The group reached the central computer control room after pressing deeper through the facility’s heavy iron doors.
Cold, damp air filled the space, carrying the faint smell of old hydraulic oil and stale ventilation.
Alexandra stayed near the back, her fingers locked around the smooth wooden handle of the fire axe.
Her eyes swept over the pristine steel walls ahead and the mouth of a long, narrow passageway.
Oh, no.
Her grip tightened on the wood.
Her mouth went dry.
Oh, absolutely fucking no.
Twenty feet from the entrance, breathing the stale air, recognition hit her.
‘I know this room.
I’ve watched this unfold a dozen times…
It’s the laser corridor.’ She didn’t know the exact engineering or the computer sequence that triggered it.
She only knew what happened inside.
It was a meat grinder.
Standing near the rear of the escort, Jie recognized the corridor the moment his eyes landed on the glass partition.
His posture stiffened, his hand shifting down near his sidearm.
He knew this sequence from the movie.
He knew what waited inside.
Warning the mercenaries about an unencountered danger would only make them wonder how he knew about it, so Jie kept his mouth shut.
Lan stood a few paces away, her eyes scanning the newcomers.
Gang’s broad shoulders were locked tight as he watched the armed escort.
Beside him, Xiaoyi trembled, his face pale as milk.
And then there was Alexandra—the yellow-eyed girl clutching a heavy fire axe, staring at the corridor ceiling with sheer dread.
Alice watched them all from behind Matt.
Her memory was still a fragmented haze, but the civilians moved like people walking onto a gallows.
One turned around, gesturing sharply.
“You, you, and you. Move up.”
He was pointing directly at Alexandra, the female medic Rain, and Zha.
Alexandra’s knees went weak.
One held his weapon at low ready, leaving zero doubt about what would happen if anyone refused.
Refusing meant a bullet on the concrete floor.
Walking in meant facing a trap she barely knew how to survive.
“Move,” One barked.
Rain stepped toward the threshold.
Zha swallowed hard, shuffling forward.
Alexandra forced her feet to follow, her sneakers dragging across the floor.
Rain stepped into the narrow passageway first.
Alexandra followed a half-step behind, her yellow eyes tracing the clean metal paneling on either side.
Zha brought up the rear, lingering near the entry.
They were only a few paces inside when the heavy glass door behind them slammed shut.
The deep, hydraulic thud vibrated through the metal grating beneath their boots.
Outside the partition, Xiaoyi let out a muffled gasp and started forward, but Gang’s heavy hand clamped down on the teenager’s shoulder.
“Don’t move, kid,” Gang gritted out in a low, rough voice.
“Stay put.”
Rain spun around, her hand dropping toward her holstered sidearm.
“What the—”
A high, sharp hum cut through the corridor.
The overhead lights flickered and dimmed, and at the far end of the passageway, a thin line of blue light snapped into existence.
It’s starting.
The blue beam hovered two feet off the floor, sweeping forward at a silent speed.
Alexandra’s breath hitched.
‘That light will cut through anything!’ Rain was still facing the rear glass door, completely unaware of the blue line rushing toward her waist.
“Get down!” Alexandra screamed.
The heavy fire axe dropped onto the floor with a loud clatter as she lunged forward.
Driven by pure panic, she threw her entire body weight into Rain, her arms wrapping around the medic’s tactical vest as both of them crashed onto the deck.
They hit the floor together in a tangle of limbs, the impact knocking the air out of Alexandra’s lungs.
Above them, an intense, searing heat flashed across the narrow space, accompanied by a sharp hiss of ozone.
A horrific scream tore through the corridor.
Outside the glass, Xiaoyi jerked back, covering his mouth as blood hit the interior window.
Near the entry door, one of the mercenaries standing right behind One was clutching his right arm, blood spurting between his fingers where part of his hand had been sheared away.
Jie’s eyes narrowed as he watched through the glass.
She tackled her before the beam hit?
How did she react that fast?
Zha was pressed flat against the glass wall inside, his eyes wide, his chest heaving as he stared at the blood on the floor.
“Shit! Fuck!” Alexandra gasped, her voice cracking.
She rolled onto her side, looking wildly around the corridor.
‘It’s not over,’ she thought frantically, scanning the steel walls.
High up near a ceiling opening, she spotted a dark recess.
‘There.’
Rain was groaning on the deck beside her, trying to push herself up.
Attached to Rain’s harness was her submachine gun, hanging by a thick sling.
Alexandra reached into her pocket, yanked out her cheap four-inch butterfly knife, and flipped it open with a clattering flick.
She slammed the blade against the thick nylon sling near Rain’s shoulder and sawed desperately.
“Hey—what are you doing—” Rain gasped, pulling back.
“Hold still!” Alexandra yelled, her voice raw.
The knife bit into the fabric and sliced through.
Alexandra grabbed the submachine gun by its grip, catching the heavy weapon with both hands.
She pointed the barrel wildly toward the ceiling opening where the paneling met the upper wall, closed her eyes halfway against the flash, and pulled the trigger.
The gun roared in the enclosed space—a stuttering wall of noise that rattled Alexandra’s teeth.
Recoil kicked hard against her arms, sending spent brass bouncing off her knees and the floor.
Sparks showered down from above as bullets ripped into the metal paneling and shattered the frame around the opening.
Outside, the sudden roar of automatic fire inside the sealed room made Matt and J.D.
raise their weapons.
“What is she shooting at?!” Matt demanded.
Inside, the gun clicked empty.
Alexandra dropped it onto the floor, her hands shaking so hard she could barely unclamp her fingers from the receiver.
At the far end of the hall, the hum returned.
A second laser snapped into life—a crisscrossing grid of vertical and horizontal blue lines sweeping toward them like a glowing net.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Alexandra whimpered.
She scrambled up, drove her foot against the side wall, and leaped toward the damaged ventilation opening her gunfire had exposed.
Her hands slammed onto the jagged lip.
Pain bit into her palms, but she ignored it.
Kicking her feet against the slick wall, her muscles strained to haul her weight up.
Her elbow slipped, dropping her an inch, but she dug in and hauled again.
“Get up, get up!” she gritted out, dragging her upper body over the edge and tumbling messily into the shallow ventilation recess above the laser line.
She rolled onto her stomach, panting raggedly, her yellow eyes wide as she looked over the lip.
The glowing grid was closing in fast.
“Rain! Down!” Alexandra shrieked, waving her hand frantically toward the floor.
“Get back!”
Rain saw the glowing mesh rushing forward and threw herself backward, sliding along the floor grating until her head hit the base of the rear glass door.
The laser grid swept over the floor space she had occupied a second prior, radiating heat clear up into the recess.
“Up here!” Alexandra yelled, stretching her arm over the lip.
“Reach up!”
Rain scrambled up and leaped for the opening.
Her hands caught the edge, but the weight of her gear dragged her down.
She swung awkwardly, her boots scraping the wall as she pulled herself up.
“I’ve got you!” Alexandra grabbed Rain’s tactical vest with both hands, straining until her shoulder muscles burned.
Rain hooked a knee over the lip and hauled herself into the gap beside Alexandra just as a third, high horizontal laser swept through the upper corridor.
The smell of burnt hair filled the recess as the blue beam clipped the ends of Rain’s short hair, sending singed strands fluttering down.
Rain collapsed against the back of the duct, breathing heavily as she stared at the burnt ends of her hair.
Down on the floor, the final laser formed into a solid wall of light, sweeping rapidly toward the entry door where One and Zha were trapped.
“Captain!” Rain shouted from the duct.
“Get up here!”
One looked up, but the gap was too high and the wall of light was moving too fast.
Jumping meant leaping directly into the beam.
“No!” Zha yelled.
In a desperate bid to survive, Zha grabbed One by his tactical harness and yanked the heavy squad leader sideways, slamming both of their backs flat into the narrow corner where the glass door met the side wall.
The wall of blue light swept forward, stopping less than an inch from their faces.
Alexandra watched from above, holding her breath.
The heat from the beam was intense enough that a thin trail of smoke rose from One’s nose as the heat singed his nose hairs where he stood frozen.
For three agonizing seconds, no one moved.
No one breathed.
Then, with a soft chime from the console outside, the blue light vanished.
The amber emergency lights shut off, replaced by the normal overhead lighting.
The heavy glass door behind One slid open with a quiet hiss.
Silence fell over the corridor, broken only by heavy, ragged breathing.
Alexandra slumped back against the metal duct, her hands limp, her chest burning.
In that moment, a cold, mechanical voice sounded directly in her head:
Saving one mercenary.
C-rank side story, 3,000 reward points.
Outside the glass, Jie froze for a moment when he saw Alexandra go still in the duct.
He couldn’t hear whatever had happened inside her head, but her expression changed almost immediately afterward.
His gaze sharpened as he studied her.
Something had happened.
Lan noticed the shift in Jie’s posture and followed his gaze toward Alexandra.
She didn’t ask.
Whatever Jie had noticed, he clearly wasn’t ready to explain.
Beside Alexandra in the vent, Rain let out a long breath and turned her head.
“You… you pulled me down,” Rain said, her voice raspy.
“If you hadn’t cut my sling and shot at that ceiling panel… none of us would have made it.”
Alexandra let out a weak, breathy laugh.
“Yeah. Well. I really didn’t want to see what that light does to human skin.” She looked at her trembling hands.
“Sorry about your gun sling. And… taking your weapon.”
“Don’t be,” Rain said, resting a gloved hand briefly on Alexandra’s shoulder.
“You saved my life.”
Down below, Xiaoyi stood near the opened glass door, his eyes wide as he looked up at the duct.
“That was incredible!” he stammered.
“Alexandra, you were awesome! You actually—”
“I didn’t have a plan, Xiaoyi,” Alexandra cut in, swinging her legs over the edge and dropping awkwardly to the floor.
Her knees buckled upon impact, and she grabbed the glass wall to stay upright.
“I was terrified. I am still terrified.”
She turned and glared at Zha, who was stepping out of the corner and wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
“And you,” Alexandra said, pointing a finger at him, her sarcastic tone returning through the shock.
“You almost got me killed. Next time you stand around like a startled deer in front of a death laser, do it three feet to the left.”
Zha looked genuinely awkward, scratching the back of his head.
“I… I panicked. I couldn’t move.”
One stepped forward, checking his weapon, and led the team toward the central core.
Alexandra tried to take another step, but her legs gave out completely.
Her muscles felt like lead.
Rain caught her firmly under the arm before she hit the deck.
“I’ve got you,” the medic said.
“Thanks,” Alexandra muttered, leaning heavily on Rain’s shoulder as they walked out of the corridor.
“My legs have officially quit.”
While One and the mercenaries went ahead into the computer room to shut down the Red Queen, the rest of the group rested in the outer area.
Alexandra sat on an empty supply crate, catching her breath while Rain stood nearby.
Gang stepped over, handing Xiaoyi a canteen of water before looking down at Alexandra.
“You did good, kid,” Gang said quietly, his tone gruff but sincere.
“Most people freeze. You moved.”
Lan walked over toward the newcomers, her expression serious as she looked at Zha, Gang, Xiaoyi, and Alexandra.
Alice stood a short distance away, leaning against a steel column and quietly observing the exchange.
“Listen to me,” Lan said, keeping her voice low.
“Stay close to Jie and don’t wander off. If a zombie scratches or bites you, you’re infected.”
Gang frowned, rubbing his chin.
“How fast does it turn you?”
“About thirty minutes,” Lan explained.
“But if you want the antidote to work, you probably need it within ten.”
Xiaoyi swallowed hard.
“Can… can we actually kill them? Is it hard to do?”
Alexandra looked down at her hands, still feeling the lingering tremor in her fingers.
“I don’t know. I’ve never killed anyone before.”
“It made me throw up the first time,” Xiaoyi admitted, looking at the floor.
“I felt terrible. But after I vomited, I felt better. I think… I think I could kill them with my eyes closed now.”
Alexandra looked at him.
‘You’re vastly overestimating your own stomach, kid,’ she thought, though she didn’t say it aloud.
“If you get the chance, take weapons off the dead mercenaries,” Lan instructed them firmly.
“And if you have to fight an isolated zombie, aim for the head. That’s the only way to put them down.”
Alice’s brow furrowed slightly as she listened from a distance.
Zombies?
Headshots?
How do these civilians know how an unknown infection behaves?
Alexandra listened, her mind turning over the situation.
‘Shutting down the Red Queen is going to release them,’ she realized.
‘The zombies are coming.’
Once her legs stopped shaking and she could stand steadily again, Alexandra walked over to Rain.
“Do you have a spare pistol I could use? Just in case something comes out of the dark.”
Rain looked at her for a second, then unbuckled a holster from her utility belt.
She handed over a pistol, along with four spare magazines and two grenades.
“Take them,” Rain said.
Alexandra took the pistol, feeling its solid weight.
She looked back toward the laser corridor, leaving the fire axe where it lay, relieved to trade its weight for a firearm.
She counted the ammunition again.
Six rounds.
‘If I somehow manage one bullet per zombie, that’s six points,’ she thought.
‘Hardly a fortune, but at least I won’t be standing here empty-handed.’
A few minutes later, One and the mercenaries returned from dealing with the Red Queen.
Before anyone could speak, a sudden burst of gunfire erupted from the direction of the B Dining Hall.
One turned toward the noise.
“Move! B Dining Hall! Now!”
The group hurried back through the iron doors, reaching the outer area of the B Dining Hall.
The room was dark, the emergency lights casting long shadows over the steel floor grating and the glass tanks along the wall.
Rain went ahead to check the area, then returned to One.
“Captain! We found a survivor.”
One looked at her.
“A survivor?”
“She went crazy,” Rain said.
“She bit me. I had to shoot her.”
“So you shot her?” One asked.
“But she was crazy!” Rain insisted.
Beside them, another mercenary looked into the shadows near the tanks and called out.
“She disappeared.”
Alexandra stood near the back, her fingers tight around the grip of her pistol as she stared into the dark corners of the hall.
‘I know what comes next,’ she thought.
Looking down at the gun in her hand, she swallowed hard.
Okay.
Zombies were coming.
Might as well make some money.
As many points as I could get.