The air inside the Blackwood facility was thick with tension, a quiet aftershock of the events that had just unfolded. Leon stood in the dimly lit corridor, watching Eric and Dr. Carter adjust to their newfound abilities. The weight of what they had just done settled in, a mixture of exhilaration and unease. They had taken the first step into an unknown evolution, one that blurred the line between human and something more.

  Leon’s grip tightened on his weapon as he turned his gaze down the hallway. The fight with the Alpha Stalker had left its mark, blood smeared the walls, and the remains of broken equipment littered the floor. He needed to push forward, to ensure their survival in the coming days.

  “We can’t stay here for long,” Leon finally said, breaking the silence. “This place isn’t secure enough, and more of those things will come looking.”

  Eric, still testing his enhanced vision by focusing on the shadows at the end of the hall, nodded. “I can see everything in the dark now. It’s like someone flipped a switch in my head. This is insane.”

  Dr. Carter, meanwhile, was pacing, his fingers twitching as he processed the rush of thoughts speeding through his mind. “I can analyze things at an unbelievable rate. It’s like my brain is running on a supercomputer. I… I can predict possible enemy movements just by recalling their past behaviors.”

  Leon turned toward him. “Then let’s put that to use. We need to find an area in this facility that can be fortified, somewhere we can set up a command center. You’re our strategist now.”

  Dr. Carter inhaled deeply, rubbing his temples before speaking. “The facility’s blueprints were in my memory bank before we lost access to the servers. I recall that there’s a weapons storage in the west wing and an underground bunker where experimental containment was conducted.”

  Leon’s brow furrowed. “A bunker?”

  “Yes,” Carter confirmed. “It was meant to contain viral outbreaks in case of emergency. If it’s intact, it might be our best bet. Reinforced walls, independent power, and enough rations to last months.”

  Leon exchanged glances with Eric. “Then that’s where we’re heading.”

  Eric checked his rifle, reloading it with precision. “Let’s just hope it hasn’t already been overrun.”

  Navigating through the facility was no easy feat. Every corridor carried an eerie silence, broken only by the occasional flicker of dying lights. The deeper they went, the more unsettling the atmosphere became, an unshakable feeling that something was lurking, watching.

  Leon led the way, his senses sharper than ever. He had spent his past life running, fighting, and barely surviving, but now? Now, he was stronger. He wasn’t just a survivor, he was a predator hunting in the dark.

  As they approached the west wing, a flickering emergency light cast distorted shadows on the walls. The doors leading to the weapons storage were partially open, the metallic scent of dried blood wafting from inside.

  Leon motioned for Eric to take point while he flanked the other side. Dr. Carter remained behind them, scanning the area for any sign of movement.

  With slow, deliberate steps, Eric pressed forward and nudged the door open with his rifle. The room beyond was a disaster zone, metal shelves overturned, crates broken open, and bloodstains smeared across the floor.

  But the weapons? Still intact.

  Jackpot.

  Leon wasted no time, immediately grabbing a combat knife, extra ammunition, and a high-powered handgun. Eric strapped a combat shotgun to his back while also securing fragmentation grenades. Dr. Carter, not much of a fighter, settled for a lightweight pistol and a tactical vest.

  “We arm ourselves now,” Leon said, loading a fresh magazine into his handgun. “Because once we head for that bunker, there’s no telling what we’ll run into.”

  Just as they were about to leave the storage room, a distant sound echoed through the halls, a low, guttural growl followed by heavy footsteps.

  Leon froze. His grip on his weapon tightened.

  Eric’s enhanced vision caught the first glimpse. “Shit… movement, east corridor. Multiple hostiles.”

  Leon’s mind raced. The infection was spreading faster than he expected. The infected were already here.

  “We don’t fight unless we have to,” he whispered. “Stay low and move fast.”

  They slipped into the shadows, navigating through the labyrinth of hallways leading toward the underground levels. But as they neared the stairwell, the unmistakable sound of a door being forced open sent a jolt of adrenaline through them.

  Leon turned sharply, raising his gun.

  A figure staggered through the dimly lit corridor, its body twitching unnaturally, eyes glazed over with the telltale sign of infection. Its head jerked toward them, and in an instant, it lunged.

  Leon reacted first. A single gunshot echoed through the facility as the bullet tore through the infected’s skull, sending it crashing lifelessly to the ground.

  Dr. Carter swallowed hard. “That was… close.”

  Eric kept his weapon trained forward. “There will be more.”

  Leon knew they had to move. They sprinted down the corridor, reaching a security door that led to the underground bunker.

  Dr. Carter quickly accessed the keypad, his enhanced cognitive abilities allowing him to bypass the dead security systems. The locks clicked open, and the heavy doors groaned as they slid apart.

  As they stepped inside, the sight before them sent a chill down Leon’s spine.

  The bunker was intact. The power was still operational.

  But they weren’t alone.

  Scattered across the floor were bodies, some fresh, some long decayed. The unmistakable sound of something breathing in the dark made Leon’s blood run cold.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  A single red eye blinked open in the shadows.

  And then, everything erupted into chaos.

  he silence was suffocating.

  Leon’s instincts kicked in as soon as he saw the glowing red eye emerge from the darkness. He raised his gun, finger on the trigger, ready to fire at the slightest movement. Eric stood beside him, shotgun aimed, while Dr. Carter tightened his grip on his pistol, sweat forming on his brow.

  The bunker’s dim lighting flickered, casting eerie shadows against the walls. The bodies littering the floor were not moving, yet, but whatever was lurking in the corner was very much alive.

  Then, the creature stepped forward.

  It wasn’t just another mindless infected. No, this thing was different. Larger. Muscular. Its exposed skin was marred with dark veins pulsing with an unnatural energy. It had once been human, but whatever mutation had taken place had turned it into something else entirely.

  Leon’s breath slowed. This was no ordinary zombie.

  “Shit,” Eric muttered. “Another evolved one?”

  Dr. Carter’s mind worked at rapid speed. “Its muscle mass… it’s adapted beyond a normal infected. We might be looking at a second-stage mutation.”

  Leon’s eyes never left the creature. “Then we kill it before it gets to the third stage.”

  The creature let out a guttural growl, its head twitching unnaturally as it zeroed in on the trio. Then, in a blink, it moved.

  Too fast.

  Leon barely had time to roll aside as the monster lunged, its clawed hand swiping through the air with deadly force. The impact cracked the metal wall behind him, sending sparks flying.

  Eric fired first. The blast from his shotgun sent a spray of buckshot into the creature’s chest, but instead of going down, it only staggered. The thing barely seemed to feel it.

  Leon cursed and fired two precise shots, one to the knee, one to the head. The knee shot made the creature stumble, but the headshot barely penetrated the thick skull.

  “Armor-plated bones,” Dr. Carter murmured, analyzing its movements. “Its body has adapted to tank damage.”

  Leon clicked his tongue. “Great. That means we take it down another way.”

  The creature roared and charged at Eric, who barely dodged in time. It slammed into a console, shattering metal and wires as if they were nothing. Sparks rained down, casting an eerie glow over the room.

  Leon took a quick glance around, assessing their surroundings. A fight like this wasn’t about brute force, it was about strategy.

  His eyes landed on a set of exposed power cables hanging from the ceiling.

  Electricity.

  He didn’t hesitate. Summoning the energy within him, he focused on the lingering charge in the air. The electricity surged at his command, crawling up his arm like living lightning.

  Leon raised his hand, then slammed it into the nearest power conduit.

  A burst of blue energy crackled through the room. The exposed cables sparked to life, dancing with raw voltage. The creature, drawn by the sudden light, turned toward him.

  Leon grinned. “Come on, you ugly bastard.”

  The monster lunged.

  At the last second, Leon sidestepped, grabbing one of the live wires and jamming it directly into the creature’s chest.

  A deafening crackle filled the bunker as electricity surged through the beast’s body. It convulsed violently, its roars turning into garbled shrieks. Smoke rose from its charring flesh as the current burned through it from the inside out.

  But it wasn’t dead yet.

  With a final burst of strength, the creature swung wildly, knocking Leon backward. He hit the ground hard, feeling the impact in his ribs.

  Eric acted fast. He rushed forward and fired his shotgun directly into the creature’s exposed, burned flesh. This time, the blast tore through, exposing raw muscle beneath.

  Leon didn’t waste the opportunity. With the last bit of electricity still coursing through him, he grabbed his combat knife and plunged it deep into the exposed wound.

  The monster let out one final, choked roar, then collapsed.

  Silence followed.

  Eric let out a slow breath. “Jesus. That thing took way too much to kill.”

  Leon pushed himself up, wincing slightly. “We’re going to see more like it. This is just the beginning.”

  Dr. Carter knelt beside the smoldering corpse, his enhanced mind already working. “Leon, the core. If this thing was mutated beyond the standard infected, its core might be different too.”

  Leon didn’t need to be told twice. He reached into the still-warm corpse and extracted the pulsating, blackened core. Unlike the first one he had absorbed, this one crackled faintly with residual energy, something stronger.

  Holding it in his hand, Leon could feel its power humming beneath his skin.

  Without hesitation, he absorbed it.

  The moment the core fused into him, a new surge of energy coursed through his body. His muscles tensed, his veins burned with an unfamiliar sensation, his vision flickered between reality and something else.

  Then, it settled.

  Leon exhaled, his heartbeat slowing as the transformation completed.

  New ability acquired.

  The information filled his mind instantly. His previous control over electricity had evolved. Now, instead of just generating energy, he could store and release it in controlled bursts.

  A new smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.

  “That’s more like it.”

  ***

  Eric and Dr. Carter watched him carefully, still adjusting to how fast Leon was progressing.

  “We need to keep moving,” Eric finally said. “That thing made too much noise. If there are more, we don’t want to be here when they arrive.”

  Dr. Carter nodded. “The bunker should still be intact. If we can activate its defenses, we’ll have a real stronghold.”

  Leon glanced around the room once more, taking in the wreckage, the bodies, the blood. The world was changing fast, faster than it had in his past life.

  But this time, he was ready.

  This time, he would be the one setting the rules.

  He turned toward the corridor leading deeper into the bunker.

  “Let’s finish what we started.”

  Leon led the way deeper into the bunker, his senses heightened after absorbing the new core. The residual energy hummed beneath his skin, his body adjusting to the enhanced control over electricity. Every step he took sent faint sparks crackling between his fingertips.

  Eric and Dr. Carter followed closely, their eyes scanning the surroundings. The corridor stretched ahead, dark and foreboding, with emergency lights flickering at uneven intervals. The air was thick with the scent of burned flesh and old decay, remnants of whatever battles had taken place before they arrived.

  “We should be near the control center,” Dr. Carter said, glancing at the bunker’s old schematics on his tablet. “If the power grid is still operational, we might be able to lock down the facility.”

  Leon nodded. “Good. Let’s make sure nothing else is lurking before we get comfortable.”

  As they moved forward, the silence became unsettling. After the intense battle with the mutated infected, the absence of any noise felt unnatural.

  Then, the hum of machinery echoed from deeper within the facility.

  Eric gripped his shotgun tighter. “Someone’s here.”

  Leon exchanged a glance with him before pressing forward, his steps lighter. His enhanced abilities made it easier to sense the electricity running through the walls, every wire, every flickering bulb, and now, the unmistakable energy of active equipment nearby.

  They reached a heavy steel door at the end of the corridor. A small terminal was embedded beside it, its screen glowing faintly. Dr. Carter stepped forward, brushing dust off the panel.

  “Still functional,” he muttered, pulling out a small device from his bag and connecting it to the system. “Give me a minute to override the security.”

  Leon and Eric took positions on either side of the door, weapons ready.

  Dr. Carter worked fast, fingers flying over the interface. Then...

  Beep.

  The door released with a soft hiss and began to slide open.

  Leon raised his gun as he stepped inside, prepared for anything.

  What they found made them freeze.

  The room was vast, lined with old, rusted equipment, consoles displaying incomplete logs, and in the center, a containment chamber.

  Inside the chamber, a humanoid figure floated, suspended in thick liquid.

  Eric exhaled sharply. “What the hell is this?”

  Dr. Carter approached the nearest console, eyes scanning the data. “This… this facility wasn’t just a bunker. It was a research site.”

  Leon frowned. “For what?”

  Dr. Carter’s fingers hesitated over the keyboard before he turned to them, his expression grim.

  “For creating the infected.”

  A heavy silence fell over the room.

  Leon took a slow breath, eyes narrowing at the figure in the chamber. He stepped closer, noting the faint movement beneath the liquid. Whoever—whatever—was inside wasn’t just a failed experiment.

  It was alive.

  Suddenly, a flicker of motion.

  The figure’s eyes snapped open, glowing with an eerie, unnatural light.

  A warning blared across the facility.

  Containment Breach Detected.

  Leon clenched his fists as electricity surged up his arm.

  “Well, shit.”