CHAPTER 52: THE STILLNESS

Sera looked out the window of her single dorm room and sighed. The leaves were just starting to turn as summer gave way into fall. Classes had just restarted after two months of everyone being off, and the hallways of her dorm were filled with squealing girls.

She had survived July and August just fine. Picking up more hours at the gym helped a lot. Not only was she able to pick up more things to make her cabin more her own, but her creature was becoming used to Lachlan’s ’weirdness’.

At least now she understood that the warning bells that she had been getting for the past year were a result of the vaccine, and not her just losing her mind.

Her creature was a different story, however. She thought that they had been making progress, working together to become one being in harmony rather than two separate beings in a single body. But with the upcoming apocalypse around the corner, the monster was getting more and more agitated.

Almost everyone Sera encountered was vaccinated, and the creature was scratching at her mind, demanding that they battle everyone for dominance just so they knew where they all fell.

In fact, Lachlan was enjoying her discomfort. The amount of times that she had launched herself at him when he was sparring in one of the rings with another member was getting embarrassing. Lachlan, on the other hand, seemed to love it.

His muscles would relax, an honest smile would spread across his face, and he would lay on his back as she straddled him, his hand on her hips as he kept her still.

Now everyone thought or knew that they were dating, and it was a running joke.

Still, no matter how Sera tried to hold herself back, there was nothing she could do.

The only good part was that Lachlan had somehow figured out how to keep her and Noah separated. She hadn’t seen the other man in months, and that was more than fine with her.

Noah set off every instinct in her body in the worst possible way. Even the creature inside her curled back in disgust at the scent of him.

Sera pulled away from the window, rubbing the back of her neck as her gaze swept her room again. Everything had changed since last fall—everything except the room itself. Same beige walls. Same standard-issue bed. Same cheap desk, chipped and scarred from years of student use.

She’d expected the world to feel different by now.

But the most terrifying thing was that it didn’t.

It was too quiet. Too calm. The stillness before a storm.

She walked to her closet and crouched beside it, pulling out the storage bin she kept tucked away from prying eyes. Her emergency bag was already packed—she’d checked it three times that morning. Water purification tablets. Extra clothes. A knife. Protein bars. One of the fuzzy pink pillows she’d grown attached to, half-flattened from use. Just enough comfort to keep the creature grounded if they had to go dark for a while.

Her supply list had grown more intense in the past few weeks. Every time she set foot off campus, she picked up something new—vitamins, emergency blankets, even a crank radio she’d found at a dusty corner shop.

And the creature kept pressing.

Kept whispering: Soon. Soon. Soon.

She didn’t know the date of the apocalypse. She just knew it wasn’t far.

September was ending.

The air still smelled like sun-warmed stone and fading grass, but her skin itched with coming frost. The creature didn’t feel cold or heat the way humans did, but it still lifted its head when the wind shifted, tasted the change like blood in its mouth.

The new school year had no meaning. She had no desire to join study groups or decorate her door like the others. She sat in class, perfectly still, absorbing lectures on human cognition while the creature drummed its claws on the underside of her ribs.

It wanted to hunt. To claim. To lead.

And it hated that they were surrounded by potential enemies in friendly clothing.

The vaccines had changed something. She didn’t know what, not fully. But it was like a hum had entered the air—a pitch only she and the creature could hear. Some students walked with eyes a little too empty. Some professors spoke with the faintest hesitation, like their words weren’t fully their own.

Something was building.

Something rotten at the edges.

And no one saw it but her.

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Across the city, in a darkened apartment lined with blackout curtains, Alexei Morozov slouched on his worn-out leather couch and watched the soft blue flicker of an old television set. The sound was low, muffled by years of use. A Halloween special played—something cheerful and nostalgic from a decade ago, all cartoon pumpkins and grinning ghosts.

He cradled a half-empty bottle of vodka in one hand, the other resting on the handle of a folding knife tucked beneath the blanket over his legs.

It was too quiet outside.

The wildfires had died down weeks ago, and the power grid seemed to be holding, but the silence wasn’t peace. It was suppression. People walked the streets like wind-up dolls, grateful for the lull but too worn down to question it.

He didn’t trust it.

The burner phone on the windowsill buzzed once.

Then again.

He waited until the third buzz before picking it up.

"Da," he said, voice flat.

A pause.

Then the voice came—low, clipped, familiar.

"Status report. You’re due."

Alexei leaned his head back against the couch cushion. "I took the vaccine like a good little soldier. No seizures. No fever. No tail growing out my ass."

"Any behavioral shifts?"

"I still hate people. Does that count?"

"You’re still under, Alexei. Don’t get clever."

He rolled his eyes. "The gym rat took it too. He’s the real litmus test."

"And?"

"He’s twitchier. Not weak—but there’s something..." He frowned, trying to find the word. "Off. Like he’s tuned to a different frequency now."

There was silence on the other end.

Then: "That tracks with what we’re seeing here."

Alexei sat up straighter. "So it’s not just me."

"No. Country M confirmed anomalies after rollout. That’s why I’m calling."

"Tell me."

"The Council gave the go-ahead."

Alexei blinked. "The EMPs?"

"They launch November 1st. Coordinated strikes on Country M’s major cities and bio-labs. Clean sweep."

"Collateral?"

"Contained, if all goes well. You shouldn’t feel a thing."

He frowned. "Shouldn’t?"

"You’re in Country N. Don’t worry. The EMPs won’t touch Country N at all. You are completely safe."