Apocalypse System: Zero-Day

The Broodmother's Lair

Silver’s POV

I woke up in agony.

My ribs were strapped with dirty bandages. My head throbbed, and the taste of copper filled my mouth. I was lying on a makeshift cot in a dark, damp room that smelled of rust and old oil.

I tried to sit up, and a heavy hand pushed me back down.

"Don't move," a deep voice rumbled.

I looked up. It was the Boss from the alley. Up close, he was terrifying. A thick scar ran down the side of his face, and his eyes were cold as slate.

"Where am I?" I rasped.

"Bunker 9," he said. "My territory. You're safe, for now."

I checked my HUD. My health was at 20/100. My stamina was practically non-existent.

[SYSTEM NOTICE: YOU HAVE BEEN INJURED. LEVEL 2.]

"Why did you save me?" I asked.

"Because you're an anomaly," the Boss said, leaning against a concrete pillar. "The System can't track you. That makes you useful. There's a dungeon beneath this subway station—a nest. The System says it's a Level 10 threat. I need someone who can bypass the security protocols to get inside."

"I can barely walk," I said.

"Then you better hope your System has a healing factor," he replied coldly.

---

Two hours later, I was standing at the entrance to the nest.

The Boss and five of his heavily armed thugs stood behind me. The System had given me a choice: clear the nest, and I earn my keep. Fail, and I get thrown back to the surface.

I walked into the dark.

The dungeon was a nightmare. The walls were coated in thick, pulsating green slime. The deeper I went, the hotter the air became.

My System Vision activated, mapping the path. Then, I saw it.

The Broodmother.

She was a bloated, grotesque spider, easily the size of a truck. Her eight legs were armored in thick chitin, and dozens of leathery egg sacs twitched around her.

[TARGET: BROODMOTHER.]

[LEVEL: 10.]

[THREAT: LETHAL.]

I was Level 2.

The Boss and his men stayed at the entrance, watching. They weren't here to help. They were here to see if I would die.

I raised my hand, firing an Error Strike. The red code hit her leg. It did almost nothing. The armor absorbed the corrupted data.

The Broodmother shrieked. A wave of toxic acid spewed from her jaws. I dove behind a concrete pillar, the acid melting the stone inches from my face.

"Use the environment!" the Boss yelled from the back.

I looked up. My System Vision caught the structural weakness in the ceiling above her. Three pillars were holding up a massive slab of concrete.

I sprinted out into the open. The Broodmother lunged, her massive claw slamming into my leg. I screamed as my health bar dropped to 15/100. I was bleeding out.

I dragged myself to the first pillar, slamming my glowing red hand into it.

[ERROR STRIKE: ACTIVATED.]

The concrete crumbled. I crawled to the second pillar. The Broodmother realized what I was doing. She charged, her jaws snapping at my heels.

I hit the second pillar. And the third.

The ceiling collapsed. Tons of concrete and steel rained down, crushing the Broodmother under the debris.

But I was caught in the blast too. A piece of flying shrapnel embedded itself in my shoulder. I collapsed, unable to move.

The Broodmother wasn't dead. She was pinned, screeching in agony, her health bar blinking.

I crawled toward her, drawing my Viper Dagger. I couldn't even stand up. I dragged myself up her massive, twitching leg and plunged the blade into her exposed eye.

She finally stopped moving.

[BOSS DEFEATED.]

[+1,500 CONTRIBUTION POINTS.]

[LEVEL UP! CURRENT LEVEL: 3.]

I rolled off her corpse, hitting the slime-covered floor. The Boss and his men walked into the chamber, their boots splashing in the acid.

I expected him to hand me a healing potion. Instead, he looked down at me, then at the dead Broodmother.

"Impressive," the Boss said. "But you're a liability. You're too weak to survive the surface, and too erratic to trust."

I stared up at him, my vision fading. "We had a deal..."

"The deal is void," the Boss said. He drew his serrated blade.

Before he could swing, the dungeon shook.

A new sound echoed through the chamber. Heavy, mechanical footsteps.

The Boss spun around. From the dark corridor, three massive, robotic figures emerged. They weren't System Sentinels. They were Human.

They wore sleek, black power armor, their faces hidden behind visored helmets. The logo on their chests was a golden eye.

[WARNING: GLOBAL PROTECTION ORGANIZATION ELITE GUARD DETECTED.]

The Boss froze. His thugs raised their weapons.

One of the armored figures raised a hand. A pulse of energy shot out, and the Boss's five thugs were thrown backward, their weapons shattering.

The Boss dropped his blade, his hands shaking.

The lead figure stepped forward, towering over us. He looked down at the dead Broodmother, then at me.

"You are the anomaly," the armored figure said. It wasn't a question.

I couldn't speak. I could barely breathe.

The figure reached down and hauled me up by my collar.

"The Director wants to see you," the figure said. "You're coming with us."

I looked at the Boss. He was on his knees, his face pale with terror. The armored guard kicked the Boss in the chest, sending him flying.

As the guard dragged me out of the dungeon, I realized I had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.