---
Location: Outskirts of Grid 7C – Forested Border Zone, Ukraine-Romania Edge
Time: 04:10 | Day 12 of Infection Collapse
The darkness was thick in Grid 7C. Not just the absence of light, but a living, breathing stillness that clung to the forest floor like oil. Logan Hale crouched beneath a shattered pine, his M4 drawn tight to his shoulder, optics glowing faintly green in night vision mode. Behind him, Wraith swept the treeline with a thermal drone. Sofia, Dumitrescu, and Petrescu flanked from the sides, each step calculated and silent.
"No contact yet," Wraith whispered. "But we're close. My drone picked up heat signatures underground."
Logan scanned the digital overlay on his wrist.
> [Mission Objective: Investigate Hidden Structure | Node ID: ALPHA-04]
[WAR CREDITS: 1,312.4]
This was the furthest any Echo team had ventured east. It wasn't a random sweep. Two nights ago, the Listening Post picked up encoded transmissions repeating from this grid. Frequencies that matched pre-collapse Russian military encryption.
Not just survivors. Someone had tech.
Or worse—something.
---
Location: Grid 7C – Access Tunnel Entrance
Time: 04:28
The hatch was buried beneath an overturned military truck, moss-coated and rusted. Hammer had marked it on an old Romanian logistics map as a former Soviet-era command post—the kind buried deep and forgotten.
"Open it," Logan ordered.
Petrescu and Dumitrescu cleared the path. With a hydraulic hiss, the hatch lifted. A cold wind exhaled from below, sharp with metallic dust.
They descended.
---
Location: Substructure ALPHA-04 – Entry Level
Time: 04:36
Flashlights sliced through the black. The air was dry, stale, but breathable. Corridors stretched in every direction, metal walls covered in frost and decades of decay.
"Movement," Sofia whispered. Her carbine followed a shifting shadow ahead. Wraith pinged the motion with his drone, confirming it was humanoid.
They advanced.
Inside a decontamination chamber, they found the first bodies. Slumped against the walls. Military uniforms, most shredded, tags in Cyrillic. Each one had bullet wounds to the head.
"Execution," Dumitrescu said grimly. "Controlled. Not panic."
Logan crouched beside one. "But why were they shot after locking themselves in here?"
Further in, they found the control room. Lights flickered to life on backup batteries. Consoles hummed. Screens showed last transmissions—some in Russian, others corrupted.
> [PROJECT SEREBRO: Final Protocol Confirmed]
[Status: Data Locked / Audio Logs Remaining]
Logan pressed play.
A man spoke. Calm. Measured.
"This is Lt. Col. Vasily Dronov, 4th Army Bio-Research Division. We initiated the failsafe at 1800. Project Serebro has been compromised. The infected show high retention of learned behavior. Group Alpha retained weapons training. Group Bravo exhibited squad tactics. Delta... Delta demonstrated initiative."
He paused.
"If anyone hears this... know that we tried. We tried to burn it all. But they remember."
The log ended.
---
Location: ALPHA-04 Exit Point
Time: 05:30
Logan emerged back into the predawn cold. He keyed his comms.
"Echo Base. This is Hunter-One. Send word to all patrol sectors. We're no longer dealing with animals. We're fighting soldiers."
> [WAR CREDITS +124 | Intelligence Bonus: +40]
[TOTAL BALANCE: 1,476.4]
Sofia stood beside him, eyes wide. "They remember their training. Even in death."
"That changes everything," Logan said.
And deep in the woods behind them, something watched.
> [CHAPTER END]