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The creatures approached inexorably, stumbling slowly but surely.

Zane froze, his hands shaking. Memories he thought he had repressed surfaced in his mind and sweat ran down his forehead.

What was he going to do?

He had no weapon, he could use magic, but should he?

Should he attack them?

What kind of creatures were they right in front of him?

Were they humans?

Were they monsters?

Why were they here at all?

What was their goal?

Did they even have a purpose?

All these thoughts raced through Zane's mind in a split second as a familiar voice ripped him from his thoughts:

"Zane! Get out of here!" Zero grabbed Zane's jacket and dragged him away. Zane, still deep in thought, just followed the pull of his jacket. Nathan and Asagi were about to run towards them when Zero came running back with Zane and signaled them with a frantic hand gesture to stay there. In no time, the two had put a few meters between themselves and the stumbling creatures that were still coming towards them.

"Get in, now!" Zero shouted only a few meters away from the pickup.

Asagi immediately got back into the pickup while Nathan hesitated: "Zero, what is this?"

"Head down!" they heard from the distance. Immediately, Zero pushed Zane's head down as they walked back to the car. There was the sound of a gun firing.

The bullet pierced the first creature, leaving a large hole in the left side of its chest. The force of the hit tore off its left arm, which flew through the air before the creature itself was thrown back a few meters and landed on the ground.

Alarmed, Nathan turned with his hands over his head in the direction of the shot. Several soldiers and Tyler's distinctive red ATBS, which they had encountered earlier at the barricade, hurried in their direction. The shot that killed the first creature must have come from Tyler's rifle, as no other rifle used by the soldiers could have made such a wound. The bullets of the ATBS weapons were correspondingly larger and often of armor-piercing class, as they were mostly used against other armored vehicles or ATBS.

As soon as the first creature went down, more shots were heard and the next creature fell to the ground. Panicked, Nathan ducked to avoid being hit by a ricochet. Asagi in the pickup also put his hands over his head.

Meanwhile, the first creature tried to get up again, its arm nowhere to be found. A few more bullets hit it and the creature fell again. Black ash or dust came from its wounds, but not only from the wounds. The base of the severed arm also seemed to dissolve into black dust. The dust spread from the wounds all over its body, and before the creature hit the ground it had completely disintegrated into dust.

Where the creature had once stood, there was now only a pile of dust on the ground, carried away by the wind, with only the clothes remaining in the wind.

"Nathan, get in there!" Zero shouted as he and Zane finally reached the car.

"What is this?" Nathan asked, still hesitating to get into the car.

The color drained from Nathan's face as Zero replied: "Infected! Come on!"

Zero glanced in the direction of the infected, who were being shot down one by one by the oncoming soldiers, while Zane frantically jumped over the bonnet and sat back in the pickup. "Buckle up," Zero said in a serious voice as he closed the driver's door.

The tyres screeched from the sudden acceleration as Zero shifted into gear and floored the accelerator. The pick-up lurched for a moment before roaring back at full speed in the direction they had come from. They were only a few meters away from the soldiers. They signaled Zero, who had stopped a few meters behind the soldiers, to stop by waving his hand.

"Are you all OK?! The soldier who rushed up to them asked out of breath as Zero pulled down the window.

"Thank you, we're all fine," he replied.

Immediately, the soldier's gaze flickered through the car and fell on Zane, who was shivering and staring into space in the passenger seat. "Are you sure?"

"Zane." Asagi put her hands on his shoulders from behind and he jumped.

"Yes, it's just the shock," Zero assured the soldier of Zane's integrity.

"Ok," the soldier let out a little relieved.

"Wait here, I'll be right back," the soldier said goodbye, intending to run back to his unit, which had taken up position a few meters away.

"What's going to happen now?" Zero asked the soldier, who was about to wave him off: "I have to go to the hospital." The soldier paused and stared back at Zero, a little confused. It wasn't just the soldier, everyone else in the car was staring at Zero as well. Sensing the stares, Zero added, "I'm a medic."

The small PDA on the soldier's forearm lit up and the soldier looked at his comrades, who gave him a hand signal. "Hey guys," Tyler switched from his ATBS to the screen in the pickup's center console. The prisoners and the soldier looked at the screen as Tyler began to explain the situation:

"It looks like we're staying here for now. We're just reporting. "

"What just happened?" Nathan asked immediately, waiting for Tyler's explanation.

"It seems we have an outbreak here," Tyler dropped the bomb, confirming Zero's guess. "We're still working out the extent of it, depending on whether we can contain it ourselves or not, but we're still waiting for the exact instructions. We will probably go to the hospital to assess the situation there.

"What about the people in the evacuation bunker?" Asagi joined the conversation.

"They will be evacuated as soon as we have clarified the situation. They should be safe for now," the soldier explained.

"We could use your help but ..." Tyler continued, his gaze clearly fixed on Zane through the screen.

"But what?" Nathan asked, getting over the initial shock as Zero put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling of the pickup.

"I don't want to involve graduates and civilians in a military action, let alone an outbreak... That's too big for you, I can't answer for it. Even if it's just to help with the evacuation," Tyler's eyes wandered over the occupants of the car. "Besides, Ben would kill me if anything happened to any of you," he laughed lightly.

Nathan calmed down while Asagi, who was still trying to calm Zane, looked at Zero.

"OK! I'll get back to you with the evacuation information. You can join us again," Tyler said goodbye while he gave the soldier the order to return.

The soldiers under Tyler's command had positioned themselves at a corner of the building from where they could overlook most of the entrances to the outbuildings as well as the main entrance to the hospital. Only the trees in the park in front of the hospital obscured the view a little. The infected who had earlier made their way towards Zero and Zane were now all gone. The only evidence of the creatures were the vinous black crystals that could be seen between the remains of their clothing.

"So, what do we do now?" Zero put his hands back on the wheel and turned to the others. "What do you think, Zane?" He asked cautiously, while Zane looked down at his clenched fists in panic.

"Huh?" He was startled. "What? Me? I... I... Um..." he struggled for words.

"Calm down, Zane. Everything's fine," Zero tried to calm him down.

"I ... I'm sorry..." he apologized. "I..."

"It's OK, Zane," he patted his shoulder gently and turned back.

"Nathan?" Zero released Zane, who was still struggling with himself and the situation.

"I'm not sure..." Nathan hesitated. "I mean, Tyler's right, we're fresh out of the Academy and not even that, we don't even have a degree. Now we are not only facing an attack by the Teikoku, but also a possible outbreak," he analyzed. "I think it's really too much for us," Nathan added hesitantly, his eyes fixed on the still trembling Zane.

"You're probably right," Zero looked out of the window at the street in front of him as his gaze fell on the rear-view mirror. "What about you, Asagi? Are you all right?" He turned to face her. She seemed to be unsure as well and said hardly anything.

"Me? I mean, I agree with Nathan, but..." she also began to hesitate, as if trying to find her courage. "If you want to get Carol, I'll go with you!"

Zero jumped at her statement. Everyone in the car knew what Zero meant but only Asagi said it out loud. No one blamed him for wanting to get Carol, but the situation had changed drastically.

"Thank you, Asagi," he smiled a little worried. "But I would prefer if ...", he started to say when Tyler appeared on the screen again and interrupted him.

"About your evacuation ..." Tyler came straight to the point. "The evacuation point at the hospital has been officially cancelled and all civilians should go to the base or the Academy," he said in a serious voice. "The best thing to do is to report to the castle, they will collect the civilians there and escort them to the evacuation point on the base. So, take ... "Tyler was about to say goodbye when Zero interrupted:

"Tyler, I'm coming with you, I have to go to the hospital!" Zero repeated what he had already told the soldier.

"What?"

"I'm a medic, I can help you with the evacuation and besides, Carol might still be in there."

"How do you know that?" Tyler asked, reluctantly accepting the idea.

"She didn't respond to the message I sent her right after the alarm," he explained to Tyler.

"All right," Tyler accepted Zero's concern after a while. "We could use all the help we can get, but it's your decision. You can always change your mind and go to the evacuation point," he reminded Zero.

"All right, thanks, Tyler."

"I'm coming too," Asagi interjected.

"You too?" Tyler asked confused.

"Asagi, I would prefer that you go to the evacuation point with the others," Zero tried to dissuade her.

"Carol is my friend too, Zero! I want to help too," she argued as Zane looked around uncertainly.

"I don't want you to put yourself in danger," Zero tried to convince her.

"It's my decision Zero, please let me help you," she countered. Zero ran his hand through his hair and scratched his head as his and Zane's eyes met.

Zero smiled at Zane and turned back to the back seat. "Nathan, would you please go back to the castle with Zane?" Nathan was about to follow when he was stopped by Zero's request. He understood immediately what Zero was getting at. "All right, we'll help with the evacuation there," Nathan said in a way that Zane wouldn't feel completely useless.

Still unable to control his shaking body, Zane tried to argue, "I... I..." but was interrupted by Tyler.

"OK, I guess that's settled then. We'll move on in five minutes and secure access to the hospital. Until then you can change your mind."

"Alright," Asagi and Zero replied.

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