Author's note: Come on guys write some reviews.
If you want me to continue this work, I would appreciate encouragement. Let this novel become famous! I would like you to bring 600 power stones. If you have any advice for me, please comment so I can improve.
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The Hive – Dining Hall B / Sector 4.
Time: 03:15 AM.
The Dining Hall had transformed into a slaughterhouse.
The blue fog, once eerie, was now a swirling shroud of chaos. Muzzle flashes illuminated the gloom in strobe-light bursts, revealing the shambling horrors closing in from every side.
"Back! Get back!" Rain Ocampo screamed, firing her P90 one-handed. Her injured hand was tucked against her chest, dripping blood, but her aim remained lethal.
A zombie in a tattered maintenance uniform lunged at her from the mist, jaw unhinged. Rain didn't have the angle to shoot. Driven by adrenaline and pain, she dropped her center of gravity, caught the creature by its jaw with her good hand, and twisted violently.
CRACK.
The sound of the spinal column snapping was audible even over the gunfire. The corpse went limp, and she shoved it aside, panting.
"We need a code!" Rain roared, backing toward the exit door. "Kaplan! Get the damn door open!"
Kaplan was trembling so hard he could barely stand. He hammered the keypad next to the blast door, but his fingers slipped on the blood-slicked keys.
"I... I can't remember the override!" Kaplan panicked, his eyes wide with terror as he watched the horde encroaching. "The pressure... I can't think!"
"Move!" J.D. shouted.
J.D. shoved Kaplan aside. "I'll do it! 12177... 12177..." He punched the code in, glancing back at the horde. "Cover me!"
"Matt! Come on!" Alice yelled, grabbing a metal pipe and swinging it at a zombie's head. Clang. The skull caved in, but the creature kept coming.
Matt Addison was in hell.
Still handcuffed, he was defenseless. He kicked out at a grasping hand, slipping on the wet floor.
"I can't!" Matt yelled. "The keys! I need the keys!"
He reached into his pocket, fumbling for the small brass key the dead commando had dropped earlier. But just as he pulled it out, a zombie—one whose lab coat had caught fire from a ruptured steam pipe and electrical spark—lunged at him.
"Whoa!" Matt scrambled backward, losing his balance.
The burning zombie snarled, the flames licking at its melting skin. Matt fell, and the key flew from his hand.
Clink... rattle.
It slid across the floor and dropped through a narrow grate in the drainage vent.
"No, no, no!" Matt gasped.
He scrambled onto his knees, jamming his handcuffed fingers into the grate. He could feel the cold metal of the key, but it was just out of reach. Behind him, the burning zombie stumbled closer, the heat radiating against Matt's back.
"Matt!" Alice screamed.
She spun, decapitating a zombie with her pipe, and saw Matt's predicament. She sprinted toward him, leaping over a pile of crates.
The burning zombie reached down to bite Matt's neck.
WHAM.
Alice's boot connected with the zombie's burning chest. The force of the kick sent it flying backward into a cluster of nitrogen tanks.
"Get it!" Alice yelled, standing guard over him.
Matt groaned, stretching his fingers until his joints popped. He hooked the key ring with his pinky. "Got it!"
He pulled the key out, jammed it into the cuffs, and twisted.
Click.
The steel bracelets fell away. Matt rubbed his raw wrists, grabbing the nearest heavy object—a wrench—and stood up. "Let's go!"
[The Exit Door]
"Got it!" J.D. yelled triumphantly.
The light on the panel turned green. "Open sesame!"
J.D. grabbed the handle and yanked the heavy door open, expecting freedom.
He didn't find freedom. He found a wall of meat.
The corridor behind the door wasn't empty. It was packed tight with the undead—dozens of them, pressed against the door like sardines, waiting for it to open.
"Oh god—"
Before J.D. could even raise his weapon, twenty or more hands shot out.
They grabbed his vest, his arms, his hair.
"Help! Rain!" J.D. screamed as he was yanked off his feet.
"J.D.!" Rain shrieked.
She lunged forward, grabbing his hand. She dug her heels into the floor, pulling with all her strength. "I got you! Don't let go!"
For a second, it was a tug-of-war. Rain pulling one way, fifty zombies pulling the other.
J.D. looked at her, his eyes filled with absolute terror. Then, a zombie bit into his neck. Another bit his shoulder.
"Let go!" Kaplan screamed, grabbing Rain from behind. "It's too late!"
"No!" Rain fought, but a zombie lunged from the doorway, sinking its teeth into her wrist—the same arm that had already been bitten.
"AHHH!" Rain cried out, her grip slipping.
J.D. was dragged into the darkness of the corridor. His screams were cut short by the wet, tearing sounds of a feeding frenzy.
"Close it! Close the door!" Spence yelled, hitting the button.
The heavy steel door slammed shut, severing the sound of their friend dying.
Rain slumped against the wall, clutching her twice-bitten arm, tears streaming down her face. "He's gone... he's gone..."
"We have to move," Alice said, her voice hard. She looked at the blood on the floor. "We have to go back to the Queen's Chamber. It's the only safe place."
They ran.
As they sprinted back through the rows of cryogenic machinery, none of them noticed the massive tank labeled [ PROJECT LICKER ].
The glass was spider-webbing.
CRACK.
A massive, skinless claw punched through the reinforced glass. It was followed by a long, whip-like tongue and a face that was nothing but exposed brain and teeth. The creature dropped to the floor with a wet thud, invisible in the fog, and hissed.
[The Separation]
In the chaos of the retreat, the group fractured.
Alice was running behind Matt, navigating the maze of pipes. A steam vent burst next to them, creating a wall of white noise and heat.
"Matt?" Alice called out, waving the steam away.
No answer.
"Matt!"
She was alone. She turned in a circle, disoriented. The Dining Hall was a labyrinth. She picked a direction and ran, hoping it led to the exit.
Memories bled through.
Training rooms.
Weapons drills.
Orders.
Umbrella.
A door.
She opened it.
She burst through a service door and found herself in a different section of the facility. The air here smelled different—musky, like wet fur and old blood.
She was in a corridor lined with cages.
[ The Kennel ]
Alice walked slowly, her breathing heavy. The cages were ripped open. The steel bars were bent outward, as if something incredibly strong had forced its way out.
Animal cages.
Ripped apart.
Steel bent outward.
Claw marks gouged into concrete.
Click... click... click.
The sound of claws on tile.
Alice froze. She turned around slowly.
Standing ten feet away was a Doberman. But half its face was missing. Its ribcage was exposed, the still heart visibly beating beneath the gore. Its eyes were gone, replaced by empty, bloody sockets.
It growled, a low, rattling sound.
"Nice doggy," Alice whispered, backing up.
The dog lunged.
Alice turned and sprinted. She saw a door to her left—a small observation lab. She threw herself through it and slammed the door shut just as the dog slammed into the wood on the other side.
THUD.
Alice leaned against the door, gasping for air.
"Safe," she muttered.
Groan.
She wasn't safe.
Standing in the corner of the small lab was a zombie—a security guard. He turned slowly, snarling, and charged at her.
Alice didn't have a weapon. She didn't have anywhere to run.
Panic flared—but then, something deeper took over. A muscle memory buried beneath the amnesia.
As the zombie lunged, Alice didn't cower. She reacted.
She sidestepped the clumsy grab. Her fist shot out, driving into the zombie's solar plexus. It was a perfect strike. She grabbed the zombie's shoulder, used his momentum, and vaulted into the air.
Time seemed to slow.
She spun mid-air, her leg snapping out in a devastating hook kick. Her boot connected with the zombie's temple.
CRACK.
The zombie spun 360 degrees and hit the floor hard.
Alice landed in a crouch, her breath steady. She looked at her hands, surprised.
"I know kung fu?" she whispered, confused.
She looked at the fallen zombie. He wasn't moving. But in his holster, she saw it.
A Beretta 92FS handgun.
She stared at her hands.
"I can do this…" she whispered.
She reached down, unholstering the weapon. The weight of the steel felt comforting. Familiar. She checked the magazine. Full.
CRASH!
The observation window behind her shattered.
The zombie dog leaped through the glass, snarling, jaws snapping inches from her face.
Alice didn't hesitate. She didn't think. She just moved.
She rolled backward over the lab table, bringing the gun up.
BANG!
One shot. Mid-air. The bullet went straight through the dog's open mouth and out the back of its skull. The beast dropped mid-leap, sliding across the floor.
But it wasn't alone.
Through the broken window, three more dogs poured in.
Alice kicked the door open and sprinted back into the hallway. The pack followed, their claws scrambling on the linoleum.
Alice spun around, the world narrowing down to targets and angles.
She fired.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
She pulled the trigger.
Again.
Again.
Again.
She moved with a lethal grace, aiming not with her eyes, but with instinct. One dog leaped; she dropped to her knees and shot it in the underbelly. Another flanked her; she twisted her torso and put a bullet between its ears without looking.
The last dog charged. Alice stood her ground. She waited until it was three feet away.
Bang.
The dog collapsed at her feet.
Alice stood in the silence of the Kennel, smoke drifting from the barrel of her gun. She pushed a strand of blonde hair out of her face, her expression cold.
She remembered who she was now. She wasn't just a security officer. She was a weapon.
---
Ventilation Network – Sector 4 (Above the Kennel).
Time: 03:22 AM.
[Meanwhile: Ventilation Shaft Overview]
High above the blood-stained tiles of the Kennel, concealed within the skeletal iron ribs of the facility's ceiling, Atlas watched.
He was perched on a reinforced support beam, crouching with the stillness of a gargoyle. His silverwhite-bone claws were dug deep into the steel to anchor him, supporting his weight effortlessly. His grey, predatory eyes were locked onto the blonde figure moving below.
Alice.
He watched her reload the Beretta 92FS, her movements crisp and practiced. She wiped a smudge of black ichor from her cheek, her chest heaving slightly from the adrenaline of the fight.
Atlas tilted his head, intrigued.
"Mmm."
A low hum of appreciation vibrated in his throat.
'So... that is Alice,' he thought, his gaze lingering longer than he cared to admit. 'I won't lie—she's attractive. No, she's hot. Strong. The kind of woman who looks like she wouldn't break easily, even in a world gone to hell.'
His enhanced vision clearly see and his mind analyzing her moves. He could see the sheen of sweat on her skin, the dilation of her pupils. She had a heroic air about her—a magnetism that pulled the eye.
Then, inevitably, his thoughts wandered.
'But...' Atlas's critical gaze narrowed. 'She is lacking in one crucial area.'
He scanned her silhouette.
'Her chest is too small. Tragically aerodynamic.'.
He scoffed internally, a smirk touching his pale lips.
'If it weren't for that round, well-shaped ass of hers hugging that red dress, I might've mistaken her for a pretty boy. A very lethal pretty boy, but still.'
The thought amused him more than it should have.
But amusement faded quickly—replaced by interest.