By the time Adam and the guards arrived at Dockyard 10. It was already too late.
Dockyard 10 is one of the few dockyards that is constantly crowded because it's open for civilians unlike Dockyard 3 which is for commercial use.
The guards of Dockyard 10 failed and overwhelmed and all the civilians inside had been turned. It was useless to clear it up for now which is why Adam ordered for it to be sealed while he chased after the Zombies that managed to slip off.
Yes. There are now Zombies on the loose inside the space station. How did he know? He saw bloodstains on the floor which indicates either a zombie or an infected person managed to escape Dockyard 10. However, the trail of bloodstain ended abruptly and the Zombie is nowhere to be found.
"Inform this situation to the control room and ask them to assist the search." Adam said to one of the security guards while he was rushing to the public areas in the space station, hoping everyone had evacuated.
Ten minutes later…
Majority of the on board civilians already evacuated using the emergency shuttle pods.
Adam and the three guards were searching everywhere and couldn't find this Zombie. Until, control suddenly informed us that a disturbance had happened in the evacuation area.
"How?! The evacuation area should have been heavily guarded. How did the zombie get past?" One of the guards said, looking very anxious and angry for some reason. Then the guard turned to look at Adam. "You… you know what is happening right! You knew it! You-"
Before the guard could continue talking, his friend had gagged his mouth and silenced him from spouting more nonsense.
"Apologies, Sir. He is just probably tired. Hahaha…" They apologized.
Looking at this, Adam knew they were afraid of him because of his rank. He didn't mind the accusations actually. He did know what was happening and he already did inform the authorities. His only fault is to not inform them as soon as he arrived to buy more time for the evacuation.
Adam nods and lets the matter slide.
Anyway, when they approached the evacuation center. They found no abnormality. The door is still intact, no sign of struggling, no bloodstain, no nothing. The door was never tempered with and obviously it's impossible for any zombies to slip in.
When they entered.
"Oh, god…" The three guards gasped.
"Savage Necrosis…" Adam also gasped as recognised the Boss very well. The strongest Boss the game has to offer.
But a moment later, the Savage Necrosis vanished into a cloud of purplish gray smoke and Adam saw the three guards had long claws stabbed through their chest. He was pushed away instead as the Force Field blocked the attack.
"Gah!" The guards finally realized and horror dawned upon their face as they tried to push their body away from the claw. "Haah…" They tried but failed. Then the Savage Necrosis pulled its arm which caused its claw to cut and disemboweled by it.
"Fuck! Get a grip…"
[Adrenaline Shot], [Reinforcement], [Elite Reinforcement]
Adam rolled back and swiftly swapped his Ronson 5X5 shotgun for a Hornet sniper rifle before he started blasting at the Savage Necrosis. His summoned Operators form a wall in front of him naturally without needing to be ordered. However, after being fired upon for a while. The Savage Necrosis disappeared again into a plume of purplish gray smoke like it was using teleportation.
"It ran away?" Adam picks himself up and then spares a glance at the three guards. "They are beyond saving." He mumbles as all three were already dead. "No! I could!" Adam remembers the Advance Skill Tree for Medic which he never had the opportunity to use before.
[Resurrection]
Adam used it and he immediately felt a massive drain. Almost 90% of his Aura was drained for one usage and waiting for it to regenerate would already exceed a minute. It seems the skill was never meant to be used more than once or a few times in a row.
"Huh? What happened… I remember…" The guard touches his chest and tries to recall what happened but it seems his memories are jumbled up.
"You. Stop fumbling over there and help me contact the control room." Adam ordered the guard while he sent his operators over to the quarantine center and kill any zombie or infected human.
"Wait! What are you doing!" The guard hastily stop Adam when he start killing the injured civilians.
"They are Infected. If they aren't stopped, they will spread the infection on Aartis." Adam replied coldly, knowing his Mission will be at risk if this nobody stopped him.
"Bu-"
"This is an order. Do you job and less people will die." Adam warned the guard and glare at him intimidatingly as the operators basically slaughtered everyone in the evacuation center. It pained him to order this decision but it's thd only way.
Once he his done with the Evacuation Center, Adam ask the Control Room for any visual on the Necrosis.
"Control? Control Room, please respond?" Adam shouting into the radio but he received zero response. Instead, a loud explosion shook the space station.
The explosion came from above and he assumes the Necrosis targeting the Control Room specifically. So, Adam returns to the Dockyard in hope to regroup with the Mercenary. Unlike game, the Boss is clearly posses intelligence and killing it would be immensely difficult especially with it's teleportation ability.
On his way to the dockyard, Adam pass by the commercial center where he initially arrived at. However, right now. He can see Zombies wandering around the path between this area and the dockyard. He was surprised. Didn't he already clear those Zombies before leaving? Anyway, Adam begins clearing them out to access the dockyard. It took a while but he finally made it.
Entering Dockyard 5, Adam is greeted with a horrifying scene. The Mercenaries were almost wiped out.
"RAAAGH!" The Savage Wicker roared and threw few fiery ball of condensed gas at the Mercenaries.
A Savage Wicker is a Boss type enemy, standing 8 meters tall and its body was immolated with superheated gas coming from its own body.
There are numerous dead Mercenaries scattered around the ground charred and only six of them are still standing and fighting. But all of them look visibly exhausted. Some are riddled with injuries but still have to keep fighting.
Adam enter the dockyard and quickly rush to provide help by healing those that he could.
"I don't know who you are but thank you very much." The leader of the Mercenaries said.
"Don't sweat it. We will need everyone if we are going to survive this battle." Adam said while firing at the Boss which is being kited around by other Mercenaries. "I encountered a Savage Necrosis in the Evacuation Center." Adam mentioned while recalling the state of the place after being ravaged by the Savage Necrosis. "Those people escaping using the shuttles are very likely to be Infected and carry the virus back to Aartis. I will need your help to deal with that."
The Mercenary leader was skeptical but he can discern some truth and read Adam's expression. He knew Adam had no reason to lie about this.
"Even so, why should I help? I have no obligation to. My job is only to defend this space station which had already fallen."
To answer that question, Adam simply flashes his ID and shows him his rank and his operative type.
"I hereby temporarily recruit you for a mission that is for humanities best interest." Adam said.
The Mercenary leader glared at Adam while taking a deep breath. "You sneaky lil shit. Fine, we will listen but don't think we will be throwing our lives in vain." He is clearly dissatisfied but couldn't disobey the law either especially when he is so close to the heart of the Federation.
"Don't worry. I'm not planning to." Adam reassured the Mercenary leader but he was unconvinced and still looked at Adam with hostility and suspicion. "Anyway, let's kill this guy quickly."
[Adrenaline Shot], [Hold The Line]
Adam's Hornet sniper rifle turned into a machine gun under the effect of his skill, shooting rapidly the Savage Wicker as he and the Mercenaries expertly kited it around until it dropped dead and exploded into flame.
After killing the Boss, Adam told the Mercenary leader to retreat from this space station saying it's not worth saving anymore with the Savage Necrosis in there and most of the people turned into Infected.
The Mercenary leader didn't argue and was very willing to leave immediately to minimize further losses.
As for Adam, he stayed behind. Intending to activate the self destruct sequence of the space station after learning about it from the Mercenary leader.
"Yeah, there must be a self destruct command for the space station in case it fell to the wrong hand. You should find it in the Overseer's room. Well, good luck on your endeavor." The Mercenary leader said before leaving on his spaceship to hunt down the space shuttle that flew toward Aartis that could be carrying Infected human.
———
With himself left, Adam cleans up the Zombies in the dockyards, not taking any chances by leaving them alone only for them to interfere with him later.
Once he is done, Adam moves to the top floor where the Control Room was and is greeted with a gruesome sight of bodies torn apart and blood soaked the ground.
The Control Room reek of a trap but he has no choice but to advance now. He must destroy the space station lest the Infected here can spread to Aartis.
Upon entering the room, Adam wasn't ambushed like he expected he would. He quickly went to the Overseer's room and found the guy he talked to not too long ago was killed with his heart impaled to the wall from the look of it.
Adam quickly accessed the only terminal in the Overseer's room and found the self-destruct sequence quickly after and activated it.
"Warning! Warning! Warning!"
"300 seconds left before the station self-destructs. All crew and passengers please evacuate immediately." The alert played on the PA system to the whole space station.
As soon as his job is done, Adam leaves the Control Room and hurries down the elevator as the space station is self-destructing.
Just as he left the commercial area and headed to the Evacuation Center. He felt something hit him from behind and threw him into the air as he crashed down 15 meters away.
He lifts up his head, resisting the concussion as his vision is blinking out. He saw the Savage Necrosis and heard its elated snarl as it slowly approached Adam.
[Reinforcement], [Elite Reinforcement]
Six operators appeared at his summon. Three immediately engage the Savage Necrosis while the other three grab Adam and drag him away upon receiving Adam's order. He can't afford to waste time fighting when the space station is going to explode very soon.
When the operators wanted to open the door heading to the Evacuation Center where the escape pods and military shuttles were, the door was locked.
"Access Denied." The electronic lock of the door said.
"What!" Adam grit his teeth and unconsciously turn his head to look at the Savage Necrosis behind him. No wonder it wasn't in a hurry to catch him.
"120 seconds left before the station self-destructs. All crew and passengers please evacuate immediately."
Adam stared silently for a moment and realized how fucked he is. Less than two minutes left and going around through the dockyard would take too much time. He has only one choice and that's through this door. He had to make his choice and his choice was…
Adam swapped his weapon for The Coffin which quickly transformed into deployed mode and aimed at the door. Surely it can't defend against a warhead with the yield of a tactical nuke. Adam used [Die Another Day] and made sure his Barrier was active before he pulled the trigger at point blank. Which is probably not the smartest move.
*BOOM!*
A powerful explosion shook the station and the door was melted into slag by his electromagnetic railgun bomb.
(Ultra Dense Dust Infused Hyper Velocity Projectiles, is the full name of the railgun bullet.)
Adam turned around and saw the Savages Necrosis, stunned. He shot one round at it before he swapped away the railgun cannon into a shotgun and ran as fast as possible to the Evacuation Center.
He found a shuttle and immediately boarded it before fleeing the quickly self-destructing space station. Just a few seconds after his shuttle departed, a deep tremor originated from a shockwave that hit the shuttle and moments later, a bright ball of fire replaced the space station which was consumed by the meltdown of its nuclear fusion core.
"This is Aartis Space Control Center. Identify yourself and the passengers in your vessel." The screen lit up and showed the face of a person asking him questions.
On the screen, there is another hand scanner which is glowing as if wanting him to place his hand on it.
To be continued…
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