Chapter 116:
The hallway was dimly lit, the low hum of the overhead lights barely masking the tension around them. Evelyn, Bale, and Hayden strode forward, their boots clicking against the concrete floor as they followed the waiting soldier toward the control room.
As soon as they stepped inside, a wave of hushed voices and frantic movements washed over them. A handful of soldiers and technicians were gathered around a set of monitors, their faces pale and drawn. A single screen flickered in and out of static, showing the last transmission from the patrol team that had ventured into the mist.
"Report," Evelyn commanded, her voice sharper than usual.
One of the technicians, a young corporal with nervous eyes, swallowed hard before answering. "Patrol Squad Six went dark ten minutes ago. We tried radio contact, but there was no response. Just before we lost them, we got... this."He tapped a few keys, and the distorted footage began to play.
At first, it was just the patrol—five soldiers moving in tight formation, their silhouettes barely visible through the dense fog. They moved cautiously, rifles raised, scanning their surroundings. The mist swirled unnaturally around them, thickening in patches, shifting like something alive.
Then, out of nowhere, the horde emerged.
They didn’t lurch forward in a mindless swarm. They moved in unison. A perfect, synchronized march—limbs jerking in eerie harmony, heads turning at the same moment. No stragglers. No chaos. It was calculated.
The men opened fire on the creatures and the mist thickened, swallowing the zombies and the men. "That’s not normal," Bale muttered, his fingers tightening into a fist.
The corporal’s hands shook as he adjusted the feed. "Then there’s... this."The footage jumped. A blur of movement in the mist.
For a split second, a figure appeared—humanoid but wrong. Its proportions were just off enough to unsettle the mind, its movements too fluid, too precise. Its eyes, or what should have been eyes, gleamed faintly before the mist swallowed it whole.
Then the screen went black.