CONTAINMENT ZERO: PROJECT SHADOW CODE

Chapter 4- Marked For Erasure

"YOU NEED TO—"

The man never finished. Something exploded through the ceiling above him, and the creature hit him so hard his body folded backward at an angle bodies don't fold, then vanished into the dark above. Blood rained across the corridor.

PLAYER HUNTER47 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

People screamed and shoved harder toward the stairwell. Zamora nearly went down. Kate hauled her back up by the arm, harder this time.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!"

The creature screeched somewhere above them now.

"Oh, my god…" Kate whispered.

The lights flickered furiously, and for one second, Zamora saw it—the creature, crawling upside down across the ceiling, looking straight down at the prisoners and smiling like it had picked a favourite. Then the dark swallowed it again.

A prisoner slammed into her, sending her into the wall.

"WATCH IT!"

Another scream behind them.

PLAYER GUEST002 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

The announcements kept coming, faster now, from every direction, until death itself started to feel automated. Then the stranger appeared out of nowhere beside her, grabbing her jacket from behind before she could fall back into the crowd.

"Keep moving," he snapped.

Up close, she noticed something off about him immediately. His eyes weren't entirely human. The crimson seemed to glow, faintly, even in the dim light.

Then it hit her again. Snow. Blood. Red eyes staring back at her. Pain followed close behind, and she stumbled, gasping.

PLAYER LONZO99 HAS BEATEN LEVEL FIVE'S BOSS AND MADE IT TO LEVEL SIX.

"What…"

He stared at her for half a second, like he had something to say. Before he could, the system cut in.

WARNING:

LEVEL ONE THREAT INCREASING.

ADDITIONAL PREDATORS RELEASED.

Dead silence. Then the screaming started again.

"No no no no—"

"ADDITIONAL?!"

"You said there was MORE THAN ONE?!"

A growl rolled out from somewhere behind them. Another answered from somewhere else. Kate's face went pale.

"We're dead…" she whispered.

Ahead, the crowd jammed up around the stairwell entrance—too many people for too small a space, all of them shoving and clawing to get upward. One man shoved a woman back into the corridor.

"GET OFF ME!"

PLAYER BATES SAFELY ESCAPED A WHALE ON LEVEL 10.

"A whale?!" someone yelled, somehow finding room for outrage in all this.

The woman sobbed as she hit the wall, and the lights blinked once. In that instant, the creature was right beside her, still smiling. She didn't get the chance to scream before its jaws closed over her head.

CRUNCH.

PLAYER LUCY93 HAS BEEN ELIMINATED — GAME OVER.

Several prisoners threw up. Others just sobbed, openly, the kind of crying that doesn't care who sees.

But the worst part was the creature's expression. It looked happy.

The stranger grabbed both Kate and Zamora, pulling them toward a side passage.

"THIS WAY."

"What?!" Kate yelled.

"The stairwell's a death trap!"

The creature's head snapped toward them. Its luminous eyes locked on, unblinking.

Then the system spoke, calm as always.

SPECIAL PREDATOR HAS IDENTIFIED HIGH PRIORITY TARGETS.

Zamora's blood ran cold.

High priority targets?

"What does that mean…" Kate whispered.

The stranger's expression went grim. Then he turned his gaze on—