The creature lunged.
Elias fired.
The first shot struck its shoulder, spinning it sideways.
The second hit its chest.
The third missed completely as the creature twisted through the air and slammed into the wall.
It should have fallen.
It didn’t.
Its fingers dug into the concrete.
Then it climbed.
Noah stared.
“That’s not normal.”
“Nothing here is.”
The creature moved across the wall on all fours, its limbs bending at angles that made Elias’s stomach turn.
It wasn’t simply fast.
It was unpredictable.
Elias raised his weapon again.
The creature suddenly disappeared into the darkness above them.
“Where did it go?”
Noah turned in a circle.
“Where—”
A shadow dropped from the ceiling.
Elias shoved Noah aside.
The creature crashed onto him.
Its claws tore through his jacket.
Pain ripped across his shoulder.
Elias grunted and drove his weapon against its throat.
The creature opened its mouth.
A horrible clicking sound came from inside.
Then it tried to bite him.
Elias pushed harder.
“Get it off me!”
Noah fired.
The bullet struck the creature’s head.
Its body went limp.
For a second, Elias thought it was dead.
Then its fingers twitched.
“Again!”
Noah fired another round.
The creature finally stopped moving.
Elias shoved the body away and rolled onto his back.
He breathed heavily.
Blood ran down his shoulder.
Noah crouched beside him.
“You’re bleeding.”
“I noticed.”
Subject Nine was staring at the corpse.
Her expression wasn’t relief.
It was fear.
“What?” Elias asked.
She shook her head.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“What wasn’t?”
“That creature shouldn’t be able to survive outside containment.”
Noah looked at the body.
“Then what was it?”
Subject Nine swallowed.
“An incomplete Chimera.”
Elias slowly sat up.
“Another prototype?”
“No.”
She looked toward the shattered wall.
“Something worse.”
The storage room suddenly felt too small.
Subject Nine stepped toward the corpse.
She examined the blackened veins covering its body.
“These creatures were never meant to leave the laboratory.”
“Why?”
“Because their bodies were unstable.”
She pointed toward its twisted limbs.
“They mutate too quickly.
Their organs can’t keep up.”
Elias frowned.
“Then how did this one survive?”
Subject Nine looked at him.
“Because it found something.”
Her eyes dropped toward Elias’s wound.
“Or someone.”
Elias looked at the black lines beneath his shirt.
The marks had changed.
They were darker now.
And they had spread another few centimeters.
Noah noticed.
“That’s happening faster.”
Elias pulled his shirt down.
“I know.”
Subject Nine shook her head.
“You need to understand something.”
She stepped closer.
“The Chimera aren’t just biological weapons.”
Elias waited.
“They adapt by absorbing information from their environment.”
Noah frowned.
“Information?”
“Cells.
Hormones.
Genetic material.
Neural patterns.”
She pointed toward the dead creature.
“Every time they encounter something new, their bodies try to incorporate it.”
Elias stared at her.
“And now it wants me.”
Subject Nine nodded.
“Because whatever Unit Zero did to you…”
She hesitated.
“…made you different.”
A distant alarm suddenly activated.
Subject Nine’s expression changed.
“They know we’re here.”
Noah grabbed the remaining supplies.
“Then we move.”
Elias stood.
Pain immediately returned to his ribs.
He ignored it.
They couldn’t stay.
Not here.
Not after what had happened.
The three moved through another corridor.
The emergency lights flickered overhead.
Red.
Darkness.
Red.
Darkness.
Every few seconds, their shadows appeared and disappeared.
Elias kept looking behind them.
Nothing.
No movement.
No sound.
That somehow made it worse.
Then he heard something.
A whisper.
“Elias.”
He stopped.
Noah turned.
“What?”
Elias looked down the corridor.
Nothing.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Subject Nine stared at him.
“You heard him.”
Elias looked at her.
“Unit Zero?”
She nodded.
“He can communicate through the network.”
Elias felt a chill.
“He called me brother.”
Subject Nine stopped walking.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then:
“Don’t believe everything it says.”
“Why?”
“Because Unit Zero doesn’t remember everything.”
Elias’s eyes narrowed.
“Then what does it remember?”
Subject Nine looked away.
“Enough to hate the people who created it.”
They reached the end of the corridor.
A heavy emergency door blocked their path.
Noah checked the handle.
Locked.
“Great.”
Elias looked around.
“Any other way?”
Subject Nine pointed toward a maintenance ladder.
“Up.”
They climbed.
The shaft was narrow.
Elias went first.
Every movement sent pain through his ribs.
Halfway up, he felt the strange marks beneath his skin pulse again.
He stopped.
Something flashed across his vision.
For less than a second…
He saw a room.
White walls.
Bright lights.
A metal table.
Someone standing beside him.
A voice.
“Subject compatibility confirmed.”
Elias blinked.
The vision disappeared.
“Elias?”
Noah’s voice came from above.
“I’m fine.”
But he wasn’t.
He didn’t tell them what he had seen.
Not yet.
They reached the surface access hatch.
Noah pushed it open.
Cold night air rushed inside.
Elias climbed out.
For the first time in hours, he saw the outside world.
The sky was dark.
Smoke covered the horizon.
Buildings stood like skeletons beneath the moonlight.
No rescue helicopters.
No emergency lights.
No military response.
Nothing.
Just silence.
Subject Nine climbed out behind him.
She stared at the ruined landscape.
“When did it become this bad?”
Elias looked at her.
“You’ve been underground that long?”
She nodded.
“Three weeks.”
Noah froze.
“Three weeks?”
She looked confused.
“Yes.”
Noah shook his head.
“The outbreak started less than two weeks ago.”
Subject Nine’s expression slowly changed.
“No…”
She looked toward the facility entrance.
“That can’t be right.”
Elias felt a cold sensation in his stomach.
Something wasn’t adding up.
Either Subject Nine had been unconscious longer than she believed…
Or Project Chimera had been operating before the outbreak.
A distant siren suddenly sounded.
Not an emergency siren.
A vehicle.
Noah looked toward the road.
“Someone’s coming.”
Headlights appeared through the smoke.
One vehicle.
Then another.
Then a third.
Elias raised his weapon.
The vehicles stopped several hundred meters away.
Armed figures stepped out.
They weren’t infected.
They were organized.
Military equipment.
Tactical armor.
Weapons.
Noah whispered:
“Rescue?”
Elias didn’t answer.
After everything they had discovered underground…
He no longer trusted the word.
A loudspeaker activated from the lead vehicle.
“Survivors!”
“Remain where you are!”
“We are here to evacuate you!”
Subject Nine immediately grabbed Elias’s arm.
Her face had gone pale.
“No.”
Elias looked at her.
“What’s wrong?”
She stared at the vehicles.
“I know that uniform.”
The soldiers began moving toward them.
Subject Nine whispered:
“They’re not here to rescue us.”
Elias tightened his grip on his weapon.
“Then what are they here for?”
She looked at the black marks beneath his shirt.
And answered:
“To retrieve the Chimera.”
Elias’s blood ran cold.
Because somewhere beneath the ruined facility…
Something roared.
And the soldiers immediately turned toward the sound.
Not surprised.
Not afraid.
Waiting.