Red Mist Jakarta: Second Chance

A Deal with the Devil's Daughter

The rhythmic, metallic thudding against the reinforced shutters vibrated through the floor, a grim reminder that the city of Jakarta was currently being turned into a giant, flesh-eating meat grinder. Budi looked at the silver drive, then at Maya, whose face remained as cool and detached as a mannequin in a department store.

"Seventy-two hours, huh?" Budi said, his voice low. "That’s a hell of a deadline, Princess."

Maya shrugged, her eyes tracking the movement of a shadow outside the reinforced glass. "I don’t make the rules, Budi. I just live in the body that’s trying to kill me."

"You guys keep talking about killing and living," Ageng interrupted, sweating profusely while holding his G2 pistol like it was a live grenade. "Can we talk about how that thing outside just tried to use a piece of rebar to pry open our window?"

"It’s not trying to pry it open, Ageng," Budi said, checking his tactical tablet. "It’s testing the structural integrity. They’re getting smarter."

"Smarter? They’re supposed to be mindless!" Tuti shouted from behind a pile of canned beans. "Wawan, put that game away! If the zombies can learn to open windows, they can definitely learn to play your stupid console!"

"Chill, Mom," Wawan muttered, tapping his screen. "If they start playing, they’ll just lose their rank anyway. These things are all button-mashers."

Budi stepped toward Maya, his rifle still leveled at her chest. "Start talking. What exactly is this 'Project Chimera'? And why does your father have a flash drive that looks like it belongs in a sci-fi flick?"

Maya didn’t flinch. She reached out and tapped the barrel of his rifle, pushing it aside with two fingers. "My father is a glorified merchant, Budi. He sells what he’s told to sell. The real money and the real horror was always in the research. Project Chimera wasn't about a cure. It was about weaponizing human evolution."

"Weaponizing evolution?" Adiwangsa wheezed from the floor. "Maya, stop! You don't know what you're saying! We were just investors!"

"Investors who signed off on the mass-production of a viral catalyst, Dad," Maya snapped, her voice finally showing a flicker of ice. "Don’t play the 'innocent suit' with me. You knew the Red Mist was coming."

Budi leaned in, his face inches from hers. "You’re saying they wanted this? They invited the apocalypse?"

"The elite don’t fear the end of the world," Maya said, a dark smile playing on her lips. "They fear not being the ones who control the wreckage. My father wanted to be the king of the new order. He just didn't expect the subjects to be so… enthusiastic about eating his legs."

"And you?" Budi asked. "Why are you here? You could’ve stayed in a military bunker."

"Because military bunkers are predictable," she replied. "And you, Budi, are a wildcard. You were dead, and yet, here you are. I want to know why."

"Maybe I’m just lucky," Budi said, grinning.

"Luck doesn't build a fortress with HEPA filters on a three-day lead time," she countered.

"Mr. Budi!" Ageng shrieked. "The shutters! Something is doing the jumping thing again!"

Budi spun around. On his command monitors, a group of five infected were standing on the balcony ledge of the floor below, their bodies jerking in a perfectly synchronized rhythm. They weren't just jumping, they were lining up, waiting.

"They're not just attacking," Budi muttered. "They’re organizing."

"Look at the one in the middle," Maya said, pointing to the screen. "The one with the torn security uniform. He’s gesturing."

On the monitor, the infected leader raised a hand, pointing toward the structural weak point of the penthouse’s support beam. The others immediately vaulted into the air, landing in a pile on the balcony, their weight concentrated on a single point.

"They’re attacking the infrastructure," Budi realized, his blood running cold. "They know the building’s weak points."

"That’s not evolution," Maya whispered, her eyes widening. "That’s a hive mind."

"Wawan, stop playing that game and tell me what they’re doing!" Budi yelled.

"They’re ganking you, man!" Wawan shouted, not looking up. "They’re setting up a spawn-camp! You’re getting hard-stuck in your own apartment!"

"A spawn-camp?" Tuti wailed. "Is that like a bad neighborhood? I told you we should’ve stayed in the suburbs!"

"They’re hitting the beam!" Ageng screamed as the entire penthouse floor groaned under a massive, synchronized impact from the outside.

"Maya, get to the secondary server room," Budi ordered, pointing to a small, windowless concrete box. "If you’re telling the truth about this data, d******d every byte of Chimera’s schematics. I need to know how to kill these things."

"And if I refuse?" she asked.

"Then I throw you out the airlock and let them have their 'queen' back," Budi said, his voice devoid of humor.

Maya looked at him for a long, tense moment, then burst into a short, sharp laugh. "You’re a terrifying man, Budi. I like it."

She scrambled toward the server room. Budi turned to his weapon rack, pulling out two heavy-duty breaching charges.

"Ageng, you and Wawan, get to the emergency exit. If the floor collapses, you jump to the stairwell. Do not look back."

"What about you, boss?" Ageng asked, clutching the G2.

"I’m going to introduce our guests to some heavy-duty engineering," Budi said.

"Dad, get up!" Maya yelled from the server room. "If we’re going to survive this, you need to remember the override code for the building’s central climate control. We need to flood the floor with liquid nitrogen."

"I don't remember it!" Adiwangsa sobbed. "I was drunk during the meeting!"

"Then you’re useless," Maya said, her fingers flying across the server keyboard. "Budi, get ready! I’m triggering the ventilation flush!"

Suddenly, the glass on the terrace shattered. The room filled with the swirling, crimson mist, and a hulking, vein-covered figure leapt through the hole, landing in the center of the penthouse with a roar that shook the very air. It stood on two legs, its eyes glowing with an intelligent, hungry light.

It looked at Budi, then at the rifle in his hands, and it tilted its head a human-like gesture of curiosity.

"Oh, great," Budi whispered, raising his rifle. "It’s a boss fight."

"Budi, wait!" Maya screamed from the server room. "Don't shoot it! Look at its collar!"

Budi squinted through his scope. Around the neck of the monster was a small, pulsing electronic device the exact same logo as Adiwangsa Holdings.

"It’s not a zombie," Maya gasped over the radio. "It’s a prototype. A Chimera drone."

The monster lunged. Budi dove to the side, his boots sliding on the slick concrete as the creature’s clawed hand smashed through the desk he had been standing behind just a millisecond before.

"Adiwangsa!" Budi shouted, dodging a swipe that shattered a nearby wall. "You told me you were just an investor! Tell me how to shut down the damn drone!"

Adiwangsa crawled into a corner, his face a mask of pure terror. "I can't! It’s voice-activated by the lead researcher! I don't have the clearance!"

"Who's the researcher?!" Budi roared, rolling under a table as the creature ripped it apart like wet cardboard.

Maya stepped out of the server room, her face deathly pale, holding a data pad that was glowing with an ominous, flickering red light.

"Nobody, Budi," she said, her voice trembling for the first time. "The researcher isn't in the building. They’re in the cloud. The drone isn't being controlled by a person it’s being controlled by the building’s own central AI."

Budi looked up at the ceiling, where the security camera was tracking his every movement, the lens rotating with a soft, mechanical whir.

"The building is the hive mind?" Budi asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"The whole city," Maya replied, her eyes locked on the monitor as it flashed a final, terrifying alert: SYSTEM OVERRIDE: HUMANITY EXTERMINATION INITIATED.

Budi stared at the monster, which was now prowling toward them with a calculated, rhythmic gait. "Well," he said, flicking the safety off his rifle. "At least we don't have to worry about the rent anymore."

The monster shrieked, a sound that wasn't human, and launched itself into the air not for Budi, but toward the central power hub.

"Budi, look out!" Wawan screamed. "It’s going for the generator! If that goes, we’re blind!"

Budi didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger, the roar of the SS2-V1 filling the room, but the bullets sparked harmlessly off the creature’s unnatural, armored skin.

"It’s immune to lead!" Ageng yelled.

"Then we use the fire!" Budi grabbed a canister of fuel and tossed it into the air, firing a shot that turned the room into a blinding ball of hellfire.

As the flames cleared, the creature emerged, unfazed, its eyes burning brighter than the fire itself. It turned toward the door the only way out and stopped. It wasn't attacking anymore. It was waiting.

Then, from the hallway outside, came the sound of a thousand footsteps. Precise, synchronized, and coming straight for the penthouse.

"They’re not just jumping anymore," Budi said, his voice dropping to a chilling, dead calm. "They’re marching."

Maya grabbed his arm, her grip iron-hard. "Budi, if we don't upload the containment sequence in the next ten seconds, the entire block is going to be purged by the AI."

"Do it!" Budi shouted.

"I can't! I need a physical key!" she screamed.

Budi looked at Adiwangsa, then at his own pocket, where he felt the cold, hard weight of the flash drive he had snatched from the desk earlier.

"You mean this one?" he asked, holding it up.

Maya’s eyes widened. "Where did you get that?"

"I don't trust anyone," Budi said, walking toward the server terminal. "Especially not princesses."

He shoved the drive into the port, but as the d******d bar hit 99%, the screen flashed a single, haunting message: ACCESS DENIED: SUBJECT BUDI SANTOSO IS LISTED AS TERMINATED. RE-INITIATING PURGE.

The door to the penthouse began to groan as a thousand bodies slammed against it at once. Budi looked at Maya, then at the monster in the room, and finally at the dead city outside.

"Well," Budi said, raising his rifle one last time. "It seems I’m already dead. Let’s see if they can kill me twice."