Location: Abandoned Military Outpost, Sector 4A – Romanian-Ukrainian Border
Time: 08:15 | Day 2 of Infection Collapse
Smoke curled through the broken fences as the infected came into view—silent shadows with fragmented minds and vicious purpose.
Logan Hale knelt behind a rusted ammo truck, rifle steady against his shoulder. The air was tight with tension, every breath coated in the scent of steel, dirt, and cordite. His squad had been up since before sunrise, turning the relic of a Cold War outpost into a skeletal Forward Operating Base—Echo Point. The System hummed with activity, updating his HUD in real-time.
> [WAR CREDITS: 144.2]
[Passive Rate: +2.0 WAR CREDITS/hour]
[Perimeter Status: Active | Defense Tier: I]
[Hostile Forces Approaching: Count – 13+]
[Subtype: Tactical Remnant / Class Bravo]
Reaper One stood like an iron statue near the south breach, his massive frame glinting in the amber light. The Gatling gun mounted to his arm was already spinning slowly, its servos growling with anticipation.
Wraith, crouched behind an overturned generator unit, checked his mags. "Still got two. Can't miss."
Alexandru Petrescu moved quietly along the left wing, setting up a fallback position with Hammer, who was busy welding a sheet of scavenged steel across a cracked opening in the outer wall. Nearby, Sofia—nervous but sharper today—huddled in cover, her pipe replaced with a sidearm taken from the bunker. She hadn't spoken much, but the tremble in her hands had lessened.
"They're flanking east and west," Wraith said into the squad comms. "Same patterns as yesterday. These aren't random rushes."
"No," Logan replied. "They're probing."
He brought up the Military Command System. A new category had unlocked during the march to the outpost:
> [Available Summons – Tactical Support Tier I]
– Ammo Crate (5.56mm NATO, x6 Mags) – 6 WAR CREDITS
– Heavy Ammo Drum (7.62mm, Reaper-Pattern) – 8 WAR CREDITS
– Motion Sensor Web (Short Range) – 10 WAR CREDITS
– Sandbag Expansion Kit – 7 WAR CREDITS
– Tier 1 Light Auto-Turret – 30 WAR CREDITS
He didn't hesitate.
"Deploy sensor web on our north approach. Drop an auto-turret covering the east."
> [Summoning: Confirmed…]
[−10 WAR CREDITS]
[−30 WAR CREDITS]
[Remaining WAR CREDITS: 104.2]
A flicker of blue light, then two metallic pods slammed into place—one cracked open with eight small sensor spheres that skittered outward like silver spiders. The other deployed into a low-profile turret with a dual-barrel assembly and heat-sensing optics.
"Reaper One, ammo count?"
"Drum loaded. Eight hundred rounds. Target priority set to crowd saturation."
The HUD pinged—enemy movement had tripled.
> [New Estimate: 25+ Hostiles | Class Bravo-Delta Blend Detected]
From the fog-shrouded hills, they emerged.
This wasn't a mindless wave. It was a formation. Some ran low, darting between obstacles. Others took elevated positions—one scrambled up the rusted side of a collapsed antenna tower, rifle still strapped to its decomposed back.
Petrescu opened fire.
"Contact! Left flank!"
Rounds cracked through the air, dropping two of the infected in mid-run. The rest surged forward, howling not like beasts, but like soldiers long lost to sanity.
The auto-turret activated with a mechanical shriek, spitting lead into the shadows. Bright flashes lit the fog as Reaper One joined the fray. His cannon screamed like thunder, churning the enemy into shredded silhouettes.
But they kept coming.
A cluster hit the sensor perimeter. Explosives rigged to key points lit up, sending bodies flying in crimson arcs. One infected crawled through the debris, its arm torn off, eyes locked on Sofia's position.
She shot it twice.
Then again.
"Reloading!" she shouted, chest heaving.
Logan moved to her side and threw her a spare mag. "You're doing good. Stay sharp."
From the west wall, Hammer's voice cut in, "They're breaching! Two more at the secondary gate!"
"Reaper—shift and cover!"
The heavy infantry moved without question, trampling debris as he adjusted position. His cannon roared to life again, forcing the infected back with withering fire.
Wraith popped smoke to cover the reload cycle.
"Logan," he said, "they're not just remembering—they're coordinating."
Logan's jaw clenched. "We need to break their line. Petrescu—focus fire on the runners. Don't let them encircle."
The skirmish intensified. Spent casings clattered across concrete. The smell of blood mixed with gunpowder as each kill bought another few seconds.
Then, a new shriek split the battlefield.
A larger form emerged—muscle-bound, nearly seven feet tall. It had riot armor bolted into its flesh and carried a piece of rebar like a mace. Veins pulsed black across its skin. Its head twitched violently as if wrestling itself.
> [Class Delta – Berserker Subtype Identified]
[Estimated Health Pool: 5x Standard Infected]
"Berserker incoming!" Wraith shouted.
Logan targeted it immediately.
"Reaper! Burn it down!"
The rotary cannon chewed into the monster's torso, but it kept coming—pieces flying, metal shattering, limbs flailing.
Sofia ducked behind crates as the thing charged.
Petrescu and Hammer launched a barrage of rifle fire, but it wasn't enough.
Logan sprinted forward, planted a breaching charge ripped from the System's emergency supply list, and dove away.
> [Emergency Explosive – 15 WAR CREDITS Used]
The charge detonated with a thunderclap.
The Berserker disappeared in a fireball.
When the smoke cleared, it was twitching—barely alive. Reaper One finished the job with a final burst that tore it apart.
> [Infected Eliminated – Class Delta | +50 WAR CREDITS Earned]
[Total Credits: 139.2]
The battlefield fell still.
Bodies burned or bled out under flickering lights. The squad, panting and smeared in ash and blood, held the line.
Logan stepped over the last corpse and surveyed the field.
"They sent something new," he said. "That wasn't just muscle. That was rage."
Hammer wiped his goggles. "That was command and control. Whoever made that thing—either it's evolving, or someone out there is directing them."
The wind picked up again. Distant gunfire echoed from the east.
They weren't alone in this sector.
Logan pulled up the system.
> [Next Unlock: Tier II Deployment Access – 150 WAR CREDITS]
They were close.
But so was whatever nightmare came next.