---
Neither Nathan nor Josh had the sharp metal claws of Jin's Four‑Armed Corpse, so breaking through the security doors required more effort. They worked with crowbars, prying locks open one by one.
Nathan took the right side of the hallway first, his team moving in. Soon, the sounds of fighting and the guttural hissing of Zombies echoed through the corridor.
Nathan handled it with practiced calm. He directed his own Summon to engage the monsters while instructing Frank and Nina to use their Summons to restrain the Zombies, creating openings for Yates to deliver killing blows. The battle was over in minutes.
Josh's group finished a few minutes slower. Their coordination was rougher, and Sheila—despite having a Summon—still hesitated when it came to the final strike. Her movements carried the reluctance of someone not yet comfortable with killing, even of the transformed.
About half an hour later, both groups had cleared the eleventh floor and gathered in the hallway. The supplies were modest: roughly seventy to eighty pounds of rice, some noodles, bread, and a small stash of medications.
"Send someone up to move this down," Nathan said. "We keep going."
They had ten floors to clear today. Moving everything after each floor would kill momentum, so they designated a team to haul supplies down later.
The group continued upward. All thirteen of them now had Summons, which made searching far safer.
They entered the twelfth and thirteenth floors in formation, quickly dispatching any Zombies that lunged from doorways, then pairing up to search rooms. The twelfth floor had no survivors. The thirteenth had two—a middle‑aged couple who had been hiding without contracting Summons. They were pale, dehydrated, but alive. Nathan sent them down with an escort.
As they climbed higher, survivors became rarer, and food supplies dwindled. Rooms where residents had been home were usually stripped; those where people were absent yielded more.
The bodies in the hallways told the rest of the story. Survivors who had ventured out, only to be hunted.
When they stepped onto the seventeenth floor, three Zombies charged the moment the security door swung open.
Fidex led without hesitation. Its claws extended from its fingertips and with a single brutal swipe twisted the head off the first Zombie. Another tried to flank it, but Lisa's Mutant Rat launched from her shoulder, sinking its teeth into the Zombie's eye socket. Flesh tore. The creature crumpled.
In the weeks since the cataclysm, Lisa had grown sharper, more decisive. Her Rat had grown with her.
To Nathan's people, the display was still unnerving. The gap in power was impossible to ignore.
"That's got to be more than First Order Low," someone murmured.
Jin heard it but didn't respond.
"Pile the corpses together," he said instead. "We've got the rest of the floor to clear."
Josh stepped forward quickly. "Let's get this done for Brother Jin."
His tone was eager, almost sycophantic. He and his people—Greg, Chen Jun, Su Hao—started dragging the Zombie bodies to the side of the corridor. Josh made sure Jin saw him working.
"Brother Jin," Josh said, wiping his hands on his pants, his tone casual, "your Summon is incredible. No wonder you need so many corpses."
Jin's gaze settled on Josh's face. Flat. Unreadable. Josh felt the weight of it and something flickered in his expression—nervousness, quickly suppressed.
"My Summon has a special ability," Jin said. "It requires specific materials. That's all."
Josh squinted, not ready to let it go. "Come on, with things this dangerous, those Zombies inside the building are just the start. There's worse out there in the fog. If you've found a way to make Summons evolve, why not share it? We're all in this together. If we survive, everyone will owe you. And I've gathered some valuable things the past few days—I'd be happy to offer them as compensation."
He let the words hang in the air, wrapping his request in reasonableness. The implication was clear: if Jin refused, he was hoarding power while others died.
Nathan's brow furrowed. He opened his mouth to intervene, but Jin spoke first.
"Are you pressing me?"
The temperature in the corridor seemed to drop. Fidex shifted behind Jin, its four arms flexing.
Josh's face tightened. For a split second, panic flashed across his features before he masked it. Nathan stepped between them.
"Josh," Nathan said, his voice low and warning.
"Captain Nathan, you're a security guard who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong." Josh turned his fear into anger, redirecting it at Nathan. "Who doesn't want to survive? Don't you? I was just asking."
He took a deliberate step back, creating distance from Jin. His eyes never left Fidex.
"If you're not willing," Josh said, "fine. Pretend I never asked."
He turned and gestured for his people to follow, leading them down the hallway to search rooms ahead of Jin's group. The moment his back was turned, his expression went cold.
Nathan exhaled and looked at Jin. "We need to focus on clearing. Don't let him get under your skin."
Jin gave a short nod. "Three more floors. Let's finish."
Nathan's group dispersed to search. In the room they entered, Lisa closed the door behind them and spoke quietly.
"He's not going to let this go."
"I know," Jin said.
He didn't elaborate. He was already thinking ahead—not about Josh's jealousy, but about what Josh might do with what he'd already seen.
---
On the fifth floor, in the corridor outside Room 7504, Josh stood with Greg and Chen Jun. The others were upstairs, still clearing the seventeenth floor. He'd made an excuse to come down—checking supplies, he'd said.
The chained door stared back at them.
"You sure about this?" Greg asked. His voice was low, uneasy. His Summon still hadn't fully healed from the last fight with Fidex, and the memory made him twitchy.
"I'm sure," Josh said. "Simon's kid is in there. His son. Turned into a Zombie, and instead of putting it down, he's been keeping it alive. Feeding it. Checking on it like it's still human."
Chen Jun leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "What's the play?"
Josh smiled. It was thin and hungry.
"We open the door. Let the Zombie loose."
Greg's eyes widened. "On the survivors?"
"On whoever's nearby," Josh said. "It gets someone killed—maybe more than one. Then we make sure everyone knows whose kid did it. Simon's guilt will do the rest. He'll crack. Or Jin will feel responsible. Either way, we get leverage."
He looked at the chained door, his ambition hardening into certainty.
"Jin's Summon didn't get that strong by accident. He's hiding something. The way he collects corpses—there's a method. If he won't share, we make him."
"And if it kills one of us?" Greg asked.
Josh's gaze didn't waver. "Then we blame Jin's group for not telling us about the danger. Either way, we win."
He pulled out the crowbar they'd brought from the lobby.
"Let's see what Daddy's been hiding."
---
End of Chapter 18