BROOKSVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL

The air inside was stale.

Too quiet. Too still.

Leon tightened his grip on the shotgun as he and Eric stepped inside the dimly lit hospital lobby. The fluorescent lights flickered weakly, casting eerie shadows along the bloodstained floor.

It wasn't fully overrun yet. But it was starting.

The first infected patients were here.

And they were waking up.

Leon moved first. Silent. Precise. Focused.

He had been here before, in his past life. But back then, the hospital had already collapsed into chaos.

This time, he was ahead of it.

According to his memory, Dr. Evelyn Carter had barricaded herself in one of the research labs on the third floor.

Three flights up. A hundred ways to die.

"Stay close," Leon muttered. "If you hear anything, don't hesitate."

Eric nodded, keeping his machete ready. "Got it."

They advanced slowly, moving past overturned wheelchairs, flickering monitors, and the occasional motionless body.

Then, a sound.

A gurgling cough.

Leon froze.

His eyes snapped to a side hallway where a nurse in bloodied scrubs leaned against the wall, her head twitching.

She was alive. But her breathing was ragged.

Eric took a step forward. "Hey"

Leon grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "Wait."

The nurse’s body suddenly jerked.

Then, a snap.

Her back arched unnaturally.

Her veins turned black.

And then she turned.

Her face was twisted. Eyes bloodshot. Mouth open too wide.

Eric swore. "Shit"

The nurse lunged.

BOOM!

Leon’s shotgun tore through her skull. The body collapsed, twitching.

Eric took a shaky breath. "That was fast."

Leon reloaded. "They're evolving faster than before."

And that was a problem.

By the time they reached the third floor, they could hear it.

Scratching. Banging. A voice, muffled, panicked.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Leon kicked the door open.

Inside, a woman in a white lab coat was holding a scalpel, standing behind a row of overturned desks.

Her blonde hair was disheveled, her face pale.

Dr. Evelyn Carter.

And she wasn't alone.

Three infected doctors were pounding against the glass wall, their bodies convulsing as they thrashed to get inside.

Her eyes widened at the sight of Leon.

"Who the hell are you?!" she shouted.

Leon didn't waste time.

He raised his shotgun and fired

BOOM!

The glass shattered. The first infected stumbled forward.

BOOM!

The second one went down, half its head missing.

The third **faster than the others**was almost on him.

Eric swung his machete.

CRACK.

The infected doctor collapsed, skull caved in.

Dr. Carter was breathing heavily, staring at the bodies.

Then she looked at Leon.

"Okay," she said, voice trembling. "Now you can tell me who the hell you are."

Leon lowered his weapon.

"We don't have time for explanations. We need to get out of here now."

Carter crossed her arms. "And why should I trust you?"

Leon sighed. This again.

"Because if you stay here, you die," he said bluntly. "You know what’s happening, don’t you?"

Carter hesitated. "I-I have theories. But nothing concrete. The symptoms, the aggression, it doesn’t behave like any known virus."

"You’re right," Leon said. "And it gets worse. Fast."

He pulled a backpack from his shoulder and threw her a gun.

She caught it, staring at him. "You came here just to save me?"

Leon’s expression was unreadable. "You're important. More than you know."

Eric cut in. "We need to move. Now."

A loud thump sounded from the hallway.

Leon’s heart dropped.

Something big was coming.

And it wasn’t human anymore.

The door at the far end of the hallway bulged.

Then...

BOOM!

It exploded outward.

A massive figure stepped through the smoke, its form grotesquely twisted.

A former security guard, but twice the size he should have been.

His muscles were swollen, veins pulsing black. His face barely human anymore.

The first true mutant.

Carter gasped. "What the hell is that?!"

Leon’s hands clenched around his shotgun.

"A problem."

The mutant roared and charged.

***

The air was thick with tension as the mutated security guard lurched forward, its grotesque body barely fitting through the broken doorway.

Its skin stretched unnaturally, veins pulsing black and blue beneath the surface. Its left arm had swollen three times its original size, the fingers merging into something resembling a massive club.

But its eyes.

Its eyes were still human.

Twisted with hunger.

Then it charged.

BOOM!

Leon fired.

The slug tore into the mutant’s shoulder, but instead of stopping, the thing kept coming.

Faster. Stronger. Angrier.

"Shit!"

Leon barely had time to dodge before the massive club-arm swung past him, shattering a hospital bed like it was made of paper.

Eric grabbed Dr. Carter and pulled her back.

"Leon!" he shouted. "What the hell do we do?!"

Leon’s mind was already calculating. A direct fight was suicide.

It was too strong. Too durable.

But it wasn't unstoppable.

Leon backpedaled fast, reloading as the mutant barreled after him.

"Eric, distract it!" Leon ordered.

Eric's eyes widened. "How?!"

"Make some noise, just do it!"

Eric hesitated, then grabbed a metal IV pole and smashed it against the wall.

CLANG! CLANG!

The mutant’s head snapped toward the sound.

And in that moment Leon moved.

He slid under a toppled hospital bed, reaching for a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall.

Step one: Blind it.

Leon yanked the pin and sprayed the thick white foam directly into the mutant’s eyes.

The creature roared, thrashing wildly as it stumbled back, disoriented.

Step two: Cripple it.

Leon didn't hesitate.

BOOM!

Shotgun blast to the knee.

The mutant’s leg buckled, its massive body collapsing to one side.

Step three: Finish it.

Leon dropped the shotgun and grabbed a scalpel from a nearby tray.

One chance. One opening.

He ran.

The mutant tried to rise too slow.

Leon jumped onto its back, wrapped an arm around its mutated neck, and drove the scalpel straight into the base of its skull.

The blade sank deep.

The mutant convulsed. Twitched.

Then collapsed.

Leon rolled off, panting.

Silence.

Then Eric let out a nervous laugh. "Holy shit. You actually killed it."

Dr. Carter stared at Leon like she was seeing him for the first time.

"Who the hell are you?" she whispered.

Leon wiped the blood from his hands.

"Someone who knows what’s coming."

Dr. Carter finally lowered the gun she had been clutching.

She looked at the mutant’s corpse, then back at Leon.

"This isn’t just a virus, is it?" she asked.

Leon shook his head. "No. It’s worse."

Dr. Carter swallowed. "Then we need to get out of here."

Leon agreed. The longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.

But before they left, something caught his eye.

A faint glow.

He turned back to the mutant’s skull.

And there buried deep in the flesh was a core.

A small, dark crimson orb pulsing with energy.

Leon’s heart skipped.

The first evolved core.