The Path of Madness

For seventeen years, the doctors at St. Mary’s have called him delusional. Then monsters come for him inside the hospital, and Isaac discovers he can absorb the cores they leave behind.

His level rises. His wounds close. He tears a steel door out of concrete.

The cores open other doors, too. Inside his mind, people claiming to be his ancestors offer abilities from lives he’s never lived. Their memories are damaged. Some want to help him. Others keep telling him whom to kill.

Isaac follows their directions into Kentucky’s Rift Zone. Hunting monsters gives him the power to unlock more memories—and a chance to discover what was done to him during the years everyone called treatment.

Four Hunters reluctantly make room for him. They teach him to fight beside them, give him a place at their table, and expect him to be there at breakfast.

Isaac hadn’t realized how much he wanted that.

He’ll need their help to survive what’s waiting deeper inside the Rift. But when his bloodlust takes hold, faces stop meaning anything. Friend and enemy become movement. Hurting them feels good.

He’s finally found people he wants to protect. They’re the ones standing closest when he loses control.