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Rain stood frozen, eyes locked on something only she could see. The red laser beam moved closer.
James, watching through the window, couldn't look away. "Rain? RAIN!"
The beam passed across her neck in perfect silence.
For a moment, nothing happened. Rain remained standing, eyes still wide.
Then her head slid sideways and dropped.
The cut was so clean, so precise, that not a single drop of blood fell. The heat from the laser had cauterized everything instantly.
"Oh my God," Alice breathed, hands flying to her mouth.
"This is a laser corridor!" she shouted at Kaplan. "It's killing them! Open the door!"
"I'm trying!" Kaplan's fingers were a blur across the keyboard, sweat dripping down his face. Everything he'd learned, every trick he knew—none of it was working.
Inside the corridor, two more beams appeared. One high, one low, both moving fast.
One of the mercs jumped, clearing the lower beam—but couldn't avoid the upper one. It sliced through his torso. His body separated cleanly at the waist.
James was the only one left mobile. He leaped, grabbed an overhead pipe, and hauled himself against the ceiling using pure arm strength. The lasers passed beneath him.
"Hurry!" Alice was screaming now.
"I'm working on it!" Kaplan's voice cracked. "Almost there!"
The mercenary with the severed hand had already passed out from blood loss and shock. James hung from the pipe, breathing hard, watching the next laser form.
This one was different.
It started as a single beam, same as the others. James prepared to dodge—
Then it split. One beam became five, then ten, then dozens, forming a grid that filled the entire corridor.
"Shit," James whispered.
The net passed through him.
His body fell in precisely cut pieces.
Alice turned away, hands over her face. Spence went white, stumbling backward. Even Kaplan froze for a second, staring at the carnage.
Then his screen flashed green.
"Got it!" He slammed the override. "Doors opening!"
The corridor doors hissed open. The laser grid vanished.
Kaplan stepped to the threshold and looked inside. Body parts. Blood. The smell of burned meat.
His entire team. Gone.
He stood there for a long moment, not moving.
"Kaplan?" Alice's voice was soft.
He shook himself. "The mission. We... we still have the mission."
Spence backed away from the door. "I'm not going in there."
"It's safe now," Kaplan said flatly. "The lasers are off."
"I don't care! I'm not—"
"I'll go with you," Alice interrupted. She looked at Kaplan. "You shouldn't do this alone."
Kaplan nodded gratefully.
Together, they entered the corridor. They retrieved the decoder James had attached to the far door, stepping carefully around the... remains. Then they crossed into the Red Queen's chamber.
The room was small, maybe fifteen feet square. In the center sat a cube-shaped server—black metal, covered in cooling vents and indicator lights. The Red Queen's physical core.
Kaplan assembled the pulse weapon quickly, hands shaking slightly. Alice kept watch at the door.
Just as Kaplan was about to activate it, the air shimmered. A hologram materialized—a young girl, maybe ten years old, with pale skin and dark hair. The Red Queen's chosen avatar.
"No," the AI said, her voice oddly human. "You can't shut me down. Please. If you do, containment will fail. They'll get out."
Kaplan's jaw tightened. "You just killed my friends."
"I was protecting the Hive. Protecting everyone. If the infection spreads—"
"I don't care." Kaplan pressed the trigger.
WHOOM.
The pulse weapon discharged. The server sparked, lights flickering wildly. The Red Queen's hologram glitched, her face contorting.
"You've killed us all," she hissed.
Then she vanished.
The lights in the chamber died. Emergency power kicked in after a moment, bathing everything in dim red.
Kaplan pulled the Red Queen's motherboard from the server. "Got it. Let's move."
Back in Restaurant B, the lights went out.
Marcus, still standing calmly near Ryan and J.D., watched as the green status lights on the licker containers shifted to red. One by one, across the entire chamber.
Through his telekinetic senses, Marcus felt the change immediately. The liquid nitrogen supply had cut off. The temperature in the containers was rising, slowly but inevitably.
The lickers were waking up.
Marcus smiled slightly. Time to reduce the odds.
His telekinetic field extended into a dozen containers, silent and invisible. Inside each one, he formed a razor-thin line—compressed force no thicker than a hair—and sent it through the licker's skull.
Twist.
The creatures died without making a sound, brains scrambled, bodies going limp in their suspension fluid.
Thirteen down. Dozens more to go.
I'm such a nice guy, Marcus thought dryly. The others would face maybe thirty lickers instead of over forty. He'd just improved their survival odds by thirty percent.
The lights came back on.
Ryan and J.D. were immediately alert, weapons raised, scanning the room. They knew something had happened—the power outage, the timing—but didn't know what.
Marcus and Matt stood perfectly still, hands still zip-tied behind their backs, looking like model prisoners.
After a few tense minutes, Ryan checked his watch. "They're overdue."
J.D. nodded. "Think something went wrong?"
Clang.
A metallic sound echoed from deeper in the chamber.
Both mercenaries spun toward it. "Stay here," Ryan ordered, moving toward the sound with his rifle up.
J.D. kept his weapon trained on Marcus and Matt.
Ryan advanced between the container rows, flashlight cutting through shadows. After a moment, she called back, "J.D.! We've got a survivor!"
She lowered her rifle, relief evident. A figure in white was shuffling toward her—probably a scientist or technician, dazed but alive.
What Ryan didn't notice: the figure's head was tilted at an odd angle. Its eyes were milky white. Its mouth was smeared with blood.
"Hey," Ryan called, approaching. "It's okay, we're here to—"
The zombie lunged.
It grabbed her arm and bit down, teeth sinking deep into the flesh between her thumb and forefinger. Ryan screamed, stumbling backward. The zombie held on, tearing a chunk of meat free.
"GET OFF!" J.D. sprinted over, grabbed the zombie by its lab coat, and hurled it aside. It hit the ground and started getting up immediately.
J.D. helped Ryan to her feet. "You okay?"
"It bit me!" Ryan held up her hand. Blood streamed down her wrist. "It tore out a piece!"
J.D. aimed his pistol at the approaching zombie. "Get down! I'm warning you—get down or I'll shoot!"
The zombie kept coming, arms outstretched, mouth opening and closing mechanically.
"Last warning!"
The zombie didn't stop.
BANG.
J.D. shot it in the leg. The zombie stumbled but kept moving.
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
Four shots to the chest. The zombie staggered, paused, then continued forward.
"What the hell?!" J.D. backed up, reloading.
Ryan grabbed her submachine gun and opened fire. BRATATAT. The burst caught the zombie center-mass and sent it flying backward into the shadows.
Silence.
J.D. stared at the darkness where it had fallen. "I shot it five times. Five times. Why didn't it stop?"
"It stopped now," Ryan said through gritted teeth, wrapping her hand with gauze from her med kit.
Marcus and Matt approached cautiously. Ryan glanced at them but didn't object—bigger problems right now.
Footsteps echoed from the corridor. Alice, Kaplan, and Spence appeared, drawn by the gunfire.
"What happened?" Kaplan demanded. "Why were you shooting?"
"There was a survivor," Ryan said. "He went crazy. Attacked me."
"And you killed him?"
"He bit me!" Ryan held up her bandaged hand.
J.D. had moved to check the body. "Uh... guys? He's gone."
Everyone froze.
"What do you mean gone?" Ryan rushed over. The spot where the zombie had fallen was empty. Just blood stains on the floor.
"It was right here," J.D. said helplessly. "I swear it was right here."
Marcus noticed Matt glancing at the ground. Following his gaze, Marcus saw what Matt had spotted: a set of keys lying near the blood stain. The handcuff keys, probably fallen from J.D.'s belt during the struggle.
Matt started to move toward them. Marcus stepped forward first, smoothly positioning himself between Matt and the others' line of sight.
"Hey," Marcus called. "Come look at this."
Alice and the others gathered around. Matt, seeing his chance blocked, moved behind Marcus instead—accidentally creating a screen that hid Marcus's hands.
Marcus crouched near the blood stain, palming the keys in one smooth motion. "This blood," he said, examining the dark stains. "It's already coagulated."
"That's impossible," Kaplan said. "Blood only coagulates after death."
"Why is it impossible?" Marcus stood, pocketing the keys. "The evidence is right in front of you."
Everyone looked at him—really looked at him—for the first time since the mansion. Alice especially. That presence she'd noticed when they first met, the quiet confidence, was back.
Spence broke the silence. "When can we get out of here?" His voice shook. "I just want to leave."
Ryan shook her head. "Not until the others get back."
She still thought James and the team were somewhere in the facility.
Alice, Kaplan, and Spence exchanged glances.
"There are no others," Kaplan said quietly. "They're dead. All of them."
Ryan's face went blank. "What?"
"Wait." J.D. held up a hand. "Quiet. Listen."
Everyone froze.
Shuffling sounds. From multiple directions. Getting closer.
They turned, weapons coming up, scanning the darkness between containers.
Figures emerged from the shadows. Dozens of them. Scientists in lab coats, technicians in coveralls, security guards in uniform. All shambling forward with jerky, unnatural movements.
All with blood on their faces and hunger in their dead eyes.
"Oh shit," J.D. breathed.
The zombies attacked.
Ryan snapped the neck of one that lunged at her. J.D. and Kaplan opened fire, muzzle flashes lighting up the chamber. BANGBANGBANG. Zombies fell, but kept crawling forward unless the shots hit their heads.
Marcus, still handcuffed, quietly worked the key he'd palmed. His fingers—enhanced by NZT—made short work of the lock. The cuffs clicked open.
He left them loosely on his wrists, not drawing attention. Then he moved to Matt, pressing the key into his hand.
"Good luck," Marcus whispered.
Matt nodded, fingers already working the lock.
Gunfire intensified. Bullets ricocheted off containers and walls. One stray round punctured a cultivation chamber—HISSSSS—gas venting into the air.
"Move! Move! Move!" someone shouted.
They ran. The mercenaries provided covering fire while Alice grabbed Marcus and Matt, trying to pull them along.
BOOM.
The damaged chamber exploded. The shockwave sent all three flying.
Marcus hit the ground and rolled smoothly to his feet. He was fine—had braced with telekinesis at the last second—but played injured anyway. No need to stand out.
Alice was on his right, dazed but conscious. Matt on his left, groaning.
Zombies surrounded them, cutting them off from the others.
Marcus sighed, reached down, and hauled both of them upright. One hand each.
Alice blinked at him. Then looked at his wrists. "Your hands..."
"Found the key," Marcus said. "Matt's still working on his."
Indeed, Matt was fumbling with the key behind his back, trying desperately to unlock the cuffs while staying on his feet.
"We need to move," Marcus said calmly.
They ran. Alice led, somehow navigating by instinct through corridors she shouldn't remember. Marcus kept Matt upright when he stumbled. The zombies fell behind—slow, but relentless.
They found themselves in a research lab. Exam tables, computer terminals, specimen fridges.
"I need to find someone," Matt said, breathing hard. "My sister. She worked here."
"Go," Marcus said. "We'll manage."
Matt hesitated, then nodded and disappeared through a side door.
Marcus and Alice continued deeper into the lab complex. They emerged into a large holding area—rows of cages with heavy wire mesh, each one big enough for a large animal.
Every cage had been torn open from the inside. The wire was bent outward, slick with blood and... something else. Tissue, maybe. Like whatever had been inside had forced its way out through sheer violence.
"What were they keeping here?" Alice whispered.
Marcus didn't answer. He was staring at the claw marks on the metal.
They moved through the chamber and into an office space beyond. Desks, filing cabinets, a water cooler—
Scratch scratch scratch.
Both of them turned toward the sound. A door on the far wall was moving, something behind it scraping at the wood.
The door swung open.
A dog emerged. At least, it used to be a dog. Now it was hairless, its skin mottled red and gray, muscles exposed in places where the flesh had rotted away. Its eyes were milky white. Its jaw hung open, revealing rows of teeth that seemed too long, too sharp.
Saliva dripped from its mouth, sizzling where it hit the floor.
Alice sucked in a breath.
Marcus stared at the zombie dog.
Well, he thought. This is new.
(End of Chapter)