Despite the survivors' arrival, there was an unspoken tension that clung to the air. Razor’s eyes shifted over to Gator, who was staring at the table, brows furrowed in thought. They didn’t know much about the girl the survivor had mentioned—the one with platinum blonde hair—but they couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow connected to the growing danger they faced.

  The briefing room door creaked open, and the members of the other teams started filtering in. Their movements were stiff, their faces grim, as though they had been carrying the weight of something too heavy to explain. The tension thickened, and Razor’s stomach churned. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

  Lieutenant Jacobs, their commanding officer, was the last to enter, his face tight and unreadable. He didn’t wait long before addressing the room. "We have new intel from the field. It’s not good." His voice was low, the words carrying a weight that made everyone fall silent.

  Razor exchanged a quick glance with his team. This was no ordinary mission briefing. This was something more.

  "The team we sent to the north," Jacobs continued, his gaze sweeping over the room, "is missing. No contact, no sign of them. The last transmission we received from them was... disturbing."

  Razor’s breath hitched. Missing teams were nothing new, but the thought of another one disappearing sent a chill through him. His eyes darted to the other officers present, but no one seemed willing to speak yet. Jacobs pushed on, his voice steady but somber.

  "Before we lost contact," he said, his voice thick with regret, "one of their team members managed to make it through. Screaming. Yelling. He said they were cornered. He said there was a girl—someone they didn’t know—trying to help them. She was fighting the Shadows, trying to rescue them. And then... the transmission went dead."

  A cold silence fell over the room as the gravity of those words settled in. A girl? Trying to help a team against the Shadows? It didn’t make sense. No one could fight the Shadows, not like that.

  Razor’s mind raced, and he glanced around the room. "Who is she?" he asked, his voice sharp. His mind wanted answers—something, anything. "Where did she come from?"

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  Jacobs shook his head, his jaw clenched tightly. "We don’t know. We have no idea who she is. All we know is that she was trying to help them. And now, they’re gone."

  A murmur ran through the room as other soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. Lieutenant Harris, sitting at the far side of the table, leaned forward. "Could she be another infected? One who’s... fighting the others?"

  The thought struck Razor like a slap. Could this girl somehow be a part of the mutation? Was she infected? "If she’s infected, why would she be helping anyone?" he muttered under his breath.

  "No one’s saying she’s infected," Jacobs snapped, cutting through the speculation. "We don’t know what she is, but we can’t afford to ignore her. Whoever she is, she’s connected to what happened to our team, and we need to figure that out. Fast."

  Major Turner, one of the higher-ranking officers, stood and crossed her arms, her voice sharp. "I don’t care who she is. The priority right now is finding our team. We can’t waste time chasing after some girl. We have bigger problems to deal with."

  But Captain Walker spoke up, her tone measured but insistent. "This girl might be the key to understanding what’s really going on. If she was trying to fight the Shadows, if she was involved in what happened to our team, we need to know more about her."

  Razor nodded slowly, his mind trying to piece together the puzzle. "If she was helping them..." he murmured, more to himself than anyone else, "then she might know something we don’t. She could know how the Shadows are evolving. How they’re working together."

  The room fell silent again, the weight of that possibility sinking in. Was it possible the Shadows were changing? Becoming more coordinated, more dangerous? They had seen the signs. The mutations. The way the infected seemed to adapt.

  Lieutenant Jacobs continued, his voice low. "We’ll send a team to the northern area to search for any trace of our missing unit. We’ll see if there’s any sign of the girl, but we’re not going to waste resources on an unknown. Our primary objective is to find the missing team and bring them back."

  Razor’s team exchanged another look. They didn’t know who this girl was, or if she was involved in the mutation, but they couldn’t just ignore the fact that she had been trying to help. She might be their only lead.

  Major Turner’s voice broke the silence, her tone sharper now. "We need to keep focused. This girl may just be a coincidence, but we can’t afford to let speculation get in the way of our mission. We’ll stay on course. If she’s out there, we’ll find her—but that’s not our primary concern."

  Razor’s grip tightened on the edge of the table. "Understood, ma’am," he said, though there was an edge to his voice. He wasn’t convinced this girl was just a coincidence. There was something bigger going on here, and he needed answers.

  The officers exchanged some final words before Jacobs dismissed the briefing. Razor stood up with his team, his mind still whirling. They knew what they had to do—focus on the mission, keep moving forward. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that the girl, whoever she was, was going to be important. They couldn’t afford to leave her out of the equation.

  As the briefing room began to empty, the lower-ranking soldiers spoke in hushed tones, exchanging their own thoughts. Some were skeptical. Others were fearful. It was clear that the unknowns—like the girl, and the mutation—were weighing on everyone’s minds. The Shadows weren’t just a threat anymore; they were evolving, and so was whatever was behind them.

  Razor walked with his team back to the command area, his mind locked on the task ahead. They had to keep moving, keep looking for the missing team, but something about this girl lingered in the back of his mind. Was she just another survivor, or was she something more? The answers, he knew, were out there. And he would find them, no matter what it took.