Some people survive because they hide.
Others survive because they become the storm.
The screams stopped and that was the part that terrified everyone, not the gunfire or the alarms and not even thousands of glowing white eyes beyond the walls. It was the silence which spread across the western district like a disease, one moment people were shouting and the next there was absolutely nothing. Then suddenly the emergency sirens erupted.
"BREACH! WESTERN PERIMETER BREACH!"
The entire settlement exploded into motion as guards sprinted through muddy streets and searchlights swept frantically across the darkness. People rushed toward reinforced bunkers beneath the central square, children cried as parents pulled them to safety.
Elias led the first response team. Jasper, Stacy, Kane, Mercer, and several Free Men followed close behind.
Captain Clara was already issuing orders.
"Seal every secondary gate!"
"No one leaves the walls!"
"Snipers to the rooftops!"
Despite the panic, the settlement did not collapse because it had practiced for nights like this. The group reached the western gate within minutes. The sight waiting for them froze everyone as a massive steel gate stood open. The locking mechanism had been cut with impossible precision and surgically dismantled.
Five guards lay unconscious nearby, still alive yet untouched except for precise nerve strikes.
Mercer crouched beside one.
"They didn't even kill them."
Kane frowned.
"They wanted the gate open."
Which meant that this wasn't an attack but an invitation. A shadow crossed the rooftops in a fast manner and almost too fast to see.
"THERE!"
Several guards fired instantly as gunshots echoed through the settlement. The figure vanished before the bullets arrived. Jasper's eyes narrowed.
"No."
Stacy looked at him.
"What?" Stacy asked
"That's not Helix." Jasper responded
Helix operatives moved with mechanical precision but this figure moved like instinct itself, it was wild and alive. Then another scream erupted two streets away.
Elias led the pursuit as streets twisted through the settlement between workshops and living quarters; rain made every rooftop slick and every shadow dangerous. Again, the mysterious figure appeared. Standing atop an old watchtower watching them.
Moonlight briefly illuminated the stranger, he had a black combat clothing, long coat and a hood covering most of the face. Twin curved blades strapped across the back and then the figure disappeared again.
"Nobody moves that fast," one guard whispered.
Mercer nodded.
"I officially hate mysterious athletic people."
Jasper wasn't listening.
He was watching the environment now like he was leading the group somewhere
"It's bait."
Elias slowed immediately.
"You sure?"
Jasper pointed toward a narrow alley.
"If we follow…"
He looked toward surrounding rooftops.
"…we'll be surrounded."
The moment they stopped—explosions erupted exactly where Jasper predicted as hidden charges detonated inside the alley, concrete burst outward and metal fragments tore through empty space and everyone stared.
If they'd continued…
Half the response team would be dead.
Captain Clara slowly looked at Jasper.
"You saw that?"
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know how.
A single clap echoed through the street in a slow but confident manner. Everyone turned, the hooded stranger stood atop a collapsed bus, he was a young man perhaps twenty-eight, as his hood dropped down, his dark hair was tied back and he had a long scar which crossed one eyebrow with his calm gray eyes that had seen too much. He smiled slightly.
"Not bad."
The stranger jumped twenty feet landing effortlessly in the middle of the street and every weapon immediately pointed toward him. He didn't react and didn't even reach for his own.
"My name is Ryker."
He looked directly at Jasper.
"So you're the Interface." He said
Nobody liked that sentence.
Anthony stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
Ryker shrugged casually.
"A survivor."
Captain Clara's rifle stayed fixed on his chest.
"Try again."
A faint smile crossed Ryker's face.
"I've survived Helix."
The words changed everything. The scientist who had escaped Obsidian stepped forward.
"Nobody survives Helix."
Ryker looked at him.
"I did."
"Barely." He concluded
He slowly removed one glove.
His left arm wasn't entirely human, it had a black metallic veins stretched beneath scarred skin as the mechanical joints glimmered faintly under moonlight with Helix technology embedded in it but unlike their soldiers—Ryker still had emotion in his eyes.
"I came to warn you."
Ryker looked around the settlement.
"They're not attacking tonight."
Captain Clara frowned.
"Then why are they here?"
"They're counting."
A cold silence settled over the street.
Ryker looked toward the dark forest beyond the walls.
"People."
"Defenses."
"Weapons."
"Food."
He met Jasper's eyes again.
"They're preparing for a siege."
Ryker had spent years watching them, learning and eventually surviving them.
"They don't waste soldiers."
"They don't rush battles."
"They win before they attack."
"Why does every enemy get creepier?" Mercer sighed.
Something about Ryker bothered him though, the man moved like someone constantly expecting betrayal. This survival burned into instinct.
Suddenly—A Helix drone burst from the darkness overhead as its white scanners locked onto Jasper and before anyone else reacted—Ryker had already moved. A step, a leap and one flash steel and the drone split cleanly in half before it could transmit.
It crashed smoking into the mud and everyone stared. Even Kane looked impressed.
"Okay…"
Mercer blinked.
"…I like him."
Ryker sheathed his blade.
"They'll send another."
He looked toward Jasper.
"And another."
"They're obsessed with you."
Jasper looked away.
"I know."
Elias stepped between them.
"You seem to know a lot."
Ryker nodded.
"I've been watching your camp for weeks."
Captain Clara's expression hardened.
"So you've been spying on us."
"I've been making sure Helix wasn't."
Nobody knew whether to trust him.
Ryker reached into his coat and every rifle immediately rose. He slowly pulled out…A worn military badge which belonged to the Blackpoint Research Facility. The same facility where Jasper had been taken years ago.
Jasper's breathing stopped.
"Where did you get that?"
Ryker's expression became serious.
"From the man who died helping your father."
Anthony looked sharply at Jasper.
"Your father?"
Ryker nodded.
"He wasn't just a scientist."
"He was trying to stop Obsidian."
The scientist from Obsidian turned pale.
"No…"
Ryker looked directly at Jasper.
"Your father knew about Nemesis."
Before anyone could ask another question—Every light in the settlement suddenly flickered and then died. Complete darkness swallowed the camp, A deep horn echoed across the valley and the ground trembled beneath everyone's feet.
Ryker's calm expression disappeared for the first time.
He whispered one sentence.
"They're here already."
Far beyond the walls—Hundreds of white lights appeared and then thousands, marching in perfect formation, it was an army and at the c internship's a lobe figure in black armor, director Seraph. She slowly raised one hand toward the settlement and then smiled.
"The observation phase…"
Her voice echoed through every stolen radio frequency.
"…is over."
Behind her—The army took its first synchronized step forward. War had reached the gates.