We weren't supposed to end up like this.
The ground beneath City E7 felt like it was breathing, every step echoed against the hollow ruins that once belonged to people, now only to shadows. The stench of burnt metal and rotting flesh lingered in the air. My squad and I had already seen too much, but that day… that day, something inside me broke.
We found them, the missing ones. Or what was left of them.
Three survivors. Two men, one woman. Their eyes glowed faintly under the weak light of our flashlights, like predators cornered in their own den. Their movements were jerky, animalistic, but there was something else in them, a trace of human desperation, like they were begging to be saved, but their bodies wouldn't listen.
Lance aimed his gun at them, but I raised my hand. "Wait."
Arden, our squad's medic, stepped closer, his voice shaking.
"Captain… they're not fully gone." He examined the woman, brushing her pulse points, eyes widening at the readings on his scanner.
