BOND

Nora's legs wouldn't stop shaking. Failing to hold herself up, she fell to her knees, grabbing her head with both hands. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tight, trying to endure the pain. Her never-ending headache, which she had begun getting used to, had suddenly intensified to an unbearable magnitude.

[Scared. Help. Scared. Help. Scared. Help.]

Pounding from the depths of her mind, every perceived word caused a burning sensation; like a parasitic signal frying her brain.

"Aaah…! Aaaah!!" she was unable to keep her voice down.

'Stop…! Please, make it stop…!!'

She vaguely opened one of her eyes, in an attempt to remain aware of her surroundings. As much as she struggled to keep up with the current events, she knew they were in trouble. The loud crash. Debris flying in all directions. A bright blue brilliance coming from somewhere within the dust cloud. That thing's breathing.

Someone rushed to her side and grabbed her shoulders.

"Nora! Nora, what's wrong!!?" said Claire.

"You two, get back!! Quick!!!" William grabbed both of them and pulled them back, away from the cloud.

"Contact!! Captain Isaac, this is Erik! We've found the target! The praetorian is here as well!! At the exit, in the southern outer hallway! Switching to armor-piercing munitions! Requesting immediate reinforcements! Over!"

Lilian cowered against a wall, about three meters ahead. Nora felt her distress call, looping over and over; yet her sister didn't seem to realize how close to her she was. She didn't even attempt to look in her direction.

'I'm right here! Right here!! Lilian!!'

Behind the girl, the dust started to settle down, exposing the creature hiding within. It was too big to stand upright in the corridor. The monster's eyes were fixated on Lilian. The glowing cysts over its body pulsated with wild spasms, reminiscent of beating hearts, emitting enough light to illuminate the entire hallway.

[He's coming. Help. He's coming. Help. He's coming. Help.]

After emitting a low-pitched growl, it began moving its hulking body towards her, ignoring everyone else on the scene.

The noise of gunfire interrupted the monster's advance. The soldiers, after deploying another canister of white gas, opened fire indiscriminately. Against all odds, it caused a significant reaction. Each bullet lifted splinters of skin and bone from the creature's body. Several glowing nodules were hit and burst open, oozing a disgusting, brown substance. Instead of charging its opponents, the thing flinched and growled, in apparent pain.

On the opposite side of the hallway, somewhere behind the monster, Nora saw a flash of light. A flashlight? She heard someone coming up on the radio of one of the nearby soldiers.

"This is Captain Isaac! We have visual on the target! Cease fire, Erik, Jameson! We'll grab his attention; protect the queen!"

The soldiers stopped shooting. At the same time, a barrage of bullets rained on the monster's back. Now enraged, it turned around among shrieks. Finding itself cornered, it roared and bolted towards the newcomers. Its body scraped the walls and the ceiling in the process, leaving a trail of rubble and dust behind.

The soldiers attempted to approach Lilian, but they stopped in their tracks, alerted by something outside.

"C-Contact!! Stingers!!!" said one of them, raising his rifle and opening fire.

A shambler had climbed all the way to the sixth floor from the outside, before getting shot down. In the distance, Nora heard the noise of windows shattering, coming from many directions at once.

"Shit, we need to get out of here! Now!!" shouted William. "Nora!! Move!!!"

"We need to get Lilian too!" said Claire.

"That monster is gone, and the soldiers will be busy! Just grab her and go! We can't stand here doing nothing!!"

"Damn it…!" Claire left Nora's side and ran towards Lilian.

William grabbed his rifle and took aim at a shambler creeping through a nearby window. The soldiers took positions at the hole the monster had made on the wall, fighting to stop the hordes from getting inside.

"HQ, this is Alpha!! We're getting overrun! We can't secure the target like this! Where's our support!!?"

'What am I doing…? Why am I still on my knees? I was supposed to get her back. I was supposed to help her. So… why?'

The pain, seeded deep inside her head, made it difficult to form coherent thoughts. Her limbs were numb, they struggled to respond at all. Lilian's call didn't convey words anymore. She whimpered, like a wounded cub, begging for protection, begging for aid. And every single cry aggravated Nora's own suffering.

The flow of time appeared to slow down. Lightheaded, she saw things she shouldn't be seeing.

She saw herself writhing on her knees. She saw Claire trying to get Lilian to move, unsuccessfully. She saw William taking shots at the shamblers diving through the windows. She saw the two soldiers running out of ammo in front of the hordes, resorting to their sidearms. She saw the hordes themselves, creeping up the façade of the hospital from all sides. She saw that hulking creature driving its arm directly through a soldier's torso.

Her ears began ringing.

'Is this it…? It has to be, right?'

She predicted what was going to happen in a matter of seconds. It happened before, so there was no reason it wouldn't happen again. She'd faint, and this time she wouldn't wake up again. At the very least, she'd get torn to pieces in her sleep. It wouldn't hurt that way, would it?

'I don't want it. I don't want it to end like this. Not yet. I wanted to reunite with you. I wanted to hug you one more time. I wanted to at least say goodbye. To be there for you. To die with you.'

She was right there. Almost within arm's reach. Was she asking for too much?

'Move. Come on. Please. Please! Move!'

Nora's brain stopped registering pain. Otherwise, her limbs would've felt like they were being ripped away from her body. Barely holding on to consciousness in one last bout of strength, she lunged towards her sister.

Claire was caught by surprise when she saw her falling upon Lilian. "N-Nora!!?"

Nora ignored her. She wasn't able to do anything else. She wasn't able to stay conscious anymore. She blacked out, with her arms around Lilian.

'Please, let me wither away with you.'

There was a pit of eternal darkness, and then, a light at the bottom. A light that gradually intensified, until the shadows vanished into thin air, leaving only whiteness around her.

…

She found herself sitting on her knees, on a white surface she couldn't even distinguish from the surreal space surrounding her. She tried to get up, but nothing happened. Her body didn't seem to acknowledge the will to move.

A girl rested her head on Nora's lap.

"L-Lilian?"

Her sister opened her eyes and looked up at her. She smiled.

"I'm so glad to see you again, sis." she said. "I kept calling out to you, over, and over, and over… It scared me so much, to think I might never get to talk to you again."

"Wait, Lilian…! What…!?"

Something was odd. Where was that articulacy coming from? Nora hadn't heard her talk like that since a long time ago. Since the dreadful day it all began. Since she got bitten before they could get to safety.

"What do you mean, sis?" said Lilian, as if reading her thoughts. "I've always talked like this. It's just… you were never close enough to hear my voice. But you are now, so it's okay!"

Nora noticed her headaches were gone. Completely absent, as if they were never even there. Instead, her brain was filled with a feeling of peace and comfort, so good it was almost addictive.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't know whether they were tears of grief, relief, or joy.

"I'm sorry…! Lilian, I'm sorry! I… I tried! I swear I tried, but…!" she began having hiccups. "I wanted to protect you so badly, to shelter you from harm, to make sure you could get out of this place alive and have a future ahead of you; and look what I achieved instead…! This is it, isn't it!? It's over! I failed you, I failed myself, I failed Claire, and William, and—!!"

"Shhhh."

As she was about to start hyperventilating from her emotional outburst, Nora's breathing calmed down. The turmoil building up in her heart was washed away in an instant. The tears sliding down her cheeks dried up and evaporated.

"It's okay, Nora. It's not your fault. You know it isn't, right? You keep loading all the burden on your shoulders, but you can let others take some of it instead. Me included." Lilian's smile widened, brighter than Nora had seen in years. "Please, don't be so harsh on yourself."

If she could actually move, she'd be hugging Lilian as tightly as possible. However, it wasn't necessary. Her sister's presence embraced her with so much intensity she felt like she could let herself loose and bask in her warmth.

…

"Is this even real? I can't wrap my head around what's happening anymore." asked Nora.

"Of course it is! What else could it be?"

"I don't know, we've been here for a while, haven't we? If this is indeed real, I wonder what's happening outside right now… Everything might go dark at any moment. And then, I won't be able to be with you anymore. I won't be to talk to you, or hear your voice…"

Lilian averted her eyes from Nora and looked towards the empty white space above their heads.

"Please, don't be mad at brother. He doesn't like me, but he's not a bad guy. None of them are. They're just doing what they're meant to do. They worry too much about me, just like you do."

"What…!? But, Lilian, you don't have a brother… What are you talking about?"

"Well, I don't really get it, but he kinda feels like a brother."

Nora had an idea.

"Um… Can you talk to them?"

"I'm not sure. Until now, I was scared. Since I was separated from you, all I could think about was… well, you. I wanted to be close to you again, Nora. I couldn't collect my thoughts over anything else. But now… I might be able to listen to their voices a little closer. Why do you ask?"

"Can you tell them to… stop? Can you tell them you're okay?"

"…I can try."

******

It didn't matter how many doors, walls, or obstacles he put in its way. The praetorian was relentless in its chase. Isaac rolled over to the side and lunged through the closest door, barely avoiding the monster.

He vaulted a desk and approached the door on the other side of the room. He heard the creature squeezing itself through the doorframe, tearing the wall to pieces in the process.

He switched the empty magazine of his rifle for a new one while the thing was busy. That was the last of his piercing ammunition. As if that was going to make a difference.

He turned around and took aim at the praetorian. Its carapace was riddled with bullet holes, but none of those wounds were deep. With a bit of luck, some internal damage had been inflicted, but it was clearly not enough to stop the beast. He opened fire.

Further enraged by this, the praetorian finished pushing itself through the doorframe, scattering a cloud of dust and debris all over the room. It bolted towards Isaac, obliterating the furniture that stood in its way.

'Come on…! Come on, motherfucker!!'

Isaac prepared to jump out of the way, when the monster stopped in its tracks.

The veins and cysts covering its body lost their fiery luminescence and started blinking in an irregular pattern. The creature raised its head and looked around, apparently confused.

'What's going on!? Why is it doing that!? It doesn't matter, this is my chance!'

He grabbed a grenade from a pouch on his vest. It was about to get really noisy, but how much worse could things get? He pulled the pin and threw the explosive between the creature's legs.

He ran through the door behind him and covered his ears. Moments later, the deafening explosion went off, followed by an anguished growl. He heard heavy footsteps and another wall getting busted down.

With his rifle ready, Isaac left his cover and went back into the room. There was a new hole in the outer wall, leading directly into the street. Among the blanket of debris scattered on the floor, he saw copious amounts of blood, flesh, and other unidentifiable substances.

'That did some damage, huh? Finally, something makes a decent dent in that bastard. Still, it ran away…!'

He wasted no time and backtracked his steps at full sprint. He crossed hallways and turned corners, stopping by some remains on the floor. He kneeled beside them, and pulled an ID from a pocket.

"God damn it, Paxton…!" he muttered.

Grinding his teeth, he left his grief aside, and returned to the hospital's exit, following the sound of gunshots.

As soon as he had a clear view of the exit, he noticed a lot more people than he expected to see. The rest of his team was posted on the outer windows, taking shots at the stingers crawling up the walls. Connor was there too, and he had brought a sizeable group of survivors with him. Some of them were armed, also taking shots at the stingers peeking outside the windows or emerging from nearby hallways.

Private Erik spotted him.

"Captain Isaac…!! Where's Paxton!?" he asked.

Isaac shook his head.

"…fuck!"

"What's the situation?" said Isaac.

"Something's going on with the queen, sir…! As soon as that red-haired woman touched her, the stingers ceased their aggression and went back to their usual daylight behavior! Additionally, we've got support from the rest of the survivors! We should be able to keep this position now, but we can't leave. Those things just keep coming! Just look at the streets outside!"

Isaac took a look at the queen and the red-haired woman embracing her.

'What the hell…? Is this related to the praetorian's behavior from earlier?'

"HQ, this is Captain Isaac!" he grabbed the radio. "We have secured the target, but we can't leave the hospital. What are our orders!? Over!"

"This is HQ. Charlie team has met with your reinforcements, and they're leading a convoy towards Saint Marie. However, we're still devising a method to disperse the crowd. Stand by, and keep protecting the target."

"Still devising a method!? You've got to be joking… Connor!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Dr. Marcus was with you. I received a communication from him some minutes ago, stating that he might be able to get us an inhibitor shot to suppress the queen. But I haven't been able to get in contact with him ever since! Do you know something?"

"Negative, sir!"

"Damn it…! That shot could be our only chance to get those hordes to calm down. Where the hell is he!?"

A young woman with glasses, who had been sitting by the queen's side the whole time, stood up and approached him.

"U-Um… Excuse me?" she said.

"What is it, lady!? Unless you're willing to help us fight, stay where you were!"

"I think there might be a way to make the shamblers flee the hospital!"

"What…?" he paused for a moment. "I'm listening."

She was almost definitely an ordinary civilian. Isaac was highly skeptical about whatever she was about to come up with.

"Technically speaking, the shamblers behave like a colony of bees… Smoke. When most bees detect smoke, they go into panic mode, since they think their hive is on fire! If we could somehow fill the hospital with smoke, it might cause the shamblers to follow their instincts and flee the area!"

"Are you suggesting we set the hospital on fire?"

"W-Well, not exactly, but…"

'But what else can we do, honestly…? Even if Dr. Marcus does show up and we shut the queen down, those stingers outside are still attracted to the commotion we've caused. If we kill them, their deaths will keep drawing them in. Killing them only stalls for time, but we'll never be able to clear the way. Charlie team will get here with the convoy, and they'll be forced to fight them off from all sides while we get the survivors on board. Too risky… Smoke, huh?'

"Alright, Erik! I want you to go and gather any textiles you can find, there should be plenty around! Set them on fire and throw them down an elevator shaft! It should act as a chimney, flooding all floors with smoke and ash! Let's hope that it works, and it opens an escape route for us!" he turned to face the survivors grouped up in the hallway. "If there's any volunteers to go with him and lend him a hand, step forward!"

"I-I'll go!" said the glasses girl.

"Hey, are you sure…?" a black-haired man with a beard questioned her. "It'll be best if I go instead."

"I'll be okay, William. I can do this."

Several more people from the crowd approached the soldiers, offering their help.

"Good. Get going!" ordered Isaac. "I'll go and see if I can locate Dr. Marcus, I have an idea about the location of the storage he was headed towards. Everyone else, stay here and keep the exit safe! This is our only way out!"

******

The syringe was light, much more than he expected.

'Well, that was easy. You should always watch your back, man. You can't be hoping for somebody else to do it for you. It never works.'

Marcus grunted in pain on the floor. Was he still conscious? Perhaps he didn't hit him hard enough. Logan knew he should finish him off before leaving the area.

Leaving might only be possible thanks to that syringe. Everyone else would die, that hospital was already a lost cause. It was perfect. Nobody would be left to follow his trail, nobody would know about him, and nobody would tie those events to him. He'd be out, safe and clean, ready to move somewhere else and start anew.

"W-Why are you d-doing this!? Who…!?" said the boy.

The kid looked like he was about to piss himself, his legs were shaking. Logan aimed his pistol at him.

"Bang." he said, jokingly faking the gun's recoil.

Of course, he wasn't going to shoot him. He couldn't afford to drag any unnecessary attention to the area. And the kid likely knew this too. No matter, he didn't need the weapon for this.

"Alright, little shit… It's nothing personal." he said, approaching him.

"S-Stay away from me!!!"

"Or what? Huh!? Come on, what are you going to—?" a surge of pain pierced his left leg, caused by a bladed object sinking into it. "Aaaaaagh!!!"

His leg lost strength and gave way, dropping him to his knees. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the barely conscious Marcus letting go of the knife handle. Giving him little time to compose himself, the boy gave him a mighty kick to the chin, shaking his brain and launching him out of the storage room and back into the hallway.

"Gah…!! S-Shit…!!!"

On both sides of the corridor, he saw moving shapes. Hungry shapes, attracted by the delicious sound of his recent scream. The boy closed the door, leaving Logan no available shelter.

"Fuck…! No way…!! No fucking way…!!"

The syringe was still in his hand.

He had overheard Marcus' conversation. Lilian was a shambler queen, and all those shamblers were attracted to her. The injection renders her invisible to them. The chances of such a thing working on a normal human were slim. Most likely dangerous too. He had no damn idea about what that liquid actually was. It was supposed to be a last resort, just in case he really found no way to slip away by his own means.

Was this it? Already?

"Ah, damn…! Damn it all…!!!"

He put the syringe to his neck, and pressed the plunger.

******

William took his eyes away from the windows and glanced over at Nora and Lilian: cuddling together in mutual embrace, with their eyes closed, oblivious to what was happening around them.

Eventually, they'd have to move. However, William didn't feel any urge to break them out of their trance. Whatever Nora had done to the girl, it worked. None of them would be alive otherwise.

While thinking, he spotted something that caught his attention. A man wandered around the group of survivors, nervously asking questions.

"Has anyone seen them…!? Nobody…!? H-Hey, excuse me, I'm looking for my wife and daughter, do you happen to know something!? Has anyone seen Alice or Eleanor!?"

'Desmond…'

"You… won't find them… here…" Stella answered him. She was lying on the floor, being taken care of by another woman. Her voice was weak, and she was out of breath.

"D-Do you know something!? Please, tell me!"

"If that child is… still alive… she'll probably be hiding… somewhere on the upper floor…"

"W-What!!? W-Why didn't you s-say anything earlier!!?" Desmond walked up to her with an aggressive stance, uncharacteristic of him.

"I'm… sorry. My head has been… spinning for a while…"

"N-No…! Eleanor, h-honey…!!" Desmond mumbled to himself, moments before bolting off down the hallway.

"Wait, Desmond!" yelled William. "Don't be reckless, you're just going to get yourself killed!!"

Was he worried about him? Did he feel pity? Regret? Empathy? Who knows.

"A friend… of yours…?" asked Stella.

"Not really…"

"His wife, Alice… She knew something… about Jacobs… That piece of shit had his men… get rid of her… to silence her…!"

"What!?"

"I'd rather not know… what they actually did to Alice…"

"Shit… Shit!"

He ran. Leaving everyone else behind, William sprinted after Desmond. Was he willing to put his life on the line for him? For the girl, perhaps? Or was he doing it for himself? If there was an answer to those questions, he'd figure it out later.

All he knew was that he needed to hurry. Panicked, Desmond would probably go for the stairs. Not exactly the safest idea at the moment.

'God damn it, Desmond…!'