The steel door slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing like a gunshot in the narrow corridor, a final, definitive barrier between him and the people he was determined to protect. Jin didn't look back. He didn't need to. He could feel the pack's collective focus lock onto him, a clear weight in the air that prickled his skin and raised the hairs on his neck. He was the bait, and the hunt had begun.
His feet pounded against the grated metal floor, a steady rhythm that matched the frantic beating of his own heart. The corridor was a canyon of darkness, broken only by the flickering red emergency lights that painted everything in strokes of blood and shadow. The air was cold, recycled, and carried the faint, acrid scent of ozone and something else… something ancient and predatory. The scuttling sounds behind him were a symphony of nightmares, chittering tide that seemed to grow with every passing second.
