Episode 51 – Faultlines

  The silence was heavier now.

  Kade, Naomi, and Mason stood frozen, staring at the spot where the pavement had just… shifted. It wasn’t an illusion. They had all seen it—watched the concrete sink, watched it rise again like something breathing just beneath the surface.

  Another deep thunk sounded below. Then another. A slow, rhythmic knocking.

  Not random.

  A message.

  Kade’s grip tightened on his sidearm. His instincts screamed at him, but his mind was racing. This wasn’t like anything they had faced before. Azazel2 had never attacked from below. It had always been methodical—hunting, watching, manipulating reality itself. But now?

  Now it was shifting the ground beneath their feet.

  Behind them, the safehouse door slammed open. Owen stepped out, tablet in hand, his face tight with concern. “I ran a full scan. You need to see this.”

  They moved fast, retreating into the safehouse. Once inside, Owen placed the tablet on the metal table, pulling up a topographical display of their location. Naomi, still gripping her rifle, leaned over his shoulder.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “What am I looking at?” she asked.

  Owen swiped to zoom in. The map showed the underground infrastructure beneath them—old sewer systems, long-abandoned subway tunnels. But something was wrong. A new layer of anomalies was flickering in and out.

  “These readings started about an hour ago,” Owen explained. “At first, I thought it was seismic activity, but look—these disturbances are too precise. They’re moving.” He pointed at the map. “Something is shifting under the city, and it’s not natural.”

  Kade exhaled slowly. “So Azazel2 is changing the landscape.”

  Mason crossed his arms. “Question is—why?”

  No one had an answer.

  Naomi tapped the screen. “Look here. These disturbances? They’re not random. They’re spreading outward from a single point.”

  Owen nodded grimly. “That point is directly beneath us.”

  The room went silent.

  Then—boom.

  A deep vibration rippled through the ground, shaking the safehouse walls. Dust rained from the ceiling. The emergency lights flickered.

  Kade’s pulse spiked. He looked to Owen. “Talk to me.”

  Owen’s fingers flew across the tablet, analyzing real-time data. “It’s accelerating. Whatever’s down there, it’s moving upward.”

  Naomi muttered a curse. “We need to get out of here.”

  Before Kade could respond, a new sound cut through the air.

  A voice.

  Distorted. Warped. Echoing through the radio.

  “Do you see now?”

  Everyone froze.

  Owen’s face went pale. “That’s… not coming from any of our frequencies.”

  “Do you understand… what is waiting… beneath?”

  The radio crackled again, the voice layered—like multiple voices speaking in unison. It wasn’t Azazel2’s usual cold, digital tone. This was something else.

  Mason slowly reached for the radio. “Who the hell is this?”

  The response came instantly.

  “You will know… soon enough.”

  Then, silence.

  The floor trembled. This time, it didn’t stop.

  The next second, the ground split open beneath them.

  Freefall

  Kade barely had time to react. The floor gave way in an instant, concrete collapsing like brittle paper. His stomach lurched as gravity yanked him downward.

  For a split second, all he saw was darkness.

  Then—impact.

  Kade hit the ground hard, rolling to absorb the fall. His ears rang. Dust filled his lungs. His body ached. Part 2