First Blood Hunt

POV AMARA

“A marriage of convenience at the end of the world sounds ridiculous, until you realize your husband is a human battering ram and you are the scalpel that finishes off the prey.”

We burst through the shattered frame of the limousine.

The first infected lunges down from the roof, arms outstretched, black nails ready to tear through flesh. Nikolai does not even blink. He steps forward, meets the creature’s torso with a punch coated in plates of dark metal, and the impact sounds like a sledgehammer striking a sack of stones. The zombie flies five meters backward, its ribcage caved in, and crashes hard onto the asphalt.

“Its core is still intact. Don’t let it get back up!” I shout over the noise.

Nikolai scowls, but reacts instantly. Before the creature can drag itself along with half its ribs broken, he brings his heavy military boot down on its neck, grinding its skull against the pavement.

[Phase 1 Infected neutralized]

[Warfare Points accumulated: 20]

“Aim for the neck or the forehead,” I tell him, dodging the second runner as it tries to ambush me from my right side. “If you don’t destroy the energy node they carry in their heads, they will just keep crawling.”

“And how on earth do you know so much about these things?” Nikolai asks, grabbing the third infected by the neck mid-leap and lifting it off the ground as if it were a ragdoll.

“I read the news, Commander. Focus on not getting bitten.”

I pivot sharply on my left foot. The torn hem of my dress swirls around me as the remaining runner launches itself at my leg. The red reticle in my tactical eye locks onto the precise spot between its first vertebra and the base of its skull.

The ion dagger hums in my hand.

With one clean motion, I drive the plasma blade into the marked point without hesitation. The blue discharge vaporizes brain tissue in an instant. The infected drops lifeless at my boots, leaving a slimy stain on the leather.

[Phase 1 Infected neutralized]

[Tactical synergy detected in combat: Speed bonus activated]

A warm pull tugs at my chest. My muscles respond faster, the exhaustion from the crash fades away, and my field of vision widens. I can see the full stretch of the street, smoke rising from overturned cars, shattered glass scattered across the pavement, and a tide of about forty mangled figures running toward us, drawn by the noise of the fight.

Nikolai tosses aside the corpse he has just snapped in two and wipes his bloodied knuckles against his tactical pants. He glances at the horde closing in, and for the first time, I see a crooked, dangerous smile spread across his face.

“There are far too many for knives only, my wife,” he says, his tone half mocking even as his eyes scan the terrain with the cold precision of a seasoned warrior. “Three hundred meters ahead stands the Military Police Armory. The gates are still locked. If we can reach it, we can arm ourselves properly.”

“Three hundred meters with forty runners standing between us and the door?” I raise an eyebrow, gripping the dagger firmly. “You are going to have to carve a path through them.”

“That is what I do best. Stay close behind me.”

Nikolai breaks into a run, charging straight toward the horde like an out-of-control freight train.

The dark plates on his skin extend from his knuckles up his forearms, thrumming with heavy kinetic force. The first infected foolish enough to cross his path is cleaved in two by a swinging forearm. The second he slams aside with his armored shoulder, sending it crashing through the windshield of an abandoned taxi.

I keep to his wake, moving half a step behind his blind side.

Every time one of them tries to leap past him from the sides or dart around to reach his back, my dagger strikes. One, two, three clean, precise kills. The system flashes constantly at the edge of my vision:

[Infected eliminated… +10 Points]

[Infected eliminated… +10 Points]

[Kill streak: 15 targets. Precision bonus activated]

The heat of battle courses through my veins. Nikolai is pure demolition force, he staggers them, shatters bones, and scatters groups with shockwaves that crack the asphalt beneath their feet. I am the finisher, piercing their cores before the creatures can recover. We move with a frightening rhythm, perfectly synchronized for two people who met barely an hour ago.

We reach the entrance of the military police station breathing hard, our clothes damp with sweat and someone else’s blood.

The reinforced steel gate is secured with a high-security Federation padlock. Behind us, the infected that survived the initial charge round the corner as a pack, shrieking with rabid fury.

Nikolai grips the lock with both hands, his biceps straining until his dark veins threaten to burst beneath his skin. The metal groans under the pressure, but the military-grade alloy holds fast.

“Damned titanium lock,” he grits out, breath coming heavier. “They will be all over us before I can rip this apart.”

“Stand aside,” I order him, giving his shoulder a firm push.

“And what exactly do you plan to do with that short blade, girl?”

I ignore his sarcasm and bring up the floating interface only I can see:

[Total Warfare Points: 180]

[Available Purchase: ‘High-Frequency Edge’ — Cost: 150 Points]

[Confirm purchase?]

Confirm.

A sharp jolt of pain shoots through my right arm, and the blade of my dagger flares to life with an energy field so dense it distorts the air around it. I step forward and slash diagonally through the locking mechanism.

Reinforced steel parts like wet cardboard. The padlock clatters to the ground, cleanly sliced in two glowing halves.

Nikolai freezes for a fraction of a second, staring at the severed lock, then back at my face.

“Get inside before they reach us,” I tell him, swinging the heavy gate open.

We slip into the armored lobby and slam the heavy bolts shut behind us. Seconds later, a dozen rotting bodies crash against the bars from the outside, clawing frantically at the metal without finding a way through.

We are safe. At least for now.

The lobby is dim, lit only by dim red emergency lights. Further in, past a partially open security door, shelves are visible, lined neatly with tactical rifles, body armor, and sealed crates of heavy-caliber ammunition.

Nikolai leans against a concrete pillar, catching his breath. He watches me closely with those dark, piercing eyes, studying me as if trying to decide whether I am a miracle or a monster worse than the ones outside.

“You are definitely not the useless little bastard your father promised me,” he says quietly, crossing his arms over his chest. “No ordinary human carries weapons like that, or cuts through military-grade steel with one swing.”

“And your father didn’t teach you manners either, yet here we are,” I reply coolly, tucking the dagger safely into my makeshift belt. “We both have secrets, Nikolai. The difference is that mine are the only things keeping us alive right now.”

Suddenly, a sharp sound cuts through the quiet inside the armory.

It does not come from outside.

It comes from the drop ceiling above the weapon racks.

A tall, elongated silhouette, with misshapen limbs stretching over two meters long and bony claws dripping with sickly green venom, climbs slowly down the metal wall without making a single sound. Four glowing yellow eyes lock directly onto the back of Nikolai’s neck.

The system flashes a warning in letters so large and red they nearly blind me:

[EXTREME DANGER: Phase 2 Mutant Detected: ‘Alpha Stalker’]

[Threat Level: Lethal]

“We had barely slammed the gates of hell shut behind us, and the devil was already waiting inside the room.”