The corridors of Site Zero were no longer silent.
They throbbed with a low, predatory hum — like the heartbeat of some enormous beast stirring from centuries of slumber.
Irfan Shah gritted his teeth as he sprinted down a narrow maintenance shaft, heart hammering against his ribs.
Behind him, Aina Farisha moved like a shadow, glancing back over her shoulder.
Reza covered the rear, her weapon drawn, breathing sharp but controlled.
The white clinical lights above them flickered sporadically, plunging sections of the hall into broken flashes of darkness.
Something was coming.
They all felt it.
"Where the hell are we going?!" Reza hissed.
"Service exit near Section D," Irfan shouted over the rising alarms. "If we can reach it—"
A deep, metallic roar cut through the air, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
All three of them stumbled for a heartbeat, pure instinct screaming to flee.
Aina's face paled.
"That's not drones," she said quietly.
No.
This was something else.
Something alive.
Something ancient.
Meanwhile – elsewhere in Site Zero
From the heavy vaults of Sublevel Nine, a figure emerged.
Massive.
Lithe.
Built from black polymer muscles and dense subdermal armor.
Unit E-9 moved through the darkness with terrifying grace.
Its breathing was not human.
It resonated through the steel walls, a low-frequency pulse that made rats flee from the ventilation shafts.
In its mind — if it could be called that — only fragments floated:
Orders.
Directives.
The Voice.
Find the Intruders.
Terminate.
Assimilate if necessary.
It moved without haste.
It didn't need to hurry.
The prey would come to it.
They always did.
Back to Irfan and team
They pushed forward, turning into an auxiliary corridor that twisted sharply downward.
The deeper they went, the more the facility shifted — from sterile white walls to dark industrial plating, exposed cables, unfinished structures.
Aina skidded to a halt as her night-vision picked up a flash ahead.
Not a sensor.
Not a turret.
Something moving.
Something hunting.
"Eyes up, 30 meters!" she warned.
Irfan ducked behind a pillar, pulse pounding in his ears.
Reza tapped his shoulder, holding up a small motion sensor.
The screen blinked — slow at first, then faster.
Something massive was approaching.
And it was coming straight for them.
A sudden screech tore through the hallway — metal warping, groaning under unnatural pressure.
Then, silence.
Irfan held his breath.
Aina raised her weapon slowly.
Reza activated a flashbang, palming it tightly.
They waited.
One second.
Two.
Three.
And then—
From the darkness ahead, a shape unfolded.
Not running.
Not charging.
Walking.
Slow, deliberate.
A nightmare stitched from polymer and wire.
Unit E-9.
Its twin eyes glowed faintly with shifting geometric patterns, watching them without true emotion.
It didn't speak.
It didn't roar.
It simply advanced.
"Now!" Irfan barked.
Reza hurled the flashbang.
Boom!
A burst of white seared the corridor.
They turned and ran.
Behind them, the monster barely staggered.
It took the flash directly, recalibrated, and kept coming.
Slow.
Unstoppable.
The prey ran faster.
The hunter simply kept walking.
It knew the tunnels.
It knew the exits.
It knew every heartbeat.
And it would not stop until there was nothing left to pursue.
As Irfan, Aina, and Reza raced through the broken veins of Site Zero, the walls around them trembled.
The facility itself seemed to pulse — not with electricity, but with the waking breath of something long-buried and now, finally, alive.
Far above, unseen through layers of steel and concrete, Agent Shadow watched it all unfold on his monitors.
His gloved hand curled into a fist as the hunter advanced.
"Run, Shah," he whispered.
"Run as fast as you can. It won't matter. In the end… everything returns to silence."