Infected Realms

Chapter 20: The Breaking Point

The forest closed in around them as Evelyn and Maya pushed forward, their lungs burning and their bodies aching from the relentless flight. The distant sounds of pursuit had faded, but neither of them dared to stop. The loss of Marcos weighed heavily on Evelyn, her chest tight with grief, but she couldn't afford to break down now. Not when the stakes were so high.

The trees thinned as they neared the edge of the woods, the dark sky above them starting to lighten with the faintest hint of dawn. Evelyn's mind was racing, trying to piece together a plan. They had lost so much, and now that Marcos was gone, the energy was spreading faster than they could contain. But there had to be a way to stop it—there had to be something they were missing.

Maya was panting beside her, exhaustion written all over her face. "We... we need to stop," she gasped, finally slowing to a halt as they reached a clearing at the forest's edge. "Just for a minute."

Evelyn reluctantly stopped beside her, her muscles screaming in protest. She doubled over, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. The memory of Marcos's transformation was still fresh, haunting her every thought.

"I can't believe we lost him," Evelyn whispered, her voice trembling. "I should've done something. There had to be a way to save him."

Maya, still catching her breath, shook her head. "There was nothing you could've done. He was already too far gone." She looked at Evelyn, her expression hard but filled with empathy. "We have to focus on stopping this. It's spreading faster than we anticipated. If we don't figure out how to close the breaches, more people are going to end up like Marcos."

Evelyn stood upright, her mind still reeling from the events of the night. "The breaches... they're at the core of all of this. If we could find the source, maybe we could stop the energy from spreading."

"But how?" Maya asked, her voice laced with frustration. "Lila's team was supposed to help us, but now we're on our own. We don't even know where to start."

Evelyn's eyes narrowed as she looked out over the horizon, the distant glow of the rising sun casting long shadows over the landscape. "We need to go back. To the facility."

Maya's eyes widened in disbelief. "Back to the facility? Are you crazy? That place is a death trap now. The creatures, the energy breaches—it's all out of control."

"I know," Evelyn replied, her voice resolute. "But it's the only place where we can find answers. Whatever started this, it all began there. We can't keep running and hiding. We have to face it head-on."

Maya hesitated, glancing back toward the darkened forest as if expecting another creature to emerge at any moment. "And what if we don't make it back out? What if it's worse than we think?"

Evelyn's jaw tightened. "We won't have a world left to hide in if we don't stop this. I'm not giving up. Marcos wouldn't have wanted that."

Maya sighed heavily, running a hand through her tangled hair. "All right. If we're doing this, we need a plan. And we can't go in unarmed. We'll need to gather supplies, weapons, anything we can get our hands on."

Evelyn nodded, determination burning in her chest. "We find what we need, and then we head back to the facility. We end this."

***

The journey to the facility was perilous. They had managed to scavenge supplies from an old hunting cabin near the edge of the forest, arming themselves with what little they could find—an old hunting rifle, a few rounds of ammunition, and a couple of knives. It wasn't much, but it was better than going in completely unprepared.

The facility loomed ahead of them as they approached, its skeletal remains still standing in defiance of the collapse. The air around it was thick with a strange energy, the same humming, pulsing vibration that had haunted them throughout their journey. The closer they got, the more oppressive the atmosphere became, as though the facility itself was alive, waiting for them to return.