ROGUE: OPERATION ASHFALL — CHAPTER SIX
(Chapter 5 Outcome: Option B — The Hidden Route)
The mountains are silent.

Not peaceful.

Silent.

The kind of silence that makes every footstep feel like a mistake.

—

Grant leads the way through an old maintenance trail carved into the side of the mountain decades ago. Most of it has collapsed. Sections of the path have fallen away entirely, leaving only narrow ledges overlooking hundred-foot drops.

The hidden route worked.

At least at first.

You never saw the horde.

You never heard gunfire.

You never crossed the infected migration moving toward the dam.

—

But every hour came with a cost.

Time.

—

The sun is already rising when you finally see it.

The dam.

—

Massive.

Concrete walls stretching across the valley below.

Watchtowers.

Floodlights.

Barricades.

Smoke rising from defensive positions.

Humanity's last stand.

—

And then your heart sinks.

The gates are closed.

—

Nobody speaks.

Not you.

Not Eli.

Not Grant.

—

You descend the final trail as quickly as possible.

A loudspeaker crackles from the perimeter.

"Dam personnel only. The gates are sealed. Move away from the perimeter immediately."

—

"No," Grant mutters.

"No no no..."

—

Then the radio crackles one final time.

The clearest transmission you've heard since the outbreak began.

"...all Rogue personnel... this is final command..."

Static.

"...the northern wall has been breached..."

Your blood turns cold.

—

You look beyond the dam.

Beyond the walls.

Beyond the river.

—

And you see them.

—

The horde.

—

Not hundreds.

Not thousands.

A black mass stretching across the valley floor.

Moving toward the dam like a living tide.

—

The defenders see it too.

Sirens begin sounding across the entire facility.

—

The gates remain closed.

—

A figure appears atop the wall with a loudspeaker.

"You are too late!"

—

The words hit harder than any infected ever could.

—

Then Eli points.

—

There's movement near the service spillway below the dam.

An emergency maintenance entrance.

Small.

Hidden.

Unsecured.

—

Grant sees it too.

"So that's it."

—

The final chance.

—

You could reach it.

Maybe.

—

But the horde is closing rapidly.

And there isn't enough time for everyone.

—

For the first time since the outbreak began, nobody looks at the infected.

Everyone looks at each other.

—

Grant.

Eli.

You.

—

Three survivors.

One final decision.