Chapter 4

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The group around Zane ran after the two soldiers as they followed the map to the control room. An explosion was heard in the distance as Zane stopped and looked back with a worried expression on his face.

"You can make it Zane," Zero put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't stop!" The Lieutenant shouted to keep the group going.

They were walking when another tremor shook the ground and they stumbled.

"What was that?" asked the second soldier, who looked a little younger than his comrade.

"Are we too late?" Zane asked.

"No, that was the same shock as before," Nathan analysed.

"Come on, we're almost there!" The first soldier ordered in an energetic voice.

The walls cracked and groaned as they ran down the corridors. The new team leader, Lieutenant Fenon, paid no attention to the walls. His priority was to get to the control room quickly and get the civilians trapped in the bunker out.

He also did not want to waste the other group's efforts to stop the Colossus, so he encouraged the group around him even more. "There should be another set of stairs ahead."

"Another set of stairs?" Zane wondered.

"The control room is at the entrance, between the hospital and the bunker itself," the second soldier replied out of breath.

They continued on as the stairs came into view in the distance.

"We're there!" The lieutenant said as he finally saw the target in the distance.

BUNKER was written in bold letters in an illuminated display above the reinforced frame of the passage leading to the stairs. The light strips on the floor and the words following the arrows also indicated the proximity of the bunker and the control room.

Unlike the rest of the electronics, the display remained stable because it was powered by an independent power source.

"Now we can evacuate the civilians immediately, right?" Zane asked happily, feeling the first ray of hope in a long time.

"Exactly!" Zero replied.

Arriving at the basement exit, the younger of the two soldiers immediately checked the panel in the wall while the lieutenant explained how to proceed.

"Once we are in the control room, we will contact the guards who will be helping us with the evacuation," he began. "They need to know that we're going to unlock the doors. As soon as that is done, we unlock them and go into the bunker ourselves and lead the civilians through the evacuation, along with the other people in charge of the bunker," he explained hectically.

"How's it going?" He asked the soldier who was using his PDA to access the data from the bunker on the panel.

"The system has locked the doors, they really can't be opened from the outside," he reported. "All the cameras are out. There is also some structural damage, but nothing serious. I'm not getting any data from some of the corridors though. "

"What?" The Lieutenant wondered and went to the panel himself.

The panel showed a detailed map of the bunker. Some of the corridors were coloured red, which meant that no data was available from those corridors. Signals such as video or audio were no longer reaching the panel.

"These are all corridors coming from the Academy..." the lieutenant noted.

"Another corridor is gone!" The soldier reported.

"Why is that?" Zero asked.

"It's lost power."

"What's going on?" The lieutenant wondered as a sound immediately brought him back.

There were footsteps in the distance, soft at first, then louder. They were so deep inside the hospital that the noise from outside could not reach them, making the footsteps all the more distinct. Then a message came over the group's headsets.

"We couldn't stop it..." someone coughed. "Run away...!"

"Captain!" The lieutenant shouted into the communicator. "Captain, please come!" He repeated, hoping for a sign of life.

Everyone stared intently into the darkness of the corridor while the footsteps grew louder. Asagi hid behind Zero who stood protectively in front of her. Nathan and Zane both formed magical circles in preparation for an immediate attack.

The soldier at the control panel frantically pressed a few buttons while the lieutenant aimed his weapon at the corridor where the footsteps grew louder.

"How much longer?" He asked impatiently.

"I'm almost there!" The soldier replied frantically.

Then the flickering lights illuminated the colossus emerging from the side corridor. He was still wearing the black cloak that covered his entire body. The lower part of the cloak, however, was a little torn and seemed to have sunk a little. Still, as far as could be seen through the cloak, it seemed to be unharmed.

The colossus stomped towards them. "Stop him!" The lieutenant shouted as he aimed his rifle at the colossus.

"Zane, wait! I'll start!" Nathan stopped Zane who was about to attack and replied with a nod.

Nathan immediately began firing his spell into the corridor. It created another huge fountain of water that rushed towards the colossus, trying to bring it down again. But this time it was different.

With a mechanical sound, the colossus stamped and dug its legs into the ground. At the same time, it brought its arms forward and crossed them in a defensive position. Leaning forward slightly, he stood against the fountain of water that was rushing towards him.

The fountain struck the colossus and the resistance of his body caused the water to splash past him on all sides.

Zane and his friends were in shock. Before, the fountain had thrown the Colossus back, but now nothing happened. It stood still in the middle of the well. What the group did not notice was that despite its resistance, the Colossus had been pushed back a little.

"Zane, as soon as I stop, it's your turn!" Nathan said, holding up his spell as sweat ran down his forehead.

"OK!" Zane replied, raising his arm with the prepared rune in the direction of the corridor and creating another rune on top of the other.

The fountain crashed to the ground and Nathan immediately shouted "Now!

"Aero! Glacies!" Zane shot his spell out of the circle. Accelerated by the Aero Element, bright white-blue particles shot out of the circle in front of his hand.

Everything the particles touched instantly froze. When they reached the wet colossus that was about to start moving again, it froze in a fraction of a second. The water, blown back by the wind of the spell, had frozen into sharp ice crystals.

The colossus stood motionless in the passage. A thick layer of ice had frozen it in place.

"Is it over?" Zane asked, no longer convinced of his spells.

"It seems so ..." Zero assumed, nervously waiting for the Colossus to move. "But let's wait and see ..."

"Done!" the soldier at the panel suddenly shouted enthusiastically. "I restored the door control!"

"That's great!" Zane replied happily. "Now we can save everyone!"

"I don't want to dampen your excitement, but something's moving!" Nathan shouted suddenly and Zane looked back at the colossus.

Small fragments of ice were beginning to peel away from the outer layer of ice surrounding the colossus. There was a snap, a crack, and then the ice surrounding the colossus' upper body cracked.

"Shit!" Zane swore.

"Is that a super soldier? What's going on here?" complained the soldier at the control panel, looking at the scene in front of him in disbelief.

"Quick to the bunker!" The lieutenant ordered and sent them into the stairwell with a gesture of his hand.

Zero and Asagi were the first to arrive there. "What about that thing?"

"It won't get through the security door," the lieutenant pushed Zero into the stairwell. "Come on now!" He urged Nathan and Zane, who were still staring at the colossus trying to free itself from the ice.

Since the water from Nathan's attack had spread over the ground and the colossus had previously rammed its legs into the ground, it now had trouble freeing itself because a thick layer of ice had formed around its lower body.

Zane and Nathan looked back at the lieutenant, behind whom Asagi and Zero were already standing. "Shouldn't we...?"

"No time for that, let's go now!" The lieutenant ordered again.

"He's right Zane," Nathan patted him on the shoulder as he started to follow Zero and the others.

There was a splintering sound. Zane and Nathan turned to see the colossus hit the lump of ice that surrounded it with its arms. The next thing they knew, the ice was splintering and the colossus was pulling out one of its legs.

"Come on! The lieutenant shouted as Zane and Nathan ran towards him. Another splintering sound was heard as the Colossus completely freed itself from its frozen prison.

Immediately, the colossus began to move towards the group with quick steps. Zane and Nathan had just slipped under the bunker entrance gate when the colossus was halfway behind them.

"Close the door!" The lieutenant yelled as the colossus closed in.

The soldier frantically pressed his PDA and a heavy steel door came crashing down from above, closing the bunker entrance with a thud.

In the next instant there was another loud bang and everyone jumped. In an attempt to ram the door, the colossus had slammed his shoulder into the steel door first, but it barely moved.

"Don't worry, it won't get through, it's a fire door," the lieutenant said as the colossus banged on the door.

After several attempts, the colossus seemed to have given up and silence returned to the bunker entrance where they had taken cover.

"He's gone," Nathan heard from the door.

A sigh of relief crossed the room as the lieutenant straightened. "OK, let's move on."

"What about the Captain?" Zane asked.

"Our job is to open the bunker doors," he avoided the question.

Zane lowered his eyes when Asagi protested, "But ..."

"They are trained soldiers, they can do it."

"If we hurry, we might be able to evacuate them as well," Nathan tried to lighten the mood.

"Right, sitting here won't get us anywhere," Zane stood up as well.

"Come on then," Zero straightened up and the lieutenant nodded.

The group around Zane continued down the stairs, floor by floor. Unlike the hospital, the stairs were illuminated and the lights worked perfectly here. On the walls were guidelines for civilians and law enforcement to follow in case of an emergency. A drawn map of the bunker outlined the layout, departments and escape routes, while coloured stripes on the wall and floor led civilians to the appropriate sections of the bunker.

"This is the entrance," the lieutenant remarked as they reached the end of the stairs, where they found themselves in a large room. From this room there were three corridors, one leading directly to the bunker entrance and the other two to other entrances.

"We're almost there," the lieutenant ran ahead into the first corridor.

The large room served as a gathering point before the long corridor was used for orderly entry into the bunker. At the end of the corridor the group was greeted by an airlock, a heavy steel door like the one at the entrance to the bunker. The lights on the scanners had gone out and the lock looked deserted.

"There should be soldiers stationed here..." the lieutenant said as they approached the control room to the right of the lock.

There was a light on in the control room, but it was quiet. The Lieutenant pulled his ID card through the panel on the door, which opened with a hydraulic sound. Black dust immediately poured out.

"Is it possible..." the lieutenant whispered as the colour drained from his face.

The floor was full of dust and small crystals, but there were also shell casings underneath. Bullet holes were visible in several places on the wall and some of the control panels had also been hit by bullets. Blood was running down one wall and one of the soldiers was lying underneath it, a gash across his torso.

"What happened here?" Zane wondered as he walked through the dust.

"Don't look, Asagi!" Zero turned to her and shielded her from the sight.

Meanwhile, they had covered the dead soldier with a makeshift blanket they had found in one of the cupboards. The other soldier was already standing at the main panel of the control room.

"What just happened here?" Zane repeated his question from earlier in disbelief.

"There seems to have been a fight," Nathan replied, looking around the room.

"The dead soldier has traces of an infection," Zero added, making the situation even clearer.

No one dared to say out loud what everyone was thinking.

"It seems ... the outbreak has reached the bunker ...", the lieutenant broke the silence.

The reaction was muted, only Zane questioned it.

"I thought the bunker was protected from radiation?"

"It is, we passed the radiation shield in the stairwell earlier..."

"But why? The people should have been safe!" Zane refused to accept the situation.

"Zane ..." Asagi looked at him and suffered with him.

"Zane," Zero tried to calm him down.

"But all the effort was in vain! Tyler who holds the position outside and the captain who ..." Zane gritted his teeth.

"We don't know that ..." Zero tried to continue.

"But how did the radiation get into the bunker in the first place?" Nathan tried to find out.

"The hospital has partially collapsed. Could it be that the radiation shielding was damaged?" Zero tried to answer.

 "It's possible, yes, but I doubt it ..." the lieutenant said. "Or maybe ..." he turned his gaze to Zero.

 "Maybe?" Nathan asked.

"Or maybe the outbreak came from inside the bunker."

"What?" a murmur went through the room.

"You mean an infected is inside the bunker?" Nathan asked further.

Zane looked at Zero, who seemed as shocked as everyone else, and turned to the Lieutenant. "But how is that possible?" He asked.

 "I don't know either, but it seems more likely that the entire hospital building fell into the bunker..."

"So you mean the outbreak destroyed the bunker?" Zero asked as the soldier at the console intervened.

"I have a picture!" Everyone turned to him. "Not all of it, but better than nothing."

"Well done!" The Lieutenant turned to him and looked at the console screens.

They toggled through the individual displays of the surveillance cameras. Some showed nothing but static, while others showed empty corridors and lounges. Damaged walls and doors could be seen, as well as completely collapsed corridors.

"How can radiation do so much damage?" Zane wondered, looking over the lieutenant's shoulder.

"Look there," Asagi pointed to one of the screens. It showed one of the bunker rooms where people seemed to be. They all sat huddled in the corners and on the wall, the words "Help us!

"Survivors!" Zane was delighted.

"Obviously not all the radiation shelters are affected ..." the Lieutenant remarked as he continued to stare at the screens.

But something is wrong here ... the eruption damaged some of the bunkers, but why are the corridors in the west so badly affected? thought the Lieutenant.

"What do we do now?" Zero asked who had regained hope after Asagi had smiled at him.

"We'll save them of course!" Zane said confidently.

"And the doors, can they be opened from here?" The lieutenant turned to the soldier at the console.

"Yes," the soldier replied. "I have access to the controls."

"Any indication why they can't be opened from the outside?"

"No, only the ones in the west seem to be damaged..."

In the west again? Zane wondered.

"But otherwise ... Maybe it was a malfunction?"

"What about infected?"

"I can't say for sure, we're only getting a fraction of the signals."

"Ok, anyway, I'll tell the leadership and the evac troops that we can open the gates so they can evacuate the civilians in the bunkers," the lieutenant said as he slowly retreated from the control room. "Keep an eye on the screens and get ready to leave," he ordered, just before disappearing behind the door.

Immediately, with Asagi's help, Zero began to search the control room for useful items while Zane, Nathan and the soldier continued to stare at the screens.

Zane didn't know what to look for, but the sight of so many people still hanging on in the bunkers gave him hope that everything would turn out all right.

"Have you seen Carol anywhere?" Asagi asked who came back to the control room with Zero. Zero carried a large bag on his right shoulder and several rifles on his left while Asagi carried a backpack in front of him.

"Unfortunately, no ..." Zane shook his head. Asagi looked a little shocked and Zero sighed worriedly.

"What did you find?" Nathan asked.

"Some weapons and emergency medical equipment," Zero showed the bag and pointed to the guns around his shoulder.

"We also found some grenades and a rope," Asagi picked up the backpack.

"Well done," the lieutenant said from the direction of the door that had opened with a soft hiss. "I've informed the leadership about the situation," he continued while he went back to Zane and the others.

"What's the situation outside?" Nathan asked.

"The containment seems to be working."

"Does that mean Tyler made it?" Asagi said happily.

"I think so, but the Teikoku attacks continue undeterred."

Almost an hour had passed since the Teikoku troops began their attacks and the second ring of the wall had become a battlefield. Urban warfare raged as the Teikoku tried to claim the sky before reinforcements could arrive.

After a hard fight, Tyler and his team had now eliminated all the infected, who began to disintegrate. Tyler looked up at the jets flying overhead and turned his gaze back to the hospital entrance.

"Damn Teikoku!" Zane swore.

"What about the infected? Isn't it too dangerous to open the bunker?" Nathan objected.

"Yes, but what if the infection spreads?" Zero asked.

"I have informed the leadership. Also about our encounter with an unknown fourth party," he began. "We should open the doors anyway, even if there are still infected people in the bunker. The authorities are of the opinion that since most of the infected we encountered have already disintegrated, the risk of another radiation outbreak is much higher.

"Understandable," Zero agreed.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's get those people out of there!" Zane shouted, and everyone started to smile.

"Exactly," the Lieutenant nodded.

⬢

At the same time in the streets of the city.

Outside, evacuation troops had taken up positions at the bunker entrances. Because of the Teikoku attack, only a few people could be spared. Soldiers, medics and volunteers waited nervously for their turn.

"They're opening the gates," one of the soldiers reported as he took his hand off his headset.

"Ok..." replied the captain of the group. "Get ready!" He waved to the members of the evacuation team. The minutes passed and everyone prepared for when the gates to the bunker would open.

Some of the gates were set into the ground beneath the buildings, others were in the large shopping malls or in the hospital. Many of the entrances had been blocked by falling rubble. Ricochets or crashing jets that couldn't be stopped by the inner ring barrier had damaged the buildings, the debris now blocking the entrances. But they all had one thing in common: they had all been locked since the alert and could not be opened.

The soldiers tried to unlock the gates via the panel, but all commands were refused. The system was rejecting all input, so all hope lay with Zane's group, who had managed to get into the bunker's control room.

"Everyone is in position and the leadership has informed the Teikoku about the evacuation, let's prepare to open the gates," the lieutenant ordered the soldier.

"Isn't it dangerous to evacuate while the battle is still going on?" Asagi asked.

"Why don't they stop the attack?" Zane asked annoyed.

"They won't bother us during the evacuation but they didn't promise anything else."

"Damn it!" Zane slammed his first against one of the walls.

"Don't get upset, Zane," Nathan patted him on the shoulder. "Backup will be here soon."

"He's right," the lieutenant confirmed. "It's been a while since I asked for backup. They should be here soon. "

"Is that why they won't stop the attack?" Zero wondered.

"What do you mean?" Asagi asked.

"Maybe they will get no reinforcements just like us and want to end it as soon as possible so that they are not at a disadvantage?"

"But then, it's stupid of them to give us time to evacuate," Zane wondered.

"It's rather bad for us," the lieutenant replied.

"Why is that?" Zane asked.

"We are tying up troops in the evacuation that could be used to fight the Teikoku under normal circumstances," Nathan replied. "Am I right?"

"Unfortunately, that's true..." the lieutenant replied. "We're spreading our thin forces even more ... and the outbreak isn't exactly an advantage either ..."

"I hope the reinforcements will arrive soon," Asagi worried.

"Don't worry, we'll make it," Zane smiled at her.

"I can open the gates now," the soldier who had been concentrating on the console suddenly reported.

"OK, I'll let them know, get ready for us to go into the bunker."

⬢

With the sound of hydraulics in the background, the gates of the bunker entrances to the city opened. The light illuminated the passage that led deep into the bunker. As ordered, the soldiers immediately trained their guns on the entrance to the bunker, but nothing happened. The corridor was deserted and there was no sign of infection. The activated evacuation protocol flashed arrows on the walls to direct civilians outside.

Minutes passed, but nothing happened.

It was quiet, only the sounds of battle could be heard in the background. No one expected a rush of people, as they had all been informed of what was happening in the bunker, but no one came.

"Were the people brought out through other exits?" One of the soldiers, tired of pointing his rifle in the direction of the entrance, asked his captain.

"Not that I know of," the captain replied. "But it seems safe. Let's go in, maybe they need help. "

"OK, we're going in!" One of the soldiers waved to the waiting people.

The soldiers marched slowly down the corridor. They had to hurry as the fighting continued unabated. The city's defences had held so far, and the Teikoku had already suffered some casualties, while their own were relatively small.

The situation gave the citizens of the city hope, but it was still unclear how long it would last. Reinforcements would be arriving soon, but there was no telling if the Teikoku would receive reinforcements as well.

More ships could jump into the battle at any moment, so they had to hurry. But the fear of being next, if there was another radiation outbreak, was omnipresent. Nevertheless, the soldiers marched dutifully into the corridors of the bunker and disappeared.

⬢

"OK, it's time for us to go," the lieutenant ordered after receiving confirmation that the gates were open.

"OK!" Zane replied with motivation.

"What's the plan?" Nathan asked.

"We're going to go into the bunker and try to evacuate one room at a time."

"We didn't even have enough people to do that before, how is that going to work now?" The other soldier asked. "The maximum capacity of the bunker is 5000 people. How are we supposed to ... ", the soldier looked at Asagi, "... six people are supposed to do that?"

"The present evacuation workers will support us and the troops from outside will also join us. So don't worry," he tried to calm him down.

"What about that thing from before?" Nathan asked.

"Exactly! What about that thing? Shouldn't we go back and help the others?" Zane added.

"The leadership has decided that we should concentrate on the evacuation. A rescue team should already be on its way. "

"Hopefully, they'll make it," Asagi hoped and clutched his backpack tightly.

"I'm sure they will," Zero smiled at her and turned to the lieutenant. "Is there a way to find out which people have already been evacuated?" He asked cautiously.

Asagi, Nathan and Zane looked at Zero who reminded them why they were here in the first place. All of them, except Asagi, were assigned to support services in case of a crisis. So it was understandable that they were there, but this was an outbreak. There were no rules about what civilian helpers like Zero or the students of the academy had to do in such a situation.

Zero had used his paramedic service as an excuse to save Carol. But now, he regretted it. He had put Asagi, Nathan and Zane in danger and there was nothing he could do to help them.

"In the case of a normal evacuation after an attack, yes, but in this case..."

Zero swallowed.

"Carol will be fine!" Asagi encouraged Zero.

"Right," Zero nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Asagi."

Zane and Nathan looked at each other and nodded as well.

"Then we can start," Nathan said confidently.

"Right, let's go save Carol and the others!" Zane exclaimed.

"Thanks guys..." replied Zero.

"So pack up, we start the evacuation!"

"YES SIR!"