By the time Chase cracked open the eighth skull of the night and pocketed its core, the zombie that had been steadily approaching finally closed the distance enough for a proper look.Female, from the shape of her but her skin ran a sickly blue-gray, and dense black bone plating covered her limbs and chest like natural armor. She carried a steel whip, and her expression sat somewhere between predatory and furious by default.Chase didn't feel threatened. If anything, she hadn't shown a shred of hostility toward him at all which made the whole thing more interesting than alarming.She reached him and dropped smoothly to one knee....Okay, that's new."I greet... the great... Zombie King."The cadence matched Chase's own voice from his very first days as one of the infected slow, ragged, working hard around a throat that hadn't fully adjusted yet."Who are you?""I was born of your will. I exist to serve you."Born of my will. Chase turned that over, trying to place any moment that migh

Watching his man dangle mid-air, tangled and defenseless, Ray didn't hesitate. He raised both hands, traced a circle in the air, and the reinforced gate sheared open along a perfect laser-cut line a clean passage carved straight through solid metal.Vera stood over the fallen operative, watching him twist helplessly, his flight ability the only thing keeping him from smashing straight into the ground, and even that was faltering under the tremor running through his whole body.Ray didn't wait for an opening. Multiple beams of concentrated light lanced out toward Vera. She dodged the volley with a simple, almost lazy backflip.The whip's momentum had left the airborne operative spinning hard enough to disorient him, but instinct kicked in fast he redirected his flight toward the rest of his squad, desperate to close the gap before Vera could finish him off.The rest of the team surged through the breached gate the second the opening presented itself. Vera's whip snapped upright of its

"What in God's name actually happened out there?!"Director Grant worked through a cigarette with a grim, unreadable expression. Ten people had gone out. Two had come back including their strongest combat asset and senior command.Zoe kept her eyes down, visibly ashamed."Once we confirmed the steel-whip zombie wasn't at the original site, we pulled nearby camera footage and tracked its departure route. Following that lead, we ran into something else entirely a zombie capable of killing the entire strike team in a matter of seconds.""I managed to teleport Dylan out. There wasn't time to save anyone else."Grant's eyes flicked briefly to the man standing beside her, who gave the faintest nod. Everyone knew what his presence in this room meant an ability tuned specifically to catch a lie the moment it left someone's mouth.Zoe had planned for exactly that. Whatever she'd told Dylan on the way back had been carefully limited to details that were technically true but wouldn't raise flags

"Captain Ray? Not hungry?"Chase stared down at the plate without a shred of interest. Cores were the only thing that actually pulled at him and running through a possessed body, even flesh and blood barely registered."Not right now. I think something's coming back to me. I need to walk, clear my head. Go ahead, get back to your rounds I'll manage on my own."Molly's shoulders relaxed at the calmer tone. Good sign. Maybe the memory's starting to resurface.She hesitated a beat, then nodded. "If you get turned around or run into trouble, call me. Anytime.""Will do."Chase straightened up and set off to scope out the rest of the floors, priority one still Miles.Killing Vanessa mid-possession is off the table no abilities in this form beyond the shapeshift itself, and this place almost certainly runs healers strong enough to undo whatever damage I could manage barehanded. Her water control alone probably handles most threats she'd face here.He made his way to sublevel four and found

Chase braced for a real fight and instead registered nothing but pure, uncomplicated joy radiating off the creature closing in on him."Master. I finally found you."It landed at his feet and practically nuzzled against his legs, the whole display closer to an overeager dog than a monster.Another one. Same pattern as Vera.Every time I level up, does this happen automatically? Does some fraction of the infected out there just... wake up loyal to me, no input required?The thing was built like a wrecking ball, all raw muscle and mass, but nothing about its demeanor read as threatening now that Chase understood what he was looking at. If anything, this was a serious combat asset falling into his lap for free."You got a name?""No name, Master. Please name me.""...Bruno. I'll call you Bruno.""Bruno! Yes! I am Bruno!"Chase resumed his flight toward the red core signature, Bruno loping easily along beneath him, matching pace without effort.Nadia had barely processed her own survival