Chapter 16: The Apex Predator

Ren held the block of C4. It felt like soft clay.

He pressed it against the back brick wall of the gun shop. The front street was still filled with wandering zombies. The back alley was clear, but the steel security door was welded shut from the outside.

“Stand back,” Ren told Chloe.

He pushed a small blasting cap into the clay. He set the digital timer for thirty seconds.

Chloe stood behind a heavy metal gun safe. She covered her ears.

Ren walked back and stood next to her. He didn’t cover his ears. He wanted to feel the blast.

The red numbers ticked down.

Three. Two. One.

BOOM.

The explosion was deafening. The brick wall vanished in a cloud of grey dust and orange fire. The floor shook violently.

Ren didn’t wait for the dust to settle.

“Move,” Ren ordered.

He ran straight through the smoke. Chloe was right behind him.

They stepped out of the smoke and into the back alley. The air outside was cooler. The sun was fully up now, hidden behind a thick layer of smog.

The explosion was loud. Very loud.

Ren heard the moans of the zombies from the front street. They were turning around. They were coming for the noise.

“We have two minutes before the alley is full,” Ren said.

He used his new Scent Tracking passive. He closed his eyes and inhaled.

He smelled garbage. He smelled rotting blood.

And he smelled oil. Motor oil and fresh gasoline.

“This way,” Ren pointed left.

They ran down the alley. They jumped over overflowing dumpsters and broken pallets. Ren was fast. Chloe struggled to keep up with the heavy sniper rifle bouncing on her back.

They reached the end of the alley. It opened into a small parking garage.

It was a military checkpoint. Or it used to be.

Concrete barriers blocked the street. Sandbags were stacked in a circle. There were bullet casings covering the ground. Thousands of them. The soldiers had fought hard.

They lost.

Bones and shredded uniforms were scattered everywhere.

But parked in the center of the barricade was a vehicle. A dark green military Humvee. The heavy machine gun on the roof was gone, but the truck looked intact.

“A car,” Chloe gasped. She leaned against a concrete barrier to catch her breath. “We can drive to the Stadium.”

Ren didn’t smile. He held his Benelli M4 shotgun tight.

He used Heat Sensing.

The concrete was cold. The Humvee was cold.

But behind the Humvee, hiding in the shadows of the parking garage, there was a massive red heat signature. It was huge. It was the size of a small car.

It was asleep. But the sound of their running boots just woke it up.

“Don’t move,” Ren whispered.

Chloe froze.

The heat signature moved. It stepped out from behind the Humvee.

It wasn’t a zombie. It wasn’t a mutated rat or a dog.

It was a tiger.

An escaped Bengal tiger from the city zoo. But the System had changed it. Its orange fur was gone. It was covered in bone-white armor plates. Its fangs were as long as Ren’s forearms. Its tail ended in a sharp, bony scythe.

[Mutated Bone-Plated Tiger (Lvl 7)]

[Status: Territorial]

[Warning: High Threat Level]

Level 7. The highest level monster Ren had seen yet, besides the human player.

The tiger looked at them. It didn’t roar. It just lowered its head. Its yellow eyes locked onto Ren. It knew he was the biggest threat.

“Chloe,” Ren said quietly. “Get on top of the concrete barrier. Use the sniper.”

“It’s too close,” she panicked.

“Do it.”

She scrambled up the sandbags and laid flat on the concrete block. She pulled the bolt on the Remington 700.

The metallic click of the sniper rifle echoed.

The tiger lunged.

It was impossibly fast. It crossed the thirty feet of asphalt in a single second. It was a blur of white bone and muscle.

Ren used Dash.

He teleported five feet to the right.

The tiger swiped the empty air. Its claws hit the concrete floor, tearing deep grooves into the solid stone.

Ren pumped the shotgun.

BANG.

He shot it point-blank in the ribs.

Sparks flew. The buckshot hit the bone plates and bounced off. It didn’t even scratch the beast.

“Armor,” Ren grunted.

The tiger spun around. Its scythe tail whipped toward Ren’s head.

Ren ducked. The tail sliced through the air, cutting a clean line through a metal street sign pole. The heavy metal sign crashed to the ground.

BANG.

Chloe fired the sniper.

The heavy bullet hit the tiger in the shoulder. It pierced the gap between two bone plates. Blood sprayed.

The tiger roared. A deafening, booming sound that shook Ren’s chest.

It ignored Ren. It looked at Chloe on the barrier. It coiled its massive legs to jump.

If it reached her, she was dead in one bite.

“Look at me!” Ren yelled.

He didn’t have a weapon that could break the armor. The shotgun was useless. The fire axe was left behind. He only had his body.

Ren activated his new skill. Wall Run.

He sprinted at the wall of the parking garage. He ran up the vertical concrete pillar. Three steps. Four steps. He was ten feet in the air.

He pushed off the wall.

He fell directly toward the tiger’s back.

He didn’t try to punch it. He didn’t try to shoot it.

He opened his mouth.

He landed heavily on the tiger’s spine. The beast bucked violently.

Ren clamped his hands onto the bone plates to hold on. He drove his face into the bloody gap in the shoulder armor where Chloe’s bullet had hit.

He bit the raw muscle underneath.

He ripped a massive chunk of tiger flesh free.

The tiger shrieked. It threw itself backward, smashing Ren against the side of the Humvee.

Ren lost his grip. He fell to the ground. His vision went black for a second. His ribs screamed in pain.

But he swallowed the meat.

Gulp.

[Gluttony Activated.]

[Consumed: Elite Tiger Muscle.]

[Strength +3]

[Agility +3]

[New Skill: Rending Claws (Active)]

[Description: Your fingernails become razor-sharp weapons capable of piercing low-tier armor.]

Ren stood up.

He felt the change instantly. His hands burned. His fingernails extended, turning black and metallic. They looked like the Stalker’s teeth.

The tiger recovered. It was bleeding heavily from the shoulder, but it was furious.

It charged Ren again.

Ren didn’t dodge this time.

He stepped forward. He raised his hands.

[Skill Activated: Rending Claws]

The tiger leaped, jaws open wide to crush Ren’s skull.

Ren swung his arms in a cross pattern.

His black claws met the bone-white armor of the tiger’s chest.

Schlick.

The claws cut through the bone like hot knives through butter. They sank deep into the tiger’s heart.

Ren pushed forward. He ripped his hands apart, tearing the beast’s chest open.

A fountain of hot blood washed over him.

The tiger crashed into him. The dead weight knocked Ren to the ground.

Silence returned to the checkpoint.

[Target Neutralized: Mutated Bone-Plated Tiger (Lvl 7)]

[Experience Gained: 300]

[Level Up!]

[You are now Level 7.]

Ren pushed the heavy corpse off him. He lay on his back, breathing hard. He was completely soaked in dark red blood.

He looked at his hands. The black claws slowly retracted back into normal fingernails.

“Incredible,” Ren whispered.

He stood up. He walked over to the tiger’s open chest.

He wasn’t done. He carved out the heart with his bare hands. He ate it in three massive bites.

[Gluttony Activated.]

[Vitality +4]

[Defense +2]

He felt like a tank. He felt unstoppable.

Chloe climbed down from the concrete barrier. She held the sniper rifle tightly. She looked at the gutted tiger, and then at Ren.

She didn’t look scared anymore. She looked numb.

“Did you find the keys?” Ren asked. He wiped his face, smearing the blood.

Chloe walked over to the driver’s side of the Humvee. The door was unlocked. She looked inside.

“Keys are in the ignition,” she said. Her voice was steady.

“Good,” Ren said. He threw his shotgun into the backseat.

The moans from the alley were getting louder. The zombie horde had found the blown-out wall. They were coming into the parking garage.

Hundreds of them poured around the corner, reaching for the fresh blood.

Ren got into the passenger seat. Chloe got into the driver’s seat.

“Do you know how to drive?” Ren asked.

“I have my learner’s permit,” Chloe said.

She turned the key.

The Humvee roared to life. The heavy diesel engine purred perfectly.

“Put it in drive,” Ren said. He pointed at the concrete barrier blocking the street. “And step on the gas.”

Chloe shifted the gear. She slammed her foot down.

The heavy armored truck shot forward. It smashed through the concrete barricade like it was made of cardboard. It crushed a dozen zombies under its massive tires.

They hit the open street.

Ren looked out the window. The city was a wasteland of fire and death.

“Zone Two,” Ren said. “Take us to the City Center.”

He looked at the map in his pocket. He looked toward the Stadium in the distance.

The real hunt was just beginning.

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