Arjun landed on the ground with a heavy thud, his claws digging into the blood-soaked pavement. Without wasting a second, he lunged at the remaining zombies, tearing through their decaying bodies with brutal efficiency. Each strike was precise, but there were too many. Clearing the rest took longer than expected—nearly two more hours of relentless fighting. His limbs ached, but he couldn't stop. Not yet.
On the front side of the building, Janvi and Shubash held their ground. The sharp cracks of their rifles echoed through the air as they fired round after round, trying to keep the horde at bay. Each bullet found its mark, but for every zombie that fell, more emerged, drawn by the noise.
The six-hour time limit Arjun had given them had already passed. Long ago.
"We should leave." Shubash's voice was tight with frustration, his face clouded with worry. His finger hovered near the trigger, but his heart wasn't in it. The number of zombies had multiplied—what had been tens of thousands now swelled to an overwhelming sea of rotting bodies. If they didn't leave soon, escape would become impossible.
"Where is Arjun?" His voice trembled with tension as he scanned the darkness for any sign of him.
"He'll be here," Janvi replied, her tone firm despite the fear creeping into her heart. She fired another shot, dropping a zombie that had gotten too close. "He promised."
Shubash shook his head. "This is too much. We can't hold them off forever—we need to get out of here while we still can."
"No," Janvi snapped, her hands gripping the rifle tighter. "We're not leaving without him."
Her brother turned toward her, a flicker of frustration in his eyes, but he didn't argue. He knew her well enough to realize that once she made up her mind, nothing could sway her. Still, the weight of reality pressed down on him. If Arjun didn't appear soon, it wouldn't matter—they'd all be trapped here.
Janvi bit her lip, the metallic taste of blood mingling with her rising panic. Arjun had promised to return safely. She wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him. But as each minute dragged on, that belief grew harder to hold onto. Was he still alive in there? Or had the endless tide of the dead finally overwhelmed him?
Shubash exhaled a shaky breath, wiping sweat from his brow. The exhaustion was setting in, creeping through his muscles like lead. Even if Arjun did return, how would they fight their way out? The zombies were no longer just a horde—they were an unstoppable wall of death. At this rate, they would be too drained to escape once their ammunition ran out.
Inside the mall, Arjun, still in his towering lizard form, moved cautiously toward the basement door. Each step echoed through the empty halls, his claws scraping against the cracked tiles. Beyond the heavy steel door, he could hear the relentless pounding—zombies. Dozens of them, maybe more, slamming their decayed fists against the barrier in a mindless attempt to break through.
His golden, slit-pupil eyes narrowed as he extended his long, forked tongue. With delicate precision, he wrapped it around the door's knob and twisted it open.
The moment the lock gave way, chaos erupted.
Like a broken dam, the undead poured out in a frenzied wave. The first zombies stumbled and fell, trampled under the weight of the horde pushing from behind. Their soulless, milky eyes glinted with hunger as they spotted him, jaws snapping with eerie, mechanical aggression.
Arjun didn't flinch. Instead, his powerful tail lashed out in a blur, sweeping through the front line. The impact was brutal—bodies shattered, bones snapped, and limbs flew in all directions. He lunged forward, his claws tearing through the nearest zombies like paper. The air filled with the wet sound of flesh ripping as he crushed two of them in his grasp, their mangled remains tossed aside without a second thought.
A second wave surged toward him, but Arjun was already moving. He reared back onto his muscular hind legs and slammed his front limbs to the ground. The force sent a shockwave rippling through the floor, throwing the undead off balance. Dust and broken concrete exploded into the air, clouding the basement entrance in a thick haze.
In the midst of the chaos, his tongue flicked out again—this time wrapping around the throat of a towering zombie. Once, the creature had been a bodybuilder, its muscles now grotesquely swollen and twisted. With a swift jerk, Arjun dragged it into his jaws. His fangs pierced its leathery flesh, and with a brutal twist of his neck, he tore its head clean off.
More zombies swarmed him, their numbers seemingly endless. They clawed at his scaled hide, their brittle nails snapping as they struggled to pierce his armor-like skin. One managed to latch onto his back, its jagged teeth sinking into his shoulder. Arjun snarled in irritation, twisting his body sharply. The zombie was flung off, hitting the wall with a sickening crunch. Before it could rise, he brought his foot down, reducing its skull to a bloody smear.
Minutes passed, though it felt like hours, as he ripped through the horde. Finally, the last zombie fell, twitching weakly beneath his claws before going still. Arjun exhaled, his breath heavy with exertion. The battle was over—but the danger wasn't.
He turned toward the dark, eerie entrance of the parking basement. A chill crept through the air, thick and heavy. His instincts flared—something far more dangerous than a tier-one mutant was waiting below. He could feel it.
Cautiously, Arjun stepped into the basement. The dim light faded behind him, but his reptilian eyes adjusted quickly, cutting through the darkness. The walls were cracked and stained, the stale scent of oil and decay lingering in the air. Every muscle in his massive body tensed as he advanced.
And then—
"What the hell?" he growled.
A motorcycle hurtled toward him from the shadows. With lightning reflexes, he twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the speeding projectile as it crashed into the wall behind him.
A deafening roar pierced the air, vibrating through the concrete and making the ground tremble beneath his feet. The sound was primal—filled with rage and power.
Before Arjun could react, another bike came flying out of the darkness, followed by a third. He dodged each one, his body moving on pure instinct. By the time the tenth bike sailed past him, he knew—whatever was down here wasn't just strong. It was a monster.
Before the next vehicle could be hurled his way, Arjun transformed into a bee, his massive lizard form shrinking in an instant. With rapid, buzzing wings, he darted away from the chaos, weaving through the air until he found a safer corner to catch his breath and assess the threat.
Hovering near the cracked ceiling, he took in the scene below. Two mutant zombies stood in the middle of the wrecked parking basement. Their bodies oozed with thick, yellow pus, giving off a foul, rotten stench. One of them—roughly the size of a large man—was the one throwing the bikes. But it was the other that made Arjun's gut twist with unease.
The second mutant was massive—easily twice the size of the first, with its bald head nearly scraping the ceiling. Its skin was thicker and darker, stretched tight over bulging muscles. Despite its monstrous appearance, the creature stood unnervingly still, its posture exuding an air of dominance.
"Is that even a tier-one mutant?" Arjun thought, his tiny bee body trembling slightly. "It doesn't look like it… That thing feels like a tier-two." His instincts screamed danger. The smaller one was already a problem—but this giant? It was in a league of its own.
The larger mutant was the one that had roared when Arjun first entered. And now, it stood there like a king, observing everything with cold, calculating eyes. Meanwhile, the smaller mutant growled and chattered as if communicating. Arjun's mind raced.
"Are they... talking to each other?" The thought chilled him. If they could coordinate, things would become far more dangerous.
The smaller mutant, frustrated by losing sight of its target, let out a sharp, eerie screech. At that sound, the towering tier-two mutant turned its head—straight toward Arjun.
"No way… It can see me?" A cold shiver ran through him. In his bee form, he should be nearly invisible amidst the debris and shadows. Yet the mutant's crimson eyes locked onto him with terrifying accuracy.
Without warning, the massive zombie clenched its enormous fist around a concrete pillar, tearing it free from the foundation with a sickening crunch. Muscles bulged beneath its rotting skin as it hurled the pillar straight at him.
"Shit!" Arjun's mind screamed in panic.
He zipped out of the way just as the pillar smashed into the ceiling. The impact sent massive chunks of concrete crashing down, shaking the entire basement. Dust and debris clouded the air as Arjun reappeared, wings buzzing frantically.
A deafening roar tore through the chaos—the big zombie again. It wasn't just angry. It was hunting him.
The smaller mutant grabbed another motorcycle and began hurling it his way, one after another, relentless and unyielding. Each throw was faster, more precise, forcing Arjun to twist and dive through the air to avoid being crushed.
"How am I supposed to fight these things?" Frustration clawed at him. Every time he tried to assess the situation, they attacked without giving him room to breathe.
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed from outside. The entire basement trembled under the force of the explosion. Dust rained from the ceiling, and even the two mutants froze for a split second, their heads snapping toward the source of the noise.
Arjun didn't waste the opportunity.
"This is my chance!" He shot toward the basement exit, his wings working overtime to escape before the mutants recovered.
But the tier-two mutant wasn't slow. With terrifying speed, it shook off its daze and scanned the room. Its crimson gaze locked onto Arjun's tiny form darting toward freedom. Letting out another ground-shaking roar, it lunged forward, its massive legs tearing through the debris as it pursued him. The smaller mutant wasn't far behind, scrambling to keep up.
As soon as Arjun burst through the exit, he shifted forms mid-air. His bee body expanded and twisted until, in the next instant, a massive wolf hit the ground, muscles tensed and ready.
Without looking back, Arjun sprinted toward the surface, every instinct screaming at him to get out before those monsters caught up.