The First Night After the Bite
No one spoke after they left the laboratory.
Not when they sealed the corridor doors.
Not when they moved through the emergency exit tunnel.
Not even when the screams of infected faded behind them.
Because everyone knew what had happened.
Adam had been bitten.
They stopped inside an abandoned maintenance shelter less than a kilometer from the ruined laboratory compound of Professor Ilham.
Temporary.
Unsafe.
But quiet.
For now.
Farid locked the metal door behind them.
Then he turned slowly.
Looking straight at Adam's arm.
No one else dared to look first.
"Show me," Farid said.
Adam didn't argue.
He removed the cloth wrapped around his forearm.
The bite mark was still fresh.
Deep.
Red.
Already darker at the edges.
Too familiar.
Too final.
Diana stepped back.
"No…"
Malik looked away.
Zul didn't say anything at all.
Myra moved forward instead.
"Let me see."
Her voice was steady.
But her hands weren't.
She cleaned the wound carefully.
Measured the swelling.
Checked Adam's pulse.
Checked his temperature.
Checked his breathing.
Again.
And again.
And again.
"It's spreading slower than normal," she whispered.
Farid looked at her immediately.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know yet."
But her eyes already showed something different.
Something cautious.
Something hopeful.
Lyana stepped closer.
"Most infected bites show fever within minutes."
Raj nodded.
"Or aggression."
"But he's stable," Myra said quietly.
Too stable.
Adam leaned against the wall.
Watching all of them.
Watching their fear.
Watching their silence.
Watching their distance.
"You don't have to stay close," he said calmly.
No one answered.
Because no one wanted to move away.
And no one wanted to move closer either.
Farid finally spoke.
"We're not leaving you."
Adam smiled slightly.
"That's not what I meant."
Minutes passed.
Then another hour.
Still no fever spike.
Still no tremor.
Still no loss of control.
"That's impossible," Raj whispered.
"Not impossible," Myra corrected.
"Unusual."
She opened Professor Ilham's sealed sample container slowly.
Inside—
the remaining Akra extract
and Fingerroot compound
were still intact.
Still usable.
Still dangerous.
"We still have a chance," she said.
Farid looked at her sharply.
"You mean the catalyst?"
"Yes."
"But we don't know the correct dosage."
"We don't know the reaction time."
"And we don't know what it will do to him."
Adam looked at the container.
Then back at Myra.
"Will it help?"
Myra didn't answer immediately.
Because she refused to lie.
"I don't know."
Silence filled the shelter again.
Heavy.
Honest.
Real.
Outside—
wind moved across the broken road.
Carrying dust.
Carrying echoes.
Carrying something else.
Movement.
Zul looked through the narrow window opening.
"Area still clear."
For now.
Inside the shelter—
Adam suddenly closed his eyes.
Just for a moment.
Then longer.
"Adam?"
Diana stepped closer.
"You okay?"
He didn't answer immediately.
Because something had changed.
Not outside.
Inside.
A memory flashed across his mind.
Bright.
Sharp.
Unfamiliar.
A laboratory corridor.
Cold lights.
Metal tables.
Voices he couldn't recognize.
And a single word written on a glass panel:
AKRA.
Adam opened his eyes again.
Breathing slower now.
Deeper.
Stronger.
Different.
"Myra," he said quietly.
"Yes?"
"I think…"
He stopped.
Trying to understand what he had just seen.
Trying to understand why it felt real.
Trying to understand why it felt like memory—
and not imagination.
"I think I've been there before."
The room fell silent again. 🧬