The room they entered was an old chemistry lab connected to a small maintenance space. Broken stools were scattered across the floor. Glass cabinets lined the walls. Chemicals had spilled and dried long ago. The air smelled sharp and dusty.
Josh checked the back door immediately.
It was narrow. Too narrow.
Only one person could pass at a time, and even that would be tight.
"If we try to send everyone through at once, people will get stuck," Josh said. "We will slow down."
Silar looked at the door, then at the group.
"How long to clear everyone?" he asked.
"At least half a minute. Maybe more if someone panics."
Before Silar could respond, a heavy crash shook the hallway outside.
The metal lab door bent inward.
Mira's voice shook. "It found us."
Josh did not answer. He was already thinking.
If the other infected had been close, they would already be slamming into the building from every direction. The hallway outside was still quiet except for that single presence.
That meant it came alone.
Which was worse.
Silar stepped closer to Josh. "What do we do?"
Josh looked around quickly.
"Move the metal tables," he said. "Stack them so there is only one narrow path to the door. Do not crowd behind me. If I go down, you start moving through the back door in pairs."
Silar nodded and immediately began giving orders.
"Two of you, grab that table. Push it here. Leave a small gap in the middle. Make it tight."
The scraping of metal against tile was loud, but it did not matter anymore.
The lab door exploded inward seconds later.
The creature stepped inside.
Up close, it did not move like the others.
It did not stumble.
It did not twitch randomly.
It walked in steady steps and looked around the room before locking its eyes on Josh.
Josh felt his chest tighten.
It was not looking at the group.
It was looking at him.
The creature lunged forward.
Josh stepped into the narrow path between the stacked tables. The tight space forced it to come at him straight.
It swung hard.
Josh blocked with his blade, but the force pushed him back a step. His arm felt the shock all the way to the shoulder.
It was stronger than the others.
He did not try to go for the head immediately. When something is stronger, you slow it down first.
The creature charged again.
Josh shifted to the side and slashed deep into its knee.
The blade cut cleanly.
The creature stumbled but did not fall. It grabbed one of the tables and shoved it aside with brute force.
Behind Josh, someone gasped.
Silar raised his voice. "Hold your position. Do not rush."
The creature lunged again, this time grabbing Josh's jacket and slamming him into a lab counter. Glass shattered behind him.
For a second, they were face to face.
Its eyes were focused. Not empty. Not wild.
It felt like it knew him.
Josh felt a flicker of pressure in his mind as Aegis reacted.
He ignored it.
He was not exposing anything here.
He tightened his grip on the sword and drove the blade into the creature's shoulder to weaken its arm. It roared and swung again, clipping his side.
Pain shot through his ribs.
He needed an opening.
When it leaned forward to bite, he twisted his body and forced the blade upward under its jaw, pushing with everything he had.
The sword pierced through into the skull.
The creature jerked violently.
Then it collapsed.
The lab went silent.
Josh stepped back slowly, breathing hard.
No other footsteps came rushing down the hallway.
That meant the noise had not pulled a swarm yet.
Silar approached carefully.
"Is it finished?" he asked.
"Yes," Josh said.
Silar looked at the body. "It was different."
"Yes."
"How?"
Josh wiped blood from his blade before answering.
"It moved with purpose," he said. "It did not rush blindly. It came straight for me."
He did not explain why.
He did not mention Aegis.
He kept that part locked inside.
Mira looked at him. "Why you?"
Josh shook his head slightly. "Maybe I was closest. Maybe it saw me first."
It was not the full truth.
But it was enough.
Silar nodded once. "We cannot stay here. The sound will bring others soon."
Josh agreed.
"Two at a time through the back door," he said. "No pushing. Stay low and quiet once outside."
They began moving carefully.
As the last person slipped through, Josh felt a dull ache behind his eyes.
Aegis had pushed him harder than before.
It did not show him the future. It simply calculated patterns based on what it observed.
This creature had separated from the others.
It had tracked.
That meant the infection was changing.
That meant stronger variants might appear.
He did not say that out loud.
No reason to spread fear without proof.
The Garage Group
The five who chose the parking structure reached it safely at first.
The garage looked empty.
One of the boys exhaled in relief. "We should have done this from the start."
They found a sedan with keys inside and rushed in.
The engine started.
For a moment, it felt like they had made the right choice.
Then they saw the ramp.
Part of the exit was blocked by fallen concrete.
They argued about whether they could push through.
While they argued, infected began stepping out from between the parked cars.
Gunshots echoed when one of them fired.
The sound bounced off the concrete walls and carried deep into the structure.
More infected responded.
The narrow lanes between vehicles made it hard to drive fast.
One boy tried to reverse quickly and crashed into a support pillar.
By the time they realized the mistake, it was too late.
The garage became a cage.
Their screams were swallowed by the echoing concrete.