"The reason the world ended."

The words echoed through the stairwell. No one spoke after that. The air felt heavy, thick with the smell of oil, metal, and smoke.

Every person in the room understood what Riku meant—even if they didn't want to.

Suzune leaned against the wall, clutching her arm. "That thing… it wasn't just an experiment. It was a goddamn mistake that learned how not to die."

Ichika reloaded her shotgun with trembling hands. "And now it knows we're up here."

Miko swallowed, still staring at the sealed blast door below. It shuddered every few seconds from faint impacts—like the creature hadn't stopped trying. "Riku… if it breaks through…"

He didn't answer right away. He was still watching the dented metal door, counting the seconds between each strike. One… two… three… pause. Every rhythm told him something. It wasn't mindless. It was testing the structure.

"It's not trying to force it," he finally said. "It's studying it."

Ichika blinked. "Studying? You're telling me that thing's thinking?"

Riku nodded grimly. "Yeah. And it's getting smarter by the minute."

The next hit came harder. A screech of metal echoed through the bunker, shaking dust loose from the ceiling.

Reyes stepped closer to Riku. "Sir, this floor won't hold. We need to move."

Riku turned to Suzune. "How long until the power grid fully collapses?"

Suzune tapped her wristpad, checking the remaining voltage readings. "Half an hour. Maybe less. When it goes down, the ventilation systems fail—and so do the lockdown doors."

"Meaning?" Ichika asked.

Suzune looked up. "Meaning we'll be trapped in here… with whatever's below us."

That was all Riku needed to hear.

"Pack everything," he ordered. "We're leaving the bunker."

Reyes blinked. "What about the people topside?"

"They're priority," Riku said. "We regroup at the refinery yard, load everyone into the trucks, and put as much distance between us and this place as possible."

Miko's voice was soft, uncertain. "And if it follows?"

Riku tightened his grip on his rifle. "Then we'll make sure it doesn't."

No one argued. There wasn't time to.

They began moving—fast but controlled. Suzune and Ichika took point while Riku and Reyes secured the rear. The stairwell was narrow and echoing, their boots clanging against steel. The sound of that distant thud… thud… thud never stopped, always a few levels below, always getting closer.

By the time they reached B2, the lights were flickering violently. The air had grown hotter, the smell of burning circuits filling their lungs.

Ichika cursed. "Power grid's frying itself."

Suzune checked the wall conduits. "Overload from the core breach. When Riku shot the node, it caused a cascade loop through the entire system. It's only a matter of time before the failsafes blow."

Riku grunted. "Then we move faster."

They burst into the B2 hallway. The once-sterile floor was now trembling under their boots. Pipes leaked steam. Somewhere deep inside the walls, metal warped and groaned. The whole facility was tearing itself apart.

"Keep formation!" Riku barked. "Eyes up!"

They passed through the control corridor, where the first infected corpses still lay. Except now, several were gone.

Reyes froze. "Bodies are missing."

Ichika raised her weapon. "Don't say that."

"They're not here," Reyes repeated. "The ones we killed—look."

Riku's gut tightened. Black smears of blood trailed across the floor—drag marks, heading back toward the stairwell. Not away.

"Keep moving," Riku ordered. "We're not stopping to find out why."

They pushed through the last set of emergency doors and reached B1. The air here was different—fresher, but tainted with smoke. They could already hear voices above: Sato's men shouting, machinery revving, the unmistakable sound of vehicles being prepped.

When they emerged at the upper bunker gate, Sato was waiting, rifle in hand. His eyes widened when he saw them—covered in dust, blood, and ash.

"What the hell happened down there?"

Riku didn't slow. "We woke it up."

Sato followed beside him. "Woke what up?"

"The thing that built this place," Suzune said flatly. "Or maybe the thing they built for it. Doesn't matter now. It's alive—and it's angry."

"Jesus Christ," Sato muttered.

Riku reached the surface gate, where the convoy was already assembling. "We're leaving now. Anyone not packed has sixty seconds."

Sato frowned. "That's not enough time."

"It's all the time we have."

The loudspeaker above the bunker suddenly crackled to life—faint static, followed by a distorted male voice. Not from the team's radios. From the facility itself.

"Unauthorized access detected."

"Containment breach confirmed."

"Initiating sterilization protocol."

Suzune's eyes went wide. "Sterilization—? Riku, that means—"

"Thermite purge," he finished. "The whole bunker's about to cook itself."

An alarm blared, louder than before. Red lights strobed across every surface.

"GO!" Riku shouted.

The group erupted into motion. Soldiers loaded civilians onto the trucks, Hana clutching Yui tightly as Miko pulled them into the nearest vehicle. Engines roared to life.

Ichika jumped into the lead truck's passenger seat, slamming the door. "What about you?"

Riku climbed into the back, standing against the side rail. "I'll ride rear guard."

Sato shouted over the noise. "What about containment?!"

Riku pointed toward the bunker's main structure. "There's no containing that thing. Best we can do is bury it under everything we've got."

The ground vibrated as they began pulling away from the refinery. Smoke erupted from vents around the bunker entrance—thick, white, chemical smoke.

Suzune leaned out the truck window, watching the plumes. "That's not just thermite. That's compound burn mix—enough to melt through reinforced steel."

Riku's eyes narrowed. "Good. Then maybe it'll hold."

But deep down, he didn't believe it would.

The convoy raced across the old industrial road, tires skidding over cracked asphalt. In the rearview mirror, the refinery looked like a dying volcano—smoke, light, and sparks bursting through its cracks. Then came the first explosion.

BOOM.

The ground jumped. Dust sprayed into the air as the bunker imploded in on itself, sending a shockwave through the trucks. Hana screamed. Yui clung tighter to Miko, who wrapped her arms around them both.

Suzune gripped the dashboard. "Holy hell…"

Then the second explosion came—deeper, heavier. The kind that didn't sound mechanical.

Riku looked back again, eyes narrowing. Through the haze, something moved.

A section of the refinery ground buckled upward—metal beams twisting like paper. Something massive was rising from below. For a heartbeat, it looked like the earth itself was breathing.

Reyes' voice cracked over the radio. "Command, we've got movement! Something's emerging!"

"Eyes front," Riku ordered. "Keep driving!"

They sped past the old refinery gates, engines screaming. Behind them, the bunker collapsed completely, sending debris flying skyward. The shockwave hit seconds later—rattling every vehicle, shattering some windshields.

When the smoke cleared, they could see it.

A silhouette—tall, jagged, humanoid but wrong—climbing out of the crater. Its entire body glowed faint blue, like veins of molten glass running beneath its flesh. The thing tilted its head toward the retreating trucks.

And then it roared.

The sound wasn't just heard—it was felt. The air vibrated, the trucks shaking as the noise tore through the valley.

Sato's voice came over comms, raw and panicked. "Riku, tell me that thing's not following us!"

"It's too big to move fast," Suzune said quickly. "If we get distance now, we'll be clear."

But even as she said it, part of the creature detached—its flesh peeling off like liquid and forming smaller shapes. Dozens of them. Crawlers. Running on all fours.

Ichika cursed. "It's making more of itself!"

"Gunners, open fire!" Riku shouted.

The rear-mounted rifle on the last truck rattled to life, spitting lead into the swarm. Bullets tore through several creatures, but more kept coming. Their bodies twisted and reformed, using the shattered asphalt as armor.

"Reload!" Reyes yelled.

"Keep moving!" Riku barked. "Don't stop for anything!"

The convoy tore down the road, rounds flying, shells bouncing off the pavement. Miko could barely hear herself scream orders as she tried to patch a soldier who'd been struck by shrapnel. The air smelled of diesel, smoke, and blood.

Then came another rumble.

Suzune looked out the window, eyes wide. "Riku… the ground's splitting!"

Ahead, the old bridge spanning the drainage canal was collapsing, the supports giving way from the tremors.

"Brace!" Riku shouted.

The first truck made it across. The second barely cleared the gap as the asphalt gave way beneath its tires. The third—Sato's truck—hit the edge and tilted dangerously.

Riku didn't think. He jumped from the rear of his own vehicle, landing hard and sprinting toward the swaying truck. "Go! Move!"

Sato leaned out the window, yelling. "It's stuck!"

"Get everyone out!"

The rear door burst open, soldiers and civilians scrambling onto the cracked road. The bridge groaned again. Riku grabbed Hana's hand, pulling her free just as the truck finally fell—plunging into the canal below in a burst of dust and flame.

Yui screamed for her father, but Miko held her tight. Riku turned back, breathing hard. "Everyone accounted for?!"

Reyes counted quickly. "One missing—Tanaka!"

Before anyone could react, the infected reached the far side of the canal. They poured over the wreckage, screeching. One of them—a larger one—leapt the gap, landing ten meters away.

Riku raised his rifle. "Target downrange!"

Suzune fired beside him, and the creature's skull exploded in a burst of black mist. More climbed over the burning wreckage behind it.

Ichika reloaded with shaking hands. "We're not stopping them! There's too many!"

Riku's eyes darted toward the refinery—still burning in the distance. "We don't have to stop them. We just have to outrun them."

They regrouped at a narrow overpass two kilometers away. The surviving trucks idled under the broken span, engines rattling. Everyone was exhausted, faces covered in ash and sweat.

Miko tended to Hana and Yui, who huddled together silently. Sato limped over, one hand clutching his ribs. "We lost the third vehicle."

"I know," Riku said quietly.

Sato looked out toward the smoke rising from the refinery. "That thing… it's still down there, isn't it?"

Riku didn't answer. He didn't need to.

Suzune leaned against the guardrail, eyes distant. "We can't stay on the move forever. If that thing's adapting, it'll track us eventually."

Ichika sighed, sitting on the pavement. "So what's the plan now, Commander?"

Riku looked at the horizon—the sky burning orange as the refinery fires spread.

"We regroup at Echo Station. Radio the other settlements. Warn them. If this thing spreads again…"

He didn't finish.

Reyes looked back toward the smoke. "You think that was the only one?"

Riku finally turned to face him. "No. That was the first."

Night fell over the valley.

The surviving convoy drove on under a dead sky, headlights cutting through the dust. Behind them, far in the distance, something moved in the smoke—its glowing veins slowly fading as it sank back into the earth.

For now.

But deep below, somewhere beneath the molten ruins of the refinery, a faint heartbeat pulsed again.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

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