Chapter 2802: Story 2803: The Girl in the Darkness

The lights exploded, plunging the underground garage into absolute darkness.

Ryan Malik heard Zara curse beside him. Somewhere ahead, hundreds of footsteps scraped across the concrete floor, growing louder with every passing second.

Then the little girl’s voice whispered through the darkness.

“Ryan, why are you hiding from me?”

Ryan gripped his flashlight and struck it against his palm. The beam flickered back to life, illuminating the tunnel.

The girl was gone.

“Where did she go?” Zara whispered.

Before Ryan could answer, a shadow rushed toward them. He shoved Zara aside as a creature slammed into the wall where she had stood. Its skin was gray, its mouth stretched unnaturally wide, and golden veins pulsed beneath its flesh.

Ryan swung his flashlight against its head. The creature staggered, but it did not fall.

Zara fired twice.

The shots echoed through the garage. The creature collapsed, twitching violently.

“That wasn’t a normal zombie,” she said.

“No,” Ryan replied. “And I don’t think it came alone.”

Dozens of infected emerged from the darkness. Some crawled along the walls, while others moved on all fours, their twisted bodies making horrible cracking sounds.

Ryan spotted a maintenance vehicle near the exit ramp.

“Run!”

They raced toward it as the infected poured through the tunnel. Ryan pulled open the driver’s door while Zara climbed into the passenger seat. The engine coughed before finally roaring to life.

An infected creature landed on the hood.

Ryan slammed the accelerator. The vehicle surged forward, throwing the creature against a concrete pillar. More zombies scrambled after them, striking the windows with bloody hands.

They burst through a damaged security barrier and climbed onto the street.

Karachi was burning.

Smoke covered the skyline, and abandoned military vehicles blocked the intersection. Far away, explosions illuminated the clouds. Yet the strangest sight was the crowd of zombies standing motionless in the middle of the road.

Every one of them turned toward Ryan’s vehicle.

Zara stared through the windshield.

“They’re following us without moving.”

Ryan glanced at the rearview mirror. “That makes no sense.”

His military radio crackled.

“Ryan Malik, if you can hear me, proceed to the old railway station. This is Captain Hamza Qureshi.”

Ryan grabbed the radio. “How do you know where I am?”

“Because the creatures are tracking something inside your body.”

Ryan’s blood turned cold.

“What does that mean?”

“The research facility conducted experiments before the outbreak. Your name appeared in their records.”

A second voice interrupted the transmission.

“Don’t believe him completely,” Dr. Meher Siddiqui warned. “Hamza knows what happened to your family.”

Ryan nearly lost control of the vehicle.

“My family is dead.”

“That’s what you were told,” Meher replied.

Suddenly, the little girl appeared in the middle of the road.

Ryan slammed the brakes.

She stood beneath a flickering streetlight, smiling peacefully while flames consumed the buildings behind her.

Zara raised her pistol.

The girl lifted one tiny hand and pointed at Ryan.

“Your mother is waiting.”

Behind her, the entire horde dropped to its knees.

Then the asphalt split open.

A gigantic, blood-covered hand emerged from beneath the road, gripping the broken pavement.

Ryan stared in horror as something enormous began climbing out.

The little girl smiled wider.

“Now he’s coming home.”