12:05 am
Before the breach was announced, Jason went up to the dorm room and saw Ella sitting on the bed, lightly trembling. He walks up to her and holds her hand.
"Babe...is everything ok? I know a lot is going on with what you saw and your parents' job; I'm just... worried about you".
She looks up at him, uncertain, "I'm sorry, I'm just...scared. What is the point of us all coming here for safety?" She broke down in tears, "This place is no better than outside. We've lost Sarah and Max, and now I don't even know if Alex is-"
Jason held her hand, "Look at me. I know this is difficult. I also am in grief because I lost my best friend, but we cannot give up. Let's find Claire, Brian, and Alex, so we can all get out of this place.
They then heard a large explosion outside, and they got up and looked through the window. The Medical Sector was on fire, the emergency siren blared, and people were running in all directions as security tried to investigate.
"What in the world is going on?" Jason swiftly held Ella's hand, "Ella...we need to find the others and get out of here quickly!"
The room shakes with the low rumble of distant explosions. Alarms still echo faintly outside. Jason zips up a bag and slings it over his shoulder, "We can't wait anymore. Something's wrong — Brian should've been back by now."
Ella said, holding his arm nervously, "Jason, wait..."
He stops at the door, turning. She's standing frozen in the middle of the room, eyes wide, hands fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.
"What is it?"
"There's something I have to tell you before we go," Ella's voice trembled.
Jason takes a step toward her, concerned, "Hey. What's going on? Are you hurt?" He checks her face and arms.
She exhales shakily, blinking back tears, "I-I'm...pregnant."
Silence. The sound of the emergency siren continues to wail in the distance, as if giving space to the weight of her words.
Jason just stares at her, his eyes widened with shock, "W-what?...a-are you sure?"
"I found out the day we left our high school, before the zombies came. I was scared to tell you because I didn't want you to worry. I asked Brian to keep it a secret until I was able to tell you myself. I should have-"
He wraps his arms around her before she can finish. He kisses her forehead, then leans his against hers.
He then looks at her warmly, "We'll get through this. All of it. You, me, and the baby," He grabs her hand, squeezing it tight, "Now come on. Let's go find Brian."
Jason and Ella ran down the hallway along with the other civilians. People were shouting, questioning guards, some fainted, and children were crying. It was chaos on another level.
Jason and Ella creep through a broken side door into the cool night air. Floodlights sweep the grounds as they search for Brian. Ella tugs Jason's arm, pointing.
12:45 am
They hurry across the uneven gravel, and that's when they see him: Brian slumped against the wall, cradling Alex, whose body was sprawled in the grass, still unconscious. Blood stains Brian's shirt and sleeves.
Jason shouted, "Brian!"
Brian lifts his head, barely conscious, " He's alive. I got him out. But he's not okay..."
Ella drops to her knees beside Alex, pressing two fingers to his neck, "He's got a pulse."
Brian continues, "He was injected. With something called Zombiefera X. I don't know what it's doing to him."
Ella then asks, "Wait...where is Claire? Wasn't she with you?"
"I don't know where she is. Once I found Alex in that room, she just...left."
Jason crouches beside them, glancing nervously around, "We need to get him somewhere safe. If they find us out here—"
Jason felt a hand weakly tugging on his sleeve.
"Don't go anywhere..."
They all freeze.
Alex's eyes flutter open, glazed but focused. He groans and tries to sit up. Brian quickly supports him.
Alex stares down at his hands, like he doesn't recognize them.
Ella held his shoulder, "Alex? It's me, Ella, and this is Jason, and my brother Brian. Do you remember us?"
Jason added, "What about Sara...remember her? Your girlfriend?"
Alex nods silently, still coping with the trauma.
Brian looks at him, concerned, "Maybe the serum got to his brain partially."
Jason gives him a bottle of water from the bag and asks, concerned, "Alex… can you tell us what happened? How did you even get here?"
"It was the mall… I was looking for Max..."
The others glance at one another. The name feels like a knife — someone they hadn't spoken about in days.
"...I searched every stairwell, every floor… but when I finally found him—he was...already dead. His body laid lifeless on the ground, blood everywhere... I didn't even get to say goodbye," Alex broke down in tears.
The others looked at him tearfully, as they processed the fact that Max was actually dead.
Alex then continued, "That's when they showed up — the Unit 8 soldiers. Four of them, full gear, no warning. I tried to run, but they surrounded me. One of them said, "He fits the profile." They scanned my arm with some kind of portable reader — must've picked up something in my blood. I didn't even know I had anything wrong. Then they knocked me out cold. When I woke up, I was strapped to a table in the Medical Sector. Metal restraints. Bright lights. Machines are humming all around me. There were people in lab coats, but they weren't doctors.
Jason listened horrified, "W-what did they do to you?"
They said I'd been "selected." That I was "genetically compatible" with something called Zombiefera X.
Brian spoke in realization, "That's the name of the serum I saw in the lab." He then takes out the sample he stole and the notebook, "I took these."
"They injected it into my vein once every day. At first, I felt normal, then I got sick. That's when a man and a woman took me to the Testing Room and did a private examination on me."
Brian and Ella looked at each other, knowing with those two people were.
Brian confirms, "Yeah, then I found you on that table. I got you out of there."
"I remember flashes — you pulling out the needles, alarms blaring. But before that… I saw someone watching us through the door.
"Who?" Jason asks.
"It was a girl with a messy bun, about your age, Ella," Alex responded.
"Claire," Ella said in realization, "But why was she just watching and not helping to rescue you. How did she reach the other side of the door?"
Alex added, "She was watching. Standing by the door with her arms crossed. She didn't say a word. And then she left."
Jason then spoke urgently, "Ok, but we need to get out of here quickly before they see you."
They all nod in agreement. Jason held Ella's hand, and Brian carried Alex on his back, not caring about whether the serum was infectious. The wind tears across the field behind the compound, and the scent of smoke is getting to them.
Jason exclaims, "I see the back gate!"
The fence ahead is twisted and bent, a small gap pried open just wide enough to slip through.
Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice behind them.
"D-Dad!?" Ella looks at him in shock and anger.
They freeze.
Out of the shadows ahead, a spotlight beams down. Dr. Johnson, the twins' father, steps into the clearing just before the fence. Behind him, two armed Unit 8 soldiers emerge, rifles raised. He steps closer, eyes flicking over Ella, then Jason, then to Alex in Brian's arms. He then spoke.
"Alex was stable. Valuable. You had no right to interfere."
Brian shouts in anger, "He's a person, not a test subject!"
"He survived the full injection of Zombiefera X — he's living proof that the serum works. He's the only person who is immune; we need him."
Ella looks at him in disgust, "You're insane. You're creating monsters out of normal civilians who just want rest!"
Her Dad turns to her slowly, expression tightening, "You're pregnant, Ella. Do you really think I wouldn't find out?"
She flinches. Jason steps protectively in front of her, "How did you know that?"
"I knew from the day you arrived. Once you enter those gates, Unit 8 has every bio-information about you after the tests you took," he says with a grin, "Your mother also knows, but I don't know where she is. She betrayed me and made some deal with a friend of yours named Claire."
The four of them gasped, then Jason asked, "What deal?"
"It's none of your concern. Just hand over Alex, and I'll let you go free."
The soldiers raise their rifles.
Alex groans and lifts his head, "It's okay… let me go. I'm not normal anymore. I don't know what I'll become." He pushes weakly against Brian's arms.
Ella looks at him tearfully, "Alex, no..."
He looks at her with a smile, "You still have a chance. Ella… you have a future. A real one. Take it." He steps forward, staggering.
Brian shouts, "Alex, don't!"
Alex raises his hands toward Dr. Johnson, "You want me? Fine. Let them go."
Dr. Johnson's expression shifts to pleased, "Wise decision."
As the armed guards slowly approach Alex, Brian grabs him and pushes him towards Jason. Suddenly, a gunshot echoes in the air. Brian's jolts, and he fell on one knee, holding the gunshot wound in his leg. He groans in pain and looks towards the three, "R-RUN!!"
"Brian!!" Ella screams for him, tears falling from her eyes as Jason pulls them toward the gate.