Silence.
The only sound in Storage 9 was the drip from the drain.
And breathing. Two people.
Claire sat. Her hands under the table. On her gun.
Daniel sat across from her, smiling like they were at a family dinner.
“You feel it, right?” Daniel said. “The quiet.
When you stop running, it stops chasing.”
“What is it, Daniel?” Claire asked. “The Hunger.”
Daniel tapped the empty space between their plates.
“It’s not a monster. It’s a deal.”
He leaned forward. “100 years ago, 9 people in this hospital were starving. Real starvation. War.
Dr. Hale made them a promise. If you wait together, you’ll never be hungry again.
So they waited. At a table. Forever.”
“And the 10th seat?” Claire asked.
“The replacement,” Daniel said. “Every 30 years, one of them gets tired.
Wants to leave. So the table finds a new person.
Someone who’s already hungry. For answers. For family. For control.”
He looked right at her. “For your aunt.”
Claire’s jaw clenched.
“The table doesn’t take you,” Daniel whispered. “You agree to it.
By sitting down. By waiting.
And once you do... you get to choose who sits next.”
The lights flickered. The temperature dropped.
From the drain came a sound. Not water.
Breathing. Lots of it. Under the floor.
Daniel stood up. Walked to the wall. Ran his finger over the names.
Stopped at DR. MARKUS HALE.
The name was crossed out.
“He waited 30 years,” Daniel said. “Then he got up.
That’s why there are 9 plates in Berlin. He left his chair empty.”
He turned back to Claire.
“But you can’t leave an empty chair, Claire. The Hunger hates empty chairs.
So it makes a new one.”
He gestured to the third plate he had set.
Claire understood. If she got up now, there would be 3 plates in Washington.
Then 4. Then 5.
It spreads.
“You want me to be the new Dr. Hale,” Claire said.
“I want you to survive,” Daniel said softly. “Sit. Wait.
In 30 years, you pick the next one. Or you don’t.
And it starts all over.”
The breathing under the floor got louder.
The empty plate in the center rattled.
Daniel pushed his chair back.
“I’m tired of waiting,” he said. “Your turn.”
He walked to the door. Put his hand on the knob.
Claire stood up too. Fast.
“Don’t,” she said.
Daniel looked at her. Sad. “Then who will?”
He opened the door.
Cold air rushed in.
And for a second, Claire saw them.
Shadows. Sitting at a long table under the floor.
9 of them. Waiting.
All looking up at her.
Daniel stepped out. The door closed.
The third plate stopped rattling.
Claire was alone.
With two plates set.
And one empty chair.
Her phone buzzed. A new text.
Unknown number: The table is set. Who’s coming to dinner?