The first pod struck the earth twenty miles west of the highway.

The impact lit the horizon white.

A shockwave rolled across the ruined landscape moments later, rattling the abandoned truck and knocking several infected to the ground. Black smoke spiraled upward beneath the storm clouds while silver lightning flashed endlessly overhead.

Maya stared toward the impact site in horror.

"That wasn't a meteor," she whispered.

"No," Selena said grimly. "It landed."

More objects burned across the sky.

Dozens.

Maybe hundreds.

Each one descended slowly through the storm like living organisms guiding themselves toward the surface.

The infected kneeling along the highway began screaming joyfully.

"The Harvester comes!"

"The gate is open!"

Silver light poured from their mouths as fungal veins beneath their skin brightened violently.

Ethan collapsed harder against the truck, shaking uncontrollably.

"It's connecting…" he gasped.

Maya grabbed his shoulders.

"To what?"

His terrified eyes lifted toward the clouds.

"To all of them."

Thunder exploded overhead.

Then the storm split open.

The massive shape above the clouds descended lower for one impossible moment, and Maya finally understood its true scale.

It covered the sky.

A colossal organic structure drifted through the storm like a living moon—covered in pulsing silver veins and endless moving tendrils. Smaller pod-like organisms detached constantly from its underside, falling toward Earth in burning streams.

Selena backed away slowly.

"This can't be happening…"

But it was.

The Deep Signal beneath BLACKTHORN had never been unique.

It had been a beacon.

A signal sent from Earth after the colony awakened.

And now something had answered.

The little infected girl still stood in the rain staring at Maya with silver eyes.

"The First Daughter opened the path," she whispered.

"I destroyed the core," Maya snapped.

The girl smiled wider.

"You woke the stars."

A deafening screech suddenly echoed from beyond the hills.

Not human.

Not animal.

Something newly born.

Another pod had opened.

The infected across the highway rose together and began walking toward the sound in complete silence.

Drawn.

Called.

Ethan's breathing became uneven.

"They're gathering at the impact sites."

Selena looked toward the truck immediately.

"Then we move now."

Maya hesitated only briefly before helping Ethan into the back seat. The moment Selena restarted the engine, every silver-eyed infected on the highway turned toward them simultaneously.

Watching.

The little girl raised one pale hand slowly.

Then all the infected screamed together.

The sound shattered nearby windows instantly.

The truck sped forward as the crowd surged after them.

Bodies slammed against the vehicle while silver-eyed infected clawed at the doors with unnatural strength. Maya fired through the broken side window, but the creatures barely reacted.

"They're changing faster than the others!" she shouted.

"They're directly connected to the signal," Selena answered.

Ahead of them, the northern highway disappeared into darkness beneath the storm.

Then Maya saw lights in the distance.

A military checkpoint.

Armored vehicles blocked the road while floodlights scanned the rain. Soldiers aimed rifles toward the approaching truck.

For one brief second, Maya felt relief.

Then the sky above the checkpoint opened.

A massive black pod crashed directly into the center of the barricade.

The explosion swallowed soldiers and vehicles alike in silver fire.

Screaming filled the night.

Something enormous began unfolding inside the crater.

Long skeletal limbs rose slowly through smoke and rain while silver light pulsed beneath translucent flesh.

The truck skidded sideways.

Selena stared ahead in horror.

"Oh God…"

The creature lifted its head toward them.

And smiled with a mouth full of human teeth.

Behind them, the infected swarm closed in.

Ahead of them, the thing from the pod began walking toward the road.

And somewhere beyond the storm—

Site Zero waited beneath the frozen earth.