The Scars of Progress

A shadow shifted just beyond the door, deliberate and purposeful. My fingers tightened around the baton as the shadow grew larger, stepping into the pale light. The figure was grotesque—an evolved Sunod.

It moved with an unnatural fluidity, its glowing, amber eyes locking onto mine. Its elongated limbs twitched as if testing its speed, its posture predatory. A faint growl emanated from deep within its chest, low and guttural, vibrating through the room.

I staggered back, my breath coming in ragged gasps. "Stay back," I muttered, raising the baton, though my voice lacked conviction.

The Sunod tilted its head, studying me, its lips curling back to reveal jagged, bloodstained teeth. It lunged without warning.

I swung the baton with all my strength, the impact reverberating through my arms as it connected with the creature's shoulder. It barely flinched. Its clawed hand lashed out, narrowly missing my face as I stumbled back into the shelves. Cans and boxes tumbled to the floor, clattering loudly.

"Damn it!" I hissed, ducking as it swiped again, this time my arm was grazed by the sharp end of a table. A searing pain shot through me, warm blood trickling down my sleeve.

The creature advanced, relentless. I scrambled for anything within reach, my hand landing on a heavy canister. With a desperate yell, I hurled it at the Sunod's head. The impact sent it reeling, buying me precious seconds.

I bolted for the doorway, heart hammering in my chest. Behind me, the Sunod snarled, its footsteps pounding against the floor as it gave chase.

"Come on, come on," I muttered, darting down the dim corridor. The emergency lights above flickered ominously, casting jagged shadows that seemed to reach for me. I ducked into a side passage, pressing myself against the wall, trying to steady my ragged breathing.

The Sunod's growl echoed, closer now. My eyes darted to a nearby fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. An idea formed, shaky and desperate.

As the creature rounded the corner, I ripped the extinguisher from its mount and pulled the pin, aiming directly at its face. A cloud of freezing white foam erupted, enveloping the Sunod. It shrieked, stumbling blindly, its claws swiping wildly at the air.

I didn't wait to see if it recovered. I sprinted down the corridor, ignoring the pain in my arm and the burning in my lungs. The door to the security room was just ahead. If I could make it inside and lock it, I'd have a chance.

The door groaned as I slammed it shut and threw the heavy latch into place. My knees buckled, and I slid to the floor, gasping for air. Outside, the Sunod's claws raked against the steel, its enraged growls muffled but unrelenting.

For now, I was safe. But as I pressed my back against the cold wall, clutching my injured arm, I knew it wouldn't be for long. The Sunods were relentless, and this one was just a taste of what was coming.

I glanced at the broken monitors lining the walls. Their cracked screens flickered with distorted images of the plant's corridors. One by one, the Sunods were converging, drawn to the noise.

"No one's coming to save you," I whispered bitterly, gripping the baton tighter. My voice echoed in the hollow room, a grim reminder that I was on my own.

The air in the security room hung heavy, each breath carrying the stench of mildew and rot. The broken monitors flickered, casting erratic, ghostly images on the walls. My fingers hovered over the console, trembling as the faint static of the old emergency comm link crackled to life.

And then, a voice—strained, barely audible. "...hello?"

My breath caught. The world around me seemed to freeze. I leaned closer, my heart pounding in my ears. "Marisol?" My voice came out hoarse, almost a whisper, as though speaking too loudly might shatter the fragile connection.

"Elias?" Her voice cracked, disbelief giving way to a sharp urgency. "Where are you? What's happening over there?"

I slumped back against the console, its cold edge biting into my spine like a cruel reminder of reality. The monitors flickered erratically, each distorted frame painting the same nightmare—a chaotic tapestry of shattered glass, blood-smeared walls, and shadows moving with an unnatural gait. The weight of it all pressed down on me, suffocating and unrelenting.

My throat felt like sandpaper, each word scraping as it escaped. "I'm still here," I said, my voice rough and hollow. The admission tasted bitter, like ash. "At the facility."

I hesitated, staring at the static-laced screens. A part of me wanted to lie, to give her some fragile sliver of hope. But the truth was a relentless tide, too powerful to hold back.

"They're gone, Marisol." My voice dipped to a whisper, barely audible. "Everything's gone. The virus... it's everywhere." My chest tightened, and the words caught like thorns in my throat. "It's taken everything. Our team, our friends..." I paused, my gaze dropping to the bloodstained floor. "Our dreams."

For a moment, only the crackle of the comm and the erratic hum of failing lights filled the suffocating silence. The air was thick, oppressive, and the metallic tang of blood lingered like an unwelcome guest. Beyond the reinforced walls, a guttural screech tore through the stillness—a sound too raw, too human to dismiss, yet grotesquely twisted into something unrecognizable.

Her silence was louder than any scream, but the faint sound of her breathing on the other end reached me. It was steady, deliberate—an anchor struggling to stay firm against the storm of fear.

"How long have you been alone?" she asked finally, her voice tight with barely restrained worry.

"Too long." My hand dragged across my face, fingers scraping against the grit and grime that had become a second skin. "I should have seen it coming," I muttered, each word tasting like ash. "I should've stopped it before it got this far. But now..." My voice wavered, caught between confession and despair. My eyes locked onto the cracked screens, distorted images flickering like ghosts of the facility's past. The Sunods roamed the halls, their shadows flickering in the dim light like nightmares brought to life.

"It's too late, Marisol," I whispered, my voice barely audible over the static. "They're everywhere. The Sunods, the infected—they've taken everything. They've taken everyone." My throat tightened, and the words clawed their way out. "I was too late. I can't fix this. I can't undo what we did."

A bitter laugh escaped me, but it wasn't humor. It was hollow, a sound swallowed by the oppressive stillness of the room, as useless as shouting into a void.

"You're not alone in this, Elias." Her voice cut through my spiral, firm and unyielding, like a blade tempered by fire. "We all made this mistake. But you're still here. You're alive. And that means something." Her tone hardened, steel laced with resolve. "We can still fix this. Together."

Her words hit me like a jolt, but doubt lingered, heavy and suffocating. What could I do? The facility was no longer a place of innovation and progress; it was a tomb, crawling with horrors born of our hubris.

"They're evolving, Marisol," I said, my voice shaking despite my best effort to steady it. "The Sunods aren't just mindless anymore. They're... adapting. Learning. The evolved ones—they're worse. Smarter. Faster. Deadlier."

A low, guttural growl echoed faintly from the corridor outside, freezing me in place. My pulse quickened as I reached for the baton resting on the console.

"Elias?" Marisol's voice pulled me back. "Where are you?"

I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening around the weapon. "I'm... in one of the security rooms. The old wing. It's still functional, but not for long. Where are you?"

"I'm at a warehouse near the old port of Cebu City," Marisol said quickly, urgency lacing her words. "We've taken it over and made it our headquarters. I've been working on a solution, but I need data from the main wing. If the virus... is mutating faster than we ever imagined, then we must stop it soon, it won't just be this facility, Elias. The entire world will fall."

Her words landed like a sledgehammer, each one heavier than the last, pressing down on my chest. But there was no time to let the weight settle. Dread was a luxury I couldn't afford.

"I'll get to the main wing," I said, surprising myself with the steadiness in my voice. I grabbed a comms device in the table and wore it in my left ear "Stay on the comms. Guide me if you can."

"Elias," she warned, her voice trembling despite her resolve, "if an evolved one finds you..."

"I'll handle it," I interrupted, the bravado in my tone masking the chill that ran down my spine.

The comm went silent, leaving me alone with the faint buzz of flickering lights and the oppressive quiet of the facility. I forced myself upright, ignoring the stiffness in my limbs and the dull ache that had settled in my joints after hours of hiding in the shadows.

The corridor outside loomed like a maw, dark and unwelcoming. The only illumination came from the sporadic flicker of overhead fixtures, casting jagged shadows that danced like specters. The air was thick with the stench of decay—metallic, acrid, suffocating.

A faint scrape echoed down the hall, the sound of something sharp dragging against concrete. Then came the growl—a deep, guttural rumble that raised every hair on my body.

I crept forward, gripping the baton I got from the security room so tightly, my knuckles ached. The faint glow at the end of the corridor revealed a shifting shadow, then another. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as a figure emerged from the darkness.

It was an evolved Sunod. Not sure if this was the one I encountered earlier.

Its elongated limbs seemed to stretch unnaturally. Muscles rippled beneath its sickly gray skin, and its glowing eyes scanned the corridor with unsettling intelligence. Its claws, long and jagged, clicked against the floor with every step.

I pressed my back to the wall, holding my breath. The creature paused, sniffing the air, its head snapping toward me with an almost mechanical precision.

"Shit," I muttered under my breath, my pulse racing.

The Sunod let out a low growl, its maw parting to reveal rows of jagged teeth slick with blood. It began to stalk forward, deliberate and unhurried, as though savoring the hunt.

With no way to retreat, I tightened my grip on the baton and stepped into its path. "Let's get this over with," I muttered, my voice barely above a whisper.

It lunged, faster than I'd anticipated. I ducked, the air hissing past my face as its claws sliced through the empty space where I'd been. Swinging upward, I struck its jaw with all my strength, the impact sending a jolt up my arms.

The Sunod barely flinched. Its glowing eyes locked onto mine, and it snarled, saliva dripping from its twisted maw.

"Not good," I muttered, sidestepping as it swiped again. This time, I slammed the baton against its side, the strike reverberating through the hall. It staggered, but only for a moment.

Then I saw it—a pulsating wound near its neck, raw and exposed. A weakness.

The Sunod roared, charging again. I dodged its claws by a breath and swung the baton with all the force I could muster. The blow struck the wound, and the creature let out an ear-splitting shriek, its body convulsing violently.

It thrashed, its claws tearing into the walls, sparks flying as it struck exposed wires. The flickering lights strobed wildly, casting chaotic shadows. With a final, guttural cry, it collapsed, its body jerking once before falling still.

I stood over it, my chest heaving, the baton shaking in my hands. The hallway fell silent again, save for the erratic hum of the lights.

"Elias?" Marisol's voice crackled through the comm, her tone a fragile mix of relief and worry.

"I'm fine," I said, though the tremor in my voice betrayed my exhaustion.

"Be careful," she said softly, her voice trembling on the edge of breaking. "Please... don't die." I could hear the effort it took to hold back her tears, each word heavy with unspoken fear.

I nodded, even though she couldn't see it, tightening my grip on the baton until my knuckles ached. "Dying's not on my agenda," I said, forcing a small, wry smile into my tone. "You still owe me that coffee date, remember? The one Dr. Ethan Carter so rudely interrupted when he breaks into the facility?"

A faint, shaky laugh crackled through the comm, a fleeting moment of warmth in the cold reality we faced.

"I'll get the data, Marisol. Just hold on and stay safe. I'll see you soon."

With that, I stepped forward, the oppressive shadows of the main wing swallowing me whole as the weight of what lay ahead settled on my shoulders.