jackie's gone!"
He stood there, heart hammering in his chest, waiting for a response.
Only silence answered him.
Adam clenched his fists.
The wolf is here. It's somewhere around me. And I can't see a damn thing!
Rage and survival instinct kicked in.
Fine. You want to play dirty? Let's play.
He turned and sprinted in one direction, arms stretched out, hoping to hit a wall and find his bearings.
But he never reached it.
When they entered, the room hadn't seemed that large—maybe six meters to either side of the door, twelve meters total length. In a normal room, he should've hit a wall within three seconds.
He ran for twenty.
And still, nothing.
Something's wrong. Something's very, very wrong.
Breathing heavily, Adam stopped and looked around. But there was no light. No shape. It was like he was standing in a void, where even the concept of 'space' was nonexistent.
Teeth gritted, he ran again, full sprint, in another direction.
Thirty seconds passed.
Still nothing.
Terror started gnawing at him. His mind reeled.
What the hell is this? Some kind of infinite room?
He slapped his own cheek hard. Pain exploded across his face.
No illusion. It's real.
He looked up.
The ceiling... if I jump, I should reach it.
He leapt as high as he could.
Nothing.
Just more empty void.
A sick dread settled in his gut. The only thing he could feel—the only thing tethering him to reality—was the cement floor beneath his boots.
Desperation set in. He knelt down, pressing his palms to the ground.
Cement. I can break it.
Without hesitation, he began punching the floor with all his strength. Again and again. His fists split open, blood soaking into the concrete, but his body regenerated just as quickly. Over and over, he struck, furious and wild.
Finally, he felt it—the floor cracked under his relentless assault.
He pulled his arm back for another punch—
Then froze.
He was standing.
His flashlight was in his left hand, still flickering but shining.
His knife was clutched tightly in his right.
Adam blinked in confusion. The pungent stench slammed into him again, stronger than ever. As he swept his flashlight around, shapes began to emerge from the darkness—broken tables, shattered cabinets, scattered human remains, half-eaten and rotting.
The entire room was a graveyard.
Then he heard it—a slow, ragged breathing behind him.
Adam stiffened.
He turned—and there it was.
A massive wolf carcass, mangled and bloody, lay collapsed across the room. Its skull had been pounded into an unrecognizable mess.
Slumped against the far wall, Jackie sat bloodied and bruised. A deep wound marred his thigh, and scratches crisscrossed his arms and face. Despite it all, he grinned up at Adam, teeth bloody.
"Morning, sunshine."