Apocalypse System: Zero-Day

The Unstable Alliance

Silver’s POV

Margot’s sniper rifle didn't waver. The red laser sight traced a line directly over Lyon’s heart.

Lyon’s golden gauntlets hummed, the energy flaring as he prepared to lunge.

"Don't," I said, my voice hoarse. I leaned heavily against the rooftop railing, still clutching my bleeding ribs. "If she wanted us dead, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Margot smiled, a cold, calculating expression. She lowered the rifle, resting it against her shoulder. "Smart man. The Glitch lives up to the rumors."

"Who are you?" Lyon demanded, his gauntlets still glowing.

"Margot. I run the Black Market Syndicate in Sector Four. I deal in information, contraband, and survival." She gestured to the heavily armed mercenaries behind her. "And right now, I'm the only thing standing between you two and a firing squad."

"You said you hired Vance," I said. "Why?"

"Because Vance is a liar," Margot replied, her smile vanishing. "He promised me a seat at the table when the Reset happens. But I did some digging. There is no table. The Reset is a total server wipe. Vance isn't trying to save humanity; he's trying to upload his own consciousness into the System's mainframe to become immortal. He plans to delete everyone else."

Cassian groaned from the ground, clutching his broken arm.

Margot snapped her fingers. "Michelle. Patch him up."

A woman stepped out from the shadows of the mercenaries. She wore a dark tactical vest, and her hands were stained with dried blood. She carried a heavy medical bag.

She knelt beside Cassian, checking his pulse. Then, she looked at me. Her eyes were sharp, analytical.

"You're the one," Michelle said softly. "The anomaly."

I didn't answer.

She pulled a syringe from her bag and injected it into Cassian’s arm. He gasped, his breathing steadying. Then, she walked over to me.

"Let me see your ribs," she ordered.

"I'm fine."

"You're bleeding internally," she said, pushing my hands away. She pressed a cold scanner against my chest. The device beeped wildly.

She frowned, staring at the readings. "Your vitals are all over the place. Your code is literally rewriting itself to heal your wounds. What are you?"

"A glitch," I said.

She shook her head. "No. You're something else."

"The reunion can wait," Margot interrupted, turning toward the edge of the roof. "The GPO is sweeping the district. We need to move."

---

We followed Margot into the underground tunnels, navigating through the ruined city. The sky above was tearing apart, massive lightning storms of digital code flashing in the clouds. The System was dying, and the world was breaking with it.

We reached an abandoned parking garage that had been converted into a Syndicate safehouse. Mercenaries patrolled the perimeter, and walls of monitors displayed live feeds of the city.

I sat on a crate, letting Michelle finish bandaging my ribs. Lyon stood by the monitors, his arms crossed, watching the chaos outside. Cassian was huddled in a corner, shivering.

Margot walked over to a central holographic table and pulled up a map of the city.

"The Global Reset is happening in twelve hours," Margot said, pointing to a massive red blip in the center of the map. "This is the GPO's central server tower. It connects directly to the Admin Zone. If we can breach the tower, we can stop Vance and shut down the Reset."

"Breach the tower?" Lyon scoffed. "It's guarded by an entire battalion of GPO elites and automated defense systems. It's suicide."

"That's why we have him," Margot said, looking at me. "The System can't track the Glitch. He can bypass the security protocols."

I looked at the map. "And what do I get out of this?"

"Survival," Margot said. "And the chance to make Vance pay for what he did to you."

Before I could answer, a monitor on the wall started flashing red.

An alarm blared through the safehouse.

"Perimeter breach!" a mercenary yelled. "We have incoming!"

We all rushed to the monitors.

The live feed showed the entrance to the parking garage. A massive, armored GPO assault vehicle had crashed through the barricades.

The back doors of the vehicle opened, and a squad of elite guards stepped out. But they didn't attack. They parted, forming a path.

A woman stepped forward. She was wearing sleek, black Vanguard armor, and her eyes were fixed on the camera.

My blood ran cold.

Ayana.

She raised a megaphone to her lips.

"Silver!" her voice echoed through the garage. "I know you're in there. I have a direct order from Director Vance. Surrender now, or we will bring the entire building down on top of you."

Cassian gasped, scrambling to his feet. "Ayana? She's here?"

Lyon looked at me, his eyes narrowing. "You know her?"

I stared at the monitor, my hands clenching into fists. The woman who had left me to die was now standing outside, ready to execute me.

"She's my wife," I said.

Margot raised an eyebrow, a gun already in her hand. "Well, this just got complicated."

The massive GPO vehicle's turret rotated, aiming a heavy plasma cannon directly at the garage's support pillars.

"You have sixty seconds!" Ayana shouted.

I looked at my HUD. I was still Level 3. My stamina was barely half-full. I was in no shape to fight an army.

But I wasn't going to run from her. Not again.