What Was Left Behind

Chapter 17: The Hunt

A low, metallic scraping filled the air, deliberate and menacing, sending chills down Maia's spine. Her grip tightened on Camilla's arm, pulling her through the dim, narrow hallway. Levi moved quickly ahead of them, his footsteps sure but tense, his eyes darting toward the growing shadows around them. Every step they took seemed heavier, more dangerous, as if the facility itself was waking up.

Maia's heart raced, pounding against her ribs as they rushed toward an exit that felt impossibly far away. Behind them, the sound of something large and relentless drew nearer. Camilla stumbled, her body weakened from years of isolation and torment, but Maia refused to let go. She wasn't losing her again—not now.

"They're coming!" Levi's voice was low but urgent, filled with a warning Maia didn't need to hear twice. "We need to find another way out."

The walls seemed to close in, the air thick with decay and something far more sinister. Whatever was pursuing them wasn't human, and Maia knew they couldn't outrun it for long. She glanced at Camilla, whose haunted eyes remained unfocused, her lips trembling with words she couldn't yet speak. The others. That's what she had said. The ones who had survived the experiments, but not as people. Something worse.

"Are there other exits?" Maia asked, her voice tight with fear.

Levi shook his head, eyes scanning the narrow corridor. "I don't know, but we can't go back the way we came."

Maia's mind raced. They were trapped, caught between the horrors that had once been human experiments and the facility that had transformed them. If they couldn't escape, they'd face the same fate as Camilla—forgotten, locked away in this hell.

A loud crash came from behind, followed by a deep, guttural growl that sent fear tearing through Maia's chest. Whatever it was, it was gaining on them. They were running out of time.

"There!" Levi pointed to a door ahead, just barely visible in the dim light. It was smaller than the others, less obvious—likely an old utility closet or an unused service tunnel. It wasn't ideal, but it was their only chance.

Levi reached the door first, pulling it open with a grunt, the old hinges straining. Maia dragged Camilla inside, her heart pounding in her ears, the scent of rust and dust filling the air as they stumbled into the cramped space. Levi slammed the door shut behind them, locking it with the heavy iron bolt at the top.

The room was pitch-black except for the faint glow of Levi's flashlight, casting jagged shadows on the walls. The sound outside grew louder, the scraping metal accompanied by something heavier—footsteps, but too uneven, too broken to belong to anything human.

Maia could hear Camilla breathing rapidly, her body shaking beside her. The fear in her eyes was palpable, but there was something else, something Maia couldn't place—an emotion that ran deeper than terror. It was as if Camilla already knew what was coming.

"They won't stop," Camilla whispered, her voice hoarse, her body trembling. "You can't hide from them. They'll find us."

Levi pressed his ear against the door, listening intently. The growling outside had grown more intense, and Maia could hear it too—a series of strange, heavy footsteps, moving closer. She could almost imagine what those things must look like, their twisted bodies moving through the dark hallways, hunting them.

"We need to move," Levi said, his voice barely audible. "If we stay here, we're dead."

Maia nodded, fear squeezing her chest, but she wasn't ready to give up. Camilla was still alive, and that meant there was still a chance. She turned to Camilla, her voice soft but urgent. "Is there another way out? A way they don't know about?"