If anyone ever said "it can't get worse," Luna would personally throw them into the nearest zombie.
The group stood in the middle of Dr. Varex's lab; dark, echoing, and smelling like expired sanitizer and death.
Machines blinked faintly, walls buzzed like the building itself had anxiety, and somewhere, water dripped in a rhythm that felt suspiciously like a horror movie soundtrack.
"Okay," Tanya whispered, "does anyone else feel like something's watching us?"
"Yes," Pluto said instantly. "It's called trauma."
Tim, still wearing Luna's hoodie and totally vibing, pointed at a flickering screen. "Hey, this thing's t on!"
The monitor glitched alive, static hissing before forming a face .... half-human, half-digital.
VAREX.
"Greetings… test subjects," the robotic voice said, smooth but unnerving.
"NOPE." Pluto turned around. "I'm out. We've been here for five minutes and we're already being called lab rats."
Luna squinted at the screen. "You're dead, right? Like dead-dead?"
"Death is… irrelevant," Varex droned. "My mind lives on. And soon....."
The screen exploded mid-monologue because Tim or should I say Tima threw an object at it.
"Sorry," he said. "He was giving me school principal vibes."
Tango blinked. "That was a two-hundred-year-old AI !"
Tim shrugged. "Now it's a broken two-hundred-year-old AI."
Before anyone could react, alarms blared. Red lights flooded the room, and the walls began to shift.
Tanya screamed, "What did you DO?!"
Tim panicked. "I THREW ONE THING!"
Pluto smacked his forehead. "Yeah, one thing that probably controlled the whole building!"
Metal doors slammed shut. Glass tubes cracked open, spilling blue liquid.
And then came the sound.
Screeches. Growls. Hundreds of them.
Zombies.
Not outside anymore.
Inside.
Luna grabbed a metal rod and yelled, "Okay, Plan A: RUN!"
"WHAT'S PLAN B?" Tanya shouted.
"RUN FASTER!" Luna yelled back.
The group bolted down a hallway as alarms blared and zombies poured from every direction. Tim tripped over a chair, Pluto grabbed him by the hoodie, and Asuka somehow managed to stab a zombie mid-sprint without even breaking stride.
"HOW MANY ARE THERE?!" Pluto screamed.
"TOO MANY FOR MY GPA TO HANDLE!" Tim yelled back.
"Why are you even mentioning your GPA right now?!" Luna said.
"PANIC MAKES ME RANDOM!"
"YOU'RE ALWAYS RANDOM!!!"
They reached a giant blast door at the end of the hallway, locked tight. Tango tried hacking it while yelling at everyone to hold the line.
But the zombies were closing in.....fast.
Tanya swung her frying pan like a pro, Luna fought like her life depended on it...(well it technically did), and Pluto...well, Pluto was yelling inspirational quotes.
"DON'T DIE, GUYS!" "LIFE HAS ITS OWN UP AND DOWNS" he shouted.
Luna screamed, "THAT'S NOT INSPIRATIONAL, THAT'S JUST COMMON SENSE!"
Zombies were screeching, alarms were howling, and somehow Tim was still arguing about his hoodie.
"LUNA, I SWEAR IF THIS RIPS–""TIM, WE'RE BEING EATEN ALIVE, NOT FILMING A FASHION SHOW!"
Siara swung her glowing sword, slicing through two zombies like it was a normal Tuesday. Emmanuel fired his pulse blaster, eyes sharp and calm ; the only person in this room with actual competence.
Pluto was crouched behind a toppled table, screaming, "WHO EVEN INVENTS THIS MANY ZOMBIES?!"
"YOUR FUTURE PEOPLE, PROBABLY!" Tanya yelled, smacking one across the head with her frying pan.
"GUYS!" Tango barked, "Door's not opening! The code's fried.....just like Tim's brain cells!"
Tim gasped. "Rude! My brain cells are limited edition!"
Luna shoved him toward the side console. "Then use them before we die!"
Siara gritted her teeth, glancing at Emmanuel. "We have to reroute the power grid. The door's manual override is near the generator."
"Where's the generator?" Pluto asked.
A zombie growl echoed behind him. Emmanuel pointed. "There."
"Of course it's near the undead pile," Luna muttered.
Tim took a deep breath like he was about to make a brave speech."I'll go. If I die, tell my story....."
Luna cut him off. "You tripped over a chair and threw an object at a computer. There is no story."
"I hate this timeline," Tim muttered, dashing toward the generator anyway.
Zombies lunged, snarling. He shrieked like a kettle and somehow kicked one in the face mid-run. Pluto followed, swinging a broken pipe like a knight who'd never been trained.
"HOW DO YOU TURN THIS THING ON?!" Luna yelled.
"PULL THE BIG RED LEVER!" Siara shouted from across the chaos.
"THE ONE THAT SAYS 'DANGER'?!?"
"YES! D FOR DO IT BEFORE WE DIE!"
Luna yanked it. Sparks flew everywhere. The lights flickered back to life for half a glorious second ..... and then everything exploded in bright blue light.
Everyone hit the floor.The zombies… froze.
For a terrifying moment, the entire lab went dead silent except for the crackle of electricity.
Then, one by one, the undead began disintegrating. Their skin turned to ash, their bones glowing blue before vanishing into dust.
"Wha-what just happened?" Tanya whispered.
Emmanuel stood, brushing off the dust. " The lab purged all infected organisms."
Tim blinked. "So… we won?"
Luna, face-down on the floor, groaned. "I think my soul just left my body, but yeah… sure. Let's call that a win."
Pluto sat up slowly, hair singed, expression dazed. "I smell burnt dreams."
Asuka helped him up. "You smell like you electrified yourself."
"Tomato, tomahto," he said weakly.
Siara turned toward the glowing central chamber that now pulsed with strange blue energy."This isn't over," she said quietly. "That wasn't Varex's virus. It was a test."
Tango frowned. "A test? For what?"
Siara's eyes narrowed. "For whoever comes next."
A faint, mechanical voice echoed from the shattered speakers: "Welcome to Phase Two."
Tim froze. "...Guys, please tell me Phase Two means snacks."
Luna sighed. "No, Tim. It means we're doomed. Again."