4338.209 · July 28, 2018 AD
Between Breaths and Warnings
Dawn breaks on borrowed time. Luke bolts through the Portal, racing to warn the camp that the Shadow Panther isn't contained—it followed Beatrix, it can follow anyone. Meanwhile, alone in his house, Beatrix locks herself in the bathroom and lets scalding water wash away blood she can see and terror she can't. The red dress pools at her feet. The mirror fogs. And for one fragile moment, survival feels like enough.
"Fuck!" Luke's realisation hits like a freight train: if the creature followed Beatrix through the Portal, the camp is in danger.
He vanishes in a burst of technicolour light, leaving Beatrix alone in the blood-streaked quiet of his kitchen. No goodbyes. No reassurances. Just the frantic urgency of a man racing against an unknown clock to warn his people that the barriers between worlds are no longer secure.
Back in Clivilius, Luke crashes through to the camp with a warning that shatters the dawn: the Shadow Panther can cross. It hunts. And they're all vulnerable.
In Luke's bathroom, Beatrix turns the lock—one door she can control—and watches her ruined red dress fall to the tiles. The mirror reflects a stranger: bruised, bloodied, barely recognisable. As steam rises and hot water stings her wounds, she doesn't think about Jarod or the casino or what comes next.
She just breathes.
The water burns. The cuts scream. But she's alive. Still here. Still standing.
And for now, in this locked room with fogged glass and scalding proof of survival, that has to be enough.
