The dim light of the late afternoon filtered through the tall, jagged windows of the stone room, casting long shadows across the floor where Avi lay on the cot, arms folded over his chest, staring at the ceiling. The ache in his chest was almost physical, like a weight pressing on him that no amount of shifting or clenching could move. He had woken hours ago, and the room was just as cold and silent as when he first opened his eyes. The silence didn't help—the absence of sound was filled with the ghosts of his friends' voices, laughter, the thud of Ken's shield against the wall.
How did it come to this? How did he go from being just another student trying to get by to watching helplessly as the world crumbled around him? His hands tightened into fists. If I could just find them... if I could just...
There was a knock at the door, then a pause. A hesitant, almost fearful knock. Avi's eyes narrowed, and the air around him grew colder. He knew who it was before the door even creaked open. Alex walked in slowly, his dark eyes shadowed with guilt and the weight of responsibility, the kind of gaze that made the room feel tighter, like it was closing in on them both.
"You're up," Alex said, his voice measured and careful.
Avi didn't answer, just looked at him with eyes so cold, they could have frozen the room. Silence stretched between them until it felt suffocating.
"I came to see how you were doing," Alex continued, taking a step forward but stopping when Avi shifted on the cot, a flinch in his posture.
Avi snorted, his mouth curling into a sharp, humorless grin. "How am I doing? Oh, you know. Fantastic. I'm still breathing. Unlike the others. But you wouldn't know what that's like, would you?" He pushed himself up, sitting on the edge of the cot with an air of defiance that said, come closer, and see how long you last.
Alex flinched at the jab, his mouth opening and closing like he wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. The room seemed to shrink as the seconds passed. A nervous clearing of throats came from the hallway, a whisper of movement, the shuffle of shoes.
Lucas, looking concerned asked. "Are you alright, Avi? We need you for the rescue mission."
Avi's gaze sharpened at the sound of another voice—another reminder that he wasn't alone in this mess, even if he felt like it. "I'm fine," he replied, the sarcasm dripping from his words. "Just waiting for the parade of people to march in and tell me how to feel."
Alex bit his lip, the guilt etched into the lines of his face. "Listen, I know I'm not... I'm not the one who—"
"Don't. Don't start that," Avi interrupted, cutting him off with a glare that had Lucas shifting uncomfortably. "The only reason you're alive is because you weren't the one who killed my friends. So keep your distance, Alex. Don't come near me until I leave this place. I don't want to see any of you." His voice was a low growl, cold and seething.
The silence that followed felt heavier than before, broken only by the quiet mutter of voices from outside the room, the nervous shuffling of feet, and the occasional cough. It was a silence that weighed on Alex's chest, making him feel like the air was being sucked out of the room.
"Damn," Lena muttered, stepping forward from the hallway. "Did... did you really have to say that, Avi?"
Avi's lips curled into a smirk, a mockery of a smile. "Did you really expect me to play nice, Lena? Or do you need me to give a speech on how 'everything will be okay'?" He leaned forward, eyes blazing. "Because I'm done with speeches. I'm done with trust. You're all just a broken chain hanging off a crumbling wall, and I'm tired of pretending otherwise."
The room fell into an uneasy hush. Lena looked to Alex, who had gone pale, the weight of Avi's words sinking in. Lucas fidgeted in the doorway, shifting his weight from foot to foot.
Alex took a deep breath. "Avi, I know how hard this is. We all do. But there's still hope. We have to try."
Avi scoffed, the sharp sound reverberating off the stone walls. "Hope? Oh, I'm sure your 'hope' is just as real as my friends' lives. Or maybe it's just a ghost, like the ones I keep seeing every time I close my eyes." He shot a glare at Alex, the sheer intensity making even Lena step back.
"I need you to listen, Avi. We need you. We have to work together if we want to save the others," Alex said, his voice cracking slightly under the strain. His eyes met Avi's, filled with something between desperation and remorse.
"You know what, Alex?" Avi leaned back, the anger in his posture softening just a little, enough for a glint of exhaustion to settle in his eyes. "Let's give you a chance. I'm here, so you better listen to what I saw. I'm not going to go over it twice. Go on, ask your stupid questions."
A murmured agreement came from the back of the room, where Caleb, still guilty about bashing Avi's head just to calm him dawn. "Avi, what did you see in the forest? Anything that might help us understand what we're dealing with?"
Avi let out a bitter laugh, a sound like rusted metal scraping against stone. "What did I see? You want the quick version or the one that'll leave you so scared, you'll never step foot in there again?"
The room shifted, the air electric with tension. Alex nodded, eyes sharp, listening. Lena crossed her arms, her face tight with worry. Lucas's eyes darted around, trying not to show his fear.
"I saw creatures. More of them than before, and they were more violent. They were wild, like something pushed them past their breaking point. I don't know if it was me or if something else stirred them up." Avi's voice dropped, eyes narrowing as he recalled the deep, primal anger he felt when he'd fought the creatures. The bloodlust. That had to be it.
Lucas shifted uneasily, the weight of Avi's words sinking in. "You think... your bloodlust could've triggered them? It's a guess, but maybe—"
Avi shot him a look so fierce that even Caleb took a half-step back. "Maybe," he spat, the word full of acid. "Or maybe there's something else, something stronger out there. A predator, maybe. Or another guardian. We don't know yet. All I know is, they were different. They moved together like they were being led or coerced something."
A silence rippled through the room as the others exchanged glances, the implications setting in. Alex's jaw clenched, his eyes sharpening as he processed Avi's words. Lena leaned forward, searching Avi's eyes as if trying to catch a glimpse of the truth.
"What about the bodies?" Alex's voice was quieter now, tense with suppressed emotion. "What did the battlefield look like? Were there signs of what they were fighting?"
Avi's fists clenched, and for a moment, he looked away, the memories sharp and searing. "I don't remember much. All I could see was Ken's shield. The regret, the guilt, the rage—it was all a storm, and then the world blurred. When I saw that shield, it was like the pieces fell away. Everything felt hollow, like I wasn't even there. But the destruction... it was too much for just the creatures we've faced before. It was like they fought something big, something strong enough to leave its mark."
A young kid barely ten years of age tried to open his mouth, but Lena cut in before he could speak. "You don't think they could be just unconscious somewhere? Maybe they managed to run and find shelter before blacking out just like you did." She glanced at Alex, who nodded, a tight expression on his face. "Avi, even you were unconscious for three days from the last wave. It's only been less than a day since they started the scouting mission. They could still be alive."
Avi's eyes flickered, doubt creeping in, cold and biting. She's right. They're still out there... somewhere. He didn't respond immediately, but when he did, his voice was quieter, less sharp. "You're sure of that? If their status is still offline, how do we know?"
Alex stepped closer, his gaze unwavering. "We don't. But we have to believe they are, or we lose before we even start."
There was a pause, the room thick with the weight of that unspoken promise. Lucas shifted again, eyes wide with something like hope, but mixed with the fear of being wrong.
Avi's breathing slowed as he tried to calm the storm in his chest. He turned his eyes to Alex, who was watching him carefully, as if waiting for some sign of the man he had known before all this chaos.
"Then I'll move out. No more waiting," Avi said, voice steely, a spark of determination searing through the lingering shadow of his rage.