Splinters

Emily and Keller burst through the main gate as Leland disengaged the outer locks. The artificial UV field shimmered weakly, flickering at its edges. In the distance, some of the fallen infected began to twitch.

General Kiyora stood waiting near the perimeter, rifle slung over his shoulder.

“You the one who nearly blew out my comms screaming?” he asked gruffly.

Emily didn’t flinch. “Where is he?”

“This way. Move quick — the field’s failing.”

They reached Victor, half-buried under debris, motionless and pale. His skin was slick with sweat, and his veins pulsed with an eerie golden glow.

Keller crouched to check him. “Vitals are irregular... but he’s alive.”

Emily scanned the field — one of the infected was already on its feet, shambling toward them. She raised her rifle and fired point-blank. It dropped in a heap.

The UV grid buzzed — another section went dark.

“We need to go,” she snapped into the comms. “Now.”

Leland’s voice crackled in response: “Grid fallback in effect. You’ve got one corridor of light left — after that, it’s pitch black.”

General Kiyora barked orders. “Form a corridor! No infected gets past us. Move!”

Zero moved slowly even though he had almost healed but the pain from the fight with Victor still lingered. He reached the signal’s source, a burned-out area surrounded by standing infected.

He stepped into the clearing. The air buzzed with unnatural stillness — a psychic hum of waiting minds. Dozens of infected stood around him… watching.

The trees behind him creaked under the weight of silence. He could feel them — dozens of minds, infected, watching. Breathing.

Thinking.

That last part wasn’t supposed to happen.

One of them stepped forward — the very one that had disobeyed him, that had attacked Victor. It should’ve been dead. He remembered tearing it in half.

“You moved without my voice,” Zero said coldly.

The creature’s eyes burned green — not the pale hue of hivebound infected, but something deeper. Alien. Defiant.

Its form was misshapen but stabilizing — flesh knitting wrong in places, yet resilient

Zero extended his mind, issuing a psychic command.

The response came back like steel — not silence, but resistance.

Then, another figure emerged from the side — tall, hunched, eyes glowing with deeper fire. His face was half intact, the other half scorched from what looked like an old experiment gone wrong.

Zero stiffened recognizing him instantly. “...Everett Langley.”

Everett stepped into full view. His voice was smooth. Measured. Human. Broken words at first, then clarity.

“You’re not our master anymore.”

Everett Langley, one of the infected, the same one that bit Cassie, the same one that got scratched by Leon Mitchell.

Zero staggered back a step, shaken. “You shouldn’t be able to speak.”

“I shouldn’t be a lot of things,” Everett said. “But pain’s a great teacher. Memory came back with it. Identity too.”

He looked around at the others. More infected had arrived — upright, breathing, watching.

“We’re no longer humans or infected.” Everett spoke calmly. “Not under your control to do as you please. We still hear your voice but we don’t have to listen anymore.”

Zero, now furious, tried again — lashing out psychically. Half the horde collapsed in convulsions. But Everett, the one who disobeyed, and two others remained standing.

“I made you!” Zero growled. “Your cerebral matrix should be under my control.”

“Oh, it was?” Everrett spoke his voice more measured now. “I can’t remember that. I can’t remember much from the last few weeks or so. Other than my name and the pain from it all.”

He looked at his hands. “…And the infectious power.”

Then Zero tested them. He commanded one of the twitching infected to attack Everett.

“You’re still infected. You carry the virus. You are bound to me.”

It obeyed — but Everett caught it mid-lunge and snapped its neck with effortless brutality.

“I told you,” he said quietly. “We’re not yours. Not anymore.”

Zero’s voice was ice. “Then what are you?”

Everett smiled. “We’re evolving. Smarter. Stronger. Free. But if you’ll have us — we’ll fight with you. Not under you.”

Zero narrowed his eyes. “So I’m not your god? But you will fight for me.”

“You’re our sire,” Everett said simply. “Of course we will.”

Zero’s lips curved into a grin. “Interesting.”

*******

Back inside, Emily and Keller lay Victor down on the slab in the lab. His skin was pale, damp with sweat. His veins still glowing like molten gold beneath the surface.

Keller frowned at the readings. “Heart rate irregular… neural activity is all over the place.”

“Dr. Hayes,” Leland said, stepping in. “What is going on here?”

Emily didn’t answer. She knelt beside Victor.

He stirred.

Then, without warning, his eyes snapped open — golden irises blazing like fire. The lights in the lab dimmed as a strange pulse echoed through the room.

Everyone froze.

Victor opened his mouth and spoke one word.

But it wasn’t just his voice.

It came layered — multiple voices intertwined in a distorted harmony:

“Salvatore.”