The Undead Roommate

Chapter 6: Lost Memory, Hard Truth

"Zero patient? What are you talking about, Antang?" Kewin grabbed a towel, pressing it firmly against the wound in Antang’s chest, his hands slick with the warm, metallic-smelling blood. "You’re making no sense. You’re a roommate. You scrub plates. You don't start plagues."

Antang’s head lolled back against the headboard, his eyes flickering. The synthetic glow in his chest remained dead, casting the room into a suffocating, natural gloom. "I didn't start it, Kewin. I was just the first one to… accept the rewrite."

"Accept the rewrite? You’re talking like a manual," Kewin spat, his voice rising in panic. He moved his hands to Antang’s shoulders, shaking him. "Look at me! I don’t care if you were a scientist or a lab rat. You’re dying. How do I fix this?"

Antang let out a wet, rattling laugh. "You can't fix a paradox with a bandage, Kewin. My body is trying to reject the memory. It’s too heavy."

"Stop it. Just stop talking like that." Kewin stood up, pacing the small, cramped room. He felt the walls vibrating with the distant thrum of the city. "You said there was a laboratory. You said we needed gear. Where? Tell me where so I can get you whatever you need."

"The bunker under the old sector office," Antang wheezed, his fingers clawing feebly at the bedding. "But you’re already too late. They know. The moment the light in my chest peaked, the frequency hit the net."

"Who knows? The militia?"

"The network," Antang corrected, his eyes suddenly focusing with terrifying, piercing clarity. "The drones. They aren't just watching the perimeter, Kewin. They were waiting for a trigger. My heartbeat was the code."

A sharp, high-pitched whir sounded from outside the window, cutting through the stagnant air of the apartment. It was the distinct, electric hum of a scout drone.

Kewin froze, his eyes darting to the broken glass of the window. "Is that them? Are you kidding me?"

"They’re calibrating," Antang rasped, his voice dropping to a whisper. "They don't want to destroy the assets. They want to harvest the data. That means they want us both."

Kewin lunged for his supply bag, throwing his remaining canned goods aside to get to his tactical vest. "Fine. Then we move. Can you walk?"

"I am... inefficient," Antang muttered, his skin turning a sickly, translucent gray. "The blood loss is slowing the processing. You need to leave me, Kewin."

"Not a chance." Kewin hauled Antang up, wrapping the creature’s cold, stiff arm around his own neck. Antang’s body was heavy, like lead, and smelled of ozone and something sharper—like burning copper. "We had a deal. You stay in the kitchen, you keep the place clean, and you don't bite me. You’re not breaking the deal by dying on me now."

"You are irrational," Antang whispered, his head resting heavily against Kewin’s shoulder. "I am a liability."

"You’re a pain in the ass," Kewin grunted, kicking open the bedroom door. "And we’re leaving. Through the service tunnels?"

"The stairs are monitored," Antang murmured. "Use the vent in the hallway. It leads to the crawlspace."

"The crawlspace? That’s full of filth."

"It is organized filth," Antang countered, a hint of his dry, robotic humor returning. "Better than the lobby."

Kewin kicked the bedroom door shut, peering into the hallway. It was empty, but the shadows seemed to stretch and pull, manipulated by some unseen light source from outside. He heard the rhythmic thump-thump of heavy boots moving up the stairwell.

"They're on the fourth floor," Kewin hissed, tightening his grip on Antang.

"The drone is at the window," Antang added, pointing a trembling hand toward the living room.

A red laser dot suddenly danced across the floorboards, cutting through the dark. It stopped on the back of Kewin’s neck.

"Move," Antang commanded, his voice suddenly sharp, commanding.

Kewin didn't argue. He dove toward the pantry, throwing his weight against the wall panel they had marked in their previous, hurried planning. "It’s stuck! Antang, use your… whatever you do!"

"My core is offline," Antang gasped, his strength clearly failing. "Push the third brick from the left."

Kewin shoved the loose brick. The wall groaned, a section of the plaster and wood sliding back with a shriek of rusted hinges. "Get in! Move, move, move!"

He tumbled into the cramped, dust-choked space of the building’s service wall, dragging Antang in with him. The moment they were inside, a massive explosion rocked the room behind them. The front door was blown off its hinges, sending a wall of fire and debris into the living room.

"They aren't knocking anymore," Kewin coughed, the air in the crawlspace thick with pulverized drywall.

"They are aggressive," Antang observed, leaning against a rusted pipe. "But they are still predictable."

"Predictable? They just turned my apartment into a charcoal grill!"

"And they missed the target," Antang said, turning his head to look back through the small gap in the wall. Through the hole, Kewin could see the soldiers—faceless, armored silhouettes moving with terrifying, synchronized precision.

"They're going to search the unit," Kewin whispered, his pulse racing. "What do we do now?"

"We wait," Antang replied, his fingers tracing a complex pattern on the steel pipe next to him.

"Wait? We’re sitting ducks in a rat hole!"

"The ventilation system is a closed loop," Antang whispered, his eyes beginning to glow with a faint, pulsing violet. "If I can override the pressure sensors, I can flush the entire floor with the fire suppression system."

"You can do that?"

"It requires a direct connection to the building’s mainframe," Antang said, reaching out to touch Kewin’s hand again. "I need your focus. Keep your heart rate steady. I’m going to use your pulse as the signal carrier."

"You’re going to hack the building… through me?" Kewin stared at him, bewildered.

"Trust me," Antang said, his voice dropping to a low, intimate vibration that seemed to bypass Kewin’s ears and ring directly in his skull. "This is going to be… messy."

A heavy, grinding sound began to echo through the walls. Above them, the building’s alarm system began to wail, a dissonant, screeching sound that signaled a total lockdown.

"They’re locking the doors," Kewin realized, looking at the flickering lights in the vents.

"No," Antang whispered, his eyes locking onto Kewin’s with a terrifying, beautiful intensity. "They’re sealing us in."

Suddenly, the floor beneath them shuddered as the sound of massive, armored vehicles began to vibrate through the foundation. It wasn't just a SWAT team anymore.

"Kewin," Antang whispered, his grip on Kewin’s hand turning ice-cold. "They brought the heavy ordinance."

Outside, a spotlight cut through the smoke, illuminating the apartment building. A voice, loud enough to rattle their teeth, boomed from a loudspeaker.

"Target identified. Initiate total neutralization. No survivors."