Caden remained seated on the box, his hands on his head and his head bent down. His knees were trembling as drops of tears flowed from his cheek and slipped onto his jeans. 

He felt hopeless as he sat outside waiting for his sister. He knew very well that she wouldn't show, but he didn't have anywhere else to go. He sat in solitude for a few minutes, until his head jerked up to the sound of a rhythmic thumping. He looked towards the barracks as he saw two guards opening the gates and saw soldiers marching towards the exit. 

"Could she be one of them?" Caden thought to himself, his heart flickering with hope. He ducked behind a bush nearby, for he knew the guards would throw him out if they saw him. He raised his head up just enough to see the faces of the soldiers. 

A few rallies were in, and he began to doubt whether his sister would be sent for this, after all, she had only joined a few months ago. 

But then, he saw her: long, thick braids, spotless skin and piercing blue eyes. 

He wanted to call out to her, run up to her and give her the tightest hug. But all he could let out was a low moan.

"Gabriella"  

»»————-　☠　————-««

"What in the Sam Hill is that?" Someone asked. 

"Shush!" Renee said, "Don't make noise"

But it was too late, a younger man, maybe in his teenage years, let out an ear-piercing scream. It diverted the creature's attention straight to them. 

Renee could feel the adrenaline rush through her whole body, but unlike the others, she didn't freeze. The beast swung its hand towards the crowd, and Renee was able to duck down just in time. 

Everyone gasped in horror.

"What is that monster?" 

"RUN!" A middle-aged man screamed, erupting chaos among the crowd. Everyone started running around, looking for the nearest exit. The loud noise was probably what awoke the other creatures hiding in there. 

Renee looked down at the commotion, frantically thinking of an escape plan. She looked around hoping to find something like a secret exit. But there was nothing. She considered wandering off on her own hoping for the best but immediately scratched that idea out.

She would either get lost, killed or maybe even both. She spotted an emergency hammer by the wall and her eyes brightened. 

"This could help me escape," She thought. She plucked the hammer from its stand and slowly walked down the stairs. She didn't want to get too excited just because she was armed.

She took a few steps forward before sensing the presence of something behind her. She turned slowly turned back and saw the creature straight at her. Without another thought, she struck the hammer into its skull. 

Crimson blood came oozing out of its head as it fell to the floor. Its eyes fluttered around for a few seconds before finally closing. And all of a sudden, it didn't look so threatening anymore. 

She soon recovered from the shock and turned to the other problem that was rising. It seemed as though they were almost double the number of beasts than earlier. 

"How is this possible?" Renee thought out loud. 

She got the answer to that almost instantly. She glanced over a body that had earlier been killed by one of the monsters. And it looked as though he was still alive. His body experienced a wobbly movement, she could hear his bones crack and saw thick blood seep from his eyes.

Being a biology student, she no longer felt nauseous by the sight of blood and instead tried to study the symptoms and correlate them with something she had learned. 

Slowly, his veins began to bulge out of his skin and finally, he let out a scream, which sounded more like a roar. 

He was becoming one of them.

»»————-　☠　————-««

Caden hadn't seen Gabriella for months, and would probably not see her again if he let this opportunity pass.

Besides, as clingy as he sounded, being with Gabriella came with a bunch of other benefits. There was a 99.9% chance she knew why the seal was put on and was probably heading out for something related to that. And if it really was a life-threatening crisis as some local news channels theorized, he couldn't get any safer. 

All that sounded amazing, but he acknowledged that the military wouldn't let any random civilian hop on. But he wasn't willing to give up that easy.

That's when he remembered, he still had his bike! Which suddenly made him feel incredibly stupid about leaving it out in the open. Would he get arrested for hovering around a military base? Well, everyone else seemed too busy to even notice it. 

He made a mental note of the van number that Gabriella got into so he could follow that specific van if they all split up, which was most likely to happen. 

His legs began to go numb staying crouched in the same position for so long. After what felt like forever, all the soldiers got in and the vans began moving. He jumped out of the bushes and quickly rushed towards his bike. 

He started following the vans closely behind, keeping an extra focus on Gabriella's van. He wasn't sure where they were going as so far they were crossing a forest road which led to the main city. 

He felt his heart beating faster. What was happening around him? First, the state was put on seal for an unknown reason, then almost the entire military soldiers were sent on duty. 

He was having mixed feelings about the whole situation, on one hand, he wanted to get back to the main road. He looked much too suspicious following them. On the other hand, he was too afraid to face whatever might be happening outside. 

Alas, he had to face it sooner or later. 

He drove through the highway, feeling giddy about it all. A plague? War? 

His guesses weren't even close to reality. He reached the main city and almost fell off his bike in shock. 

Panicked citizens running around, a burning building, and then he saw them.

Pale-skinned creatures with blood dripping down their body. The cause for all the chaos. He gulped as he saw them tear a little girl, no older than seven, apart. 

"It was a mistake to return"