The stench hit first—burnt flesh, chemical fire, and rot clinging to the back of the throat.
Captain Dorian Kael adjusted the seal on his mask. Sweat trailed beneath the frame as his eyes swept the ruined street ahead.
Smoke coiled through the gaps in shattered buildings. Fire crackled somewhere deeper in the district.
But the movement held his attention.
Figures staggered through the haze. Dozens of them. Too fast. Too quiet. Limbs bent at wrong angles. Necks twisted as if broken, yet still turning. Still tracking.
Dorian raised his rifle.
The first shot tore into a torso and staggered the figure without stopping it. The second split the head clean through. It dropped without a sound.
Another stepped over the body and kept coming, arms outstretched, fingers curled like hooks.
He fired again. Controlled bursts. Every hit had to count.
"Captain!"
The shout cracked through his comm. One of his men screamed something behind it, but the words blurred.
Dorian turned just as the line started to collapse.
"Left flank's gone!"
He pivoted, dropped a pair closing in on Halden's position, then moved without needing the order. Three more burst from the side alley, jaws slack, one missing half its lower face.
He dropped two.
The third slammed into a corporal and dragged him down. The screams cut short.
"Push forward!" Dorian barked. "Form a wedge! Move now!"
The squad shifted, more of a stagger than a formation. Boots splashed through ash and blood. Some limped. Others didn't look back.
No time to count.
They were close. The lab was two blocks up, the last secure location mapped on this side of the city. Whatever waited inside had to be worth it.
"Keep pressure!" Dorian switched to burst fire again, aiming low and targeting knees. "Stagger their front!"
They hit the intersection with two more losses. No screams this time. Just a crunch, then silence.
"Kael! They're tracking heat! They're coming faster!"
"Shut it and move!"
The lab gates came into view—tall, reinforced, and half-covered in soot. One of the privates sprinted ahead, keying the pad with shaking hands.
Halden and another soldier covered the rear, unloading their mags as the horde surged closer.
The doors opened with a groan.
"Inside! Go!"
Dorian didn't wait. He fired a final burst to cover the last of the team, then slammed the override.
The gate hissed closed.
A second later, impact.
A dull, wet sound. Bodies smashed against steel. Hands smeared blood across the glass ports. No coordination, only weight.
Inside, the sudden quiet hit harder.
Fluorescents flickered. Blood marked the walls in thick handprints. A body slumped near reception, its face unrecognizable.
One of the men muttered something under his breath.
Dorian didn't break stride.
"Report."
Halden answered, voice ragged. "Six of us left. Two injured."
Dorian nodded once. "Doesn't matter. We're here. We find the samples, or we die for nothing."
No one disagreed.
The group split without needing more orders. Two moved toward the server alcove. Dorian pushed toward the main lab, his boots leaving red prints in the hallway.
Every step echoed.
"This place is wrong," one of the men muttered.
He was right.
Dorian stepped over a shredded corpse in a lab coat and entered the storage wing. Lockers had been torn open. Cabinets overturned. Papers scattered across the floor, soaked through with something dark and sticky.
"Cover the entrance," he said. "Two layers. If anything moves, shoot first."
Two stayed behind. The others fanned out.
He moved quickly. Pulled drawers. Checked labels. Everything looked burned or broken. Half the containment vials were shattered. Most of the logs were corrupted.
"Anything?"
"Empty."
"Nothing stable here either."
A beat of silence.
Then—
"Found one!"
A gloved hand lifted a small vial. Glowing green. Clear. No cracks.
Dorian crossed the room, took it carefully, and turned it against the light.
"Confirmed."
He tucked it into a side pouch and kept moving.
"Not enough," he muttered. "We need more. A full batch. Where are the backups?"
Halden came up behind him, rifle low. "This might be all that's left. The rest..."
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Something slammed into the main gate.
Everyone froze.
Then came the second impact, louder than the first.
"They found us."
"Positions!"
Dorian raised his weapon. "If they breach, fall back to corridor B. Do not stay boxed in."
Another hit. The metal buckled. Screws groaned.
A crack split down the center seam. Fingers punched through. Raw. Bloodied.
"Push them back!" Halden yelled.
He and the others braced the door with their shoulders. One of the figures shoved its face through the opening—skin torn, eyes milky.
Halden shot it in the head.
Another filled its place.
"We're losing the frame!" someone yelled.
"Get the Captain out!" Halden roared.
"No."
Dorian stepped forward, but Halden stopped him with a hand to the chest.
"Move."
Dorian hesitated for only a second. Then a soldier grabbed his vest and pulled.
They ran.
The vial thumped against his chest inside the pouch.
Behind him, Halden fired until the mag clicked dry.
Then came the sharp metallic sound Dorian recognized immediately.
Grenade pin.
The blast shook the hallway.
Dorian hit the exit panel. The emergency doors blew open. Cold air rushed in.
He stumbled outside and fell against the wall, coughing. Smoke rose from the vents above the lab.
No one followed.
He looked down.
The vial still glowed.
"Command, this is Captain Kael." His voice was flat. "We've retrieved a partial sample, but it's nowhere near what we need. Requesting immediate evac."
Static.
Then the reply came, calm and detached.
"Captain Kael, we've received your report. The Aegis Virus... the situation is beyond containment. Prime Planet has decided to sever all contact with Cradle Planet."
Dorian didn't answer at first.
"You can't be serious. We've sacrificed everything to get this far."
"Your service is appreciated, Captain. But the safety of Prime Planet takes precedence. No further resources will be deployed."
He stood there, still. His fingers curled slowly around the vial. The green pulse reflected in his visor.
Dorian closed his eyes, gripping the vial so tightly he thought it might shatter.
After a long pause, he spoke, his voice hollow.
"Make sure my kid is taken care of."
"Understood, Captain. Thank you for your service."