Chapter 68: Just like the game
The students leaned forward in unison, their eyes wide and glittering with expectation as the movie unfolded in Nolan’s watchroom.
The tension was razor-thin, slicing through the silence with every heartbeat as the characters on-screen prepared the Pathogen Knife for its first true field test.
Inside the darkened mall-turned-research-fortress, the group of exhausted survivors hovered around a caged infected that snarled and slammed its body against reinforced bars.
A soldier gripped the new blade—sleek, humming faintly with energy—and adjusted his stance.
The infected’s body twisted with unnatural jerks, milky eyes fixed on its prey. Everyone in the room held their breath.
And so did the students.
"Alright," murmured the lead scientist, voice tight. "Strike at the major arteries. Hit the center of mass—quick penetration, full withdrawal. Theoretically, it should disrupt the necrotic flow and—"
"Just stab the damn thing already!" Selin blurted at the screen.
The soldier lunged, slashing downward with precision across the infected’s chest and abdomen.
The blade carved through the rotting tissue with a wet squelch, drawing viscous black blood that sizzled against the floor.
The infected roared.