Liam's boots crunched over broken concrete as he patrolled the outer edge of the settlement's barrier, the night air thick with the metallic tang of ozone from the humming energy wall. Something felt off. The usual low drone of the defenses had a new, stuttering rhythm to it. He slowed, eyes narrowing at faint disturbances in the dust ahead—small, deliberate holes punched clean through the reinforced plating.
'What the hell?'
He crouched, fingers tracing the edges of one breach. Perfectly circular, edges melted smooth. No random damage. Someone had done this on purpose. His pulse quickened. The barrier was all that kept the nightmares out.
A soft scrape of metal on stone drew his gaze further down the line. There, half-hidden in shadow, a hunched figure worked frantically with a slender rod that glowed faintly at its tip. Liam's eyes widened as recognition hit like a gut punch.
Wilbert. Lia's father.
