เข้าสู่ระบบChapter 50: The Hunger of KingsThe metal roof of the sedan screamed as it was ripped away like paper.Snow swirled into the cabin, mixing with the shattered glass and the smell of leaking gasoline. I was pinned in the passenger seat, the dashboard crushed against my knees. Beside me, Kaelen was struggling to free his legs, blood pouring from a cut on his forehead.Above us, the Titan blocked out the sun.He was a mountain of steel and ceramic armor. He didn't look human. He looked like a machine built for one purpose: extinction. His massive hand, encased in a hydraulic gauntlet, reached down into the wreckage.He wasn't reaching for me. He was reaching for the back seat."Asset acquired," the synthesized voice boomed from his helmet.My son sat in the ruins of the back seat. The car seat straps had snapped. He was loose.He looked up at the giant metal hand descending toward him.He didn't scream. He didn't cry.He smiled.It was a smile full of sharp, white teeth."Big meat," the b
Chapter 49: The Devil in the BackseatThe trunk of the sedan was heavy.It sat low on its suspension. We had filled every inch of space with the wooden crates from the nursery closet. They rattled as Kaelen slammed the lid shut. It sounded like a coffin closing.I stood by the passenger door holding my son. He was quiet now. The purple glow in his eyes had dimmed to a simmering violet coal. He looked like a normal baby if you ignored the fact that his skin felt like a battery and his gaze tracked movement with the precision of a hawk.Kaelen walked around the car. He stopped in front of me.He looked at the baby. Then he looked at me."We are carrying a bomb," Kaelen said. His voice was flat. "You know that.""We are carrying survival," I corrected him. "Get in the car Kaelen."He didn't move. He stared at the trunk."I can smell it," he whispered. "Even through the glass and the steel. It smells like the Old Man. It smells like rot.""It smells like power," I said. "And right now we
Chapter 48: The Mother of MonstersThe cabin smelled of ozone and death.I stood on the porch and watched the wind blow the dust away. The pile of gray ash that used to be a squad of elite soldiers scattered across the snow like spilled sugar. It was clean. It was terrifyingly efficient.I looked down at the rifle in my hands. The metal was cold but my blood was boiling hot."Elara," Kaelen rasped from the doorway behind me.I turned around.He was leaning against the shattered doorframe. He looked like a ruin. His chest was wrapped in bloody towels. His gray eyes were wide and filled with a horror that had nothing to do with the physical pain. He was looking at the baby carrier strapped to his chest.Our son was asleep. His violet eyes were closed but a faint purple mist still curled around his tiny fists. He looked like an angel who had just eaten a soul."Put it down," Kaelen whispered. He gestured to the rifle. "Please put it down.""We need it," I said. My voice was steady. It di
Chapter 47: The Purple FeastThe headless body of the hunter lay on the floorboards.Kaelen stepped over it.He did not look like my husband. He looked like a god of slaughter carved from red ice. The arrows sticking out of his back quivered with every breath he took. His chest heaved. His black eyes were fixed on the men waiting in the snow."Run," a hunter shouted. "It’s the Genesis!"They raised their rifles.Kaelen didn't give them the chance.He roared. It wasn't a sound. It was a physical force that rattled the windows in their frames. He charged out the door into the blizzard.I watched from the shattered doorway clutching my son.It was a massacre.Kaelen moved with a speed that the human eye couldn't track. He swung the axe. It bit into flesh and bone with a wet sickening crunch. He didn't just kill them. He dismantled them. He tore arms from sockets. He crushed throats with his bare hands.The wolves circled him. They were huge gray beasts snapping at his legs trying to hams
Chapter 46: The Poison in the BloodThe morning sun did not bring warmth. It only brought a harsh, blinding light that exposed every crack in the cabin walls and every bruise on my skin.I sat in the rocking chair by the cold fireplace. My son was in my arms. He was awake, wrapped in three layers of wool blankets.I looked down at him.His eyes were open. In the daylight, they were shocking. They were not just purple. They were the color of a fresh bruise, a violent violet that swirled with flecks of gold. They were beautiful in a terrifying way.He didn't cry. He stared at me with an intensity that no infant should possess. He gripped my finger with a strength that turned his knuckles white."You are just a baby," I whispered, trying to convince myself. "You are just a little boy."The bedroom door creaked.Kaelen stood in the doorway.He looked like a ruin. The pale, human skin that had replaced the gray hide was raw and pink, like new scar tissue. He wore a pair of jeans he had fou
The safe house was a cabin buried deep in the majestic silence of the Canadian wilderness.It was not a ruin like the one on the mountain. It was a fortress of timber and stone, stocked with food, firewood, and ghosts. We had driven for twelve hours straight. We crossed the border with passports that said we were James and Sarah Miller. We didn't speak. We didn't dare to break the fragile reality of our escape.I parked the sedan in the garage. The engine ticked as it cooled.Kaelen sat in the passenger seat.He looked human. The gray, stony hide of the Genesis Wolf had peeled away during the drive, flaking off like a sunburn to reveal the pale, scarred skin beneath. He was exhausted. He was mortal. But the way he looked at me hadn't changed.It was the look of a starving man looking at a feast."We are here," I whispered."Home," he rasped. His voice was raw from the roaring.I got out. I grabbed the carrier from the back seat where our son slept the deep sleep of the innocent. Kaele







