The air in the ruins felt heavier with every passing second, the faint glow of the carvings on the walls pulsing like a heartbeat. Caleb’s breathing was steady, but his finger hovered just above the trigger of his gun. His flashlight beam swept across the room, catching faint movements in the shadows.


    “They’re here,” Evelyn said quietly, her knife already in her hand.


    Caleb didn’t respond. His focus was on the shifting forms emerging from the darkness—cloaked figures stepping silently into the faint light. One by one, they came into view, spreading out in a loose semicircle around the room. Caleb counted six, but he had a sinking feeling there were more lurking beyond the edges of his vision.


    The closest Keeper stepped forward, their hood pulled low over their face. They didn’t speak. They didn’t need to. The deliberate way they moved—the precision of their steps, the subtle tilt of their head—was enough to make Caleb’s stomach tighten.


    “They’ve been waiting for us,” Evelyn said, her voice calm but tense.


    “Yeah, I figured that out,” Caleb muttered.


    The lead Keeper stopped just a few feet away, their head tilting slightly as if studying them. Caleb tightened his grip on his gun, his eyes darting to the others. They were closing in slowly, cutting off every possible escape route.


    “You got a plan?” Caleb asked, his voice low.


    Evelyn didn’t answer immediately. She adjusted her stance, her knife glinting faintly in the dim light. “Stay alive.”


    Caleb let out a sharp breath. “Great plan. Very specific.”


    The lead Keeper moved first, their blade flashing as they lunged toward Evelyn. She reacted instantly, stepping to the side and slashing upward with her knife. The Keeper twisted away, avoiding the strike by inches, and lashed out with their blade. Evelyn ducked, her movements quick and precise, and drove her knife into the Keeper’s side.


    They staggered, but another was already closing in.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    “Evelyn!” Caleb shouted, raising his gun.


    The second Keeper was on her before she could recover, their blade slicing toward her chest. Caleb fired, the shot echoing through the ruins. The bullet hit the Keeper in the shoulder, spinning them around, but it didn’t drop them.


    “Shoot them again!” Evelyn shouted, blocking a wild swing from the first attacker.


    “I’m working on it!” Caleb snapped, firing a second shot. This time, the Keeper fell, their blade clattering to the ground.


    But there was no time to breathe. Two more figures stepped into the light, their movements deliberate and unrelenting. Caleb turned, aiming at the closer one, and fired. The shot grazed their arm, but they kept coming.


    “They don’t stop!” Caleb shouted, backing up.


    “They’re not supposed to!” Evelyn shot back.


    The fight was chaos. The Keepers moved with a precision that was both terrifying and inhuman, their attacks coordinated as if they shared a single mind. Caleb fired again and again, the gunshots reverberating through the ruins, but for every one that went down, another seemed to take their place.


    Evelyn was a blur of motion, her knife flashing as she ducked, blocked, and countered. She drove her blade into one Keeper’s leg, sending them to the ground, and twisted away from another’s strike, slashing across their arm in the same motion.


    Caleb blocked a strike with the barrel of his gun, the impact jarring his arms. The Keeper pressed forward, their hood slipping back to reveal a pale, bloodied face. Caleb shoved them away and fired, the shot hitting them square in the chest.


    He turned, searching for Evelyn, and saw her locked in a brutal struggle with two attackers. One swung at her with a curved blade, and she barely managed to deflect the strike with her forearm. The second lunged at her side, and Evelyn twisted, catching their wrist and driving her knee into their stomach.


    “Evelyn, behind you!” Caleb shouted.


    Evelyn didn’t hesitate. She dropped low, spinning to avoid the incoming blade, and slashed upward. The Keeper let out a choked gasp before crumpling to the ground.


    The room fell quiet for a moment, the air thick with the smell of sweat and blood. Caleb’s chest heaved as he scanned the shadows, his gun still raised. “Is that all of them?” he asked, his voice tight.


    “No,” Evelyn said, her tone grim.


    As if on cue, a faint sound echoed through the ruins—the deliberate scrape of a blade against stone. Caleb turned, his flashlight catching the faint outline of another figure stepping into the room. This one moved differently—slower, more deliberate.


    Evelyn tensed beside him, her grip tightening on her knife. “This one’s not like the others.”


    “Fantastic,” Caleb muttered, his pulse quickening.


    The figure stopped just at the edge of the light, their hood obscuring their face. For a moment, they stood completely still, their blade hanging loosely at their side. Then, without warning, they lunged.