Lila’s teeth dug into the flesh of her wrist hard enough to split skin.

The sound was wet.

Animalistic.

She didn’t seem to notice.

Blood rolled down her arm in thin streams while she sat hunched in the alleyway between two towering concrete buildings, her back pressed against the wall, knees pulled slightly inward like her body was trying to make itself smaller.

"Adrian..."

The name came out shredded.

Barely human.

Rainwater dripped from pipes overhead, tapping against dumpsters and puddles. Somewhere beyond the alley, the underground city continued moving like normal. Footsteps. Distant chatter. The faint hum of trains.

But down here, hidden from all of it, Lila looked like something dragged out of a nightmare.

Her bloodshot eyes twitched violently beneath swollen lids.

She bit herself again.

Harder.

A chunk of skin tore loose from her wrist and hung from her mouth before she spat it onto the ground beside her.

"...Adrian..."

Her fingers dug into her scalp.

Pulling.

Scratching.

The infection inside her had nowhere to go anymore.

No outlet.

No source.

Just hunger.

Just obsession.

And it was rotting her alive from the inside out.

The tears on her face had already dried awhile ago, leaving salty streaks against grime and blood. At some point she’d stopped crying entirely. Now her breathing came in sharp little jerks while her head twitched every few seconds like something inside her nervous system was snapping wires apart.

The sound of boots made her freeze.

Soldiers.

Somewhere nearby.

"Sector D’s clear."

"Then where the fuck did she go?"

Lila’s pupils shifted toward the alley entrance.

Two armed men passed by slowly, rifles raised. Their uniforms were cleaner than anything topside ever managed to keep. One of them looked barely older than twenty.

Neither saw her in the darkness.

"She couldn’t have gotten far," the younger one muttered.

The older soldier rubbed a hand over his face. "Jennifer wants this contained before panic spreads."

"She already killed people on the train."

"Keep your voice down."

"She did."

The older soldier didn’t answer immediately.

His jaw flexed.

Then quietly—

"I know."

The younger one swallowed.

"You think it’s true?"

"What?"

"That those things up there used to be normal."

The older soldier looked at him strangely.

"What the hell else would they have been?"

Silence.

The younger soldier adjusted the rifle against his shoulder uneasily.

"I just..." He hesitated. "I don’t know. People always talked about them like they were monsters from the start."

"They weren’t."

That answer came too quickly.

Too flat.

Like he’d seen something before.

The younger soldier glanced at him, but before he could ask another question—

A scream echoed somewhere down the corridor outside the alley.

Both soldiers snapped toward it immediately.

Not an infected scream.

Human.

Crying.

The two rushed toward the sound.

Lila remained where she was for another few seconds, breathing unevenly.

Then slowly—

She stood.

—

The civilian woman sat against the wall near a flickering train terminal light.

Her shoulders shook violently.

One hand covered her mouth while the other pressed against her stomach like she was trying to hold herself together physically.

The soldiers slowed when they approached her.

The younger one lowered his rifle first.

"...Ma’am?"

The woman didn’t answer.

She just kept crying.

Quietly.

Almost politely.

The older soldier frowned.

"Hey," he said more carefully. "Are you hurt?"

Still nothing.

The younger soldier exchanged a glance with him before stepping closer.

That’s when the woman slowly turned around.

Both men froze.

One of her eyes was completely bloodshot.

The veins around it looked ruptured beneath the skin.

The other eye—

Halfway there.

Red slowly spreading through the white.

The younger soldier’s face drained instantly.

"Oh my God..."

The woman stared at them.

Tears rolled down her face.

"I don’t..." she whispered weakly. "I don’t feel good..."

The older soldier immediately raised his rifle.

"Back up."

The younger one looked horrified. "Wait— wait, she’s still conscious."

"BACK UP."

"She’s scared!"

"She’s infected!"

The woman started crying harder at that word.

"No no no—"

The younger soldier lowered his weapon completely and crouched slightly toward her despite the older man shouting at him not to.

"Listen to me," he said quickly. "Okay? We can help you."

The woman’s breathing hitched.

"You can?"

"Yeah. Yeah, just stay calm—"

She lunged.

Fast enough that the younger soldier only managed half a scream before her teeth tore straight through his throat.

Blood exploded across the wall.

The sound that came out of him didn’t even sound human anymore.

The older soldier stumbled backward in horror while the infected woman ripped flesh away violently, choking on blood as she laughed.

Actually laughed.

Wet.

Broken.

Insane.

The younger soldier collapsed twitching onto the floor, hands desperately clutching what remained of his neck.

The older one finally raised his rifle.

"FUCK—"

The infected woman launched herself at him before he could finish.

The gun went off once.

The bullet shattered a ceiling light.

Darkness swallowed part of the corridor.

Then came screaming.

Real screaming.

The kind people made when they realized death had hands.

—

Aubrey shoved the maintenance door shut behind them and immediately grabbed the handle as if she expected soldiers to come crashing through it a second later.

They didn’t.

At least not yet.

Terri nearly lost her footing beside her, one hand catching the wall as both of them struggled to steady their breathing after sprinting half-blind through three different corridors just to lose the patrols behind them.

The hallway they’d stumbled into looked nothing like the upper sectors.

Everything down here looked expensive.

Even the damn maintenance tunnels.

The walls were smooth white paneling instead of rusted metal. The lights overhead glowed soft gold instead of flickering like dying candles. Somewhere nearby, hidden ventilation systems hummed quietly enough to almost sound peaceful.

It made Aubrey uncomfortable immediately.

"This place freaks me the fuck out," she muttered.

Terri slid down the wall slightly, trying to catch her breath. "Because it’s underground?"

"No." Aubrey glanced around again. "Because it looks like the apocalypse never happened."

That shut Terri up for a second.

Aubrey exhaled hard before laughing quietly under her breath.

Not because anything was funny.

Because if she didn’t laugh, the weight of all this shit would start settling in too hard.

"This feels familiar as hell," she said.

Terri looked up at her tiredly. "What does?"

Aubrey gestured vaguely around them.

"Breaking into another insane facility to save Adrian from weird science psychopaths."

Terri stared at her.

Then unexpectedly—

She smiled.

Small.

Worn down.

But real.

"...yeah," she admitted softly.

For the first time since getting into the borough, the panic loosened just enough for both of them to think straight.

Somewhere deeper in the walls, a muffled announcement echoed over an intercom neither of them could fully hear. Pipes vibrated faintly overhead.

Aubrey wiped sweat from her forehead with the sleeve of her jacket.

"You know," she said, "back then I genuinely thought you were gonna throw up every five minutes."

Terri looked offended immediately.

"I was stressed."

"You looked like a baby deer trying to walk for the first time."

"That’s actually so rude."

"It’s accurate though."

Terri rolled her eyes despite herself.

Aubrey snorted quietly.

The sound bounced strangely through the polished hallway.

Terri’s smile lingered another second before fading.

"...I really was scared though."

Aubrey looked at her then.

Terri leaned back against the wall fully now, her eyes lowering toward the clean floor tiles beneath them.

"I didn’t want to go with you guys," she admitted quietly. "Not at first."

Aubrey stayed silent.

"I kept thinking..." Terri swallowed once. "If I stayed somewhere safe long enough, maybe things would eventually calm down again."

The words sounded dumb hanging in the air.

Not childish.

Just honest.

The kind of thought everybody probably had at the start of the world ending.

Aubrey’s expression softened slightly.

"But they never do," Terri continued. "Every time you think you’ve hit the worst possible point, something worse crawls out afterward."

Her fingers tightened around the strap hanging off her shoulder.

"I got tired of being weak."

A beat passed.

"Tired of everybody having to protect me."

Aubrey looked at her for a long moment before stepping forward and lightly punching her shoulder.

"See?"

Terri blinked.

"You’re not just some science girl anymore."

Terri let out a small laugh through her nose. "Science girl?"

"You know what I mean."

"That sounds incredibly sexist."

"It kinda does, huh?"

"A little."

Aubrey grinned faintly.

Terri shook her head, but warmth still spread through her chest despite everything happening around them.

Then Aubrey’s expression slowly changed again.

The humor drained out quietly.

"You know the worst part?" she asked.

Terri looked at her.

Aubrey glanced down the length of the corridor.

"I’m not even scared for Adrian anymore."

Terri frowned slightly. "What’s that supposed to mean?"

Aubrey’s jaw tightened.

"I think I’m starting to get scared for everybody around him."

Silence settled after that.

Not dramatic.

Not heavy-handed.

Just true.

Because they’d all seen it.

The way Adrian moved now.

The way he survived things people shouldn’t survive.

The way violence seemed to cling to him no matter where he went, like the world itself kept trying to sharpen him into something worse.

Terri looked away first.

"...you think he’s changing?"

Aubrey answered too fast.

"He’s already changed."

The words hung there quietly.

Terri didn’t argue.

Because she remembered the look in Adrian’s eyes the last time she saw him.

Not empty.

That would’ve been easier.

There was still something human in there.

That was the problem.

He still felt things.

Still hurt.

Still cared.

But all of it had started twisting into something dangerous.

A distant alarm suddenly echoed faintly through the borough.

Both girls instantly snapped alert.

Aubrey already had her pistol out before the second pulse of sound hit.

Terri straightened immediately, gripping the stolen keycard tighter.

The softness from earlier disappeared like it had never happened.

Then—

Somewhere far off—

A scream echoed.

Not a soldier.

Not over a speaker.

A real scream.

Followed by another.

Aubrey and Terri exchanged a look.

"What the hell was that?" Terri whispered.

Aubrey’s grip tightened around the pistol.

"I don’t know," she muttered.

Then another scream tore through the distance.

Closer this time.