The interior of the "Central Plaza" Mall was a monument to a civilization that had died just a few hours ago. The emergency lights bathed the main atrium in a ghostly, intermittent red glow, reflecting off the shattered glass of high-end perfume shops and clothing boutiques. Mannequins, knocked over in the initial panic, lay on the floor like synthetic corpses, their plastic limbs entangled with real, rotting bodies.
Kael didn't rush. He walked down the main corridor, staying close to the walls. His new skin, hardened by the [Harden Epidermis I] upgrade, felt tight and protective, like a suit of biological leather tailored perfectly to his frame.
Click.
The sound was faint—a mechanical latch releasing tension. A sound that didn't belong to nature.
Kael didn't think; his [Neural Synapse Enhancement] fired an electric impulse to his legs before the sound fully registered in his conscious mind. Move.
He dove to the right, sliding behind a heavy concrete planter filled with dead plastic ferns.
Thwip.
A bolt sparked against the ceramic tile floor exactly where his head had been a fraction of a second ago. The projectile shattered on impact, scattering sharp metal shards.
"He's fast! Everyone, suppressive fire!" a voice commanded from the mezzanine above. It wasn't a scream, but a tactical hiss.
Three more bolts whistled through the air, embedding themselves in the concrete planter. The impact chipped the stone, puffing grey dust into Kael's face.
Kael pressed his back against the cold stone, analyzing the angle of the shots. Second floor. Near the central escalator. High ground. Classic advantage.
He peeked through the leaves of the plastic fern. He counted five heat signatures—or at least, five silhouettes moving in the shadows of the upper railing. They were using compound bows and crossbows. Silent weapons. Smart.
If I run to the stairs, they turn me into a pincushion, Kael thought. I can tank a hit or two with my skin, but a bolt to the eye is still fatal.
He needed a distraction.
He looked around his cover. The planter was heavy, but next to it was a trash can made of brushed steel. And across the hall... the jewelry store. Specifically, the reinforced glass display window.
Kael smiled in the dark. The "Kings" were playing a tactical game, keeping quiet to avoid attracting the Vectors outside. They assumed he would play by the same rules.
They are fighting a human, Kael thought. But I am part of the ecosystem now.
He grabbed the steel trash can. With his enhanced strength, it felt as light as a soda can. He wound up his arm and hurled it with terrifying velocity across the atrium.
CRASH!
The impact against the jewelry store window was deafening. The tempered glass didn't just break; it exploded. And then, the alarm triggered.
WEE-OOO-WEE-OOO!
The shrill siren pierced the silence of the mall, echoing off the vaulted ceiling like a banshee's scream.
"What is he doing? Is he crazy?!" one of the snipers hissed from above, losing his composure.
"Idiot! He's ringing the dinner bell!"
Kael didn't wait to hear their complaints. While the sound masked his movements, he sprinted from his cover. He didn't run toward the stairs; he ran into the shadows of a clothing store directly beneath the sniper's position.
From the depths of the underground parking lot entrance near the supermarket, and from the service corridors behind the shops, a chorus of inhuman shrieks erupted. The shots had been quiet, but the alarm was a beacon.
The Horde had arrived.
A wave of grey skin, gnashing teeth, and frantic limbs poured into the atrium. There were at least thirty Vectors, drawn by the noise and the fresh scent of living humans on the second floor. They ignored Kael, who was silent and still in the darkest corner of the clothing store, his heartbeat manually slowed by his control over his biology.
The Vectors swarmed toward the central escalator, climbing over each other like ants.
"Shit! Zombies! Forget the intruder, defend the stairs!"
The tactical discipline of the "Kings" collapsed. The snipers dropped their bows and pulled out machetes and bats as the wave of monsters crashed into their barricade at the top of the stairs.
Now, Kael thought.
While the "Kings" were busy fighting for their lives against the undead, Kael moved. He didn't take the escalator. He ran to the central fountain, which featured a decorative faux-marble pillar that reached nearly to the second-floor railing.
With [Reinforce Muscle Tissue], climbing was child's play. He dug his fingers into the decorative grooves, the stone crumbling slightly under his grip, and hauled himself up. He moved with the grace of a spider, bypassing the barricade entirely.
He vaulted over the railing, landing silently on the plush carpet of the second floor, ten meters behind the line of snipers.
There were five of them. Their backs were turned, focused on stabbing the Vectors clawing up the escalator. They were screaming now, panic setting in.
Kael approached the nearest one, a man wearing a motorcycle helmet and a leather jacket.
Target locked, Kael thought.
He didn't announce his presence. He stepped into the man's personal space. With his left hand, he grabbed the back of the motorcycle helmet. With his right, he drove his chef's knife into the gap between the helmet and the jacket collar.
The blade severed the brain stem. The man dropped without a sound.
One down.
The second sniper, a woman with a crossbow, sensed the movement. She turned around, her eyes widening in horror as she saw Kael standing over her fallen comrade.
She opened her mouth to scream, raising her crossbow.
Too slow.
Kael swung his hammer. It wasn't a wild swing; it was a calculated, compact blow to the elbow holding the weapon.
CRACK.
The joint shattered backwards. The woman gasped, the air knocked out of her by the shock of pain. Before she could inhale to scream, Kael silenced her with a brutal headbutt. His hardened forehead met her nose. She collapsed.
Two down.
The third man turned, swinging a machete. "Die!"
The blade hit Kael's left forearm. Kael raised it to block.
Clang.
It sounded like metal hitting hard wood. The machete sliced through Kael's jacket and the magazine armor, but stopped at his skin. A thin line of red blood appeared—superficial damage. [Harden Epidermis I] had done its job.
The man looked at his machete, then at Kael's arm, confused. "What...?"
Kael didn't give him time to process the physics. He dropped his knife and grabbed the man's face with his hand, squeezing with his enhanced grip strength. He slammed the man's head into the wall of the store next to them.
Three down.
The remaining two snipers realized too late that the threat wasn't just in front of them, but behind them. They turned, backed against the railing, trapped between the Horde climbing the stairs and the predator in the hallway.
"Wait! We surrender!" one of them pleaded, dropping his weapon. "King Magnus forced us! We didn't want to kill anyone!"
Kael looked at them. He looked at the bodies of the people they had shot earlier, piled near the barricade. He looked at the calculated positions they had taken to ambush him.
Mercy is a luxury for the old world, Kael thought. In the new world, mercy is just weakness leaving the body.
He didn't say a word. He stepped forward, a blur of motion.
A minute later, the second floor was silent, save for the wet sounds of the Vectors feasting on the corpses Kael had left behind near the stairs. He had kicked the bodies down the escalator to keep the zombies busy.
Kael wiped his hammer on a curtain. He checked his status.
[Biomasa Acquired: 22 units.]
[Current Biomass: 34.]
He didn't linger. The noise would attract stronger things soon—Evolved Vectors, or worse. He looked toward the third floor, where the Food Court was located. That's where the leader would be. The "King" who ordered the deaths of families for a few points of Essence.
"Thanks for the elevator ride," Kael whispered to the carnage below, and began to run toward the upper levels.