The corpse of the fused Horde Leader lay twisted across the cracked concrete.

  Burnt flesh. Shattered bone. The smell of ozone still lingered.

  No one celebrated.

  Tokita stood still, staring at the remains.

  “Maybe we should look around,see if we can find anything useful in here,” Aoi said quietly.

  Natsuki frowned. “After that thing?”

  “We killed it,” kaito replied, though his tone lacked confidence. “you know this military facility is different from the rest,it was built even before the apocalypse began and as you might have guest The media and the civilians in Hokkaido curiosity grew more,so the government told civilian's and the media this facility was was built as a training facility for the military, if there might be something useful in here… we should see what.”

  Tokita nodded once. “Stay sharp.”

  The basement lights flickered back to life, casting pale fluorescent light over broken shelves and scattered ammunition crates.

  They moved deeper into the military storage wing.

  Weapons.

  Medical kits.

  Rations.

  Then—

  “Over here!” Aoi called.

  She stood at a half-burnt steel door.

  Inside was a smaller office room. Filing cabinets torn open. Papers scattered across the floor. Most burned to ash.

  On a metal desk sat a thin, black folder.

  Stamped:

  CLASSIFIED – INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE REQUIRED

  Aoi picked it up.

  “It’s in English,” she said.

  The others looked at her.

  “You can read it?” Kaito asked.

  Aoi hesitated. “…Yeah.”

  Tokita said nothing.

  He could read it too.

  He just chose not to.

  She opened the document.

  Her expression changed immediately.

  “What is it?” Natsuki asked.

  Aoi swallowed.

  “This… isn’t just Japan.”

  She began reading.

  February 19, 2018

  Project: Section 0

  Objective: Artificial Metahuman Development

  “Metahuman?” Kaito muttered.

  If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “They were trying to create people with abilities,” Aoi continued.

  The room went quiet.

  “They weren’t forcing soldiers,” she added. “The subjects volunteered. Their families were compensated. They were told it was national defense research.”

  “Defense against what?” Natsuki asked.

  Aoi kept reading.

  “Multiple branches worldwide. Funded through United Nations black channels. Civilian trials began after military failures.”

  Her voice tightened.

  “Most subjects died.”

  Silence thickened.

  Tokita’s fist slowly clenched.

  “They called the first large-scale experiment… Section Zero.”

  Her breathing slowed.

  “There were no survivors recorded.”

  Tokita’s eyes darkened.

  “After continuous failures, a mutation occurred during Trial Batch 47. Subject designation… Patient Zero.”

  Aoi flipped the page.

  “This was the first infected.”

  Kaito leaned in.

  “It says the first version was slow. Brain-dead. Non-aggressive.”

  “Then what changed?” Nezuko asked.

  Aoi scanned further.

  “It only reacted violently to blood exposure.”

  She paused.

  “After containment failure, infection spread through secondary mutation. Rapid adaptation observed.”

  The next pages—

  Burnt.

  Half the file destroyed.

  “That’s it,” Aoi said. “The rest is gone.”

  “Destroyed on purpose?” Kaito muttered. “were they erasing evidence.”

  “So the government caused this?” Tokita said quietly.

  “When has the government ever protected anyone?, selfish b*stards” Kaito replied bitterly.

  Tokita remained silent.

  But inside—

  Section Zero.

  No survivors.

  That’s what the file claimed

  "Dad's really great at what he does best huh." Tokita thought to himself

  Aoi closed the folder.

  “There’s more we don’t know. But this confirms it. The outbreak wasn’t natural.”

  She looked at Tokita.

  “This started with them.”

  Tokita turned away.

  “Take it,” he said calmly. “We give it to the CDC lab when we reach it, maybe they might know something about this?"

  They nodded.

  But the word still echoed in his mind.

  Section Zero.

  No survivors.

  Tokita thought"Section Zero, that place brings back unpleasant memories."

  They gathered supplies and moved toward the exit.

  Scene Shift.

  The old man walked alone through a dim alley while breathing heavily

  “…They survived,” he muttered.

  He flexed his wrist, the broken handcuff dangling loosely.

  “That zombie was supposed to kill them!.”

  His lips curled.

  “But they’re more interesting than I thought.”

  He entered an abandoned apartment complex.

  Inside, two men stood nervously.

  “You’re alive—”

  He punched one across the face.

  The other flinched.

  “Did I tell you to celebrate?” the old man growled.

  He walked past them into the building’s basement.

  Dark.

  Concrete.

  He picked up a radio and contacted someone.he growled"pick up already you b*astads!?"

  Someone finally picked up the call, The mysteryrios man spoke with a cheerful tone"what's up old man, you finally got some useful Intel...?"

  The old man spoke angrily"What took so long to answer huh!?"

  The mysteryrios man spoke in a serious tone"Do you think we're equal's,watch your words or I'll make sure your days on earth are numbered,do you understand?"

  "...yeah... I-i understand"the old man answered while trembling "anyway I got some useful Intel, you know about that girl who might be immune, I've actually seen her and, her friends apparently,I tried abducting her but failed and almost got my self killed twice!"

  The mysteryrios man replied cheerfully "Holy moly,are you for real!?, now that's what I'm talk'n about!,but are you she's the one cause if your lying you know what's gonna happen right?"

  The old man replied "I'm dead serious!, I might be old but not blind that I can't recognize a girl from a poster!"

  The mysteryrios man replied"okay okay,I get it but you lost?,I mean i know your ability is used mainly for stealth missions but damn you actually lost to a bunch of teenagers."

  The old man replied annoyed"I didn- hah... listen those kids following that girl aren't normal,i lost to them okay... infact I was outmatched in every way possible, even the girl ain't a weakling,they took down an entire horde and it's leader and won with little casualties,do you finally understand how dangerous they are now?

  The mysteryrios man replied "...Damn , they must be have some kind of sick abilities huh?,to take down an entire horde ain't an an feat, their at least three hundred (300) to four hundred (400) if not more infected!"

  The old man replied "but I know their not gonna be a problem for you guys, right?"

  The mysterious man replied cheerfully "no way their gonna be a problem...if they were struggling with a horde then they pose no treat to us what so ever.

  The old man spoke"so why don't you give me something and I'll tell you where their hea-beep beep...?, did that brat just hang up on me while I wasn't done talking!?"

  Elsewhere,the mysterious man finally got up from his sit as he placed the radio down and walked into an uncompleted building which was filled with the burnt corpses of zombies and as mysteryrios man looked he saw another mysterious figure standing on the burnt corpses of the at least four infected horde leaders beneath the mysterious figure.

  Then the mysterious man spoke cheerfully "What's up boss man!,the girl we've been looking for I think I've found her location~.

  The mysterious figure standing on the burnt corpses of the horde leaders just gave a small grin on his face.