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The cleaver strapped to his forearm with a strip of torn fabric looked crude, but it was far more practical than the thin assault jacket he'd found. Mark and Lisa had outfitted themselves the same way—a mix of scavenged gear and lessons learned from movies that now felt painfully inadequate.
Footsteps echoed in the stairwell. Jin's Summon led the way, its metallic skin catching the faint gray light. Mark followed with a flashlight in one hand and the cleaver in the other. Lisa walked close behind him, and Jin brought up the rear.
The stairwell was pitch black beyond the flashlight's beam. Shadows clung to the walls like bruises. Every breath, every shuffle of shoes on concrete seemed amplified.
They passed the first landing when a dark shape lunged from the darkness ahead.
Mark stumbled back, the flashlight beam jumping. A Zombie—its back hunched, claws elongated, mouth gaping with rows of teeth—threw itself at the front of the line. But Jin's Summon was already moving.
With a heavy thud, it caught the Zombie by the arm and slammed it against the wall. The creature hissed, thrashing.
"Don't kill it," Jin said. "Hold it."
The Summon's grip tightened. Its other hand, the one fused with Common Metal, pressed down on the Zombie's chest. A flicker of dark energy rippled across its skin—Metal Body—and with a single punch, it drove the creature to the ground. Ribs cracked audibly.
The Zombie still snarled, its claws scraping uselessly against the Summon's metallic hide. Jin's Summon pinned one arm, then the other, until the creature was completely immobilized.
"Kill it," Jin said.
Mark's hands tightened around the cleaver. He could feel Lisa's eyes on him, waiting.
Killing a Zombie—something that had been human—was different from watching Jin do it. But Mark understood the nature. To survive, to protect Lisa, he had to take this step. Jin's help was already more than they could have hoped for.
He stepped forward.
The Zombie's growl vibrated through the concrete. Its red-rimmed eyes tracked him, and it thrashed against the Summon's hold.
Mark raised the cleaver and brought it down. Once. Twice. Three times.
Blood splattered his face. The smell was thick, coppery, turning his stomach. The blade struck bone, jarring his arm with each impact. But with the fourth blow, the skull gave way. The growling stopped.
The Crimson Book mark on Mark's hand flared with red light.
He stumbled back, staring at his palm. The light pulsed, warm against his skin, and a prompt appeared in his vision:
[Contract available. Bind slain Zombie as Summon?]
"Contract," he said, his voice hoarse.
The light intensified. The Zombie's body dissolved into streams of red energy, flowing into the mark on his hand. A moment later, the light faded.
Mark gasped. His back, which had ached for years from hunching over a keyboard, felt loose. His arms were lighter. Stronger. The feedback from the new bond coursed through him.
"I did it," he said, looking at Lisa, then at Jin. "It worked."
He focused, and a new Summon materialized before them.
It stood about one meter eighty, its skin pale and taut over a frame that was still recognizably human—but twisted. Its spine was hunched, its face frozen in a rictus of aggression, and its claws were elongated but not yet fused with any material. It was smaller than Jin's Summon, clearly weaker, but it was his.
"How does it feel?" Jin asked.
"I can control it. And… my body feels better. Stronger."
Jin nodded. "Control it. Keep it in front."
Mark's excitement tempered. He wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand, then sent a mental command to his new Summon. It moved ahead, falling into position beside Jin's creature.
They continued down.
At the sixth floor, the scent of blood hit them before they reached the door. The stairwell grew thick with it, coppery and sweet. From beyond the fire door came the wet sounds of chewing.
Mark's flashlight swept across the doorframe. He could see shapes moving in the corridor beyond—Zombies, at least two, maybe more.
Jin raised a fist. They stopped.
Through the gap in the door, they watched. The Zombies were hunched over something on the floor, their heads jerking as they fed.
"We go through," Jin whispered. "My Summon takes the left. Yours takes the right. You and Lisa stay close."
Mark swallowed but nodded.
They pushed the door open.
The sound of their footsteps was enough. Both Zombies snapped upright, heads swiveling, mouths dripping with gore. They dropped to all fours and charged.
Mark's Summon lunged forward to meet them, but it was outnumbered. Its claws raked across one Zombie's face, but the other slammed into its side, teeth sinking into its shoulder. Pale ichor sprayed. Mark felt a jolt of feedback—not pain, but a dull echo of the damage.
"Jin!" he called.
Jin's Summon stepped in. Its metallic claws extended, and with a single swipe, it severed the arm of the Zombie grappling Mark's Summon. The creature shrieked, turning, but Jin's Summon was already driving its fist through its skull. Metal Body darkened its skin as it connected, and the head crumpled.
The remaining Zombie tried to retreat, but Mark's Summon held it, claws digging into its chest. Jin's Summon finished it with a clean blow.
"Watch the back!"
Lisa's voice cut through the aftermath. Jin spun, flashlight beam sweeping the corridor.
At the far end, two red pinpricks glowed in the darkness. Then more—a cluster of them, low to the ground. A shape emerged: a rat the size of a dog, its fur rotting away to expose bone and sinew, its teeth bared. Behind it, others skittered in the shadows.
The lead rat charged. Its speed was terrifying—faster than the Zombies, a blur of claws and yellowed teeth.
Both Summons were at the other end of the corridor, too far to intercept. The rat closed the distance in seconds, aiming straight for Jin.
Jin's skin darkened. Metal Body flowed over him, turning his flesh to a dull iron sheen. He raised his cleaver.
The rat leaped. Jin slashed.
The blade caught the creature's foreleg, severing it. The rat twisted in midair, crashing to the floor with a shriek. It writhed, its remaining claws scrabbling at the concrete, its wounded stump spraying dark fluid.
Jin stepped forward to finish it, but Lisa was closer.
She moved before he could. Her cleaver came down in a two-handed swing, driven by adrenaline and raw fear. The blade bit deep into the rat's neck, nearly severing the head. The creature twitched once, twice, then went still.
Lisa staggered back, the cleaver slipping from her grip. She stared at the corpse, her chest heaving, her face pale.
"Lisa!" Mark rushed to her side, grabbing her arms. "Are you okay?"
She didn't answer for a moment. Then she looked at him, her eyes wet but steady. "I'm okay."
Jin studied the giant rat's body. It was unlike anything they had seen—a mutation, or something that had fed on the fog's influence. The Crimson Book mark on Lisa's hand pulsed faintly.
"Form the contract," he said. "You killed it. It's yours."
Lisa looked at her hand, then at the rat's corpse. She nodded slowly, closed her eyes, and focused.
Red light wrapped around the dead creature, dissolving it into energy that flowed into her mark. When it faded, she stood a little straighter, her breathing steadier.
She raised her hand, and a new Summon materialized.
It was smaller than either of theirs, its form more streamlined—a low-slung, sinewy creature with elongated limbs and a jaw lined with needle teeth. Its eyes gleamed red in the darkness. It moved with a skittering, predatory stillness, watching the corridor as though hunting.
Lisa stared at it, her expression unreadable. Then she gave a small nod.
They had three Summons now.
Jin surveyed the corridor. The sixth floor was open, but the noise had likely drawn attention. They needed to move, to clear the remaining floors and find supplies. The lobby was still unknown—a potential gathering of survivors, or a nest of Zombies. Either way, they would face it together.
He looked at Mark and Lisa. They were no longer just neighbors seeking shelter. They were becoming survivors.
"Let's keep going," he said. "We're not done yet."