The hum of the base was a distant echo as Razor and his team sat around the dimly lit common room. The briefing had ended, but the weight of what they’d learned lingered like a shadow none of them could shake. Gator sat with his arms crossed, his jaw tight. Shadow leaned against the wall, his rifle within reach, while Whiz and Maverick sat nearby, their eyes reflecting the same confusion burning through them all.

  “She fought them?” Maverick broke the silence, his voice low but edged with disbelief. “One girl… fighting Shadows?”

  Gator’s jaw clenched. “That’s what they said.”

  “But how?” Whiz’s brow furrowed, his fingers nervously tapping against his thigh. “How does anyone fight Shadows alone? And survive?”

  The question hung heavy in the air. No one had an answer. Razor's gaze was hard, his mind replaying every word from the briefing. The mention of platinum blonde hair. The radio call cut off by screams. A girl trying to help. It didn’t make sense.

  "Maybe she wasn't alone," Shadow offered, though even he sounded uncertain. "Maybe someone was with her."

  “Then why didn’t they mention anyone else?” Gator shot back. “Just her. Just the girl.”

  Razor’s voice was quiet but firm. “And why was she helping at all? What would make someone risk themselves like that, especially with Shadows?”

  The thought was unsettling. The Shadows didn’t hesitate. They didn’t give chances. Anyone caught alone was as good as dead. Yet this girl had managed to fight them off, even if only for a while.

  Gator’s hands curled into fists. “It’s not possible. You’ve seen what those things do. What they are. She should be dead.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “But she’s not,” Maverick said, his voice soft. “And that’s what scares me.”

  The room fell into an uneasy silence until footsteps echoed down the hall. A few soldiers from another team entered, their faces drawn and pale. One of them—Hale, a sharp-eyed soldier with a scar running down his cheek—paused, catching the heavy mood in the room.

  “You’re talking about the girl,” he said. Not a question.

  Razor didn’t respond, but Gator nodded. “Trying to figure out how the hell she fought Shadows and lived.”

  Hale stepped closer, his arms folded, his expression unreadable. “We heard the same thing. Rumors. Whispers. Some of the guys are saying maybe she’s infected. Not like them, but… different.”

  Whiz frowned. “Different how?”

  “I don’t know,” Hale admitted. “But if she can survive that, if she can fight them… maybe there’s something wrong with her. Or right with her. Hell, maybe she’s one of them.”

  The words struck deep, a chill spreading through the room. Shadow shook his head. “Doesn’t make sense. Shadows kill everything. They don’t hesitate. So why would they hesitate with her?”

  “Maybe they didn’t,” Maverick said slowly. “Maybe she was just faster.”

  But none of them believed that. The fear was there, lurking beneath the surface. Something about this girl wasn’t right. Something about this infection wasn’t right.

  “What if she’s immune?” Whiz asked, his voice hesitant, like he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the answer.

  The idea felt too big, too impossible. Razor’s eyes narrowed. “We don’t know that.”

  “But it would explain a lot,” Hale said, his gaze sharp. “Why else would she risk it? Why else would she fight them alone?”

  “Maybe she wasn’t trying to be a hero,” Shadow said, his voice tight. “Maybe she’s trying to survive, just like the rest of us.”

  Another soldier, a younger man named Jace, spoke up from the doorway. His voice was quiet but certain. “Or maybe she knows something we don’t.”

  Silence fell again. It wasn’t just confusion now—it was fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what this girl could mean.

  “She’s not our problem,” Gator muttered, though his voice lacked conviction. “We’ve got enough to deal with.”

  “Maybe,” Razor said, though the uncertainty in his voice didn’t go unnoticed. His eyes lingered on the floor, lost in thought. The girl was a mystery, but she wasn’t just a mystery. She was a question mark in a world that didn’t tolerate them. And questions, unanswered, were dangerous.

  “Someone needs to find her,” Hale said after a long moment. “We need to know what she is.”

  No one argued. Because as much as they wanted to leave it behind, to focus on surviving another day, the truth was harder to ignore. The girl wasn’t just a rumor anymore. She was real. And whatever she was, she could be the key to understanding the infection… or the beginning of something worse.

  Razor stood, his stance rigid. “We’ll keep our ears open. If anyone sees her, we find out who she is. What she is.”

  The team nodded, but the tension didn’t fade. They knew this wasn’t over. Not even close.

  Because out there, somewhere, was a girl with platinum blonde hair. A girl who could fight Shadows. A girl who shouldn't exist.

  And none of them were ready for what that could mean.