Above the compound—

Or what remained of it—

They came.

Not in waves anymore.

From every direction.

Some had seen her.

Others hadn't.

But the destruction she left behind had carried far enough—through ground, through air, through whatever instinct drove them—that it pulled them in all the same.

Feet slammed across broken terrain.

Others tore through the air, uneven flight patterns cutting across the sky, bodies angled toward her position.

Some dragged limbs behind them mid-flight, others hovered with twitching instability, yet all moved with one purpose.

Toward her.

Redstar hovered in place.

Still.

Her gaze moved across them slowly, scanning without urgency.

One cluster to the left—three grounded, two approaching from above. Another group further out—faster, less damaged, moving with more cohesion.

She took it in.

All of it.

Movement.

Sound.

Breath.

Even the faint shifts of air as distant bodies displaced it.

What she couldn't see—

She found anyway.

Her focus narrowed.

Everything unnecessary fell away.

A breath left her—

Slow.

Then—

Her body trembled.

Not from strain.

From compression.

For a fraction of a second, her form distorted in place—

Then—

VOOSH—!

Gone.

She reappeared on the ground.

Between two charging infected.

Students.

Their SHU branded clothes still clung to them in torn strips, faces barely recognizable under the damage.

One's jaw hung loose at an angle, the other's eye socket empty—yet both moved with full speed, arms raised to strike.

They noticed her.

But it was too late.

Their heads snapped to the side, eyes locking onto her presence—

However, they were a fraction behind.

Her hands moved first.

Both arms extended outward, fingers spreading before clamping down onto their skulls.

Her grip sank in.

Flesh gave way.

Bone followed.

Her fingers pressed through their heads as if piercing thin shell, embedding deep enough to hold.

Their bodies jerked violently, limbs striking out in reflex—fists slamming against her arms, legs kicking forward.

Nothing moved her.

Nothing slowed her.

She didn't even look at them.

Her arms lifted.

Effortless.

Both bodies rose with her grip alone, their limbs still flailing, still trying—

Then—

She drove them down.

BOOM—!!

Their bodies exploded on impact.

Flesh tore apart under the force, bone fragments blasting outward as their forms disintegrated against the ground.

Behind them—

More came.

Several female infected, bodies twisted but intact enough to maintain speed, rushed forward in a tight grouping, arms raised as they closed in.

Redstar didn't stop.

Her hands remained buried in what was left of the two she had just destroyed.

More specifically—

Their spines.

With a smooth upward motion—

She pulled and a wet tearing sound filled the air.

Two spinal columns ripped free from the remains, vertebrae stretching outward as they came loose in full length, strands of flesh trailing behind them.

She raised both arms.

Whipped them forward.

The incoming infected didn't slow.

They collided with her attack head-on.

The spines cut through them.

Cleanly and forceful.

Heads separated from bodies in a single motion, multiple at once as the arc carried through the group—

SHNK—! SHNK—! SHNK—!

Blood sprayed outward in thick bursts, bodies continuing forward for half a step before collapsing in pieces—

The force didn't stop there.

A shockwave followed the swing—

BOOM—!

One of the spines shattered under the pressure, fragments scattering mid-air.

The other remained.

For now.

Redstar shifted her stance slightly.

Then—

They surrounded her.

From all sides.

One lunged low, its arms extended into elongated spikes, driving toward her legs.

Another dropped from above, body twisting mid-air as hardened growths formed along its shoulders, aiming to crush her from the top.

Two more approached from opposite sides, one expelling bursts of compressed air, the other launching shards formed from its own bone structure.

They moved together.

Coordinated in thought.

And aligned in motion.

It didn't matter.

She stepped forward.

Just one step.

The ground beneath her foot cracked—

CRK—!

The low strike passed behind her as she shifted slightly, her body tilting just enough to avoid it without breaking motion. The airborne attacker came down—

She moved up.

Her hand snapped upward, catching it by the throat mid-descent—

SKRRK—!

Its momentum stopped instantly.

Then reversed.

She slammed it downward into the one attacking low—

BOOM—!

Both bodies collapsed under the impact, limbs breaking, torsos folding into each other.

The bone projectiles reached her at that same instant.

But she twisted.

Barely.

They passed her shoulder by inches—

One clipped her arm.

Did nothing.

Her remaining spine weapon lashed out again, tearing through the attacker before it could recover—

SHNK—!

Another head gone.

Another body dropped.

Everything happened fast.

Too fast for normal sight to track.

Each movement carried a burst of force, every step sending cracks through the ground, every swing displacing air in violent bursts—

BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!

Blood coated the area.

Debris lifted and scattered with each impact.

Above—

The flying infected closed in.

They descended in uneven arcs, aiming to overwhelm her from above, numbers stacking in their favor.

Redstar bent her knees.

Then jumped.

BOOM—!!!

The ground beneath her shattered outward, a shockwave erupting from the point of contact as she launched upward.

The force tore through the infected still on the ground, bodies ripping apart as the pressure expanded—

They didn't get a second movement.

In the air—

She met the others.

Before they could react.

Her body blurred through them, movement too fast to follow as she passed from one to the next—

Each pass—

A kill.

Heads removed.

Bodies split.

Some didn't even register contact before they came apart—

SHNK—! CRK—! BOOM—!

Fragments rained downward, trailing blood as they fell back toward the destroyed ground below.

She didn't stop.

Didn't slow.

She rose higher.

Paused—

Then vanished again.

VOOSH—!

Reappearing within another cluster across the campus.

Each arrival—

Marked by impact.

Each movement—

A burst of force.

Shockwaves rolled outward again and again, echoing across the grounds as she tore through every group she targeted.

From above—

It looked systematic.

Every section she appeared it was cleared of infected within seconds

Every movement she made led to a brutal kill.

No hesitation and no wasted motion.