The sound of the doors crashing open still echoed faintly through the laboratory wing.
Inside the smaller lab room, Alero froze.
For a brief moment something stirred inside her chest a strange, fragile feeling she hadn't allowed herself to feel since the chaos started.
Hope.
It was small, almost painful to recognize. In a world that had turned upside down within a few hours, hope felt dangerous. But hearing another voice in the building someone interrupting what was happening outside made that feeling rise before she could stop it.
Still, the feeling faded almost as quickly as it came.
The sounds outside were sounded uncanny.
Then she heard one of the boys speak again.
"Who the fuck are you."
Alero pressed her back against the wall beside the door, holding her younger siblings close.
They were quiet now, probably startled by the crash that had echoed through the lab a moment earlier.
She couldn't see what was happening in the main room.
But she could hear everything.
—----------
-------------
Aren stood in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of him.
For a moment he didn't move.
When he first heard the crying he thought it was his sister. The thought had driven him here without thinking. Now that he saw clearly, he realized it wasn't her.
Relief washed through him first.
Then anger followed quickly behind it.
The woman pinned beneath the two boys looked to be in her mid-twenties, a teacher judging by the torn lab coat beneath her. Her face was wet with tears and exhaustion.
The two boys kneeling over her slowly stood up when they saw him.
Aren's grip tightened around the metal rod in his hand.
"What are you doing?" Aren asked.
The boys exchanged a quick look.
Confusion crossed their faces before irritation replaced it.
Who is this guy?...
What business does he have here?
One of them stepped forward slightly, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Yo boy who are you I asked a question not the other way round."
He looked Aren up and down.
"And what are you doing here."
The second boy snorted behind him.
"You better scram and don't budge in bussiness that don't concern you."
Aren stared at them quietly.
Then he smiled.
Not because he found anything funny.
But because sometimes when anger rose too quickly, smiling was the only thing that kept him calm.
—--_-------+_+
---------------+_+
Behind the side door, Alero listened carefully.
The voice that had entered the lab sounded unfamiliar and yet strangely familiar at the same time. She tried to picture who it might be but nothing matched anyone she knew.
Her instincts told her to stay hidden.
Her siblings were with her.
That mattered more than anything.
Still, curiosity pushed at her mind.
She wanted to open the door just enough to see what was happening outside. But fear kept her hand from the handle.
"What if those boys noticed?"
"What if things got worse?"
She stayed where she was.
Listening.
One thing puzzled her though.
The crash when the doors burst open had been loud enough to echo down the entire hallway. She expected the infected wandering the building to react to it.
But none had come.
At least not yet.
⊙﹏⊙
—--------+_+
------------+_+
Aren shifted his weight slightly, still standing between the lab tables and the broken doors.
His eyes moved from one boy to the other.
"I'll ask one more time," Aren said quietly.
"What are you doing?"
For a moment neither of them answered.
Then one of the boys laughed.
"Bro lets give this boy a beating as it seems that he like putting his nose in what doesn't concern him."
The other one cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah."
They moved toward him together.
Aren exhaled slowly.
The first boy swung without warning.
It was sloppy driven by anger instead of control. Aren stepped slightly to the side and the fist passed harmlessly by his face. Before the boy could recover, Aren's elbow drove sharply into his ribs.
A dull crack echoed in the lab.
The boy gasped and folded forward, the air leaving his lungs in a violent rush.
The second boy lunged at him from the side.
This one moved faster, tackling Aren around the shoulders. The two of them crashed into a metal table, sending glass instruments clattering to the floor.
For a moment they struggled.
Then Aren shifted his balance.
The system inside him had changed more than his strength. His senses felt sharper, his reactions cleaner. Even in the chaos he could read the other boy's movements clearly.
He twisted suddenly, slipping out of the loose grip.
The metal rod in his hand came down hard across the attacker's arm.
Another crack.
The boy screamed as his arm bent in a direction it wasn't supposed to.
He collapsed to his knees, clutching it.
Behind Aren, the first boy tried to stand again despite his injured ribs. Rage had replaced his earlier confidence.
He charged blindly.
Aren turned just in time.
This time he didn't bother dodging.
His fist drove straight into the boy's jaw.
The impact snapped the boy's head sideways and sent him crashing into a lab cabinet. Bottles rattled violently before settling again.
He didn't get back up.
The second boy tried to crawl away, whimpering and clutching his broken arm.
Aren stepped forward and grabbed the back of his shirt.
One quick strike to the side of the neck.
The boy went limp.
Silence settled over the lab again.
Both attackers lay unconscious on the floor.
Aren stood there breathing slowly, the metal rod hanging loosely at his side.
He glanced toward the side rooms.
Somewhere nearby he thought he heard faint movement.
Maybe someone else was still hiding here.
Behind the closed door, Alero stared at her siblings.
The sounds of the fight had ended.
And now…
Everything was quiet again.