Chapter 6 The Road of the Dead

The infected charged.

For one terrible second, I couldn't move.

There were too many.

They poured onto the road from between abandoned cars, spilling out of the darkness like a wave. Some stumbled. Others moved with frightening speed. Their screams collided into one deafening roar.

Daniel grabbed my shoulder.

“Scarlett, run!”

I didn't need to be told twice.

He slammed the truck into reverse.

The tires screamed against the asphalt, but there was nowhere to go. Abandoned vehicles blocked the road behind us, and the infected were already closing in from the front.

Daniel swore under his breath.

“We're trapped.”

I looked through the windshield.

The nearest infected was less than twenty meters away.

Then I noticed something.

They weren't moving randomly.

My stomach tightened.

“They're surrounding us.”

Daniel glanced at me.

“What?”

I pointed toward the trees.

Several infected had stopped on either side of the road. They weren't rushing forward. They were spreading out.

Creating a circle.

Daniel's expression hardened.

“You're right.”

Another infected climbed onto the hood.

Its hands slapped against the windshield.

I recoiled.

The creature opened its mouth and released a shriek that made my teeth hurt.

Daniel reached for his weapon.

“Get down.”

He fired.

The infected dropped from the hood.

But three more immediately took its place.

“That's not going to work,” I said.

“I know.”

“Then what do we do?”

Daniel looked toward the roadside.

His eyes narrowed.

“There.”

I followed his gaze.

A concrete drainage channel ran beneath the road. It was partially hidden by weeds and mud, but the opening was large enough for a person to crawl through.

“You want us to go in there?”

“Unless you'd prefer staying here.”

Another body slammed into the side of the truck.

The metal groaned.

I grabbed my bag.

“Fine.”

Daniel threw open his door.

We jumped out.

The moment my feet touched the ground, an infected lunged from between two vehicles.

I stumbled backward.

Daniel fired.

The creature collapsed inches from me.

“Move!”

I ran.

We reached the drainage opening just as the infected spilled around the truck.

Daniel dropped to his knees and crawled inside.

I followed.

Something grabbed the back of my jacket.

I screamed and twisted around.

A gray hand reached through the opening.

Daniel grabbed my wrist and yanked me forward.

The fabric tore.

I fell hard against the concrete.

“Keep going!”

I crawled deeper into the tunnel.

Behind me, the infected began forcing themselves into the narrow opening.

One after another.

Daniel pushed past me.

“There has to be another exit.”

“How do you know?”

“I don't.”

That wasn't exactly reassuring.

The tunnel was dark and smelled of stagnant water. My palms slid across the damp floor as I crawled after him.

Behind us, something growled.

I looked back.

A pale face appeared in the darkness.

Then another.

“They're coming!”

“I know!”

Daniel moved faster.

I could hear my own breathing growing ragged.

The tunnel seemed endless.

My knees hurt. My hands were scraped raw, and every instinct told me to turn around and fight.

But there were too many.

And this wasn't how I remembered it.

That thought frightened me more than the creatures behind us.

In my first life, I knew what happened next.

I knew when the hospitals fell.

I knew when the military abandoned the southern districts.

I knew when the first major evacuation failed.

I knew when Adrian left me.

Those memories had been my advantage.

My map through the disaster.

But now?

The map was changing.

“Daniel!”

He stopped.

I nearly crashed into him.

“What?”

“Listen.”

We both went silent.

The sounds behind us had disappeared.

No footsteps.

No growling.

Nothing.

Daniel slowly turned around.

“They stopped.”

“Why?”

He shook his head.

“I don't know.”

A faint dripping sound echoed through the tunnel.

Drop.

Drop.

Drop.

I swallowed.

“They're not following us.”

Daniel looked uneasy.

“Maybe they can't fit through.”

“No.”

His eyes met mine.

“You think they could?”

“I think they wanted us to go this way.”

Neither of us spoke.

The silence suddenly felt much worse than the noise.

Daniel turned forward.

“Keep moving.”

We continued.

After another minute, a faint glow appeared ahead.

An exit.

I almost laughed from relief.

We climbed through the opening and emerged behind an old maintenance building.

The night air hit my face.

I stood there, breathing heavily.

Daniel climbed out behind me.

For several seconds, neither of us said anything.

Then I looked back toward the tunnel.

“They could have followed.”

“Yes.”

“But they didn't.”

“I know.”

“Why?”

Daniel rubbed a hand over his face.

“I don't have an answer.”

That was becoming his favorite sentence.

I gave him a hard look.

“You seem to have a lot of answers when it comes to me.”

His expression changed.

“I told you what I know.”

“No. You told me enough to keep me moving.”

He didn't respond.

I opened my mouth, but a strange noise came from inside the building.

We both froze.

Daniel immediately raised his weapon.

The sound came again.

A metallic scrape.

Then silence.

He motioned for me to stay behind him.

We entered through a broken side door.

The building appeared to be an old municipal maintenance station. Dust covered the floor. Empty shelves lined the walls. A dead computer sat behind a desk.

Nothing moved.

Daniel lowered his weapon slightly.

“Looks abandoned.”

I stepped toward the desk.

“Then why is this here?”

A small emergency lamp sat beside the computer.

Its battery indicator was glowing green.

Recently used.

Daniel noticed it too.

His expression tightened.

“Someone's been here.”

We searched the room.

Nothing.

Then I noticed a narrow doorway behind a stack of boxes.

“Daniel.”

He moved the boxes aside.

A stairwell descended beneath the building.

We exchanged a look.

“You first,” I said.

He almost smiled.

“Afraid?”

“Careful.”

We went downstairs.

The room below was colder.

There were old shelves along the walls, most of them empty.

Then I saw it.

A red emergency bag.

It sat alone on a metal table.

No dust.

No cobwebs.

Someone had placed it there recently.

I walked toward it.

Daniel caught my arm.

“Wait.”

“What?”

He pointed.

A thin wire ran beneath the table.

“Tripwire.”

My pulse jumped.

He crouched and examined it.

After several seconds, he carefully cut the wire.

Nothing happened.

He opened the bag.

Inside were medical supplies.

Bandages.

Antibiotics.

A flashlight.

A radio.

And several sealed documents.

Daniel picked up the first folder.

His eyes moved across the page.

Then he looked at me.

“What?”

He handed it over.

I opened the folder.

My stomach dropped.

The first page contained a medical report.

PATIENT: SCARLETT VALE

I stopped breathing.

“No.”

Daniel took the paper from my hand.

He read it twice.

“This can't be right.”

I snatched it back.

My name was printed clearly across the top.

Beneath it was a photograph.

Me.

Not the woman I had been at the end of my first life.

Not the younger version I had become after waking up.

This photograph showed me exactly as I looked now.

Same face.

Same hair.

Same scarless skin.

My fingers began trembling.

“When was this taken?”

Daniel checked the date.

His face went pale.

“Yesterday.”

I stared at him.

“That isn't possible.”

“I know.”

I flipped through the remaining pages.

Most were filled with medical terminology I didn't understand.

There were blood results.

Neurological scans.

References to memory retention.

Temporal displacement.

Then I found another photograph.

A picture of the house.

My house.

Taken from outside.

The date was from three days ago.

Someone had been watching me before I even knew what was happening.

I turned another page.

A single sentence had been handwritten across it.

SHE REMEMBERS.

My blood ran cold.

Daniel took the paper.

“Who wrote this?”

“I don't know.”

“You recognize the handwriting?”

“No.”

He studied the page.

I looked through the bag again.

There was one final item.

A black access card.

A silver symbol was printed across the front.

I had seen it before.

At the Helix facility.

My fingers tightened around the card.

“Daniel.”

He looked at me.

“You know this symbol.”

His silence answered for him.

“Don't lie to me.”

He slowly exhaled.

“I've seen it.”

“Where?”

“Helix.”

My stomach twisted.

“What does it mean?”

“I don't know.”

I stared at him.

“Daniel.”

“I swear.”

Before I could say anything else, the radio crackled.

We both froze.

Static filled the room.

Then a voice came through.

A woman's voice.

Weak.

Distorted.

But unmistakably deliberate.

“Scarlett Vale.”

My heart stopped.

Daniel reached for the radio.

The voice continued.

“If you're hearing this…”

Static swallowed the next few words.

Then she spoke again.

“…you need to leave.”

I looked at Daniel.

He was staring at the radio.

The woman's breathing came through the speaker.

Slow.

Uneven.

Then she whispered:

“They know where you are.”

The radio went silent.

I couldn't move.

Daniel looked toward the stairs.

“Take the bag.”

“Why?”

“Because we're leaving.”

A sound came from above us.

A soft scrape.

Then another.

Someone was walking across the floor upstairs.

Daniel raised his weapon.

I clutched the documents against my chest.

The footsteps stopped directly above us.

Neither of us breathed.

Then something moved on the stairs.

Slowly.

One step.

Then another.

Daniel pointed his gun toward the darkness.

I tightened my grip on the knife.

A shadow appeared at the top of the stairs.

And then a voice whispered my name.

“Scarlett…”

My blood turned cold.

Because I knew that voice.

And it wasn't supposed to know I was alive.