The group ran along the arrows on the walls and floor and past cameras down the aisle. The damage to the corridor diminished as they moved further from the hole and the source of the explosion. The lights worked and illuminated the corridor, and the screens that were supposed to direct the civilians outside were also lit and showed the way to the exit.

"Where are we going?" Asked Zane, who was running behind the others.

“To the western exit,” replied the soldier.

"What's next?" Asked Nathan.

"We should meet the evacuation troops soon, then we will probably support them until there are new orders," said the lieutenant, a little out of breath.

They ran on and passed one of the intermediate gates that shielded the bunkers inside the hospital from each other and from the outside.

Suddenly they heard a voice calling in the distance.

"Halt!" Responded the lieutenant. Immediately they all stopped and raised their weapons. Unsure of what they had heard, they looked around when the voice shouted out again.

"Help us!"

Zane looked in the direction from which the voice was calling them and saw a hand waving in the distance.

“Up there!” He exclaimed, pointing into the side passage.

“There's someone else,” added the soldier.

"Please! Help us!” Someone shouted from the door. "We have injured people here."

"We're coming!" Zane immediately burst into a sprint without waiting for the others.

"Wait! Zane!” Nathan called after him.

"Thank the Architect for coming," said the voice through the crack in the door. It was a slightly older gentleman. "My name is Shaw, I'm one of the evacuation workers," he showed his ID, which he pulled out of his pants with a trembling hand.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of here!" Zane began, while joyful voices of civilians could be heard from the bunker, who were happy about Zane's arrival and hoped to get out of the bunker soon.

"Why have you not been evacuated yet?" Asked the lieutenant in amazement when he and the others arrived at the door.

"When the explosion hit the bunker, some of the civilians were injured and while we were taking care of them, the doors shut and locked us in," he began to describe the events. "Shortly after that we heard terrible noises and when the doors opened again, we didn't dare to leave."

"But why?" Asked Zane, who was kneeling in front of the door.

"When we were about to flee west of the bunker ..." Shaw swallowed.

"Has something happened?" Asked the lieutenant.

"Some of us went ahead when we met them ... There they were ... the monsters!" He began to tremble.

"Monster? Infected? "

"They attacked us ..." he shivered. "We fled and ran back to the bunker, but ... but unfortunately not everyone made it ...", Shaw grabbed his shirt and pressed his hand together.

"You couldn't have done anything," Zane tried to calm him down.

"Yes ... we are powerless against these monsters ...", he said as he turned to the people behind him. All of them were under his protection and yet he had failed to protect some. Now they looked at him frightened.

It was then that he realized what the desperate words he had addressed to Zane and the lieutenant were doing to the people who heard them. Inadvertently he had dampened their confidence in a safe evacuation.

"Sorry," he said clearly so that the civilians behind him could hear it. "I didn't mean to unsettle you," he cleared his throat.

"It's okay," said Nathan.

"But now that you are here, we don't have to worry anymore," he began as he looked at Zane and Nathan. "You are very young, are you from the academy?"

"Exactly!" Zane replied with a grin.

"We're magicians from this year's graduation class," added Nathan.

"The magicians will save us!" Echoed from the bunker and people started talking to each other. Reports of Nathan's and Zane's fighting on the final exam spread across the room.

"Are there any more bunkers that haven't been evacuated yet?" Asked the lieutenant as Shaw led them into the bunker. The conversations were now silent and given way to a whisper, as some of the civilians saw Asagi walking behind Zero. Asagi was close behind Zero, almost hiding behind him. But her horns in particular seemed a bit unsettling to most people.

"Yes, some of the adjacent bunkers have not yet been evacuated either," Shaw explained as he led them into the bunker.

"Weren't the evacuation troops here yet?" Asked Nathan.

“No, but we have heard from other bunkers that some have already been evacuated. So we stayed here waiting."

Asagi, meanwhile, stayed closely behind Zero, who followed Shaw like the others. He directed them to the center of the room. In one of the corners, they saw a little girl crying.

"It was the right decision to wait for us," began the lieutenant. “Do you have seriously injured people? We have a paramedic with us,” he pointed at Zero, who looked at Asagi, who in turn approached the little girl.

Shaw was startled and wanted to run to the girl when Zero stopped him with a hand gesture and also walked toward the girl.

"Shall we really ...", Shaw turned to the lieutenant.

“What is your problem anyway? Just because she's a demon?” Zane snorted at Shaw, who looked at him in amazement.

"Is everything okay?" Asagi leaned towards the girl.

The girl looked up with her watery eyes and shrank back at Asagi's horns, startled. Asagi also backed away a bit unsettled when Zero bent down to her and the girl.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you," he smiled at the girl.

"What's going on?" Asagi continued hesitantly after Zero had nudged her. "Are you here alone?"

"Mmm," the girl sniffed.

"Where are your parents?" Asked Zero

"I don't know."

"She was separated from her parents during the evacuation," a person nearby told them. "They have reported, but we have not been able to see them yet because of the infected."

"Oh," Zero replied when he turned back to the girl. "Do you want to stay with us until we have can find your parents?"

"Mmm," the girl nodded, sniffing.

"OK, will you stay with Asagi then?" He smiled at her, who looked a little shyly at Asagi and her horns. Asagi began to look away as Zero continued.

"Don't worry, she's a lovely demon," he took the girl's hand and slowly led her to Asagi's, who after a delay also held out her hand. The girl grabbed Asagi's hand, held it tight, and looked at Asagi, who gave her a smile.

Suddenly the girl burst into tears and hugged Asagi, who was a bit startled at first but then took her into her arms. Asagi looked at Zero, who nodded with a smile and then went back to Zane and the others.

Thanks, Zero, Asagi hugged the girl and stroked her back to calm her down.

Shaw and the lieutenant looked at Zero. When the latter joined them again, the lieutenant continued, “Where were we? Yes, Zero is a paramedic... "

Shaw eyed Zero as if trying to remember something before the lieutenant's words snapped him out of his mind.

"Oh yes! We have them over there,” he pointed to the furthest corner of the room, which was separated from the rest by a half-height wall. "I don't think there are any seriously injured people."

"OK, I'll check on them," Zero turned away.

"Wait, I'll help you," Zane followed while Shaw watched them go.

"Is there something wrong?" Asked the lieutenant.

"Ah nothing ..." he turned back to him. "Did you say Zero?"

Zero walked towards the corner where the injured were housed while everyone was looking at him. Then someone caught his eye.

"Carol?!" he ran off.

"What?" Zane looked after him in amazement when he saw Carol too.

Nathan and Asagi immediately went to Zero with the girl by the hand and saw Carol lying on the floor. Her left arm had been roughly bandaged. She seemed to be injured on the head and was covered by a blanket and sleeping on a sheet.

Zero knelt in front of her and immediately began to check her pulse when he sat down on the floor, relieved. A sigh escaped him as the lieutenant and Shaw joined them.

"Is that your friend?" Asked the lieutenant.

"Yes, we're here because of her," Nathan explained while watching Zero take care of Carol.

Zero looked around between the injured, it was mostly just scratches or small lacerations caused by falls or some fallen ceiling parts. Only Carol seemed to be much more wounded, which is why he prioritized her.

“Zane, take some bandages out of your pocket and distribute them to people with lacerations, they should put pressure on the wounds. When you're done with that, help them put the bandages on.” He instructed him. "Should you need any help, let me know. Carol doesn't seem badly injured, but I still want to be sure. "

"Is Carol okay?" Asagi asked, who began to squeeze the girl's hand a little tighter. The girl looked at her in amazement.

"Yes, everything seems to be fine, but she is more injured than the others..."

"I can explain that," Shaw said. "She's not from this bunker."

"What?" Wondered Zane and turned to Shaw.

“We found her on the ground just before we met the Infected and had to retreat. She probably fled from them before falling. She had that with her,” he pointed to the PDI next to Carol.

That's why she couldn't get in touch with me, thought Zero, looking at the bloodied PDI. The screen was torn and wasn't in good condition. The blood seemed to have entered the internal components through the gaps. It was questionable whether it would still work at all.

"Ah, then we have to thank you," Zane smiled at Shaw. "Thank you for saving Carol and the others!"

"Thank you very much." "Thank you." Added Asagi and Nathan and Zero nodded his thanks to Shaw from the distance.

“Nothing to thank for, that's my job as the person in charge,” he waved them off.

“Still, thank you very much. Carol means a lot to us and especially to Zero,” said Zane.

"I see ...", Shaw looked at Zero, who began to replace the frantically applied bandages.

"Have all the injured been taken care of?" Asked the lieutenant when Zero came back to them and wiped his hands with a cloth.

“Everyone is taken care of, yes. Fortunately, there are only bruises and a few lacerations. But I can't say anything for sure, they should be examined, maybe there are internal injuries after all. "

"Can they be moved?"

"Everyone except Carol is able to walk, yes, some might need a little help, but it shouldn't be a problem."

"All right, then we will begin the evacuation," said the lieutenant clearly so that everyone in the bunker could hear it.

"Are we evacuating?" Asked Zane.

"Yes, the support troops are not far away, we should be able to lead the people to them."

“What about Carol? She's still unconscious", Zane continued.

"I'll carry her," Zero replied.

"Are you sure?" Asked Nathan.

"Sure, it's not far," Zero assured him. "She's not that heavy after all."

"Now we will surely find your parents soon," Asagi leaned down to the little girl.

"Really?" Said the little girl, whose eyes began to shine.

"What about the Infected?" Objected Shaw, worried about the people's safety. "When we tried earlier, we were stopped by them."

"Don't worry, we didn't meet any infected people on the way and the other troops didn't meet any either," the Lieutenant tried to reassure Shaw. “We assume that they have already disintegrated. Everyone who can handle a weapon, please come here,” he turned into the bunker.

"What about the fighting below?" Nathan whispered in the lieutenant's ear. While some men and students went to the other soldier, to whom he handed over the two remaining weapons that Zero and Asagi had brought with them after showing their PDI.

“If we leave the civilians here, they might be drawn in too, so we'll make sure they get out of the line of fire as quickly as possible. Perhaps we owe it to these fights that we did not meet any infected people."

"That's possible, yes," agreed Nathan and looked at Zane, who was obviously asking questions similar to Nathan, and nodded to him, assuring him that he had discussed everything with the lieutenant.