Chapter 5.
The door's scream faded into silence, and for a heartbeat none of them moved. The dark yawned before them, vast and unknowable, and Lili felt the weight of it pressing down against her small frame. She tightened her grip on her knife and stepped where the Sergeant guided, her little boots crunching on dust that had lain undisturbed for years.
The men advanced first, rifles sweeping, lightstones casting narrow beams into the void. Lili followed close within their circle, heart hammering in her chest. The cold air bit through her mask, carrying with it the scent of rust, rot, and something emptier still — the smell of years wasted in silence.
The tunnel swallowed them whole.
It was narrow, lined with pipes that wept condensation, dripping steadily onto the corroded floor. The lamps above, once bright with life, now dangled broken and useless like the husks of long-dead insects. Moss-like fungus clung to cracks, pale and trembling under the beams of lightstones. Every step they took echoed, but cloth-wrapped boots dulled the sound, until it felt less like footsteps and more like ghostly whispers drifting behind them.
Lili had not set foot beyond Sanctuary's walls in years. Once, she had ridden these tunnels with her parents, laughing as trains roared past and stations rang with voices. Now, as her eyes traced the rusting pipes and collapsed cables, she realized the Metro she remembered was gone. Time had eaten it away. Cold had hollowed it. Silence had buried it.
The men moved like hunters, close and compact, their formation always held tight — Rifleman Karst first in the formation, Venn the Corporal shadowed him, Rifleman Juno to the right, with Lili at the center guarded by the Heavy Rask and Halvern the Sargent, and making sure nothing came up from behind them was Medic Orrin now along with Rifleman Fenn. They were silent, and swift, there was no words said or wasted movement, and always they were as cautious as if death itself lay waiting beyond each bend in the tunnel — for in truth, it might have been.
In the darkness, the tension was high and quickly hours slipped by. The tunnels stretched on, each one the same as the last, until time itself felt unmoored. Only the faint pulsing of her stones told her how long had passed. By the slow rhythm of their glow she counted an entire day gone, though it felt to her like only a single, endless moment of breath held in darkness.
Then at last as they came to a small maintenance room along the tunnel, the Sergeant raised a hand, and the squad halted. There they rested in silence, weapons steady, backs against the walls. No one spoke. The dim halos of their helm-stones marked their breaths in clouds against the mask glass. Lili crouched in the crook of Rask's massive arm, curling into his lap, her eyes heavy. She listened as the Sergeant's voice cut through the quiet, low but firm.
"Remember your task men. No matter what happens, above all else, Lili's safety comes first. Whatever awaits us, we get her to the Imperium. Nothing else matters."
The men did not argue. They gave silent nods, eyes meeting one another across the dark. They all knew. Lili knew too, though she did not understand the weight of it. She only lowered her eyes and pressed herself tighter into the Heavy's side, her small body seeking warmth and safety.
Their rest was short. Too short, maybe a few hours at best, and soon enough they rose and moved again, steps whispering down the black veins of the earth.
Then as they came to a three way intersection within the maintenance tunnel Lili got a bad feeling. On their left she could see a fully open large metallic door that had seemingly been chewed off it's hinge's and now lay next to the tracks on the side of the main metro tunnel, and Infront of them for longer than the light stones light could reach the maintenance tunnel went seemingly endlessly straight on. The soldiers as always were quick to halt and check the corners for enemies, it as soon as they were about to continue onwards Lili stopped them.
"No, wait," She squeaked out in her high pitched girlish voice, stopping the men instantly in their tracks. "There's something there within the dark, scratching and gnawing. I think it's the ones who chewed this door off it's hinge's." As Lili said this she couldn't help but continue listening and hearing the sounds coming from further down the maintenance tunnel, and it wasn't just the sound but the ominous feeling she was getting as well that warned her of danger.
Then for a moment the soldiers halted and listened as well, none doubted Lili's word's and soon enough they began to hear it as well.
At first it was only a scraping, distant and hollow, like stone dragged against stone. But it grew. A clatter. A rhythm. Claws against concrete, sharp teeth biting and pulling.
The Sergeant's hand rose in an instant, halting them all and making them get low to one knee. The men's weapons raised, their bodies pressed against the wall's. Lili held her breath and continued to listen. The sound was not far, it was echoing from straight ahead down the maintenance tunnel, an animalistic cadence that set her teeth on edge.
Then as if confused, the Corporal asked. "Sarge… those sound too big for rats or anything else natural living underground here. How come there's still things alive down here, shouldn't they all be gone by now?" But no answer came, just shrugs of shoulders as none knew for sure, and so the Corporal crept forward. Crouching low he pressed his knifes palm flat against a pipe. And as if to test whatever was in the dark, he lightly tapped once, twice, thrice against the pipe.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
And for a heartbeat, the scraping ceased, as if the multiple creatures within the dark stopped to listen and adjust.
Then it returned, louder. They were coming closer and fast, almost at a running pace.
Lili's heart clenched in her chest. Whatever lurked beyond the dark had not been frightened away by them. Instead they were coming, and whatever they were, that not even the knowing Soldiers who were her friends and teachers seemed to know, and that frightened her.
However the soldiers, especially the Sargent didn't seem worried at all as he spoke then. "Hah, It seems our adversary has chosen a straight path to their doom. Charging mindlessly down the tunnel straight at us, well I say let the beasts come. Just remember to preserve ammo men, shoot single shots only and have faith for the Emperor watches over us all, as he judge's us."
But then suddenly Lili's breath caught as she heard a new sound coming down the main metro tunnel on their left. It wasn't only her ears that heard it now — her Core trembled as well and she could feel it coming. A prickle ran down her skin, a sick heat that told her something was moving in the dark, fast. Something wrong.
Her wide eyes searched the black, straining against the beams of the men's lightstones. But before she could see it, she could feel it, and by pure instinct alone in a split second her little hand shot out and clutched at the Sergeant's cloak. He noticed at once, gaze snapping toward her. She pointed with a trembling finger, her voice caught in her throat. "There, coming from the left…"
Nothing more needed to be said, karst was already turning, instincts sharpened from years of soldiering. His rifle tracked toward the side tunnel, barrel steady. For a heartbeat nothing came, only the rasp of breath in masks.
Then she saw it — a four legged shape breaking from the side tunnel, pale hide stretched taut over corded muscle, claws like knives flashing in the glow. Its head was much like a rodents but really hideous, muzzle long and twitching, its jaw too wide, filled with teeth that seemed too many to fit in its skull. Its eyes burned yellow, wet and hungry, and its gait was a loping, spider-like rush that sent terror through her chest.
It came straight for Karst, jaws yawning to bite.
But Karst had already shifted, his body tight and ready, muzzle snapping toward the noise. The beast lunged at him — and in that instant, he fired.
The lasbolt burned through its head, bursting bone and flesh in a spray of gore. The smell hit first — scorched hair, blackened blood — and then the weight of the corpse slammed into Karst, knocking him flat against the pipe cover wall. Its claws scraped uselessly against his armor even as its body twitched in death.
Blood and brains splattered across the floor, steaming in the cold air.
Behind Lili, the Medic hissed through his mask, voice sharp and horrified.
"By the Emperor… what heresy is this Mole like mutant beast, this, this Molebeast?"
The word hung in the tunnel like a curse, Molebeast. It seemed that just like Lili the grown men had also just discovered some mutated form of new life within the tunnels, something that most definitely didn't belong on the planet of Achios.
But before Lili could think further upon this, the dark ahead erupted.
Four more shapes broke from the black, claws raking sparks off the walls as they charged. Their bodies moved like predators but their snarls were like madmen laughing, a frenzy of sound that made the tunnel itself seem to vibrate.
"Make way!" Rask bellowed. His voice shook the tunnel as much as the beasts did.
He moved past Karst, and shoved the Corporal aside with one sweep of his massive arm, stepping forward, his rotary lascannon already spinning with a rising scream.
Lili noticed that the Sargent didn't approve of this as he yelled. "No you fool! I said single shots only!" But it was no use, Rask wasn't listening.
Then Lili saw Rask's big weapon roar to life with a red glow of energy. The tunnel seemed as if it filled with firelight. Beams of red searing energy burst out and lit up the darkness, burning everything they touched. The first beast was torn apart mid-stride, its limbs ripped away in sprays of smoking gore. The second's chest exploded into a fountain of blood, ribs shattering like glass. The third was caught full in the head and shoulders, half its body vaporized against the wall.
Only the fourth, the one furthest behind managed to twist away, a hideous pale blur retreating into the smoke and shadows like the blind Molebeast it was, its ragged screech of panic trailing into the distance.
And just like that within less than a few seconds it was over. From the dead one's a heavy smell of burned flesh and ozone came, acrid and choking. Blood hissed as it hit the hot steel pipes, filling the air with steam.
And for a moment silence returned. A silence far smellier in Lili's opinion than before.
But the silence didn't last long. The soldiers held their ground as Karst shoved the steaming carcass off his chest when Lili felt it once again, her whole body stiffening as if struck by an unseen hand. Her core flared hot inside her, trembling with warning. Then her wide eyes lifted, staring upward into the pipes above.
"They're not gone," she whispered, her voice muffled inside the mask, small but urgent. "They're coming in force now… not just ahead or from the side. But they are also coming from the pipes above."
A chill washed over the squad. Even the most hardened of the men felt the hair rise at her words.
"Positions!" barked Halvern. His voice, scarred by years of command, cut through the dread like steel. "Rask, hold the front! Orrin, Juno—side tunnel! Karst, Fenn, Venn—watch those pipes! Smoke them out. Nothing drops on us alive."
The order sent them moving at once, boots grinding softly on grit, weapons swinging with crisp precision. The tunnel seemed to contract around them, every breath loud inside their masks, every shift of armor scraping against silence.
Karst, Venn and Fenn tilted their rifles upward, beams of light brushing the ceiling where the thick venting pipes ran like veins. For a moment, there was only stillness. Then came the sound. A faint scraping, claws dragging metal. A hollow rhythmic thump like rain, heavy, deliberate — something shifting its weight inside the pipes.
The Corporal's voice cracked the silence. "Fire!"
Their rifles spat red fury. Beams lanced upward, punching molten holes into the pipes. Sparks cascaded down like fiery rain, the air filling with the stench of scorched iron. For a heartbeat the tunnel held its breath.
Then came the screams.
High-pitched, alien, furious — the shrieks of rodent like things that should never have been. Black blood jetted from the ruptures, steaming as it spattered across helmets and armor. Curtains of it sprayed down in thick droplets, hissing where they struck the glowing barrels.
But the death cries were not the end.
The pipe split with a tearing shriek, and three, four legged, small dog sized ugly Molebeast shapes spilled through. They were smaller than the last ones had been, and a lot less dangerous looking, but still hideous, glistening, and slick with their own comrades gore as they dropped low on four limbs, like true dog-sized monsters. Their bodies were lean but corded with muscle, claws long and curved, screeching sparks as they struck the floor. Their jaws split wide, lined with jagged teeth, yellow eyes rolling and crazed.
The squad fired, but the beasts were too close, too fast. Shots cracked the walls, scorching stone but missing flesh. Rifles were dropped to the floor as men switched instinctively, steel flashing in their fists.
Karst met one mid-leap, jamming his combat knife upward with practiced speed. The blade punched through slick ribs, the beast shrieking as its black blood spattered across his visor. He snarled wordlessly, teeth bared behind the mask, forcing it back with all his weight.
Beside him Fenn staggered as another lunged, claws raking across his arm guard. The beast snapped for his throat, yellow eyes blazing. With a grunt of fury, Fenn slashed wildly with his combat knife, steel biting pale flesh, sending the nightmare flying to the ground with a hard thud.
The third beast landed squarely on Venn. Its claws screeched across his breastplate, gouging lines in the flak before it tried to snapp at his throat. Venn fell backward with a snarl as he simultaneously tossed the little beast hard onto the floor. Then without mercy he stomped his boot into its belly hard enough to crush bone as he brought his knife down straight into it's head, steel went easily through flesh and bone, down into the brain. But the blade didn't stop, the point punched out through its head in a spray of bone and black blood until it went straight through and hit the hard ground. The thing spasmed for a moment, then it twitched and went stiff.
Lili watched the three men fight bravely as one, but the stench of it was horrible, and even worse was the blood and gore so much so that it made Lili gag behind her mask.
And yet more was to come, they had no time to breathe, from above Lili could sense more Molebeasts coming and elsewhere as well.
From the black ahead came the thunder of claws — heavier this time, more numerous. Six shadows surged down the tunnel, eyes glowing, maws frothing. From the side down the main metro line came even more, their screeches rising in a chorus that rattled the pipes above.
"Haha haha, time to purge some bile mutants for the Emperor!" Rask's roar shook the stone. His rotary lascannon spun up with a scream, the barrels glowing red as lightstones cut downrange.
Then came the storm.
The tunnel was ripped open with fire and light. Bursts of searing energy stitched through the dark, beams carving molten holes into stone, flesh, and bone alike. The first beast in line was nearly vaporised, its chest blown into mist, limbs shattering apart before its corpse hit the ground. The second's head exploded under the barrage, jaws scattering across the wall in a spray of teeth and brain. The third staggered as its legs were burned away, falling onto stumps that still tried to drag it forward before Rask's fire cored it clean through.
The roar of the weapon was deafening. The heat pressed against them like an oven. Smoke rolled thick with the stink of burned hair and seared flesh, the walls glowing red where stray beams bit deep.
Lili stared, transfixed. Rask was like a titan in her innocent young eyes, and his weapon a god's wrath. The Molebeasts were torn apart like toys before him, their blood hissing as it boiled on the stone. She knew she shouldn't be in awe at such violence, and yet she was.
Yet even gods could not stop them all.
Through the smoke they came — more shapes, maddened by blood and fire. Claws raked sparks from the stone as they charged, snarling with the blind hunger of things that knew nothing but kill or die.
Juno and Orrin held the doorway into the main line, lasrifles cracking with disciplined bursts. Beams seared through bodies, blowing black flesh into shreds that slapped the walls, but still the beasts came, hurling themselves through the choke in the broken doorway like rabid dogs. Their dead clogged the gap, but their claws tore through their own fallen, trying to claw their way inside. The doorway shook with their frenzy.
"Hold them!" Orrin snarled, firing again and again until his pack whined empty. He drew his vibro-knife one-handed, swinging at a jaw that pushed through, steel screeching across teeth before carving deep into gums. Juno fought at his side, bayonet flashing, blood spattering across his armor in hot sprays.
Above, Lili's eyes snapped upward. She felt it before the others — her Core flared, screaming warning. The pipes trembled once more. "Above! In the pipes! They're coming again!" she cried, her little voice shrill with fear.
The warning saved them once again as Karst, Fenn, and Venn quickly picked up their rifles and swung their muzzles skyward just as small Molebeasts burst from the already broken pipes. The three men fired in unison, searing light quickly began shredding small hideous bodies into shreds of meat, black blood rained down as the beams cut into flesh again and again. There were so many of them this time, all screeching as their small hideous mutated bodies hurled themselves at the soldiers furiously, only to fall dead and dying on to the ground.
But not all were caught.
A few of them slipped through, slick with gore and smoke, landing amidst the riflemen in a frenzy of claws and snapping jaws. The three this time used their bayonets to stab at the thing's and cut others that came down from the pipes. Some Molebeasts either through accident or intent managed to hurt the men, but even as the men fought and got hurt, the lightstones burned bright on their armor. Wounds that would have crippled a man — slashes across arms, gouges in legs — knitted shut in moments under their glow. Armor dented, flesh bruised, but the stones pulsed life back into them, letting them drive steel harder, faster, with merciless efficiency.
At the front a new wave of larger Molebeasts came, yet Rask stood there like a wall of fire. His cannon screamed, the barrels glowing white as he cut down everything in the long straight of the tunnel. Bodies were reduced to heaps of charred meat, the air alive with the stench of cooked blood. But then they came from above him too — pale forms dropping against his shoulders, clawing at his helmet, snapping at his armoured arms.
"Get off me, you mutant scum!" he roared, smashing one against the wall, tearing another free with his bare hand. But more came, dropping, clinging, dragging him down. Their combined weight bore him to one knee. His cannon swung wide, fire raking sparks from the ceiling.
"Sergeant!" Lili screamed.
Halvern's lasrifle spat into the mob, beams searing through bodies, but the beasts swarmed too close to Rask. He cursed, and with bayonet pointed forward, he roared and threw himself into the melee, steel stabbing again and again, black blood spraying across his mask and armor.
Lili's heart froze. Through the tangle she saw Rask's right arm wrenched back, jaws tearing into the gap of his armor. Blood burst in a hot spray, and his knife slipped from his grip as he howled in pain.
Something in her broke then, she wanted it all to stop, for the beasts to go away and stop hurting her friends.
"Stop it!" she screamed, her small hands flaring white. Light erupted, blinding, pure. A surge from her Core exploded outward, a flood that swallowed the tunnel in brilliance.
The Molebeasts shrieked in terror, thrashing as their eyes boiled with light. They snapped at air, at one another, blinded, snarling, their frenzy broken into chaos.
The soldiers were untouched. Instead, the glow poured into them. Wounds sealed. Flesh mended. Even Rask's torn arm stitched itself whole in an instant, blood vanishing as if it had never been. He gasped, staring at his hand, flexing fingers whole once more.
"Emperor…" Orrin breathed.
The Molebeasts stumbled, blinded by the light and left howling in a confused rage. The men did not hesitate. Blades flashed, bayonets and knives plunging again and again. They cut them down like cattle, steel punching into throats, bellies, skulls. Black blood gushed across the floor, the walls, pooling hot and steaming. Some beasts turned to flee, shrieking into the dark, their courage broken.
The rest died screaming.
Silence fell, broken only by dripping blood and Lili's ragged breaths. Her knees gave way, her small frame collapsing to the stone, hands trembling. The light faded from her palms, leaving only the steady glow of the helm-stones.
Halvern was at her side in an instant, his voice softer now, firm but filled with a rare warmth. "Girl… are you all right?"
Lili forced a smile, though her face was pale beneath the mask. "Is everyone else all right?" she whispered.
He glanced to his men. All of them were totally healthy now and standing — and more alive than they had any right to be. He nodded once. "Yes. Thanks to you. You did good girl."
Her smile brightened. That was all she needed to hear.
Halvern slung his rifle behind his back, freeing his arms, and lifted her gently against his chest. "Come on kid. We can't stay here, we have to move before more of them come, or something even worse. The infected that is, or the sad people as you like to call them."
The men reformed around them, tighter than before. Step by step, they pressed forward into the tunnel the beasts had come from, leaving the steaming corpses behind in silence. Like so the journey towards the spaceport continued once again.
Their boots whispered against the stone for hours as they pressed on, the tunnels bending and winding, until at last the air began to change. The walls widened, the ceiling lifted, and the narrow maintenance ways gave way to the true heart of the city's veins.
The Mikri Poli Metro.
Rails stretched in either direction, vanishing into the black. Faded signs hung crooked from cracked walls, and on one far side loomed a great map — the city's lines spidering out across painted glass, all colored veins leading nowhere. The Sergeant stood before it only a moment, his visor reflecting its faded glow. Then with a curt nod, he chose a direction, and the men fell in without question.
Lili stirred faintly in his arms, her cheek resting against his chest plate. She blinked at the great empty tracks, but the steady beat of his steps lulled her, and she let her eyes close again.
They followed the rails in silence. Old metro train's sat abandoned along the line, some derailed and half-shattered, others standing upright but hollow without any power or warmth — their windows broken, seats dark with frozen stains. No bodies remained. Only blood painted the memory of where lives had once been.
After some more time they then finally came upon a large station. It was vast, its ceiling vanishing into shadows, its platforms lined with dust and frozen smears. Along one edge, pressed to the far wall, was a massive set of blast doors. Once they had barred entrance, but now they stood thrown wide, iron jaws pried open. And before the doors the floor held old trails of dark blood, brittle and frozen into black rivers that led outward from them. It seemed as if the people within had tried to get out from whatever horrors were there, but they had failed and now not even their bodies remained.
All had been turned into the Sad People, and where there should have been bodies, nothing but blood remained.
Signs of battle were everywhere — scattered shell casings, shattered glass, deep gouges carved into the walls. The echo of a desperate stand still lingered in the air, but the dead were gone.
Lili's breath caught. Her core trembled. She felt it before she heard it — a weight, a presence. She turned her head toward the black mouth of the open bunker, her voice small and tight.
"Sergeant… they're inside. A lot of them."
The men's helmets turned toward her momentarily. The Sergeant's gaze lingered on the doors, silent for a moment. Then he gave a single nod. "Yeah I figured as much."
There was no pause, no change in his pace as if the thing's within didn't frighten him at all. He simply shifted her weight against his chest, rifle slung across his back, and kept moving. The others moved as well, their boots crunching across the frozen stains, eyes flicking to the dark as they passed the station in silence.
The infected waited beyond that door, she was certain. A mass of them, asleep in their unnatural slumber. She could almost hear their breath — the wet, ragged rasp of ruined lungs.
She buried her face against the Sergeant's armor, forcing her eyes shut. The men did not falter. They left the bunker behind without a second thought, the great doors gaping like a wound in the station wall, and the horrors within continued to sleep.
The Metro stretched on ahead of them, black and endless, the silence broken only by the sound of their steps.
For hours they pressed onward. The rails stretched endless, broken only by the occasional station where shadows lay heavier and the air grew colder. With each one they passed, Lili felt it more clearly — the presence of the infected. They were everywhere now, slumbering in corners, stacked in silent heaps within the black recesses of the city's bones. It was as though the whole of Mikri Poli had crawled down into its Metro to die and had never risen again.
Her little hands clung to the Sergeant's collar where he carried her, but she did not speak. She knew if even one of them awoke, the rest would follow. And if that happened, no power in the world could save them.
At last the rails bent into a wide chamber — another station, but larger than the rest. And there, barring the way ahead, two great metro trains sat on the line, hulks of rust and shattered glass that loomed like toys discarded by some careless god.
The men halted, rifles sweeping.
"Blocked," Karst muttered grimly.
Lili stirred. On the rightmost train, she saw a door — rear, low, ajar, miraculously untouched by ruin. She tugged at the Sergeant's sleeve and pointed with a trembling finger. "There!" she whispered urgently.
Halvern looked. For the first time in hours, the faintest curve touched his scarred lips. He gave her helm a small pat. "Good eye."
The riflemen moved first, quick and sure. One by one they slipped through the narrow opening, muzzles searching every corner. Venn followed, then Karst and Fenn, weapons raised. Rask came after with a grunt, the back most Metro car of the train groaning under his bulk. The Sergeant lifted Lili through with ease, setting her down on the rust-stained floor before climbing in himself. Orrin stayed a moment at the rear, covering their backs before slipping inside.
The air in the train was heavy, thick with the scent of mold and old blood. It was a long train with many rows of seats sagged, their red fabric torn and stained. Windows cracked and shattered let in knives of freezing air. On some cushions lay dark patches she did not wish to look at too closely, though her eyes saw the color and her heart already knew.
Beyond the broken glass, the platform stretched wide and empty. Here was no bunker entrance, no shelters. Just a wide empty silence, like the echo of a scream long since faded.
Then Lili felt it. A breath, faint, rattling, somewhere above. Her stomach clenched tight. They were here too — not in sight, but waiting, a great weight of them slumbering on the floors above. Her eyes locked on the black mouth of the escalator rising toward the surface.
She tugged the Sergeant's sleeve again, pointing upward. "There. So many," she whispered, trembling.
Halvern's hand rested on her helm again, steady, reassuring. "Stay close," he murmured, his voice unreadable.
They moved on. Their boots crunched glass as they advanced through the train. At its head loomed the driver's cabin, and even after all these years faint lights blinked on the panels, tiny sparks of life clinging in the dead city. It seemed like a miracle, but the Sargent had always said to Lili that back in the old days they did build things a lot more sturdier, and this Metro train was old indeed. Looking around Lili could see that to their right they could next exit the doors that led straight back out to the platform, and from there they could go around the train and hop down onto the rails again.
But to Lili's surprise they halted, seemingly not wanting to exit the train just yet.
Halvern stood at the cabin, his gaze fixed on the controls. For a long moment, no one spoke. Then he said quietly, "I see, the Emperor has blessed us once again. Ok men, cover me. This is about to get loud."
The Corporal's hand shot out, gripping his shoulder. His voice was urgent, low, almost a hiss. "Sarge, no. You start that thing, you'll wake every bastard in this station. Every floor above. You'll have the whole city on us in minutes."
The Sergeant turned his head slowly. Behind his mask his eyes were cold iron. "You're right. But creeping through these tunnels, it's only a matter of time before we're cornered and torn apart. The way I see it we have this one chance — we get to the spaceport fast. If there's a ship, we live. If not… we die anyway."
His hand rested on the lever. "So hold this car. Defend it. Fight like your lives depend on it — because they do."
Silence weighed thick as the men simply one by one nodded in understanding. Rifles shifted as the men took up firing positions, all weapons pointed out the Front Metro car window's and at the escalator leading upwards from where the infected were sure to come.
Lili took out her knife as if preparing to join the men as well, but her legs refused to move and all she could do was clutch her knife tight, her heart pounding as she watched the men. Somewhere above, she could hear it now more clearer than before — the restless breathing of the infected, growing louder in the dark.
Then abruptly the silence shattered as with a violent shudder, the Metro train lurched forward just slightly as Halvern threw the main lever. Simultaneously lights flickered weakly to life, bathing the interior in a pale, artificial glow that Lili hadn't seen for a long time. The heaters groaned and coughed, and for the first time in years a breath of true warmth seeped into the frigid air. Lili's eyes widened at the glow; even for one who commanded lightstones, there was something wondrous in this dead thing stirring again. To her it was all like a small reminder of home and what life had once been like when she had been younger.
Then came the ping. A cheerful chime, shrill as a blade.
"Welcome to Mikri Poli Metro Line Three," a bright, synthetic voice declared, echoing far too loud through the dead halls. "We hope you enjoy a safe and pleasant journey, and have a good day."
Every soldier in the car froze.
"No, fuck fuck fuck! Shut up Jack, your cheerful AI voice is going to wake up the hole Metro." Halvern barked as he slammed his hand into the console. Sparks spat, and the voice cut out, but it was too late.
From above came the answer: laughter. Not the sound of joy, but a broken, choking chorus. Then the shrieks—rising, wailing, overlapping. The air filled with madness as hundreds of infected tumbled toward the noise, down escalators, over railings, crashing against one another in their blind frenzy.
"Here they come!" Rask roared, bracing himself as the Metro train jerked forward once again, wheels screeching against the cold rusted tracks.
The infected had awoken now in a flood of chaos and fury. They came with force tumbling down the escalators in a mad stampede, limbs twisting grotesquely, crashing against each other in mindless desperation. Their pale, glowing eyes locked onto the moving train, their twisted, rotting faces split into wide, nightmarish grins.
Lili gasped in horror, diving behind one of the seats and curling into a tight ball, trying to make herself invisible. The soldiers sprang into action around her, their movements precise and practiced.
"Come and get some, you mutant bastard's!" roared Rask, his rotary las-cannon roaring to life, its barrel glowing molten-hot before erupting in a barrage of searing crimson bolts.
Windows shattered explosively, glass shards raining down onto the floor. The infected fell in heaps, their laughter turning to choked gasps and strangled screams.
The riflemen added their fire, disciplined bursts cracking in measured rhythm. The air stank of ozone and charred flesh. Quickly the Lasrifles were depleted and their power packs pulled out as new ones were inserted, causing the old power packs to fall on the ground ringing like bells on a steel floor. The infected pressed forward heedless of wounds, their bodies jerking and lurching even as limbs were blasted away.
Lili watched the squad neatly stand lined up at the windows like men on the walls of a fortress, muzzles flaring. The Heavy's weapon continued to thunder, vomiting crimson bolts in an unbroken stream. Seats shook with the recoil, more glass exploded outward, and the escalators were awash in gore as the first wave of infected was scythed down. Their laughter turned to strangled shrieks, bodies reduced to ragged meat that tumbled atop one another in heaps.
Crawling on the floor Lili quickly made her way behind the left side passenger seat nearest the driver's cabin. There she crouched low with her arms wrapped tight around her precious knife. Shards of shattered glass clattered against her helmet and mask like rain. She pressed herself against the seat to try and take cover, heart hammering, but her wide blue eyes refused to close. She could not look away from the storm of crimson light and black blood just beyond the glass.
"Keep them back!" Halvern barked from the cabin, one hand gripping the controls, the other firing his laspistol into infected that drew close to the windows. His voice was iron, even as the tide pressed harder and ever closer.
The sad people were but a stone throws away from the Metro train now. Yet for a heartbeat it seemed the momentum of the slowly accelerating Metro train would save them. The train was picking up speed at a modest pace, dragging them clear of the platforms, and soon the shrieks of the horde began to dull behind them as the front most Metro car left the station behind. The men unable to fire at the infected that had now been left behind lowered their weapons.
For one heartbeat there was only the thunder of the trains movement. But then from the back of the Metro train the rear windows burst apart, shards spraying like shrapnel. The shrieking tide slammed through, spilling onto the floor of the last carriage in a torrent of pale limbs and grinning faces.
"Form up!" the Corporal roared.
The squad obeyed instantly. Rask anchored the center of the aisle, his rotary cannon humming with a rising scream. Around him the riflemen crouched low or braced against torn seats, muzzles steady. The Medic slid in at one side, knife already loose at his belt, while the Corporal himself dropped to a crouch, barking orders sharp and clear.
The first infected hadn't even risen before its head burst apart in a spray of gore. Karst's lasbolt had punched straight through its skull, brains and teeth fanning across the wall. It collapsed twitching, and instantly two more tripped over it, tumbling forward in a tangle of limbs.
"Cleanse this train of their filth!" the Corporal thundered.
Lances of light tore into the onrushing horde. Heads exploded like rotten fruit, half-bodies slammed to the floor with limbs missing, yet still they crawled forward, claws dragging, mouths laughing. One toppled over a seat only to be caught mid-fall by a precise burst through the jaw, its grin frozen as it slumped lifeless.
But more followed.
An infected vaulted a row of seats, its body jerking as bolts slammed into its chest. Ribs blew apart, black blood hissing, but it still flung itself forward until Rask's rotary cannon caught it mid-air. It disintegrated into pulp, spraying gore across the walls. Another's leg was torn away, yet it dragged itself forward on its elbows, teeth gnashing, shrieking for them to sing with it.
The train shook with the fury of the barrage. Glass shattered, steel split. The back walls and ceiling of the rearmost cars tore open under the relentless storm, sparks spitting as wires ruptured, wind screaming through the wounds. The Metro train howled in protest, dragging screeching metal along the tracks as its rear was gutted by gunfire.
Still the infected pressed on. Crawling over their own dead, climbing across torn seats, their bodies riddled with holes but their faces grinning still. A hand missing all fingers clawed against the aisle floor. Another, its torso a shredded ruin, screamed as it tried to stand, only to be cut down with three precise bursts.
At last, only one remained — a legless wreck, its body dragging itself forward, mouth open wide in song. Its voice was hoarse, cracked, yet hideously clear: "Join us… join the song…"
Fenn's bolt ended it, searing straight through its skull. The laughter stopped.
Smoke filled the carriage. The walls were slick with gore, floor awash in black blood that ran in steaming rivers. The back of the train was shredded, sparks and wind roaring through like a storm. And yet the train still pushed onward, dragging itself forward through ruin.
The squad reloaded in silence, power packs clattering to the floor like bells.
From her place near the driver's cabin, Lili trembled, her knife clutched white-knuckled. She had watched it all — the storm of fire, the crawling, grinning horrors, the men's steady, merciless discipline. Her heart raced, her ears still full of the mad laughter.
Now she understood. This was why the armies of Achios had fallen. Not because they were weak, but because the enemy refused to die.
The train rattled on through the dark, its frame shrieking where torn steel scraped against the tunnel walls. Wind howled through the shattered rear, bringing with it the echo of laughter — faint, then rising again as more infected awoke in the dark.
Halvern kept one hand on the controls, his eyes locked on the black tunnel rushing toward them. His other hand held his pistol steady, resting on his thigh. Without turning, his voice cut through the rattle of wheels and the whine of the engine.
"Ammo check."
Karst's voice came first. "Still good."
Venn followed. "Enough to keep them back."
The Corporal gave a grim chuckle, loud over the storm. "Enough to send a thousand of the bastards to whatever hell's waiting for them."
There was no laughter in return. The Sergeant only nodded once, eyes still forward. Then, without looking, he spoke again, his voice quieter but cutting through the cabin all the same.
"And you, girl? You holding up?"
Lili stiffened, clutching her knife tighter against her chest. She wanted to sound brave. She wanted to be like them. Her head bobbed quickly, though he never looked her way.
"I–I'm fine," she stammered, voice trembling. "I can be brave."
No one answered. But she saw the Sergeant's jaw clench faintly, and she thought perhaps that was enough.
Then the tunnel ahead came alive.
Shapes swarmed across the tracks, faces lit by the beams of the train's lights. At the controls, Halvern leaned forward, one hand on the throttle, the other steadying his laspistol. His eyes never left the tunnel ahead. The infecteds shapes swarmed the tracks, grinning faces caught in the glare of the train's headlamps.
"Filth," he muttered, and his pistol cracked. Crimson bolts punched through the glass, each shot cutting down a figure on the rails. The train roared over the bodies, the impact thundering up through the steel floor.
Lili felt it in her bones — a sickening crunch, followed by the shriek of flesh tearing beneath iron wheels. The sound was wet, visceral, like a butcher's shop thrown into motion. Her stomach lurched as the vibrations shivered through the carriage.
Then came the first impact.
A body hurled itself at the glass, smashing into the windshield with bone-breaking force. The windshield quivered but held. A second struck, then a third, each blow echoing like hammerfalls. The Sergeant cursed and fired again, the lasbolts sizzling, burning holes through teeth and smiling eyes pressed against the glass.
And then came the fourth impact that shattered the windshield, and it exploded.
Glass burst inward in a storm of glittering shards, the pieces scything through the air, ricocheting from helmets and armor with a sound like rain on steel. Wind screamed into the cabin, dragging at cloaks and loose straps, carrying the reek of blood and rot.
And then in that instant followed by the first one they came through, four more bodies at once, propelled by the speed of the train and the weight of their charge. They crashed into the soldiers like cannon shot, a blur of pale limbs and tearing claws.
Three went flying down the aisle, bowling over Karst, Juno, and Fenn, their tangled forms smashing into the next carriage with a deafening crash. Weapons skittered across the floor, packs tore loose, armor screeched against steel.
Another slammed straight into Orrin and the Corporal, all three collapsing in a heap as teeth snapped for throats and claws raked sparks from chestplates.
The fifth hit Rask full in the chest. The Heavy staggered, then toppled backwards, the two of them smashing into a row of seats. The frames bent and tore under their combined weight, the sound of metal screaming as it gave way.
Lili saw it all in a heartbeat. The laughing faces, the tearing claws, the spray of blood from fresh wounds. Her small hands clenched tighter around her knife, but she was frozen. Her breath caught in her mask as wind howled through the broken windshield, the tunnel rushing toward them without end.
The infected were inside and the cabin dissolved into chaos. Lasbolts cracked, blades flashed, men grunted and cursed as they struggled to wrench themselves free of the infected that had crashed among them. Metal screamed where armor scraped the torn seats, wind howled through the shattered windshield, and still the train hurtled on.
Lili's wide eyes locked on Rask.
The Heavy was pinned against the twisted frame of a seat, his knife knocked away, one massive arm straining to hold back the infected's claw. Its other hand tore into his shoulder, ripping through armour and fabric alike, and lastly into flesh. Then its head lunged down, teeth gnashing, jaws closing on the gap at his collar.
She felt something in her chest snap. Her terror vanished, replaced with a hot, desperate courage that she barely understood.
With a cry, she unsheathed her knife and sprinted forward. Her small boots slipped in the blood streaking the floor, but she didn't stop. She leapt onto the infected's back, both hands gripping the hilt as she drove the blade down with all her strength.
The steel struck its skull with a dull, unyielding thud. It didn't sink in. It didn't even cut.
It was like stabbing stone.
She gasped, yanking, stabbing again, and again — but the blade only scraped uselessly, sparks of pain jolting through her hands as the hilt jarred against bone. The infected barely noticed.
Then it turned its head toward her.
For a moment, her breath froze. Up close, its face was a grotesque parody of humanity — veins black, flesh stretched taut, its mouth pulled into a grin too wide for its skull. But its eyes… they were wet. Tearful. In their glassy depths she thought she saw sorrow, even pleading. As if some broken remnant of the soul inside begged her to run.
Then its grin stretched wider still, teeth dripping red, its gaze fixing on her as though savoring the fear it found there.
Before she could scream, a pistol barked.
The Heavy's laspistol, pressed against the thing's temple, flared white-hot. Its skull burst apart in a cloud of blood and bone fragments, black matter spraying across the walls. The headless corpse toppled sideways, dragging Lili down with it.
She landed hard, pinned beneath its twitching mass. The gore covered her mask, steaming hot, dripping into her hair. She screamed and kicked, voice muffled, eyes wide in raw terror. For the first time in her life, she had seen a head blown apart inches from her own.
Strong hands tore her free. The Corporal. His visor gleamed red in the light of the fight. He knelt, his voice low but sharp, cutting through her panic.
"Focus, girl. Heal him. Now."
Her breath caught. She turned. Rask was slumped against the wrecked seat, his massive arm torn open, flesh blackening, the infection already spreading up his veins like fire. The lightstones at his chest pulsed frantically, slowing it but not stopping it. He gritted his teeth, but even he could not fight it long.
She didn't think. She moved.
Her hands pressed against the wound. The light within her flared, spilling out in a wave of radiant warmth. It flowed through her palms, rushing into his flesh, knitting torn muscle, flushing the corruption from his blood. Slowly, the veins lightened. The bleeding stopped. The infection receded. His great chest rose steady again, and his eyes, clouded with pain, steadied with life.
Lili sagged, panting, her small frame trembling. But the Corporal's hand gripped her shoulder again, steady and firm.
"Good. Now the others. Move."
Her gaze flicked to where Karst and Juno wrestled with another corpse, their armor torn and veins already darkening. She wanted to curl up and sob, to scrub the gore from her skin and forget the sight of that grinning face. But her hands moved anyway, guided by instinct. She dropped beside them, pressing her palms against their wounds, pouring her strength into them until the black veins dissolved, until life returned.
By the time she sat back, her breath ragged, sweat stinging her eyes, they were alive. All of them were alive.
And as she knelt among the blood and twitching corpses, knife slick and useless at her side, Lili felt like she understood. She wasn't a fighter. She wasn't strong enough to cut down monsters, and well she really didn't even want to do that anyway, if she really didn't have to.
But she could keep her family alive, keep her protectors alive. That was her strength. Her only real strength here, and she felt happy to have had at least that much.
With all that in mind Lili made her way back towards the front where she slumped back against the carriage wall, her chest rising and falling in uneven bursts. Even still her whole body trembled, not just from the drain of her powers but from the storm of adrenaline still flooding her veins. The knife remained clutched unconsciously in her small hands, slick with traces of blood and sweat, as though letting go would invite death itself.
She blinked through the fogged glass of her mask, eyes drifting across her protectors. The men stood among the corpses, weapons reloaded, visors glowing faintly in the dim light. They were laughing — ragged, breathless laughter, like men high on fire and blood. Their voices carried strange cheer, as though for the first time in years they had truly felt alive.
She couldn't understand it. Maybe it was the fact that they were finally possibly getting off this planet, but even still how could they smile after what they had just endured? And yet… some part of her admired it, longed for even a shred of that same strength.
The Sergeant's voice cut through the cabin, steady and unshaken. "Report, everyone still intact back there?"
"Yes, sir," came the chorus.
Lili peeked through the cabin doorway. Halvern sat at the controls, calm as stone, one hand on the throttle, the other resting lightly on his pistol. Two infected corpses lay at his feet, their heads caved in, yet he bore not a mark. Somehow he had fought them off while driving the train, as if it were nothing at all.
Her eyes roamed over the console. So many levers, dials, and glowing glyphs — it looked impossibly complicated. And yet he seemed to be a master of it, like with so many other things it seemed, like how good he was at reading and writing. She herself still struggled with getting the basics right or even drawing real life like things on walls with her sticks, and yet like her mother, the Sargent somehow seemed so knowledgeable and good at so many amazing things. A strange awe settled over her chest, heavy and warm.
The train gave a violent shudder. With a screech of brakes and a shower of sparks, it groaned to a halt. Lili pitched forward, falling to her knees and catching herself with both hands. The doors hissed open.
A vast station yawned before them — wide, empty, its walls lost to shadow.
"Welcome to Mikri Poli Spaceport Station one," Jack's synthetic voice declared cheerfully through the speakers. "Please mind the gap, and have a pleasant day."
No one spoke. The cheerful words merely echoed like mockery in the silence.
Without hesitation, the men surged out. Boots slammed against the platform, rifles sweeping arcs of light across the dark. The Sergeant stooped, hauling Lili upright and guiding her forward with one firm hand.
The station swallowed them whole.
No shrieks. No movement. Only silence — heavy, suffocating silence. The beam of every flashlight cut through still air and met only dust.
Lili's core thrummed softly. She reached outward, listening. "They're not here," she whispered. "Not close, at least. Mmm, or well not that I can tell, If that helps."
The men exchanged nods — relief, but tight and cautious. The Corporal gestured sharply. "Escalators. Move."
They quickened their pace, their boots drumming on the tiles, rifles raised.
For a moment, Lili lagged behind feeling a sense of loss at having to now leave the safety of the train behind that had gotten them this far. She stopped at the threshold, standing just beyond the open train doors hesitantly.
But soon from deep within the tunnel they had come from, faint at first but rising steadily, came howls. Long, broken cries, joined by hacking coughs and strangled laughter. They were coming, the sad people were coming and fast.
Her heart clenched at the thought of it, like a fist in her chest. Without thinking she bolted forward after the men.
Her small legs pumped furiously, but the soldiers' strides were long and sure, the distance between them stretching like an endless gulf. The cold bit at her face even through her mask, seeping through her clothes, numbing her fingertips. She didn't even notice when the cold bit at her hand, causing her grip to loosen and the knife slipp from her hand, clattering away into the dark.
Ahead, the escalators loomed, a black maw leading upward. The Sergeant's voice barked over the din. "Move it! Unless you want to stay and join them!"
The men bounded up, two steps at a time, armor clanging against steel. Lili skidded to a halt at the base, gasping. Her eyes widened. Above stretched the escalator, long and steep, leading to a pale light that filtered down through cracked glass.
But it was not the warm light of her childhood memories. Not the golden sunlight of Mikri Poli's summer days.
It was a pale, dead glow, bleeding cold through storm-thick clouds.
A howl split the air behind her, close now, rattling the tiles underfoot.
Her breath caught. She swiped desperately at the condensation clouding her visor. Then she hurled herself forward, legs shaking, forcing them to climb. Step after step, up toward the pale glow of a broken world.