Undead Rewind

Chapter 4: The Secret Beneath

The squad stood in silence, staring at the faint outline of the emergency exit as they made their way out of the cold, oppressive facility. Their steps echoed, but the tension between them was far louder. Each member was lost in their thoughts, minds reeling from the discovery they had just uncovered—the creatures, the experiments, and the undeniable fact that the apocalypse was no accident.

Leo glanced over his shoulder, his eyes lingering on the facility they were leaving behind. The bunker wasn't just a place of death—it was a tomb of secrets, and they had only scratched the surface.

"Do you think we'll be able to tell anyone?" Jenna finally broke the silence, her voice low and uncertain. "About... what we found?"

Marcus, ever pragmatic, tightened his grip on his rifle. "Who's left to tell?" he said bitterly. "And even if we could, do you really think anyone's going to believe us?"

Leo remained silent. The truth weighed heavily on his mind. The files, the videos, and the creature they had faced—they weren't just remnants of a failed experiment. They were evidence of something far more sinister. Something that couldn't be buried by walking away.

As they reached the exit, Sophie suddenly froze in place, her eyes wide as if she had just remembered something. "Wait," she muttered, spinning around to face the group.

"What is it?" Leo asked, his voice tense.

"I didn't get a chance to copy all the data," Sophie said. "There were deeper files—encrypted, hidden beneath layers of security. I saw the structure, but there wasn't enough time to dig through it all before... well, you know."

Leo's brow furrowed. "Deeper files?"

Sophie nodded, her expression grim. "What we found—the creature, the experiments—that's not the full story. There's something more. Something they were trying to hide even from themselves."

Jenna looked horrified. "We barely made it out alive, Sophie. And now you're telling us there's more? What are we supposed to do about it?"

"We can't just leave it," Sophie insisted. "If there's even the slightest chance that something worse is out there..."

Leo exhaled slowly, his mind racing. It was tempting to leave it all behind, to focus on survival. But the thought of walking away from whatever dark truth still lay buried in that facility gnawed at him.

"What do you think?" Marcus asked, looking to Leo for guidance.

Leo clenched his fists, the weight of leadership pressing down on him. He remembered the faces of the people who had died—the friends, the strangers, the innocents caught in the chaos. If this outbreak had been caused by some group's twisted ambitions, how many more lives would be destroyed if they didn't uncover the full truth?

"We have to go back," Leo said quietly. "Not now—but we can't leave this unfinished."

The others exchanged uneasy glances, the tension thick in the air.

"What's the plan then?" Marcus asked, his voice steady, though his eyes betrayed his uncertainty.

"We regroup," Leo replied, his voice stronger now. "We find somewhere safe, somewhere we can rest. But once we're ready, we come back. We get those files. And we make sure the people behind this are exposed."

Sophie nodded, determination flashing in her eyes. "Agreed. We can't let this end here."

As the squad pushed open the heavy door and stepped out into the night, the cold wind hit them like a slap, a harsh reminder that the world outside was no less dangerous than the horrors they had just escaped. But now, they knew something they hadn't before: the apocalypse wasn't the end.