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Gunfire turned the station into a drum.Gabe's men fired in short bursts, and every shot came back as an echo that made Noah's teeth hurt. The first wave of zombies hit the platform like a flood, all claw and broken mouths, moving faster than they should.Owen stumbled, bleeding through his sleeve, and almost fell onto the tracks.Noah grabbed his jacket and yanked him back, because falling meant dying, and dying meant screaming."Move," Noah said, low and flat, like it was a rule, not advice.Riley shoved past a pillar with her pack tight to her chest, eyes sharp, already searching for exits.Gabe shouted orders, but his voice got swallowed by the swarm.
One of Gabe's shooters tried the old trick—aim for the forehead, one clean pop, quick drop.The bullet hit bone and slid, and the zombie only jerked, then kept coming with its jaw still working.The shooter froze for half a beat, like his brain refused to accept it.That half beat cost him his throat.The zombie slammed him down and bit through the collar, and the man's scream was louder than the shots.Noah felt the urge to help, but it wasn't mercy that stopped him.It was math.
Authority boots hammered above them on the metal stairs.Noah couldn't see the troopers yet, but he heard the rhythm, the weight, the calm pace that didn't match the panic.They weren't rushing. They were arriving.A drone buzzed somewhere near the ceiling, and its camera turned like an eye that already knew his name.On the far wall, the old screen still glowed with the same line Noah couldn't unsee: CAPTURE DANIEL CROSS ALIVE. DO NOT DAMAGE THE HEAD.So they could fight zombies all night, and the Authority would still be there at the end.
Gabe stepped into the open, rifle raised, barking at his men to form up.He spotted Noah and Riley and pointed like a judge."You," Gabe shouted. "Crystals. Now. Or you don't leave this station."Noah didn't answer right away, because answering meant giving Gabe control.A zombie vaulted over a bench behind Gabe, moving wrong—too smooth, too fast.Gabe's closest guard fired, missed, and the zombie hit him like a truck.Bone cracked. The guard's head slammed the tile, and the sound was wet.Gabe flinched, just once, and Noah saw it.Even leaders had limits.
Noah pulled Owen toward a side gate marked MAINTENANCE.The gate was half open, chained at the bottom, like someone had tried to secure it and gave up.Riley was already there, hands on the chain, knife working fast."You're not leaving me with them," she said without looking up.Noah didn't promise anything.Promises were expensive in this world.
The chain snapped with a sharp metallic pop.It was a small sound, but in the station it felt like a bell.A few zombies turned their heads, and for a second Noah saw their eyes catch the dim light like animals.Riley yanked the gate open and shoved Owen through.Noah followed, and the tunnel swallowed the noise behind them, but it didn't kill it.It only made it distant.That was worse.Distant meant it was still chasing.
They ran along a service corridor that smelled like rust and old water.The lights were dead except for one flickering strip that made every shadow jump.Owen's breathing turned into a wheeze, and his boots dragged.Noah felt the pull to cut him loose.Dead weight got people killed.But Owen hadn't shot at them. Not yet.That mattered, even if it shouldn't.
A shape moved ahead, low and fast.Noah lifted his pistol, but Riley caught his wrist, hard."Don't," she hissed. "Listen."Noah listened, and his blood went cold.It wasn't one set of feet.It was many.And they were already in the corridor with them.
The first zombie came out of a side door like it had been waiting.It was thin, almost starving, but it moved like a spring.Noah fired once, center forehead.The bullet hit and didn't stop it.The skull didn't split the way it used to.The zombie stumbled, then snapped forward again, teeth clacking.Noah fired again, closer, and the second bullet finally punched deep enough to shut it down.It crashed against the wall and slid down, twitching.
Noah stepped in, fast, because a dead zombie still had value.He jammed the muzzle against the temple and fired a third time, just to be sure, because the old rules were failing.Then he holstered the gun and pulled out his knife.The blade sank into the scalp with a sick scrape, and he pried.Bone resisted, tougher than normal, like it had thickened.Noah used his elbow, his weight, and the knife finally cracked through.A clear shard sat in the dark, small and bright like a tooth in a mouth.A crystal.It felt like heat on his fingers even through the glove.
Riley's breath caught."Give me half," she said, voice tight."It doesn't split," Noah answered.He slipped the crystal into his pocket and heard the way her silence sharpened.Behind them, more footsteps scraped closer, and Owen whimpered like he knew what a bargaining chip sounded like.Noah hated that he noticed it, because it meant part of him was already turning.
They pushed onward, and the corridor narrowed into a junction with a locked steel door.A red sign above it said CONTROL ROOM.Riley tried the handle. Nothing.Noah looked at Owen.Owen's eyes were wide, face pale, and he shook his head like a child.Noah didn't ask for permission.He shoved Owen against the wall and took his belt.Owen started to protest, then saw Noah's expression and stopped.
Noah wrapped the belt around Owen's forearm, tight, and twisted a metal rod through it until the bleeding slowed.Owen screamed, low and ugly.It wasn't clean. It wasn't kind.But Owen stayed upright, and upright meant moving."Stay quiet," Noah said. "Or you die loud."Owen nodded fast.
Riley crouched by the lock, tools out, fingers moving.She worked like the world was simple: pick, turn, open.The lock clicked, and the door swung inward.Warm air spilled out, carrying the smell of old plastic and dust.Inside, screens glowed.Real power.Noah's stomach tightened, because power meant someone was close.Power meant the Authority had been here, or still was.
A monitor on the far desk showed a live feed of the station.Gabe's men were falling back, one by one, eaten by the swarm they woke up.The Authority had taken the stairs and formed a line at the top of the platform, shields out.They weren't shooting into the crowd like scared people.They fired controlled bursts, aiming low, breaking knees, dropping zombies without destroying heads.Net launchers snapped open with a loud thunk, and a zombie got wrapped and slammed down, still snarling inside the mesh.Noah understood, and the understanding tasted like metal.They were collecting.Not just clearing.Collecting.
Riley leaned in, eyes locked on another screen.It showed a still photo of a man.His face was older, sharper than Noah's mirror, but the bones were familiar.A name flashed under it: DANIEL CROSS.Below that, a bright warning: HEAD MUST REMAIN INTACT.Riley's gaze slid to Noah, slow and deadly."You're him," she said.Noah didn't deny it.Denying didn't work when the world handed someone proof.
Noah stepped closer, voice quiet."Say it out loud and we both die."Riley's jaw tightened.She wasn't afraid for him.She was weighing what his name could buy her.
A new sound cut through the room.Not footsteps.A soft mechanical whirr, like a motor adjusting.Noah turned, and his skin went cold again.A drone hovered outside the control room window, right against the glass, camera pointed straight at his face.A small light blinked red.It wasn't searching.It was confirming.
The door behind them slammed.Authority troops flooded the corridor outside, boots fast now, because the chase was over.A voice shouted through a speaker, calm and almost bored."Daniel Cross. Hands where we can see them. Come out."Noah looked at the control room screens again.On the platform, Gabe was still alive, firing into the crowd, trying to hold his ground like pride could stop teeth.The Authority line held steady above him, and Noah saw the trap forming.If he went back, he'd be between zombies and Gabe.If he stayed, the Authority would take him, head intact, alive.
Riley lifted her hands halfway, like she was thinking about surrender.Noah saw it and made a choice that felt like swallowing broken glass.He pulled the crystal from his pocket.
He could run without it, maybe.But "maybe" was a word that killed people.He needed speed.He needed strength.He needed something the Authority didn't plan for.
Noah pressed the crystal to his tongue and bit down.It cracked with a sharp, glassy snap, and the fragments slid down his throat like fire.Pain hit instantly, so hard his knees buckled.His vision flared white, and a memory ripped through his skull—his real name spoken in a clean room, bright lights, hands holding his head still.Then it was gone, leaving a hole behind it.Blood poured from his nose, warm and fast.He gagged, shaking, and the world turned too loud.He heard every breath, every boot, every click of a safety.
Riley grabbed his shoulder to steady him.Her grip was iron."Don't black out," she hissed.Noah couldn't answer.His body convulsed, and for two seconds he couldn't tell if he was still human.
Then the pain shifted into something else.His muscles tightened like cables being pulled.His heartbeat became a drum he could control.The fear didn't leave, but it got sharper, usable.Noah stood up.
He moved before the Authority could react.He slammed the desk into the door with both hands.Wood and metal shrieked, blocking the entrance for one heartbeat.That heartbeat was enough.Noah yanked a rolling chair and threw it at the window.Glass exploded outward, and the drone outside jerked back, rotor whining.
Riley didn't hesitate.She climbed through the broken window and dropped into the service shaft outside.Owen followed, clumsy, almost falling, but Noah shoved him forward.Authority shots cracked behind them, hitting the wall, not their heads.They were trying not to break what they wanted.Noah used that.He used it like a weapon.
They dropped into a lower tunnel that ran under the station like a throat.The air was colder here, and water dripped from the ceiling in slow ticks.Noah ran, and he felt the difference.His legs didn't burn the way they should.His lungs didn't scream.But his mind felt wrong, stretched thin, like a wire about to snap.
Owen slipped on the wet floor and fell hard.He cried out, loud.Noah spun back, ready to haul him up, but Riley was already there.She pressed her knife to Owen's neck in one smooth motion."Get up," she said. "Or you stay."Owen froze, shaking, then forced himself onto his feet.Noah watched Riley's face and saw no apology.She wasn't cruel.She was honest.
Up ahead, a rusted ladder led to a street access hatch.A circle of light leaked around the edges.Freedom.Or a new kind of cage.
Noah climbed first and pushed the hatch open a crack.Cold air hit his face, and he smelled smoke and exhaust and something worse.He looked through the gap.
The street above was not empty.Authority trucks lined the block, headlights off, engines low.Portable floodlights washed the area in harsh white.A checkpoint had been built in the time they were underground, fast and clean like a practiced routine.Gabe's surviving men were on their knees near the curb, hands on their heads.Some were bleeding. Some were missing.The Authority troopers walked among them, tagging wrists, checking eyes, making notes.
One trooper carried a metal case with a biohazard symbol.Another carried a long, padded clamp shaped like a collar for a person's head.Noah's stomach clenched.They weren't just arresting people.They were preparing.
A speaker mounted on a truck clicked on.The calm voice returned, louder now, made to travel."Daniel Cross," it said. "We know you're below us."Noah's breath stuck.The voice continued, with the same steady tone."We will spare the others if you come out. If you run, we begin processing them."Noah looked back down the ladder.Riley stared up at him, eyes bright in the dark, waiting to see which debt he would choose.Owen trembled behind her, too weak to hide his fear.Noah held the hatch open, feeling his blood still drip from his nose, feeling his new strength humming under his skin.He had one way out.And every way cost something.Above him, boots shifted closer.Someone had heard the hatch move.