OUTBREAK

Desmond wanted to sprint towards the safety of daylight as fast as his legs allowed him to, but the woman he was pulling at kept resisting.

"L-Let go…!! What do you mean…!!? We can't leave them behind…!!" shouted Nora.

He couldn't help but notice how much her behavior had changed since he initially found her a couple hours ago. By pure chance, cornered in a dark room, wrecked by nerves and anxiety. Even when he offered her a helping hand, it took her a while to even dare to murmur her own name.

And there she was, willing to charge into an ongoing outbreak without a care in the world. Whatever it was that made her into a crying mess, it surely wasn't the shamblers.

"You said you were going to help them…!! Why are we running!? Why aren't they coming with you!?" she kept making questions.

"I-I… I c-couldn't reach them…! There were s-shamblers in the way…!" an obvious lie, but he couldn't possibly tell her that he almost shat his pants and ran away upon facing William. "They are cooperating with the rest of my people down there! T-They'll find an alternate way out! W-We need to g-go!" he said.

In reality, the "shamblers in the way" thing was a lie back then, but not anymore.

There were only two passageways leading to the subway platform where everyone was staying. One of them connected with the section where the previous outbreak had happened, and was subsequently blocked off. The other one led to a major intersection connecting all platforms with the concourse on the surface.

It was very likely they had already reached the main hallways, isolating everyone in the depths of the station. There were other ways to reach the surface down there, but it wouldn't be simple. The two of them had a direct path to the concourse though. They needed to take that chance as soon as possible. The shamblers were bound to pick up their trails soon.

"Wait!! My little sister is also in there…!!"

"T-They're taking care of her…!" yet another lie, the first one that came to his mind.

He wanted to at least help Nora, but by no means was he planning to wander into a rampaging horde to save anyone else. He had to drag her out by any means necessary. And if she kept insisting, he'd have to leave her behind, much to his dismay. The growls emanating from the depths escalated in volume at a rapid pace. Their time was up. He grabbed Nora's hand and started running towards the exit. She showed a certain degree of resistance, but she went along.

"S-Shit…!!"

******

Nora's subconscious still felt torn. She had done what she always did: fool herself. Bring up her tough façade, bury her emotions, and move on.

Lilian soothed her, and she was gone. Claire understood her, and she was gone. William gave her safety, and he was gone.

Yet she wasn't alone. That strange-looking man had showed up out of nowhere and offered her help. For all she knew, she might have signed her own death sentence the moment she accepted his offer, but what else was she supposed to do?

Steel yourself. Swallow your tears. Those dark thoughts in your mind? Cast them aside. Get up. Move. You have to. As long as there's still hope ahead, you must.

Nora engraved those words on her mind, over all the bottled emotions and insecurities. She only wanted to keep cowering down somewhere, to keep letting them take over her, break out without control. But it wasn't neither the place nor the moment to do so.

Her legs moved on their own, right after Desmond. Guided by the sloppy swaying of his flashlight, they retraced the steps she had initially taken to get into the subway station, ascending the tunnels towards the concourse. Turning corners, going up stairs, turning more corners… and finally, they saw weak droplets of sunlight falling upon the mechanical stairs of the entrance.

They could have gone out right there and then, if only they were empty.

Stumbling down the steps towards the underground hallways, a crowd of shamblers poured from the concourse ground level. Their attention seemingly set on something deep within, they crawled and dragged themselves to the darkness. As they advanced, their movements became faster. Their bodies started to glow, their veins pulsating under their skin. Their eyes snapped erratically in many directions, as if trying to acknowledge input coming from everywhere at once.

Nora and Desmond froze on the spot. They were trapped. Shamblers in front of them, shamblers somewhere behind, all of them closing in on them at increasingly fast speeds. Nora started sweating and trembling from the sudden realization.

'W-What now…!? Oh god…!'

Desmond grabbed her arm and yanked at her, dragging her back inside.

"Q-Quick…! This way…!" he said.

She didn't question him, whatever idea he had was probably better than letting the shamblers feast on them. They screeched and screamed behind them, angry that their prey was running away.

The darkness of the tunnels felt even more oppressing than it did before. They could still sprint faster than the zombies, but they'd lose that advantage soon. Would it matter, anyway? What were they even going to do?

Suddenly, Desmond stopped running. She wasn't expecting him to stop, causing her to almost ram him as a result.

"Ow…! H-Hey…!" she complained.

"Here…! Quick…!"

He fumbled with the doorknob of a door, surprisingly well hidden in the wall of the tunnel. It wouldn't be hidden if the subway was properly lit; but within the darkness, it was impossible to spot unless aiming the flashlight directly at it.

"Ah… It's open. It's n-not supposed to be, I have a key… Anyway, get in!" he mumbled, swinging the door open.

Nora followed him inside without a moment of hesitation. With exceptional ease despite being in a dark environment and having one hand occupied with the flashlight, Desmond pulled out a keyring, identified the right key at a first glance, and locked the door from the inside. He slithered away from the door, staring at it with a mix of fear and doubt. His face was covered in sweat, his eyes bouncing up and down the entire wall as if expecting something to burst through at any moment.

Nora braced for the worst, as a low rumbling noise got closer and closer, along with the symphony of growls and roars she already knew so well. That door wouldn't hold. If the entire horde charged against it, they'd tear it to pieces. Why were they waiting? She wanted to keep running into the unknown behind her, but Desmond's stillness enticed her to stay.

A couple of seconds later, they could hear the unsettling noise right behind the door. They walked up to it, they banged against it, and they kept walking past it towards the depths of the subway. They didn't insist.

Nora observed in shock, she didn't even notice her jaw dropping. Desmond turned around, gave her a signal to follow, and started tip-toeing down the corridor. None of them uttered a word until they were a good distance away from the door.

"W-Why are they ignoring us…? They should be aware of our presence…" whispered Nora.

"They are… I-I think they are more interested in what's happening d-down there…"

Nora gulped and clenched her fists.

'Please… Please… Lilian, Claire… William… Stay safe…!'

Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But what else could she do, but pray for the best? Praying rarely seemed to work very well before, yet she supported herself on the idea, even if it was nothing but temporary placebo.

'Don't let go… You can't wind down yet…'

[Yes, you can.]

'Shut it.'

Nora harshly pinched the skin of her left arm. She felt a warm trickle of blood on her fingertips. She refused to listen to her inner thoughts.

"Hey… What is this place…?" she asked Desmond. She wasn't that curious, she merely wanted something to focus on.

"The station is full of hidden passageways for staff… They go everywhere, up and down the entire building. We should be able to reach the concourse this way."

"But… isn't that place full of shamblers right now…!?"

"They are all heading underground… It should be safe, eventually. Besides, there's a safe room up there, on the upper level…" he paused for a moment. "I… told your friends that we'd be heading there."

"Ah…! Alright… I'll follow your lead then. Please, take me there."

Again, blindly trusting that man might not be a good idea. But it was everything she had. It was no different than when she met William. Well, Desmond was way shadier, but that was beyond the point. She'd have to be wary of him.

With her eyes observing his every movement, she followed him along the claustrophobic corridors, winding around the main facilities, towards the surface.

******

Despite the crushing sense of urgency, Claire's gaze was dead set on the events unfolding in front of her.

The shambler fell upon the terrified man like a predator, lunging at him from a couple of meters away, grabbing his torso and shoulder with deadly precision. He screamed and squirmed, but the shambler didn't care. There was only one thing it cared about. Its teeth sunk deep into the man's neck, who let out a bloodcurdling howl, soon to be muffled and drowned by the blood pouring from his mouth. The thing gnawed and ripped at its victim's neck like a rabid animal, quickly tearing it to pieces, before letting go and rushing forward, looking for another prey.

Almost immediately, the fallen body started convulsing. The limbs thrashed in random directions, its joints turning in weird, sudden angles, some of which should be impossible without snapping bones in the process. Something started bubbling underneath the skin, which gradually obtained that characteristic blueish glow, concentrated on the veins and eyes. The creature let out an otherworldly wail.

'N-No way…!! That quick…!!?'

"What the hell, Claire…!!? Move!!!" William screamed at her, taking her out of her trance.

"S-Shit…!!" she sprinted towards him, away from the incoming shamblers.

These were nothing like the ones they encountered on the sealed section. Where had they come from? There were more people behind them they could gorge on, that was the only reason they were still alive. The fresh horde of shamblers came barreling down the subway tunnels at full speed, trampling everyone they found, tearing them apart and reanimating them into new members of the horde. An unstoppable, exponentially growing process. Was this the kind of thing the shelter managed to contain a week ago?

Unfortunately, what remained of the shelter was in total disarray. The survivors ran into the subway platform and into the tracks, looking for somewhere to hide, knowing fully well that nothing would make the dark shamblers lose their trails. Human and inhuman screams, mixed together in a maddening choir.

Some people tried to fight back, but if the difference in speed and strength didn't overwhelm them, fright would. Some others opened fire upon the zombies, but their frenzied movements made it almost impossible to score a meaningful shot. Some ceased all resistance upon being faced with what remained of their loved ones, embracing death in one last act of acceptance.

"Hey!! Over here!!" a male voice grabbed Claire's and William's attention, coming from the subway tracks, at the very end of the platform.

"Marcus…!" they both responded in unison, both glad and bothered to see him.

He stood in the middle of the tracks, leading a group of survivors into the tunnel. He waved at Claire and William with his hand, urging them to come over.

"There's another exit this way, hurry!!!"

They dropped onto the tracks and started running for their lives. Claire looked back for an instant. The shamblers poured out of the subway corridors into the platform and down the tracks, flooding the area in pursuit of the remaining survivors.

"Aaaah…!!"

Her legs were sore from her restraints a while ago, and she was still tired from their incursion into the nest, yet she kept running. The roars were getting closer. She'd rather not think about what would happen if she stopped even for a moment.

Marcus broke sprinting along with the rest of the group as soon as they caught up. One or two panicked flashlights granted them poor sight of the outline of the tunnels.

"Where is the exit…!? What's the plan!!?" shouted William.

"Right there, that passageway…!!" replied Marcus, pointing somewhere ahead of them.

The lights converged on an opening in the wall of the tunnel. It seemed to be yet another staff-only hallway, like the one they had used to sneak into the subway system that morning. Someone was already there, making wild gesticulations with their hands.

"Hurry up…!! Here!!"

Someone else emerged from the corridor, pulled out a handgun, and started taking shots at the shamblers behind the group. Unlikely to make a difference, but any effort to slow down the horde was welcome. The loud bangs of the pistol were barely noticeable over the echoing roars of the hungry, rampant crowd of corpses.

"This passageway leads outside!! Come on, get inside, quick!!" Marcus hurried everyone to squeeze into the hallway.

Claire followed William closely behind, fighting with everyone else to earn a spot inside the cramped corridor.

"Get the fuck out of my way!!"

"Stop pushing!!"

"Go!! Fucking go, they're coming…!!"

Everyone seemed to care only for their own survival at that point. Claire focused her eyes on William's back, she didn't want to get separated from him. Her ears perceived nothing but screams, panting, footsteps and growls.

At some point they passed through an open doorway. She barely got to get through before someone else attempted to close the door.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing!!!? Open the door!!!" someone shouted, the big metal door suddenly swinging closed in front of their face.

They pushed and banged on it. One side fought to close it and the other side struggled to push it open again.

"What's happening!!? Don't leave us here!!"

"Hey, there's still people behind! Open the door!!"

Horrifying screams filled the hallway.

"Oh god, they're here…!!! Please, for god's sake…!! Open the door…!!!"

"Aaaaaarrghhh!!!"

More screams joined their desperate voices, along with the bubbly noises of what could only be guessed as flesh and bones being torn. An arm peeked from behind the half-closed door. Its veins were glowing intensely with a blue aura, and it swung wildly, trying to grab something.

"Close it, quick!!"

"There's still people out there!! We can't…!!!"

"They are fucking dead already!! Do you all want to die!?"

"Close it!!!!!"

Someone hit the arm repeatedly with some kind of bladed weapon, over and over until skin and muscle started peeling off it and bones started to shatter. The group launched itself against the door, pushing it completely closed before the shamblers finished dealing with the stragglers and shifted their attention entirely. The door was locked, and banging started almost immediately, with several spots displaying bends and deformations in a matter of seconds.

"Oh dear lord…! Oh, no…!" muffled murmurs filled the hallway.

"This door won't hold! We need to go, now!" Marcus' voice quickly took the lead again, prompting the entire group to move all at once.

Claire kept following the group. Her consciousness wasn't making rational decisions anymore. They had just left several people to face certain death the moment they locked the door on them. She had helped them push, not even questioning it for a moment. Was it panic taking over? She wanted to live. She wanted to live so badly she was apparently willing to doom someone else in her place. She carried a great degree of guilt for being a burden to others, for causing innocent deaths, for what had happened back at the skyscraper shelter… Yet in that one moment of frenzy, she was perfectly fine with hearing someone else's death throes, as long as she got to make it out in one piece?

What a bad joke.

******

William didn't touch the door. The moment it started closing, he knew those left behind were gone. In all fairness, had they opened it again, they would all have died. It was probably the right thing to do, as cruel as it might have been. But he didn't help. Or rather, he couldn't.

That painful memory again. Standing behind a closed door, knowing that you can't open it, hearing the screams and cries coming from the other side… And someone urging you to keep it closed, no matter what.

He shook his head and kept running. Not the time to remember things. They had to get out, and do it fast. The screeching sound of metal bending and hinges getting blown away didn't take long to flood the halls.

******

Nora followed Desmond through the doorway, out into the main hall of the subway concourse. She had been there before, some hours ago. The shift in the sun's position had caused the lighting to move around, casting shadows in different directions, but the general appearance of the place was largely the same.

Random furniture and objects were strewn about all over the place, as if a big wave had washed over the area and dragged everything inside, towards the stairs leading underground. Fortunately, it seemed like all the nearby shamblers had already disappeared into the depths. None remained in the main building, at least not in plain sight.

The two of them came out of the shadows, approaching the central area from the right side. At both sides of the opening leading underground, several sets of stairs connected the ground floor with the upper floor.

"T-There… We need to go up now. The safe room is on the upper level." whispered Desmond. "If the others manage to get out, they should be able to f-find us there…"

With cautious steps, the pair approached the base of the stairs. Something about the ambience of the area didn't feel right. Of course, the threat of shamblers still lingering around was a given fact. Maybe there were more hordes on their way, attracted by whatever was going on down below. But Nora's gut was warning her about something else. A strange combination of anxiety and discomfort, keeping her on edge and making her bounce her eyes all over the place, trying to identify something among the shadows.

She should've learned to trust her instincts.

"Halt." her blood froze in her veins. At first, she didn't know where the voice came from, but her mind didn't need that information to nearly go into shock. "Well, well… I figured you'd be slithering around here, somewhere."

Nora unconsciously clung to Desmond, burying her head on his back, once again a trembling mess. He didn't seem to mind.

'No… Not this again… Please, go away…! Please…!'

"U-Up there… The r-railing, on the u-upper level…" murmured Desmond.

As terrified as she was, she took a peek. Even from a distance and sunken in shadows, she'd recognize him anywhere. The man who had turned her entire life into a nightmare. A nightmare she couldn't manage to wake up from, even with the world turned upside down.

Logan leaned on the glass railing with a relaxed pose, holding a pistol with his right hand, aiming directly at them. Desmond, who remained surprisingly collected, reached under his jacket and pulled out his own gun, aiming it back at Logan.

"Oh wow… Does everyone have a gun here? I thought these guys were short on weapons… Hey boys! We've got company here!" he shouted, talking to someone yet unseen.

"…p-ple…ase…" Nora's voice came out in whispers.

"H-Huh…?" Desmond couldn't hear her.

"…please… h-help… me…"

Before she could plead with him anymore, more people joined Logan on the upper floor, most of them armed. One of them wore a full suit.

"Ah, Miss Lamb, an unfortunate encounter indeed." Julien's voice resonated in her ears, more akin to noise than an actual voice. "It's a shame we no longer require your services, isn't it?"

"Should we do it?" asked Logan.

"Yes. It'll be one less problem to worry about. Get rid of them."