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Jack scaled along the walls like a predator, moving swiftly through the Hive's inner tunnels, scanning for Alice and her companions.
Suddenly, he stopped. Hanging upside down, he looked down at the corridor below, where countless zombies staggered through the passage.
They didn't even notice him.
He tilted his head, unsure if that was a blessing or a curse.
Once, he had been human. Now, he was something else. He had gained power beyond imagination, yet there was no joy in it. His body was caught in a grotesque limbo—neither man nor woman, neither human nor ghost. And to make things worse, he couldn't survive without latching onto others.
He clenched his fists. No. One day, I'll take back my humanity. I'll become strong—truly strong. Not just something that survives by crawling inside someone else.
He snapped back to reality, ears twitching at the distant sound of gunfire.
A smile tugged at his lips. "Impressive. The strike team's still alive."
From the rhythm of the shots, he could tell they were using rifles—the standard weapons of Umbrella's special forces.
It had already been more than twenty minutes since the Red Queen was shut down. For them to hold out against the horde this long… that was no small feat.
"Too bad," he muttered. "This is where you all die."
With that, Jack scuttled quickly across the ceiling, homing in on the noise.
Not far ahead, he spotted them—three heavily armed operatives fighting for their lives. They were firing as they backed away, cutting down zombies that rushed them from every side.
A closer look revealed the truth: their uniforms were shredded, their bodies covered in wounds. Without the antidote, they didn't stand a chance.
Their ammo was running out. Each shot was fired with grim precision, buying them seconds at most.
"Rain! Go!" one of them shouted, his voice hoarse but commanding. "We'll cover you!"
Rain Ocampo shook her head fiercely, her rifle barking as she cut down another undead. "I'm not leaving! If we're getting out, we're getting out together!"
"Damn it, if you don't run, none of us will make it!" another teammate roared back.
Rain bit her lip, refusing to abandon them. She raised her gun again, eyes blazing with determination.
But before she could argue further, a huge shadow dropped down.
One of her teammates was slammed to the ground, screaming—
And then Jack crushed his skull with a single punch. Blood splattered as he casually flicked his hand clean.
"Chris! You bastard!" Rain shouted, rage burning in her eyes.
Rain Ocampo and another task force soldier screamed in rage as they raised their weapons, unloading bullet after bullet into Jack.
Fury burned in their chests. Once again, this monster had killed their teammate right before their eyes.
But the bullets did nothing. They thudded into Jack's body as if hitting stone, leaving not even a scratch.
He brushed his chest lightly, almost amused, and then strode forward. Ignoring the gunfire, he closed the distance in seconds, seized one of the soldiers with a single hand, and hoisted him into the air.
"Let me go, you damn monster! Put me down!" the soldier roared, thrashing uselessly.
The man kicked and struggled in Jack's iron grip, but he couldn't break free no matter how hard he fought.
"Monster! Let him go!" Rain Ocampo shouted, firing again and again in blind fury.
This time, the close-range gunfire made Jack feel the faintest sting. He turned his head slowly, his eyes locking on Rain's furious face—then swung his arm and brought his fist crashing down.
She didn't even have a chance to dodge. The punch landed with brutal force.
Blood splattered, dripping steadily from his fist to the floor.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" the other soldier yelled, watching helplessly as Rain Ocampo crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Enraged beyond reason, he yanked a grenade from his pocket, pulled the pin, and screamed.
"BOOM!"
The entire corridor was swallowed in fire. The blast wave hurled bodies of zombies through the air, flames engulfing everything in sight.
When the firestorm finally died down, Jack was still standing in the middle of the scorched passage. His arm, however, was shredded from the explosion.
"Damn pests," he muttered, glaring at the mangled flesh.
Black liquid oozed out, crawling over the ruined arm. Within seconds the limb had knit itself back together, smooth and whole again.
As more zombies began swarming toward the explosion's aftermath, Jack crouched and leapt, landing against the wall and scaling deeper into the hive.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the facility, the remaining task force survivors were under attack from Lickers. Their fates were uncertain.
In a ruinous corridor, hurried footsteps echoed. Alice was running for her life.
Behind her came the snapping growls of zombie dogs—dozens of them, chasing relentlessly.
One of the nearest beasts lunged, jaws wide.
Even stripped of her memories, Alice's body still remembered combat. Years of training as Hive security staff had carved instinct into her bones. She sensed the attack and sidestepped at the last instant, the dog's fangs snapping shut on empty air.
But as she dodged, another one lunged.
Alice swung her leg without thinking, her boot slamming into the creature's ribs. The dog flew back, yelping as it smashed against the wall.
She steadied herself, breathing hard, only to realize she was surrounded—feral eyes glaring at her from every side.
Gripping the axe in her hand, Alice prepared to fight to the last.
But then, something strange happened. The zombie dogs froze, ears flattening, and one by one they backed away. In the next heartbeat they turned tail and bolted down the corridor, whimpering as they fled.
Alice blinked in confusion. "What the hell…?"
Before she could figure it out, she felt a wrongness behind her—an instinctive chill. She spun and swung her axe—
Only to have her wrist caught mid-swing. Her back slammed against the wall, pinned effortlessly.
"Hello, Alice," a low voice said, too close. "Long time no see."
"....."