The descent to the parking garage was tense. They took the service stairs. Moving quickly. Valerie had changed into designer jeans and a leather jacket. Clutching the satellite phone like a lifeline. Sebastian carried the briefcase of gold in one hand. His crowbar in the other. Moving with a silent, predatory grace that unnerved her.
"How do you know all this?" Valerie whispered as they reached the basement level. "The rotting spell... the strength... the fighting style. You aren't just a gamer."
"I played the beta," Sebastian lied smoothly. He kicked the door to the garage open.
The Sterling Tower's garage was a showroom of luxury. Ferraris. Lamborghinis. Vintage Rolls Royces. Most were useless—low clearance, loud engines, fiberglass bodies that would shatter upon impact with a Hell-Hound.
"Which one?" Sebastian asked.
Valerie pointed to the corner. "That one."
It was a beast. A matte-black armored SUV. Custom-built for high-risk diplomat transport. Reinforced chassis. Bulletproof glass. Run-flat tires. It looked like a tank disguised as a luxury vehicle.
"Acceptable," Sebastian nodded.
They threw the gear in the back. Sebastian took the driver's seat. He didn't need a key. The car recognized Valerie's biometric signal from the passenger seat. Roared to life. The engine purred with a deep, menacing growl.
"Where are we going?" Valerie asked. Buckling up.
"Industrial District. Warehouse 4," Sebastian replied. Shifting into gear. "It's far from the population centers. Less biomass for the undead to feed on."
He slammed on the accelerator. The SUV shot forward. Smashing through the wooden arm of the exit gate.
They emerged onto 5th Avenue. It was a scene from hell. The streetlights were out. The city was illuminated by the fires of looting. The eerie, crimson glow of the Red Moon. Overturned cars formed a maze of steel and glass.
Sebastian drove with surgical precision. He didn't brake for the infected that threw themselves at the car. The reinforced bumper turned them into red mist. He weaved through the wreckage. His heightened reflexes allowing him to navigate gaps that looked impossible.
"We have a problem," Valerie said. Staring at the GPS screen on the dashboard. "The bridge. It's blocked."
Sebastian looked ahead. The bridge leading out of the borough was barricaded. Not by wrecked cars. By military humvees. Floodlights cut through the darkness. Blinding them.
Men in black tactical gear stood behind concrete barriers. Rifles raised. They weren't National Guard. They wore no insignias. Only a stylized 'V' on their chest plates.
"The Vanguard," Sebastian hissed. "Covert ops. They're trying to contain the infection zone."
A voice boomed from a loudspeaker mounted on an APC.
"HALT. EXIT THE VEHICLE. PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS. THIS IS A BIO-HAZARD CONTAINMENT ZONE."
Valerie panicked. "They'll shoot us! They think we're infected!"
"No," Sebastian said. His eyes scanning the blockade. "They scanned the license plate. They know who you are. They tracked my IP to this sector. They want us."
"We have to stop," Valerie reached for the door handle.
"Don't," Sebastian commanded. He didn't slow down. The SUV was doing eighty miles per hour. Heading straight for the blockade.
"Are you insane?! That's a .50 caliber machine gun!" Valerie screamed.
"They won't fire at civilians unless they perceive a threat," Sebastian said calmly. "So let's give them a threat they can't ignore."
He took one hand off the wheel. He reached into his consciousness. Tapping into the [Illusionist] skill tree. In the game, illusions were visual tricks. In reality, they required bending light. Manipulating the perception of the observer.
It cost mana. A lot of it.
"Skill: Mirage."
He dumped 50 mana into the spell. Projecting his will outward. Wrapping the SUV in a layer of distorted light.
To Sebastian and Valerie, nothing changed.
To the Vanguard soldiers at the blockade though, the black SUV suddenly vanished. In its place, charging out of the smoke and shadows, was a monstrosity. A twenty-foot tall, multi-headed hydra made of shadows and gnashing teeth. Roaring with the sound of a jet engine.
"CONTACT!" the commander on the loudspeaker screamed. Panic breaking his professional cadence. "CLASS 4 ENTITY! OPEN FIRE! OPEN FIRE!"
TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The night lit up with muzzle flashes. The .50 caliber turret spun up. Spitting a stream of tracers.
They weren't aiming at the car though. They were aiming at the "heads" of the hydra—which Sebastian had projected twenty feet above and to the sides of the actual vehicle.
Bullets whizzed through the air. Tearing into the asphalt. The surrounding buildings. Passing harmlessly through the illusory monster.
"Hold on," Sebastian grunted.
He swerved hard to the right. The soldiers, terrified by the charging beast that seemed immune to their bullets, broke formation. They dove behind their humvees. Screaming orders to retreat.
The SUV smashed through the wooden barricade on the far right flank. Bypassing the concrete walls.
As they passed the blockade, Sebastian released the spell. The hydra vanished into thin air.
The soldiers looked up from their cover. Bewildered. They saw only the taillights of a black SUV disappearing into the night.
"What... what was that?" a soldier stammered. Checking his rifle. "Where did it go?"
Inside the car, Valerie was hyperventilating. She looked at Sebastian as if he were an alien.
"You turned the car into a monster," she breathed. "You made them shoot at ghosts."
"Illusion is a powerful tool when your enemy relies on sight," Sebastian said. His face pale from the mana drain. "It won't work twice though. They'll switch to thermal. We need to get to the warehouse before the aerial drones launch."
He checked the rearview mirror. No pursuit yet.
"Check the crate in the back," Sebastian ordered. "I need food. Now."
Valerie scrambled into the back seat. Digging through the supplies he'd brought from his apartment. She handed him a nutrient bar. He ate it in two bites. Keeping the pedal pressed to the floor.
The city blurred past them. A nightmare of fire and shadow. They were alive though. They were getting closer to the only place that mattered.