Chapter 9 – Beneath Akra Hill
The underground entrance was hidden behind a collapsed storage wall.
Malik found it first.
"Here."
Adam walked closer.
A metal door.
Half buried.
Scratched from the inside.
Raj whispered,
"Someone tried to get out."
Kevin replied quietly,
"Or something tried to get in."
No one laughed.
The keypad beside the door was dead.
No electricity.
No signal.
No access.
Asha stepped forward.
"Move."
She forced the manual override latch open using a metal bar.
The door unlocked with a heavy click.
Then slowly—
opened.
Cold air rushed out from the darkness below.
Not normal cold.
Lab cold.
Artificial.
Controlled.
Alive.
They switched on their flashlights.
Concrete stairs led deep underground.
Step by step—
they descended.
Each footstep echoed.
Too loud.
Too lonely.
Too dangerous.
The lower level was still functioning.
Emergency lights were blinking red.
Some systems still active.
Screens flickering.
Doors locked automatically.
Malik whispered,
"This place still has power."
Adam answered,
"That means someone is still here."
Then—
They saw the glass chambers.
Rows of them.
Tall.
Sealed.
Numbered.
Inside each chamber—
a human body.
Floating.
Connected to tubes.
Wires.
Monitoring machines.
Lyana covered her mouth.
"Oh my God…"
Raj stepped closer to one chamber.
"They're still alive."
Kevin shook his head.
"No… look again."
Their eyes were open.
But empty.
Watching.
Waiting.
Breathing slowly.
Not human.
Not infected.
Something else.
Asha read the label beside the chamber.
"Phase 2 Subjects."
Malik frowned.
"Subjects?"
Adam moved to another chamber.
Another label.
NEURAL RESPONSE OBSERVATION
Another chamber.
MEMORY RETENTION TEST
Another.
CONTROL BEHAVIOR TRIAL
Silence filled the lab.
Then Kevin whispered,
"They weren't studying the infection…"
"They were improving it."
Suddenly—
A screen behind them turned on.
Automatically.
Static noise filled the room.
Then a video started playing.
A scientist appeared on screen.
Recorded message.
Emergency log.
His voice shaking.
"If anyone is watching this…"
"We failed."
Everyone stopped moving.
Listening.
Watching.
Learning the truth.
"The Akra plant was never meant to cure the infection."
"It was meant to control it."
Lyana stepped backward slowly.
"No…"
Raj stared at the screen.
"That means—"
Adam finished the sentence quietly.
"They created them."
The recording continued.
"The virus was evolving too fast."
"We needed a way to slow it down."
"So we tested neural retention subjects."
"Subjects who could remember."
"Subjects who could think."
"Subjects who could obey."
Kevin whispered,
"Smart infected…"
Malik answered,
"No."
"Controlled infected."
The video suddenly glitched.
Static filled the screen again.
Then one final sentence appeared.
Typed across the monitor.
Not recorded.
Typed.
Live.
Watching them.
YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE
Lights flickered.
Doors locked automatically.
A loud metallic sound echoed somewhere deep inside the underground level.
Heavy footsteps.
Slow.
Controlled.
Not random like infected.
Intentional.
Hunting.
Lyana whispered,
"They're awake."
Adam raised his weapon slowly.
"Everyone stay together."
Another sound.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer.
Then—
a shadow moved behind the glass chamber.
From inside.
One of the subjects—
was no longer.