As Dr. Ramirez coordinated with a team of technicians, the red-haired woman Caine had come to recognize as Vivienne Cross approached him repeatedly to confer and assist with the controls. She meticulously corrected minor errors and caught details he had overlooked, working until the readings stabilized sufficiently to initiate the operating procedures.
WHOOSH
The sudden activation of the air vents startled Caine, making him jump as he stood directly in front of the vent covers.
The archway began to glow with highly advanced and unfamiliar technology. Caine's eyes widened in amazement as brilliant, dangerous-looking arcs of electricity danced between the pillars flanking the archway, ultimately converging at the top. There, a secondary yet equally vital device, shaped like a teardrop pearl, fit seamlessly into the crown of the arc, giving it an almost magical appearance. The pearl suddenly emitted an intense, otherworldly light, forcing Caine to shield his eyes with his hand to avoid being blinded.
"By the beard of Zeus..." one of the technicians, a mustachioed man with a voice like velvet, murmured, standing in awe alongside his three companions. His companions nodded in agreement, though one curiously gazed in a completely different direction as he did so.
WENG... CRACKLE!
A strange energy began to coalesce at the heart of the empty archway, spinning rapidly as it expanded in both size and intensity until—
WHOOM
The atmosphere in the room shifted dramatically as the shimmering film revealed glimpses of another realm, alive with fantastical and mesmerizing lights intertwined with swirling shadows. The lights were radiant and almost hypnotic, but the sounds emanating from the portal sent a bone-deep chill through every staff member present, leaving an unsettling tension hanging in the air.
"Caine's pulse raced. For a moment, he forgot the hunger, the streets, the rejection. This, this was something bigger than himself."
BEEP.
BEEP.
The machines roared to life, working overtime to collect, analyze, and store the strange energy that seemed so dense it took on a liquid form, siphoned through a hose into an unknown destination. The energy pulsed with an otherworldly intensity, defying comprehension as it flowed.
After several minutes, the shimmering film began to stabilize, forming what could only be described as a doorway to the unknown. The tension in the room broke as one of the scientists erupted into cheers. "HAHAHA Success... We did it HAHAHA!" The jubilant outburst spread like wildfire, lifting the mood in the room. Even Dr. Ramirez, known for his composed demeanor, allowed a smile and a chuckle to escape, joining in the wave of triumph.
Caine, still focused on monitoring the controls, felt a rush of elation as the success unfolded before him. Minutes later, the siphoning process concluded, and the machines powering the portal shut down. The shimmering film collapsed inward, condensing into a single point before vanishing with a distinct popping sound, leaving the room in an awe-filled silence.
"As the cheers died down, Caine thought he saw the pearl at the crown of the arch pulse once, like an eye opening, before going dark."
Dr. Ramirez gathered the staff, including Caine, who stood at the back deliberately facing away from the portal, and began delivering a congratulatory speech. He expressed gratitude to everyone who had contributed to this monumental achievement, highlighting how they had harnessed a profound and incomprehensible energy that held the potential to revolutionize humanity and propel us toward the stars.
Vivienne Cross, a red-haired woman, passed out celebratory drinks to all those involved in the initial activation. She paused momentarily to give Caine a playful wink before moving on to others in the room.
As Caine took a sip of his drink, his taste buds were overwhelmed by the sharp, distinct aroma of citrus rising in effervescent bubbles from the alcoholic beverage.
Eventually, the celebration ended, and the scientists and technicians began to clean up their stations before packing up their personal belongings, leaving the room to go home for the day. Caine, still buzzing from the drinks provided, sat at his station as he waited for the room to quit spinning.
As Caine's head finally stopped spinning, he packed his things, and he began to walk out of the labs and head towards the door.
As he stepped out, however, the portal, which was previously dormant, began to hum with arcs of energy.
The hallway lights flickered once, then again.
Caine froze mid-step, his eyes narrowing as the sterile white glow shifted to a sickly amber. The hum of the building's ventilation stuttered, replaced by a faint crackle that slithered through the silence like static crawling just beneath the surface of skin. He tilted his head slightly.
From the corridor behind him, faint light seeped from the laboratory he'd just exited, a muted, rhythmic glow that shouldn't have been there.
"No way," he muttered under his breath, his voice unsteady from fatigue and the lingering haze of alcohol.
He lingered for a moment that felt like an eternity. Every fiber of his being urged him to keep moving, to leave the anomaly for the morning shift, to act as though he hadn't noticed it. But curiosity, that insistent, insatiable force that had driven him this far, tugged relentlessly. With deliberate caution, he turned back, his footsteps soft yet audible against the polished floor.
As he neared the doorway, the hum intensified.
It wasn't the vibrant, harmonious resonance he remembered. This was something else entirely, deep, jarring, and distorted, like a growl reverberating through dense layers of metal.
Caine's breath hitched as his eyes widened in alarm.
The archway had reactivated.
The mesmerizing lights and radiant brilliance from hours earlier had vanished. In their place, the gateway churned with shadow, thick, viscous darkness that writhed like smoke and spread tendrils across the lab floor. The teardrop pearl at the arch's peak pulsed faintly, its rhythm eerily resembling the heartbeat of something sentient and watchful.
A shiver ran down Caine's spine, raising the hair on his arms. His breath caught in his throat.
"Dr. Ramirez…? Vivienne…?" he called out, his voice weak and trembling, though he knew no one was left.
The shadows seemed to deepen in reply.
Then, from within the dark, something shifted.
At first, it was barely perceptible, a fleeting disturbance amid the swirling black. Then another. And another. Gradually, shapes began to coalesce, silhouettes forcing their way through the inky barrier. One, two, three… soon a dozen or more.
Caine staggered back, paralyzed by the collision of disbelief and fear. The figures were vaguely human, but their proportions were disturbingly off, too lean, too angular, their movements stiff and unnerving. In the oppressive gloom, pairs of eyes flared to life, glowing a predatory crimson, like embers smoldering in charred ash.
"Stay back," Caine rasped, raising his hands defensively, though they were of no use. "Don't—"
The nearest creature sprang forward.
The silence was shattered by the visceral sound of flesh tearing.
Caine barely managed a breath before the first creature lunged, its jaws like rusted steel traps clamping down on his shoulder. His scream tore through the air, only to be drowned out by the grotesque cacophony of gnashing teeth and frenzied movement. Another creature latched onto his arm, pulling with such force that something deep within him snapped, the sound echoing like a breaking branch. Pain surged through him in relentless, searing waves, overwhelming every nerve and drowning out all thought except the primal urge to flee.
But there was nowhere to run.
They descended on him in a savage frenzy, a swarm of nightmarish, sinewy figures with skin stretched unnaturally tight and mouths dripping with decay. Each bite tore away strips of flesh, staining their glistening maws with crimson as his blood soaked through the tatters of his shirt. He felt his ribs crack under their weight, his breath escaping in desperate, ragged gasps.
The stench was suffocating, a nauseating blend of iron, bile, and rot. One of the creatures sank its teeth into his neck, grinding against bone, sending violent spasms through his body. He swung a fist weakly at its face, but the thing only emitted a shriek, a piercing, otherworldly noise that reverberated off the walls before it pulled away.
And then, just as suddenly as the attack began, it stopped.
The creatures froze mid-motion, their heads twitching in eerie unison, nostrils flaring as though detecting an unseen presence. For one agonizing moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Then they turned.
Their movements were jerky, almost insect-like, driven by an instinctive urgency. The temperature in the room seemed to drop as one by one, they retreated from Caine's battered, broken form, their glowing crimson eyes fixed on the corridor beyond. A guttural, collective growl rumbled from their throats, a signal of shared intent, they had detected life further within the facility.
And where there was life, there was food.
Without hesitation, they charged down the hallway, claws scraping against the floor in a frantic, discordant rhythm. Their shrieks and howls faded into the distance, swallowed by the dim light and oppressive silence, leaving behind only the echo of their hunger, and the sound of Caine's labored breaths.
He was alone.
Bleeding.
Dying.
His body convulsed as he attempted to lift himself, but his strength gave out almost instantly. His trembling hands slipped on the slick floor, smearing crimson streaks as he collapsed again with a sickening thud. Each breath grew shorter, harsher. He tried to cry out, for help, for anyone, but his throat produced only a weak, fractured rasp.
Then came the coughing.
At first, it was dry and desperate, the futile gasp of a body clinging to life. But the next cough brought blood, thick, dark, and too much of it. He choked, his body writhing as more spilled forth, pooling on the cold floor in glistening puddles. His chest burned; his lungs felt as though they were filling with something foreign, something wrong.
"G—God…" he wheezed, his voice barely audible, shattered beyond recognition.
Another violent seizure tore through him. His back arched unnaturally, joints popping as if something beneath the surface was moving of its own accord. His veins bulged along his arms and neck, throbbing as black tendrils writhed under his skin, spreading outward from the bite marks. The infection surged through him like wildfire, consuming everything in its path.
His body rebelled, every nerve, every cell resisting with primal desperation. But whatever had invaded him was ancient, merciless. It didn't merely destroy; it transformed.
Caine's fingernails scraped against the ground as he struggled to crawl, dragging himself inch by inch toward the wall. His vision blurred, the edges darkening, but the glowing archway across the room remained visible, its light pulsating faintly, like a faltering heartbeat. Trembling, his hand stretched out weakly, smearing more blood across the floor in his desperate reach.
His bones began to shift.
The sound was grotesque, wet and brittle, a series of sharp, snapping pops reverberating from deep within his chest. His ribs twisted unnaturally beneath his skin, cracking and resetting at odd angles. His spine followed suit, bending grotesquely as he gasped and coughed, a spray of blood splattering from his lips. He tried to scream, but only a strangled gurgle emerged, muffled by the fluid rising in his lungs.
The blood spilling from his mouth began to change.
Initially a vivid crimson, the shade of fresh wounds, it thickened over moments into a tar-like black, oozing sluggishly from his lips in viscous streams. It hissed faintly as it made contact with the floor. His body convulsed violently again, his back arching so sharply that his spine emitted a sickening crack. His hands clawed weakly at his throat, as though trying to expel whatever was inside him, but his trembling fingers could only smear the darkened filth across his skin.
"Help…" he gasped, the word barely audible. His voice was unrecognizable, low, fractured, warped into something far beyond the limits of mere pain.
The veins beneath his skin darkened entirely, branching in unnatural patterns as they spread up his neck and across his face. His breathing turned erratic, sharp and wet like a man on the brink of drowning. Each exhale escaped as a hiss, his lungs rejecting the air as something foreign began to take control.
For a fleeting moment, his body stilled. His head drooped low, blood pooling before dripping steadily from his chin. In that dreadful heartbeat, it seemed his struggle had ended — that he might truly succumb.
But then his fingers twitched.
Slowly, unnaturally, they dug into the ground. His head jerked once, then again, each motion sharper, as though pulled by invisible strings. His breathing came in shallow, disjointed gasps, devoid of rhythm, his chest rising and falling irregularly, driven more by reflex than need.
At last, he raised his head. For the first time since the assault, his face emerged under the flickering lights.
The green in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a piercing crimson that glowed faintly, like embers smoldering in the dark. His pupils expanded briefly before narrowing into sharp, reptilian slits. Black veins pulsed around his eyes, branching out like a spiderweb, as if his very skin was succumbing to decay.
Caine's jaw quivered, his mouth parting slightly as blood seeped from between his teeth. His trembling lips moved, as though he was struggling to form words, to cry for help, to beg, or perhaps to pray.
But the only sound he produced was a deep, guttural growl.
The sound of undeath.
As the last remnants of warmth drained from his body, his blood-slicked hand reached out weakly once more. His fingers scraped against the floor, leaving streaks of crimson and black in their wake, as he dragged himself toward the archway, compelled by an instinct that was no longer his own.
Behind him, the distant echoes of the creatures' screeches reverberated through the hallway, mingling with the anguished screams of their next victims.
And through it all, Caine's transformed eyes glimmered faintly in the darkness, reflecting the dimming light of the portal as the infection consumed him entirely.