"No Revenants," Arlen said. "They left because something else called them."
"Called?" Kev turned. "What does that mean?"
Arlen pointed to the sky.
It was clear.
For now.
But faintly, at the horizon, flickering like heatwaves, a circle of light pulsed in the clouds. Not natural. Too perfect.
"They're going to where the new doors open."
"Doors?"
"Places where the Spire breathes into the world."
They moved faster after that.
Kev drove them like a man possessed. At one point, Lena tried to argue—they were exhausted, barely had enough food—but Kev shut her down with a look she hadn't seen since the early days of the Burrow.
The look of someone who knew time was no longer on their side.
Not days.
Not even hours.
The *world* was changing too fast.
---
By the seventh night, they reached a small bunker hidden beneath a collapsed hospital on the outskirts of what once had been a suburban sprawl.
It was intact.
Not powered. But sealed. Reinforced.
