Chapter 4: Unnatural Calm

Chapter 4: Unnatural Calm

By Chapt

Kai couldn’t sleep.

Not after what he’d seen.

Ren had returned to the bunker without a scratch, not even out of breath. The two infected corpses outside lay in twisted heaps, yet Ren looked like he’d just gone for a walk. He cleaned his blade in silence and sat back down, as if nothing had happened.

Kai sat on the cot opposite him, watching carefully. Quietly.

“You’re not normal,” Kai finally said, breaking the heavy silence.

Ren didn’t answer right away. He wiped down the blade with an old cloth and set it aside, his movements precise, practiced.

Kai leaned forward. “You’re not going to deny it?”

Ren’s eyes met his. “Would you believe me if I did?”

That answer made Kai sit back. He didn’t know what he had expected—anger, denial, a laugh. But not this stillness.

Kai looked away. “So what are you then? Enhanced human? Failed experiment? Cyborg?”

Ren raised an eyebrow. “Cyborg?”

“I’m just saying. You’re not squishy like the rest of us.”

Ren gave a dry chuckle. It was quiet and almost… sad.

“You’ve seen what this world does to people,” he said. “And you think I’m the weird one.”

Kai hesitated. “So… you are human?”

Ren looked away. “I was. Once.”

The words hit like a brick.

Kai sat up straighter. “Wait, you mean—”

“I don’t know what I am now,” Ren interrupted. “And I don’t want to talk about it.”

Kai was silent. The fire crackled between them, the only sound in the oppressive quiet. He had a hundred questions. A thousand. But Ren’s shoulders were tense, his eyes distant. Pressing now wouldn’t get him anywhere.

So Kai changed the subject. “How long have you been alone here?”

Ren blinked, as if surprised by the gentler tone. “Since the first month.”

“Alone this whole time?”

“There were others. At first.” Ren’s voice was flat.

Kai didn’t ask what happened to them.

“I was with a group too,” Kai said. “We weren’t exactly close, but we watched each other’s backs. Then one night, one of them turned. In his sleep.”

Ren turned to him. “You killed him?”

Kai nodded slowly. “I had to. But after that, no one trusted anyone. We scattered.”

Ren said nothing, just listened. Kai appreciated that. Most people just wanted to tell their own story.

“Why do you think you’re… different?” Kai asked after a while.

Ren gave him a look. “Because I don’t get infected.”

Kai’s breath caught.

“I’ve been scratched. Bitten. Nothing happens,” Ren said quietly. “I heal fast. I don’t feel pain like I used to. And… sometimes when I’m out there, near them, they hesitate. Like they can smell something off about me.”

Kai was stunned.

“You’re like… a bridge between us and them,” he whispered.

Ren stiffened. “I’m not one of them.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You thought it.”

Kai held his hands up. “Alright. I believe you.”

“Why?”

“Because if you wanted to kill me, I’d be dead already. And because I don’t think you even know what you are.”

Ren went quiet. For a long time.

“I don’t,” he finally admitted. “But I want to find out. That’s why I’m going to the base.”

Kai studied him. There was something raw behind the calm exterior. Not fear—something older. Grief, maybe. Or shame.

Kai stood and crossed the room. He sat beside Ren—not too close, just enough.

“If you’re going, I’m coming with you.”

Ren turned to him, surprised. “You don’t even know me.”

“I’ve met worse people. Hell, I’ve trusted worse people.”

Ren watched him for a long moment, then said, “It’ll be dangerous.”

“I know.”

“And if something happens—if I change—”

“Then I’ll stop you,” Kai said softly. “Just like you’d do for me.”

That surprised Ren even more. “You’d do that?”

Kai shrugged. “You saved me. Doesn’t matter what you are. You're the first person I’ve talked to in weeks who didn’t try to steal my boots or stab me in my sleep. That’s something.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of Ren’s lips. “Your standards are low.”

“It’s the apocalypse.”

They sat there, side by side, in a silence that felt… lighter. For the first time since everything fell apart, Kai didn’t feel completely alone. And maybe Ren didn’t either.

Eventually, Ren said, “We leave at first light.”

Kai nodded, heart beating a little faster. “Got it.”

Neither of them noticed the faint sound of shuffling just outside the bunker.

Nor the glowing red eyes watching through the cracks in the steel door.

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