Click-clack._
The sound of the MK12 bolt racking echoed like a hammer strike in the silent lobby. Above, within the jagged maw of the ceiling void, the Level 2 Stalker shifted. Bioluminescent eyes widened, pupils contracting into vertical slits as they locked onto the heat signature radiating from Alex's core-enhanced body.
A thick, gelatinous drop of blue slime detached from its mandibles, landing on the floor with a heavy _splat_. It hissed, melting a perfect circle into the frost.
"Hungry?" Alex whispered, grip tightening on the heavy plastic handle of the gasoline canister.
The creature shrieked—a high-pitched, oscillating frequency that vibrated the fillings in Alex's teeth. It lunged, claws tearing through the drywall like wet paper.
Alex didn't shoot. At this angle, tungsten rounds would over-penetrate, hitting the concrete slab above and risking a lethal ricochet. Instead, he swung the canister. Cold had turned the gasoline into a thick, syrupy sludge. It sloshed out in a heavy, golden arc, coating the pile of burning trash and the floor beneath the hole.
"Eat this."
A smoldering piece of lumber from the mob's campfire flew into the puddle, kicked by Alex's boot.
_WHOOSH._
Not an explosion, but a violent, suffocating expansion of heat. The sludge caught instantly, fueled by the draft from the shattered ceiling. A wall of dirty, black-orange flame roared upward, filling the gap and scorching the Stalker's exposed sensory feelers.
The creature recoiled, screeching in confusion as its thermal vision was blinded by the sudden white-out of extreme temperature.
Alex didn't stay to watch it burn. Turning on his heel, he sprinted for the stairwell, the heat of the fire licking at his back before the freezing air of the shaft swallowed him whole.
The stairwell acted as a vertical wind tunnel, funneling the -60°C draft from the upper floors down to the basement. Boots striking sparks against the exposed rebar of the damaged concrete, Alex hit the steps hard.
_Thump-thump. Thump-thump._
A chemically enhanced rhythm hammered against his ribs. 1.5x Agility turned the ascent into a blur. Taking the stairs four at a time, he used the railing as a pivot point, swinging his momentum around the landings with centrifugal force.
12th floor. 13th floor.
He moved faster than any human had a right to in these conditions, but he wasn't alone.
_SCRAAAAAAPE._
From behind the concrete wall of the ventilation shaft running parallel to the stairs, a sound mirrored his ascent. The screech of chitin digging into galvanized steel. The Stalker hadn't given up; it had entered the building's arteries.
Pausing for a micro-second on the 15th-floor landing, Alex pressed his ear toward the wall.
_Thud... Thud... Thud..._
Heavy. Fast. Accelerating.
"It knows where I'm going," Alex realized, eyes narrowing. "It's tracking the heat of the penthouse."
The creature wasn't hunting by scent anymore; it was racing him to the food source. The ventilation trunk line ran straight up the building's spine, bypassing the stairs and connecting directly to the mechanical room behind his kitchen.
If the Stalker arrived first, it would tear through the filtration unit and wait for him inside his own fortress.
Gritting his teeth, Alex surged forward. Cold air burned his lungs, forcing shallow, rhythmic breaths. Checking floors was no longer an option. He just climbed, locked in a desperate race against a monster moving through the walls, separated only by six inches of concrete and steel.
Bursting onto the 24th-floor landing, Alex felt the pressure differential pop his ears. The shattered hallway window had turned the corridor into a high-velocity wind tunnel, the -64°C gale screaming through the gap like a blade. Fine snow, sharp as industrial diamond dust, swirled in the dim light, scouring any exposed skin.
_CRUNCH._
Directly above the penthouse door, the ceiling disintegrated. A massive, pale limb—segments of bone-white chitin covered in frost-slicked hairs—punched through the plaster. The impact sent a brittle shockwave through the concrete floor.
Skidding on the ice, Alex snapped the MK12 into his shoulder pocket. Through the thermal scope, the world bled into a gradient of cold blues, save for the ceiling. A pulsating mass of white-hot energy was wedged into the ventilation hub, looking like a heart forged from molten slag.
"Found you," Alex hissed.
_Pfft. Pfft. Pfft._
Three tungsten-core rounds buried themselves in the protruding limb. Instead of liquid blood, a thick, luminescent blue jelly sprayed out. It hit the floor, hissing as it melted a shallow divot into the ice before instantly crystallizing into glowing, jagged shards.
A shriek—sharp enough to shatter the fire extinguisher cabinet's glass—erupted from the vents. The Stalker dropped, a nightmare of asymmetrical limbs and twitching sensory feelers. Standing nearly seven feet tall, its translucent membrane revealed shifting, bioluminescent organs pulsing with heat.
The creature lunged.
Letting the rifle sling snap taut against his chest, Alex dropped the weapon. As a serrated claw swept toward his jugular, he ducked, the wind of the strike whistling over his head. 1.5x Agility flared. Drawing the combat knife in a reverse grip, he drove the steel upward into the creature's soft under-joint. Resistance felt like stabbing a frozen tractor tire. Twisting the blade, he tore through frozen muscle and nerve.
A whip of bone-plated muscle—the creature's tail—lashed out. It caught Alex in the ribs. The force launched him ten feet back, body slamming into the reinforced steel of the penthouse door with a heavy metallic boom.
Spitting a mouthful of dark, iron-tasting slush, Alex felt his ribs groan. The 1.5x Constitution held. Scrambling to his feet, he locked eyes onto the creature as it coiled its back legs for a terminal leap.
Bioluminescent fluid in the Stalker's veins began to glow with a frantic, rhythmic pulse. It was overloading its own biology for a burst of speed. Alex reached for the MK12, but his fingers, numbed by the gale, fumbled against the sling. He was a second too slow.
_CLANG._
The sound didn't come from the monster. From the stairwell, the heavy fire door flew off its hinges, skipping across the ice like a flat stone.
"Target identified. Neutralize the bio-hazard."
A synthesized, metallic voice boomed through the hallway. Three figures in heavy, white environmental power-armor stepped onto the landing. Marked with the blue snowflake emblem of _Frost-Line Heavy Industries_, they moved with the heavy, hydraulic hiss of machinery struggling against the extreme cold.
The lead soldier raised a pneumatic harpoon gun.
_THWIP._
A high-voltage cable spear buried itself in the Stalker's chest. Blue sparks cascaded off the chitin, cooking the monster's internal organs instantly. It collapsed, twitching, a few feet from Alex's boots.
Rising slowly, hand drifting toward his knife, Alex ignored the twitching carcass. His focus locked onto the three barrels leveled at his chest.
"Civilian detected in high-value asset zone," the soldier stated. "Identification: Alex. Priority: Resource Confiscation."
The soldier stepped forward, his suit's hydraulics whining in the sub-zero air. "You're living in a Level 4 Fortress, kid. We're going to need the keys."
Alex narrowed his eyes, calculating the odds. Zero. The Stalker was dead, but the real scavengers were just getting started.