I am sure the last chapter must have felt like a repeat, as if you have read it already, and you did at Chapter 20. But it was my mistake; I didn't upload them in order, so I fixed it. Now you won't find it at Chapter 20; it's changed completely.
I am sure, now you know the world is wider than you thought.
Author's note: Come on guys write some reviews.
*****
"Next!"
He spun, his momentum carrying him into the next zombie. Three rapid slashes carved the creature into neat, twitching slices before it even hit the ground.
One tried to grab him from behind.
Atlas grabbed its wrist instead.
Twisted.
The arm tore free.
He shoved the screaming corpse into the horde, using it like a bowling ball to knock down three more. He leapt onto a pipe running along the wall, sprinted along it sideways, then jumped—
—landing knee-first onto a zombie's face.
The skull collapsed inward.
Another lunged.
Atlas ducked under its arms, drove his claws upward through its ribcage, lifted it off the ground—
—and ripped it in half.
Blood sprayed across the tunnel ceiling like paint.
Next he was a whirlwind. He ducked under grasping hands, slid between legs, and leaped off the walls. He was utilizing the environment perfectly.
He kicked a zombie into a rusted pipe, impaling it. He slashed a support beam, causing a section of the catwalk to collapse onto a group of five.
And with every kill, the phenomenon occurred. The black blood sprayed, but before it could hit the water, the bodies began to wither. Atlas was a black hole, sucking the vitality out of the sewer.
He severed a head with a backhand.
He pierced a spine with a thrust.
He spun, creating a circle of death that cleared everything within a two-meter radius.
"Hehehe... Hahahaha!"
The laughter bubbled up again. It wasn't the laughter of a madman, but of a man who had finally found his calling.
'This is fun' his inner voice admitted, breath steady despite the carnage.
'This is… really fun.'
He was dancing in the dark, bathed in the gore of the dead, dreaming of the golden throne he was building with every severed limb.
The sewer of Hive wasn't a dungeon. It was a playground. And Atlas was the only kid who knew how to play.
---
Sector 4 – Molecular Biology Lab 04.
Time: 04:37 AM.
The metal grate in the floor of Corridor B clattered open.
A hand reached out, gripping the rim, followed by a head of blonde hair. Alice pulled herself up from the utility tunnels, scanning the hallway with the Beretta raised. It was empty, save for the flickering lights and the distant, rhythmic dripping of water.
"Clear," she whispered.
She reached down, helping Matt hoist Rain out of the hole. The commando was dead weight now. Her skin had turned a sickly, translucent grey, and dark purple veins were spider-webbing up her neck from the collar of her tactical vest. Her breathing was wet and rattled.
Spence scrambled out last, looking like a drowned rat, shivering uncontrollably.
"Hurry," Alice urged, checking the corridor. "We must move fast. The zombies are behind us."
They moved as a broken unit. Matt and Spence supported Rain, practically dragging her boots across the floor.
As they reached a four-way junction, Alice suddenly stopped.
She froze in the middle of the intersection, her eyes locking onto a specific reinforced door labeled
[RESTRICTED ACCESS – VIRAL STORAGE].
Her breath hitched. Her pupils dilated.
A memory slammed into her mind—vivid, sharp, and terrifying.
*She is standing in this hallway. She is holding a duffel bag. She is inputting a code. She is hiding the many vials of T-Virus and the Anti-Virus inside.*
"Alice?" Matt whispered, stepping closer. "Are you okay?"
Alice blinked, the hallway swimming back into focus. She stared at the door, her voice trembling with a sudden, overwhelming realization.
"There's a cure," she whispered.
Rain lifted her head, her eyes glassy with fever. "What?"
Alice turned to them, hope blazing in her eyes. "There's an Anti-Virus. They brought it here for experiments. It's in the lab."
She looked at Rain, her expression fierce. "Wait, Rain. Just hold on. I can save you."
Rain's cracked lips stretched into a weak, bloody smile. "And here I was... beginning to worry."
Spence let out a breath of relief, adjusting his grip on Rain. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"
They rushed the door.
[The Flooded Lab]
The lab was a wreck.
The fire suppression system had clearly malfunctioned during the lockdown. The entire room was flooded. Knee-deep water, cold and stagnant, covered the floor. Papers, clipboards, and empty vials floated on the surface like debris from a shipwreck.
The lights overhead sputtered, casting erratic shadows across the water.
Alice waded in, the icy water soaking her red dress instantly. She ignored the cold. She moved toward the far wall, where a massive, industrial storage unit stood.
"The Anti-Virus is here," Alice said, her voice echoing in the large room. "They brought it here. With the virus. This is where it began."
Matt waded after her, the water sloshing around his legs. He looked at her, suspicion clouding his face.
"How do you know that?" Matt asked, his tone sharp. "How do you know exactly where it is?"
Alice stopped. She looked at the storage unit, then back at Matt. The memories were fragmented, but the guilt was clear.
"Because..." Alice hesitated, her voice dropping. "Because I was the one who was supposed to steal it. I was your sister's contact, Matt."
Matt froze. The revelation hit him like a physical blow.
"You?" Matt whispered. "You were the one she was meeting?"
"I think so," Alice nodded, looking down at her hands. "I was going to expose Umbrella. I was going to bring the samples to her."
"So you betrayed her," Matt accused, stepping closer, his anger rising above the fear. "She's dead because of you! If you had done your job—"
"I don't know!" Alice shouted back, backing away. "I don't remember what happened! I don't remember why it went wrong!"
"Tell me the truth!" Matt grabbed her shoulder, shaking her. "Did you sell her out?"
"I don't know the truth myself!" Alice shoved him away. "Right now, the only thing that matters is the cure!"
She turned her back on him and waded toward the storage unit.
Rain and Spence had reached the small metal staircase that led to an elevated platform. Rain slumped against the iron railing, sliding down until she was sitting in the shallow water on the steps.
"Hurry up, Alice," Rain wheezed, coughing up black bile. "I don't have... much time."
Alice reached the storage unit. Her fingers flew over the keypad—muscle memory taking over.
Beep. Beep. Beep. Click.
The hydraulic hiss of the door opening was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. She pulled the heavy steel door open, ready to grab the blue spiral vials of the Anti-Virus.
She froze.
The rack was empty.
"Impossible," Alice breathed.
She frantically checked the shelves. Nothing. No virus. No cure. Just empty slots where the briefcase should have been.
"They're supposed to be here," she whispered, panic rising. "Where are they?"
Rain, watching from the stairs, let her head fall back against the bars.
"I shouldn't have raised my expectations," she muttered, the light fading from her eyes. "Figures. Just my luck."
Alice stood there, paralyzed by failure. She turned to look at the others, searching for an answer.
And that's when she saw Spence.
Spence was standing in the middle of the flooded lab, away from the group. The water swirled around his waist. He wasn't looking at Alice. He wasn't looking at Rain.
He was staring into empty space, his eyes wide, unblinking. His body was trembling—not from the cold, but from something internal.
Flashback.
Spence saw it. He saw the train. He saw the safe. He saw himself typing the code. He saw himself grabbing the vials of T-Virus and Anti-Virus. He saw himself throwing the blue vial into the lab. He saw himself putting on the gas mask as the Red Queen sealed the room.
He did it.
He was the saboteur.
The shivering stopped. The confusion vanished from his face, replaced by a cold, sharp clarity.
"Spence?" Alice called out, stepping away from the empty safe. "Are you okay?"
He didn't respond.
"Spence?"
He slowly turned his head. The doofy, scared look was gone. His eyes were focused.
Predatory. He looked at Alice, then shifted his gaze to the metal table beside him.
Lying on the table, forgotten in the chaos, was a silver revolver—likely left by a security guard who had died there hours ago.
Alice followed his gaze. Her eyes widened.
She lunged for the gun.
"No!"
She was fast, but Spence was much closer.
He snatched the revolver from the table, spinning around in a splash of water. He raised the weapon, leveling it squarely at them.
Click! He cocked the hammer.
"Whoa, whoa," Spence said, a smirk playing on his lips. "Stand back."
Matt froze, holding his hands up. Rain tried to reach for her P90, but she was too weak to lift it.
"Spence?" Alice stood still, the water lapping at her thighs. "What are you doing?"
"I remember," Spence said, his voice steady and arrogant. "I remember everything. The wedding. The plan. And you."
The water in the lab rippled around Spence Parks' legs as he aimed the silver revolver at Matt's head. The flickering lights cast long, erratic shadows across his face, highlighting the manic desperation in his eyes.
"I hid the virus, Alice," Spence confessed, a twisted grin splitting his face. "I put it on the train. It's waiting for us right now."
He gestured with his free hand, encompassing the ruin of the lab, the dead facility, and the horror waiting outside.
"Come with me, Alice. Think about it. Do you have any idea how much these sample is worth?"
He began to pace, the water splashing with each step, his voice rising in pitch.
"We're not just talking about Umbrella. I'm talking about the open market. TRICELL in Africa would pay a fortune to destabilize the region. WilPharma in India needs a basis for their vaccine research. The Shén Yà syndicate in China?, They would offer me a blank cheque just for a single vial!"
His eyes widened, shining with the glint of avarice.
"And that's just the corporations. Think about the governments! The Russians, the US Military. Or the extremists—those crazy religious zealots in the Middle East, the Iranians, the Saudis... they would pay hundreds of millions, if not billions, for the power to rewrite life and death."
"You're insane," Alice whispered, staring at him as if seeing him for the first time.
"I'm a visionary!" Spence countered, laughing breathlessly. "We can go anywhere. Rio. Paris. We can buy a private island in the Caribbean. We can hide in a fortress in the Swiss Alps, or in Eastern Europe in some villages, sipping champagne while the rest of the world burns."
He stepped closer to her, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper.
"Far away from the chaos that is about to fall upon the world. We just opened Pandora's Box, Alice. The old world is over. But with that money? We can build a paradise in the ashes. We can do whatever we want. Be whoever we want."
Alice looked at him with pure, unadulterated disgust.
"You did this?" she asked, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "You killed all these people? You destroyed an entire facility... for money?"
"I did it for us!" Spence shouted, his composure cracking. "This was the plan! We were supposed to be rich! We were supposed to be kings!"