The roar of the motorbike engine echoed down the empty street as Victor expertly navigated the bike through the winding roads, the night air whipping around them. Jay gripped the back of Victor's jacket tightly, his knuckles pale from the force. The speed of the bike made his heart race as if they were flying, but Victor, ever calm, was a master of handling such chaos.
"You hold tight," Victor said over the sound of the engine, glancing back at Jay with a smirk that was hidden behind the visor of his helmet.
Jay was still processing the whirlwind of events that led him to this moment. The strange contract, the sudden induction into a team full of superhumans, and now, his first mission with them—none of it made sense, and he had a thousand questions. Still, he couldn't find the right words to ask.
As they sped through the streets, Jay finally mustered the courage to break the silence. "Something's been boggling my mind," Jay began, his voice barely audible over the engine. "Kahanna... she's too young. Why did you hire her?"
Victor's grip tightened on the handles as he made a sharp turn, his eyes focused on the road. "We had the same thought when Leno brought her into the organization. I refused at first. She was too young to be doing this. But then, she told us her story."
Jay tilted his head in curiosity, leaning closer. "What was her story?"
Before Victor could answer, a sudden pulsing sensation interrupted Jay's train of thought. The necklace Leno had given him, the one with the scarlet pendant, began to glow, its light pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat.
Jay frowned and glanced at it, a sinking feeling in his chest. "What is this? It's glowing again."
Victor, sensing the shift in Jay's demeanor, slowed the bike and brought it to a stop on the side of the road. He looked over his shoulder, his brow furrowed. "Hmm, I don't know what this is exactly, but Leno did say to keep an eye on it. You should've ridden with them in the car. Sometimes Alina isn't thinking."
Jay looked over at the pendant again, the glow intensifying in the darkness. "It's okay. They're too crowded in there anyway," Jay muttered, trying to shake off the unease.
A few moments later, they arrived at their destination. Jay's eyes widened in disbelief. The apartment complex before them felt too familiar. It was his building. His home.
"Wait, why are we here?" Jay asked, his heart beginning to race in a different way now.
Victor cut the engine and dismounted the bike, offering a shrug. "This is the place Leno talked about. Your apartment complex. The mission starts here."
Jay stared at the building in shock. This wasn't what he expected. He was supposed to be investigating some strange anomaly, not confronting whatever threat was waiting for him at his doorstep.
Before he could voice his confusion, the rest of Team S.E.V.E.N. pulled up in the car. Alina stepped out first, dressed in an unexpected outfit—an elegant red evening gown with a side slit that shimmered under the streetlights.
"What are you looking at?" Alina shot at Jay with a raised eyebrow, noticing his shocked expression.
Victor leaned over and whispered to Jay, "Don't mind her. She just likes being over the top."
Jay couldn't help but stare, still stunned by Alina's extravagant appearance.
Leon, not missing a beat, immediately started talking to Reign, who was already typing away at a laptop, her fingers moving so quickly that Jay could barely keep up.
Reign's voice broke through the tension. "The whole apartment complex is surrounded. No one is real."
Jay looked around, still trying to comprehend what was going on. "Huh? Can somebody explain what's happening to me?"
Victor sighed and rubbed his temples. "Do you remember that weird-looking woman who came for you earlier? Well, your apartment is surrounded by them."
Jay blinked. "The zombie-looking woman? What are they?"
Reign spoke up again, her voice strangely calm for someone describing such a horrifying scenario. "They're humans possessed by what we call Shadows. Think of these Shadows like ghosts, but they blend in perfectly with humans. When they find a suitable vessel, they possess them until they've drained every ounce of life force. We don't really know how they take over a human unless they show their true form."
Jay tried to process this. "Wait, if you don't know how to tell, then how do you know the building is full of them?"
Reign turned her laptop screen toward him, showing a map of the building's floor plans. "They're really good at hiding among humans, blending in. But the one thing they can't hide is their scent. I know that smell all too well. I thought my father's body odor was normal, but he was possessed by a Shadow for years. He almost killed me once I figured it out."
Before Jay could react, he saw Bomby dash toward the entrance of the building, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Let's go kill those Shadow b******s!"
The rest of the team followed quickly, and Jay was left behind, caught off guard by the intensity of it all. He followed them reluctantly, still trying to understand the situation.
Bomby was already at the door of the first apartment, pounding on it with her fist. The door opened to reveal an elderly woman, her frail voice barely audible. "Who are you?" she asked, her face unreadable.
Without hesitation, Kahanna raised her gun toward the woman. Jay's heart skipped a beat as he instinctively shouted, "Stop!"
But before he could stop her, the old woman's body twisted unnaturally, her limbs stretching and contorting, crawling up to the ceiling like a grotesque spider. Her face changed, hollowed-out eyes staring down at them. It was no longer a human woman, but something monstrous.
Kahanna fired without a second thought, the bullet tearing through the air and hitting the woman square in the chest. The old woman crumpled to the floor, her body returning to its human form—lifeless, now a shell of what it once was.
Alina, standing by Jay's side, held a red candle in her hand. She melted some of the wax onto the woman's body. The moment the wax touched the corpse, the woman's body shriveled up and turned to dust, as if the Shadow had been removed completely.
Jay stood frozen, struggling to come to terms with what he had just witnessed. He could feel the fear in his chest tightening.
Victor, noticing his hesitation, handed Jay a gun. "Here, this apartment complex has too many rooms. We should split up and handle this quickly."
Jay stared at the gun, unsure what to do with it. The weight of it felt strange in his hand. Alina, sensing his hesitation, placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll stay with you," she said, her voice cool and confident. "Let's make sure you can do this right."
Together, they approached the next door. Alina quickly checked their guns, ensuring the silencers were intact. Jay, still unsure of himself, followed her lead.
When Alina knocked on the door, Jay was astounded by who opened it. A young boy, no older than eight or nine, stood in the doorway. He looked harmless, innocent even.
Jay froze, his heart racing for a completely different reason now. The boy looked so vulnerable, so unlike the monsters they had just killed. He was just a child.
Alina, unfazed, spoke first. "Hi, kid. Are you with anyone?"
The boy's expression shifted. His brows furrowed in anger, and before Jay could react, the boy tried to slam the door shut. But Alina was faster. With a swift motion, she slid her heel into the crack, preventing it from closing.
Jay's heart skipped a beat as Alina turned to him. "They're possessed. Kill them."
Jay's hand shook as he held the gun, unsure of how to proceed. The boy, now visibly distressed, ran deeper into the apartment. As Alina followed him inside, Jay stood frozen in the doorway, watching as the boy's parents suddenly lunged at Alina with unnatural speed.
She shot them both without hesitation. Jay, still unsure, stared at the child who had run to hide under a table in the corner. The boy looked terrified, his eyes wide with fear. He gestured for Jay to stay quiet.
Jay's voice was barely a whisper. "Alina... maybe we should let him live. He looks normal."
Alina, her expression hard, didn't even flinch. "We can't let anyone live, Jay. They're not human anymore."
"But..."
Before Jay could finish his sentence, Alina turned her back to him and left, her footsteps echoing in the empty apartment. Jay was left standing, caught in the dilemma of what was right and what was necessary.
The boy, now desperate, crawled out from under the table, tears streaming down his face. He looked at Jay, his eyes pleading for mercy. Jay's heart wrenched, but his hand shook with uncertainty.
"Sorry," Jay whispered. "But your parents... they weren't your parents anymore. They were monsters."
Jay looked around, his eyes scanning the apartment for any sign of danger. But just as he was about to turn away, his gaze met the boy's—only to see the child's face contorting in an instant, twisting into something grotesque. The innocent eyes were gone, replaced by hollow, soulless ones. The child snarled and lunged at him with inhuman speed.
Before Jay could react, Alina appeared in the doorway, her gun raised. She shot the boy with precision, the bullet striking him in the chest.
Jay stumbled backward, breathless, as Alina grabbed him by the collar and pulled him toward her.
"Get it together, Jay!" she shouted. "They're not human anymore! They never were!"
Just as the weight of the situation settled in, the sound of footsteps approaching the apartment door made Jay's heart race again. More Shadows were coming.