Chapter 237 - Orders from Above
The old commander sat in silence inside his steel-clad office, tucked into the far end of the school’s administrative building. The humming of distant drones filled the silence like static. His fingers hovered over the message icon on his communicator, the name Shinju blinking insistently.
Again.
He exhaled through his nose and flicked the screen off. He didn’t need to read it. He knew what Shinju wanted—what he always wanted. Something about his "son," about Jai. The boy Shinju had left behind.
The commander clenched his jaw. He had saved them once—back in City A. Gone against protocol to do it. He’d even diverted resources to bring survivors here. He didn’t regret it, not really. He’d seen what was left of City A. Hell on earth. The infected there had changed—become something else. Smarter. Faster. Crueler.
And now? Now those survivors weren’t survivors at all. They were "unreleaseable assets." Too risky to reintroduce into society, but too valuable to destroy. So they were kept here—isolated, fed, observed like lab rats in a cage.
He rubbed a hand down his face, feeling every year in his bones.
His communicator buzzed again, but this time, it was a different signal.
Unknown ID. Military encryption.
He stiffened, instantly straightening, and tapped to answer. The screen glowed with a crest—higher command. He stood and saluted automatically.
"Sir."
The voice on the other end was clipped, direct. "Commander Song. We’ve just received a flagged blood sample from your camp."