Chapter 125
Screams echoed through the base, a mix of terror that sent chills down Zara’s spine. The once-sterile hallways had become a nightmare—floors slick with blood, walls streaked with crimson handprints, bodies littering the ground. Some were motionless, their glassy eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. Others twitched, gurgling weakly as they succumbed to fatal wounds. The scent of iron and burning flesh thickened the air, nearly overpowering the chemical sting of the mist that now hung like a deathly shroud.
Zara pushed forward, her boots slipping on the blood-slicked tiles as she dodged panicked civilians and injured soldiers. A shriek rang out to her right—a young woman, barely out of her teens, scrambling backward on her hands and feet as an infected soldier lunged at her, his mouth snapping hungrily. His face was twisted and grotesque, his skin blotchy and gray, veins bulging like darkened roots under his flesh.
They’re unstable.
Zara grabbed a discarded rifle from the floor, her fingers slick with sweat and fear as she swung it like a club. The butt of the gun connected with the infected soldier’s head, cracking bone. He staggered but didn’t go down. With a snarl, he whirled toward her, but before he could lunge, his body seized violently. Another infected soldier—his own comrade—had sunk his teeth into his throat, tearing away flesh in a spray of dark blood.
They were attacking each other.
A guttural, distorted howl filled the air as more infected turned on one another, clawing, biting, as if whatever mutation had twisted them wasn’t fully in control. Zara barely had time to register the horror before something slammed into her side, knocking her against a wall. The impact rattled her ribs, and she gasped, the rifle slipping from her grasp. She scrambled up, heart hammering as a twisted, half-decayed figure dragged itself toward her, its lower body mangled beyond recognition.
Zara didn’t hesitate. She grabbed a jagged shard of glass from the broken observation window beside her and drove it into the infected’s skull, the resistance sickening. A shudder went through its body before it collapsed, twitching one last time.
She pushed herself up on shaky feet and rushed down the hallway.
Snarling breath ghosted against her skin.
She barely managed to twist away before teeth snapped inches from her throat.
Zara reacted instinctively. She slammed an elbow into the infected’s face, feeling the cartilage in its nose crunch. It barely staggered. Hands wrapped around her neck, squeezing with terrifying strength.