Darkness swallowed them whole.
Leon's pulse pounded as he struggled to move, his body tangled in a mess of pulsing, sinewy tendrils. The tunnel walls had come alive, shifting, breathing—feeding. The Devourer's presence loomed, its voice still echoing in their heads like a sickness.
A low, guttural growl rippled through the blackness. Then, with a sickening tearing sound, the walls peeled apart.
And from the depths crawled something worse.
Mia coughed, dragging herself up just as the thing emerged. A towering, grotesque husk of sinew and bone, its elongated arms ending in razor-sized talons. Its head—if it could even be called that—was a gaping maw lined with pulsating veins, its tongue writhing like a living whip.
Leon stared, his throat dry. This wasn't a normal mutation.
Evelyn shuddered. "The Flesh Harvester."
The thing twitched violently, its limbs cracking as it moved. Its tongue shot out, latching onto a nearby Devourer spawn. With one pull, it ripped the creature apart. Blood and muscle peeled from bone, slithering through the air and into the Harvester's chest.
It was absorbing them. Growing.
Mia cursed. "We need to kill that thing—NOW."
Leon didn't hesitate. He lifted his rifle and fired.
The bullets tore through the creature's flesh—but the wounds closed instantly.
The Harvester screeched, an inhuman, soul-splitting wail. The tunnel itself shook, the organic walls trembling in response.
Leon barely had time to dodge as massive claws ripped through the air, shredding metal pipes like paper. Evelyn fired her shotgun, the force knocking the creature back a step—but only for a moment.
It lunged at her, its tongue coiling around her leg.
Evelyn screamed as it dragged her forward, its jagged teeth splitting open to devour her whole.
Leon reacted fast. He grabbed a rusted metal rod from the collapsed tunnel and, with everything he had, plunged it through the creature's jaw.
The Harvester shrieked, releasing Evelyn just as Mia tossed a grenade.
The explosion sent flesh and black ichor flying, the shockwave tearing the creature's arm clean off.
For the first time—it looked weak.
Leon gritted his teeth. "Hit it again!"
Mia emptied her rifle. Evelyn, panting, hurled a Molotov. The flames clung to its raw, exposed muscle, burning fast.
The Harvester thrashed, its body rejecting the flames, its screams deafening. It lunged one last time—
—before collapsing into itself, its own flesh shriveling, imploding like a dying star.
The three survivors stood, chests heaving. The tunnel was still again.