Have you ever seen death standing right in front of you? Not the kind associated with a hospital bed or a sudden car wreck, but the impending doom of a predator staring at its prey. I felt it. We all felt it.

  We couldn't move. Our lips didn't even dare to tremble. A cold, overwhelming fear gripped our hearts, making the very act of breathing feel like a crime. For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then, the shadow under the car lurched.

  With a roar of straining metal, the creature slammed upward, almost toppling the two-ton Mercedes. It was a display of raw, superhuman strength that sent us stumbling back. Our screams were swallowed by the vast, uncaring desert.

  As the dust settled under the moonlight, the thing finally revealed itself.

  I thought the shadow was terrifying, but the reality was a waking nightmare. I nearly gagged at the sight of the rotting flesh hanging from its frame. Its limbs looked half-melted, a thick, foul-smelling slime oozing from its skin and hitting the sand with a wet splash. It had the basic silhouette of a human, but the humanity had been stripped away. It was hairless, and its thick, jagged nails looked sharp enough to slice through steel like cake.

  But something was off. It wasn't attacking. It stood there in a strange trance, head tilting mechanically. That’s when I saw its eyes—milky, opaque, and completely destroyed.

  It was blind.

  I glanced at the others. Gaurav and Lila were clinging to each other, paralyzed. Nitish stood with his jaw clenched so hard his facial muscles jumped. Rekha had her hands clasped over her mouth, her face so pale I feared she would faint.

  No, Rekha, stay with me, I pleaded silently. If she fainted, the sound of her body hitting the sand would be a dinner bell.

  Suddenly, Nitish crouched and gripped a heavy rock. My heart stopped. Nitish, don’t, I screamed internally. A rock wouldn't even scratch a thing that could flip a car. But Nitish was eerily calm. Sweat poured down his face, but his eyes were locked in deep concentration.

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  He threw the rock with every ounce of strength he had. It whistled through the air, sailing far past the creature and landing deep in the desert scrub.

  The reaction was instantaneous. The creature dropped to all fours and dashed toward the sound with terrifying speed. It leaped into the thorny thickets, throwing up rubble and cracking the concrete of the road as it vanished.

  “Shh,” Nitish hissed, signaling us to move. “Don’t make a sound. Follow me.”

  We moved like ghosts. Nitish leaned in, whispering to me, “I took a risk. I figured if its eyes were that damaged, its ears might be too—sensitive, but maybe not perfect. It’s totally dependent on sound.”

  I was amazed. How could he be this cold-blooded in the face of a monster? But the relief didn't last. A prickling sensation crawled up my neck. I looked back over my shoulder.

  The creature had stopped. It wasn't chasing the rock anymore. It had turned back toward us, its nose twitching. It wasn't hearing us—it was sniffing us.

  It bared a row of jagged, blackened teeth and let out a guttural hiss. Then, it charged.

  This time, the dam broke. Everyone screamed. Time slowed down as the nightmare leapt through the air, its killing intent so thick it felt like physical pressure. It was almost upon us. I saw the slime dripping from its claws.

  Swoosh! Swoosh!

  The air cracked twice. Two heavy thuds echoed as bullets penetrated the creature’s skull. The impact snapped its neck back with a sickening crunch, sending the body skidding across the sand a few feet away.

  We froze, staring at the corpse. Far off on a high sand dune, a silhouette stood against the starlight. A thin, pointed figure. Before I could even blink, a gust of wind sent a curtain of sand across the horizon. When it cleared, the figure was gone.

  Gaurav and Lila collapsed, sobbing hysterically. Rekha lunged toward me, burying her face in my chest and sobbing. My heart, which had almost stopped, began to hammer against my ribs again. I patted her hair with trembling hands, my eyes fixed on Nitish.

  He wasn't looking at the body. He was staring at the spot where the sniper had been.

  “What do you think?” I rasped, pulling away from Rekha. “Who helped us?”

  Nitish shook his head, his face grim. “I don't know who shot that. But look at this thing, Vikash.” He gestured to the body. “This isn't an animal. This is an experiment. I’ve seen tissue degradation like this in lab rats during high-stress chemical testing. But on a human? This is illegal. This is dangerous.”

  I looked at the body—really looked at it—and this time, I couldn't stop myself. I doubled over and retched.

  Suddenly, a rhythmic thumping vibrated through the air. Beams of light cut through the darkness from the opposite horizon. Helicopters. High-speed SUVs.

  They weren't coming to rescue us. They were coming for the evidence.

  “What the hell is going on?!” I yelled over the rising roar of the engines.