“Okay,” I whisper to myself. “Don’t panic. It’s a staging room. Reset area. Probably fine.”
Then my boot sticks.
“What the?—”
I lift my foot, but it doesn’t move. The floor stretches with me, glistening in the light—thick, translucent. Adhesive.
“Shit.”
The more I move, the worse it gets. The gel creeps up around my ankles like living honey. I reach for the nearest wall—my glove sticks instantly.
“Oh, you havegotto be kidding me.”
The gel rises faster now. It’s warm, sticky, clinging to my legs, my hips. I can feel it vibrating against my skin like it’sthinking.My breath catches. The instinct to panic hits like a slap. No matter how much I twist, the stuff only tightens. My body is half-sunk, pinned upright, heart hammering so hard it hurts.
Dirk’s voice booms through hidden speakers, gleeful as ever.
“This next challenge is brought to you by…REGRET!”
“Go choke on your own ego, you psycho!” I snarl, thrashing. The gel holds fast, sucking tighter with every movement.
“Oh, feisty!” he coos. “Audience, take note—our Engineer’s in over her head! How’s she gonna wriggle out ofthisone?”
“By killing you,” I hiss.
But my bravado’s cracking. The gel crawls higher, past my ribs now, thick and clinging, pressing against my chest like wet hands. My throat tightens. There’s a sound—low, animal, and only half of it’s mine. The other half… comes from the shadows.
Because something’s in here with me.
The corner of the room moves.
I freeze. My heart stumbles in my chest. The shadow stretches, peels away from the wall, and becomestaller.Broader. Wrongly shaped.
And then I see them—eyes like molten red glass. Hair white as bone. Skin black and gleaming like obsidian in the flickering light.
He’s not human.
He’s not anything I’ve ever seen.
He’sbeautiful,in a terrifying, impossible way.
Dirk’s voice changes tone—mock surprise. “Oh! Look who decided to join the party! Our wildcard guest star! Viewers, you’re in for a treat!”
The creature—no, the man—tilts his head, assessing me like a puzzle he intends to solve violently. My lungs seize. He moves closer, silent as gravity. My pulse pounds in my ears so loud it drowns out everything else.
When he steps into the light, my breath stops completely.
Seven feet of living shadow. Muscle coiled under black skin traced with faint white ridges—bone spurs, like natural armor. His face is angular, alien, almost regal. Fangs catch the light when he exhales, slow and deliberate.
He smells like lightning before a storm—sharp, electric, wild.
And he’slooking at me.
Not like prey.
Like recognition.
The gel locks tighter around my torso. “Don’t just stand there!” I shout, half terrified, half furious. “Help me!”
