Chapter 105: The Electrical Expedition [4]

“Run!” I shouted, grabbing the equipment bag and sprinting toward where we’d left our car. “Back to the vehicle, now!”

We had made it perhaps a few meters when the wall of the warehouse exploded outward in a shower of concrete and twisted metal. Through the smoking breach stepped the electrical infected.

“Shit,” I muttered, stopping dead in my tracks as the full horror of what we were facing became clear.

The creature was even more imposing in the open air than it had been in the confines of the storage room.

The infected growled—a low, rumbling sound that seemed to vibrate through the ground beneath our feet. Its lifeless yet intelligent eyes locked onto me specifically, and I realized that it had identified me as the primary threat as expected. The way it moved, the way it positioned itself, everything about its body language suggested some kind of awareness that was far beyond normal infected behavior.

I quickly assessed our situation. Elena, Cindy, and Liu Mei were clustered behind me, their faces pale with shock and fear as they stared at this nightmare that had emerged from the warehouse. The car was still fifty meters away across open ground, and this electrical monster stood between us and our escape route.

Without hesitation, I thrust the heavy equipment bags toward Elena, who caught them reflexively despite her obvious confusion.

“Run back to the car,” I said, my voice calm and steady despite the adrenaline flooding my system. “All three of you. Now.”

“W…what? Ryan—” Elena started to protest, her eyes wide with concern and disbelief.

“Run now! The three of you!” I shouted, cutting her off as I saw the infected beginning to raise its pace toward us. Its massive feet left cracks in the asphalt with each step, and sparks danced across its metallic skin like a living Tesla coil.

What the fuck is that?!

Is that some kind of boss monster from a zombie game?!

Liu Mei was the first to understand our situation. She grasped Elena’s arm and spoke. “We need to leave. Now. He can handle himself better than we can help him.”

Elena clenched her fists, clearly torn between her desire to stay and fight alongside me and the logical necessity of protecting the equipment and getting to safety. After a moment of internal struggle, she accepted the bags and nodded grimly.

Cindy looked at me with obvious worry, her blue eyes reflecting the electric glow emanating from the approaching creature.

“I’ll join you as soon as we get the car ready,” I said.

And I pulled the car keys from my pocket and tossed them to her. “Just get the car and be ready to move when I get there.”

“Yes…” She nodded, catching the keys smoothly, and then all three of them started running toward our vehicle.

The electrical infected’s glowing eyes tracked their movement for a moment, and I saw its massive head turn to follow their retreat. The creature took a step in their direction, apparently deciding that multiple targets were more interesting than a single opponent.

If I let it chase them, they’d never make it to the car alive. This thing moved with incredible speed despite its size, and none of them had the enhanced abilities needed to outrun or outfight something this powerful.

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath, and clenched my right hand tight, summoning the tattoo power on it.

Wind started swirling like razor-sharp blades around my right arm, the air itself becoming weaponized as my virus-enhanced abilities responded to my will. I could feel the familiar sensation of controlled power flowing through my modified nervous system, turning my appendage into something far more dangerous than mere flesh and bone.

I clenched my fist even tighter, focusing my concentration as I saw the infected suddenly change direction and come rushing toward me instead. Its massive form moved with surprising grace and speed, covering ground in long, powerful strides that shook the earth beneath my feet.

The creature raised one enormous hand in a grasping motion, apparently intending to simply grab me and crush me like an insect. Electrical current danced between its fingers, creating a cage of deadly energy that would electrocute me even if the physical crushing didn’t kill me outright.

I waited for precisely the right moment, letting the creature close the distance until I could see every detail of its horrifying face. Then I stepped forward and punched directly at its grasping palm with my wind-blade-enhanced fist.

BADOOM!

The collision created a massive concussion that echoed across the empty parking lot like thunder. A huge current of electricity shot through my body, sending painful shocks racing along my nervous system and creating small shockwaves that made both me and the electrical infected skid backward across the cracked asphalt.

I slid several meters before managing to regain my footing, clutching my right arm as residual electrical current continued to course through my enhanced physiology. The shock was incredibly painful, but my virus-modified nervous system was apparently robust enough to handle the electrical assault without suffering permanent damage.

The infected had been affected by the collision as well. The wind blades generated by my enhanced arm had managed to cut deep gouges across its chest, slicing through the metallic skin and exposing darker tissue beneath.

The troubling fact was the complete lack of pain or distress the creature showed. Normal infected didn’t feel pain, but they were still limited by physical damage to their bodies. This thing seemed to ignore even severe injuries, its electrical enhancement apparently providing both rapid healing and complete immunity to discomfort.

It straightened up from its defensive crouch and glared at me with those brilliant eyes, apparently reassessing my threat level based on my unexpected ability to fight back.

“Damn it… is this really for real?” I muttered, gritting my teeth and wondering if I wasn’t trapped in some kind of fever dream or hallucination. The whole situation felt surreal, like something straight out of a comic book rather than the harsh reality of our post-apocalyptic world.

But the pain in my arm from the electrical shock was real enough, and the creature advancing toward me with renewed determination was definitely not a product of my imagination.

I drew my hand axe with my left hand and pulled the steel spike with my right, falling back on the more conventional weapons that had served me well through countless battles with infected. If my enhanced abilities weren’t sufficient to put this thing down quickly, I’d have to rely on skill, speed, and precision to find its weak points.

The electrical infected approached more cautiously this time, apparently having learned to respect my ability to inflict damage. It moved in a slow circle around me, those glowing eyes studying my posture and weapon positioning with an intelligence that was deeply unsettling.

I knew I couldn’t let those massive hands get hold of me. The electrical discharge alone would probably be enough to kill me, and the creature’s physical strength was clearly sufficient to tear me apart even without the electrical enhancement. My only advantage was speed and maneuverability—I had to stay mobile and strike at vulnerable points while avoiding its devastating counterattacks.

The infected lunged forward suddenly, moving faster than something that large had any right to move. I rolled to the side, feeling the wind from its passing as one massive fist smashed into the ground where I’d been standing, leaving a crater in the asphalt and sending up a shower of sparks from the electrical discharge.

I came up from my roll and drove the steel spike toward the creature’s ribs, hoping to find some vital organ or at least inflict enough damage to slow it down. The point penetrated the metallic skin and sank deep into the tissue beneath, but the infected simply backhanded me with casual force that sent me flying several meters across the parking lot.

I hit the ground hard and rolled, feeling the impact jar every bone in my body despite my enhanced durability. The creature was incredibly strong—probably strong enough to kill me with a single well-placed blow if I wasn’t careful.

But I’d managed to leave the steel spike embedded in its side, and I could see dark fluid leaking from the wound. Whatever this thing was, it could still bleed, which meant it could be killed if I could find the right target.

I scrambled to my feet and raised the hand axe defensively as the infected advanced again, the steel spike still protruding from between its ribs like a bizarre decoration. The creature seemed more annoyed than injured by the embedded weapon, and it made no effort to remove it.

The next exchange was a deadly dance of strike and counterstrike. I used my enhanced reflexes to stay just ahead of the creature’s grasping hands, dodging and weaving while looking for opportunities to attack vulnerable points. The hand axe bit deep into the infected’s arms and legs, carving away chunks of metallic flesh, but nothing seemed to slow it down significantly.

Every few seconds, I’d have to leap away from one of its electrical discharges, feeling the heat and energy wash over me as bolts of current arced through the air. The creature was learning my movement patterns, adapting its attacks to try to corner me or force me into positions where I couldn’t dodge effectively.

I was beginning to tire from the constant movement and the stress of avoiding instant death, while the infected showed no signs of fatigue at all. Its electrical enhancement seemed to provide unlimited endurance along with its other horrifying capabilities.

The fight reached a critical point when I made a small error in timing. I’d been aiming for what I hoped was a vulnerable spot near the creature’s throat when it moved slightly faster than I’d anticipated. Instead of connecting with my target, I found myself off-balance and within reach of those deadly hands.

The infected grabbed the front of my shirt with one massive fist, its fingers crackling with electrical energy. Before I could break free or activate any of my enhanced abilities, it lifted me off the ground and hurled me through the air like I weighed nothing at all.

“Unghh!!”

I crashed into a nearby abandoned car with bone-jarring force, feeling my breath leave my lungs in a painful whoosh as the metal crumpled around me. Pain shot through my enhanced body as the impact overwhelmed even my virus-modified durability, and for a moment I saw stars dancing at the edges of my vision.

The electrical infected didn’t give me time to recover. It charged across the parking lot with frightening speed, apparently intending to finish me off while I was still stunned from the impact. I could see its massive form bearing down on me, hands crackling with deadly energy and those blue eyes blazing with malevolent purpose.

I rolled desperately to one side just as the creature’s fist smashed into the car where I’d been lying. The vehicle crumpled like tinfoil under the impact, metal screaming and glass exploding in all directions. The electrical discharge from the infected’s hand caused the car’s fuel tank to ignite, sending a ball of flame and smoke billowing into the evening sky.

I kept rolling, putting as much distance as possible between myself and the burning wreckage, but I could feel my strength beginning to flag. The creature was simply too powerful and too resilient for me to defeat in a straight fight, and I was running out of options.

That’s when I heard the roar of our car’s engine approaching from behind me. Elena had managed to get the vehicle started and was driving straight toward the battle at high speed, apparently intending to ram the electrical infected or at least provide me with a means of escape.

“Ryan!” She shouted through the open driver’s side window. “Get in!”

The infected turned toward the approaching vehicle, its glowing eyes fixed on this new threat with obvious interest. I could see it calculating whether to pursue me or deal with the car first, and I realized this might be my only chance to get clear of the immediate danger.

I sprinted toward the moving car, my enhanced speed allowing me to match pace with Elena’s driving despite my injuries and exhaustion. The electrical infected gave chase immediately, its long strides covering ground faster than seemed physically possible for something so massive.

As Elena slowed the car just enough for me to leap onto the rear bumper and grab hold of the luggage rack, I could feel the creature’s presence right behind me. Its massive hand swept through the air inches from my head as I hauled myself up onto the car’s roof and shouted at Elena to accelerate.

“Drive! Now!” I yelled, and Elena immediately pressed the gas pedal to the floor.

Our car leaped forward with a burst of speed, but the electrical infected was keeping pace beside us, its incredible stride length allowing it to match our acceleration. I could see those glowing blue eyes fixed on me with predatory intensity, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it found a way to stop our vehicle or drag me off the roof.

I held on tightly to the luggage rack, feeling the wind whip through my hair as Elena pushed our car to its maximum speed. But even at this pace, the creature was staying right beside us, occasionally reaching out with one massive hand in an attempt to grab me or damage the vehicle.

This was the perfect moment to use my most powerful ability—the one I’d been holding in reserve for exactly this kind of desperate situation. I could have used it earlier in the fight, but I’d wanted to make sure all three girls were safely in the car before risking the temporary vulnerability that came with activating my time manipulation powers.

I focused my concentration, feeling the familiar sensation of reality bending around me as I activated my time freeze ability. The world suddenly went completely silent and still, everything around me locked in perfect stasis for exactly ten seconds.

The electrical infected was frozen mid-stride beside our car, one massive hand extended toward me in a grasping motion. Elena sat motionless in the driver’s seat, her hands gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled intensity. Even the flames from the burning car we’d left behind were suspended in the air like orange sculptures.

I had ten seconds to end this fight permanently.

I pulled the steel spike from where I’d secured it to my belt after retrieving it from the creature’s side during our earlier exchange. The weapon felt perfectly balanced in my hand, its point sharp enough to penetrate bone and brain tissue with sufficient force behind it.

Looking at the frozen electrical infected, I could see exactly where I needed to strike. The creature’s head was turned slightly toward me, exposing the temple area where the skull would be thinnest. If I could drive the spike through that point with enough force, I should be able to scramble its brain and kill it instantly.

I stood up carefully on the car’s roof, balancing myself against the frozen wind that had been whipping around me when time stopped. Then I raised the steel spike like a javelin, aiming for the precise point on the creature’s skull that would give me the best chance of a killing blow.

I activated my right arm’s wind blade enhancement, feeling the familiar swirl of weaponized air gathering around my limb. This time, instead of using the wind blades for direct combat, I channeled all that energy into propelling the steel spike with devastating force.

Taking careful aim, I hurled the spike toward the electrical infected’s temple with every ounce of enhanced strength I could muster, adding a powerful gust of wind to accelerate the weapon even further.

Just as I released the spike, time resumed its normal flow.

The steel spike flew through the air with incredible velocity, its point glowing from the friction of its passage. The electrical infected, still in mid-stride from its pursuit of our car, had no time to react or dodge as the projectile struck its temple with surgical precision.

The spike penetrated completely through the creature’s skull, punching out the other side in an explosion of brain matter and dark fluid. The exit wound was easily the size of a tennis ball, and I could see fragments of bone and tissue spraying across the parking lot as the weapon’s kinetic energy was transferred to the creature’s head.

The electrical infected stopped running immediately, its massive body going completely limp as its enhanced nervous system shut down. It collapsed to the asphalt with a thunderous crash that shook the ground, electrical discharges flickering briefly across its metallic skin before fading to nothing.

I watched the creature’s body settle into complete stillness, making sure it was truly dead before allowing myself to relax. The steel spike protruded from both sides of its skull like a grotesque monument to the battle we’d just survived, and the electrical cable around its waist had finally stopped sparking.

Exhaustion hit me right after as the adrenaline began to fade from my system. I slumped forward onto the car’s roof, my body finally acknowledging all the punishment it had taken during the fight. My right arm ached from the electrical shocks, my ribs were probably cracked from the impact with the car, and every muscle in my body felt like it had been worked far beyond its normal limits.

But we were alive, and we had Mark’s electrical components safely secured in the car. The mission had been a success, even if it had nearly cost us everything.

Elena slowed the car to a stop and turned in the driver’s seat to look up at me with obvious concern. “Ryan? Are you alright up there?”

I managed a tired smile, feeling the warmth of accomplishment mixing with my physical exhaustion. “I’m fine,” I said, though my voice was rougher than usual. “That thing is dead, and we’ve got everything Mark needs for his electrical grid project.”

“You are…insane.” Liu Mei said shortly before turning her gaze back ahead.

“Yeah I guess…”

I closed my eyes and let myself enjoy the simple pleasure of being alive after such a close brush with death. The electrical infected had been unlike anything we’d encountered before—a glimpse of how the Infected Virus might be evolving and adapting in ways we didn’t yet understand.

But for now, we had achieved our objective and everyone was safe. Mark would get his electrical components, both them and us would have a more reliable power grid, and we’d learned valuable information about the new threats we might face in the future.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep