Gunfire echoed inside the control core.
Loud.
Deafening.
No space to breathe.
The infected moved fast.
Too fast for tight quarters.
Cornering them and restricting movement.
"Left!" Aira called.
Tanako turned—
Fired—
Missed.
He Grabbed the infected and stabbed them.
"Rear!" Hakamo shouted.
"Got it" akane replied.
A infected was approaching hakamo
He didn't turn.
He Didn't need to.
He stepped back—
Crushed one with force—
Then fired point-blank.
Akane moved between them.
Silent.
Precise.
Every motion—
A kill.
"They're guarding the systems!" Aira said.
"No" Akane replied.
"They're delaying us."
A pause—
"For what?" Assault asked.
"Im not sure" akane replied
More emerged from the shadows.
From behind consoles.
From vents.
From places they shouldn't fit.
"They're using the structure!" Hakamo said.
"They know the layout!" Aira added.
One lunged at her—
Akane intercepted—
Blade—
Down.
Aira glanced at him.
"...Thanks."
No response.
The formation tightened.
Closer now.
Too close.
"We can't hold like this forever!" Tanako said.
"We don't need forever!" akane replied.
"Push to the core panel."
Tanako nodded.
"Move together."
They advanced.
Step by step.
Every meter—
Fought.
A moment—
Brief.
Between waves.
Hakamo reloaded.
Breathing heavier now.
"I'm running out of mags" he said.
"Same here" akane replied
"I'm switching to close-combat!" Hakamo screamed.
He stabs the infected near him.
Tanako fired once.
Reloaded.
"One more mag!"
The squad was running out of magazines.
Aira exhaled.
"I ran out!"
Tanako throws him knife.
"Thanks" Aira said.
Akane had also switched to close quarters.
"Akane!" Aira screamed.
"Close the gates!"
Akane had reached it.
Central control.
Screens flickering.
Systems unstable.
Akane hacked the systems and closed the vents and the gates around them.
Ending the pursuit.
The squad let out a sigh.
Aira approaches akane.
Hands on the interface.
"Thats clutch"
Aira plugs in the USB.
"that'll take a while"
"My knife broke" Hakamo said.
Tanako laughs.
"Here I've got a spare"
"Don't destroy it"
Both laughs.
Hakamo requested backup from hq.
"Affirmative, eta 9 minutes"
"Try to hold out"
Their conversation was suddenly-interrupted.
Doors banged.
Cracks.
"They're coming in!" Hakamo said.
The doors finally gave up.
The infected surged again.
Faster.
More aggressive.
"It's now or never!" Akane said
"8 minutes left!" Tanako screamed.
As the infected swarms them
Akane quickly stepped forward.
Something in him—
Shifted again.
Not fully—
But enough.
He moved faster.
Defeating infecteds.
Holding the line alone.
Everyone stared for a moment.
Then-
Hakamo stepped beside him.
Then Tanako.
Three holding the front-
As the infected swarms them.
Whilst Aira extracted the data.
"Status!" Hakamo called.
"Almost!" Aira replied.
The screens flickered-
Hard.
"Huh?" Aira said in confusion.
Her hands froze
As she realized.
"This... isn't just.. damage."
A pause.
" There's something inside the system."
"What do you mean?!" Tanako screamed.
"It's being controlled." Aira replied.
Akane turned slightly.
"By them?"
"Yeah..."
As they killed the last infected.
The lights cut.
Total darkness.
Then—
Red emergency lights.
And a staggering noise penetrated their ears.
The doors behind them—
Slammed shut.
Locked.
"What did you do?" Tanako shouted.
"I didn't do that!" Aira replied.
Dozens of infected gathered outside.
They were sealed in.
A sound.
Different.
Not rushing.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
From the darkness ahead—
More figures stepped out.
Not attacking.
Watching.
"They let us in," Akane said.
Silence.
"...Yeah," Hakamo replied.
"...and now we're not leaving."
The system flickered again.
Lines of code moved on the screen.
Not random.
Structured.
Learning.
Adapting.
Aira stepped back slowly.
"They're... not just using the system."
A pause.
"...They're becoming it."
"The USB...has been corrupted"
Silence filled the control core.
As they've been watched.
Surrounded.
Outnumbered.
Locked inside.
And for the first time—
Even Akane didn't move forward.
Because this time—
The enemy wasn't just outside.
It was already inside everything.