Coming to my senses a little, I jerked my head from side to side. I tried to raise my arms, but they wouldn't move. Through my blurred vision I scanned the room. I couldn't see much, only a single table standing in front of me. I was sitting on a chair, my hands cuffed to the tabletop, my legs tied to the chair legs.
The worst thing I had been afraid of was losing my mask but it was still there. Everything else had been taken off me, leaving me in just a T-shirt. It was slightly cold inside, and I was shivering from the fever, stuck in an awkward position. It felt like an interrogation room. All of it the restraints, the cold, the waiting was psychological pressure, forcing me to feel exposed and vulnerable.
I didn't see Eric. What if he'd been caught while going beyond the wall, and then they'd followed the chain back to the whole network? But I was too insignificant. I didn't understand why they would bother catching me in the first place.
I had been in this state for a long time. I didn't know exactly how long, but judging by the hunger and the way my body felt, several hours at least. I wanted to stand up, stretch my legs, use the bathroom, eat something. All of it pressed down on you, and of course, a lot of people broke under that kind of pressure. But what exactly did they want from me, and why try to squeeze me at all?
The door handle clicked, and a man in a FEDRA uniform entered the room. He sat down across from me and studied me closely.
"When they told me that a soldier from my former unit was alive and still walking this earth, I didn't believe it. But here you are," he said.The familiar voice made me lock my gaze onto his face, carved up with old scars.
"Lieutenant Simons?" I asked in disbelief. That couldn't be right. I clearly remembered several infected literally tearing into him. There had been so much blood… surely he had been bitten.
"I had the same look on my face when I heard about you. My rank is colonel now, and I oversee this quarantine sector," he said calmly.
"Am I going to be executed for desertion?" I asked.
"By the book yes. You were supposed to join any combat unit you could and regroup with the remaining forces later. But you didn't. And I think I know why. Sergeant Victor Lawrence arrived at the Berkut-4 base at eleven hundred hours. Bite marks were found on his body. The infected individual was placed in isolation," the colonel said, flipping through the folder he had brought with him. He raised an eyebrow pointedly. "Care to comment?"
"They were mistaken. I didn't have any bites," I replied.
"Really?"The colonel stood up, stepped closer, and sharply twisted my forearm, exposing old scars.
"Looks an awful lot like a human bite mark," he said, then returned to his seat.
"It wasn't from the infected," I answered.
"Hm. The Berkut base stopped responding at five in the morning. The presumed incident was an outbreak of infected, resulting in the loss of the base. A decision was made to carry out an airstrike on its location to eliminate any potential заражение. The strike was carried out at nine hundred hours," the colonel continued. "Which means you managed to escape isolation and leave the facility before the strike. That alone raises questions. How did you do it?"
"I was released. Given a chance to defend myself," I said.
"So there were survivors?" the colonel asked.
"No."
"No witnesses," Simons smirked.
"Moving on. Your location and possible movements were unknown. Two days after the strike on Berkut-4, activity was detected at the Helix laboratory. Explosions were also recorded. A reconnaissance unit was dispatched. During the initial survey, traces of burning gasoline and other flammable substances were found. The body of Sergeant Victor Lawrence was discovered on site, with no signs of life," the colonel said, fixing me with a heavy look, as if checking whether I was still breathing. "Confirmed beyond doubt: no signs of life. Anything to say?"
"They were wrong," I muttered.
"Wrong," he repeated, glancing back at the printed report, then continued. "The laboratory was sealed. A month later, a unit was sent to secure the facility. During inspection, it was discovered that all samples of compound 'V' were missing. And during body disposal, Victor Lawrence's body was not found. Funny thing is, they mentioned you in the report. There was no order to identify the dead, yet you were discovered on the very day there was activity and officially listed as 'killed.' So somehow, a dead man walked out of the building and disappeared?"
"While soldiers were sweeping the area and gathering survivors, some civilians reported seeing a man in a FEDRA uniform. Always wearing a gas mask. No one saw his face, but there was one detail: he rode a military enduro bike and moved like a highly trained soldier. I can understand why you didn't come back to us. In fact, if those bites had been discovered back then, they would've shot you without a second thought. I'm sure there was something else that kept you from returning."
The colonel abruptly stood up, grabbed my wrist, and yanked me closer. He pulled out an analyzer and pressed it against my arm. The screen on the device flashed red.
"Infected," Simons concluded.
"Then why all this talking? You already know everything. You've checked me. Just kill me and be done with it fuck the small talk," I said. That was exactly why, from the very beginning, I didn't want to go anywhere near the quarantine zone or FEDRA. They would've tested me on the spot and executed me.
"I have never seen anyone last more than two days," Simons said. "After that, it's always the same they stop being human. And you've been walking this world for a year now. I'm certain you were infected back in that laboratory, am I right?"
Realizing I wasn't going to answer, he stood up and stepped closer. One sharp motion and he tore the mask off my face.
Cold, fresh air flooded my lungs.
"No. You can't have immunity. Many scientists came to the same conclusion: the human body is incapable of resisting fungal growth. This is something else," he said, standing behind me.
My breathing gradually grew heavier. Heat began to build inside my body, my nerves stretching tight like strings, playing their own frantic music. With every passing minute, I felt my mind cracking inside my skull, my muscles weakening, my vision blurring, stripping my senses away.
"Rising temperature, rapid breathing the first signs of the immune system attempting to fight a parasitic organism. Cordyceps travels through the bloodstream to the heart, then gains direct access to the brain. Blood degradation begins, nutrients are redirected to support fungal growth in the subcortical regions," Simons said calmly.
My body went numb. I stopped feeling it entirely, as if I were trapped inside my own head.
"Kill me," I forced out.
"When the spore development stage enters its active phase, the parasite takes control of the host's nervous system and suppresses the mind. From that moment, the person enters the first stage the Runner. And from that point on, there's nothing that can be done. The process is irreversible," Simons finished and put the mask back onto my face.
I barely looked at him, breathing hard.
"How is this possible… Everyone told me the same thing that cordyceps infection cannot be slowed or suppressed. And yet you're standing here, a living example," Simons said.
"I am infected. That's the truth. I'm killing myself so I don't let the cordyceps take me," I replied through the weakness.
"The filter in your mask isn't just protection from the environment. It poisons both you and the fungus. You exist in a fragile symbiosis, where the scales can tip either way. Either you finish yourself off and kill you both, or the fungus wins. You're fighting to stay alive but for what? You understand this will end sooner or later."
The mask didn't help. It wasn't getting any easier.
"Looks like you've entered the final stage of transformation. Which means you need the last resort," Simons said, placing a syringe on the table.
"Medicine isn't a myth… you just need… just…" My speech faltered, my tongue betraying me.
"If you survive, I'll speak with you again," the colonel said and plunged the syringe into my arm, injecting the substance.
That familiar sensation returned sudden relief. And then hellish pain.
I arched, unable to move anywhere. Everything inside me felt like it was on fire, my stomach twisting as if it were being pulled out through my throat. My body convulsed, my teeth clenched so hard it felt like they were about to shatter.
Bastard.