The blast door shuddered, metal scraping against metal as ancient hydraulics came alive for the first time in years.

Dust rained from the ceiling, mixing with the cold air that poured out from the dark beyond. It wasn't just cold—it was sterile, sharp, and wrong. Like air that hadn't touched the outside world in a long, long time.

The survivors stood frozen, weapons half-raised, as the door slowly lifted into the ceiling with a heavy clang. The green light on the scanner turned white.

B3 was open.

Riku took point, flashlight raised. "Stay tight," he said, voice steady. "Eyes sharp. No sudden movements."

Suzune followed just behind, rifle braced against her shoulder. Miko, Ichika, and the two soldiers flanked them, forming a wedge. Their footsteps echoed down the metallic ramp as they stepped into the lower level.

The temperature dropped fast. Breath misted in the air.

Suzune's voice came low. "Feels like a freezer down here."

"It might be," Riku said.

The corridor ahead was wider than the upper floors—high ceilings, thick support beams, walls painted sterile white. Emergency lights glowed faintly along the floor in strips of dull yellow, guiding them forward. Every few seconds, the power flickered, casting the group in and out of darkness.

Miko's light caught something painted on the wall—a faded hazard symbol. Beneath it, barely legible words read:

BIOCONTAINMENT ZONE — LEVEL 3 ACCESS ONLYAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL REQUIRED

Ichika muttered, "Yeah, that's not foreboding at all."

"Quiet," Riku said.

They moved further in. Every sound—their breathing, the creak of gear, the thud of boots—felt amplified. Somewhere deeper inside, machinery hummed faintly, steady and slow. It didn't sound human-made anymore. It sounded… organic.

The corridor split ahead—left toward "Laboratory Wing C" and right toward "Cryogenic Storage."

Riku paused, glancing between them. "Suzune, take left. Ichika, with me. We'll check Cryo first."

"Copy that," Suzune said. "Try not to die."

Riku smirked faintly. "Same to you."

The air grew colder near the Cryogenic Wing. Frost coated the walls, glinting like glass under their flashlights. A large reinforced window stretched along one side of the hall, looking into a long chamber filled with cylindrical tanks.

Inside each one floated something—human silhouettes suspended in frozen liquid. Some tanks were fogged, others cracked, the contents inside barely visible.

Miko's voice trembled. "Are those… people?"

Ichika pressed closer to the glass. "They look like it. Or used to be."

Riku wiped a gloved hand across one of the clearer tanks. Inside, a woman's body floated motionless—skin pale blue, hair fanned out like strands of silver. Her chest didn't move. Her eyes were closed.

The label below the tank read:

Subject 07 — Prototype Phase IIStatus: TerminatedSequence Code: A-13-B3

Riku frowned. "Terminated."

"Then why's the system still running?" Miko asked.

He looked up—and froze.

Near the far end of the hall, one of the tanks wasn't fogged. It was glowing faintly. Green light pulsed through the coolant lines, and inside, the figure was still moving—slowly, rhythmically.

Ichika's voice dropped. "That one's alive."

Riku stepped closer, rifle raised. Through the glass, he could see it clearly now—humanoid, but not right. The limbs were too long, the ribs too pronounced, and its skin was translucent, like wax stretched over veins.

Its eyes opened.

They weren't human eyes. Black, hollow, insect-like.

The figure pressed a hand against the glass.

"Move back," Riku ordered immediately.

Miko stumbled backward, bumping into the wall. The thing inside tilted its head slightly—curious, almost calm. Then it smiled.

The temperature dropped even further. Frost crawled along the glass, and the tank's lights began flickering wildly.

"Riku—" Ichika started.

The tank exploded outward.

A jet of freezing vapor burst through the corridor. The group hit the ground instinctively as glass shards rained down. The creature landed on all fours, skin glistening under the flashlight beams, its breath fogging in short bursts.

It turned toward them.

Riku fired first—three controlled shots to center mass.

The rounds punched through it, splattering a mix of black and clear fluid across the floor—but it didn't fall. It staggered once, then lunged.

"DOWN!" Riku shouted.

Ichika rolled aside as the creature slammed into the wall hard enough to dent steel. Miko screamed, firing blindly with her pistol. The shots tore through its arm, but it didn't stop.

Suzune's voice crackled through the radio. "What the hell was that noise!?"

"Contact!" Riku barked. "We've got a live one on Cryo Wing!"

"I'm on route!"

The thing swung at Riku, claws slicing through the air. He ducked under, jamming his rifle barrel into its ribs and firing again at point-blank. The impact sent it skidding backward, crashing into a cryo unit.

Ichika unloaded her shotgun—BLAM! The creature's shoulder exploded in a mess of frozen tissue.

It screamed—a sound that didn't belong to anything alive. A high, shrill noise that crawled through the spine like electricity.

Riku grabbed Miko by the collar and shoved her behind a containment console. "Stay down!"

He aimed again, breathing steady, and squeezed the trigger.

Two more rounds to the head. The thing twitched, then went limp, collapsing in a wet heap on the floor.

Steam hissed from the ruptured pipes. The entire corridor smelled like burnt metal and rot.

Riku didn't lower his weapon. "Status?"

Ichika was panting hard. "Alive. I think. What the hell was that?"

Miko's eyes were wide, voice shaking. "That… that wasn't human."

"No," Riku said quietly. "It wasn't."

Suzune arrived seconds later, rifle up, scanning the room. "Holy hell."

She looked at the creature's corpse. "That was in a tank?"

"Yeah. And there are more," Riku said grimly.

They regrouped in the corridor, sealing the cryo chamber door behind them with a manual latch. Riku keyed the radio. "Sato, come in."

A moment later, static, then: "Go ahead."

"We found something. Biotech experiment. Human-shaped but… modified. Cryogenic systems still active."

Silence, then Sato replied, "Modified how?"

Riku looked at the floor, where the creature's black blood was still bubbling faintly. "You don't want to know."

Sato's tone hardened. "Do we need to pull out?"

"Negative," Riku said. "We finish the sweep. If there's one alive, there might be more."

Suzune muttered, "That's supposed to make me feel better?"

"Didn't say it should."

They moved to the Laboratory Wing next.

Unlike the Cryo Wing, this area wasn't cold—it was humid. The air carried a faint chemical stench, like decay mixed with chlorine. The emergency lights here were dimmer, most of them shattered.

Rows of desks and computers lined the room, scattered papers everywhere. On the far wall, a large viewing window looked into another chamber—dark, opaque glass hiding whatever was inside.

Suzune found a terminal still working and wiped the dust from the screen.

"Logs are encrypted, but some files are accessible," she said, typing quickly. "Looks like they were running something called Project Rebirth."

Riku frowned. "Sounds dramatic."

"Science always does."

She clicked another file. A series of text reports appeared:

Test Log — Phase IVSubject viability remains unstable. Cellular mutation exceeds predicted range. Mental degradation occurs within 48 hours of exposure. Termination protocol authorized for all active specimens.Addendum: Reinforcement of B3 containment recommended. Subjects exhibit autonomous response to neural stimuli.

Ichika made a face. "So basically, zombie science."

Miko shook her head slowly. "No. This is… engineered infection. Controlled."

Suzune scrolled further. "Last log entry—dated two weeks before the world went to hell."

She stopped reading when the final line appeared:

Do not unseal the lower chamber. The infection learned.

A chill ran through the room. Even Ichika went quiet.

Riku stared at the window into the containment chamber. The dark glass was smooth, silent.

Then—barely visible—something moved behind it. A shadow.

"Lights," Riku ordered.

Suzune hit the nearest control. A row of overhead lamps flickered on inside the chamber.

And there it was.

Dozens of containment pods lined the walls—most shattered, leaking thick black fluid. The floor was slick with it. In the center, a massive figure slumped in a chair, bound by steel restraints. Tubes ran from its limbs into the ceiling, pulsing faintly with dark liquid.

Its chest rose once.

Then again.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Ichika whispered.

Riku raised his rifle, voice low but firm. "Everyone back to the corridor. Now."

Miko's breathing quickened. "It's still alive…"

Suzune was staring, transfixed. "That's not just another experiment. That's a central host."

The figure's head twitched slightly. One of its eyes snapped open—glowing faint amber under the flickering lights.

Then the glass wall cracked.

Riku didn't hesitate. "MOVE!"

They bolted out of the lab as the containment window exploded outward, spraying shards and fluid across the hallway. The roar that followed didn't sound like one voice—it sounded like many, fused together.

They sprinted back toward the stairwell, gunfire echoing behind them as Suzune and Ichika fired down the hall. The creature didn't chase immediately—it was still freeing itself—but its roar shook the very walls.

By the time they reached the stairwell, Riku was already on the radio.

"Sato, seal the entrance! Now!"

Sato's voice came back tense. "What happened!?"

"Something's awake! Big one—containment breach!"

"Understood. Locking upper blast door!"

The stairwell lights flickered as the lockdown began. Metal shutters slammed down across corridors as alarms started wailing for the first time in years.

The group reached Level B2 just as the heavy gate above them sealed shut.

Miko collapsed to her knees, gasping. "Tell me that worked."

Riku listened. The roar had faded into the depths below, echoing faintly like a nightmare retreating into the dark.

He exhaled slowly. "For now."

Suzune looked at him. "You think it'll stay down there?"

He stared at the sealed stairwell, the faint vibration still trembling through the floor.

"No," he said quietly. "Nothing that smart ever stays where it's supposed to."

Hours later, the survivors gathered in the upper chamber. Sato's face was pale as Riku briefed him.

"You're saying this place was making them," Sato said. "The infected."

Riku nodded. "And it looks like they succeeded."

Silence filled the bunker. Even Hana and Yui didn't speak.

Suzune leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "So what now? Burn it?"

"Eventually," Riku said. "But first—we find out how deep this goes."

Ichika groaned. "You mean there's a B4?"

Riku looked at the floor beneath his boots, the faint hum still pulsing through it.

"There always is."

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