The words sounded so mechanical that for a second they didn't register. Ten minutes later, eight of us sat huddled around the screen the light illuminating from the screen painting our faces in shades of pale blue. The air seemed too heavy for us to breath. None of us breathed until the video played onto the main screen.
Amber.
It probably should have felt less stranger, as my mond knew what was coming but it seemed exactly as weird as it had did before.
Her body groaned through a familiar alley, movements jerky and stiff, almost like a puppet . Her skin looked waxy under the security camera's vision. Eyes bloody, unfocused, sharp yet empty..
Rose stepped forward before anyone else could react. She was rigid, hands gripping so tight her knuckles whitened. She was the only one who was seeing Amber like this for the first time.
"That's not her," she snapped, loudly. " That's not my sister."
Andrew's fingers hovered uncertainly over the keyboard. "The timestamp's from tonight. Cross-checked with four other feeds. It's current, Rose."
"Liar." Rose slammed her palm on the ceramic table,, hard enough to make the monitor rattle. She didn't flinch. "Do it again. Zoom in. Show me her face."
The image zoomed. Amber's head bent as she turned, slow and lifeless, revealing bruising on her torso like the ones we had seen in the crime scene.
For a second, no one spoke.
"It could be anyone," Rose said quickly. It had been easier for her to accept that Amber was dead than to believe that she was now converted in some sort of...creature. "Anyone with dark hair, anyone in a coat. You all know cameras distort—"
"Rose…" Leah's voice was careful, even gentle, but she didn't step closer. She knew Rose well enough to keep her distance when her emotions were high.
Rose's chest rose "That's not Amber. You don't just decide that from a glitchy camera." Her lips pursed in a firm line. "I won't believe it."
I wanted to tell her something, anything, but my own throat felt tight. The sight on the screen should have broken me — maybe if it were Leah, it would have. But I couldn't find the same disbelief that Rose felt, no matter how much the scene upset me . .
Still, I understood. If anyone told me Leah had turned into… that, I'd fight them, too. I wouldn't believe them. I'd use every explanation in the book against them . So how could I blame Rose?
The silence was broken by Damien, "It's her. Don't make it worse by pretending—"
Dylan cut in quickly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Not now." His voice held the weight of someone who knew when silence was more important.
On the screen, Amber stumbled past the alley's end.. Andrew killed the feed before she disappeared completely. No one wanted to watch longer.
"Check the other channels," Hannah said, voice low but steady. Her hands were clenched at her sides, her spy's composure , fading .
Liam stood close by, eyes narrowed, studying Andrew, then me. Not long, not enough for anyone else to notice — just a flicker of suspicion in his gaze before it smoothed away.
Andrew's hands trembled slightly on the keys as he switched channels. The screen was filled with news broadcasts — not one, but dozens. Different anchors, different stations, all breaking with the same story. Violent incidents spreading across coastal cities — unprovoked attacks — authorities investigating strange illness.
The footage shifted. A shaking phone camera captured a suburban street at night.
A woman staggered into sight, clutching her bleeding arm. A man lunged at her, like the numerous ones we gad seen that night ,like Amber's. She screamed, pounding on her door, and through the tiny speaker we heard a child crying inside. The man fell on her and she went down under his weight. The door cracked open.
A little boy peeked out. Too late.
The man turned, blood dripping down his chin.
The feed cut.
Andrew swallowed hard. Dylan muttered something under his breath. Leah's hand found my shoulder but my skin felt numb under her touch.
Rose didn't move. She stared at the blank screen where her sister's image had been. Only her fists betrayed her, trembling slightly on the table.
Dylan's phone buzzed. His expressions turned more serious. He said a few words in a low voice, before putting the phone on speaker.
A voice filled the room slighty, authoritative. " Listen carefully. You've confirmed exposure. Containment has failed in multiple locations. Orders from above: divide immediately into groups. Priorities are resource gathering and civilian protection until higher directives arrive."
Another beep confirmed that they had hung up.
Rose finally spoke, voice quiet but cutting. "So that's it? We are just gonna move on ?"
No one answered.
"She's my sister," Rose went on, harsher now. "
"Rose," Leah began, but Rose's glare silenced her.
Dylan tried instead. "We're not abandoning her. We're trying to stop more Ambers. That's the point."
Her laugh was maniacal and humorless, . "The point is, you're seem too ready to bury her."
The rookies at the far wall shifted uneasily, listening from the edge of the door.. They'd never seen us like this — so disputed and helpless.
Andrew cleared his throat, trying to redirect. "We should split tasks now. Ration points are unstable. If we don't gather supplies while we can—"
Damien nodded, eyes dark. "Fighters take the streets. Hackers stay on feeds. Simple."
"What about us ", Hannah said, unsurity linging in her voice.
"Someone needs to be here, in charge, with Dr Sarah ", Dylan said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He looked like a man who had aged a hundred years.
He looked towards Liam.
"You need to go to Egypt, find that man and know exactly what happened to Amber ", Rose's temper relaxened ," And investigate this whole thing. Then, return as quickly as possible ".
"Understood", Liam said, mechanically.
It wasn't simple, but no one argued.
Hannah called Liam aside , voices hushed, her hand lingering a moment too long on his arm. They shared a look I couldn't read. When they returned, Liam's face was all business again, but something flickered beneath.
We broke into groups. Dylan, Damien, Leah, Rose, and the rookies would take combat routes for food and defense.
Andrew and I stayed with the computers. Hannah would stay with Dr Sarah, her spy's eye gathering intel.
Liam packed silently for Cairo, already half elsewhere.
The room emptied slowly , the air thick with unspoken words.
Later, when only the hum of the computers remained, the second feed unfolded on the screens.
A grocery store, midday. People fought over canned goods, shelves half bare. Then the glass shattered. Figures stumbled in, pale, staggering, mouths dripping red. Panic erupted. A mother dragged her daughter behind an aisle. An old man swung a bat and went down under three of them in seconds. The feed cut off mid-scream.
I flinched, pulse hammering.
But no one else was left to see me.
At some point, I must have drifted from reality, restless. The corridors of the office were too narrow, the air too stale. I needed space, distance. My boots echoed against concrete as I slipped outside, exhaling peacefully and thinking about the night's events.
And that's when I heard them.
Shuffling. Wet, footsteps. The unmistakable gurgle which I now recognized too well
My chest froze. Slowly, I pressed myself back against the wall, trying to hide.
They came into view — three of them. Figures stumbling, half-broken, eyes red. Blood smeared down their chins. Close. Too close.
I didn't breathe. My hand hovered near the knife at my belt, but drawing it would mean sound, movement, exposure. My heart thudded so loud I was sure they'd hear.
One turned its head. The empty eyes swept past my hiding place. My skin crawled.
And then — nothing.
They kept walking. Past me. Shuffling deeper into the roads, away..
I stood frozen, air burning in my lungs, the echo of their steps fading into silence. Relief hit me sharp and dizzy, so much I nearly laughed — but it was a hollow kind of relief, the kind that leaves questions behind.
Why hadn't they seen me?
I stayed there a long time, pressed into the shadows, too afraid to move, too shaken to understand.
And somewhere deep inside me, beneath the fear, was something else I couldn't name.