Where the Past Bleeds

[Simulation Engaged – Phase Two Active]

The world dropped.

Not metaphorically—The platform beneath Emric's feet gave way in a smooth hiss, releasing him and the rest of his squad into a shattering descent. No parachutes. No anti-grav dampeners. Just sheer velocity buffered by inertial dampeners and the blinding rush of light as the AR field locked into place around them.

They landed in what looked like the gutted remnants of a collapsed metro station—twisted rails, flickering tube lights, moss-covered signs written in long-dead languages. The air was thick with dust and an acrid, copper-like scent that didn't feel simulated.

It felt too real.

[Phase Two - 11:59:47 Remaining]

"Status check!" Keiran's voice crackled in Emric's ear, the squad's relay finally stabilizing.

"Alive," Cade muttered. "Unimpressed."

Juno landed nearby, rolling to soften her fall. Yezri hit harder, gritting her teeth.

Malric dropped last, crouched low and alert.

They had entered the simulation as a unit. But it was clear the gauntlet didn't care.

Emric kept to the center, his HUD blinked erratically, recalibrating as it adapted to the corrupted terrain. Nearby, a dismembered mannequin sat slumped against a shattered turnstile, vines curling around its limbs like veins.

Then came the scream.

A blood-slicked shriek tore through the ruins—wet, layered, and inhuman.

The first creature emerged from the rubble. Pale, lanky, lurching sideways on inverted legs. Its face was a fusion of gas mask and bone, with tendrils pulsing where its mouth should be.

[F-Tier Identified: Leechstrider]

Yezri was the first to move. Her hands flared, plasma condensed, then erupted forward in a pressurized bolt. The creature's chest exploded mid-lunge, goo and bone matter spattering across the broken tile.

[+1 Point: Yezri Amon]

Keiran groaned. "You beat me to it."

"Eyes up," Juno snapped. "Left tunnel!"

Three more Leechstriders skittered out, followed by a quadruped with split jaws and twitching antlers.

[E-Tier Identified: Mournwolf Variant]

Cade ducked low, tossing a cloaked signal disruptor that sent ripples through the space. The Mournwolf staggered, sensors scrambled.

"Go!" he barked.

Keiran launched forward, slamming into the wolf with enough force to dent its ribcage. His shock-resonance surged, sending tremors through the creature's frame. Yezri blasted one of the striders; Emric caught another mid-charge with his repeater, landing precision shots into its undercarriage.

The last strider pounced toward Malric—who ducked, rolled under it, and stabbed a salvaged rod through its spine.

[+1 Point: Emric Vale]

[+1 Point: Yezri Amon]

[+5 Points: Keiran Doss]

[+1 Point: Malric Dane]

Breathing hard, they regrouped.

"That escalated quickly," Cade muttered, shaking goo off his gloves.

"This place is a killbox," Juno said. "Noise travels too far. We need to move."

Emric nodded. "Agreed. But we don't scatter. We find high ground, scout the layout, and set up fallback points. If these F- and E-tiers are this coordinated, were in for a tough time."

They moved.

Up a shattered escalator shaft, past mossy vending machines and collapsed security drones. Above them, the structure gave way to sunlight—or what passed for it. The city simulation above ground was worse.

Urban ruins sprawled in every direction. Skyscrapers leaned like decaying teeth. Nature had reclaimed everything—ivy, roots, nests of bones and cable. An overturned school bus smoldered near the remnants of what had once been a hospital, its windows shattered and interior burnt black.

Emric paused as a shadow flitted across a nearby window, too fast to tag. His HUD populated slowly with new data.

[Creatures Detected: Tier-F - Gutterlings (x7), Tier-E - Slag Wolf (x2)]

None of all these names meant anything to him and that was a problem.

"Don't charge blind!" he warned, but Keiran was already gone, barreling toward the nearest shrieking form—a hunchbacked, limbed creature with skin like dripping tar.

The Gutterling leapt.

Keiran met it with a thunderclap punch, sending it cartwheeling into a wall. "Point!" he shouted, laughing.

Then the wall behind him moved.

A Slag Wolf burst from the shadows, spines glowing red, and slammed into Keiran with a weight that could crush bone.

The Vanguard flew back, smashing into debris.

"Scatter! Use the buildings!" Emric yelled, already sprinting left. A Gutterling shrieked and lunged toward him, but Emric dropped a drone mid-stride. It hovered, scanned—then tagged the creature.

[Threat Pattern: Erratic / Avoid frontal. Vulnerable: Spine ridge]

He veered past it, caught a rebar pipe mid-step, and jabbed backward. The drone beeped—impact confirmed.

[+1 Point]

"Emric, two more behind you!" Juno's voice.

He ducked just as a blur of claws raked the air above his head. The creatures moved fast—smarter than he expected. Almost tactical. They cut off retreat angles, shrieked to coordinate.

He stumbled into a back alley lined with cracked glass and old vending machines. Cade appeared beside him, panting. "This is a nightmare."

"We need intel," Emric said. "Movement patterns. Weaknesses. Otherwise we're blind."

Yezri lit the sky with a plasma burst that disintegrated two Gutterlings. "Then we'd better learn fast."

From the corner of his HUD, Emric saw Keiran limping to his feet. His armor had held—barely. But something in his eyes had changed. Less cocky now.

They regrouped behind the husk of an old restaurant.

Malric emerged last, blade bloodied, face unreadable. "We're spread too thin."

"We stay mobile," Emric said, breath ragged. "We tag and analyze before we eliminate. Cade, keep scrambling enemy senses. Juno, control elevations. Everyone else? Pick targets we can down fast."

The team nodded.

Unknowingly he had taken command of the team.

Emric pointed toward a rusted broadcast tower still partially standing. "That'll give us a better line of sight."

They climbed.

At the top, the view opened to a sprawling city mockup—half-flooded streets, broken highways, and hollow skyscrapers. Creatures roamed in staggered patterns. Packs. Solitary monsters. Some looked half-machine. Others moved like puppets.

Juno scanned. "I count at least six different creatures. Maybe more. All F and E down there."

"Good for racking up kills," Cade said.

Emric frowned. "Or bait."

Something about the layout felt intentional. Forced. Like a puzzle box designed to punish assumptions.

"We need to split," Emric said. "Cover more ground. Stay close but not clustered. We'll feed intel to each other and adjust."

"Divide the map," Yezri added. "Each of us takes a quadrant."

Reluctantly, they agreed.

Emric descended the tower alone, heading toward the industrial quadrant. Factories lined with rust and oil tanks cracked open and spilling into overgrowth. His scanner beeped.

Two signals. Low-tier. Leechstriders again.

He crept forward, crouched behind a toppled console. His neural relay pulsed, syncing with the micro-drone.

He launched it upward.

The drone mapped the area in fragments. Another two figures. One large. One... unstable.

[Unidentified Variant: Error—Scan Corrupted]

A high-pitched static whine filled his headset.

Then the creature charged from the side—not the Leechstriders. Something else.

It had no eyes. Just teeth. Dozens of them in rings.

Emric dove, rolled, fired upward. The repeater did little. Its hide absorbed most of the impact.

He tossed a magnetic mine. It stuck to the creature's side—

Then it screamed.

Not pain. Interference.

The neural relay shorted. Static flooded his HUD. He ripped it off, vision swimming. Blood dripped from one nostril.

He scrambled toward the next cover, barely ducking under its swipe.

His micro-drone buzzed again—functional for now. He used it.

Overlay revealed the weakness: under the jaw, where bone met flexible tissue.

He waited. Lured it closer.

Then—jumped sideways and jammed the repeater directly into the seam.

He fired.

[+5 Points: Emric Vale]

He collapsed to the ground, panting, ears ringing.

His first solo E-tier.

He wiped his nose. Thought about his parents. About Karya. Would she be watching this part?

"Hope you're seeing this," he muttered.

Then he moved again.

The hunt had only just begun.