The seventh floor was clean of infected their bodies strayed on the floor all dead
They moved in tight formation, weapons drawn. Eli's grip on his hammer was white-knuckled. Jade's eyes swept the shadows. Mia adjusted her spear silently, stepping closer to Dan.
Then the voice came. "Well, well… visitors."
Three men stepped from the open lounge—older students, lean from malnourishment but wiry and alert. Behind them, a small group cowered: four young women, two younger men. Their eyes were sunken, haunted. The women flinched when the leader raised his hand. The boys didn't meet anyone's gaze.
Dan's voice was low, cautious. "We're not looking for trouble."
"That so?" The leader grinned. "Thing is, you're standing in our space. And trouble has a habit of following times like these."
"You're abusing your own people," Mia said, stepping forward, fury rising in her throat. "You think we can't see that?"
One of the smaller men with the leader barked a laugh. "We're keeping them alive. You call that abuse?"
"Beating them isn't survival," Eli snapped.
The third man's voice turned sharp. "Spare us the righteous act. We kept order. We made rules. Killed the infected while everyone else ran around screaming."
Dan looked past them, locking eyes with a bruised girl in the back. Her lip trembled as she clutched her knees to her chest.
"You kept the infected out," Dan said coldly, "but became monsters yourselves."
The leader's grin faltered. "the girls are untouched, we simply keep the weaker in check"
"You're outmatched, and outnumbered" Eli said, stepping forward. "And you know it".
That was the last straw.
The smaller brute lunged first—a wild swing of a broom-handle spear aimed at Eli's shoulder. Eli twisted, taking the brunt on his arm but driving forward with a growl. His hammer cracked against the man's ribs, the thud sick and final. The attacker gasped, dropped his weapon, and folded to the floor.
At the same time, the third aggressor rushed Eli. He ducked low, sliding on the ground and slashing at his shins. Blood spurted and he screamed, crumpling. he rose, his hammer smashing him straight in the head and kicked him square in the chest to send him flying.
Mia blocked the punch from one of the smaller survivors, then Jade flipped him clean with a low kick. Her pinning to the ground an instant later.
Only the leader remained.
He circled with Dan in the open space of the lounge, both moving with practiced caution. He swung first—steel pipe in both hands—fast and low.
Dan dodged, countered with a brutal jab of his machete, nicking the leader's side. But the man was fast—more skilled than the others. He parried with his pipe and ducked low, elbowing Dan in the ribs and slamming him against a table.
"Not bad," the leader hissed. "But you're gonna have to do better if you want to kill me".
Dan caught his breath, then shoved back hard. "Just surrender and I won't have to."
They clashed again. The pipe struck Dan's shoulder with a crack, but he turned with the blow, using the momentum to bring his machete up and slice along the man's thigh.
The leader shouted and stumbled, blood spattering the floor.
"You're done," Dan said, breath rough. "Surrender."
Instead, the man cursed and bolted for the hallway.
"Coward!" Eli shouted, giving chase. Mia and Jade followed instantly.
Dan's boots thundered after the fleeing figure. The door to the roof slammed open and banged against the wall.
They reached the rooftop just in time to see the leader gasping, cornered—then something dropped from above.
A blur. A low growl. Then a scream.
An infected landed with terrifying grace, snatched the man like a ragdoll, and vanished off the rooftop edge. A slick trail of blood was all that remained.
Dan had swung—had tried to strike it mid-leap—but his machete had bounced off its hide like plastic on steel.
It was armoured.
He stared at his blade, and with shock realised that it was chipped.
"What... what was that?" Jade whispered, voice trembling.
"No ordinary infected," Mia said, her eyes wide. "It moved like it knew exactly what it was doing."
Eli's voice was tight. "It didn't kill us. It only wanted him."
Dan stood still, every instinct screaming. "It's evolving. They're evolving."
The group looked out over the ruined skyline, the last light of evening bleeding into a deep orange horizon. For a long, heavy moment, none of them spoke. The air was still, but the weight of what had just happened pressed down on their shoulders like a storm about to break.
Dan lowered his machete slowly, eyes still locked on the darkened edge of the rooftop where the creature had disappeared. He flexed his fingers—tight, tense—then looked down at the chipped blade. He hadn't seen it before, but now it was clear. A shallow crack near the middle. Steel didn't chip easily. Not unless it hit something harder than bone.
"We're not ready for that," he finally said, voice grim.
Eli exhaled sharply and slumped, pain sharpening his features. Mia and Jade moved quickly, steadying him between them.
"We need to get you inside first," Mia said, voice soft but urgent.
Dan nodded, lowering his machete. "Get him out of the open."
Together, they half-dragged, half-supported Eli back through the rooftop door and into the dim stairwell. The metallic clang of the door shutting behind them echoed down the stairwell like a distant warning.
Once inside the relative safety of the floor, Mia eased Eli down against the wall. Jade held the medkit tightly, but Dan stopped her with a raised hand.
"No," he said firmly. "We need to secure the area first before stopping to patch him up."
Eli managed a weak smirk through the pain. "Well... at least I got one of those bastards first."
Dan was only half-listening, his mind still on the Hunter. It hadn't hesitated. It hadn't lunged in blind instinct like most infected. It had chosen a target—the leader—and ignored everyone else. Then it vanished, fast and silent, with terrifying precision.
He stared ahead, voice low. "That thing... it knew exactly what it was doing."
Jade looked to him, eyes wide. "What do you mean?"
Dan's grip tightened around his machete. "It wasn't random. It was smart. Too smart."
Mia added quietly, "And it took the leader alive. Dragged him off."
"Like prey," Eli muttered, his face grimacing.
Dan shook his head. "They're evolving. Faster than we expected."
Jade swallowed hard. "And what does that mean for us?"
Dan's gaze hardened. "It means the fight isn't just about clearing infected anymore. It's about surviving what they're becoming."
Mia glanced toward the stairwell. "We finish securing the floor, then head back to rest. We need to be ready."
Dan nodded. "Tomorrow, we plan. We train. This war is just getting started."
Eli pushed himself up, leaning on Mia. "Next time, I'll be ready."
They moved cautiously, each step heavier with the knowledge of the new threat lurking just beyond.
The heavy door closed and locked behind them with a sharp clang.
They moved back thoughtfully, each step heavier with the knowledge of the new threat lurking just beyond.
Back on the seventh floor, the group glanced toward the lounge where the last surviving villain was restrained. The four young women and two weaker men from the group had managed to keep him pinned down after he had tried to escape in the chaos.