The city's night was thick with tension. Jaden and Tess moved cautiously through the ruins of a shattered subway station, their footsteps echoing faintly against cracked tile walls. The air smelled damp and stale, with a faint metallic tang beneath it all. Above ground, the industrial district's flickering lights faded into darkness.
Jaden's eyes darted constantly, alert for threats he couldn't always see.
Tess kept close, clutching her crowbar like a lifeline. "Why here?" she asked quietly. "Why the subway tunnels?"
"Easy to hide. Hard to get trapped," Jaden answered. He scanned the faded graffiti and broken signage, trying to find a clue that might explain the strange energy readings.
His Danger Sense pulsed gently, warning of nearby danger. Not zombies—something else.
Deeper in the tunnels, their flashlights flickered against an eerie blue glow. The source was a damaged communications hub—wires hanging loose, screens shattered, but one console still flickered, humming with faint energy.
Jaden approached cautiously, wiping dust from a cracked monitor. Static filled the airwaves, but beneath the noise, a faint signal pulsed—repetitive, coded, like a heartbeat.
"Tess," Jaden whispered, eyes narrowing. "Someone's trying to communicate."
She looked at him, skepticism clear. "Who? Survivors? Or one of those Awakened you keep talking about?"
"Maybe both," Jaden said, fingers hovering over the console. His system flickered once, a new notification flashing briefly—but he kept silent, not wanting Tess to notice.
The code on the screen pulsed rhythmically. Jaden tapped into it, deciphering fragments: coordinates, warnings, references to "Project Eclipse."
Suddenly, a low growl echoed from the tunnel behind them. Tess spun, crowbar raised, as a pack of infected surged forward—but these were different. Their movements were jerky yet unnervingly smart, as if they coordinated instinctively.
Jaden stepped forward, blade flashing, but even with his enhanced skills, the creatures' numbers overwhelmed them.
"Run!" he shouted, grabbing Tess's arm. They sprinted through the twisting tunnels, the growls and pounding footsteps chasing them.
Bursting out into a service exit, they gasped for air beneath a pale moonlight.
Tess's eyes blazed with adrenaline. "What the hell were those things? They weren't just zombies."
Jaden shook his head, heart racing. "Not zombies. Something engineered."
He glanced back toward the subway entrance. Somewhere deep underground, something was stirring. A secret long buried beneath the city—something connected to those strange signals and Nyx's warnings.
His system flashed once more, a chilling message appearing just for him:
[Alert]Unknown threat level escalating.Recommended: Prepare for incoming Hostile Awakened forces.
Jaden's jaw tightened. The infected were mutating, the Awakened were hunting, and now new engineered horrors were emerging from the shadows.
He turned to Tess, voice steady but grim.
"This isn't just about surviving anymore. There's a war coming—a war between powers we barely understand."
Tess swallowed hard but nodded. "Then we better be ready."
Jaden's mind raced, thoughts spinning with questions—about Project Eclipse, Nyx, and the true nature of the system he carried.
One thing was certain: the nightmare was far from over. It was only getting darker.