Everyone had witnessed the Grey infected man come back to humanity in sixty seconds and Director Hale stood in the aftermath with his hands clasped behind his back."Mr. Asher." He gestured toward the white tent with an open hand. "I think it's time we spoke privately and get this—"His remaining statement lodged behind his throat as Cole grabbed Dana’s hand and sprinted toward the Unawakened tents in section four.“Go after them!” Director Hale ordered his officers and the armed men pursed on foot. They bustled through the crowd fast, Cole leading and Dana keeping pace behind him.The swarm of survivors parted way for them, not out of reverence but due to confusion as they stood there dumbfounded.Dana and Cole reached section four and entered into their tent. “Dana, quick. We need to leave now.” Cole breathed heavily, his heart racing as he ripped clean a piece of cloth and bandaged his bleeding forearm.Malcolm rushed inside the tent with Biscuit in his arms. “Director Hale is com

Cole’s words barely settled in the moment before the titanium doors slid open and the female P.A.X medic strolled into the laboratory. Cole recognized her immediately and Dana scoffed, “Yay, it’s your girlfriend.” Sarcasm dripped off every syllable as she rolled her eyes. The P.A.X medic had her blonde hair tied back, her transparent medical glasses resting on her freckled nose and her former P.A.X medic coat was replaced by a white lab coat. She carried a tablet and walked with the same head straight efficiency she'd used to walk away from his tent and the trash can. Standing at a professional distance from Cole, she glanced at his bandaged forearm, which was visible below the leather strap. "Mr. Asher." Her voice was tinier than he expected. "My name is Talia. I'm the lead medical researcher on the V-1 Response Initiative." She set the tablet on a counter. "I know this isn't the circumstance either of us wanted but I have to be straightforward with you about the procedures

Dana couldn't sleep. She was thinking about life before the apocalypse whilst sitting in the dark, her back against the wall of the glass chamber, watching the rise and fall of Cole's chest. Quiet footsteps approached the laboratory and the titanium doors slid open, revealing a P.A.X officer in a full armor gear holding a black bag. They moved into the laboratory without switching the lights on, using the dim emergency strip along the floor to navigate toward Dana’s chamber. Dana scampered to her feet and the P.A.X officer stopped at her glass chamber, reached up and took off their helmet. "Hello," Malcolm said and Dana gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. "Apologies for the dramatic entrance." He held up the keycard. "I nicked this off an officer guarding the building and I’ll admit, it was considerably way easier than I anticipated." He slid the card through the chamber lock and the glass door released. "Shall we?" Dana ran out and threw her arms around Malcol

Cole didn't know when he fell asleep.One moment he was embracing a cold and lifeless Dana and the next morning, tiny beams of sunlight seeped through the roof and shone on his face. He sat up and looked around the shop but the space where Dana laid was empty. "What?" He jumped to his feet before the thought completed.“Dana?” Cole's brows furrowed as he scanned the corners but still no sight of Dana or Biscuit or the bag she'd been carrying.Was he dreaming about last night? Did he escape camp without Dana? Could P.A.X have found them and taken her body away? Cole looked at his hands and stared at dried blood cracked at his palms and knuckles.“So, it wasn’t a dream?” He muttered to himself and heard jagged footsteps sauntering towards the shop.Cole trudged out the shop and into the Grey zone, covering his eyes against the morning light with his palm.Amidst the Grey miasma, Dana limped down the empty street with the wound compress still visible beneath her P.A.X uniform. In one

The afternoon sun was unbearable. Even after the Grey Plague took everything alive— the people, the air, the smell of a city—the scorching sun stayed relentless. Underneath Cole's P.A.X uniform the heat smite his skin as the fabric was designed for people who had access to climate-controlled facilities. For Dana, it certainly wasn’t the best option for traveling through a dead city in with a bullet wound in her abdomen and no water since dawn. “I’m gonna have to drink piss if I don’t get water to drink soon.” Dana groaned for the hundredth time in an hour. "Look… over there," Cole pointed at a grocery store half a block ahead. “ The front windows were still intact, the door were pushed in rather than broken, and Cole guessed the threat level inside was probably low. "We need to survey.” Cole tried to check around the block but Dana grabbed his jacket and stopped him. “Water first," She said. "You can’t run or fight and I don’t want a Grey to attack us by surprise.” Cole said.