Sector 9, better known as Floodline, was a place the city pretended didn't exist.
Official maps still showed it, of course. Old zoning data, outdated infrastructure plans, evacuation routes that had never actually been used. But no one talked about Floodline unless they had to, and even then they spoke in half sentences, like saying the name too clearly might draw attention.
The land dipped lower here, sinking beneath what used to be sea level. Years ago, when the flood barriers failed and the emergency funds mysteriously vanished, water rushed in and never fully left. What remained was a patchwork of slick pavement, stagnant pools, and chemical runoff that glowed faintly when the light hit it just right.
Buildings leaned inward as if they were tired of standing. Their windows were hollow and dark, some boarded up, others shattered and left to rot. Rust streaked down concrete walls like dried blood. Rain fell in thin, needling sheets, tapping broken signs and dripping steadily into cracks that smelled of algae, oil, and decay.
LeRoy moved carefully through it all, shoulders tight beneath his hood.
This wasn't his block. This wasn't anywhere he recognized. The air felt heavier here, like it pressed down on his chest with every breath. Every sound seemed louder. The steady drip of water. The distant groan of metal shifting somewhere underground. The low hum of generators that should have died years ago but stubbornly refused to shut off.
His boots splashed softly as he walked, each step deliberate.
At the edge of his vision, the HUD glowed faintly, a thin arrow cutting through the gloom. It pulsed in time with his heartbeat, pointing deeper into Floodline.
TARGET SIGNAL: WEAK
Distance: 74 meters.
LeRoy swallowed.
He'd walked through dangerous neighborhoods before. Places where gangs claimed territory and strangers were measured in seconds. But this felt different.
Those places belonged to someone.
Floodline didn't.
It felt abandoned, not just by the city, but by the idea that anyone was supposed to survive here.
As he moved forward, he noticed the little things first. No rats darting between trash piles. No scavenger drones hovering overhead. No figures watching from windows and pretending they weren't.
The absence gnawed at him.
His perception stat ticked in his mind, a quiet awareness sharpening his senses. And that's when he felt it. Not movement. Not sound.
A gap.
The arrow flickered.
WARNING: SIGNAL INSTABILITY
LeRoy clenched his jaw.
"Of course," he muttered under his breath.
Then he heard it.
It cut through the rain like a blade.
A scream.
Human, at least in shape, but wrong in every other way. Strangled. Distorted. Like someone had dragged a voice through broken speakers and left the static behind. It echoed once between the buildings, then cut off abruptly.
LeRoy broke into a sprint.
Water sprayed beneath his feet as he charged down the narrow alley, breath coming fast, muscles tightening as adrenaline surged. His vision narrowed, HUD tracking distance in sharp increments.
Thirty meters.
Twenty.
Ten.
Seven.
He skidded to a stop.
The man stood beneath a flickering streetlamp, rain sliding down his hunched shoulders. His clothes were torn and filthy, clinging to a frame that twitched and jittered like corrupted footage. One arm hung at an angle that made LeRoy's stomach turn. The other jerked violently, fingers opening and closing as if responding to commands only it could hear.
The man's head snapped up.
Green light flooded his eyes.
LeRoy's HUD erupted in static.
SCAN INCOMPLETE
USER ID: FKA-772
STATUS: CRITICAL
CORRUPTION LEVEL: SEVERE
VIRAL SIGNATURE DETECTED
The feral screamed.
The sound wasn't just loud. It felt invasive, scraping against LeRoy's skull like broken glass. His teeth clenched involuntarily as the noise tore through him.
Then it charged.
Too fast.
LeRoy barely reacted in time. He threw himself sideways as the feral slammed into the wall where he'd been standing. Concrete shattered. Dust and debris burst outward, stinging his face and arms.
He rolled to his feet, rain slicking his palms, heart hammering.
"Okay," he breathed. "Okay."
The feral moved again.
It crawled up the wall with limbs bending wrong, joints snapping and resetting mid-motion. Its head twisted unnaturally, eyes locked onto him the entire time. Then it dropped.
LeRoy ducked instinctively.
Air tore past his scalp as claws scraped sparks off the pavement inches from his face.
His HUD flashed red.
CLOSE COMBAT ENGAGED
RECOMMENDED ACTION: EVASION
"I know," he snapped.
He swung.
A clean punch, years of street fights guiding his form, aimed straight at the jaw.
It landed.
And barely mattered.
The feral's head jerked sideways, then snapped back with a wet crack. Its mouth stretched open far wider than it should have, teeth grinding together as static poured from its throat like smoke.
It grabbed LeRoy by the hoodie and hurled him backward.
He crashed into a pile of trash bags and broken crates, pain blooming across his spine. The impact knocked the air from his lungs. His HUD stuttered violently.
VITALITY: 84 PERCENT
LeRoy groaned and forced himself upright as the feral advanced. One foot dragged behind it, twitching with each step. Sparks danced across exposed implants along its neck and arms.
This thing wasn't thinking.
It wasn't reacting.
It was following corrupted instructions, looping endlessly until something stopped it.
The feral lunged again.
Something shifted inside LeRoy's skull.
A pressure released.
The HUD flared bright.
TECHNIQUE AVAILABLE
DASH LEVEL ONE
ENERGY COST: TEN EP
He didn't hesitate.
The world smeared.
LeRoy burst sideways in a sudden, explosive movement, reappearing several feet away as the feral slammed into empty air. His stomach lurched violently as the chip recalibrated, nerves screaming in protest.
He stumbled, nearly falling.
The feral turned instantly.
Too fast.
A heavy blow crashed into LeRoy's ribs, lifting him clean off his feet. He skidded across wet concrete, breath exploding from his lungs as pain flared white-hot.
VITALITY: 71 PERCENT
"Shit," he gasped.
The feral stalked closer, head twitching violently. The green glow in its eyes pulsed brighter with every step. Energy gathered in its raised hand, unstable and violent, crackling against the rain.
LeRoy rolled just as the blast fired.
The alley detonated.
Concrete exploded where he'd been lying moments before. Fragments tore through the air, embedding themselves into walls and dumpsters. The shockwave slammed him into a wall, rattling his bones and leaving his ears ringing.
The feral screamed again, louder this time.
LeRoy pushed himself upright, blood trickling from his forehead into his eyes. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, forcing his breathing to slow.
Think.
This wasn't about overpowering it.
It was about control.
The feral charged again.
LeRoy stepped forward instead of back.
At the last possible moment, he slipped under the feral's wild swing. His shoulder slammed into its midsection as he wrapped his arms around its waist and drove forward, using momentum instead of brute strength.
They crashed into a metal dumpster with a thunderous clang.
The feral thrashed violently. Elbows came down hard. One smashed into LeRoy's shoulder, sending numbness down his arm. Another glanced off his skull, stars bursting across his vision.
LeRoy grit his teeth.
He headbutted the feral once.
Then again.
He hooked his leg behind the feral's knee and yanked hard.
They collapsed sideways into the waterlogged pavement.
LeRoy mounted it, rain and blood mixing on his hands. The creature clawed at him, strength erratic but terrifying. Its fingers scraped against his face, tearing skin.
His HUD screamed warnings.
VITALITY: 52 PERCENT
ENERGY POINTS: LOW
LeRoy ignored it.
He brought his fist down again and again. Each punch was driven by desperation, by focus, by the need to end this before his body gave out. The feral's movements slowed. Jerks became spasms.
The green glow flickered.
LeRoy grabbed its head with both hands and twisted.
There was a sound like a cable snapping.
The light died.
Silence fell.
Rain filled the space where screaming had been.
LeRoy collapsed backward onto the pavement, chest heaving, lungs burning. His hands shook violently as the adrenaline drained away. For a long moment, he just lay there, staring up at the dark sky.
Then his HUD chimed.
CONTRACT COMPLETE
Reward received: Twenty credits
Bonus applied: Agility increased
STAT CHANGES CONFIRMED
Agility increased
Perception increased
TECHNIQUE PROGRESS UPDATE
Dash progressing toward next level
LeRoy slowly sat up, eyes drifting back to the lifeless body.
Not a monster.
Just a man.
The chip didn't care.
The system didn't care.
It rewarded outcomes.
LeRoy pushed himself to his feet, pain radiating through every muscle. Rain washed blood from his knuckles as the navigation arrow reappeared in his HUD, pointing away from Floodline.
"First extraction," he murmured.
His voice was steady now.
The grind had begun.
He followed the arrow into the rain.