Silence. Windows covered. Only shallow breathing.
Ahmad: A zombie… firing a gun? (confused)
Arjun: They're mutating.
Sia: Mutating?
Arjun: How do I explain… It's like a game. Each level increases your power. Maybe that zombie leveled up.
Sia: You mean the germ — or whatever caused this — multiplied in her body?
Arjun: Not exactly multiplied… it changed something inside her. Like how humans changed from earlier creatures over time.
Ahmad: But that's totally different, isn't it?
Arjun: I'm not a teacher, man.
Ahmad: You're a science student!
Arjun: Yes — a student. I don't know everything.
(Lily taps Arjun's arm and gives him the diary. He reads her message:
"We need to be fast before every zombie becomes like her."
Arjun nods and writes back:
"I think they're mutating."
Lily reads and nods.)
Meanwhile, Sia pulls Arjun's phone out again and zooms into the photo of the outlet map, scanning for the meeting room or any place with routers.
Ahmad freezes.
The empty gummy wrapper is still on the floor near him.
He quickly nudges it into a corner with his foot, hoping no one notices.
But Lily writes again:
"But what about the boy who was with us earlier?"
Arjun's eyes widen. He suddenly remembers.
Arjun: Sia, interpret for Lily.
Sia: What?
Arjun: I think I know some symptoms now. Ahmad — remember Max? And Vijay? And that boy who was the first infected? There's something common.
Everyone had scratched hands, white vomit, then red eyes as veins popped, and their skin turning bluish.
Ahmad: H-how do you know about the vomit?
Arjun: Vijay threw up in front of us. And when Max came out of the washroom earlier, I went inside… Same white vomit. That wasn't normal.
Sia: So we can identify infected people by checking if their hands are scratched.
Arjun: Yes.
Sia: That means the virus doesn't spread only through biting or scratching. There's something else.
Arjun: Which means… anyone among us could be infected.
(They exchange tense glances. The room falls into heavy silence.)
Lily writes:
"But what caused all this?"
Sia turns — and spots the wrapper Ahmad tried to hide.
Sia: It's gone.
Arjun: But he kept it right there, in front of us.
(Lily taps Arjun's shoulder urgently and writes again.)
Arjun: What is it?
Lily: "I remember now. I saw two or three other students eat it. They were the first ones who turned — without being bitten or scratched."
Arjun freezes. He looks at the wrapper. The memories connect one by one:
• In Max's room, the same wrapper near the door
• The first infected boy had eaten it
• The competition boy turned while eating the gummy
• Vijay said he ate it earlier that morning
• Max survived almost 12 hours — so did Vijay
Arjun (voice trembling as everything clicks):
This gummy… it's the cause.
And it takes twelve hours to turn.
Max said so — he'd been with us more than twelve hours. The moment it passed, he changed.
And the first student wasn't feeling well since night according to his roomates … next morning he turned too.
Ahmad: "And now they're mutating…"
(He slowly pulls his hand behind him as he says it.)
Arjun: "Exactly. That's the problem. Once they mutate, they become aware. We won't be able to fool them anymore if all of them change."