Fault Lines

They moved in silence at first—Emric's team weaving through crumbling avenues flanked by collapsed buildings and the skeletons of rusted vehicles. With each turn, the shadows of ruined skyscrapers seemed to lengthen.

Juno's voice buzzed through the relay: "Movement. Two blocks west. Twelve heat signatures."

"F-tier?" Cade asked.

"No," Juno replied grimly. "Mixed pattern. Might be E."

"Then we close in," Emric said, checking the group's route on his HUD. "Flank from three angles. Juno, drop elevation on that south rooftop. Cade, give us cover noise—scramble their sound field. Keiran, you're point."

"And if they scatter?" Keiran asked, flexing his fingers. "We chasing?"

"Only if the risk is worth the points," Emric replied. "We move smartly."

A few heartbeats passed.

Then Yezri muttered, "So... we're just taking orders from him now?"

Emric didn't look back. "Unless you'd rather die in the first hour."

"Careful," Cade added, half-grinning. "You're starting to sound like a leader, Emric."

But the tone wasn't entirely praise.

Still, they moved. Efficiency over sentiment.

They hit the pack fast.

A mass of Gorebound—bloated, humanoid horrors with distended jaws and lolling tongues—emerged from a sewer breach. Behind them, something larger thudded into the open, dragging chains from its back.

[E-Tier: Chainwalker]

It howled. The Gorebound surged.

Keiran was a blur—crashing into the first wave with resonance flaring from his shoulders. He tore two apart in seconds.

Juno redirected falling concrete, crushing a third.

Cade's disruptor sent interference waves spiraling, disorienting the horde.

Yezri's plasma core lit the alley with heat shimmer.

Emric moved last—tagging weak points, flanking silently, feeding micro-drone data to each teammate's HUD.

[+1 Point: Keiran Doss][+1 Point: Juno Sel][+5 Points: Cade Lin][+1 Point: Yezri Amon][+1 Point: Emric Vale]

The Chainwalker roared—metal shrieking against stone as it swung its linked spines.

"Back!" Emric barked. "Its swings are wide—focus behind the knee!"

Keiran didn't listen.

He charged head-on.

And got clipped. Hard. Thrown across the street like a broken doll.

His armor sparked.

"Idiot!" Yezri shouted, dropping another plasma burst that singed the creature's side.

Emric took the shot. His repeater hit a gap in the lower joint.

The Chainwalker staggered.

Malric, silent till now, slid in and stabbed it from behind—driving a jagged metal pipe into its back. The thing buckled.

Emric moved again—one final round into the exposed nerve cluster.

It collapsed.

[+5 Points: Emric Vale]

They panted in the aftermath. Smoke coiled in the cold digital air.

Keiran sat up, spitting blood. "I had it."

"No," Emric said flatly. "You rushed in and almost got yourself disqualified."

Keiran's jaw tensed. "You just wanted the kill."

Emric stared at him. "I wanted you to still be useful to the team."

Silence stretched between them. The others shifted—uncomfortable.

Yezri crossed her arms. "He's right, you know. You've been soaking up kills, Emric. Playing coordinator and finisher."

"Because I have to," Emric snapped. "Because we need a system. We don't have resources. We don't have the history of these creatures. And I'm the only one here tracking movement, scouting threats, and planning attacks."

Juno looked away.

Cade raised an eyebrow. "Sure. But don't pretend we're not noticing the score gap growing."

Malric, ever quiet, finally spoke: "We can't afford to fracture. Not yet."

They all turned toward him.

He looked at Emric. "Lead if you must. But remember—cooperation fades when rewards aren't equal. Eventually, everyone counts their points."

Emric's mouth was dry.

He nodded slowly. "We'll split the next pack evenly. I'll pull back on final hits. You want kills—earn them. But don't get reckless."

Cade offered a thin smile. "Deal. Let's see if the genius plays well when the knives turn toward him too."

They moved again—quieter now, and more distant.

**

Two hours passed.

The city got worse.

Emric's breath misted in the cold morning air as he crouched atop the rusted scaffolding of an old construction crane. Below, in the basin of a shattered mall courtyard, a Gutterling pack fed on the carcass of a fallen Slag Wolf. His micro-drone relayed their pattern—erratic, no pack leader, vulnerable when feeding. Perfect for ambush.

But Emric wasn't alone.

"You sure about this angle?" Cade's voice came through the comms, faint static buzzing under his tone.

"Yes," Emric replied. "On my signal. Five seconds."

"Copy."

He tapped the repeater's side twice and shifted his grip. Five seconds later, the first bolt split the air.

The blast struck the concrete behind the Gutterlings, startling them into a chaotic scatter. Juno lifted two off the ground with a well-angled gravity arc, suspending them mid-air. Yezri vaporized both with a twin-lobed plasma burst.

[+1 Point: Yezri Amon]

[+1 Point: Yezri Amon]

Cade tagged another with a sonic disrupter. Emric waited—until the last one bolted. Then fired.

[+1 Point: Emric Vale]

Another efficient sweep. But the tension in the comms was undeniable.

They moved through a collapsed medical district where defunct machines sparked and creature screeches echoed through the long-dead halls. Emric watched the tension bleed into their formation.

Cade started tagging targets faster—rushing kills.

Yezri barely spoke unless she was charging a blast.

Keiran had stopped acknowledging orders entirely—still obeying them, but coldly.

Only Juno remained centered, shifting between groups as a stabilizer. Malric stayed close to Emric but kept his own counsel.

The shift was subtle, but it was there.

Loyalty was wearing thin.

Near an abandoned parking garage, they encountered a nest.

Twenty low-tier creatures—Gutterlings, Leechstriders, a pair of Slag Wolves. The perfect storm.

Emric called the approach—boxed attack, converging lines.

Keiran went solo anyway, pulling four of the creatures toward him.

He bagged three kills—then got clipped again.

Juno had to redirect rubble to save him.

Yezri missed her shot intentionally on Emric's marked target. "Oops."

Cade grinned.

The point display lit up with everyone's tally.

Emric didn't care.

But he saw it now.

The beginning of the break.

They were going to implode.

He needed to figure out if to still stay with the team, who could still be a team player—and who would gut him the moment he showed weakness.

**

They regrouped in the shell of an old supermarket. Flickering light panels buzzed overhead. Broken aisles stretched into shadow. Emric sat against a cooler unit, wiping blood from his face. He looked at the squad—no longer just a group. They'd formed habits. Communication routes and expectations. He had taken point naturally, but now, it felt heavier.

Malric crouched beside him, gaze sharp.

"You feel it, don't you?" Malric asked quietly.

Emric nodded. "It's coming apart."

"Because of points?"

"Because of people. This system... it's designed to test more than combat."

Malric handed him water from the pack. "So what's your move?"

Emric looked across the ruined store, at Keiran nursing his shoulder, Yezri fiddling with a coil charger, Cade scribbling a map, and Juno watching them all.

"I figure out who breaks first," he said.

Malric smirked. "Then what?"

Emric's eyes were hard now.

"Then I make sure it's not me."

Outside, the sky flickered, clouds forming in unnatural spirals.

The simulation was shifting again.

And something far worse was coming.