Six Hours to Keep Him Alive

The first thing I learned about military bunkers was that they were not, in fact, immune to screaming.

The second thing I learned was that soldiers swore just as much as ordinary people when the lights went out.

The third thing I learned was that, if a man was holding a loaded rifle in the dark and something started scratching at the other side of a steel door, you should probably avoid making jokes.

Unfortunately, I had never been particularly good at following sensible advice.

“Is this part of the welcoming ceremony?” I asked.

“Shut up,” someone snapped.

“Right. Very friendly.”

A hand caught my elbow.

“Commander, we need to move!”

I recognized the voice as the sergeant from the garage.

The emergency lights flickered on, bathing the room in a sickly red glow. Soldiers rushed toward the reinforced doors while another group hurried to the control panel.

Adrian stood in the center of the chaos, issuing orders as if the world weren't currently falling apart around us.

“Seal the eastern entrance. Get the surveillance feeds running. I want every access point monitored.”

“Yes, sir!”

“And nobody opens a door without my authorization.”

His gaze found mine.

“Especially for her.”

I blinked.

“Excuse me?”

He ignored me.

Oh, I was going to enjoy making his life difficult.

Assuming I didn't eat him first.

The thought came so naturally that my smile disappeared.

I pressed my hands against my stomach.

There was no stomach growling. No ordinary physical sensation to warn me that I was hungry.

The hunger simply existed.

A constant, gnawing pressure at the back of my mind.

It wanted blood.

It wanted flesh.

And the longer I stood in a room full of warm, breathing humans, the harder it became to pretend I was still one of them.

I stepped away from the nearest soldier.

He noticed.

His rifle swung toward me.

“Don't move!”

“I'm not moving.”

“Hands where I can see them!”

I raised both hands.

“Look, I understand that I'm not exactly winning any beauty contests right now, but could you stop pointing that thing at my face?”

“Sergeant,” Adrian said without turning around, “lower the weapon.”

“Sir, she's infected!”

“And you're repeating yourself. We all have our burdens.”

The sergeant lowered his rifle reluctantly.

I almost smiled.

Then a terrible crash shook the building.

Everyone froze.

Another crash followed.

Something slammed against the outer doors hard enough to rattle the hinges.

A soldier glanced at the surveillance monitor.

“Sir, we've got movement outside.”

“How many?”

The soldier swallowed.

“Too many to count.”

Adrian moved toward the screen.

I followed before I could think better of it.

The monitor displayed a grainy image of the street outside. People were running in every direction. Cars collided at the intersection, their headlights illuminating figures sprinting after terrified civilians.

Except the figures weren't running like ordinary people.

They moved too quickly.

Some climbed over vehicles without slowing down. Others threw themselves against shop windows, smashing through the glass to reach the people hiding inside.

One creature stood in the middle of the road.

It was wearing a torn blue coat.

Its head slowly turned toward the surveillance camera.

Toward us.

Even through the screen, I felt its attention settle on me.

My fingers went cold.

The creature opened its mouth.

A low, guttural sound came through the speakers.

Not a scream.

Not a growl.

A word.

“Mother.”

I stumbled backward.

“What the hell was that?”

Nobody answered.

The creature pressed its palm against the camera.

Then it began to laugh.

The feed went black.

A moment later, every monitor in the room shut down.

The emergency lights flickered.

And a notification appeared in front of my eyes.

[SPECIAL CONDITION DETECTED.]

[INFECTED ENTITY HAS ACKNOWLEDGED YOUR PRESENCE.]

[EVOLUTION PATH: UNKNOWN.]

I stared at the words.

The creature had called me Mother.

I was twenty-four years old, had never given birth, and had spent the last thirty minutes discovering that I was apparently a zombie with a complicated relationship with a mysterious computer program.

I was not prepared to be anyone's mother.

Especially not to that thing.

“Adrian.”

He looked at me.

“Did you hear it?”

“Yes.”

“What was that?”

“An infected.”

“I know it was infected! It was standing outside, looking at a camera, and calling someone Mother!”

His expression hardened.

“Forget what you heard.”

I laughed incredulously.

“Oh, absolutely. I'll simply forget the terrifying creature that apparently knows me. Anything else? Should I forget the fact that I died, too?”

His eyes held mine.

“You didn't die.”

For a second, I couldn't speak.

Then I stepped closer.

“I remember dying.”

“I know.”

“I remember the bite. I remember the blood. I remember not being able to breathe.”

“I know, Mara.”

“Then stop telling me I didn't die!”

My voice cracked on the final word.

The room seemed to fall silent around us.

Adrian studied me for a long moment.

Then, unexpectedly, he lowered his voice.

“You died once.”

His gaze dropped to my arm.

“But whatever brought you back hasn't finished with you.”

I wanted to slap him.

I wanted to demand answers.

Most of all, I wanted to stop being afraid.

Instead, I looked at the System.

Six hours.

That was how long I had to keep Adrian Cross alive.

And if the world continued falling apart at this rate, I suspected six hours might be an optimistic estimate.

“Put her in the containment room.”

I turned toward the soldier who had spoken.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and wearing a uniform with a captain's insignia. Unlike the sergeant, he didn't bother hiding his disgust when he looked at me.

“Sir,” he continued, addressing Adrian, “we cannot keep an infected person in the main command center.”

“I didn't ask for your opinion, Captain.”

“Commander, with all due respect, she's a biological threat.”

“Then we'll monitor the threat.”

“And if she turns?”

I raised my hand.

“Can I make a suggestion?”

Nobody acknowledged me.

“Lovely. I'll continue talking to myself.”

The captain pointed toward the hallway.

“Take her to containment.”

Two soldiers moved toward me.

I instinctively stepped back.

My body reacted before my mind could catch up.

The nearest soldier reached for my arm.

I caught his wrist.

A sharp crack echoed through the room.

He screamed.

I released him immediately.

“Oh, my God!”

He clutched his wrist against his chest.

I stared at my hand.

“I didn't mean to—”

The second soldier raised his rifle.

Adrian drew his pistol.

“Put it down.”

“Sir—”

“NOW.”

The weapon lowered.

I backed away, horrified.

I hadn't even used much force.

I hadn't wanted to hurt him.

But the moment he touched me, my body had responded with a speed and strength I couldn't control.

The System appeared.

[HOSTILE INSTINCTS: INCREASING.]

[HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS: 94%.]

[WARNING: AGGRESSIVE RESPONSES MAY REDUCE CONSCIOUSNESS.]

Ninety-four percent.

I stared at the number.

“What happens when it reaches zero?”

Adrian's head turned sharply.

“What?”

I pointed at the invisible screen.

“The percentage. My consciousness. What happens when it reaches zero?”

He went very still.

For the first time, I saw something close to fear in his eyes.

“Where did you see that?”

“Can we focus on the part where I'm apparently losing my mind?”

He approached me slowly.

“Tell me exactly what the System is showing you.”

I hesitated.

Then I repeated the messages.

His expression grew darker with every word.

When I finished, he turned toward the captain.

“Clear the command center.”

“Sir?”

“Everyone out. Now.”

The captain stared at him.

“You cannot be serious.”

Adrian's voice dropped.

“Would you like to test how serious I am?”

The captain's jaw tightened.

He gestured to the soldiers.

“Move.”

Within seconds, the room emptied, leaving only Adrian, me, and the wounded soldier being escorted to the medical wing.

Adrian waited until the door closed.

Then he looked at me.

“Listen carefully. Do not tell anyone about those messages.”

“Why?”

“Because if the wrong people discover what you can do, you won't survive the next twenty-four hours.”

I folded my arms.

“I'm already dead, remember?”

“Death is not the worst thing that can happen to you.”

Something about the way he said it made my skin crawl.

I glanced at the photograph still tucked into my pocket.

The words flashed through my mind.

SUBJECT M.V. — TERMINATION UNSUCCESSFUL.

I pulled it out.

Adrian's eyes narrowed.

“Where did you get that?”

“You gave it to me.”

“I mean, why do you still have it?”

“Because I haven't developed amnesia, unlike the mysterious people who apparently experimented on me.”

He took a slow breath.

“There are things about your condition you don't understand.”

“Then explain them.”

“I can't.”

I laughed.

“You know, for a man who keeps telling me he wants to help, you spend a remarkable amount of time refusing to help.”

“Because every answer I give you creates three more questions.”

“Try me.”

He looked at me for so long that I began to feel uncomfortable.

Then he said, “The last time you lost control, an entire research facility had to be evacuated.”

I stopped smiling.

“What?”

“You were not the only person involved in the experiment. There were others. Some of them died. Some of them became what you're seeing outside.”

My throat tightened.

“And me?”

His gaze moved to the black veins spreading across my arm.

“You were the only one who came back.”

The room seemed to tilt.

I gripped the edge of a nearby table.

“Came back from where?”

Adrian's silence was answer enough.

There was a past I didn't remember.

A past involving laboratories, experiments, and a man who looked at me as if he had already watched me die once.

I wanted to know everything.

But before I could ask another question, a piercing alarm sounded through the facility.

A voice crackled over the intercom.

“Security breach! Security breach in the lower corridor!”

Adrian's entire posture changed.

He drew his pistol.

“Stay here.”

I stared at him.

“Are you insane?”

“Mara.”

“No. Absolutely not. Every time someone tells me to stay somewhere, I end up nearly dying.”

“Then consider this an exception.”

He turned toward the door.

I followed.

He spun around.

“What are you doing?”

“Making a terrible decision, apparently.”

“Go back.”

“No.”

His jaw clenched.

For a second, I thought he might physically carry me back to the room.

Then the intercom crackled again.

“Commander, we have an infected inside the facility!”

Adrian's expression went cold.

“Stay behind me.”

I opened my mouth to argue.

Then I heard the screaming.

And for the first time since waking up, I was more afraid of what was happening around me than of what was happening inside my body.

The lower corridor smelled like blood.

A soldier lay against the wall, clutching his stomach. Another knelt beside him, shouting for a medic.

At the far end of the hallway, something moved.

It was a woman.

Or it had once been.

Her hospital gown hung in bloody strips around her legs. One side of her face had been torn open, exposing bone beneath the skin.

She stood perfectly still.

Her head tilted toward us.

Then she smiled.

I felt the hunger inside me respond.

Not with the usual desperate craving.

With recognition.

The woman looked directly at me.

Her lips moved.

“Mara.”

Adrian raised his pistol.

“Get behind me.”

The woman ignored him.

She took one step forward.

Then another.

“Mara Voss.”

My name sounded wrong in her mouth.

Too deliberate.

Too familiar.

I backed away.

“Who are you?”

The woman smiled wider.

“Little sister.”

My blood ran cold.

No.

That was impossible.

I had never seen her before.

I was sure of it.

But something deep inside me recognized the way she spoke. The slight pause between the words. The softness that seemed almost affectionate.

The same voice that had once whispered to me in the dark.

The same voice that had promised me I would never be alone.

A memory flashed through my mind.

White walls.

A glass window.

A hand pressed against the other side.

A woman crying.

Don't let them take you away from me.

I gasped.

The woman lunged.

Adrian fired.

The bullet struck her shoulder, spinning her sideways, but she didn't fall.

She moved with terrifying speed.

One moment, she was at the end of the corridor.

The next, she was on top of him.

They crashed against the wall.

His pistol skidded across the floor.

I heard the wet snap of teeth.

“ADRIAN!”

I ran.

I didn't think.

I didn't plan.

I simply moved.

The woman turned toward me, and I saw her face clearly for the first time.

Her eyes were pale gray.

Almost silver.

Just like Adrian's.

She smiled.

“There you are.”

Then she reached for me.

The hunger inside my body exploded.

My vision turned red.

For one horrifying second, I wanted to tear her apart.

I wanted to sink my teeth into her throat.

I wanted to hear her scream.

And beneath that terrible instinct, another feeling stirred.

Grief.

Old, familiar, and so powerful that it nearly brought me to my knees.

The woman touched my cheek.

“Don't you remember me?”

I couldn't speak.

The System appeared.

[UNKNOWN INFECTED ENTITY IDENTIFIED.]

[THREAT LEVEL: UNDETERMINED.]

[RELATIONSHIP TO HOST: SEALED.]

Then, beneath the warning, a new message appeared.

[SPECIAL MISSION: DO NOT KILL THE FIRST ONE.]

I stared at the words.

The first one.

The first what?

The woman leaned closer.

Her lips brushed my ear.

And she whispered the sentence that shattered whatever remained of my understanding of the world.

“You promised you'd wake me up, Mara.”

Then Adrian grabbed my arm and dragged me backward.

The woman screamed.

Every infected creature in the corridor answered.

And the System flashed one final warning.

[CRITICAL ERROR.]

[THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT HAS AWAKENED.]