Kimmy held her breath as her hand pushed the last inch into the exposed skin of the hive’s tendril.

A warm sensation flowed into her, the thick flesh squirming beneath her fingers. As she exhaled, the world in front of her stopped.

A canvas formed in her mind, one so large that it encompassed more than half the size of the northwestern industrial sector.

The tendril extended through the underground pathways—once built for passage by humans, now inhabited by the hive’s dense mass of flesh.

It pulsed like a heartbeat.

One.

Two.

Three.

Then the hive noticed her, like an eye of snake that snapped its slumbering attention toward the intruder.

The canvas inside her mind twisted violently. Shapes moved back and forth, to and from.

Thousands of them at once.

The tunnels that once lay silent suddenly flooded with motion as the hive reacted to her presence.

A sharp pain shot through her arm.

Click!

Something inside the tendril tightened around her fingers.

Kimmy gasped and felt that the flesh itself was trying to push her out—or rather, reject her entirely.

Whispers flooded her thoughts, not in words, but in instinct. Actions. An impulse to follow a desire in her brain.

Kimmy clenched her teeth. “No…” she whispered.

Her fingers dug deeper into the writhing flesh. “I’m not letting go. Not until I find you!”

If she failed now, Hans’s operation might be put in a halt. He had the ability to fight back again, but the trust placed by Hans unto her would go down the drain.

Even though she had no compelling reason to fully devote her life into this suicidal action, something stirred deeply within Kimmy.

As if a part of her mind longed for her to do such a valiant act—for her to be branded worthy of the Asters family name.

The energy flowing within her rushed into the mind; she pushed against the psychic tide trying to drive her away.

The pipes thrummed in response. The unsettling sound reached to the surface, making it ominous to those who heard it.

“Strike Team Actual, what’s happening over your position?” Big Rhino asked. “We hear loud vibrations, over.”

Matilda looked back towards Kimmy who now sprawled helpless on the ground. Beside her, Yunera watched with a frown on her face.

“The hive is reacting to the localization,” Matilda replied after a while. “Strengthen your attacks. This should be over soon!”

The sound of coax bullets ripped across the zombies on the main road. And if that wasn’t enough, a barrage of .50 caliber bullets followed soon after.

The zombie wave was annihilated in less than half a minute, further pushing their advance deeper to the east.

At the same time, the pressure inside Kimmy’s mind suddenly shifted.

The tunnels shook and parted unwillingly; loosened as she forced them open.

The network spread apart like tangled roots being pulled from the soil.

And beneath them all lay the center.

The ground had collapsed into a massive crater deep beneath the refiner complex.

At its heart lay a jagged shard of black stone—a meteorite shard.

Flesh wrapped around it like a parasitic cocoon, afraid to lose the toy that gave life to it.

Tendrils pulsed from the shard in every direction, feeding the hive network that stretched across the district.

The area around the shard was strangely clear of zombies or tunnels.

Only the beating mass surrounding the alien rock.

Kimmy grunted upon the reveal, managing to flash a wide grin.

“I found its location!”

Her words traveled loud and fast, but the hive was even faster.

As if exposed by its secrets, the hive pulsed with anger.

The tendrils that once pushed her out suddenly latched fully into her exposed arm.

“Sis, ah!”

Kimmy grasped the bent rebar as she was pulled into the large hole.

“Kimmy!”

“Miss!”

Yunera and Matilda reacted at the same time.

Yunera reached Kimmy first.

She lunged forward and caught Kimmy’s ankle before the tendrils could drag her deeper into the hole.

“Kimmy!”

The pull was violent.

The flesh tendrils tightened around Kimmy’s arm like living ropes, dragging both sisters toward the darkness below.

Yunera gritted her teeth and planted her boots against the cracked concrete.

Before she could speak, Matilda’s figure flashed before her eyes.

The combat blade swept over in a swift arc. The first tendril split open with a wet snap.

Black fluid splashed onto them.

“Another!”

Matilda swung again, detaching Kimmy from the grasping tendrils; the disconnection forced the hive to recoil violently.

“Kimmy!” Yunera pulled her sister close into her embrace.

“Are you—”

“Watch out!”

Another tendril whipped toward them; Matilda stepped forward and cut it again.

Slash. Slash!

The severed flesh writhed on the ground.

“You two, move away!” Matilda flicked the HCMAR back into her hands and loaded the grenade launcher.

“All Strike Teams, bomb this thing to death!”

She fired the first grenade.

It exploded on top of the concrete, barely touching a skin on the writhing flesh.

But the volley didn’t stop as came in the second grenade!

The flesh squirmed just in time as the grenade landed on its surface, swallowing the deadly projectile whole.

The flesh convulsed violently.

For a moment, it bulged outward. Then the swallowed grenade detonated inside.

A muffled explosion rippled through the mass of flesh; the node spasmed in pain.

Tendrils snapped back into the hole as the hive instinctively withdrew from the surface.

Its flesh collapsed inward, sealing the opening beneath layers of pulsating tissue.

“It’s retreating,” Matilda muttered and signaled the rest to stop.

“No, it’s not retreating,” Kimmy coughed as Yunera helped her stand.

“It’s protecting the core.”

The ground trembled beneath their feet. Across the entire sector, several of the exposed tendrils sank back into the earth.

The swarm on the main road staggered, then retreated without a warning.

For the first time since the battle began, the pressure eased.

“That should be our window,” Matilda glanced at Kimmy. “Can you go on?”

“I… I can. I just need to breathe.”

Kimmy held her hands close to her heaving chest. After ten breaths, the pale color on her face flushed pink.

She steadied herself against Yunera’s shoulder. Her fingers trembled as she pointed toward the refinery district ahead.

“The core is still there. Can I… get a lift?”

Matilda didn’t hesitate. She slipped one arm around Kimmy’s waist and hoisted her onto her shoulder.

“Hold tight.”

Before Yunera could protest, Matilda broke into a sprint.

Her boots struck the concrete twice before she vaulted onto a rusted generator box.

From there, she leapt upward, catching the edge of a nearby warehouse roof.

With a pull, she swung both of them onto the rooftop.

Yunera followed a second later, scaling the wall with ease.

The three of them crouched low against the edge. From that height, the deeper parts of the northwestern industrial district opened before them.

Kimmy stabilized herself on the ledge. Even through the blindfold, she could feel it.

That canvas remained painted on her mind, the hive’s structure open for her to see.

The two canvas of hers—the one from the tendrils, and the one she currently had overlapped.

The shapes slowly stitched into a single form. And then, something clicked inside her mind.

Her arm lifted weakly.

“Over there. The hive’s core… is in that area.”

She pointed toward near the north-northeastern center of the district.

Two refinery towers leaned over a collapsed section of the ground.

Between them lay the impact crater. And at the heart of it, something pulsed.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep