The office corridor beca a kill zone.
Not in chaos, not in panic.
In order.
Zubair didn’t raise his voice—he didn’t need to. A single clipped word was enough:
"Contain."
The rope tightened where it needed to. Boots shifted, weight set. The zombies swayed in their grotesque rhythm, heads rocking like buoys in waves no one else could feel. Then the pack snapped forward.
Lachlan t the first one head-on, his body already bleeding blue, his claws out.
He didn’t think about fear, or about consequences. He was the wall.
He slamd into the lead zombie, shoulder driving it into a cubicle partition that groaned under the impact. Teeth lunged for his throat. He caught the jaws in his hands, blood slicking his palms as the shark-teeth bit through flesh.
He snarled, not in fear, but in challenge. "Co on then."
The head snapped sideways, too fast, biting at his arm instead. Flesh tore, and his blood poured out of him. Unphased, Lachlan drove his knee up, crushing the thing’s ribs, pinning it for the others.
"Zubair!"
Flas answered Lachlan’s summons.
Zubair’s arm swept low and then up, fire pouring from his hand like it had just been waiting for the call.
The zombie scread, its swaying body twitching in spasms as its flesh blackened.
But Zubair didn’t stop. He continued to burn the zombie until the sll of roasted sinew filled the corridor and the thing dropped in on itself, twitching in the ashes.
Another zombie lunged from above.
Alexei didn’t bother with knives anymore.
He raised his palm and the temperature in the hallway dropped a full ten degrees.
Frost crept up the walls in jagged lines. The zombie froze mid-lunge, its entire body caught in a sudden crystal, its teeth still bared, its claws inches from Alexei’s head.
He smiled, the kind of grin that had nothing to do with humor. With a flick of his finger, the frozen body shattered into shards.
It didn’t regenerate.
Alexei chuckled under his breath. "Da. Better. Ice solves all problems."
Three more creatures moved at once—one from the side door, two crawling from the ceiling like spiders with human skeletons. They hit the line fast, swaying even as they attacked, their movents sharp and unpredictable.
Elias stepped forward into the fray. There was no hesitation, no trying to figure everything out before he made his move.
But it was always like that when he was in a battle. It was the only ti that his mind truly fell silent. He braced his stance, caught one zombie by the shoulder, and slamd it into the wall.
It bit down on his forearm and his flesh tore again—but Elias didn’t scream. He forced the arm deeper into its mouth, controlling the angle. His free hand went to its skull, pinning it against the drywall.
It clawed at him, nails raking his chest, but he held steady. Blood ran down his sleeve in rivers. He didn’t flinch. He bought ti. "Now."
Zubair turned the flas in Elias’ direction, burning the thing clean off him. Elias pulled his arm free, smoke trailing from charred flesh that was already beginning to knit itself back together. His face stayed blank, his breathing even.
The clones were worse. Alexei’s earlier cut had spawned three more, identical and swaying, jaws gnashing with hunger. They advanced in unison, heads tipping as if sniffing a current no one else could sense.
Sera stepped forward.
She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t blink. Her black eyes burned in the dim corridor. The clones stilled as she ca close, their rocking quickening like sharks circling blood.
She moved with surgical precision. One hand snapped out, crushing a jaw shut. Her other hand ripped the spine free in a clean motion. The body collapsed before it could regenerate.
Another swayed too close. She caught it by the skull, twisted, and slamd it to the floor with bone-breaking force. It writhed, teeth snapping, but she pinned it with her boot and drove her claws through its skull.
Alpha.
The word whispered through every skull in the hallway—not spoken, but felt.
Elias heard it in his bones. Alexei smirked because he already knew. Lachlan grinned through bloodied teeth. Even Zubair’s eyes flicked her way for the briefest acknowledgnt.
The zombies knew too. Their swaying grew frantic, they rocked harder, their jaws clicking in agitation. They were recognizing hierarchy, even as they hunted.
One broke rank, trying to flee down the hall.
Sera was on it before it took three steps. She dragged it back by the spine, slamd it into the wall hard enough to crack plaster, and shredded its throat with one clean strike. Blood sprayed the carpet, dark and steaming.
"No survivors," she growled, low, inhuman.
The team adjusted instantly. This wasn’t retreat. This wasn’t escape. This was eradication.
Lachlan ripped a zombie from the ceiling with both hands, slamming it down onto his knee hard enough to snap its spine. It tried to writhe, teeth snapping in a frenzy. He threw it into Zubair’s line of fire, and it went up in flas.
Alexei’s ice snapped outward again, coating three more in a cage of jagged ice.
He didn’t wait this ti. He walked forward, touched the nearest one with a single finger, and shattered it into dust. The other two froze harder, their movents slowing until he brought the ceiling down on them with a gesture. Ice spears crushed through bone and brain.
Sera gutted another clone, catching its spine as it split to replicate. She twisted the bone and tore it clean out, the very thing inside of her that called to them severing whatever spark animated it. The body flopped useless, no clone followed.
Elias caught another by the throat. Its teeth sank into his palm, but he didn’t fight the pain. He drove it backward into a cubicle fra, pinning it while Zubair’s flas consud it. His skin closed almost as fast as the fire burned.
One by one, they cleared the hall.
There were no screams, no wasted words. Just coordinated violence, executed with soldier’s precision.
Minutes later, silence took the office floor again. The sll of charred flesh, wet ash, and frost hung heavy in the air. Steam rose from the carpet where fire and ice had collided.
The team stood in the wreckage, breathing steady.
Zubair scanned the hall once, eyes narrowing. "Clear."
Alexei flicked an ice shard off his glove and smirked. "Beautiful work."
Lachlan shook blood from his claws, flexing his still-blue skin. He studied his hand like it wasn’t even his. "This is new," he grunted, before flashing his signature smirk. "And that...wasn’t even a workout."
Elias exhaled once, calm. His arm was whole again. His notebook itched at his hip, begging for words he didn’t write.
Sera was already walking, boots silent in the wet carpet. She checked the corners, the ceiling vents, every shadow. Nothing moved. Nothing swayed. Her jaw was still set, eyes black.
"None left," she confird.
And she was right. Not one of the creatures had escaped. Not one had been allowed to survive in their ho.
For a mont, the only sound was the slow drip of thawed ice from the ceiling. Then Zubair spoke, voice low but carrying.
"We reinforce this level," he said. "Every vent sealed. Every door welded. Nothing gets through again."
They nodded as one.
Sera didn’t smile. She didn’t soften. She turned and looked back at the carnage they had left—the shattered ice, the burned corpses, the blood-soaked carpet—and her voice was absolute.
"This is our house," she said. "Nothing lives here but us."
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