CHAPTER 3

The scream that ripped through the wholesale club wasn’t human. It was gurgling. It set my teeth on edge. Cereal boxes crashed. Shopping carts screeched. People trampled each other for the automatic doors, but they didn’t get it yet. The “Black Zones” were already forming outside. The Black Mist wasn’t coming.  It was here.

Gary, or what was left of him, was hunched over the other worker.  

Tier 1 Shambler. Slow. Mindless. Just another drone for the Standardized Hive.

[DING!]

[TARGET LOCKED: TIER 1 SHAMBLER]

[MUTATION LEVEL: 0.05% - RISING]

Heat crawled up the back of my neck. The EROS-Survival System was humming in my skull, feeding off my adrenaline.

In my last life, that would’ve been me screaming. Last life I was the human pack mule, waiting for someone to save me.

Not today.

I stepped over a gallon of spilled milk. My hand closed around the machete from my space Warehouse.  

Gary’s head snapped up. Milky eyes found me. He tracked the sound of my boots on linoleum and lurched forward. Fingers twitching like he was still trying to scan a price tag.

“Sorry, Gary,” I whispered. “I’ve got a schedule.”

He charged towards me in a funny movement. Exactly like the Zombie Rules said.

I sidestepped. Something was different. My feet felt light. For half a second I could see his movement before he made it.

I swung.

The blade bit deep into his neck. Not clean. Not like the movies.  

A sick thunk as steel hit bone. I wrenched it back. Gary collapsed. A heap of white apron and gray skin.

[DING!]

[OBJECTIVE COMPLETE: FIRST KILL - TIER 1 SHAMBLER]

[REWARD: +50 SP, WEAPON SHARPENING STONE]

[SP BALANCE: 350]

No time to breathe. The bakery was already twitching. More of them.  

Tier 1s are slow, but they follow noise. And right now this store was a megaphone.

I needed to move. I needed him and his damn kiss to survive.

According to EROS, Commander Zahir was the only thing that could stabilize this heat in my blood. Without his Null-Gene, I was a ticking bomb if it hit 100% and I’d turn into a Hive Queen.

I ran for the emergency exit at the back. Bypassing the bottleneck at the front doors. As I ran I checked the Warehouse. Food. Meds. Weapons. Check. Now I just needed the man.

I slammed through the exit into the loading dock. The air had changed. The sky wasn’t blue anymore. It was bruised. Hazy purple.

The Collapse had officially started. I pulled up my phone. Military outpost address.  

Zahir would be there, white-knuckling through his Hyper-Awareness while the world fell apart.

I wiped Gary’s blood off my sleeve.

“Hold on, Commander,” I muttered. “Subject 001 is coming for you.”

....................................................

The streets were a jagged mosaic of panic.  Car horns. Shattered glass. People running like the ground was on fire. The purple haze of the Black Mist hung low. Thick enough to taste like pennies and old batteries at the back of my throat. This wasn’t weather.  

It was a nano-biological terraforming agent. Evergreen Organization’s solution to “overpopulation.” Create a Standardized Hive. Strip free will. Turn a city into one bruised, breathing nightmare.

Behind me, the screams from the wholesale club finally faded.  

Swallowed by the heavy air. I didn’t look back. In this world, looking back was a luxury. And “Subject 001” couldn’t afford luxuries.

[DING!]

[MUTATION LEVEL: 0.07% - RISING]

[WARNING: ADRENALINE SPIKE DETECTED]

[ADVISE: MAINTAIN DISTANCE FROM HIGH-CONCENTRATION MIST ZONES]

“Yeah, yeah. Shut up,” I muttered, waving a hand through the flickering blue box only I could see. My head was full of noise. EROS-Survival System vibrating against my subconscious. A high-level Architect interface. It was never meant for me.  

In my last life I was nothing but a low-tier human pack mule. Carry the gear. Take the hits. Get fed to the zombies when I was no longer useful. Well, that is in the past now.

I ducked behind a dented dumpster as a black SUV blew past on the sidewalk. Horn screaming.  

It slammed into a fire hydrant. Water exploded into the air.

The driver crawled out, choking. His eyes were already clouding over. That milky, Tier 1 film.  

He wasn’t a person anymore. Just a Shambler, twitching toward the sound of spraying water.  

He didn’t even see me.

My hands were shaking as I pulled out my phone. Six blocks of Black Zones to the military outpost. Visibility dropping to nothing. And if I didn’t reach Commander Zahir before the government started their “Cleansing,” none of it would matter.

“Zahir,” I whispered. The name felt like a weight.

In my past life, everyone knew the stories.The Human Anchor. Tactical genius.Hyper-Awareness made the apocalypse a sensory hell for him. To command, he was an asset.  To me? He was a survival kit in human form. His blood carried the Null-Gene. The only thing on this planet that could stop my mutation from hitting 100% and turning me into a Hive King.

A sharp whistle cut through the air from the rooftop above.

I froze. Hand to the machete at my belt. Shamblers don’t whistle. I looked up through the hazy purple light. A silhouette on the edge of a brick building. It didn’t move like a person. It moved like something taken apart and stitched back wrong.

[WARNING]

[DETECTION: TIER 2 SEEKER]

[NOTE: PACK HUNTER. RESPONDS TO HEAT. SLOW BREATHING, HOST]

It didn’t jump. It flowed down the wall on elongated, skeletal limbs.  

Twitchy. Wrong. Fast. This was a Seeker. Evergreen’s “future.” Humans turned into predators for the Hive.

Its head snapped toward me. No eyes. Just heat-sensing pits.  

It could smell my blood. And the Sovereign Serum my father had locked in my veins when I was a kid.

“Come on then,” I hissed, drawing the machete. “You ugly bastard.”

I wasn’t the giver anymore. Wasn’t the girl who let people walk over her until she died. I had a list. Starting with Ophelia. But first I had to survive. I needed my Anchor. And this thing was standing between me and staying human.

The Seeker let out a chattering sound and launched itself off the wall. It was fast–way faster than the butcher back at the store. I dropped low, feeling the Space Warehouse trigger as I swapped my machete for the crossbow I'd bought earlier.

The bolt hissed through the air catching the seeker in its shoulder mid leap. It shrieked, a high pitched sound that probably alerted every Shambler within three blocks, but it didn't stop. It hit the pavement and rolled, coming up on all fours like a rabid dog. 

“Great. Just great,” I muttered, my heart hammering. 

[New Mission: The Anchor's Path] 

[Objective: Eliminate the Seeker and reach the Outpost] 

[Reward: +100 SP, 1x Low Grade Stamina Potion] 

I dropped the crossbow back into the Warehouse and went back to the machete. The heat in my blood was rising z that weird mutation itch making my vision sharper and my temper shorter. I could feel the system feeding off my rage, pushing me to fight. 

The Seeker lunged again, a blur of gray skin and sharp teeth. I didn't move back. I stepped into its space, swinging the blade with everything I had. The steel bit into its chest, but the thing was relentless. It swiped at my arm, its claws leaving got mines of pain across my skin. 

[Mutation Level: 0.10%]

The moment the blood hit the air, the seeker went into a frenzy. But so did I. That 10% combat power kicked in, and suddenly, the machete felt lighter. My movements felt like they were being guided by an invisible hand. I twisted, catching the Seeker's neck in a follow up swing that sent its head bouncing across the asphalt. 

The body slumped over, twitching for a few seconds before going still. 

[DING!]

[Target Neutralized. +100 SP] 

I didn't wait for the reward notification to finish. The whistling had stopped, but the sound of shuffling feet was getting louder from the main road. The Seeker's death scream has been a dinner bell. 

I sprinted toward the end of the alley, my lungs burning. The military outpost was just around the corner. I could see the high concrete walls and the razor wire glinting in the purple haze. 

“Zahir, you better be in there,” I panted, clutching the bleeding cuts on my arm. 

I reached the gate just as the first wave of Shamblers rounded the corner behind me. I pounded on the reinforced steel, my voice cracking. 

“Open up! Military emergency! I have information on Subject 001!”

The heavy slot in the gate slid open. A pair of cold  piercing blue eyes looked out at me. They were the eyes of a man who had seen the end of the world coming and has been waiting for it. 

“Who are you?” the voice barked. It was deep, rough, and sounded like it hadn't slept in a week. 

“The only person who can keep you from losing your mind Commander,” I said, leaning against the gate. “Now let me know before I turn into something we're both gonna regret.” 

The gate hummed the heavy bolts sliding back. I slipped inside just as the first Shambler slammed its rotting face against the steel. 

I was in. I had my Anchor. Now the real work has started.