Chapter 12 - Chapter 12: The Leash

The door behind Noah slammed shut so hard the lights trembled. A red strip above the frame lit up and stayed on, like an angry eye. On the other side of the glass, Owen's hands were shaking on the gurney rails, and two guards were already pushing him down the hall toward a sign that read BAY TWO. Mara tried to keep pace, but Riley stepped in front of her, smiling like she owned the hallway."Noah Carter," Dr. Harrow said over the speakers. His voice was calm, like he was reading weather. "Room Four. Now."A guard grabbed Noah's elbow and pulled him the opposite way. Noah felt the grip through his sleeve, strong and trained. The guard's rifle was up, angled toward Noah's ribs, not his head. It was a warning, not a kill shot.Mara met Noah's eyes for half a second. Her face was tight and pale, but her chin lifted like she was telling him not to break. Owen looked over his shoulder once, and the fear in his eyes wasn't just about zombies. It was about being alone in that clinic.Noah let his body go loose, like he was giving up, but his mind stayed sharp. He counted cameras. Two in the ceiling corners. One above the "HEAD INTACT" sign, angled toward the hall. And a black dome that could spin. Harrow was watching, and Harrow wanted a clean show."No tricks," Riley said as she walked backward beside Mara. "He doesn't like mess."Mara didn't answer. She kept her hands close to her body, like she wanted to grab something and couldn't. Noah caught the flash of a thin silver scalpel case on a cart near Bay Two. Harrow had already laid out the tools.The guard tugged Noah toward a door marked ROOM FOUR. The lock clicked, then unclicked. It was not a normal key. It was a badge and a code, and the clinic was built to trap people in boxes.Noah took a slow breath, but it scraped his throat. The crystal he absorbed earlier still burned under his skin. His heartbeat felt too loud, like it could set off the sensors. And every few seconds, his vision tried to jump, like he was missing frames.The door opened. The room inside was bright, white, and wrong. It smelled like bleach and old blood that never really leaves. A metal chair sat in the center with leather straps on the arms. A rolling tray waited beside it, lined with syringes and steel tools."Sit," the guard said.Noah sat, because fighting in this room meant cameras and alarms. But he didn't sit back. He sat forward, ready to spring, and he kept his hands loose on his knees. The guard stood near the door, rifle still low, eyes hard and tired.A screen on the far wall flickered to life. A live feed showed Bay Two from above. Owen's gurney rolled into a sealed bay with glass walls and a drain in the floor. Two people in masks waited inside. Riley was there too, close to the door, arms crossed.Mara stepped in behind Owen. They handed her gloves like it was routine. She did not put them on right away. Her eyes kept flicking to Owen's head, to the healed line of stitches Noah had seen. She looked like a medic forced to become a butcher.Dr. Harrow walked into Room Four without a sound. He wore no mask. He carried a thin tablet in one hand and a small black case in the other. He looked more like a teacher than a monster, and that made Noah want to break his teeth."Daniel Cross," Harrow said, soft and sure.Noah did not react. He kept his face empty. But inside, something cold shifted. The drone had said that name, and now this man said it like he owned it."You can keep playing," Harrow went on. "It won't help you. Rivergate is not a street. Rivergate is a net."The guard behind Noah tightened his stance. Noah heard the change in boots on tile. The crystal in Noah's body made that sound feel too sharp, like glass in his ear.Harrow tapped the tablet. Another screen appeared beside the Bay Two feed. A black-and-white scan filled it, a human head in profile. A bright dot sat under the skin near the temple, like a small stone.Harrow pointed. "Route B marker," he said. "Old work. Still there."Noah stared at the dot, and the room tried to tilt. For a moment he saw a flash, not a dream, a real memory shard: a strap across his chest, harsh light, Harrow's hands pressing down, and a sting at his temple. Then it was gone, like someone cut the film.Noah's fingers twitched once. He forced them still."You don't remember," Harrow said. "Not cleanly. That's normal. The crystal doesn't give gifts. It takes."On the Bay Two feed, Owen started to fight the straps. He bucked his head, and Mara grabbed his shoulders to hold him still, but she did it gently, like she was trying not to hurt him. Riley stepped closer and leaned down to say something Noah couldn't hear.Harrow watched the screen like he was watching a pet. "Subject Thirteen," he said. "He's the reason you're here. He lived through something he shouldn't have. He healed too fast. His head closed wrong."Noah's jaw clenched. He hated how calm Harrow was while Owen panicked. He hated that the man called it "wrong," like a mistake to fix."What do you want?" Noah asked.Harrow smiled, like he'd been waiting for that line. "A choice," he said. "You can sit. You can stay clean. Let us open him up and take what we need. In return, your friend walks out breathing."Mara flinched at the word friend, even from across a screen. She didn't look up, but Noah saw it."And if I don't?" Noah asked.Harrow lifted the small black case and opened it. Inside was a remote switch with two sliders. One was marked WEST GATE. The other was marked BAY LOCK.Harrow's thumb rested on WEST GATE. "Then Rivergate fills with teeth," he said. "Not all at once. Just enough."Noah's mind moved fast. If the west gate opened, the intake wing would become a blender. People would die. Mara would die. Owen would die. And in the chaos, Harrow would still get his "processing," because panic makes people obey.Noah looked at the guard by the door. One man. One rifle. But cameras, locks, doors that could seal like a coffin. If Noah attacked Harrow here, the bay would lock and Owen would be cut open before Noah reached him.So Noah did the only thing he could do.He leaned forward, like he was about to plead. He let his shoulders drop, like he was breaking. And when Harrow took one step closer to enjoy it, Noah moved.Noah's hand shot to the rolling tray. He grabbed the metal strap buckle from the chair arm, ripped it loose, and snapped it up under Harrow's jaw. The buckle smashed teeth. Blood sprayed the clean floor.Harrow's eyes widened, not with fear, but surprise.The guard raised his rifle, but Noah yanked Harrow backward so hard Harrow's spine hit the chair. Noah hooked the leather strap across Harrow's throat and pulled. Harrow's remote clattered to the floor.Noah felt pain rip through his own shoulder as he pulled. The crystal inside him responded like a live wire. His hearing blew open. The guard's breath sounded like a storm. The camera motor in the ceiling sounded like a screaming insect."Drop it," Noah said through clenched teeth.The guard hesitated. He looked at Harrow's face turning red, then at the ceiling cameras. His finger tightened on the trigger anyway.Harrow gurgled, then smiled. Even choking, he smiled.The lights changed.A siren started low, then climbed. Red strobes flashed over the room and the hallway outside. The speaker clicked, and Harrow's voice came through again, smooth and loud, even though Noah was crushing him."West gate opening," the speaker announced in a flat recorded tone.Noah froze for half a beat. Not because he was scared of zombies. Because Harrow didn't need the remote in his hand. The system could run without him touching anything.On the Bay Two feed, Mara's head snapped toward the door. Riley took one step back, eyes wide now. Owen screamed and slammed his head into the straps, not caring about pain.Noah released Harrow and lunged for the door. The guard fired.The shot hit Noah's side like a hammer. It wasn't a clean hole. It tore flesh, slammed him into the wall, and stole his breath. Noah heard the gunshot twice, once in the air and once inside his skull.He did not fall.He hit the guard with his shoulder and drove him into the doorframe. The guard tried to swing the rifle, but Noah grabbed the barrel and twisted. The weapon cracked against tile. The guard's wrist bent wrong.Noah shoved him down and stomped hard once. The guard went still.Noah stared at the man for half a second. No crystal. No harvest. Human threat. Dead weight. He grabbed the guard's badge from his vest and ran.The hallway outside had changed. Doors were locking and unlocking in waves. Some were sealing. Some were popping open like traps. From the far end, a wet pounding echoed, like fists on metal.Zombies were inside Rivergate now.Noah sprinted toward Bay Two. The wound in his side burned and leaked warm down his hip. Each step made it worse, but he didn't slow. He passed a glass window into a processing room.Inside, two masked workers stood over a strapped zombie. Its head was held in a steel frame. A saw arm lowered, quiet and steady. The skull opened like a fruit.A crystal flashed wet and pale inside the brain.Noah's gut clenched with hunger. Not food hunger. Crystal hunger. The urge hit like a shove from behind.He kept running anyway. He forced the craving down because Owen was ahead and time was a knife.A door slammed open to Noah's left. A zombie stumbled out, not fresh and slow like the street ones. This one moved with a twitchy speed, shoulders high, mouth chewing air. Its head looked wrong. The skull was thicker, like it had grown a ridge.Noah fired the guard's pistol once. The shot cracked the zombie's forehead, but it did not drop. It jerked back, then came again, faster.Old tactics fail, Noah thought. Again.He stepped in close, because distance was death in a hallway. He jammed the pistol into the zombie's eye socket and fired twice.The body dropped. The head did not explode. It cracked, but held.Noah swore under his breath. He had no time, but he needed a crystal. Not for power. For control. He needed the edge.He grabbed a wall-mounted fire axe and swung. The blade hit bone with a dull thud. The skull opened on the third strike, messy and loud.Noise poured down the hall like a flare.Noah shoved his fingers into the torn head and pulled the crystal free. It was slick and warm. He did not even wipe it.He swallowed it.The crystal burned down his throat like broken glass. Pain slammed him so hard he almost dropped the axe. His knees buckled. His vision went white, then too sharp. He could see dust in the air. He could hear wires humming behind the walls.He spat blood and forced himself up.On the Bay Two feed monitor in the hall, the camera angle had shifted. It now showed inside the bay at eye level, like someone wanted Noah to watch up close. Mara had gloves on now. Her hands shook over Owen's scalp.Riley's gun was up. Not at Owen. At Mara."Do it," Riley said, mouth close to Mara's ear. "Or we all die."Mara's eyes were wet, but her face stayed hard. She glanced at the door lock panel like she was measuring time.Noah slammed his stolen badge into the reader.ACCESS DENIED flashed red.He tried again. The badge beeped once, angry. Denied.Harrow had changed permissions.Noah looked up at the camera above the bay door. "Harrow!" he shouted.The speaker clicked. Harrow's voice came through with a cough in it, but still calm. "You got out," he said. "Good. I'd hate to waste you."The pounding in the far hall turned into a crash. A door buckled. A second crash followed, and this time Noah heard a scream that cut off fast.Zombies. And people. Both close now.Noah's hand shook as the crystal burned inside him. His senses were too open. Every alarm light stabbed. Every siren note made him want to vomit.Mara lifted the scalpel.Noah made a choice.He grabbed the fire axe, stepped back, and swung at the lock panel beside the Bay Two door. The blade bit into plastic and metal. Sparks jumped. The panel shattered.The door did not open.Instead, the bay's inner lock clicked. A steel bar dropped across the door from the inside.Harrow had sealed them in on purpose.Inside Bay Two, Mara froze. Riley's face snapped toward the ceiling, then back to Mara, panic flashing through her control."No!" Riley shouted. "You can't—"Mara did not answer. She pressed the scalpel to Owen's old stitch line and cut.Owen screamed. Blood ran down his temple. Noah's stomach lurched, but he forced his eyes to stay on the screen. He needed to see what Harrow wanted.Mara peeled back the skin with two fingers. It was not deep. It was not brain. It was right under the surface.A small clear sleeve sat tucked under the skin, stitched in place like a pocket.Mara pulled it out.Inside the sleeve was a shard of crystal, thin and pale, with a black code printed on the plastic: RG-13.Riley's breath hitched. She stared like she had never seen it in person.Harrow's voice came over the speaker, pleased. "There it is," he said. "The leash. The key. The proof."Noah's head rang. The memory shard from earlier slammed back with a new piece: his own hand touching a bandage on his temple, long ago, and blood on Harrow's glove."You put one in me," Noah whispered, half to himself.Harrow laughed softly. "Not the first time you came through my door," he said.A final crash shook the hallway. The door at the end burst inward. Shadows spilled in, fast and hungry.Noah turned from the screen and raised the axe.He was bleeding. He was overloaded. He was locked out.And Bay Two was locked in.Then the loudspeaker spoke again, flat and automatic."West gate fully open."The first evolved zombie sprinted into view, head low, skull ridged, eyes fixed on Noah like it could smell the crystal in his blood.