Adrian's lungs burned. He sprinted into an abandoned apartment complex, Rex close behind, both of them gasping for air.
Gunfire and screams echoed from the street. The fight wasn't over.
"Move, don't stop," Rex urged.
They bolted up the stairs, reaching the third floor before finally pausing.
Adrian barely had a moment to catch his breath before—
Crash!
A dark blur smashed through the window.
Adrian was tackled to the floor, skull cracking against the concrete. Stars exploded in his vision.
The stench of decay filled his nostrils as the infected loomed over him, jaws unhinged, teeth lunging for his throat.
No—!
Then—agony.
A sudden voice echoed through his mind—low, mechanical, undeniable.
"Fatal threat detected… Tactical AI system initializing…"
Adrian's pupils contracted. The world slowed.
His thoughts snapped into hyper-clarity. Every detail sharpened.
[Analyzing threat… Calculating optimal survival strategy…]
Now.
Instinctively, he drove his knee up, slamming into the infected's gut. The impact sent it reeling.
[Counterattack executed.]
His hand shot out, fingers wrapping around a broken metal pipe. Without hesitation, he thrust it forward—straight through the infected's skull.
It collapsed, twitching.
Rex gawked. "You… what the hell was that?"
Adrian was speechless.
His body hadn't changed. But his mind—his mind was now operating on another level. Every move calculated. Every decision optimized.
[System online. Tactical AI 'Aegis' successfully activated.]
[Welcome back, Commander.]