Chapter 24: A glimmer of hope

The flare hissed in my hand, red painting across my face. The smoke bloomed upward, thick and metallic, and in that dim red glow I could see my own terrified expression reflected in the shattered car window beside me.

Behind me, the others shifted— those who weren’t injured, at least. Their breaths fogged in the cold air. No one spoke. They were probably too scared to even think.

I don’t know if this plan is gonna work… but it has to.

“Now…” I whispered under my breath.

I stepped out from behind the burned-out truck, flung my arm into the open lot.

“HEYYYYYYY!!! WE’RE OVER HERE!!! COME KILL US!!!”

I waved the flare like a maniac, red smoke pouring off me like blood-colored fog.

Behind me, the others mirrored, flares igniting.

Screaming, banging metal against metal, clapping, hollering, anything to make noise.

With that, the horde shifted.

The entire mass of them— bodies twitching—turned like we had just insulted them.

Their glowing eyes snapped toward us, synchronized like a flock of birds changing direction mid-flight.

A shaky smile tugged at my lips.

Every instinct in me screamed to run. My legs were shaking so badly I felt like I might collapse.

But I couldn’t.

Not yet.

Through the muted haze of the flare, I spotted movement— shadows slipping along the far wall.

Aubrey and the others.

Even wounded and bruised, Aubrey moved fast, guiding the injured through the side path we’d cleared earlier. Bent backs, faint steps, soft whispers urging each other forward.

In that moment, I trusted her more than I trusted myself.

Carl’s voice was barely a breath.

“When do we move?”

Their heads bobbed in unsteady motions, limbs jerking as they stumbled closer. Their silhouettes jittered in the smoke.

“Just a little longer,” I whispered, not taking my eyes off them. A question seemed to fight its way through the fog of my mind.

This was so abnormal to me.

Why wouldn’t they be tearing each other apart? Wasn’t that their whole trade mark? Their nature?

The flare nearly slipped from my grip as I saw their twisted, contorted faces.

Please don’t freeze up now.

Not this time.

An infected screeched, before letting out a shaky laugh— one raw, piercing note that made my blood go cold.

They all began to sprint.

I tightened my grip on the flare.

“Get ready,” I muttered.

Fuck, this was really happening.

“NOW!!”

The plan we’d worked out barely existed in my mind as coherent words.

I stood in the middle, palms sweaty, my mind racing.

The horde shuffled before us, edging closer with every second. I ran a hand through my hair.

“We’re sandwiched between the infected outside… and the Crucible inside,” Carl said first, stating what we all knew.

“This is a death trap.”

“That’s true,”

Everyone turned.

“But a trap can be used both ways,” I continued. “For us… or for them.”

Terri lifted her gaze, an eyebrow raised.

I inhaled. My mind began to work, trying to figure out a way to form my idea into words.

“The Crucible endorses chaos and noise. They thrive in it. But like Terri said, the infected are attracted to the same thing.”

I paused, letting my own words sink in.

Lila’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, worry painting her features.

“…so you’re planning to use that to our advantage,” Terri whispered.

I nodded.

“They’re already agitated. The flashbang just drew them here faster. Noise decides their target.”

Aubrey’s eyes narrowed in confusion as struggled upright.

“Spit the fucking plan out already. We don’t have much time.”

I tried not to let her impatience overwhelm me as I let out a shaky exhale.

“I’m saying that we don’t lure the infected away, not really. We lure them through the crucible.”

Aubrey swallowed.

“So we take the chaos to the warehouse, relying on the fact that some of the crucible members still might be disoriented to fight back.”

Carl’s jaw was tight, but his eyes gleamed with realization.

“Killing two birds with one stone.”

“Exactly.” I exhaled.

“Noise, light…any signal we can give them. If we can pull them into where the crucible are, the injured get a clear path. The rest of us follow after through another exit in the warehouse.”

Terri frowned.

“…Adrian, think about this.”

My knuckles tightened

“Don’t you think that’s just wishful thinking? This plan can go south in so many ways. You guys could get cornered, an exit in the warehouse might be blocked off, you guys could—”

…

She stopped speaking once she noticed the look on my face.

Terri’s words seemed to shoot through us all like a bullet of despair.

There was a moment of silence.

What the fuck was I even doing?

“It has to work…”

My throat closed, almost like I was scared to say the words.

I swallowed my own spit and anxiety.

“It has to.”

I’m doing the best I can, damn it.

BANG—

The warehouse doors slammed open as we barreled through, my breath ripping out of my lungs.

“What the FUCK?!”

A Crucible gunman jerked back as I shoved past him, flare blazing in my palms. His rifle clattered to the floor, forgotten the second he saw the chaos behind me.

The woman with the piercings, the presumed leader— stepped forward with that twisted, eerie grin of hers.

“Well, well… and here I thought you people ran off. Back to finish ou—?”

Her smile seemed to falter, but not disappear entirely. I’d almost smiled at that alone.

Panick tore through the crucible ranks in an instant as the infected poured into the building, eyes twitching and bloodshot. Hues of red washed over them as they practically pushed passed each other like a stampede, their bloodlust evident as they snarled. Others laughed like utter maniacs.

The woman froze as someone from her crew screamed.

Then everything burst into pure violence.

Behind me, something slammed into metal. I couldn’t tell what it was. A Crucible gunman was lifted off his feet by his throat, his legs kicking as an infected tore into him. Another disappeared under a wave of bodies, his scream cut short with a wet crunch.

Gunshots erupted.

Blood sprayed.

I couldn’t tell who was getting killed, nor who was still alive.

Everything became something I was unable to make out— the flare spitting sparks as I dropped it to the floor.

Just fucking run, Adrian.

Tearing between crates, my boots almost slipped over blood. The warehouse stretched and blurred around me, every shadow looking like someone dying or about to die.

My eyes darted everywhere, wild, frantic—

Where’s that damn exit?!

I jumped over a severed arm and skidded around a stack of old generators.

The roar of bodies colliding behind me shook the floor. Something screamed my name—Carl? Lila?— but I didn’t dare turn.

There.

A muted hue of moonlight bled through a half-open loading bay door.

Something sparked in my chest.

“THIS WAY!” I bellowed, my voice hoarse and raw.

I sprinted harder at that, hoping the others were still on my tail.

But through my periphery, I noticed woman with the piercings, her Liberty spikes seemed messy through the carnage.

Her eyes were red and feral, burning into my soul as I ran. My breath hitched.

“Oh no— you don’t.”

God fucking damn it.

The woman lunged from the shadows behind me like an animal pouncing on its prey. Her hands gripped my shoulders, heat pressing into me as we both fell to the floor.

A side of my face took up dust and grime on the cold concrete.

Her laugh was hot against my ear, sickly sweet, sadistic.

“You thought I was gonna let this opportunity pass me? Huh?”

People blurred passed me like a stampede of chaos and brutality. My eyes barely focused to see the murders happening right before my eyes.

Tears began to well.

“I did all this shit just to get my hands on you, sweet thing.”

She coed. I felt her tongue graze my ear.

“The kidnapping, the set up, everything.”

Wait…what?

Her hands seemed to roam, almost as if she were assessing her food. Terror shot through my stomach as I shut my eyes, bracing for the inevitable.

Just make it quick.

But then—

The world snapped back. I saw Lila’s blade gleaming, wet with blood as she sliced through the chaos. The attacker was thrown off. Blood sprayed as she shrieked, pressing her hand against her cheek.

“GO!” Lila shouted.

I ran with no hesitation, my pulse pounding in my head like a drum.

And with that, I burst through the door. I struggled to breathe, almost collapsing to the floor from the sheer momentum.

Moments later, the rest of the uninjured emerged behind me, stumbling but alive. My guilty conscience tried to claw its way back, but it was replaced with a flicker of warmth as familiar faces poured out. Carl led them through the chaos, glasses cracked, silhouette hunched, gasping— but he was alive.

Lila followed moments later, blood dripping from her knife. I frowned.

They weren’t unscathed, but they had survived. My reckless plan had worked… at least partially.

“We did it—!” Carl shouted, breathless. I didn’t respond immediately. My eyes scanned, counting the people who hadn’t made it through the warehouse.

Through my haze of stress, I realized that Aubrey, Terri and the others weren’t with us.

A pang of despair hit me like cold water, twisting in my stomach— before I remembered that they took a different route.

“Let’s regroup with the others,” I muttered, voice low, almost to myself.

If they even survived all this.

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