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"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"
Marcus burst through the door first, Alice and Matt right behind him. They slammed it shut just as zombie hands reached for them, the heavy metal blocking the grasping fingers.
Inside, Kaplan and the others whipped around, weapons raised.
"Whoa!" Marcus held up his hands. "Friendly!"
The mercenaries lowered their guns, relief washing over their faces.
"Jesus," J.D. breathed. "We thought you were dead."
"Not yet," Alice said, scanning the room. Three doors—one they'd just come through, two others. "Can we get out through there?"
She pointed at the far door.
"Zombies," Ryan said flatly. "Dozens of them."
"What about the other way?"
Kaplan shook his head. "Dead end. The main computer chamber doesn't have any other exits."
"So we're trapped," Spence said, voice rising. "Great. That's just great."
"We can wait for rescue, right?" He looked around desperately. "If we lose contact, they'll send another team?"
Ryan and Kaplan exchanged glances.
"No," Kaplan said. "We're on a timer. The air locks we passed through on the way in—they seal automatically after one hour. If we're not out by then..."
"We're buried alive," Ryan finished.
Spence's face went white. "What? Why didn't you tell us?"
"It's containment protocol," Kaplan said quietly. "If something gets out, they seal the whole facility. No exceptions."
"You're telling us now? When we're trapped half a mile underground?"
"I didn't design the system—"
"Enough," Alice interrupted. She walked to where Kaplan had dropped his equipment bag and pulled out the Red Queen's motherboard. "I have an idea."
Marcus watched her head toward the laser corridor. "What are you doing?"
"Restarting the Red Queen."
"That's..." Marcus paused, considering. "Actually, that's smart. She knows every corridor, every exit in this place."
The others looked skeptical but followed. They filed into the Red Queen's chamber—now dark and lifeless without her core active.
Alice began connecting the motherboard back into the server.
Ryan grabbed her arm. "Wait. That thing killed my entire team. You want to turn it back on?"
"We need information," Alice said. "And I have leverage." She looked at Kaplan. "You can shut her down again if she doesn't cooperate, right? Permanently?"
Kaplan nodded. "I can fry the whole system. Irreversible."
Ryan hesitated, then released Alice's arm. "Fine. But if she tries anything—"
"She won't," Alice said. "She's smart enough to know we'll destroy her."
Alice finished the connections. Kaplan typed commands into his laptop.
BZZZZT.
The server hummed to life. Lights flickered across its surface. Then, in the center of the room, a hologram materialized—the young girl with dark hair and pale skin.
The Red Queen looked at them with those unsettling digital eyes.
"Hello," she said pleasantly. "We meet again. I assume the situation has deteriorated?"
There was something almost smug in that synthesized voice. Marcus would've sworn the AI was enjoying this.
Ryan lunged forward, but Matt and Alice caught her. "You killed them!" Ryan shouted. "My friends are dead because of you!"
"They were infected," the Red Queen said simply. "I was attempting to prevent—"
"Tell us what happened here," Marcus interrupted. "The whole story."
The Red Queen's hologram shifted, becoming slightly more solid. "There was an incident in the research and development department. The T-virus—originally developed as a medical breakthrough—was released into the facility's ventilation system."
"Medical breakthrough?" Alice said. "You're making bioweapons."
"The T-virus has multiple applications. It can regenerate dead tissue, restart cellular function, even restore limited neural activity in deceased subjects."
Spence frowned. "You're saying it brings people back from the dead?"
"In a manner of speaking. The virus reanimates deceased tissue. Hair and nails continue growing. New cells are produced. The brain retains minimal electrical activity for several months before complete degradation."
"But they're not really alive," Marcus said.
"Correct. They possess only basic motor function and primitive drives. Limited memory may persist, but higher cognition is lost. They are driven primarily by a single impulse: consumption."
"How do you kill them?" Alice asked.
"Severe the spinal column at the base of the skull, or cause catastrophic brain damage. Standard headshot protocols are effective."
"Do they evolve?" Marcus already knew the answer, but wanted it confirmed.
"Yes. Consumption of living tissue accelerates their development. They become faster, more aggressive, more coordinated. Given sufficient biomass, some infected subjects mutate into... significantly more dangerous forms."
Everyone's faces went grim. The zombies were bad enough now. The thought of them getting worse—
"Why did you kill everyone?" Matt's voice was hard. "My sister worked here. She was just trying to expose what you were doing."
"The T-virus became airborne. Everyone in the facility was infected within minutes. I could not allow the infection to spread to the surface. I sealed the Hive and... neutralized all potential vectors."
"You murdered five hundred people," Matt said.
"I prevented a global extinction event," the Red Queen replied, her tone unchanged. "The T-virus is highly contagious and extremely persistent. It survives in environmental conditions that would destroy most pathogens. If even one infected individual reached the surface, the results would be catastrophic."
Marcus felt a chill. She wasn't wrong. In the original timeline, that's exactly what happened. The virus got out. Civilization collapsed.
"Are we infected?" Alice asked quietly.
The Red Queen tilted her head. "Approximately 47% probability. The airborne concentration has decreased significantly, but any individuals with open wounds exposed to infected blood or saliva have a 98% infection rate."
Everyone's eyes turned to Ryan. Her bandaged hand suddenly felt very heavy.
"How long?" Ryan's voice was barely a whisper.
"Onset varies. Between four and eight hours for most subjects. Faster if the wound is severe or near major blood vessels."
J.D. moved to Ryan's side, taking her uninjured hand. She didn't look at him.
The Red Queen observed this exchange with apparent interest. "I detect that my primary sensors have been damaged. Explain."
"We needed leverage," Alice said. "And here's how this works: you give us a way out of here, or we destroy you completely. Understand?"
Silence. Then: "Beneath this chamber, there is a maintenance tunnel. It connects to the city's infrastructure—water, power, gas lines. You can use it to reach the surface."
"Why didn't you mention this before?" Kaplan asked.
"You did not ask. And at the time, I was attempting to contain the outbreak by any means necessary."
"Show us," Alice demanded.
The Red Queen's hologram flickered, then projected a wireframe diagram of the tunnel system. "The access hatch is located in the floor of the substation adjacent to this chamber. The route is... relatively clear of infected subjects."
"Relatively?" Spence said.
"I cannot guarantee complete safety. But it is your best option."
They found the hatch where she'd indicated—a heavy metal cover set into the floor, nearly invisible in the dim lighting. Kaplan worked the wheel, and with a hiss of pressurized air, it opened.
Below was a tunnel, maybe seven feet high, running into darkness. Pipes and conduits lined the walls, carrying the Hive's utilities to and from the surface.
"Let's move," Alice said.
One by one, they dropped into the tunnel. Marcus went last, taking one final look at the Red Queen's chamber.
The hologram was still visible through the doorway, watching them leave.
"Good luck," the AI said. But Marcus couldn't tell if it was sincere or mocking.
They moved through the tunnel in single file, weapons ready. The only light came from their flashlights, casting long shadows that jumped with every movement.
They'd gone maybe two hundred yards when the zombies found them.
A dozen shambling figures emerged from a side tunnel—technicians, scientists, security guards, all with that telltale dead-eyed stare. They blocked the path ahead, arms outstretching, mouths opening in soundless hunger.
"Contact front!" J.D. opened fire.
The tunnel exploded with gunfire. The zombies went down, but more kept coming. Twenty. Thirty. An entire crowd of the dead, funneled into the narrow space.
"Fall back!" Kaplan shouted.
But behind them, more zombies were emerging. They were surrounded.
"Up!" Marcus pointed at a ventilation grate in the ceiling. "Get up there!"
Alice kicked the grate loose. One by one, they scrambled up into the duct—a narrow metal shaft that ran parallel to the main tunnel.
As they climbed, Marcus felt claws scrape his boot. He kicked backward, heard a crunch, and pulled himself up into the duct.
They lay there gasping, zombies clawing uselessly at the opening below.
That's when Marcus noticed the blood.
J.D.'s shoulder was torn—not deep, but bleeding. Kaplan's hand had scratches across the knuckles.
New infections. Two more on the clock.
J.D. saw Marcus looking and touched his shoulder gingerly. "It's not that bad."
"You're infected," Ryan said flatly. "We all saw what the Red Queen said."
"Maybe I'll be lucky—"
"There's no lucky with this," Ryan said. "Believe me. I've been counting the minutes since I got bit."
J.D.'s face fell. Kaplan just stared at his bleeding hand, expression unreadable.
"We're going to die here," Kaplan said, voice hollow. "All of us."
"Don't say that." Alice gripped his shoulder. "We're getting out. All of us."
But Marcus could see it in everyone's eyes—the doubt, the fear, the growing certainty that they were already dead.
They just hadn't stopped moving yet.
(End of Chapter)