[Happy. Safe. Happy. Safe. Happy. Safe.]

Nora opened her eyes and looked down, at Lilian, who rested her head on her chest. She was unsure when had she fallen out of that dreamlike experience; the line between real and unreal was thin, almost imperceptible. She could recall every single word, but for some reason, they didn’t manifest in the shape of memories, but emotions, seeded deep in her heart.

‘Lilian… I’m not imagining things, am I?’

As if answering her thoughts, Lilian tightened her grip around Nora’s waist, creating a tingling, warm sensation in her brain. Nora smiled and reciprocated the gesture.

‘I understand.’

While caressing her sister’s hair, she glanced around the hallway. Much of the noise had gone away over the previous minutes. The constant hammering of gunfire had dropped to occasional shots with long periods of silence in between. She also noticed a slight smell of smoke lingering in the air.

There were several familiar faces around, but Claire and William were missing. She vaguely remembered Claire sitting by her side, then saying something and going away. William’s absence was a mystery.

‘Oh, dear… How long have I been out of the loop!? I hope everyone is safe.’

Something moved within her peripheral vision, catching her attention. A group of people were approaching them.

Amidst several unknown faces, she recognized the young boy, Ethan. With a contorted facial expression and taking huge leaps towards them, he looked both scared and relieved at the same time. She also recognized Marcus and another one of those soldiers. They were both carrying an apparently unconscious person. Nora’s heart froze, overcome with fright as soon as she laid her eyes on him. She felt her heart rate and breathing accelerating.

‘No… Not again… Why? Why!?’

Something warm touched her face. She looked back at Lilian. Her sister was now staring at her, drilling her with those shining black eyes of hers. The sight evoked a complex set of emotions in her mind, manifesting into words.

[He can’t hurt us anymore.]

Nora took a deep breath and averted her eyes from Logan. Over several seconds, she continued taking one deep breath after another, focusing on Lilian’s presence, clinging to it, letting it scare the bad memories away.

******

“Attention, everyone! Get ready, we’ll be leaving soon!”

“Captain Isaac!” said Jameson. “The stingers have ceased in their efforts to climb the building, sir!”

“I’ve noticed! I’ve seen them jumping out the windows. That young woman’s idea worked; the smoke is driving them away!” Isaac helped Marcus lay the unconscious man on the floor and grabbed his radio. “Charlie team, this is Captain Isaac of Alpha team! Do you read me!? Over!”

“Captain Isaac, we hear you! What’s the situation over there!?”

“We’ve managed to start a fire, and the smoke is clearing the building of stingers. However, we aren’t safe yet! If the fire dies, they’ll begin swarming us again. If it persists, the entire hospital will go up in flames. Where are you!? We need an extraction now!”

“We have visual contact with Saint Marie, but we can’t get any closer! All those stingers are piling up on the streets, there’re probably thousands of them! HQ, this is Charlie! Should we engage the hordes!? We have no means to—! Huh!?”

Charlie’s transmission was unnaturally interrupted, as if something within their perception had caught them by surprise.

“Charlie!? What’s the matter!? Respond!” said Isaac.

“Something’s wrong with the hospital! Look down at the street!”

Isaac rushed to the closest window and peeked outside. The entire street was occupied to the brim with stingers, to the point where it didn’t seem possible to fit another one anywhere. And they were confused. They screeched in unison, falling into a collective panic when surrounded by the thing pouring out of the hospital’s lower floors.

Smoke? Unlikely. Way too dark, way too dense, and way too heavy. The massive cloud of black gas erupted from the broken windows of the ground floor, flooding the street in a matter of seconds and spilling onto all adjacent streets and alleys. It swirled and meandered in mesmerizing patterns, almost like an amorphous living organism.

“HQ, this is Captain Isaac! Some kind of black gas has emerged from the hospital and is covering the streets! Do we have any data on this!?”

“This is HQ. Negative, Alpha. Tread with caution.”

“This is Charlie! The convoy has been hit by the gas…! It smells… acrid, like smoke! But it isn’t smoke!”

‘If it’s not smoke, then what…!? And where is it coming from!?’

“Captain Isaac, look! It’s up here too!” said Erik, pointing at the sides of the hallway.

The black chemical came from the inner hallways, although lacking the ferocity and speed of the cloud covering the street. A breeze entered through the windows, dragging the gas towards the group.

“Everyone, cover your mouth and nose! Don’t breathe that gas!” ordered Isaac.

If that thing happened to be some kind of chemical weapon, covering the mouth and nose wouldn’t do much to stop it from fulfilling its intended purpose. As expected, despite pressing his hand tightly against his face, Isaac was immediately hit by a pungent, disgusting smell. However, his body didn’t seem to react in any noticeable way. Not yet, at least.

He turned his eyes back towards the street. The blanket of stingers was dispersing. They fled the area, trampling each other in an effort to get away from the gas.

“Charlie, are you guys okay over there!? Are you keeping an eye on the streets!?”

“Affirmative, Alpha! The horde is moving away!”

“This place will only get more dangerous, and we don’t know if there’ll be consequences after prolonged exposure to this gas! We need to take this chance! Commence the extraction, Charlie!”

“Understood!”

“Alright, everybody! Get in line at the exit! Erik, Jameson, get ready for ground contact! You’ll be in charge of clearing a safe path to the convoy!” said Isaac, approaching the exit platform.

“Yes, sir!”

The lift looked surprisingly sturdy, considering it was built with scraps and scavenged materials. It was a wide platform, hung by several sets of ropes and operated by a pulley system, which was attached on several spots to the outer wall of the building.

Isaac turned around and glanced at the group of survivors. He estimated about twenty of them. Was that everyone? Many might have died during the initial scuffle, or scattered around the building and fell prey to the stinger nest. Perhaps some of them were still in there, hiding, hoping for a rescue that wouldn’t come.

‘Is this the best we can do…!?’

He was tempted. Tempted to go take another lap around the hospital, in hopes of saving even one more person. But any further delays might put everyone else in even more danger. Chances were there wouldn’t be a second eruption of black smoke to disperse the crowds again.

“We can’t overload the lift! We’ll do this in two trips. That little girl and the red-haired woman have priority! The same goes for that lady over there, she’s in critical condition! As for the rest, the wounded will descend in the first batch, everyone else will go in the second batch. Erik, Jameson, you’ll be the first ones to touch the street, make sure everyone gets on board safely!”

******

[Smell. Weird.]

As soon as the lift penetrated the black cloud, Lilian tightened her grip around Nora’s waist once more. Nora noticed her puzzled eyes combing the street below.

“Are you okay…? Does it smell weird?” she whispered.

[Can’t see. Can’t hear. Hate it.]

‘I see… Is the same thing happening to those shamblers? Is this black smoke messing with their senses!?’

The masses had retreated to other streets and alleys, seeking refuge from the mysterious gas that invaded their bodies and numbed their senses; but many stray individuals stayed behind, wandering aimlessly. Their moans and growls intermingled with one another, creating a background noise that pierced the ears of the survivors, and caused the lift to overflow with nervous murmurs. Nora felt a growing anxiety, stronger the closer they got to the sidewalk.

As the shamblers began taking visual notice of the box full of humans descending to the street, a distant roar dispelled the cacophony of groans and became louder and louder, as if whatever it came from was approaching the scene at vertiginous speed.

‘That sound…! Is that… an engine!?’

Visibility inside the smoke was very limited, but the gas had already begun to settle and thin out, allowing Nora to have a somewhat clear view of the road. Three military trucks emerged from the blackness of the cloud. Running over the shamblers in their way, they came to a full stop directly in front of the lift. A barrage of small objects fell around the vehicles, releasing a curtain of white mist that enveloped the entire convoy.

“Come on, move! Focus only on the vehicles, ignore everything else! Go!!” yelled one of the soldiers as soon as the lift touched the ground.

The two soldiers stepped out with their weapons ready, and opened fire on the approaching shamblers. Drawn to the noise coming from the trucks, many stray shamblers also showed a great deal of interest, causing a shower of gunfire in response.

Nora held Lilian’s hand and ran, towards the violent, flashing lights.

However, as encouraging as it was to finally walk towards a ray of hope with Lilian by her side, she couldn’t ignore the fact that Claire and William were still missing.

[Alive.]

‘Huh!?’

[They deaf. They mute. But alive.]

******

“Come on, everyone! Get on the lift, come on!” said Isaac.

As he was getting ready to send it on its way down, he heard hurried footsteps.

“Heeey!!”

He spotted a black-haired man sprinting down the hallway in his direction. He carried a young girl in his arms. He was sweaty, and panting heavily.

“Hurry, to the lift, we’re already leaving! Is there nobody else!?”

The man stopped for a moment. His eyes bounced around, as if he was unsure of what to answer.

“…no, it’s just us.” he said, before joining the rest of the survivors on the platform.

“Alright! Get ready! Just go for the convoy as soon as you touch the ground! Leave those monsters to us!”

He released the lock on the pulleys and watched as the lift slowly descended, sinking into the already translucid cloud of gas. He could see his comrades fighting down on the street. It looked like the first batch of civilians had successfully reached the convoy.

“HQ, this is Captain Isaac! All the survivors have left the hospital, they are currently boarding the convoy, including the queen! We’re encountering severe stinger resistance! Over!”

“This is HQ. Acknowledged, Alpha.”

As soon as he saw the lift reaching ground level, he got a hold of one of its suspension ropes and proceeded to slide down. Row after row of windows flew in front of him as he felt the heat building up in his hands and thighs. He slowed down near the bottom, jumped off the rope, and readied his weapon.

The black smoke had dwindled to a thin fog. The convoy was fully visible, both for humans and stingers. Although the stingers seemed to be confused by the smoke, their sight and hearing were still functional. The hordes were slowly returning to the area. Isaac’s comrades fired their weapons nonstop, buying time for the last civilians to get on board.

He eliminated three stingers blocking his path to the convoy and ran towards the back of the middle truck.

“Captain!” a soldier saw him coming. “We’re ready to leave! Get up!”

“Wait…! Wait, please!!” the red-haired woman from before, who happened to be in that same truck, overheard them. “M-My friend is still there, somewhere! I know she’s alive! Please!!”

“I’m really sorry, lady, but we can’t wait anymore!” replied the soldier. “Even if your friend is somewhere in there, that lift is the only way out, and there’s nobody left to operate it!”

“I’m begging you! J-Just one more minute!”

Several other civilians watched her in silence. Some were saddened by her pleas, fully understanding her worries. Others looked annoyed, stabbing her with disdainful eyes. Perhaps they considered her request selfish? That woman was unlikely to be the only one who had to leave a friend behind.

“I’m telling you, we can’t—”

“Captain Isaac! This is Charlie!” Charlie team came up on Isaac’s radio. “Are you still on foot!? Look at the hospital, second floor, the window behind the exit lift!”

Isaac followed the directions with his eyes, and quickly spotted the oddity. The window was shattered like all the others, but something was hanging from it. A long rope reaching all the way down to the sidewalk, made from interconnected bed sheets. Someone showed up in the window. A man, dressed in civilian attire, and looking badly beaten up. Although he was quite a good distance away, Isaac recognized his face.

‘That’s… [Fox]! He’s alive!?’

[Fox] began climbing down the rope, and a second person approached the window, following his steps. A young woman with glasses, which Isaac also recognized. At ground level, several stingers took notice of them and swarmed the spot below their feet.

“Charlie, keep the convoy safe for another minute!”

“Hurry up!! We’ve got our hands full here!!” their transmission was barely audible under the constant gunfire.

Stinger corpses were starting to form mounds around the trucks. Isaac dodged the bodies and sprinted at full speed towards the hospital. He opened fire on the group of stingers swarming the rope.

As he cleared the area, [Fox] completed his descent.

“Captain Isaac…!” he said. “My radio was damaged! I couldn’t talk to anyone, but I could listen to your transmissions!”

“Forget about explaining anything! Grab my sidearm, quick! Is that girl the only one with you!?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Alright, we’ll open a path back to the trucks! Don’t let these assholes corner us!” Isaac shot some more approaching stingers, then looked up at the woman, who was midway in her descent. “Lady, can you hear me!? Once you touch the ground, run like hell! We’ll cover you!!”

“Y-Yes, sir…!!” she replied.

Almost back to back, Isaac and [Fox] chewed through the ammo they had left. The stingers dropped one after another, but for each one they killed, a handful of silhouettes emerged from the fog.

The girl touched solid ground and started running with everything she had.

“[Fox]! Move!!” said Isaac.

The convoy was nearly surrounded. As they got closer to it, their weapons went dry. Gunfire from the trucks covered their approach instead. Isaac noticed how there were fewer muzzle flashes than a minute ago.

“Get on board! Quick!!” he jumped into the back of the truck and dragged the girl inside.

He was rougher with her than he’d have liked to, almost throwing her inside, but they didn’t have a single second to waste. Those guns could go silent at any moment.

[Fox] stopped beside the truck. He watched the girl as she got on board, with a look of relief on his face, but he made no effort to climb inside himself.

“[Fox], what are you waiting for!? Come!!!” yelled Isaac.

“I’m sorry, sir.” he retrieved his ID from a pocket and threw it to Isaac.

He lifted his right trouser leg, exposing a bite mark. Afterwards, he made the military salute. His right hand was still holding Isaac’s sidearm.

“It was an honor to serve by your side, sir!”

For a single instant, Isaac closed his eyes tight.

‘Shit. Shit…! Shit!!’

“This is Captain Isaac, talking to all units! Everyone is on board! Let’s get the hell out of here!! Come on!! Move, move!!!”

A second later, the engines of the convoy roared in unison, the war cry of cornered prey, fighting back against a swarm of predators. The trucks plowed through the hordes, tunneling through the fog until they were again bathed by sunlight.

*¡Bang!*

A single gunshot was heard from the hospital’s direction.

Many stingers were hanging from the sides of the vehicles, which were picked off with the very last scraps of ammunition left. For the first time in a long while, everyone was able to enjoy the taste of fresh air again.

However, for Isaac, every breath had a bitter aftertaste. He opened the ID he was holding. Officer Andrew Miles.

‘Got it.’

How many? The weight of how many names was he carrying already? And how many more were to come? He dreaded the answer.