"Breach it," Adrian simply ordered.
Ryan didn’t repeat it.
He stepped aside and gave a short hand signal.
Two operators moved up imdiately, positioning themselves on either side of the door. One reached for the handle and tested it first.
Locked.
"Solid door," he said quietly. "Reinforced."
Ryan glanced at it once.
Clean finish.
No visible damage.
High-end residential security.
"Doesn’t matter," he replied.
The second operator already had a breaching tool ready. He set it against the lock chanism, angling it carefully.
"Ready," he said.
Ryan nodded.
"Do it."
The tool bit into the locking system with a sharp, contained force. tal gave way with a dull crack, the internal chanism snapping under pressure.
The operator pulled back.
Ryan didn’t wait.
He pushed the door open and stepped in first, weapon raised.
"Clear left."
"Clear right."
The team flowed in behind him, sweeping the unit in practiced motion, each man taking a sector, clearing angles before moving deeper.
At first, nothing, there was no movent, and no imdiate contact.
But the difference from the hallway was obvious.
This place had been lived in.
Adrian stepped in slowly, eyes scanning.
The interior was intact.
It was clean compared to everything else they had seen.
A small living area opened up just past the entrance. Furniture was in place, not overturned. A table sat near the center, and on it.
An unopened water bottle.
Beside it, a cup of instant noodles.
Half-finished.
Ryan noticed it too.
"She was here," he said.
"Recently," Adrian added.
There was no dust on the surface. No signs of decay inside the unit like the rest of the building.
Whoever stayed here had kept it sealed.
Adrian’s gaze shifted toward the windows.
Covered.
Every single one.
Layers of newspaper taped across the glass, blocking out sunlight completely. The room was dim, lit only by faint indoor lighting that barely cut through the shadows.
"Light discipline," Ryan said quietly.
"Or hiding," Adrian replied.
One of the operators moved toward the inner hallway.
"Clearing bedroom," he said.
He stepped in and paused.
Ryan caught it imdiately.
"What is it?"
The operator didn’t answer right away. Monts later, he responded.
"Movent."
Ryan raised his weapon.
"Contact."
A second later, a figure stepped out from the shadows of the inner room.
A baseball bat raised in both hands.
"Back!" the lead operator shouted.
But she didn’t swing imdiately.
She stopped just short of them, breathing hard, eyes wide behind thin-frad glasses.
Adrian saw her clearly now.
Her hair was long.
Silver.
Tied neatly behind her with a ribbon, though a few loose strands had fallen around her face. She wore a casual Korean-style outfit, a loose cream sweater layered over a light shirt, paired with fitted dark slacks. It looked simple, practical, sothing she had been wearing for days without changing.
For a mont, no one moved.
Weapons were still trained.
Her breathing was steadying.
Then she spoke.
"Who are you?" she asked, her voice low but clear. "how did you get in here?"
The team didn’t respond.
A few of them glanced at each other.
Ryan didn’t lower his weapon.
Adrian stepped forward instead.
Not too close.
Just enough to show he was the one speaking.
"Look, we don’t speak Korean. We are from the Philippines, a paramilitary company. We ca here to get you out of this country so we can figure out the virus."
She didn’t lower the bat right away.
Her eyes moved across the room, taking in everything.
The weapons.
The gear.
The way the n held their positions without stepping on each other’s line of fire.
This wasn’t a random group.
This wasn’t desperate survivors.
She understood that much.
"...Philippines?" she repeated, slower this ti, like she was testing the word in her head.
Adrian held her gaze.
"Yes."
There was a short pause.
Then she shifted her weight slightly, still keeping the bat up, but no longer in a striking position.
"You ca all the way here... for ?" she asked.
"Not just for you," Adrian replied. "For what you know."
Ryan remained still beside him, weapon still up but no longer as aggressive. His finger wasn’t on the trigger anymore, but he didn’t drop his guard either.
The woman noticed that too.
"You said... paramilitary," she continued. "You’re not governnt."
"No," Adrian said.
"Then why risk this?" she asked. "Why Korea?"
Adrian didn’t rush his answer.
"Because this didn’t start and end here," he said. "We’ve seen what it does outside. It spreads fast. Faster than any response."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"You’ve seen cases outside Korea?"
"Yes."
That landed.
You could see it in the way her posture changed, the way her grip on the bat loosened just a little more.
She looked down for a second.
Thinking.
Then back at him.
"...How bad?" she asked.
Adrian didn’t sugarcoat it.
"Bad enough that we’re here."
"So, let’s go now, we should get out of here before the zombies co here," Adrian said.
"No, not this ti, there’s sothing out there," she said.
"What do you an?" Adrian tilted his head to the side, and then suddenly, there was a brief tremor.
"Earthquake," Ryan said.
"No, it’s appearing..."
The tremor didn’t last long.
Just a few seconds.
But it was enough to make the glasses on the table rattle and the loose items shift slightly across the surface.
The team reacted imdiately.
Weapons tightened.
Stances adjusted.
Eyes moving.
"Everyone hold," Ryan said, steady but alert.
The vibration stopped.
Silence followed.
But it didn’t feel like it was over.
Adrian looked at her.
"What do you an it’s appearing?" he asked.
She didn’t answer right away.
Instead, she turned and moved toward the window.
Ryan’s weapon tracked her movent out of instinct, but Adrian raised a hand slightly.
"Let her move," he said.
She reached the floor-to-ceiling window, the one sealed completely with layers of newspaper. The edges were taped carefully, no gaps, no light bleeding through.
She stopped in front of it.
Then looked back at Adrian.
"Co here," she said.
Adrian didn’t hesitate.
He moved toward her, stopping just beside the window.
She reached up and peeled a small section of the newspaper aside, just enough to create a narrow slit.
"Look," she said.
Adrian leaned in slightly and looked through the gap.
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