“Aw, shit…”
Adam glanced back, vision foggy and unfocused. His eyes hadn’t adjusted to the mist, but they had to now. In the damp, distant haze, a figure emerged. Cloaked in… no, made of black. A pure, unknowable substance. And it carried a paddle.

One of them.

Their kind never gave up. Last time Adam saw one, Lucas had still been alive. Before the end, Lucas had shared his plan, Operation Sunlight. Their final shot at ending the Night Walkers for good. It could’ve worked. _Would’ve,_ maybe…
But Lucas had smiled at the end; a broken, knowing smile sealing his own fate as the blade pierced him. That was Adam’s last memory of him. No time for grief now. He was slipping.

A dart grazed Adam's side not deep, but sharp enough to lock his body into overdrive. His limbs snapped into motion, rowing like an Olympic ghost. His control was in full effect!

_“He caught up so fast!” _Breath ragged. Arms aching. Each stroke right, then left fueled by desperation. He hoped to throw the figure off, zigzagging wildly. But it wasn’t working.

The creature was gaining.
Rowing with one hand, shooting with another.
And a third. Yes, a third arm from that bastard working the arrows like a machine.

Adam’s escape was turning into a t-shirt real soon.

He was going to veer right into his coffin if he didn’t reach land or at least gain the upper hand. But the current was too strong. The water too wide. And Lady Luck had turned her back.

He was drowning not just in water, but in his own illusions. This was it. The end of him.The end of _Sunlight_.