Chapter 2603: Story 2604: The Forgotten Chamber

Kael stood frozen before the ancient doorway.

The words above it seemed to burn into his mind.

THE BLOOD REMEMBERS.

A memory surfaced.

Snow.

Fire.

A woman screaming his name.

And a massive stone chamber beneath the mountain.

Kael staggered backward.

“Kael?” Mara asked.

He didn’t answer.

The memory vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

Then the darkness beyond the doorway moved.

Hundreds of pale eyes opened at once.

“Run!” Ethan shouted.

The creatures poured through the doorway.

They were not ordinary zombies. Their bodies were thin and pale, their limbs unnaturally long, and black veins covered their faces. They moved on all fours before suddenly rising like humans.

Ethan fired his rifle.

The first creature fell.

Three more climbed over it.

Mara released bolt after bolt, but the chamber was filling too quickly.

Kael stepped forward.

“Stay behind me!”

The first creature lunged.

His shield slammed into its face.

Kael spun and drove his sword through its chest. Another attacked from the side. He blocked its claws and kicked it backward.

Mara fired.

The bolt struck its skull.

“Left!” Ethan yelled.

Kael turned just in time to stop another creature from reaching Adrian.

The scientist was staring at the walls.

“Adrian!” Mara shouted. “What are you doing?”

“I know this place!”

He pointed toward a series of symbols carved into the stone.

“This wasn’t a prison.”

Kael cut down another creature.

“Then what was it?”

“A laboratory.”

Everyone froze for half a second.

Adrian continued, “Someone was experimenting on human blood here.”

A roar shook the chamber.

The creatures suddenly stopped attacking.

They turned toward Kael.

Every pale eye focused on him.

Adrian’s face went white.

“They recognize you.”

Kael looked at his hands.

“Why?”

Adrian opened his medical bag and pulled out an old metal container.

Inside was a collection of yellowed documents.

“I found these beneath a research station three months ago.”

He handed one to Kael.

At the top was a photograph.

Kael stared at it.

A younger version of himself stood beside a woman in a white coat.

Behind them was the same underground chamber.

Mara stepped closer.

“That can’t be you.”

Kael’s voice was barely audible.

“I don’t remember this.”

Adrian pointed to a handwritten note beneath the photograph.

SUBJECT K-27 — BLOOD COMPATIBILITY: PERFECT.

Kael’s heart stopped.

“Subject?”

Suddenly, one of the creatures whispered.

“Brother...”

Kael slowly looked toward it.

The creature stepped forward.

Its face was badly damaged, but something about its eyes seemed strangely familiar.

Kael lowered his sword.

“Who are you?”

The creature opened its mouth.

Before it could answer, a deafening roar came from above.

The mountain shook violently.

Dust and stones fell from the ceiling.

Then the voice of the First Infected echoed through the tunnels.

“Kael Draven.”

The pale creatures immediately bowed their heads.

The First Infected continued.

“Come home.”

Kael looked toward the darkness.

His expression hardened.

“I have no home.”

The voice laughed.

“You did.”

A hidden door opened behind the laboratory.

Beyond it was a narrow passage glowing with a faint red light.

Adrian stared at it.

“That passage leads deeper into the mountain.”

Kael raised his shield.

“Then that’s where we’re going.”

Mara looked at him.

“And if the truth is waiting there?”

Kael tightened his grip on his sword.

“Then I’ll kill the truth if I have to.”

They entered the red-lit passage.

Behind them, the pale creatures followed silently.

And somewhere beneath the mountain, something ancient began to wake.