The tunnel felt tighter than any coffin. The air was damp, heavy with rust and ash, and every breath tasted like dust.
No one had slept.
Ayush sat alone near a cracked concrete pillar, knees up, Glock resting on his thigh. His confession about Rahul still echoed in the dark, weaving between the rats and the dripping pipes.
Kartik sat across from him, back to a pillar, arms locked over his chest. His eyes were sharp but distant — somewhere between fury and despair.
Riya rested against Sanaa's shoulder, her cheeks streaked with dry tears. Sanaa stroked her hair, humming softly — a tune that felt more like a prayer than a lullaby.
Shivam polished a broken iron rod obsessively, metal scraping on stone. Suraj kept watch near the tunnel entrance, body tense like a coiled spring.
Finally, Ananya broke the silence."You think he's… watching us right now?"
Ayush didn't answer at first. He just stared at the ground, then slowly looked up."Yes."
No one argued.
They knew now — Rahul wasn't just an enemy. He was a phantom. A hunter who moved in silence and thought in traps.
Dawn crept in through the tunnel grates, pale and sickly.
Ayush finally stood."We're leaving. We'll cross the old apartment blocks nearby. We need food, medicine, and a higher vantage point to plan."
They didn't hesitate. Even Kartik — though he refused to meet Ayush's eyes.
As they climbed out into the open, the city looked like an open graveyard. Smoke draped over half-fallen towers, and fires smoldered on rooftops like dying stars.
In the alleys below, they moved as a tight unit. Their numbers had grown in the past 48 hours — a few stray students they'd found while fleeing the last metro station. Fragile, half-starved, clinging to any hint of leadership.
Among them was Ajay, a quiet boy with an injured wrist, and two other students — Pooja and Raj — barely old enough to hold a knife properly.
They had become ghosts moving through a graveyard.
Halfway up the third floor of an abandoned apartment block, they saw it.
A body, dressed like Ayush.
Face wrapped in cloth.
Pinned to its chest: Ayush's old B.S.A. patch, stained and shredded.
Behind it, smeared across the peeling green wall in a dark, sticky red:
"One down. The rest of you are next."
Riya gagged immediately, doubling over. Sanaa rushed to hold her, whispering comfort.
Ajay took a step back, slipped, and landed hard. He stared at the message, shaking uncontrollably.
Kartik stepped forward, jaw tight. "This is his game."
Ayush crouched low, scanning every inch of floor."It's a trap. Look—broken vent above. That door frame has a string. A flare launcher."
Shivam took a slow step backward."So if we touch it—"
A sudden SNAP.
A sharp whoosh.
A flare exploded through the ceiling — a brilliant red beacon slicing through the grey morning sky.
Visible for miles.
Ayush's eyes widened."He knows we're here. Move!"
The infected came fast.
Their howls echoed up the stairwells, clawing at walls, shaking old pipes.
"Split up!" Ayush shouted. "Smaller groups! Regroup lower!"
Chaos swallowed them.
Team A — Ayush, Ananya, Suraj, Ajay.They sprinted down a corridor toward the parking ramp.
Team B — Kartik, Shivam, Riya, Sanaa, Raj, and Pooja.They bolted toward a stairwell leading to a fire escape.
Ajay stumbled, knees buckling.Ayush grabbed his arm, pulling him up once, twice — but Ajay's ankle twisted grotesquely.
Ajay screamed.
Ayush looked into his eyes — no words needed.
Ajay let go."Go!" he choked.
Ayush hesitated — one second too long.
Three infected crashed into Ajay, tearing him apart in a single blur of teeth and hands.
Ayush turned, grabbing Ananya's wrist."Move!"
They sprinted into the basement parking, Suraj close behind.
Two infected blocked the exit.
Ayush moved first.
A sidestep, a knife up through the jaw — a wet, sharp snap.
Ananya smashed a broken pipe into the second's temple, then jammed it again into the eye socket.
Suraj drove a screwdriver through another's throat.
No victory cheers.
Only breath. Only survival.
Team B
Riya stumbled badly — her foot had been sore since the metro crawl, now fully twisted.
Kartik scooped her up over his shoulder without a word, knife gripped tightly in his free hand.
Pooja, panicked, slammed into a wall, nearly dropping her blade. Shivam grabbed her by the collar and dragged her forward.
They burst into a narrow hallway. At the far end, a locked storage room.
Sanaa spotted it first."In here!"
They crashed in, Shivam forcing the steel pole across the door just as claws hammered against the outside.
Kartik laid Riya down, breathing hard."You okay?"
Riya nodded weakly, tears pooling.
Sanaa knelt beside her, checking the ankle. "Bad sprain. We'll wrap it once we catch breath."
Shivam leaned on the door, rod trembling under the pounding blows outside.
Raj and Pooja sat in the corner, pale as chalk.
Above them all…
Rahul stood on the rooftop ledge, rifle scope pressed against his eye.
He watched them split, watched them scramble.
His finger hovered over the trigger — pointed at Ayush below.
Then he pulled back.
Not yet.
A soft laugh left his lips."You're still playing soldier, Ayush… still pretending to protect everyone."
He watched Kartik carry Riya. Watched Ananya shield Suraj.
He memorized every weak limb, every tear, every limp.
"I want you to see it all burn first."
He turned, vanishing into the smog like a ghost.
Later that night
They regrouped in a deserted laundromat.
Blood stained their sleeves. Dirt clung to every pore.
Ayush sat by the door, half in the shadows.
Kartik dropped beside him, tossing a battered water bottle."I don't need answers anymore," Kartik said, voice low, eyes forward. "Just don't let them die."
Ayush nodded slowly. "I won't."
Ananya cleaned blood off her arms with an old rag, her gaze fixed on Ayush every second.
Shivam wrapped Riya's foot, hands surprisingly gentle despite the adrenaline tremors.
Suraj quietly rigged a tripwire alarm at the door with loose detergent cords.
Sanaa hummed that same unknown song, softer now — almost like a fading heartbeat.
They had survived.
But each of them knew — Rahul wasn't finished.
And the true hunt had only just begun.