Still Breathing

Chapter 15

Into the Jaws of Hell

The compound loomed before them, a sprawling maze of concrete and razor wire, silent and still in the gray dawn light. Rose felt a shiver crawl down her spine, a cold finger of dread tracing the nape of her neck. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to flee this eerie, lifeless place and never look back.

But they had come too far, fought too hard, to turn back now. Whatever answers lay within these walls, whatever horrors or hopes...they had to know. They had to see this through, for better or worse.

Beside her, Sebastian raised his rifle, his jaw set, his eyes hard and bright with determination. "Stay sharp," he murmured, his voice low and tense. "Watch the shadows, the doorways. If you see anything move...shoot first, ask questions later."

Rose nodded, her grip tightening on her own gun, the metal slick with her sweat. The others fanned out behind them, weapons at the ready, faces grim and pale in the weak light.

They approached the gates cautiously, hearts pounding, breath shallow in their chests. The towering metal doors stood open, gaping like a wound in the face of the compound. Beyond, only darkness and silence, a yawning void that seemed to swallow the very light.

Sebastian glanced at Rose, a question in his eyes, a silent plea for guidance, for reassurance. She met his gaze steadily, attempting a smile she didn't feel. "Together," she whispered, reaching out to brush her fingers against his. "No matter what."

He nodded, something fierce and tender blazing in the depths of his dark eyes. Then, squaring his shoulders, he stepped through the gates, into the waiting jaws of the unknown.

They moved through the compound like ghosts, picking their way over rubble and debris, the only sound the crunch of their footsteps, the rasp of their breathing. The buildings rose up on either side, dark and looming, their windows gaping like hollow eye sockets.

An eerie, unnatural silence hung over the place, thick and heavy, pressing down on them like a physical weight. No birdsong, no wind whistling through the abandoned streets. Just a sepulchral stillness, a sense of something holding its breath, waiting.

Watching.

They searched the buildings one by one, kicking in doors, sweeping through rooms with quick, efficient movements. They found signs of a battle, of a last, desperate stand. Bullet holes pockmarked the walls, spent casings littered the floors. Scorch marks and shattered glass, overturned furniture and pools of dried, rust-colored blood.

But no bodies. No corpses, no zombies. Just an unsettling absence, a void where life and death should have been.

They pushed deeper into the compound, dread and uncertainty growing with every step. The shadows seemed to flicker and dance at the corners of their vision, shapes that vanished when they turned to look head-on. Whispers that faded into silence, laughter that echoed from empty rooms.

And then...the command center. A large, open space filled with flickering monitors and scattered papers, a nerve center for the haven that once was. They entered cautiously, weapons sweeping the corners, hearts in their throats.

And there, on the far wall, scrawled in something dark and dried and flaking...a message. Five words that sent ice water flooding through Rose's veins, that dropped the bottom out of her world.

"The haven is a lie. The virus is inside."

For a long, stunned moment, they could only stare, the implications sinking in like poison, like rot. All this time, all this hope...for nothing. For worse than nothing.

For a trap. A lure. A den of horrors beyond imagining.

And then...the shadows moved. Rippled and writhed, as if alive. As if hungry.