All Chapters of The Full Moon Murders : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

A faint sound echoed through the corridor—soft, rhythmic, like breathing. But it wasn’t coming from the pods.Evelyn raised a hand, signaling the others to halt. She tilted her head, listening. The sound came again, this time closer. Not quite footsteps, but not mechanical either. A whisper of something alive.Anika’s grip tightened on her blade. “We’re not alone.”“I know,” Emily whispered, her voice distant. “It’s awake.”They pressed on, past the pod room and into a wider chamber, its ceiling higher and coated with a strange black substance that shimmered in their flashlight beams. The walls were carved with more symbols, deeper this time—as if someone had scratched them in with claws. In the center stood a tall terminal, wrapped in cables that pulsed faintly with a bluish light.Emily walked straight to it.“Wait,” Mason said, stepping forward. “You sure that’s a good idea?”“She called it the Gatekeeper,” Emily replied, placing a hand gently on the terminal. “It doesn’t just stor

Evelyn’s fingers twitched near her weapon.“Is this a joke?” she growled, stepping forward. “Because if it is, you picked the wrong day.”Damian Voss stood just inside the precinct doors, as calm as ever, his tailored coat flaring slightly with the breeze from outside. But it was the woman beside him that made Evelyn’s pulse stumble—a woman with eyes too familiar, a voice too haunting, and a face she hadn’t seen in over a decade.Her mother.Or someone wearing her mother’s face.“I should shoot you where you stand,” Evelyn said, eyes locked on Damian. “You have five seconds to start talking before I forget this is a police station.”Damian raised his hands in mock surrender, smirking. “Now, now, detective. Is that any way to greet an old… ally?”“We were never allies.”“No,” he said coolly, “but the world has changed since Ashgrove. And you’re running out of options.”Evelyn looked past him to the woman—no older than she remembered, but pale, haunted. “You're supposed to be dead.”“I

Evelyn hadn’t planned on going back to her childhood house. She pulled into the driveway alone, gravel crunching under her tires. No one followed. No one knew she was there. The house had sat untouched for years, perched at the edge of a narrow road just outside the city—weathered by time and memory.The door creaked the way it always had, the sound oddly comforting. The front door opened with a familiar groan, and the scent hit her instantly—dust, wood, and something faintly sweet, like old cedar and forgotten things. Nothing had changed.She made her way through the hall, boots echoing against the floorboards, each step guided by muscle memory. Her father’s study was still at the end of the corridor, the same door she wasn’t allowed to open as a child. Now, it was unlocked.She went straight to the filing cabinet in the corner. Beneath a false bottom—exactly where he’d once shown her during a moment of rare honesty—she found the safe. Her fingers hesitated over the keypad, then ente

They left just after dawn.Evelyn sat behind the wheel, the sky still bruised with early light, the city shrinking in her rearview. Mason rode shotgun, rifle case across his lap, and Emily was in the backseat, eyes on the road signs as they passed—silent, calculating.The file on Julian was spread open on the dash. Not much to go on. A location. A date. A single line of text:> "Subject J-009 transferred to Hollow Branch—Level Four containment. Status: dormant."Evelyn gripped the wheel tighter. “Dormant doesn’t mean dead.”“Dormant “This is it,” she said. “Hollow Branch. No one’s supposed to know this exists.”They moved on foot, rifles and sidearms ready. The path twisted through pine and stone until the ground gave way to metal—an old freight elevator, overgrown with weeds. Evelyn knelt and wiped the dust off the control panel.“Still powered,” Mason muttered. “Not abandoned.”Evelyn pressed the switch. The elevator dropped with a guttural hum, dragging them into darkness.**They

The woods swallowed them.Branches clawed at Evelyn’s jacket as they ran, the scent of blood and rot thickening. Every shadow seemed to twitch. Every gust of wind carried a whisper of something monstrous.Mason moved silently at her side, rifle raised, eyes sharp. Damian led the way, faster than either of them, his senses stretched razor-thin.“He’s close,” Damian snarled under his breath.The world around them felt wrong—like the air itself was holding its breath.Then—A low growl vibrates through the trees.Evelyn spun just as the first creature lunged out of the darkness.It wasn’t Julian.It was something else.Once human, maybe. Twisted now. Skin stretched and gray, bones too long, fingers ending in talon-like claws. Its mouth gaped open, filled with rows of jagged teeth.Mason fired first. The shot ripped through the thing’s chest—but it didn’t drop.It staggered, shrieked like a wounded animal, then kept coming."Silver rounds, headshots only!" Damian barked.Evelyn squeezed t