Serah spun around at the voice.
Out of the dense vines stepped a tall man in a desert-camouflage jacket, his eyes hidden behind dark-tinted glasses. His voice was soft, smooth—too calm for the chaos unfolding around her.
"You… Who are you?" she asked, backing away.
He raised both hands slowly. "Easy. I'm not with them. My name is Drayk Anders—I used to work on the Project."
Serah's heart thumped wildly. "Project Hollow?"
He nodded once. "And Project Thorn."
Her body froze.
"You knew about Thorn?"
Drayk lowered his sunglasses. Pale green eyes, haunted by regret, met hers. "I created him."
---
At the same time, deep under the collapsed cave…
A faint glow flickered beneath the rubble. Debris shifted. A muffled groan echoed through the dust and darkness.
Thorn was still alive.
Half-buried, shoulder dislocated, he pushed upward with what strength he had left. His spine flared again, spikes struggling to form.
But Hollow… was gone.
Escaped?
Retreated?
No—watching.
Thorn coughed blood, vision blurring.
He whispered her name.
"Serah…"
And then everything faded to black.
---
Back in the jungle clearing, Serah paced in front of Drayk, gun drawn. "Why should I trust you?"
"Because I'm the only one who can help you save him."
Serah clenched her fists. "Help him? You experimented on him!"
"I regret it," Drayk said, stepping closer. "I tried to destroy the program when I saw what they'd done. Project Hollow was their backup plan. Thorn… he was something more. Human. Alive. Loved."
Serah's eyes stung, but she didn't lower her weapon.
Drayk extended a small data chip. "This holds the only map to the real lab—the one Hollow is programmed to return to. If he's still breathing, that's where Thorn will go."
Serah took it with a shaky hand. "Then that's where I'll go too."
Drayk looked at her with something almost like awe. "You love him, don't you?"
"I love all of him," she whispered. "Even the thorns."
---
Night fell quickly over the jungle.
Serah and Drayk sat by a small fire in a hidden cave—one of Drayk's safe zones. She had wrapped a cloth over her stomach, feeling the faintest flutter again.
Their child.
She stared into the fire. "Do you think he's alive?"
Drayk hesitated. "If he still believes he has something to protect… then yes."
Silence followed.
Until a crack of twigs echoed from the trees outside.
Drayk stood, hand on his pistol.
Serah's breath caught. "Is it Hollow?"
"No," he whispered. "Something worse."
A shadow stepped into the light—tall, lean, and wearing a dark white cloak with a silver crest.
Her voice, soft but deadly, chilled the air.
"Well, well. The soldier girl and the traitor doctor."
Serah gasped.
Drayk cursed under his breath. "Eliara."
Serah's fingers reached for her weapon.
But before she could draw it—
Eliara raised her palm, and the fire extinguished instantly.
Darkness swallowed them whole.