The old commander sat in silence inside his steel-clad office, tucked into the far end of the school's administrative building. The humming of distant drones filled the silence like static. His fingers hovered over the message icon on his communicator, the name Shinju blinking insistently.
Again.
He exhaled through his nose and flicked the screen off. He didn't need to read it. He knew what Shinju wanted—what he always wanted. Something about his "son," about Jai. The boy Shinju had left behind.
The commander clenched his jaw. He had saved them once—back in City A. Gone against protocol to do it. He'd even diverted resources to bring survivors here. He didn't regret it, not really. He'd seen what was left of City A. Hell on earth. The infected there had changed—become something else. Smarter. Faster. Crueler.
