RTS System in the Apocalypse-Chapter 31: Encounter

The small squad continued upwards, passing through the illuminated floors of three and four. They hadn’t had another encounter with that special zombie turning invisible, proving a part of their theories.

"The zombies ran outside yesterday," Adrian looked around at the fourth floor, "Seems only that special zombie thing remains here."

"Put your goggles on. It’s dark upstairs." Dmitri reminded, switching his night vision goggles on.

"Right at your back." Adrian chuckled, equipping his own goggles as well.

Hans remained silent all this time, offering nothing to say in between their banter. However, he was worried about the presence of another special infected.

A zombie that can turn invisible through distortion, huh?

He pondered about this zombie’s lethality against the regular squad of army soldiers and conscripts clearing dark areas. He realized that it was almost impossible for the squad to detect this zombie at first and might lose one or two in the process of eliminating it.

If there’s a pack of these zombies at once, it will wipe out an entire squad.

The chilling thought made him shiver, accentuated by the dark, cold environment of the fifth floor.

The wooden fragments were scattered around as usual, mixed with cement and dust blasted by the impacting meteorite shards.

"Rex, buddy, do you sense something?" Dmitri called out, noticing the silent Rex and Vex duo far from their agitation earlier.

Rex whined, drooping its head to the floor and looking to the sides. Dmitri frowned, considering two scenarios on his mind.

To him, Rex had a powerful sense of smell, capable of sensing that special zombie even from far away. But now, the sensitive dog remained somber.

It could only mean two things.

First, that special zombie was the last of its kind in this area. Second, another was nearby, stalking silently, more powerful and stealthier than the last.

Dmitri leaned on the second case, remembering Hans’s recollection of zombies feasting on the corpse of their own kind.

There was the presence of the meteorite shard as well, whose effects had slowly affected him the higher the floor and the closer Dmitri was to it.

His eyes trailed on what looks like ashen limbs mangled out of its body. He crouched and turned the limb over, finding the suppleness and texture very similar to the one before. Then, he discerned several depressions puncturing the skin, comparable to the bite mark that of a human.

Dmitri inspected the other bits of flesh as well, the results slowly aligning into a terrible conclusion on his mind.

"This does not look good."

He stood up and took a deep breath, returning to the stairwell where Adrian and Hans had stopped.

"Good news seemed to have reached you." Adrian glanced sideways.

"Indeed," Dmitri shook his head, "There’s less of these invisible zombies, none being on this floor."

"And the bad news?"

"The remaining ones, no, the only one remaining may have evolved. Bits and pieces of flesh scattered around, bite marks on them."

Adrian and Hans stared at Dmitri’s face who frowned behind the mask.

"Commander, the situation is uncertain. It is best if you remain on the fourth floor." Dmitri worried.

"I understand. Just that what if the invisible zombie can go through light now that it evolved?"

"That would be troublesome." Adrian clicked his tongue; eyes still locked at the stairwell.

"Then we’ll confront the invisible zombie if it’s there while the Commander handles the meteorite shards," Dmitri laid out his plan, "I can sense five shards scattered on this floor."

"Okay, lead me to those shards." Hans was eager to

"Follow me, Commander."

Dmitri and Rex led Hans to the first meteorite shard, shooting through the balcony and shattering the air-conditioning unit.

The blackish meteorite shard sat on the dented wooden desk, pinkish lines glowing along its irregular shape.

Dmitri frowned and Rex snarled at its presence as a wave of psychic energy washed over them. Hans, unaffected, noticed their estranged expressions and carefully approached the shard.

"Commander, we can only go this far." Dmitri warned, gritting his teeth. Hallucinations and hollow voices struck his brain, rendering him immobilized.

Rex, though snarling, fought a battle of its own.

"Leave it to me." Hans steadied himself and reached his hands to the shard. He held the shard tightly and felt a cool sensation on his fingers.

[ Meteorite shard detected. ]

[ Error: Meteorite shard cannot be converted due to the presence of unstable psychic energy. Please conduct research in the Tech Lab first. ]

[ Do you want to store this meteorite shard in a special storage for now? ]

"Hmm? I thought the meteorites could be converted into resources?" Hans read through the prompt again and realized that the psychic energy emanating from the meteorite shard prevented any attempt of conversion into precious Gold resources.

"Damn it, what about this special storage? How come I haven’t seen it? It’s not my backpack, right?"

[ Initializing Containment Subspace. ]

[ ... ]

[ Allows storage of mysterious materials for future research in the Tech Lab. ]

[ Initially contains 100 slots. Each slot can store only one item but with no restriction to scale. Expand the number of slots by 10 through spending 1000 Gold. ]

[ Warning: Once an item has been stored, it can only be retrieved through the Tech Lab’s special storage system. Its special effects are contained and will not leak to the outside world. ]

[ Warning: Other items cannot be stored in this subspace. ]

Hans closed his eyes and exhaled, thankful that he wouldn’t have to use his own backpack to store such dangerous material. He grasped the meteorite shard tightly and without hesitation, commanded.

"Store!"

The meteorite shard flickered in green light before it disintegrated into countless digital pixels.

[ Mysterious psychic meteorite shard x1 stored. ]

Hans peered into the containment subspace and saw the meteorite shard floating on the endless void. A cylindrical capsule encased it, large enough for the shard to be fitted inside.

He closed in, wanting to explore it in more detail. A sudden thump and gunshot pulled him out from his trance, spurring him to turn around.

"What was that?" he glanced at the door—Dmitri and Rex’s figure no longer being there.

"Shit, that must be an enemy. I need to hide here and let them take care of it." Hans muttered as he equipped his MP5 submachine gun and readied himself.

Outside, the battle had long ensued. An obscured figure rapidly dashed across the corridors, aiming at the human in front of it.

Adrian aimed his muzzle and fired three shots, hitting the floor tiles and blasting fragments around. The obscured figure leaped to the ceiling and evaded the bullets.

Rex and Vex moved in unison, their eyes locking at their target at the ceiling. It scaled the smoothened surface with ease, releasing a low hiss.

It sprang straight at the two dogs, its sharp claws pointing at the dogs’ necks. Rex and Vex jumped to the sides, growled in hostility, and went in for the bite. Rex aimed at the left arm while Vex charged at the right leg.

Though invisible, the intense rotting scent and bloodthirsty aura of the special zombie rendered its ability useless in front of these ravenous dogs.

Their teeth sunk deep into its skin and tore chunks of flesh apart. The invisible zombie grunted and tried to smack these two dogs, only to hit empty air.

At that moment, a small grenade with holes in its body rolled on the floor near where the zombie was.

"Flashbang!" Dmitri groaned, alerting Rex and Vex. The duo entered the rooms at once after understanding his word.

The invisible zombie, unaware of this, was met with an intense flash of light and loud ringing on its ears. It jerked in place and roared loudly, unable to express the immense suffering it was experiencing.

The ground looked bloated and out of shape. The air felt stuffy and full of buzzing bugs. Its skin seared under the intense flash, burning most of it into black.

Then, it all stopped. Bullets struck its body, each impact blowing the zombie backward. The last two bullets struck where its head was, falling to the shattered floor tiles—its mouth hanging wide open, unable to comprehend how it died.

Hearing the thumping body, Adrian and Dmitri walked out from the doorways and checked the invisible zombie’s corpse. The smell of burnt flesh assaulted their noses, mixed with its rotting skin.

"That smells worse than ass." Adrian commented, snorting ocassionnally to push the nauseating scent away from himself.

"But deader than the dead," Dmitri rebutted, "Good thing you kept your eye on the stairwell."

Adrian harrumphed, "Heh, you should thank that dog."

Rex and Vex barked loudly, trotting towards their handlers. The two scouts smiled and rubbed their respective dogs with great regard to their skills.

Adrian ruffled Vex’s fur, recalling how Vex jumped into the action by blocking that deadly strike from the invisible zombie.

He inspected the dog’s body and found a spot on its protective cloth torn by the zombie’s sharp claws. He pondered if this damage would heal on its own or should he find a way to restore the damaged protective cloth.

"I owe you my life, buddy."

Vex barked and licked Adrian’s face.

"Guard this spot. I’ll go get the Commander." Dmitri stood up and walked back to Hans.

Due to the meteorite shard’s effect, he and Rex had been immobilized while Adrian and Vex fought against the invisible zombie.

He was unsure what the Commander had done to remove the psychic aura engulfing him, but without the timely assistance, Adrian and Vex could have been severely injured.

"Commander!" He shouted, guessing that Hans might still be on guard, "We have taken care of the special zombie. You can come out now."

"Is that you, Dmitri?" Hans’s voice trembled as he asked.

"Yes, Commander."

Hans carefully walked to the door, peeking through the gap and saw Dmitri standing there and waiting for him.

"Thank goodness, you’re both okay."

"Injuries were minimal, but Vex might need to repair its protective clothing." Dmitri commented.

"Is that so?" Hans was surprised, "How about the special zombie?"

"It is much more powerful than the previous," Dmitri frowned and turned around, leading Hans to the corpse, "Its invisibility is more transparent; the smell masked to the extreme. Adrian and Vex detected it when it got too close to them."

"It may not have evolved then," Hans pointed at the burnt skin still sizzling and emitting smoke, "Light is still its main weakness."

To him, sure, the zombie was stronger, but if it truly evolved, his two scouts and attack dogs might have died during the battle.

Dmitri faintly smiled, "The flashbang did help, Commander," hinting at the dogs, "But without their presence, I doubt we could have pulled this off."

He had observed how quick the special zombie moved—flexible and almost soundless. If not for the air being shoved by its burst movements, a person wouldn’t be able to hear its approach at all. It even evaded point-blank shots from Adrian, leaving the two scouts speechless!

Rex and Vex distracted the special zombie, giving him the opportunity to throw that flashbang on time and eventually eliminating this powerful threat.

Hans observed the corpse but didn’t touch it, "How did it come to this? Why did it suddenly move to the fifth floor?"

"I don’t know, Commander," Adrian responded, "But it may have something to do with that shard of yours."

That’s right, the meteorite shard! Hans’s eyes brightened, looking fervently at Adrian.

The latter scratched their cheeks, trying to recall what had transpired.

"Ah, right. There was a faint psychic wave that passed on this floor. I thought it was a coincidence, maybe a trap the Commander tripped. That monster did went down here moments after."

Dmitri and Hans were alarmed by Adrian’s words.

"So the meteorite shards can influence the zombies?" A foreboding thought grew inside Hans’s mind.

"That seems to be the case, Commander." Dmitri understood the implications.

Hans’s body shivered, A meteor shower fell into the Earth, and if all of those shards has psychic energy, then...