Chapter 1218: Story 1218: Hunted by the Turned
EXT. INDUSTRIAL OUTSKIRTS – PRE-DAWN
The city’s edge was wrapped in a sick fog, the streets eerily still beneath gutted warehouses and collapsed smokestacks. Lena and the team moved fast and low, packs light, eyes scanning every window.
WARD (whispering):
“They’re adapting. Moving in patterns. Not just mindless anymore.”
BRIGGS (weakened):
“Then they’re evolving.”
THE GIRL:
“Or someone’s teaching them.”
That thought settled in heavier than the morning mist.
INT. PARKING STRUCTURE – EARLY MORNING
They ducked into a broken garage to rest. Lena checked Briggs’ wound—it had spread into his veins, black and twitching.
BRIGGS:
“If I turn… you know what to do.”
Lena didn’t answer. She didn’t need to.
Suddenly—a screech echoes. Not an animal. Not human.
THE GIRL (alert):
“They’re here.”
From the garage’s depths, figures emerged—not walkers, but sprinters. Fast. Feral. Eyes blazing with hunger.
WARD (shouting):
“RUN!”
EXT. ALLEYWAYS – MID-MORNING
The chase was relentless.
They sprinted through narrow passages and over debris. One of the Turned lunged from a window—Lena dodged and slashed with her knife, the blade catching bone.
BRIGGS (struggling):
“Keep going! Don’t stop for me!”
LENA (grabbing his arm):
“Not a damn chance!”
Ward covered the rear, gunning down two with controlled bursts. The Girl lobbed a flare into a drainage tunnel—flames whooshed, momentarily blinding the horde.
EXT. SCHOOLYARD RUINS – LATER
They collapsed behind a broken wall. For now, they’d lost the pack.
WARD (panting):
“They didn’t follow. They… regrouped?”
THE GIRL (nervous):
“Why didn’t they just swarm us? They had numbers.”
Lena stared into the empty lot. The fear wasn’t just survival anymore—it was strategy. The Turned were learning.
FLASHBACK – LENA’S MEMORY:
Her brother, Danny, bleeding out in a stairwell. Surrounded. A young Lena screaming for help that never came.
DANNY (weakly):
“Don’t let them change who you are, Len.”
BACK TO PRESENT – SCHOOLYARD
Lena shook off the memory. Focus.
LENA:
“We keep moving. We don’t stop until dark.”
WARD:
“They’ll be waiting again.”
LENA:
“Then we change the rules.”
She pointed toward the storm drains—an underground path most would avoid.
LENA:
“We take the tunnels. No noise. No lights. Just guts.”
Briggs groaned, barely conscious. The Girl moved beside him, quiet but resolute.
THE GIRL:
“We’ll carry him if we have to.”
INT. STORM DRAIN ENTRANCE – NOON
They disappeared into the earth, the surface behind them howling as the Turned returned—sniffing, hunting, organized.
EXT. CITY SKYLINE – DISTANT VIEW
Above the crumbling buildings, an eerie, synchronized shriek pierced the sky—hundreds of the Turned, converging with purpose.
They weren’t just hunters anymore.
They were a pack.