The speakers crackled and died, leaving Alex's warning hanging in the frozen air.
There is a monster on the 10th floor.
For a heartbeat, the building was silent. Then, the screaming started.
It wasn't a single scream. It was a chorus.
Vibrations traveled up the steel skeleton of the skyscraper. Alex could feel them through the soles of his slippers—the frantic thudding of footsteps, the crashing of furniture, and the inhuman roars that sounded like grinding metal.
[System Log:] [Harvested Panic from Neighbor 1002: +10 EP] [Harvested Terror from Neighbor 905: +15 EP] [Harvested Despair from Neighbor 1101: +20 EP]
The numbers on Alex's retina scrolled like a waterfall.
He sat on the leather sofa, watching the counter tick up. 880... 910... 950...
"Dance," Alex whispered, taking a bite of a protein bar. "Run and dance."
He put the VR headset back on. The drone, hovering near the ceiling of the 12th-floor stairwell (where he had parked it to conserve battery), dropped down into the chaos.
The scene on the 10th floor was a slaughterhouse.
The barricade Johnson had built was gone. Smashed to kindling. In the center of the hallway, Dave the Ghoul was a blur of grey skin and crimson violence.
The mutation had accelerated. Dave had grown. His shirt had shredded, revealing muscles that looked like bundles of steel cables. His skin was now fully keratinized—bulletproof to small caliber fire, likely hard enough to shatter a knife.
A man swung a fire extinguisher at Dave's head. CLANG. Dave didn't even blink. He backhanded the man. The force was enough to snap the man's neck instantly, sending him flying into the wall like a ragdoll.
"Help me! Johnson! Help!" A woman screamed, clawing at the stairwell door.
Johnson was there. But he wasn't opening the door for her. He was on the other side, looking through the reinforced glass window.
"I'm sorry," Johnson mouthed, his eyes wide with terror.
He jammed a steel pipe through the door handles, locking the survivors in with the monster.
"Ruthless," Alex muttered, watching the feed. Johnson was using the others as bait to buy time for his own escape. "He knows the rule: You don't have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun the guy next to you."
Dave lunged. The woman's scream was cut short by a sickening wet crunch.
[System Log:] [Harvested Extreme Terror: +50 EP] [Harvested Death Agony: +30 EP]
[Total EP: 1060]
Ding.
A golden notification flashed across Alex's vision, obscuring the bloody scene below.
[Milestone Reached!] [Shop Level 2 Unlocked.] [New Category Available: Firearms & Ballistics.]
Alex whipped the VR headset off. The drone could wait. He needed iron.
"System, open Shop Level 2."
The holographic menu expanded. The icons for bread and water were pushed aside. Now, rows of lethal hardware spun in the air.
Glock 19 (9mm): 150 EP
Remington 870 Shotgun: 250 EP
M4A1 Carbine: 500 EP
Frag Grenade: 100 EP
Alex's eyes scanned the list. He didn't want a spray-and-pray weapon. He was in a fortress. He needed reach, and he needed stopping power.
His eyes landed on a long, sleek silhouette.
[MK12 SPR (Special Purpose Rifle)]
Caliber: 5.56mm NATO (Match Grade)
Attachments: Suppressor, Bipod, Variable Zoom Scope.
Cost: 600 EP.
Description: Semi-automatic precision. When you want to touch someone from a different zip code.
"Purchase MK12," Alex ordered. "And add a Thermal Scope upgrade."
[Transaction Complete. -800 EP.] [Remaining EP: 260]
Thud.
A heavy, matte-black rifle case dropped onto the coffee table. Alex popped the latches. The smell of gun oil filled the room—a sharp, metallic scent that smelled like safety.
He lifted the rifle. It was heavy, cold, and beautiful. He racked the charging handle. The action was smooth as glass.
"Now I have teeth," Alex said, shouldering the weapon.
Suddenly, the floor beneath him vibrated. It wasn't the frantic running of the neighbors anymore. This was different. Thump... Thump... Thump...
It was heavy. Rhythmic. And it was getting closer.
Alex looked at the drone monitor, which was still running on the side screen. The 10th floor was quiet. Everyone was dead. But Dave was gone.
"Where is he?" Alex muttered.
He switched the drone's camera to thermal mode. He scanned the hallway. Nothing. He scanned the stairwell. Nothing.
Then, he looked at the elevator shaft. The doors on the 10th floor had been pried open like a tin can. Inside the dark shaft, a heat signature was glowing bright red against the cold blue background.
It was climbing. And it was climbing fast.
Dave wasn't using the stairs. He was digging his claws into the concrete walls of the elevator shaft, hauling his massive bulk up the cables, leaping two floors at a time.
12th floor... 15th floor... 18th floor...
"He smells me," Alex realized. "The ventilation. The cooking smells. He knows the meat is up here."
The Ghoul ignored the frozen bodies on the lower floors. It wanted the fresh, warm, A5 Wagyu-scented human at the top.
Alex grabbed the MK12. He didn't have time to set up a sniper nest on the balcony. He dragged the heavy sofa across the living room, creating a makeshift barricade facing the hallway.
He checked the magazine. Full. Safety off.
SCREEEEEE.
The sound of metal tearing against metal echoed from the hallway. The elevator was right outside his front door.
BAM!
The elevator doors on the 24th floor bulged outward. A claw, grey and dripping with black gore, punched through the steel plating.
Dave was here.
"Come on," Alex whispered, steadying the crosshairs on the bulging metal. "Knock, knock."
The doors groaned, the metal screeching in protest as inhuman strength forced them apart.
A face appeared in the gap. It wasn't human anymore. The jaw was distended, filled with jagged, shark-like teeth. The eyes burned with a hunger that would never be sated. It stared straight at Alex's door. It sniffed the air.
It roared—a sound that shook the dust from the ceiling.
Alex squeezed the trigger.