All Chapters of The Juggernaut System: Chapter 11
- Chapter 20
44 chapters
Chapter 11: The Concrete Graveyard
[Sector E - The Urban Ruins] The air in Sector E tasted different. It didn't smell of wet earth and rotting leaves like the jungle. It smelled of dust, old concrete, and rust. Alex and Sarah moved silently down a wide avenue lined with crumbling skyscrapers. Cars were overturned on the sidewalks, skeletons sat in driver’s seats, and glass crunched softly under their boots. It was a ghost city. A perfect arena for snipers. "Stay away from the windows," Alex whispered, hugging the wall of a bank building. His eyes, still enhanced by the Night Vision Goggles, scanned the dark windows of the buildings opposite them. Every broken window could hide a gun barrel. "It's so quiet," Sarah breathed, gripping the straps of her backpack. She had taken the pistol (Glock 17) Alex gave her, though she prayed she wouldn't have to use it. "Too quiet," Alex muttered. He stopped at the entrance of a five-story apartment com
Chapter 12: The Vultures
[Sector E - The Clock Tower] The view from the fourth floor was perfect. And terrifying. Through the scope of his HK416, Alex watched the Central Plaza below. It was a wide, concrete square with a dried-up fountain in the center. "Ten minutes until the drop," Alex whispered. "I see movement," Sarah said. She was lying prone next to him, holding a pair of binoculars they had found in the supply point. "Three o'clock. Behind the burnt bus." Alex shifted his aim. Through the green tint of his Night Vision Goggles, he saw a heat signature. A man was crouching there, holding a machete, waiting for the crate. "Amateur," Alex muttered. He scanned the rest of the square. "Nine o'clock. Inside the coffee shop. Two heat signatures." "Six o'clock. On the roof of the bank. One prone target... looks like a sniper." Alex froze. A sniper. That was the real threat. The guys with machetes were just fodder. The guy on the bank roof was a predator. "Sarah," Alex said calmly. "Don't lift you
Chapter 13: Kill Zone
[Clock Tower - 4th Floor Stairwell] Heavy boots thumped rhythmically on the concrete stairs below. Thud. Thud. Thud. They weren't rushing. They were moving with calculated precision. Alex could hear the low, distorted voices communicating through tactical radios. "Alpha 1, covering high." "Alpha 2, breaching 3rd floor. Clear." "Moving to 4th. Heat signatures confirmed stationary." Alex pressed his back against the cold stone wall at the top of the landing. He glanced at Sarah. She was hiding inside the bell mechanism room, pistol aimed at the door with shaking hands. "Stay down," Alex mouthed. He held the flashbang grenade in his left hand, his HK416 in his right. The mercenaries had thermal vision. Smoke wouldn't work. Darkness wouldn't work. But physics still worked. "Breaching 4th floor in 3... 2..." The voice from the stairwell said. Alex didn't wait for "1". He pulled the pin and tossed the grenade. It bounced off the wall, clattering down the stairs, landing right
Chapter 14: Off the Leash
[Sector E - Central Plaza] The plaza was a graveyard. Under the harsh white floodlights, bodies lay scattered like broken dolls. Some were "Pigs" desperate for freedom; others were Hunters who had been too slow to escape the Mercenary Squad’s wrath. Alex walked through the carnage. His heavy Class-B Combat Armor crunched over bullet casings and glass. He looked like a grim reaper in black steel, his rifle raised, scanning for any sign of movement. "It's clear," Alex’s voice came through the helmet’s external speaker, sounding deep and robotic. Sarah followed close behind him. She was still wearing the helmet Alex gave her, her hands gripping the pistol tight. She tried not to look at the faces of the dead. They reached the Supply Crate in the center. It sat there, gleaming under the lights. The neon skull logo flickered ominously. Inside, resting on the red velvet cushion, sat the three Master Keys. They looked like simple, golden USB drives. But to everyone on this island, th
Chapter 15: The Nest
[Metro Catacombs - Depth: 30 Meters] BOOM... boom... The explosions from the surface sounded like distant thunder here. Dust and old paint chips rained down from the arched concrete ceiling, settling on Alex’s black armor. "The bombing is getting heavier," Sarah whispered. Her voice echoed too loudly in the silent tunnel. She gripped her pistol so hard her knuckles were white. "Do you think the tunnel will collapse?" "This place was built to survive a nuclear war," Alex said, his voice distorted by his helmet. "It won't collapse. But it might seal us in." He swept his tactical flashlight across the darkness. The beam cut through the thick, stale air, illuminating rusted subway tracks and overturned vending machines. And webs. Thick, translucent strands of silk draped over everything like funeral shrouds. They weren't normal spider webs. Some were as thick as ropes. "Alex," Sarah stopped, pointing her light at a subway car that had derailed further down the track. "Look inside.
Chapter 16: The Devil’s Laboratory
[Underground Research Facility B - Main Hall] The heavy blast door hissed shut behind them, cutting off the shrieks of the mutants in the tunnel. Silence. Absolute, sterile silence. Alex swept his flashlight across the room. It wasn't a cave. It was a pristine, white hallway lined with glass partitions. Fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting long, twitching shadows. "It looks like... a hospital," Sarah whispered, shivering. The air conditioning was still running, making the air bitingly cold. "No," Alex walked over to a reception desk. A skeleton in a lab coat sat in the chair, a bullet hole in its skull. He picked up a dusty ID badge. "It’s a factory." [System Location Update: Sterling Genetics - Black Site Alpha.] [Danger Level: Unknown.] They moved deeper into the facility. The glass rooms on either side were cells. But instead of beds, they had restraint chairs and surgical tables. Dried blood painted the floors. Alex stopped at a computer terminal that was stil
Chapter 17: The Killing Fields
[Elevator to Sector D] The heavy industrial elevator rattled as it ascended. The air grew warmer, smelling less like sterile chemicals and more like ozone and gunpowder. Sarah stood in the corner, staring at Alex’s back. He hadn't just grown taller. It was the density of him. Even through the black combat armor, she could sense the coiled, explosive power in his muscles. When he shifted his weight, the steel floor of the elevator groaned. "Alex," Sarah whispered. "How do you feel?" Alex flexed his fingers. The leather gloves creaked tight. "Hungry," Alex replied, his voice a low rumble. "And heavy." [System Warning] [Approaching Sector D: The Proving Grounds.] [Enemy Presence: Extreme.] The elevator slowed. A red light above the door began to flash. Klaxon: AWOOGA. AWOOGA. "Welcome to the party," Alex said calmly. He didn't raise his rifle. He stepped in front of Sarah, using his massive body as a human shield. "Stay behind me. No matter what." DING. The heavy steel doo
Chapter 18: Trial by Fire
[Sector D - Trench Network Alpha] The mud in the trenches was ankle-deep, a mixture of rain, oil, and blood. Alex walked through it like a bulldozer. He didn't bother crouching. Every now and then, a terrified survivor or a lower-level Hunter would pop their head up from a foxhole, see the black-armored giant approaching, and immediately run the other way. "They're scared of you," Sarah noted, keeping her head low behind him. She clutched her pistol, but she hadn't needed to fire it for ten minutes. Alex was a walking deterrent. "Good," Alex scanned the horizon. "Fear saves ammo." He checked the map. The Command Bunker was only a kilometer away, atop a fortified hill. But between them and the hill lay a maze of bunkers. Suddenly, Alex stopped. [Passive Perception Triggered.] [Warning: Rapid Temperature Spike Detected.] The air around them didn't just get warm; it shimmered. The mud at Alex’s feet began to hiss and steam. "Back!" Alex shoved Sarah hard, sending her stumbling
Chapter 19: Knock, Knock
[Sector D - The Command Bunker] The rain had stopped, leaving the air heavy with the smell of ozone and wet concrete. The Command Bunker loomed atop the hill like a sleeping beast. It was a massive slab of reinforced concrete, studded with sensor arrays and heavy cannons. There were no windows, only a single, massive blast door made of solid titanium-steel alloy. Standing guard in front of the door were two steel giants. [Enemy Analysis: Exo-Guard "Titan" Class] [Equipment: Hydraulic Power Armor, 20mm Autocannons.] [Threat Level: High.] These weren't flesh-and-blood mutants. These were elite human soldiers piloting 8-foot-tall mechanical exoskeletons. They looked like walking tanks. "Alex," Sarah whispered, crouching behind a rock. "Those cannons... even you can't tank those rounds. They are anti-tank shells." "I don't plan to get hit," Alex said calmly. He unclipped the HF Plasma Cut
Chapter 20: The Illusion of Victory
[Sector D - Command Bunker Control Room] The silence in the control room was heavy. Alex stood watching the radar screen as Alice’s helicopter disappeared... but not towards the ocean. It was flying deeper into the island. "Alex?" Sarah walked over, holding the golden pistol Alice had dropped. "She escaped. But we have the control room. We can shut down the collars and call for help, right?" Alex didn't answer immediately. He was typing on the console, his brow furrowed. "Something is wrong," Alex muttered. He pulled up the island map. According to the map they found in Sector F, they were at the center. The ocean should be right behind this hill. But when Alex hacked into the Admin System, the map on the screen zoomed out. And zoomed out. And zoomed out. "Oh my god," Sarah gasped. The "Dead Man’s Isle" they had fought through—the Jungle (F), the City Ruins (E), the Trenches