Day 3: The Reckoning Begins

The city was no longer recognizable. Smoke curled into the sky from burning buildings. Cars sat abandoned in the streets. The infected roamed freely, their numbers growing with each passing hour.

Maya and the survivors had made it halfway to Westbridge High. They moved through alleyways and underground tunnels, avoiding the main roads where Lucas’s horde patrolled. Every sound — a creaking pipe, a distant scream — made their hearts race.

Inside the lab, Dr. Elara Quinn worked frantically. She had isolated part of the virus. It wasn’t just biological — it had a digital signature, like it had been coded. Someone had made this. Someone wanted it to spread.

Back above ground, Lucas stood atop the school roof, his was twisted like the blood-red sky. He was changing again. Smarter. Faster. He could sense the resistance forming. He snarled and sent out a signal — a guttural roar that echoed across the city. The infected responded instantly, converging toward the school.

Maya’s group reached the lab entrance just as the first wave of zombies appeared behind them. They slammed the steel door shut, locking it tight. Inside, Dr. Quinn turned to them.

“You made it. Good. But we don’t have much time. There’s something you need to see.”

She led them to a chamber deep within the lab. Inside was a containment unit — and in it, a second rat. But this one was different. Its eyes glowed blue. It hadn’t turned. It was immune.

“This rat carries the antidote. But we need to replicate it. And we need someone brave enough to go back out there… to find the original host.”

Maya stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”

Outside, Lucas felt a shift. A challenge. He smiled — a jagged, monstrous grin.

Day 3 was no longer about survival. It was about war.