The air in the tunnel was thick with decay. The Hollow Eater was gone, sealed behind the blast doors. But the survivors barely had time to breathe.
Something else was coming.
A deep, guttural growl vibrated through the steel walls. It wasn't just anger—it was hunger.
Leon's grip tightened on his machete. "Tell me that's not—"
A grotesque mass of muscle and sinew crashed onto the tunnel floor, sending shockwaves of flesh-rattling force through the ground.
The Behemoth had arrived.
Evelyn took a step back, voice tight. "That's…new."
It rose to its full height, its grotesque quadrupedal form twitching. A bulging brain throbbed behind its eyeless face, and its gaping maw unspooled a writhing, barbed tongue.
Leon barely had time to dodge as the Behemoth slammed into the wall, sending chunks of steel and concrete flying. Sparks rained down, casting shadows against its glistening, pulsating flesh.
Mia fired her rifle, but the bullets barely penetrated.
The Behemoth whipped its tongue forward.
The barbed tip snagged Lucas by the arm.
"NO!" Evelyn screamed.
The creature yanked him off his feet, slamming him into the ground.
Leon didn't hesitate. He charged, machete raised, and sliced through the tongue.
The Behemoth roared in pain, black ichor spraying across the tunnel.
Lucas hit the ground, groaning.
Evelyn dragged him back as the creature lurched toward them again.
Leon's mind raced. They couldn't outrun it. They couldn't fight it head-on.
But they could trap it.
"The power lines," he panted, pointing to the exposed electrical cables in the wreckage.
Evelyn caught on immediately. "We fry it."
Mia nodded, already moving. "I'll bait it. You get the cables ready."
Before Leon could protest, she fired two shots into its grotesque, pulsating brain-mass.
The Behemoth screeched in fury.
Then—it lunged straight at her.
Mia sprinted past the wreckage, leading it closer.
Leon grabbed a metal pipe, wrapping loose wiring around it. "Almost there—"
The Behemoth was feet away from Mia when she dove aside.
Leon jammed the live wire into the wet ground.
A surge of raw electricity ripped through the tunnel.
The Behemoth seized up, its grotesque form convulsing as thousands of volts tore through its body.
Then, with a final, sickening crack—it collapsed.
Smoke curled from its twitching remains.
Leon exhaled, heart hammering. "That…worked?"
But Evelyn was staring ahead—at something worse.
The Devourer's influence was spreading.
And they were still trapped inside its feeding ground.