Echo of the Rift. Zohar Leo Palfi

wanted to answer, to reassure her, but the hum suddenly turned into a sharp, ear-splitting screeching sound, as if giant invisible claws were tearing apart the very metal and concrete of the bunker. One of the shadows on the wall separated completely, flowing out of the plane, transforming into a three-dimensional, nightmarish figure – distorted, unnaturally elongated, with long, curved, spider-like arms and empty, bottomless eye sockets, from which seeped the same faint, deathly light, similar to the glow of the distant «Echo-7.» It moved slowly, but with a terrifying, inhuman purposefulness, heading straight for the terror-stricken Lina. Other shadows, one after another, began to follow its example, their movements jerky, twitching, like those of broken, clumsily controlled puppets.

      «Lina, get out of the way! Move!» Kyle shouted, instinctively rushing towards her and forcefully pushing her aside, behind a massive chunk of concrete slab. He raised his rifle and fired. The pulse charge, flashing blue, struck the center of the dark figure, but instead of dissipating or even exploding, the shadow only shuddered for a moment, like ripples on dark water, and continued its slow, inexorable movement. The charge passed through it, leaving a smoking, scorched mark on the wall behind, but causing no harm to the shadow itself. Kyle felt the icy tentacles of panic begin to squeeze his throat. This was no illusion. This was something much, much worse.

      «They’re invulnerable! Our shots go right through them!» Eva shouted in despair, opening indiscriminate fire with her pistol. Her shots also had no effect, only momentarily illuminating the hall with bright flashes that seemed to make the shadows even darker, even denser. «We can’t fight this! We have to leave, Rain! Now! Before we’re surrounded!»

      «Where the hell are we supposed to go?!» Drake roared, desperately waving his gleaming plasma cutter. The blade hissed as it passed through one of the advancing figures, meeting no apparent resistance, but the shadow, instead of disappearing or even slowing down, extended its ghostly hand, and Drake was thrown back with such force as if he had been hit by an invisible ram. He crashed into the wall, cursing softly in pain, but immediately sprang to his feet like a coiled spring, his face contorted with rage and, perhaps for the first time, genuine fear. «These things… they’re playing with us! They won’t let us just leave! They sense us!»

      Kyle desperately tried to think, to analyze, but the noise in his head intensified with every second, Ella’s voice, distorted and full of pain, mixing with the low, vibrating hum of the Rift, creating an unbearable cacophony in his thoughts. He noticed that the shadows weren’t just blindly attacking – they were moving deliberately, surrounding them, slowly but surely cutting off their only escape route, driving them deeper into the spacious hall, which now seemed like a trap. His gaze fell accidentally on the old command terminal that Eva was vainly trying to hack. The sparks of anomalous energy around it became brighter, more intense, and Kyle was suddenly struck by a realization – these shadows were undoubtedly connected to «Echo-7,» to its alien energy, and this terminal… perhaps it wasn’t just a pile of old iron. If it contained any data about the Rift, about ways to control or suppress it, there might be a key to stopping this invasion.

      «Eva!» he shouted, his voice barely audible over the growing noise and screeching. «Get back to the terminal! Try again! Find something about controlling anomalous manifestations! About frequencies! This is our only chance! Drake and I will try to hold them back!»

      Eva froze for a moment, her eyes full of doubt and fear, but then she nodded resolutely and, dodging a dark hand reaching for her, rushed back to the terminal, her fingers flying across the worn interface again. Kyle turned sharply to Drake, who was already furiously fighting off two shadows, his plasma cutter flashing in the semi-darkness, though his blows were as useless as Kyle’s shots. «Drake! Keep them at bay! Don’t let them get to Lina and Eva! Cover them at all costs!»

      «Easy for you to say, scientist!» Drake growled, but still, shifting with a jerk, he took up a position between the advancing shadows and the women, creating a fragile barrier. Lina, still in deep shock, tried to help, frantically pulling neuro-stabilizers from her backpack, but her hands were shaking so much that she could barely hold the injector.

      Kyle opened fire again, aiming carefully, trying to distract the shadows, to buy Eva precious seconds. But every time his charge hit one of them, it only momentarily split into two smaller, but even faster and more aggressive creatures. There were more than a dozen of them now, their movements becoming faster, more deliberate, and the hum in the hall turned into a deafening roar, pressing on their eardrums. And suddenly one of the shadows, the largest, the darkest, stopped right in front of Kyle, its empty, glowing eye sockets staring directly at him, seemingly penetrating his very soul, and he heard a voice – not Ella’s, not human, but something ancient, bottomless, deep as the abyss itself. «You have come for us… You are a part of us… Surrender to us… Become one with the Echo…» The voice didn’t sound in his ears, but pulsed, vibrated directly in his brain, tearing apart his thoughts, his will, his personality.

      Kyle collapsed to his knees, clutching his head in his hands, his rifle clattering to the concrete floor. He felt the last remnants of his will leaving him, as the icy, alluring darkness pulled him in, promising peace, oblivion, relief from pain, if only he surrendered, if only he let it in. But at that very moment, when he was ready to plunge into this nothingness, he heard Lina’s desperate cry: «Kyle, hold on! Don’t you dare give up!» – and felt a sharp, burning prick in his neck. The neuro-stabilizer. A cold, sobering wave rolled through his body, driving away the alien voice, and Kyle, staggering, rose to his feet with immense effort, his vision slowly clearing. The shadows were still there, they hadn’t gone anywhere, but their mental pressure on his mind had noticeably weakened.

      «I’ve got it! I’ve got it!» Eva shouted, her voice full of tension, but also triumph. «In the old records… there’s a protocol! «Northern Shield’ used an experimental wide-band frequency pulse to suppress local anomalous manifestations! I can try to launch it through this terminal, but I need time to bypass the security systems and reroute the energy! Keep them away from me! At all costs!»