A sound slipped through the silence.
Soft.
Small.
Crack.
It didn't echo like the others. It didn't need to. It landed heavy anyway, like something delicate giving way under pressure that should never have existed in the first place.
Inside the corridor, the creature hadn't lunged, hadn't torn him, hadn't even rushed.
It had simply… pulled the man closer.
Its long arms folded inward in a slow, almost carefully, mowtion, drawing him into its chest like something meant to comfort and not to destroy.
The soldier's body jerked once in its grip, it was pretty much a reflex more than resistance, his hands pushing weakly against that impossibly thin frame as if his body still hadn't caught up to what was happening.
Then—
Another crack.
One moment, the creature held him in a soft, almost gentle embrace.
The next, the tall, pale thing tightened its grip.
No warning.
No hesitation.
