They were the same tubes Theresa had seen being pushed upstairs not long ago. A faint tick echoed from one of the cages. Theresa's head snapped toward it. Inside, a zombie lay stretched across the floor. Every drop of blood had been drained from its body. Its skin was sunken and cracked like parchment. Its gray eyes were wide and glassy, locked on the ceiling in a hollow stare. A group of people in white coats filed into the cage. They circled the husk and switched on a machine beside the bed. With a sharp metallic crack, the skull split open like a broken shell. A mechanical arm slid down and pulled out a pale gleamstone. Its surface was dull, stripped of light, dead in her eyes. One of the scientists glanced at it once, then tossed it into a waste bin marked for medical trash. He waved his hand. The others dragged the shriveled corpse off the table and dropped it carelessly onto a cart. The body rolled limply as they pushed it away like garbage. They brought in another subject. This time, it was not a corpse. It was a living man. Theresa's breath caught. Her chest tightened. His skin was pale, his body limp, but his chest still moved with shallow breaths. He was alive. They strapped him down to a steel bed. The leader of the group opened a metal case. He pulled out a vial. Theresa recognized it instantly. It was the same serum she had seen at the Divine Institute. The same one Sage had gone to war to obtain. The needle pierced the man's arm.His eyes shot open. His body arched violently against the restraints. Veins bulged and twisted beneath his skin. His screams tore through the room, raw and sharp. Theresa's eyes widened as his pupils turned pale and gray. A guttural rasp escaped his throat. A brand-new zombie. The scientists exchanged looks of satisfaction. Their faces gleamed with cold approval. They switched the machines on again. Blood drained out of the newborn zombie's body through the tubes. The creature writhed and wailed, its cries full of agony, but none of the scientists gave it a glance. Theresa's pulse thundered. Her thoughts spun. "What are they doing?" she whispered, her voice breaking. Were they turning humans into zombies just to find antibodies? No. This was not antibody research. They were not observing, not studying. They injected, transformed, and drained. This was farming. They were farming for zombie blood. The zombies were nothing more than blood sacks. Their veins hardened fast after mutation. These people drained them before they closed, sucking out every last drop. This was no laboratory. This was a farm. A farm for zombies. And their blood was the core ingredient of Eclipse Serum. Theresa's heart pounded harder. Her thoughts knotted together. This was perplexing. She had no idea what these people were trying to find. The Eclipse Serum was full of zombie virus. Nobody could survive that injection.The Divine Institute claimed to study human evolution. But this was madness. No ability user alive could withstand it. Who were they planning to use it on? Her head swam, but footsteps echoed through the hall. She spread her mental manipulation ability wide, slipping in a circle to avoid being seen. Her eyes studied every shadow. The underground stretched wider than she had believed. Cages lined the halls like a vast factory farm. Each one bled zombies through tubes. From time to time, alarms blared when a subject went dry. Workers swapped them out with cold efficiency. But Theresa noticed no new humans were brought down. She heard the leader's voice, sharp with anger, on the phone. "Our supply is gone. Progress is halted. Tell Sage to deliver faster." Theresa's heart jolted. She understood. The supply they lacked was the shipment she had stolen. The shipment from the Institute. The one now hidden in her domain. She slipped further into the maze, weaving around workers, until she reached the far edge of the hall. The clock hit 11:55. A voice cracked through the silence. "What are you doing out here?" Theresa froze. A man in a white coat strode toward her. His steps were sharp, his eyes full of suspicion. "Where is your team?" he barked. "Why are you wandering alone?"Her head stayed low. Her brow furrowed tighter with every step he took. His eyes narrowed. His tone turned harsh. "Where's your card? What's your number?" A badge gleamed on his chest. The letter S burned in gold. He was the manager. His suspicion cut into her like a blade. Theresa's mind raced. In a sudden flash, she raised her head. "I came out to deliver supplies," she said quickly. "I found one last vial in the warehouse. I brought it straight to you." She pulled a vial from her domain. It was one of the stolen serums from the Institute. The manager's eyes lit at once. His suspicion melted away. He stepped forward, his hunger plain in his face. "That is exactly what we needed," he said, his voice trembling with sudden excitement.