The creature didn't move, not at first. It stood across the sinkhole, bathed in soft ambient light filtering down from fractured glass above. The signal booster in its hand pulsed like a heartbeat. Rhythmic. Intentional.
Su Wu narrowed his eyes. It was baiting him.
A trap?
Maybe.
But even if it was, he needed that device. The signal might be the only clue to where the infected were obtaining technology, and where they were evolving.
He stepped back. Calculated the distance. Four meters across, maybe four and a half. The gap was wide, but not impossible.
He got a running start.
And jumped.
Air roared past his ears. His boots hit the far side—hard. The concrete cracked. His right foot slipped—he scrambled forward, catching the edge of a collapsed signpost just as the ground behind him crumbled.
A chunk of the platform dropped into the hole, splashing below.
The infected didn't flinch.
It simply turned and ran.
Su Wu gave chase.
Through a broken turnstile. Past shattered ticket booths and graffiti-tagged concrete. The corridors sloped downward, deeper into the old subway. Water sloshed beneath his feet, dark and cold, masking trip hazards and debris.
[Oxygen Exchange Decreasing - Air Quality: POOR]
He tapped the side of his mask. Filters engaged.
Up ahead, the infected darted through a rusted maintenance door. It slammed shut behind it.
Su Wu slowed. Eyes scanned for traps—tripwires, motion sensors, makeshift mines. The infected were learning. It was only a matter of time before they mimicked more than tactics.
He eased the door open with his knife.
The space inside was pitch black. Dripping water echoed. The sharp tang of oxidized metal clung to the air.
Then—green light.
The signal booster is lying in the middle of the floor.
Alone.
No movement.
He stepped inside.
Two steps.
Three.
Then he heard it—behind him.
A low hiss.
He turned as something dropped from the ceiling.
It wasn't the same infected.
This one was stripped of all gear. Skin like leather pulled over a metal skeleton. The arms were longer, wrong—the face stitched with sensors and flesh. One red eye blinked mechanically.
A prototype?
No time to wonder.
It lunged.
Su Wu ducked, slashed upward. His blade cut through one of its synthetic tendons, and it shrieked—a horrible fusion of modem static and animal scream.
He jabbed the taser baton into its side and fired.
Nothing.
It sparked, but the creature didn't go down. It just got angrier.
He dropped the baton and grabbed a loose pipe, swinging it like a bat. It connected with the thing's skull. Once. Twice.
Crack.
It dropped.
Sizzling foam leaked from the break in its head.
Su Wu staggered to the booster, snatched it up.
[NEW OBJECT ACQUIRED: INFECTED SIGNAL RELAY (Active)]
[WARNING: Tracking Enabled. 03:00 Until Trace Convergence]
"Shit."
Three hours.
That was all the time he had before something came looking for the device in his hand. And whatever it was, it wouldn't be slow or stupid.
Su Wu took the long way back.
Not out of fear. Out of habit. Straight paths were predictable. Predictable meant dead. He climbed over the skeletal husk of a collapsed monorail, crossed a rusted pipe bridge slick with oil film, and slid down into an alley filled with ash-covered mannequins frozen in burned-out storefronts. Their faces had melted. Still smiling.
[Trace Convergence Countdown: 02:36:12]
He stopped twice—once to hide from a patrol of infected moving in a straight, coordinated line like soldiers—and once to remove a shard of glass from his calf. Blood soaked through the gauze, but he bit down on the pain and moved on.
By the time the shelter door sealed behind him, his limbs shook with fatigue.
He collapsed against the wall, panting.
Then he activated the relay device.
Static.
Then a voice.
Not infected. Not automated.
A woman's voice. Clean. Sharp.
—transmitting on an encoded channel. Gridlock is operational. Sector integrity holding. Packet #3 en route. Estimated delivery: T-minus 36 hours. End transmission."
It looped.
Su Wu replayed it twice.
Sector integrity. Gridlock. Packet delivery.
They were running a network.
They had a command structure.
And they were delivering something—possibly to another shelter… or a core.
He connected the relay to the bunker's console. The interface cracked, fuzzed, and fought him, but finally complied.
[Reverse Signal Mapping Available — RANGE LIMITED]
[New Objective: Locate Origin Point — Uplink Tower 7C-Delta | Status: DORMANT]
Another tower. Another piece of the puzzle.
He didn't know if it was hope or doom he was chasing, but one thing was sure:
They weren't just evolving.
They were organizing.
And somewhere out there, someone was in control.