By morning, the screams had stopped.
Eli and Hana crept through the corridors, stepping over shattered glass and blood. They found others hiding in the gym: Marcus Reed, a security officer with a rifle; June Seo, a teenage hacker clutching a portable console; and two terrified residents who refused to speak.
Marcus eyed Eli. "You new here?"
"Moved in three days ago."
"Bad timing," Marcus muttered. "The whole grid's fried. No comms, no exits. Whatever's out there—it's spreading."
June tapped her console. "I accessed the internal sensors. The infection spikes when people panic. Their vitals go crazy, then… they change."
Hana frowned. "So emotion triggers it?"
"Looks that way," June said. "Fear, grief, rage—it feeds on it."
Eli felt a chill. He remembered the hologram's words: emotional stability index pending.
They decided to fortify the lobby. Marcus distributed weapons from the security cache. Hana tended to the wounded. Eli helped barricade the doors, though his hands shook.
That night, as they sat around a flickering lantern, Hana asked quietly, "You worked in biotech, didn't you?"
Eli hesitated. "How do you know?"
"Your eyes. You recognize what this is."
He looked away. "I helped design the neural interface that monitors emotion. It was supposed to prevent violence, not cause it."
June stared at him. "Then you might be the reason we're all stuck here."