Natasha frowned, and the others imdiately turned to him. "What are you planning to do?" she asked, her tone sharp.
"There’s no point staying here like this," Jaxon said, his gaze fixed on the city ahead. "We won’t figure out anything just sitting and watching unless we check it out ourselves."
"If it’s for the mission, we don’t need to risk our lives going that deep," Na-rin said cautiously.
"I know," Jaxon replied, "but this isn’t just about the mission. I can’t afford to stop killing infected."
"...I don’t understand," Na-rin said. Glancing at his family, their calm, knowing expressions made her chest tighten. Sothing was different here, sothing she didn’t yet fully see. A thought slipped out before she could stop it.
"It has sothing to do with your abilities, doesn’t it?" Her words tumbled out, and she imdiately covered her mouth, avoiding his gaze.
Jaxon stepped closer, his eyes locking on hers. "I trust you more than you realize," he said softly. He leaned in, his words brushing against her ear like a quiet promise. "I’ll tell you about it soon enough."
Na-rin lowered her eyes, caught off guard, then finally lifted her head slightly and gave a small, tentative nod.
"You’re really pushing your luck, Na-rin," Natasha said from the side, her arms crossed, annoyance clear in her tone. She gave a soft sigh and asked, "So... what’s the plan?"
Jaxon turned back to the group. "I’ll take a few of you to check inside the buildings. But soone needs to stay behind, to cover our retreat if things go wrong and to have the car ready."
Natasha clicked her tongue, a half-smile forming despite herself. "So all that training... this is why you’ve been putting through it?"
"No, because you’re simply talented," Jaxon said with a casual shrug. Natasha opened her mouth to argue, but he held her gaze firmly. "I trust you to cover for us."
Natasha turned her head, pouting, clearly not happy about staying behind. Jaxon continued, his voice calm. "Soone has to stay with her..."
Before he could finish, Isabel spoke up. "I’ll do it. We’ll cover for you if anything happens."
"Thanks, Mom," Jaxon said with a small smile. "Keep the radios on. We’ll contact you if anything goes wrong. And make sure to report to the military about anything unusual we find here."
He then turned to Na-rin, swapping Natasha’s pistol with her current one. The suppressor on hers wasn’t fully upgraded yet, so it would still make so noise when fired.
Then he switched once more, taking Isabel’s M16 for himself. "I’ll borrow this for a while, Mom."
"Be careful in there," Isabel said, her tone softening with concern.
"Let’s go. Stay close behind ," Jaxon instructed, turning to Na-rin and Cindy.
Cindy glanced at Na-rin walking behind Jaxon. She wasn’t as talkative as Hae-in, soone Cindy could easily get along with, but it was clear how much she cared for him and stayed close.
’Maybe I can get close to her too,’ Cindy thought quietly, following along.
The three of them moved forward, stepping carefully toward the city’s outer periter.
.....
Jaxon, Cindy, and Na-rin moved silently along the empty streets. Broken cars were scattered across the asphalt, and silent buildings lood on either side, their windows dark and shattered.
Cindy and Na-rin’s eyes darted left and right, scanning for any movent, while Jaxon kept his focus straight ahead. The city was unnervingly quiet, a heavy silence that pressed on their ears and made every small sound feel amplified.
"AHHHHH!"
The sudden scream shattered the stillness. Instinctively, all three dove behind a flipped-over car. The sound was sowhere between pain and desperation, but its source was impossible to pinpoint.
The echo bounced off the buildings, making it seem as though the city itself was screaming.
Jaxon’s eyes flicked across the streets, searching for any hint of movent. They waited, tense and silent, as the echo slowly faded into the distance.
Cindy gripped her weapon tighter, her voice barely above a whisper. "What... was that?"
Jaxon said nothing, but a light tap on his back drew his attention. Na-rin was pointing toward a nearby building. Though the sign was damaged, the faint outline revealed it had once been part of a grocery section in the mall.
Jaxon studied it for a mont, then gave a subtle hand signal. They nodded and followed him.
Step by careful step, he approached the building. With a gentle push, the glass door creaked open, the sound small but loud enough in the oppressive silence.
They slipped inside as the faint echo of the door closing behind them.
The grocery store was dim, the only light filtering in through dusty windows. For Jaxon, it wasn’t a problem, his night vision quickly adjusted to the darkness.
He summoned two small flashlights and handed them to Na-rin and Cindy.
"Keep your eyes sharp," he whispered. "Anything that moves, call it out."
The beams cut across the aisles. Shelves were still stocked, jars of preserves, cans, chips, chocolates, and bottled drinks, but each layer was coated in dust, untouched for who knows how long.
Jaxon picked up a jar, wiping the surface with his sleeve. The label was still clear, the seal unbroken.
"Still good," he muttered, tucking it away into his storage space.
They moved deeper inside, their footsteps light on the tiled floor. At the back of the store, bulk goods were stacked: rice sacks, crates of canned food, boxes of instant noodles.
Jaxon turned to the two and spoke in a low, calm voice.
"Start gathering. Prioritize canned food, rice, water, and dical supplies. Snacks only if they’re easy to carry."
Without hesitation, he began storing items one by one. Cans disappeared into his storage space, followed by boxes of instant noodles and sealed water bottles. He skipped the front aisles entirely, heading straight for the storage section where the heavier supplies were kept.
Then Cindy froze, hand rising to cover her nose.
A sudden sharp sll made Cindy cover her nose. "Brother... it slls... rotten here," she whispered.
Jaxon froze mid-step. His expression hardened instantly, and he gripped the M16. Na-rin mirrored him, raising her pistol, eyes scanning the darkness.
Jaxon quickly stored the supplies they had gathered, then gave a subtle hand signal. The three of them moved carefully, scanning the aisles and floor for any other surprises.
When their flashlights swept across a nearby shelf, the source of the sll beca clear: rotting fruits, raw at, and other organic food, darkened and lted into a foul, sticky ss.
"So... that’s it," Cindy whispered, letting out a small breath of relief.
But Na-rin’s eyes narrowed. Sothing about the sll didn’t match the decayed food. The sll was off, familiar in a way that set her nerves on edge. Her gaze flicked across the floor, searching for the source.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a strange pattern near the floor. She stepped closer, lowering her flashlight for a better look.
The beam caught on a section of floor where the tiles had split. Beneath the crack, a dark, web-like mass of flesh pulsed faintly, writhing as if it were breathing. A cold shiver ran down her spine, and her hand holding the flashlight trembled as she whispered, "...Jaxon."
Before he could respond, a long, slimy appendage shot out from the deeper darkness ahead, snapping forward like a lizard’s tongue.
Jaxon’s eyes, glowing faint green from his night vision, caught it at the last mont. Instinctively, he shoved Cindy and Na-rin to the side, rolling with a soft thud across the tiled floor, narrowly avoiding the sticky arm as it slamd into the spot they had been standing.
The sll hit them instantly, worse than the rotten food, thick and coppery, with sothing underlying it that made their stomachs churn. The arm twitched, retracting slightly before spreading again, moving as if it could sll them, searching.
The three froze, hearts pounding, every sense screaming danger.
"Take cover," Jaxon whispered sharply, raising his M16 and firing toward the darkness.
Thup. Thup. Thup. The suppressed shots cracked through the shelves and boxes. Cans rattled and clattered to the floor as the bullets tore forward.
A pained, distorted roar echoed from the shadows. Sothing had been hit.
The creature twitched violently behind the shelves, its form barely visible in the gloom. Its long, slimy limb recoiled, writhing as it pulled itself back.
A low, angry growl escaped its throat before it slithered deeper into the building, its body scraping wetly across the floor, disappearing into darkness.
Silence fell again.
Cindy’s hands trembled slightly as she gripped her flashlight, the beam shaking across the aisles. "We should get..."
"Shh," Jaxon cut her off. "Stay where you are." He closed his eyes, letting his other senses stretch. He could hear every creak of the old building, every distant drip of water, the faint scuffing of sothing moving across the floor.
The quiet stretched on, broken only by faint, wet scraping from the monster as it moved deeper into the building. He had expected a horde to co rushing toward them, but nothing else stirred.
Finally, Jaxon opened his eyes, the faint green glow of his night vision sweeping the darkness where the monster had disappeared.
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