The diversion at the old water tower had been a desperate gamble, and for a few chaotic moments, it seemed to be working. Ethan and Glenn, having unleashed a cacophony of noise and the disorienting plume of Ethan's (System-bought) smoke grenade, saw a significant portion of the walker horde, and more importantly, the two monstrous Unidentified Biological Entities (UBEs), turn their attention away from the besieged Outpost Appalachia and towards the new disturbance.
"It's working! They're coming for us!" Glenn yelled, a wild, almost manic glint in his eyes as he saw the grotesque, wolf-like UBEs bound through the trees in their direction.
"That was the idea! Now we run!" Ethan shouted back, already sprinting away from the water tower, deeper into the woods, on a path they hoped would eventually lead them back towards Rick's waiting group.
But the UBEs were faster, more cunning than they had anticipated. The creatures didn't just follow blindly. One, a hulking brute with matted fur and overly long claws, let out a piercing shriek that seemed to direct its companion. The second UBE, slightly smaller but visibly more agile, broke off, circling wide through the undergrowth with terrifying speed, clearly attempting a flanking maneuver.
[!!! WARNING: HOSTILE UBE-2 EXECUTING COORDINATED FLANKING ATTACK! HOSTILE UBE-1 MAINTAINING DIRECT PURSUIT! EVASION PROBABILITY RAPIDLY DECREASING! IMMEDIATE COMBAT IMMINENT !!!]
"They're splitting up! Trying to box us in!" Ethan screamed, his System confirming his sudden, horrifying realization.
They pushed themselves harder, crashing through bushes, leaping over fallen logs, but the sounds of pursuit were relentless, drawing closer from two directions.
The smaller, faster UBE burst from the treeline to their left, cutting off their escape route. It was a blur of mangy fur and snapping teeth. Glenn, reacting instantly, shoved Ethan forward. "Go! Get back to Rick!"
Before Ethan could protest, the UBE was on Glenn. It slammed into him with brutal force, sending him crashing against the trunk of a massive oak. A sickening crack echoed through the woods, followed by Glenn's agonized scream as the creature's jaws clamped down on his leg, shaking him like a rag doll.
"GLENN!" Ethan roared, spinning back, his baseball bat a desperate blur. He brought it down on the UBE's flank, the impact jarring his arms, but the creature barely flinched, its attention solely on the screaming Glenn. It ripped and tore at Glenn's leg, blood spraying.
The larger UBE then crashed through the undergrowth directly in front of Ethan, cutting off his path to Glenn, its eyes burning with a predatory light. Ethan was trapped between two of the monsters, Glenn critically injured and seconds from death.
[COMPANION (GLENN RHEE) VITAL SIGNS: CRITICAL! MASSIVE TRAUMA TO LEFT FEMUR AND FEMORAL ARTERY! IMMEDIATE LETHAL THREAT! HOST ETHAN MILLER: MULTIPLE HIGH-VELOCITY HOSTILES! SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: <1% WITH CURRENT CAPABILITIES!]
Despair, cold and absolute, threatened to overwhelm Ethan. He swung his bat wildly at the larger UBE, but it dodged with contemptuous ease, its claws lashing out, tearing deep gashes across Ethan's chest and arm. Pain exploded through him. He stumbled back, his vision blurring. This was it. They were dead.
Just as the larger UBE gathered itself for a final, killing lunge, and the smaller one prepared to rip Glenn's throat out, something inside Ethan's mind, something tied to the System, seemed to snap.
[!!! UNFORESEEN HOST MORTAL DANGER PROTOCOL ACTIVATED !!! EMERGENCY SYSTEM OVERRIDE INITIATED! DIVERTING ALL CORE ENERGY RESERVES TO TEMPORARY HOST AUGMENTATION AND DIRECTIVE EXECUTION! THIS ACTION WILL RESULT IN CATASTROPHIC SYSTEM DAMAGE! ARE YOU SURE, HOST?]
There was no time to be sure. A silent, desperate YES! screamed through Ethan's mind.
An unimaginable surge of raw power coursed through Ethan's battered body. The world seemed to slow. His wounds still burned, but a cold, analytical focus, far beyond his own capabilities, took over. The System's usual interface vanished, replaced by a blinding white light in his mind's eye, then a singular, powerful directive: [SURVIVE. PROTECT. NEUTRALIZE IMMEDIATE THREATS.]
He moved. He didn't even feel like he was controlling his own limbs. His speed was a blur, his strength amplified tenfold. The baseball bat felt like a feather. He met the larger UBE's lunge not with a defensive swing, but with an impossibly fast, precise strike to its snout that sent it howling back, stunned. He didn't pause. In the next instant, he was at Glenn's side. The smaller UBE, momentarily surprised by his speed, looked up from its gruesome work. Ethan's bat became a whirlwind, each strike landing with bone shattering force on the creature's head and neck. It shrieked, thrashed, then lay still, its skull caved in.
One down.
The larger UBE, recovered from its initial shock, charged again, roaring with fury. Ethan turned to meet it, but as he did, the artificial strength began to ebb as quickly as it had come. Excruciating pain lanced through his own injuries. The System's internal light was flickering erratically.
[SYSTEM ENERGY RESERVES CRITICALLY DEPLETED... AUGMENTATION FAILURE... WARNING! WARNING! CORE CORRUPTION DETECTED...]
The UBE was almost upon him. Ethan, now moving on his own rapidly failing strength, managed one last, desperate swing. The bat connected with the side of the creature's head. It stumbled, roaring, but it wasn't a killing blow. Its massive paw lashed out, claws extended. Ethan tried to dodge, but he was too slow, too weak. The claws tore into his side, ripping through flesh and muscle. He screamed, collapsing to his knees, the world tilting.
The UBE loomed over him, jaws agape, ready to finish him.
Then, a blinding flash and a deafening concussive blast erupted from within Ethan, or perhaps from the very air around him. It wasn't a physical explosion, but an almost visible wave of pure, raw energy. The UBE was thrown backwards, howling, its fur singed, visibly disoriented and injured. It scrambled to its feet, looked at Ethan with something akin to fear in its monstrous eyes, then turned and fled into the woods, disappearing with astonishing speed.
Ethan lay on the forest floor, gasping, bleeding from multiple wounds. Glenn was a still, silent heap nearby. The System interface in Ethan's mind was a chaotic mess of flickering static, error messages, and dying alerts.
[...CRITICAL DAMAGE... ALL NON-ESSENTIAL MODULES OFFLINE... SENSORY INPUT FAILING... PREDICTIVE ALGORITHMS OFFLINE... MATERIALIZATION SUBROUTINES OFFLINE... SURVIVOR'S EXCHANGE OFFLINE... INVENTORY SUB-DIMENSION SEALED – CONTENTS INACCESSIBLE...]
[...ATTEMPTING CORE SYSTEM REBOOT... EMERGENCY PROTOCOL 734... MINIMAL FUNCTIONALITY RESTORATION INITIATED...]
Then, darkness. Not unconsciousness, not yet, but a digital void in his mind where the familiar System interface had always been. It lasted for what felt like an eternity.
When something finally flickered back into his awareness, it was stark, brutally simple, and utterly devastating.
[SYSTEM REBOOT COMPLETE. OPERATING SYSTEM: SAFE MODE.]
[CURRENT FUNCTIONALITY: BIOMETRIC MONITORING (HOST ONLY - CRITICAL). ATTRIBUTE DISPLAY (HOST ONLY – BASIC).]
[HOST STATUS: ETHAN MILLER]
[HEALTH: 2/10 (CRITICAL – MASSIVE BLOOD LOSS, MULTIPLE LACERATIONS, INTERNAL TRAUMA LIKELY)]
[STAMINA: 1/10 (CRITICAL – EXHAUSTION, SHOCK)]
[STRENGTH: 3 (TEMPORARILY WEAKENED)]
[AGILITY: 2 (TEMPORARILY IMPAIRED)]
[PERCEPTION: 4 (DIMINISHED – PAIN, BLOOD LOSS)]
[ALL OTHER SYSTEM MODULES AND ADVANCED FUNCTIONS: OFFLINE. PERMANENTLY.]
The Shop was gone. The Inventory was gone. The Missions, the EXP counter, the Karma Points, the detailed scans, the tactical advice, the helpful pop-ups all of it, wiped away. All that remained was a crude, text-based display of his own failing body.
The System, in its final, desperate act to save his life, had sacrificed itself.
Ethan stared at the pathetically simple stats, the full weight of his loss, of Glenn's probable death, and their impossible situation crashing down on him. He was grievously injured, his greatest asset obliterated, alone in the woods with his dying friend, and the monsters were still out there.
He tried to crawl towards Glenn, a sob tearing from his throat, before blessed unconsciousness finally claimed him.