The first light of morning slipped across the city in a pale, ghostly wash. Fires still burned in distant towers, smoke pillars rising like gravestones into the dawn.
Inside the small yellow house on the street's edge, the world felt suspended — as though the walls themselves were holding their breath.
They had arrived just before dawn. Exhausted, they'd collapsed on the dusty floors, some drifting into shallow, haunted sleep, others only pretending.
The survivors: Ayush. Ananya. Kartik. Shivam. Suraj. Sanaa. Riya. And Lucky — the quietest among them, who simply followed, eyes always scanning.
Ayush hadn't closed his eyes once. He sat alone in the back bedroom, leaning against a cracked wall, the Glock resting in his lap. Its slide was still stained with Drake's blood.
He didn't clean it. Couldn't.
A soft knock at the door.
Ananya entered, still wearing the torn blue shirt from the rooftop fight, hair tied in a messy knot. Her eyes were red, but steady.
"You didn't sleep," she murmured.
Ayush didn't look up.
She sat down beside him, shoulder against his.
"You did what you had to," she repeated, her voice softer than before.
Ayush's jaw tightened. "Then why does it feel like I killed the last person who could've actually saved us?"
Silence.
In the living room, the rest stirred. Kartik struggled with a small metal bucket, trying to coax a flame using torn magazine pages.
Suraj crouched by a broken window grill, Drake's binoculars pressed to his face. Through the smoke, he watched.
Sanaa handed a dusty bottle of water to Kartik. "From the rooftop tank. Cold, but clean enough."
"Thanks," Kartik muttered, not looking up.
Riya watched Ayush's door, chewing at her nails, eyes restless.
Lucky sat in the corner, silent as always, but every so often his gaze drifted to his knife, then to the door.
Shivam leaned against a wall, arms crossed, scowling at nothing. Every movement Ayush made earlier, Shivam tracked it — eyes hard, jaw tight.
Finally, Suraj spoke, still squinting. "There's something… about 1.5 clicks east. Two black trucks parked by the main road. Could be army."
"Or just bait," Kartik muttered.
Suraj adjusted focus. "Through these binoculars, it's hard to tell. Shapes only. Could be empty. Could be worse."
Riya stood, trembling. "We shouldn't stay here. We need to move before they come."
Shivam snorted bitterly. "Who's 'they'? Ayush's friends? The next psycho soldier? Or maybe another 'protocol' we didn't hear about?"
Ayush finally emerged, his face pale but eyes sharp, hair wet from washing.
"We're not staying," he said. "We leave in the next four hours. Metro station, east. About 1.5 kilometers. Underground might give us shelter — or a train to escape."
Shivam's mouth twisted. "More secrets, huh? What else are you hiding?"
Ayush sighed, voice low. "I told you everything that matters."
Shivam stepped forward, his voice rising. "No! You didn't tell us that the people you trusted would put a bullet in our heads. That we were expendable. That your survival was the only mission."
Ayush locked eyes with him, jaw clenched. "I thought they were the good guys. I believed it."
Shivam scoffed but slowly stepped back, fists shaking.
Lucky shifted closer to the door, eyes flicking outside as if expecting trouble.
Then it came — a sound none of them had heard before.
A sharp, high-pitched screech, echoing down the street. Not the slow groans they'd learned to fear.
Suraj dropped the binoculars. "What the hell was that?"
Ayush's head snapped to the window. Down the lane, something was moving — fast, low to the ground, wrong in every way.
It leapt over a rusted car, landed on all fours, then jerked its head violently, sniffing the air.
"It's tracking us…" Ayush whispered.
"Barricade!" Kartik roared, pulling Lucky toward the door.
They barely slammed the wooden frame shut when the creature hit it. The hinges cracked, splinters flying.
"Upstairs! Hallway choke point!" Ayush shouted.
They scrambled up. The thing skittered sideways, limbs twisting in unnatural angles as it began scaling the side wall like a spider.
Ayush met it at the second-floor landing. He ducked as it swung a claw-like hand, slashing air where his head had been.
He rolled, stabbed upward into its ribs. It shrieked, writhing, nearly throwing him off the railing.
Kartik charged in, smashing its spine with a metal chair leg. Blood spattered his face. It turned and clawed at him, slicing deep into his arm.
Suraj grabbed Kartik, dragging him back.
Ananya hesitated, then dove in. She picked up Ayush's dropped knife, stepping in awkwardly but with surprising precision — she'd watched every move he'd made these past days.
With a sharp cry, she drove the blade into the base of its skull.
The monster went still.
They stood, panting. Kartik clutched his bleeding arm.
Ayush knelt beside him, examining the wound. "Deep, but no bite. We disinfect, wrap it tight. You're lucky."
Kartik laughed weakly. "Lucky's over there," he wheezed, nodding to their silent friend.
Lucky almost smiled.
Later, as Kartik's arm was bandaged, Ayush went through Drake's remaining gear again.
Hidden inside a stitched seam, he found a small folded note.
Hands shaking, he opened it.
If you're reading this, something went wrong. Trust no one — not even us. If I'm dead or silent, the mission is compromised. I don't know how long we've been infiltrated. If Uncrowned changes tone… run.— D.L.
Ayush's throat closed up. His eyes blurred.
I killed him. He was trying to help us. Help me.
He pressed his forehead against the note, tears slipping down his cheeks.
Then —
A red flicker crossed his chest.
He jerked back, wiping tears fast.
A laser dot. Then — gone.
Ayush's head snapped up.
Across the burning skyline, two black helicopters began turning, drifting toward their block.
Nearby, on a distant rooftop, a black drone hovered, scanning. Heat signatures — they'd found them.
Ayush backed inside, voice trembling.
"They're coming. Not to save me… but to finish what Drake started."
Ananya appeared in the doorway, her face pale. She saw the tear-streaks on his cheeks but said nothing.
Instead, she stepped forward, gripping his hand tightly.
"We face them together," she whispered.
Ayush looked at her, then at the others — Kartik pale but defiant, Suraj checking his blade, Shivam glaring at him but moving to help, Lucky gripping his knife calmly, Sanaa and Riya ready despite their shaking hands.
For the first time since the rooftop, Ayush truly saw them.
His family now.
He squeezed Ananya's hand.
"Then we get ready," he said, his voice steadying. "Because this time… we fight for each other. No matter who they send."