Zara sat hunched over her desk in the cold, sterile lab, the low hum of machines providing a constant backdrop to the rising tension in her chest. She hadn’t ant to work late, but the file she’d received from her anonymous tipper had left her unable to stop reading. The more she dug into the docunts, the more the horrific pieces of the puzzle began to click together.
The base’s research into the MIT virus—mutation-induced transmission—had always been frad as a necessary evil, a thod to develop vaccines, a weapon, a cure for sothing they weren’t fully prepared to fight. But what she was reading now... it wasn’t what she’d been told.
As she scanned through the latest file, the shaky, hastily written notes from her informant painted a picture of sothing much darker than she could have imagined. The experints they had conducted with the MIT virus weren’t just about creating super-soldiers or trying to control the spread of the zombie plague. They were trying to control the very essence of the virus. Genetic manipulation, cellular modification, and, worst of all, the use of live human subjects.
Zara’s hand shook as she turned the page. The images accompanying the notes were blurry, dark, but it was clear what they showed: test subjects, all humans, their bodies contorted and twisted by the virus. So of them looked like they were no longer even human, their faces grotesque, almost alien, eyes wide and unfocused, mouths open in silent screams.
No one had told her about this. No one had ever ntioned that they might have created sothing worse than zombies. She’d always believed the MIT virus was just an unfortunate byproduct of war, a biological accident, but now... now, it seed deliberate. The things in the base—those experints—were no longer human. They weren’t zombies, not in the traditional sense. They were sothing else.
Zara exhaled sharply, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. If these things got out, if the base was compromised and these creatures were unleashed, the world wouldn’t be facing just a zombie outbreak—it would be facing a new kind of nightmare.
Her thoughts spun in a million directions, the urgency to share this information clawing at her. There had to be a way to stop it, to warn soone, anyone. But who could she trust? That Evelyn woman seed reliable but she hadn’t been able to talk to her. But what if she was also in on it? Zara found it hard to believe that the higher-ups didn’t know about what was going on in their base.
The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as an unfamiliar, cold presence filled the doorway.
Zara’s head snapped up, her breath catching in her throat as her eyes locked on Harker, standing in the shadowed doorway with that infuriating smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.
She hadn’t heard him enter, hadn’t even sensed him until he spoke. She eyed the shadows at his feet, trying to not think of how it seed like mist curling around him.
"What the hell do you want now, Harker?" she snapped, her voice betraying her nerves as she pushed herself back in her chair.
"Co work with . I can offer you everything he can’t. You know you deserve more than what you’re getting out there. More than Winter can give you."
Harker’s jaw clenched, his eyes flashing with sothing dangerous. The smile he had been wearing faded, replaced with a glint of rage. Zara stood her ground, her heart pounding. She was on the edge, all that fear and frustration from the file threatening to spill over.
But then he exhaled, his expression shifting to sothing that almost looked... pitying. His voice was calm as if nothing had happened. "You know, you could’ve avoided all of this," he said. "If you’d only chosen to stand by my side. You wouldn’t be stuck in this ss. You could have been tucked away, safe, under my protection."
Zara’s stomach churned. Protection? From what?
Before she could respond, Harker turned, his long strides taking him away without another word. What the hell did he an by that? Had he been talking about the experints? About the things she was uncovering?
But before she could dive back into the notes, the sound of blaring alarms interrupted her. A loud, harsh tone echoed through the base, followed by an urgent announcent that rang out over the intercom.
"Breach. Zombies in the base. Repeat: Breach. Zombies in the base."
Zara froze, her blood running cold. The announcent bood through the intercom, but it barely registered. Her ears were ringing, her thoughts a jumble of panic. The room around her blurred. Zombies in the base—here?
The researchers around her stood frozen for a mont, so looking toward the exits, others looking at each other in shock, their faces pale. But Zara couldn’t focus on them. She couldn’t breathe. The thought of Leo being caught in this made her
"No, no, no..." Zara muttered, her eyes wide. She stood, knocking over her chair in her haste.
The sound of rushing footsteps, the clattering of chairs, and panicked voices filled the air. Researchers scrambled, heading toward the nearest exits.
Zara shoved past them, barely noticing the stares or the whispers. She didn’t have ti for any of that. She had no ti.
She reached the hallway and sprinted toward the exit, her eyes darting around, trying to make sense of the madness unfolding around her. The alarm was deafening now, and every corner of the base felt like a maze, each turn bringing more chaos. Her legs burned, but she didn’t slow down. Her son needed her, and nothing else mattered.
Her breath ca in shallow gasps as she reached the main staircase. It was a blur—her mind only focused on getting down, getting out. Her hands tightened around the railing as she descended, her pulse thundering in her ears, her thoughts a jumbled ss of panic.
The sounds of screams and running feet echoed behind her, and Zara quickened her pace.
Zara’s heart pounded in her chest as she reached the nearest window. Through the glass, the base was a nightmare happening in real ti. Chaos on every floor—blood splattered against the walls, the shrill screams of the terrified, and the guttural growls of the zombies filled the air. Soldiers were now scrambling, fighting for their lives against the infected.
But what froze Zara’s blood wasn’t the sight of the carnage—it was the realization that the mist which was supposed to be outside was now swirling around in the base. The do over the base wasn’t broken.
The mist wasn’t natural. Soone had controlled it to allow the infected to move freely through the base, like a trap laid out for them all.
She spun around in a frenzy, grabbing anything she could find.
She spotted the face masks—one of the soldier-grade oxygen masks used for combat zones, designed to protect against the contamination. She grabbed two. One for herself, and the other for Leo.
Without wasting another second, Zara stuffed them into her bag and bolted from the room, the distant sounds of violence and panic chasing her as she ran.
As she sprinted toward the exit, a figure caught her eye. At the far end of the courtyard, standing eerily still in the middle of the madness was Harker. His gaze was fixed on the chaos around him, his expression crazed and pleased.
Zara’s breath hitched. Was he behind this? Was this his doing?
Before she could act, Harker’s eyes flicked toward her. In that fleeting mont, their gazes locked, but there was no ti to process the look he gave her. A mont later, he simply disappeared into the mist.
She pushed the thought of him aside, focusing only on Leo. The daycare was on the far side of the base, tucked away behind several layers of security. Zara’s legs burned as she ran.
Every corner she turned, every hallway she passed, she encountered more chaos—soldiers fighting the infected, civilians fleeing for their lives, and the grotesque forms of the zombies erging from the shadows.
The air was thick with the stench of blood and death. Zara shoved her way through the crowds of panicked soldiers, fighting her own fear and desperation.
The power flickered, and for a mont, everything went dark before the ergency lights kicked in, casting an eerie red glow over the scene.
A shadow moved swiftly past the hallway, almost too fast for Zara to see, and a chill ran down her spine. She didn’t stop to figure out what it was. She couldn’t afford to.
*****
Outside the base, Winter’s crew was already making their way back. The convoy of jeeps rumbled across the barren land, the soldiers talking in low voices about the mission, their voices tense from hours spent in the field. But the chatter died the mont they neared the base.
"Is that...fire?"
The smoke was visible from miles away—an ominous, swirling black cloud gathering inside the do of the base.
The soldiers’ faces turned pale, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Shit!" one of them muttered under his breath, his voice tense.
Winter, who had been driving in the front, imdiately slamd his foot down on the accelerator, the vehicle lurching forward. There was no way in hell the base was under attack. There shouldn’t be!
"Get the hell out of the way!" he barked to the others, and the convoy sped up, tires kicking up dust as they raced toward the base.
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