The screams of the freshly reanimated corpses still echoed faintly behind them—fading into hollow, wet echoes as Netoshka's group sprinted deeper into the metal underbelly of the abandoned metro complex. The Lober's final shriek—its single massive eye bursting into blue ichor—still clung to the air like a bad taste.
But even dead, the thing's influence lingered. Its spore-like tendrils still pulsed through the ventilation pipes above, twitching and spasming, as if searching for another host.
Netoshka raised her hand, halting the group.
"Everyone freeze—look."
Up ahead, cold vapor curled across the floor, sliding over their boots like ghostly fingers. A faint hum, almost like someone whispering beneath ice, drifted out from the wall-mounted bulkhead door ahead.
The door stenciling read:
CRYOGENICS — SECTOR 3B
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY
Genrihk stepped forward, brushing frost off the metal handle.
"It's active," he said. "Something in there is still running. Power shouldn't even exist this deep."
Twila shifted uneasily.
"Maybe it's hooked to the New Horizon Corp emergency grid… like the labs Kraustein used."
Netoshka exhaled sharply.
"Then whatever's inside is either going to help us—"
"…or kill us," Taran added flatly.
Netoshka shoved the door. It groaned open, releasing a blast of freezing air so cold it stabbed their lungs. They stepped inside.
The Cryochamber --
It was enormous—an underground refrigeration hall the size of a hangar, lit by flickering blue lights. Rows of suspended cryo-tanks hung from overhead rails like metallic coffins. Frost coated every surface, including the skeletal remains of researchers slumped over consoles, frozen in place mid-panic.
Circe gagged.
"These people… they froze themselves to death."
"No," Genrihk murmured, brushing ice off a control screen.
"Something froze everything instantly."
Zev pointed to the far wall.
"Uh… guys?"
Across the chamber, dozens—no, hundreds—of reanimated corpses lay stuck inside transparent sheets of ice. But their torsos still twitched inside the frozen block. Their jaws moved. Their fingers strained, cracking the ice.
And their veins glowed faintly blue—the mark of the Lober's influence.
The bodies were trying to get out.
Netoshka clenched her teeth.
"We need a way to stop all of them at once. Either we freeze the entire station so solid nothing can move… or we burn every inch of it."
Genrihk scrolled through logs. Broken. Corrupt. But one file still remained.
> PROJECT GLACIAL VEIL — AUTHORIZED USE: EXTREME BIO-HAZARD PURGING
Activates cryo-flood across all metro tunnels.
Warning: Lethal. Irreversible structural damage likely.
"Cryo-flood," Genrihk whispered.
"It'll freeze everything—us included unless we reach a sealed blast shelter first."
Zopi stepped forward, hand trembling.
"What's the alternative?"
Taran pointed to the red valve system across the chamber.
"Thermite pipes. Old emergency burn-line. Likely rigged by Kraustein to sterilize bio experiments. We crack those open—this whole place becomes a furnace."
Rue frowned.
"So either we die by freezing… or die by fire."
Netoshka stared at both systems. Her breath fogged with cold.
"No," she said. "We pick which one kills them."
The Undead Begin to Break Free
A deep cracking sound echoed through the chamber.
The ice wall began to split.
One corpse thrust its arm out—skin cracking off like frozen clay.
Another broke its jaw free, shrieking through shattered teeth.
Circe screamed.
"THEY'RE BREAKING OUT!"
The chamber shook violently as the ice ruptured further.
Netoshka's eyes flickered with glitch-blue energy.
"Everyone choose," she barked.
"Freeze or burn—now!"
Genrihk slammed his fist onto the console.
"I think it'll be cryo-flood. Less structural collapse. We can outrun cold better than fire."
Taran grabbed a thermite lever.
"No—we burn this place. Fire destroys the infection completely."
Twila backed away from the cracking ice wall.
"Netoshka—PLEASE DECIDE!"
Netoshka Makes the Call
The creatures erupted from the ice, shrieking in dissonant, layered voices—echoing the Lober's one-eyed cry.
Netoshka raised both hands, glitch energy slicing reality into static lines.
"We freeze them."
Taran froze—then nodded, trusting her despite everything.
Genrihk started the override.
The entire chamber turned bright blue.
A siren blared:
> CRYO-FLOOD ENGAGED. SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
The monsters lunged—but Netoshka unleashed a glitch-burst wall, sending them staggering.
"RUN!" she screamed.
The Race for Shelter
Frost overtook the floor, racing forward like a living beast.
Zev carried Circe.
Rue dragged a limping Zopi.
Taran shielded the rear.
The undead shrieked as blasts of cryo-vapor tore through them—freezing their limbs, locking their jaws, turning their corrupted veins brittle.
Netoshka spotted a reinforced vault door ahead.
"INSIDE! NOW!"
One by one they dove in.
Genrihk slammed the door—ice sealing it shut from the outside.
They collapsed to the floor, panting, shivering.
Outside, they heard the final shrieks of the Lober's brood freeze into silence.
The metro tunnels grew still.
Dead still.