The five minutes were almost up and Zane stood in front of Asagi and Zero with clenched fists, his eyes fixed on the ground. Nathan was already in the driver's seat and looked out of the window at the others on the street while he waited for Zane. Meanwhile, Asagi and Zero received a makeshift pistol and a bulletproof vest from the soldiers.

"Take care of the car. And see you later," Zero said goodbye to them and went to the soldiers.

"Take care of yourselves," Asagi said goodbye as well before joining Zero. Zane looked at Zero and Asagi who slowly moved away from him.

"Good luck!" Nathan waved to them while Zane continued to watch them, his fists still shaking.

It's just like before! I haven't changed at all! Zane cursed himself as they moved further and further away. I am still so weak! Am I always going to run away? If I lose her too ...

 "Are you coming Zane?" Nathan asked as Zane clenched his fists and followed Zero and Asagi.

"Hey wait!"

Zero turned as the still trembling Zane stopped in front of him. "Zero! I will accompany you!" He said a little out of breath. "Take me with you!" He asked Zero's permission, who looked at him in surprise.

"Are you sure?" Zero asked.

"Yes! Let me help you! I'm sure you can use a mage, right?" He tried to confirm his decision.

"What's going on now?" Nathan asked as the pickup drove up.

"I'm going to the hospital too!" Zane told him.

Nathan smiled at Zane's statement. "Well then, of course I'm coming too," Nathan nodded to Zero, who nodded back.

"What is this now?" Tyler asked as he got out of his ATBS.

"We have two more members," Zero said.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, Nathan and I will also help," Zane announced.

Meanwhile, two trucks with more soldiers and an ATBS had joined Tyler's unit. The battle, on the other hand, seemed to continue undeterred despite the possible outbreak.

"Well, if that's the case..." Tyler turned to his ATBS. "I don't have time to worry about it anymore, so I hope you can change your own nappy, Zane, because it's getting serious now," he waved at the group.

"You can count on us Tyler!" Zane called after him.

"I hope your seats are washable Zero," he looked back with a smile before returning to his ATBS.

"Hey!" Zane called after him with a sour face as Zero, Nathan and Asagi started to laugh. "What is it now?" Zane blushed.

"Nice to have you back with us Zane," Zero laughed.

"That's right," Nathan also laughed while Asagi looked at him with a smile.

"Thanks guys!" Zane said, still a little red in the face, but this time for a different reason.

"Everyone start with the briefing!" It echoed from the soldiers' position.

"OK! Here are our orders. We are using the standard outbreak protocol. Since the area of the outbreak is very small, management has decided that Phase 1 and Phase 2 will be carried out in parallel. Phase 1, the evacuation of the civilians, will be done by the other teams. We and another team will take over phase 2 and go to the hospital and try to contain the outbreak," Tyler explained the procedure in a military tone to those present as he stood in the cockpit of the kneeling ATBS.

"We, as well as everyone in the hospital, are all exposure class 1. So, prepare for the worst," Tyler looked at Zero as the soldiers looked at each other. "If possible, we should try to evacuate the civilians inside the hospital. Our top priority is to contain the outbreak before it spreads further! So don't come up with any stupid ideas! "This time Tyler's eyes were on the group around Zane. Zane swallowed, feeling Tyler's eyes on him increasing his nervousness.

"Any questions?" Tyler asked, his eyes sweeping over the tense soldiers. Many of them had never been in a fight, let alone a battle, and now they were faced with both a Teikoku attack and an escape.

"All right..." Tyler let the question rest and pressed a button in his cockpit. The chest of the kneeling ATBS, which housed the cockpit, closed under the whistling of the hydraulics and the 22-meter-high red colossus rose with a slight shake of the ground. Blue lights in the sensors on its head and chest began to glow as it picked up the rifle.

"Get up! The mission begins! "

"" "Yes sir," the soldiers replied in unison.

The convoy of ATBS and trucks moved slowly towards the main entrance of the hospital. The two ATBS secured the right and left flanks of the convoy, with three vehicles in the middle, flanked by soldiers. These included two military trucks and Zero's pickup, which was positioned between the two trucks and used by some of the soldiers as a rifle position.

It was only a few hundred meters to the main entrance, but the danger of being flanked and the poor visibility through the small park that stretched out in front of the hospital made a quick advance difficult. The slow advance also allowed them to fight safely and effectively against any infected people who crossed their path.

By now, most of the infected on the streets had been taken out by snipers positioned on the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Only their clothes and the black crystals lined the path of the train.

They were only a few meters from the entrance when Tyler's ATBS raised his left arm and signaled to stop. "This is where we take up position," he said through his loudspeaker. Immediately, the two armored trucks drove up and positioned themselves to the left and right of the entrance, forming a bottleneck. The soldiers followed and positioned themselves behind the trucks so that they could see the entrance. The second ATBS also took up a position on the right side of the truck, while Tyler covered the left.

Zero's truck, however, was a little offside, as Tyler had requested. Since they were officially civilians who had volunteered to help with the evacuation, Tyler wanted to keep them out of the potential battle and ordered them to flee if necessary.

Meanwhile, the entrance to the hospital was sealed, a security measure in the event of an outbreak or similar, designed to protect the people inside. But in this case, it locked the people inside. The lock could be opened from the inside, but this was probably not done. The steel lock still blocked the entrance. Cold sweat ran down Zero's back.

"Carol's probably okay," Asagi smiled at the others in the car to encourage them.

"Yes ..." Zero replied as a soldier approached the lock and went to a fuse box built into the wall.

He plugged a cable into his PDA and connected it to the terminal inside the fuse box. The terminal could only be operated in analogue mode to protect it from hacking. Since the AI riots, most vital facilities could only be operated by analogue or by constantly changing codes. The hospital could be unlocked from the city command post, but a special key was required in the event of an attack or outbreak. As this would take too long, it was accessed manually.

The soldier swiped and tapped his PDA as he gave a hand signal and the heavy steel bolt lifted. The lock went up and split down the middle, the lower half sinking into the ground. Behind it, the castle split vertically and the halves went off to the left and right. Behind it was another castle, moving up and down like the first. Just as the lock began to loosen, the soldier ran back from the terminal and the soldiers behind the trucks pointed their guns at the entrance as black sand and ash came out of the main entrance. It spread like smoke around the area before settling to the ground, where it was slowly carried away by the wind.

The soldiers nervously pointed their rifles at the emptiness of the main entrance, their fingers trembling on the triggers. A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Nothing moved except the black sand, which was slowly carried away by the wind. Time passed without movement when one of the soldiers gave a signal and the soldiers lowered their weapons and seemed to relax. Then one of the soldiers signaled to Zane and the others that they could join them.

"Here we go..." Zane said nervously as he saw the soldier wave.

When Zane and the others were halfway to the soldiers, a high-pitched scream that Zane was all too familiar with suddenly rang out from the hospital.

"Get in position!" One of the soldiers shouted, and all of them frantically turned their rifles back towards the entrance of the hospital.

The windows were locked, so there was little light in the entrance hall, which was already dimly lit by the emergency lighting. Footsteps could be heard in the distance. The soldiers' fingers twitched nervously on their rifles as shapes appeared in the hall, moving quickly towards them. The first figure emerged from the shadows and came out of the entrance. Immediately, the soldiers took aim at the figure that had stepped out of the shadows, and in the next moment screamed. Then more people rushed out of the hospital.

"Open fire!" One of the soldiers shouted.

A hail of bullets tore through the storming crowd. Some fell to the ground, but immediately got up. Others were only slowed by the bullets.

These are humans! "Wait, these are..." Zane shouted, begging the soldiers to stop as one by one they fell to the ground. Stop it! Please!

Just as Zane was about to scream again, the last person fell motionless to the ground. The barrels of the rifles smoked as they ceased firing at the soldier's command. A voice came from inside the building: "P... Please! Do not shoot!"

"Don't shoot!" The soldier who had given the order shouted.

When the guns finally stopped, a man stumbled out of the shadows of the entrance.

"Are you all right?" Zane yelled as soon as he saw the limping man. "Zero, quick! The man is hurt," he continued, not giving Zero or anyone time to react.

"I knew you would come to save us," the man said in an exhausted voice, a black trail of blood following the leg he was dragging behind him.

Suddenly, all the soldiers turned their guns on the man.

"What are you doing?" Zane shouted immediately, running towards the soldiers before being stopped by one of them. "That's a human, damn it!" Zane stopped.

"What's going on? Why are you pointing at me?" The man asked in astonishment as he put his hands up in front of him and froze.

His hands began to disintegrate, sand and ash, like those that had flowed from the entrance earlier, coming off his hands as they fell apart.

"He... help me!" The man pleaded desperately for help.

"Asagi, don't look!" Zero took her in his arms to protect her from the incident.

"Do something!" The man begged again when the rot already reached his throat. The lower part of his leg, which he had pulled behind him, broke and he fell to his knees.

"Just do something!" Zane shouted at the soldiers, who looked at each other in uncertainty.

Then a shot rang out, getting everyone's attention. In the next instant, the kneeling man fell forward to the ground, shattering like porcelain before completely disintegrating into ash and dust, like the other infected before him, leaving only a small black crystal.

Silence returned as Zane looked in shock in the direction the shot had come from.

Tyler was standing in the open cockpit, pistol in hand.