The lights overhead cast a dull glow as the friends made their way down a narrow, industrial-looking hallway, the walls lined with exposed pipes and wires. The air was stale and heavy, carrying the faint, metallic tang of disinfectant. Every step seemed to echo, amplifying the already thick tension between them.

Lex moved at the front, keeping her steps light and her eyes alert, her senses tuned to the faintest sound. Behind her, Sophie clutched her laptop tightly, her face still pale from their discovery in the lab. Brandon, Damien, and Maya followed closely, each of them on edge as they entered yet another section of the mall that felt more like a prison than a place meant for shoppers.

"Where even are we?" Maya whispered, glancing around with wide eyes. She’d expected to see storage rooms or maintenance equipment, but instead, the hallway was lined with small, reinforced doors, each with a viewing window covered by a metal grate.

"Some kind of containment area," Brandon replied quietly. "Maybe they used it to hold people who… didn’t make it."

Damien’s jaw clenched. "Or people they turned into test subjects."

Lex shot him a warning look, but she couldn’t help agreeing with him. After what they’d found in the lab, it was hard not to imagine the worst. They hadn’t just stumbled into a military experiment—they’d been deliberately trapped in a carefully controlled nightmare.

The faint sound of footsteps reached their ears, and they all froze. Lex motioned for them to press against the wall, their breaths shallow as the sound grew louder. A pair of soldiers appeared at the end of the corridor, their faces obscured by dark helmets. They moved with precision, scanning the area with tactical flashlights that sent beams of light skimming over the floor and walls.

Lex’s heart hammered as she glanced back at her friends, urging them to stay silent. The soldiers passed by, their voices low as they murmured orders into their radios. She held her breath, waiting for them to turn the corner before letting out a quiet sigh of relief.

"How long do you think we can keep this up?" Sophie whispered, her eyes darting nervously back the way they’d come.

"As long as we have to," Lex replied, her voice steady. "We’re not getting caught. Not here."

They continued down the corridor, moving cautiously to avoid making any noise. At one point, they passed a room with a cracked door, revealing rows of empty metal gurneys, each one equipped with leather restraints. Dark stains smeared the walls, and a faint, unpleasant smell drifted from inside.

Maya grimaced, averting her eyes. "This place is… it’s like a hospital for the dead."

"Or for the infected," Brandon murmured, glancing into the room. "They must’ve tested on them here before releasing them into the mall."

The realization made Lex’s skin crawl. Each infected creature they’d encountered—the ones that had once been ordinary people—had likely passed through this very room, treated like disposable subjects in a sick experiment.

They pressed on, the hallway twisting and turning in a confusing maze of intersecting corridors and locked doors. Occasionally, they’d hear faint voices over the soldiers’ radios or the sound of another containment gate closing in the distance. It was as if the entire mall was a trap, shifting and adjusting to limit their movement and herd them into specific areas.

"We can’t keep running like this," Damien muttered, his voice laced with frustration. "We need to do something—fight back."

Lex nodded, sharing his sentiment. But right now, with soldiers and cameras tracking them, fighting back felt impossible. They were in enemy territory, hunted and cornered, and every step brought them closer to danger.

They rounded a corner, and Lex spotted an unmarked door to the left, partially ajar. She signaled for everyone to follow her inside. The room was small and dark, lined with old filing cabinets and a large desk piled with scattered documents. Dust hung in the air, and it seemed like no one had been here in a long time.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Sophie immediately moved to the desk, rifling through the papers. "These look like… reports. Experimental logs."

Lex glanced over her shoulder as Sophie read the top document, her brow furrowing. "Subject #074: Initial infection rate exceeds predictions. Psychological degradation noted within three hours… physical mutation observed by hour seven."

Sophie’s voice trailed off as the group processed the implications. They were looking at detailed records of the infection’s effects on real people—actual test subjects, each one listed with cold, clinical observations.

Maya swallowed hard. "They infected people and… just watched what happened."

"And recorded every horrific detail," Brandon added, his voice grim.

Sophie continued skimming through the pages, her expression darkening as she read more. "They were studying how the infection spread… how it affected different people. Each stage was documented, from physical changes to… psychological breakdowns."

"They didn’t see these people as humans," Damien muttered, anger flashing in his eyes. "They were just… data points."

Suddenly, Sophie froze, her eyes widening as she looked at one of the documents. "Wait. Look at this."

She held up a page with a map of the mall, marked with red and yellow zones. Each area was labeled with military terms: “Infection Testing Zone,” “Survivor Containment,” “Behavioral Observation Point.” The map had specific instructions for soldiers and researchers, detailing which zones were meant for live observation and which were for “target elimination.”

"This entire mall is sectioned off," Sophie said, her voice barely above a whisper. "They’ve split it into different areas to test specific conditions. The infected in one area, the Psychos in another. We’ve been moving through these zones the whole time, each one designed to measure a different… reaction."

"Controlled chaos," Brandon murmured, his face pale. "They’re orchestrating this entire thing, making sure we go through exactly what they want us to."

The full weight of the revelation sank in as they stared at the map. They were being guided, manipulated into moving through specific zones, exposed to different levels of infection and horror. Every step they’d taken, every encounter they’d survived, had been planned in advance.

Lex clenched her fists, feeling the familiar surge of anger simmer beneath her skin. "We’re done being their puppets. We’ll find a way to turn this against them."

Before anyone could respond, the lights overhead flickered, and a familiar mechanical whir sounded down the hall. The containment gates were shifting again, moving in a synchronized pattern that sounded disturbingly like the beat of a war drum.

"We need to move," Lex whispered urgently. "They’re closing in."

They slipped back into the corridor, following the map Sophie had found as they navigated the maze of hallways. Every turn felt like a potential trap, every shadow a possible ambush. The soldiers’ voices echoed faintly behind them, a constant reminder that they were being hunted.

Finally, they reached another door, marked with a faded sign that read "Behavioral Observation Room." Lex pushed it open, and they stepped inside, hoping it would offer a temporary safe haven.

The room was dark, illuminated only by the glow of several screens mounted on the far wall. Each screen displayed live footage of different parts of the mall—infected wandering the halls, Psychos moving in search of prey, soldiers sweeping through corridors. It was a control room, a command center where the horrors of the mall were monitored and directed.

Sophie’s eyes lit up as she hurried over to the console, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "If I can access their network, maybe I can disable some of the cameras… or at least get us some intel on where the soldiers are."

Lex nodded, keeping a lookout as Sophie worked. "Do it. Anything that gives us an edge."

The screens flickered as Sophie accessed different cameras, each one providing a glimpse into the nightmare unfolding throughout the mall. She found a directory labeled "Active Zones" and clicked on it, revealing a list of locations currently monitored for “stress response testing.”

"Look at this," she whispered, pointing to the screen. "They’re tracking every infected, every Psycho… even the soldiers. They’re monitoring how we interact with each one, studying how we react to different threats."

Maya’s face twisted with horror. "They’re watching everything we do… every choice we make."

As Sophie continued to search through the files, a new alert appeared on the screen. The words “Phase Two Initiated: Ex-Marine Psycho Activated” blinked in red, accompanied by a live feed showing a heavily armed figure stalking through a dimly lit corridor.

Lex’s eyes narrowed as she watched the screen. The Ex-Marine Psycho moved with a ruthless, calculated precision, his eyes scanning the shadows as he navigated the hallways with military discipline. He wasn’t like the other Psychos—they could tell just from watching him. He was a trained killer, and he’d been released specifically to hunt them.

"They’re escalating this," Brandon said, his voice grim. "They’re sending that thing after us."

Lex took a deep breath, her mind racing. "Then we’ll be ready for him. We know he’s coming, and we’re not going to let him catch us off guard."

Sophie quickly downloaded a copy of the map onto her laptop, then powered down the console. They slipped back into the corridor, each of them steeling themselves for the fight ahead.

They had entered a deadly game, one carefully designed to break them. But now, they had a map, a plan, and a growing determination to turn the tables.

They would survive this. And they would make the people behind this experiment regret ever choosing them.