The last thing I saw before I died was my brother reaching for me while a monster tore through his chest.“James, run!”Donald screamed my name, but he was already bleeding heavily. Before I could reach him, a massive metal foot came down on Luggard, crushing him against the broken pavement. Donald tried to drag me away, but a metal claw pierced his chest and threw him aside.I fell beside my brothers, their blood covering my hands. The monster turned toward me, its glowing blue eyes fixed on my face.I knew I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.Then I opened my eyes.I shot upright in bed, gasping for air. My hands flew to my chest, searching for the wound, but there was nothing there. I was alive. My heart was pounding, and sweat soaked the front of my shirt.For several seconds, I sat staring at the familiar yellow walls of my apartment. The ceiling fan rattled overhead, and an old pair of shoes lay beside the wardrobe. Everything was exactly as I remembere

The steel door shook so violently that I thought it would come off its hinges.Something growled on the other side, its heavy breathing audible through the metal. Donald stood beside the door with his wrench raised, while Luggard gripped a rusted iron pipe he had picked up from the floor.Neither of them looked ready for another fight, and I couldn't blame them."Stay quiet," I whispered.The creature slammed into the door again. The metal bent inward, and dust fell from the ceiling.A blue screen appeared before my eyes.Warning: Shelter door integrity dropping. Recommended action: Open the door and eliminate the threat.I almost laughed at the stupidity of the suggestion. The system might as well have asked us to offer our throats to the monster."We're not opening that door," I said. "Donald, find us another way out."He swept his flashlight around the cramped room until its beam settled on a square ventilation grate near the ceiling."That might work."The creature struck again. O

The red light on the water filter kept blinking.I turned the device over in my hand, wishing I could rip the tracker out with my bare fingers. Thorne's men were still behind us, and if we led them to our shelter, everything we had done so far would be pointless."Donald, we can't go back to the subway," I shouted through the window. "They'll follow us straight to the base.""Then throw that thing away!""And let them find it lying in the street? They'll know we've discovered the tracker."Donald cursed as the truck swerved around a parked lorry. "Unless you know how to disable it, I suggest you stop giving me problems and start giving me solutions."Before I could answer, Luggard leaned forward."Take the next left."Donald glanced at him. "Where does that road go?""The old rail yard. I studied the abandoned infrastructure around here for my architecture course. Their security vehicles won't get far once we leave the paved road, but this truck should manage.""You're sure?""No, Don

The line went dead.I lowered the phone and stared at the dark screen. Donald and Luggard waited for me to speak, but the system alert floating in front of my eyes demanded my attention.System Alert: Shelter Level 1 Stabilized.Current Inhabitants: 3/3.Shelter Perk Unlocked: Structural Reinforcement Buff (+15% resistance to physical blunt force).Side Mission Triggered: Clear the Upper Access.Objective: Neutralize the trapped anomaly at the entrance gate.Time Remaining: 04:12:00.Failure Penalty: Structural signal beacon will broadcast base location to nearby hostiles.I read the last line twice.The system had just rewarded us for reinforcing our shelter, then threatened to expose our location if we refused to kill the creature outside. Whatever intelligence controlled it, that intelligence understood exactly how to pressure me."What's wrong?" Donald asked."The system wants us to kill the hound before the timer expires. If we don't, it'll broadcast our location to every hostile

The maintenance room door slammed shut behind us, and Donald dropped the remains of the mechanical hound's power core onto the workbench."We have less than two hours before Thorne's men reach this block," he said. "If their scanners can detect the tagged steel, we need to stop them from locating this room."Luggard set down his bag and crossed to the wall where the old transit blueprints hung beneath cracked glass."There might be a way."He wiped dust from the diagram, then pointed to a thick line running behind the maintenance room."This is the old grounding conduit for the subway power network. The trains stopped running years ago, but the copper grounding rods should still be embedded in the rock."Donald leaned closer. "You think we can use the old grounding system to interfere with their scanners?""I think we can reduce the signal coming from our door. The steel plates are connected to the frame, and the frame is connected to the building's structure. If we ground the metal p