[Win – Forest Trail Toward Nexus Spire]
The trail narrowed again, forcing us into single file between thick ferns and broken slabs of concrete. The tower loomed closer now, its silver frame cutting into the sky like a promise we hadn't earned yet. Drones circled its upper levels in slow, steady patterns, but none had come toward us.
Not yet.
Palm stayed close to me, his breathing steady—too steady for someone who had been feverish and half-dead just yesterday. Mali walked a few steps ahead, scalpel ready. Kao moved like a shadow in front of her. Vitcha led with quiet control, Jay and Jane keeping their camera and phone lowered but ready. Best covered the rear, rifle sweeping through the trees.
We had fallen into a rhythm, but it wasn't comfortable. Every rustle cut conversations short. Every distant moan made us tighten our grip on our weapons.
No one mentioned Dean again.
But he was there, in all of our heads.
Then the moan changed.
A high, piercing wail split through the forest.
It wasn't like the others. It carried something twisted—almost like a tune, broken and dragged through something sharp. My blood ran cold.
Palm stopped beside me. "That's… no."
The wail came again.
Closer.
Familiar.
Minnie.
Our classmate. The girl who used to sit behind us, always humming under her breath. The one who laughed when Palm stole my earphone on Children's Day. The one who had been at the fair when everything went wrong.
She stepped out from between two trees.
Her uniform was torn, stained with black fluid. Her hair hung in clumps. Her throat pulsed unnaturally as her mouth stretched wide in that scream. Her eyes were cloudy—but not empty.
They locked onto us.
"Minnie…" Palm whispered.
She didn't respond.
She screamed.
The sound tore through the forest like a siren. Leaves trembled. Birds scattered from the canopy.
And the dead answered.
Basics poured out from every direction. Locusts dropped from branches, hitting the ground running.
We were surrounded in seconds.
"Circle up!" Vitcha ordered.
Kao moved first. Her axe came down in a clean arc, taking the head off the nearest Basic. Best fired twice, dropping two more. Jay and Jane backed toward the center, abandoning their devices, gripping their weapons—Jay with a crowbar, Jane with the blade Vitcha had given her.
Palm and I moved together without thinking. I swung my pipe, crushing a skull. Palm followed through, driving his crowbar into another zombie's eye.
He was faster.
Too fast.
A Locust lunged, its claw grazing his forearm.
I saw it.
A thin line of black fluid surfaced instantly.
No red.
No blood.
Just that dark liquid, sealing almost as quickly as it appeared.
My stomach tightened.
I stepped in front of him, blocking the others' view, and pressed the edge of my torn shirt against his arm, wiping it away before anyone could see clearly.
Palm looked at me.
For a second, everything else faded.
We both knew.
He wasn't the same.
Not fully human.
Not fully one of them either.
Something in between.
He gave me the smallest nod.
Later.
There was no time for later.
Minnie screamed again.
More zombies rushed in—ten, fifteen, maybe more.
"She's calling them!" Kao shouted. "Take her down!"
Vitcha fired, but Minnie moved too fast. The shot clipped a tree instead.
Locusts leaped in from both sides. One landed on Jane's back. She cried out, stabbing wildly. Jay grabbed it and slammed it to the ground, crushing its skull with his crowbar.
Best dropped to one knee, firing in controlled bursts. "There's too many!"
Mali moved through the chaos with sharp precision, her scalpel flashing as she cut through tendons and throats. "Hold formation! Don't break!"
Palm stayed close to me, his crowbar rising and falling. Another hit grazed his shoulder.
Again—black fluid.
I shifted closer, shielding him, wiping it away before anyone could notice.
My heart pounded harder than the fight itself.
He wasn't turning.
But he wasn't normal.
Not anymore.
Minnie's scream rose higher, sharper.
The horde surged.
A Locust slammed into Best from behind. He hit the ground hard. Kao spun instantly, her axe cutting through the creature's spine. Best rolled away, gasping, and fired into another wave.
We were getting pushed back.
The circle tightened.
Zombies pressed in from every side.
Palm's voice cut through the noise, low, just for me. "Win… if I start acting wrong… you stop me. Promise."
I didn't answer.
I couldn't.
Then the air shifted.
A low mechanical hum cut through the chaos.
Three black drones dropped through the canopy, red targeting lasers sweeping across the ground.
Mae's drones.
Gunfire followed—not bullets, but precise bursts of energy that tore through the horde. Zombies dropped instantly, bodies collapsing in clean, smoking lines. The drones moved in sync, cutting a path through the chaos with controlled efficiency.
Minnie screamed one last time.
A shot hit her in the chest.
She fell.
The sound stopped.
The remaining zombies scattered or dropped where they stood.
Silence followed, broken only by the hum of the drones above us.
They hovered, scanning.
A calm, synthetic voice came through the lead drone.
"Survivors identified. Nexus Spire extraction protocol engaged. Remain still for retrieval."
A cable dropped from one drone, a harness attached. Another extended a platform large enough to carry all of us.
Vitcha lowered her gun first. "Sirin's people. Looks like we've been noticed."
I grabbed Palm's hand without thinking.
I squeezed.
He squeezed back.
His arm was clean now, the black fluid gone under my quick wipe. But the truth stayed there between us.
Quiet.
Heavy.
We stepped onto the platform together, no one speaking as the drones lifted us into the air.
The forest shrank below us.
The dead became smaller.
Nexus Spire rose ahead—silent, shining.
And whatever waited inside—
Answers, a cure, or something worse—
We were going straight to it.