The Hunters and the Hunted

Jason leads the way out of the shattered pharmacy, heart still hammering in his chest. The encounter with the black-scaled lizard left a weight in his gut.. a warning.

The creatures are evolving.

They aren’t just rampaging through the city anymore. They are hunting.

And Jason, Ryan, and Mia are at the bottom of the food chain.

⸻

The streets stretched before them in eerie silence. Every step felt wrong, like the city itself is watching them.

Ryan tugs on Jason’s sleeve. “Where are we going?”

Jason didn’t answer right away. He didn’t know. There is no safe place. Nowhere left to go. But he needs to keep moving.

“North,” Mia answers instead, keeping her voice low. “Out of the downtown ruins. We find somewhere less open, less exposed.”

Jason nodded. It is as good a plan as any.

But the lizards are everywhere.

⸻

As they’re moving, Jason kept Ryan close, one hand hovering near the knife on his belt. His gun is still gone.. a mistake he couldn’t afford again.

Mia took point, stepping carefully through the debris. She is sharp, her gaze flicking between alleyways and rooftops, looking for anything that moves.

The air is thick with the scent of ash and decay. The world is rotting.

Ryan whisperes, “Do you think.. ”

Jason shushes him.

Then he heard it too.

Scraping.

Something is moving nearby.

Jason froze, motioning for Ryan to stay down. Mia presses herself against the side of a collapsed car, eyes sharp.

The sound grew louder.

Then Jason saw them.

Two. Maybe three.

They aren’t the same as the lizard from before. Smaller. Faster. Their scaled bodiesslithering through the ruins like liquid shadow, sharp claws scraping against pavement as they sniffing the air.

They are tracking something.

Jason’s blood ran cold.

They are tracking them.

⸻

Mia gestures sharply. Move.

Jason grabs Ryan’s wrist and slips into an alleyway. The walls are cracked, vines creeping through the wreckage. A dead-end.

His chest tightening. Wrong turn.

Ryan’s breathing quickens. “Jason.. ”

“Quiet.” Jason pressing his hand against Ryan’s mouth, muffling him.

The lizards are close.

Mia crouching behind a rusty dumpster, peering through a gap in the wall. They have seconds.

Jason follows her gaze. A collapsed stairwell lead up to an old balcony.

It is risky. But it is the only way out.

He grabbs Ryan’s arm and runs for it.

⸻

The lizards heard.

Jason barely had time to throw Ryan up onto the balcony before the first lizard lunges.

Mia fires.

The shot rang out through the ruins, echoing between the buildings.

The lizard jerkes back, its head snapping toward her, but it isn’t dead.

Jason didn’t wait to see if she fires again. He scrambles onto the balcony, pulling Ryan up. Mia following.. just as the second lizard leaping for her.

Jason grabs her arm and hauling her up.

The lizard’s claws scraping against the metal railing, inches from Mia’s leg.

Then they ran.

⸻

They sprint across the ruined rooftops, the lizards snarling below. They are fast, weaving between wreckage, climbing over cars.

Then.. a bridge.

A collapsed billboard that had fallen a time ago between two buildings, is forming a makeshift crossing.

Jason didn’t hesitate. He grabs Ryan and pushes him forward.

Ryan scrambles across.

Mia went next.

Jason is halfway over when the billboard cracks.

His foot slipping.

The world lurching.

Jason falls.

Mia’s hand shots out.

caught him just in time.

Jason dangling over the edge, the street far below.

The lizards are still waiting. Watching. Patiently.

Jason grit his teeth. He wouldn’t die like this.

With a growl, he swings his leg up and hauls himself onto the rooftop.

gasping for breath.

Jason looks back.

The lizards are still below.. but they didn’t leave.

They are waiting.

They are learning.

Jason meets Mia’s gaze. This isn’t just survival anymore.

It is a war.

Jason lays on his back, chest heaving, sweat cooling on his skin.

The rooftop beneath him is cracked and uneven, littered with shattered glass and bits of debris. The lizards below have stopped their pursuit, but they aren’t leaving. They are watching. Waiting.

Mia sat up first, pressing a hand to her temple, her breathing still controlled despite the chase. Ryan is curling against Jason’s side, arms wrapped around his knees. Shaken. But still alive.

That is all that matters.

Jason forces himself to sit up. “We need to keep moving.”

Mia wipes sweat from her brow. “No kidding.” She peers over the rooftop’s edge. “They’re still there.”

Jason doesn’t need to look. He can feel it. The way the lizards lingering, stalking them like prey. They have never done this before.

They are changing. Adapting.

And Jason have no idea how to fight something that is learning faster than they are.

⸻

They didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop.

The city stretches out before them.. a graveyard of metal and stone. Skyscrapers stands like cracked bones against the sky, entire blocks reduced to ash and rubble.

But there are still places left standing.

They just have to find one.

Mia points toward a collapsed freeway in the distance. “That might lead somewhere safer.”

Jason doubts it. But he didn’t have a better plan.

⸻

The walk is slow. Careful.

Every alley feels like a trap. Every open space a death sentence.

Jason keeps Ryan close, his grip is firm on his little brother’s wrist. Ryan doesn’t complain. He knew the stakes now.

Survival isn’t about outrunning the monsters anymore.

It is about outsmarting them.

Mia stayed ahead, gun ready, her movements sharp and practiced. Jason envying that. The confidence. The control. He is still learning how to keep up.

Then..

A sound.

Not the lizards.

Something else.

Mia freezes. Jason feels Ryan tensing beside him.

Footsteps.

And voices.

Jason’s heart pounds. People.

But that doesn’t mean they are safe.

⸻

They ducked behind a burnt-out car, listening.

The voices grow clearer. At least four people. Armed.

Jason’s gut twisting. There are only two kinds of survivors left in the city.. the desperate and the dangerous.

Mia shot him a look. Stay down. Stay quiet.

Ryan didn’t move. He barely breaths.

Jason peers through a crack in the car’s frame.

The group is ragged.. dirty clothes, makeshift armor, rifles slung over their shoulders.

But what unsettling Jason is how they moves.

Not like scavengers.

Like hunters.

Just like the lizards below.

⸻

Mia tugs Jason’s sleeve. “We go. Now.”

Jason nods, pulling Ryan along as they slipping into an alleyway. Away from the hunters. Away from the lizards.

Ryan whispers, “What if they’re good people?”

Jason doesn’t answer.

Because in this world, the good people are either dead or hiding.

And Jason isn’t willing to take this risk.

⸻

They move deeper into the ruins, stepping over collapsed beams and broken glass. The city feels like a maze of death.

And Jason knows that they are running out of places to hide.

The lizards are learning.

The survivors are hunting.

And time is running out.