The world returned slowly, like a heavy dream refusing to end. Marcus lay in the cold mud, his body a map of pain and strangeness. Each breath came short and labored, as if his lungs had forgotten how to fill with air. His bony, trembling fingers dug grooves into the damp earth, tearing up roots and rusted metal fragments without him even realizing it.
"Marcus!"
Kain's voice reached him as if from very far away. The man's calloused hands shook his shoulders forcefully, but Marcus couldn't respond. His mouth was dry, his tongue heavy as lead. All he could feel was the S9 mark on his chest, which had once pulsed furiously but now beat in a slow, irregular rhythm—like a heart about to stop. Each throb emitted a faint amber glow through his torn shirt, illuminating the black veins spreading beneath his skin like venomous roots.
Kain pressed two fingers against Marcus's neck, feeling his weakening pulse. His icy blue eyes scanned his companion's contorted body, calculating possibilities in silence. "Not now, you bastard," he growled through clenched teeth, pulling a knife from his pocket with precise movements.
Then, the black liquid began to move.
At first, it was almost imperceptible. The thick sap oozing from the twisted tree pulsed as if alive, ripples coursing across its viscous surface, creating hypnotic patterns in the dim dawn light. Kain instinctively recoiled as the first strand of dark fluid rose from the ground, slithering through the air like a living creature.
What followed was both fascinating and macabre. The tree, once imposing in its deformity, now withered in fast-forward. Its parched bark peeled away in black flakes that fell like ashes, while its gnarled branches convulsed like agonized fingers. The roots twisted in the soil, expelling the last remnants of black sap in final spasms.
As the tree died, the black liquid defied gravity, climbing Marcus's body with terrifying determination. It seeped through open wounds, nostrils, even his pores—each absorbed drop making the mark on his chest glow brighter. Kain stood motionless, watching as Marcus's gaunt physique reshaped itself before his eyes.
Marcus's muscles swelled beneath his pale skin, gaining definition he'd never had before. He was still lean, but now more toned than normal. His jaw became more angular, his facial features sharpening as if sculpted by invisible hands. But it was his eyes that were most terrifying—two pools of absolute darkness where human irises had once been. His hair grew at an accelerated rate, black strands like crow's feathers reaching his shoulders in mere seconds.
When Marcus finally opened his eyes, it was like witnessing an eclipse. The world revealed to him was different—sharper, crueler in its details. He could see the infrared spectrum blending with visible light, thermal patterns unveiling hidden life in the dead forest. Kain glowed in shades of orange and red before his new vision, his revolver a cold metallic blue.
Sounds came amplified—the buzz of insects a hundred meters away, the rhythmic thumping of two heartbeats (his and Kain's), even the sound of metal corroding underground. And the smells... Marcus could distinguish the scent of fear seeping from Kain's pores—a mix of adrenaline and cortisol—overlaid with the stench of rust, death, and something electric in the air. The virus?
"What...," his voice came out hoarse but with a strange resonance, as if two people were speaking at once.
Kain observed every microexpression, every change with near-scientific interest. When Marcus mentioned "smelling his fear," something gleamed in the man's blue eyes. "Interesting," he murmured, his fingers brushing against the object in his jacket pocket almost unconsciously.
As he helped Marcus up, Kain allowed just one facial muscle to twitch. A fleeting smile, calculated to last less than a second, hidden by the motion of raising his collar. But Marcus, with his new senses, noticed.
"You knew." It wasn't a question.
Kain froze for a fraction of a second before letting out a rough laugh. "Knew you'd get prettier? Sure, always thought you needed to hit the gym more."
The object in his pocket pulsed in sync with the mark—a detail Marcus didn't miss. Before he could press further, Kain spoke up. "I know I owe you answers, kid, but first we need to get out of here. We need shelter, and I need to eat. Come on, I know a place."
Though suspicious Kain might betray him, Marcus had few options. "Fine. But if you stall... well, we'll see just how far these abilities go."
As they moved toward the supposed shelter, Marcus noticed a new sensation—a hunger not for food, but for more of that black sap. The dead tree behind them was now just a charred skeleton, and the mark on his chest grew, complex patterns spreading like fractals across his skin.
Kain kept his steps measured. His hand never left the pocket holding the mysterious object, his fingers clutching it like a talisman.
When night fell, they found shelter in an abandoned pumping station. Marcus sat in the darkest corner, watching Kain methodically prepare his weapons. The faint starlight through broken windows painted eerie patterns on the filthy floor.
"Why did you save me?" The question echoed through the empty room.
Kain paused, his fingers tracing the V5X symbol engraved on his revolver's barrel before answering. "Every experiment needs a final report, Marcus."
"You said you survived a year in this chaos. Why don't I remember anything?"
Still staring at Marcus as he slowly counted his ammunition, Kain sighed. "When the world was still normal, and I was just a simple virologist, I treated the first infected patients... It was horrific. The agony of decomposing alive within days. The plague spread like fire in a gas tank—that's when I realized it couldn't be natural. It was engineered to work that way." He holstered his gun and pulled out the item he'd kept hidden in his pocket—the small black-metal orb with strange symbols Marcus had seen pulsing earlier. "I stole this from the Pure when I escaped one of their facilities. Seems to be some kind of tracker."
"Some kind?"
"It led me to you. Remember when I first found you? You'd just killed a Mutant. Clumsy, but the way you finished it... that wasn't luck." Kain ended with a ghastly smile. "You're special, kid. We just need to figure out what you are—and what's inside you."