Reaper Class
The ruins of City Z stretched before them, a graveyard of shattered buildings and abandoned buildings vehicles. The morning sun hung low in the sky, casting long shadows across the broken asphalt, but it added to the chill in her spine.
She could see the system's warning flashing in her mind:
[Danger Level: Extreme. Proceed with Caution.]
She adjusted her grip on her katana, muscles coiled tight. The eerie silence of the city gnawed at her nerves. No birds. No wind. Even the distant moans of the infected had faded into an oppressive stillness.
The others felt it too.
Quinn was ahead, moving soundlessly, his shadows slipping over the cracked pavement like living things. Damien followed at a measured pace; his usual air of authority filled with tension. His sharp gaze flicked towards Devon every few minutes, as if waiting for him to make a wrong move.
Devon, for once, didn't return the gaze with his usual smirk. He walked with unsettling ease, but there was something in the way his gaze lingered on the ruins, there was recognition perhaps even familiarity in there.
Then Alex stiffened.
"There's movement up ahead," he muttered, adjusting the screen. "Not infected. Could be scavengers or another group of survivors."
Alexia sighed, rubbing her temples, "Let's go around. No need to engage unless they force our hand."
They cut through the alleyways, weaving between rusted fire escapes and shattered windows. Each step felt heavier than the last. The deeper they went, the more wrong the air felt.
Then the smell hit them.
Rot.
Alexia's system pinged.
[Unknown Entity Detected.]
A chill ran down her spine.
"Something's wrong," she whispered.
"Yeah," Quinn muttered. "I feel it too."
The others had gone tense, eyes sweeping the ruins for the source.
Then came the sound, soft at first. A wet, gurgling noise, like something trying to breathe through liquid. It came from beneath an overturned truck just ahead.
Alex tapped a command on his tablet, sending the drone closer. The moment it neared the truck, the feed cut out.
"What the--"
Before anyone could react, something shot out from under the vehicle.
A blur of mottled flesh and too-long limbs lunged at them on all fours, moving unnaturally fast. Its mouth, if it could be called that was a jagged mess of teeth, stretching far wider than any human jaw should.
[Variant Detected: Reaper Class.]
Her blood went cold.
"Move!" She shouted.
The creature let out an ear-piercing screech.
And suddenly, there were more.
From the rooftops. From the alleyways. From the shadows themselves.
They were surrounded.
Damien's eyes darkened, and his power lashed out. The closest creature staggered, its head snapping back as an invisible force crushed against it. But it barely faltered.
Quinn's shadows reacted instantly, whipping forward like spears, slicing through the nearest Reaper. It shrieked, its body convulsing, but it didn't die.
"These things are tougher,"
Alex pulled his gun and fired. The bullet tore through one's skull, but instead of dropping, the Reaper twitch before lunging forward again.
"They regenerate fast," Alex snapped.
"Then let's see how they handle this," Devon muttered.
A sickly green glow spread over his hand as he grabbed the nearest reaper by throat. The creature let out an inhumane screech, its flesh withering under his grip. Within seconds, it collapsed into a shriveled husk.
"Devon, watch your six!" Alexia shouted.
Another Reaper lunged at him from the side. Alexia intercepted, her katana slicing clean through its arm. The severed limb hit the ground, twitching violently. But the creature didn't stop, it kept coming, its gaping maw snapping inched from her face.
Quinn's shadow lashed outward, impaling it from behind, and it finally collapsed.
"There's too many," Damien said coldly. "We're wasting time."
Alexia clenched her jaw. They had two options: fight until the last one dropped or breakthrough and keep moving.
She made her choice.
"Cut a path through," she ordered. "We need to reach the facility."
They moved as one.
Quinn's shadow lashed forward, creating a perimeter. Damien's energy force threw back any reapers that got too close. Alex provided cover fire, aiming for their limbs rather than their heads.
Devon, however, didn't bother with strategy. He tore through them with an almost eerie efficiency, his ability leaving a trail of withered corpses in his wake.
Alexia kept to the center, knowing she couldn't provide support, she took a pistol from Alex. Every shot was precise, aimed to disable rather than kill, buying time rather than wasting energy.
Finally, they broke through.
The creatures shrieked behind them, but they didn't pursue them past a certain point.
Alexia glanced back, her chest rising and falling with sharp breaths. The reapers lingered near the ruins, watching. Waiting.
She didn't like it.
"We're close," Alex muttered, checking his tablet.
And then, through the thinning mist, the research facility came into view.
A massive structure, most intact despite the devastation surrounding it. The walls were reinforced, the gates still standing.
If one looked at it, they wouldn't think it was a research facility, it looked more like a warehouse.... a gated warehouse community, if that made any sense.
Something was wrong, inherently wrong.
The air felt heavier here.
The silence was different here, it was deeper.
A prison, not for people was the first thing that popped into Alexia's head.
Alexia's system chimed again.
[Facility Detected. Accessing Logs...]
[Warning: This Location Was Classified as a Restricted Biohazard Zone Before the Apocalypse.]
Her fingers tightened on her weapon.
She huffed. The nightmare wasn't behind them.
It was inside.