Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Welcome Back

Noah slammed his shoulder into the Bay Two door again. The lock beeped once, cold and final. A red light stayed on.Behind the small glass window, Mara's face flashed into view for half a second. Her eyes were wide, her hands red. Then she was pulled away."Noah!" she shouted, muffled by the seal.Riley's voice cut in, sharp and close. "Step back from the door or I put a hole in him."Noah leaned in and saw Owen on a metal table. His head was wrapped in torn gauze. Blood ran down his neck in thin lines.Riley stood near him with Noah's pistol, her finger straight on the frame but ready. Her smile wasn't warm. It was a price tag.Noah's chest rose hard. His side burned where the bullet had clipped him. He kept his voice flat. "Open it."Riley shook her head. "Not for free."A heavy thud hit the hallway behind Noah. Then another. The whole clinic felt like it was breathing wrong, loud and fast, like a dying engine.The west gate had opened. It was still open. And everything outside was coming in.Noah glanced over his shoulder. The intake corridor was filled with movement now, shadows slipping between door frames, hands scraping the walls. The alarm lights stuttered over their faces.One of them stepped into the red glow and Noah's stomach tightened.Its skull looked wrong. Not just thick. It had a hard ridge across the forehead like dried bone armor. Its mouth hung open in a wet grin, and it moved like it could smell him.Noah lifted the last handgun he had, a small backup he'd grabbed off the floor earlier. He fired once.The shot hit the zombie square in the forehead.It didn't drop.It jerked, like someone had tapped it. Then it sprinted.Noah swore under his breath and fired again. The second bullet cracked the ridge but didn't break through. The zombie slammed into him and the world snapped sideways.He hit the wall. His shoulder screamed. The zombie's fingers raked his jacket, searching for skin.Noah jammed the gun under its jaw and fired.The head burst open at the back, wet and loud. The body went limp at once.Noah shoved it down and stumbled away, breathing through his teeth. More were coming. Fast feet. Hungry hands.He knelt over the corpse and didn't hesitate.He pulled a steel pipe from the floor corner, then brought it down on the skull. Once. Twice. The bone gave with a sick crack.He dug inside with his fingers, ignoring the heat of blood. He found the crystal wedged deep, slick and sharp like glass.The moment it came free, the corridor answered.A scream rose from the dark. Not human. Not a moan either. It was a high, angry sound that cut straight into his ears.Noah's head rang. His hands shook, not from fear, but from the pull.He closed his fist around the crystal and forced himself to look back at Bay Two.The red door reader blinked. For a second, the light went from red to yellow, like it was thinking.Noah froze.He held the crystal closer, slow and careful. The reader chirped, and the yellow light stayed on.His heart punched hard.It wasn't magic. It was a device. A scan. A match.A match to him.Harrow's voice spilled from the ceiling speaker, soft and pleased. "There you are."Noah looked up. A camera above the door tilted a little, tracking him. The lens was like a black eye."You're bleeding, Daniel," Harrow said. "Don't drip on my floors."Noah's jaw clenched so tight it hurt. "Shut up."Harrow chuckled. "You found a key. Good boy."Noah stared at the reader again. Yellow. Not open. Not yet.He could wait and die in this hallway, or he could do something ugly and fast.Noah pressed the crystal against his palm until the edges bit skin. He took one breath and then shoved it into his mouth.It tasted like pennies and battery acid. He swallowed.Pain lit up behind his eyes at once. His stomach turned. His lungs locked for a beat like they forgot how to work.He dropped to one knee, hand on the floor, trying not to choke.Blood ran from his nose, warm and steady.His hearing exploded. Every alarm beep became a knife. Every scrape in the hall became a scream in his skull.Then the pull hit, sharp and cruel.Move. Now. Faster.Noah pushed up, trembling, and felt something change in his legs. The floor seemed closer. The air felt thick, like he could push through it.He lunged at the door and slammed his palm onto the reader.Yellow turned green.The lock clanked. The door cracked open an inch.Noah hooked his fingers in the gap and pulled.Metal groaned. His wound ripped open and fire ran down his side, but the door gave.He shoved through.Riley swung the pistol at him the moment he stepped in. Mara was between them, one hand raised, the other still holding the scalpel like a tiny blade of truth."Don't," Mara snapped at Riley. "He's the only reason you're still breathing."Riley didn't blink. "I'm breathing because I'm smart."Noah's vision wavered. He gripped the edge of the door to stay upright. "Where's the shard?"Mara's eyes flicked to her palm. She opened it just enough for Noah to see.The shard was small, thin, and marked with black ink on one side: RG-13. It wasn't a full crystal. It looked cut."It was under his stitches," Mara said. Her voice shook, but her hands stayed steady. "Like a tag."Owen made a soft sound on the table, half a groan, half a breath. His eyes were open, but not focused.Riley stepped sideways, blocking Noah's path to him. "That shard is mine," she said. "You want it, you pay me."Noah took one step forward anyway. The room tilted again. He swallowed hard, trying to keep the world from sliding apart."I already paid," Noah said. "I bled for it."Riley's smile widened. "Then bleed more."The door behind Noah slammed shut.The lock beeped again, louder this time. Green died. Red returned.Noah spun and grabbed the handle, but it wouldn't move.Harrow's voice returned, closer now, like he was standing right behind the wall. "Bay Two is sealed. You're together. How nice."Mara's face tightened. "He locked us in."Riley cursed, sharp and bitter. "That wasn't the deal!"Harrow ignored her. "I want Owen. I want the shard. And I want you to stop running."Noah stared at the ceiling speaker. "If you wanted me to stop running, you shouldn't have opened the gate."Harrow sighed like Noah was a child. "You don't understand what you are. But you will."A faint hiss started in the vents above them.Mara's head snapped up. "Gas."Noah felt it almost at once, a sweet smell that didn't belong in a clinic. His throat tightened.Riley coughed once, then twice. She pointed the gun at the vent like it would help. "Turn it off! Now!"Mara moved fast to the wall panel near the sink. She slapped the buttons, but the screen only flashed one word: LOCKED.Noah stepped in, and the panel lit up under his fingers before he even touched it.A new line appeared in small text: ROUTE B AUTH DETECTED.Then another: CROSS, D.Noah's skin went cold.Riley saw it too. Her eyes narrowed, sharp with hunger and fear. "CROSS?" she whispered. "What the hell is that?"Noah didn't answer. He couldn't. His mouth was dry and the gas was getting thicker.Mara grabbed his sleeve. "Noah, focus. Can you open something? Anything?"Noah forced his hand onto the screen. His fingers shook from the crystal rush, but the panel responded anyway.A map flashed up. Not the whole clinic. Just service routes. Doors marked in gray. One line blinked in green: BAY TWO SERVICE HATCH.Under it was a timer counting down from sixty seconds.Harrow's voice came again, quiet and cruel. "You have one minute before the vents do their job."Noah's head throbbed. His heart raced too fast. He looked at Mara. Then at Owen. Then at Riley.He had to choose what he could carry.Owen couldn't walk. Mara wouldn't leave him. Riley would leave anyone.Noah pointed at the hatch icon. "Where is it?"Mara looked around, eyes scanning. "Behind the cabinets."Riley stepped toward Mara's hand. "Give me the shard and I'll help you move him."Mara curled her fingers closed. "No."Riley's face hardened. "Then you die with him."Noah grabbed Riley's wrist and twisted. Not enough to break. Enough to make a point.Her gun arm went weak. The pistol clattered to the floor.Riley hissed and tried to pull back, but Noah's grip was like a clamp now. The crystal had done that.Cost came with it too. His vision jumped. His ears rang. His thoughts slipped for half a second like a bad radio signal.He almost forgot where he was.Then Owen coughed wetly and Noah snapped back."No games," Noah said to Riley. "Pick it up. Help. Or crawl."Riley stared at him like she hated him and wanted him at the same time. She picked up the gun with her left hand, slow and angry.Mara yanked open a cabinet door and found a metal panel behind it. She pried it with the scalpel, then with both hands.The panel popped free.A dark square hole waited behind it, big enough for a person to crawl through.The timer on the wall panel hit thirty seconds.The hiss of gas got louder.Noah moved to Owen and slid an arm under his shoulders. Owen's body was light, too light, like he had been eaten from the inside.Mara lifted his legs. Together they dragged him off the table and onto the floor.Owen's eyes fluttered. His lips moved. "No… more…"Mara leaned in close. "I know. Just breathe."A crash hit the Bay Two door from the outside.Then another.Zombies were on the other side now, drawn by the shots and the alarms.Noah felt the panic rise. Not loud. Cold. Clean. A math problem with teeth.The timer hit fifteen.Riley crouched by the hatch, coughing. "We go now," she snapped. "Or we die."Noah shoved Owen toward the hole first. Mara pushed him in, inch by inch, fighting the weight.Noah heard the door metal bend under the hits.The old safety didn't exist anymore. Not here. Not anywhere.Noah crawled after Owen, then reached back for Mara. She grabbed his forearm and pulled herself in.Riley followed last, still holding the pistol, eyes scanning behind them like she expected betrayal from the air.Noah kicked the panel back into place as best he could. It didn't seal, but it hid the hole.The service tunnel was tight and black. The air was stale, but cleaner than Bay Two.Mara coughed hard, then wiped blood off her mouth. "That was sleeping gas," she said. "Not enough time to knock us out, but it's in us."Noah nodded once. His skull felt like it had a heartbeat inside it. His nose still bled.Owen groaned softly as they dragged him forward.They reached a steel door at the end of the tunnel. It had another reader, older and scratched.Noah's hand moved toward it before he could stop himself.The reader beeped.Green.The door swung open.White light flooded the tunnel.Noah blinked against it, and the world snapped into focus just in time to see Dr. Harrow standing on the other side with two armed men.Harrow smiled like he'd been waiting for a guest."Welcome back," he said. "Daniel Cross."