The Hideout

Jiro and the little girl hugged each other shaking. That spiky building monster almost ate them for lunch! Its mad roars still echoed below their icy roof doorway. But the squishy demon sounded stuck raging down there... for now.

They sank together catching their breath while Jiro repacked scattered gear. His quick eyes scanned the empty office space they stumbled into. Looked like boring bank rooms long abandoned. Dusty desks held dead computers amidst trash and leaves piled everywhere by busted windows. Maybe good place to rest behind locked doors before venturing the dead city further.

Jiro blocked the stair entrance outside with a big cabinet just in case claws busted through. While his patrol partner skip-hopped room to room happily making little foot trails in the dirt drifts. Silly games brought playing laughter that echoed too loud! Jiro shushed her fast with tight hugs. Their beastly stalker probably shook mad hearing prey escape upstairs somehow. Other mutations likely roamed rubble beyond too with so much weird screaming earlier. Better hide quiet now.

Together they assembled little forts from cubicle debris and sticky furniture mats. Jiro gave the beaming child his armored coat and helmet to wear like royal gown. So cute! Their colorful bubble wrap kingdom linked by crayon roads featured grand snack towers of granola bars from his big pack. Jiro showed her handy tricks to stay safe if trouble came, like sprinkler pipes to crawl through or weak spots to kick loose vent covers off walls. Such useful secrets! Battle school took many shapes.

As the red sunset dimmed in cracked dusty windows, the friends shared nutty protein cubes and flat water from rusty sink taps. Jiro smiled hearing his lady hum lullaby songs while carefully brushing pretty hair. Keeping gentle innocence intact against so much danger and fear won its own little victories he decided. Their unique survivor family already adopted the other fast without words. Less lonely was good! Even silly knock-knock jokes made him giggle too much almost forgetting deadly lab drool beasts skulking outside overgrown graveyards. Rotten realities demanded escaped joys twice as hard.

Jiro napped in shifts that night while his fierce partner guarded their tower keep. Little thunder snores made him beam pride. When the purpled moon rose over spiky building edges, Jiro secured the shadowy stair topside and rigged noisy trap wires on lower doors. Then he carried his precious queen bundle to cushion beds made under big metal desks just in case. Their oozy stalker brute from earlier probably gave up chasing food upstairs. But he left the cot fort knob loose and weapons close anyhow. Survival knew few dumb risks after enough hard lessons!

He kissed her soft forehead once before shutting tired eyes. They would scout the upper offices tomorrow for clues or lost persons perhaps. Every light fought its own darkness somehow...

Dreamed battlefields turned kinder kingdoms before screams woke Jiro suddenly! Sharp noises came from the toasty nest room making him bolt alert bracing rifle hip. Had claw freaks found them?? Hunters crashed recklessly about down the echo hall just outside their bedroom it sounded like. Jiro held fire only by duty not to endanger his dreaming angel unless critically necessary. Shadows moved under the blocked stair door. He steadied legs wanting badly to quiver somehow...

With crackling tension the main junk barricade pushed aside violently. A blinding searchlight flashed on! Jiro blinked against white beam until loud voices called out 'Clear!'. Wait what? He staggered forward confused as black armored soldiers swept past him. They wore block text reading COR-SEC and fanned in all zones to confirm the floor was monster-free. Combat veterans for certain by crack precision clearing rubble fortifications and cubby holes with relentless efficiency.

Lastly their leader approached Jiro while troops rallied in standard perimeter posture. Jiro met hard eyes glaring behind a face shield that marked this captain quite real and human still. That took impossible courage or madness roaming infection city depths like some easy patrol! Jiro tried radio crackles to reach locked jaw helmets circling steadfast. But no words came out dry.

The unit captain pulled off heavy headgear marked 'VENKMAN' slowly. Sweaty blonde locks and a roughly pretty face framed exhausted Orb Security Corporation commander poise as she waved metal units down by code taps meaning no present threat up here. Her piercing eyes swept intruders up and down for clues while Jiro found migrant words again finally.

"Apologies for trespassing havens, Winglord. My ward and I sought only shelter escaping river beasts before your arrival. We squat mere hours without disruption meant." He offered a shaky grin that usually won over outpost guards.

But Captain Venkman ran no sideshow outfit by the flinty gaze measuring his worth. Jiro realized COR remained wholly another breed from Shokin contractor teams before the world cracked. Orb Security answered directly to the powerful Kanriza Group funding questionable biotech advances for decades. Jiro's own meager PMC served their secret whims often enough from the long shadows. Hacking classified company intel got him elite postings actually...until outbreak chaos threw soul priorities quite adjusted.

Captain Venkman stepped forward abruptly poking his ripped uniform from earlier flesh tunnel crawls. "Quite a path you nudged through downstairs, civilian. Got our night optics lit before chief called your tripwire flare intentionally too clean.”

She waved towards the stairwell as helmet officers parted for grunts hauling some gore-splashed enormity squeeze by. It took Jiro a moment before recognizing their spiky behemoth ambusher from yesterday propped between straining troopers. The reeking flesh crusted monstrosity resembled a severed insectoid mixed with jungle predator in death spasms. Its slashed midsection wept pus from breaches hinting molecular acid got injected to dissolve giant claw arms somehow. Someone executed expert tracking and takedown violating most urban response conventions. Who were these territories angels?

Captain Venkman read his speechless shock perfectly. "Been baiting Ukkon isoroks all month trying to map migration acute angles relative to old asylum grid markers. These COR-FENRIR kill teams operate by our measures out here, not weak public ideals, asset civilian."

Her emphasis made purpose quite clear. Before Jiro managed 'wait what?' through fluttering tongue, a trooper yanked him brutally aside going for clenched coat pockets. The captain waved them off his panicked protests. She tapped codes authorizing full scan permission which helmet scanners obliged documenting every nick and seam in seconds.

Data profiles bounced to command decks far off while Captain Venkman circled Jiro expectant but less hostile realizing non-combat status getting verified from distant monitors. His little partner in curtain fort rubbed sleepy eyes and toddled over clutching Jiro’s leg wary but unafraid which made Venkman crack a slight grin.

"Sorry if boys played too rough pops. Had to make sure no incubation or volatile gas ooze soaked your civies before lowering bayonets. “She winked down on Jiro's battle angel play saluting her. “Never can tell what flies our filters mid-sweep sometimes eh lieutenant?”

The child returned stout attention stance with textbook crispness no academy graduate ever matched! Jiro swelled stunned and proud at his petite ally taking unflinching command poise already. A lion heart peeked out exhibiting zero fright near armored tech units hauling giant slain specimens about! What mystic combination produced her peerless pedigree he wondered greatly. Nothing about this made sense quite yet... like some impossible vital pieces awaiting revelation still.

Captain Venkman cocked her ear at pings only she could hear before focusing hard eyes back on Jiro and crew very seriously. "Alright shamblers, my Colossus armor rig confirms no trace XT-5 contagion shedding so I won't slot you two as security negatives at least. Let that gift ride appreciation yeah?”

Her face softened momentarily with what looked like vague recollection ghosts. "I'll need to debrief exactly where your exceptional partner blasted out from without corroded cells piggybacking her heels. Shelters and refugee camps discharge swarms on the broken daily. If certain ZET levels got breached somehow, High Council commands demand immediate orbital scorched terrain stamps."

Before Jiro framed coherent reply, Captain Venkman turned waving them urgently towards a rear emergency descent marked AUTHORIZED TRAFFIC ONLY long barricaded. She barked orders dispersing perimeter teams below while technicians packed the dead creature holding Jiro raptly transfixed still. This armored girl spilled too many impossible fields devoid details his instinct screamed. He trailed her heavily down cement platforms trying to mentally integrate disjoined realities suddenly colliding.

They emerged underground into revving engine roar and blazing flood lamps barely diffusing tense energy charging the concrete launch bay. This VENKMAN commanded full mobilized staging platforms outfitting junior tactical corps racing open cargo ramps. It hardly resembled the deserted urban graveyard streets anticipating minutes earlier! Jiro spotted stacked supply vaults being inventoried on loading dollies while reinforced buggies lined departure tunnels with battle hungry eyes. Whatever Orb Security squirreled away down here posed remarkable departure from hopeless cityscape glimpsed beyond fortified perimeter checkpoints. The whole nested war operation felt extraterrestrial almost relative to what hellscape realities Jiro endured since crash landing days prior. It very well could be by the nonchalant way Captain Venkman observed stoic troop units rallying onboard gunships like passing livestock review! She clearly oversaw vast subterranean enterprises buried beneath this dead metropolitan sprawl.

Before Jiro digested scale, their party approached reinforced bay doors marked HIGH OPERATIONS COMMAND. He flinched as automated systems scanned platform boots again, but green verification blinked cooperatively this time allowing entry towards... something unprecedented. Little darling squeezed Jiro's claw reflex for encouragement and led them inside the restricted gates without hesitation. Trusting her utterly Jiro matched the pace bracing for whatever reality turbulence followed. But truth bombardment overloaded circuits regardless instantly.

He walked into circular chambers filled by 3-tiered holographic tactical displays with hundreds of drone feeds and encrypted ornate data sets hovering midair above a dozen operations desks. Jiro's civilian processing capacity froze solid absorbing the Center scope with mouths agape. Over 70 Orb officers in shadowed alcoves coordinated staggering data sets under the softly glowing Global Range Strategic Command logo while Captain Venkman and guests passed through towards the central dais unnoticed seemingly. Jiro tried failing to categorize anything logically. Forces cycled immense scale observations here that could direct planets perhaps! Was such scope even conceivable to administer single city evacuation protocols? Nothing Sovereign dynamics prepared Jiro's narrow contractor lens for. And yet...

At the Executive Field Station they stopped as elite communications officers suddenly stood in boardroom attention for Venkman's arrival. She saluted them casually, then ushered Jiro's overwhelmed senses towards the imposing display of 300 foot spread. "Assume you won't find this Tactical Operations portfolio flattering out in open vaccine queue lines pops. But as CorSec Division Chief you get my fast-pass insight free today. "

Her wrist implants manipulated controls causing holographic immersion drones to project expansive AREA 01 zone monitoring grids for their personal viewing. Immediately Jiro recognized the buried geography profiling regional structural anatomy, infection outbreak arcs highlighted, survivor holdouts marked gloomy yellow, andiously flowing pennant banners denoting hostile creature migrations currently. 3 years PMC work installing biomonitor hubs across city sectors made the situation map tragically intimate as peque tears drew realizing sheer scope how untenable the surface situation nosedived exponentially. Jiro physically dizzy from revelation altitudes confronting just how much countermeasure mobilization surged in the dark silently while civilian enclaves perished blindly against fearsome escalation odds slowly but surely steadily.

Captain Venkman noted his emotional churn and dialed down relentless data proportions a measure towards merely regional statistics. “Yeah... Not exactly winning recruitment poster stuff. But this still proves enough yes? The raw footage rolls oninerary infinitely worse outside zones we barricade currently trust me.”