The sixth floor loomed ahead, the dimly lit corridor stretching into shadow.
The stench of death hung thick in the air, an unseen force clawing at Carter's lungs as he inhaled.
They had cleared all the suites on the topmost floor, as the human survivors worked tirelessly to once more barricade themselves inside their homes after Carter offered a token apology for disturbing them, but with force behind him none of these frightened survivors dared to challenge him
Surrounding him, his warriors moved with primal grace, their heavy footfalls eerily silent against the cold floor.
Their thick hides and fur pelts clung to their powerful frames, the weapons they carried crude but deadly—jagged stone axes, sharpened spears, and spiked clubs fashioned from bone, and stone.
Cavemen.
Yet, despite their prehistoric origins, their discipline was unnerving.
They had no memories before their summoning, yet they fought as though battle had always been their way of life.
Ahead of them, 1—the largest of the warriors—turned his broad, scarred back toward Carter, his thick fingers tightening around his club.
"Chief,"
he grunted, his deep voice rumbling like distant thunder.
"Floors same?"
Carter gave a short nod.
"Yes."
1 bared his teeth in approval.
"Then we split."
He pointed downward, drawing a rough symbol into the dust-covered wall with the edge of his club.
"Three groups. We hunt faster."
Carter studied the etching—a crude representation of their pack moving separately through the floors.
Despite his primitive nature, 1's tactical reasoning was sound.
"We form three groups,"
Carter repeated, making sure the others were listening.
"Each one will clear a suite and head on. If another group is still fighting, we assist. If a floor is empty, we move on to the next. This way, we cover more ground and clear the building faster. Than if we continued to clear each suite with the eleven of us together."
He pointed to the warriors as he assigned their groups.
1 through 3 with Carter | 4 through 7 as the second pack |8 through 10 as the third
The warriors grunted in agreement, their breath misting in the cold, dead air.
Each group was composed of two fighters, and one ranged attacker.
"Good,"
1 rumbled, tightening his grip on his weapon.
"We hunt."
Carter stepped forward, leading his three-man hunting party back into the fifth floor.
The moment they emerged from the stairwell, the darkness stirred.
A chorus of inhuman moans rippled through the corridor.
Rotting figures turned toward them, their glazed-over, milky eyes locking onto fresh prey.
Their jaws snapped open, a grotesque symphony of hunger.
The zombies charged.
"Kill."
Carter's command was drowned beneath the roaring battle cry of his warriors, they had only just returned to the floor and all the previous planning had fallen away as the eleven engaged the incoming threat together.
1 swung first, his massive club whistling through the air.
CRACK.
The impact shattered a zombie's skull, splattering the walls with thick, blackened blood.
The corpse crumpled, twitching violently before going still.
2 followed next, thrusting his sharpened bone spear straight through a zombie's gaping mouth, pinning it to the wall like an insect in a collector's box.
Carter raised his knife, his heart hammering as he threw it, feeling as if he could feel the blade tumbling through the air.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Two headshots, two bodies dropping like sacks of rotting meat.
The blade had smoothly gone through the head of the first creature before embedding itself into the head of the one right behind it.
The system notifications flashed in his vision, but he barely registered them.
This wasn't just a mission anymore.
This was war.
The air was thick with the reek of decay and blood.
The undead kept coming, dragging their ruined bodies forward, driven by an insatiable hunger.
But the cavemen were not prey.
They were predators.
1 grabbed a zombie by its throat, lifting it effortlessly into the air.
With one savage motion, he slammed it headfirst into the ground, splitting its skull like a cracked egg.
A second zombie lunged—only for 4 to intercept it, swinging his axe with terrifying strength.
The jagged stone blade bit into rotting flesh, carving through muscle and bone.
The creature shuddered violently before collapsing, its head hanging by sinew and torn flesh.
Carter's sat back with the ranged warriors having thrown away his only weapon on the onset of this carnage.
The system's tally climbed as their kill count grew.
[Mission Objectives: Kill 50 Infected - 15/50.]
[You received 2,200 Dollars.]
[You received 220 Experience Points.]
"Reloading!"
Carter barked, ducking behind a shattered column as he used the system to order additional munitions for the ranged troops replenishing the stones in their side packs to be used with their slings, and the javelin like spears being thrown.
The warriors moved in sync, forming a protective wall around them.
Carter had always thought of cavemen as wild, untamed savages—but watching them fight, he saw the truth.
They were disciplined killers.
The battle continued until the last zombie on the floor collapsed, its body twitching violently before falling still.
Carter exhaled sharply, lowering his guard just a little as he retrieve his knife from the corpse it was stuck within, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps as he was still coming to terms with the horror now coating the walls and floor around him.
[Mission Objectives: Kill 50 Infected - 25/50.]
[You received a total of 2,000 Dollars.]
[You received a total of 200 Experience Points.]
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
Carter wiped the sweat from his brow, glancing at the warriors.
They were still standing.
Their bodies were slick with gore, their weapons dripping blackened blood, but their eyes burned with the same fierce determination as before.
Carter managed a breathless chuckle.
"Nice hunting, everyone."
The warriors grinned, some flashing sharp teeth.
4 stepped forward, his expression serious.
"We keep moving?"
Carter nodded.
"Yeah. We keep moving."
The battle had only just finished and now they started to break up into their groups again breaking down the suite doors and combing for more creatures, all except for his own suite.
When one door was broken down, and the cavemen moved in.
A disheveled man stumbled into carter's view, his hands raised in surrender.
His face was streaked with dirt and dried blood, his eyes wide with terror.
"No, no, no! Don't kill me!"
"Not prey,"
1 grunted, but kept his club raised.
Carter stepped forward, gesturing for the warriors to stand down.
"We're not here to hurt you,"
Carter said evenly.
"We're clearing the building of zombies. You need to stay inside until it's safe."
The man's face crumpled with desperation.
"Please—there are kids in here! We don't have food or water!"
Carter's jaw tightened.
He exchanged a glance with 1, the weight of the man's plea settling over him.
This mess had only just begun and well... the taps were still working so far as he knew so the claim of being out of water was false, and how could one not have any food in their own home...
But the cry for help still tugged his heartstrings a little but even still
He had nothing to give.
He had barely enough to survive as it was in his own home for probably a week, less than a day since he'd need to also feed these towers of muscle.
"I'm sorry,"
Carter said, his voice firm.
"We don't have anything to offer right now, but even still Stay inside, and block off the entrance with whatever you can. When this place is cleared, we'll see what we can find there are plenty of suites without residents still in them right now."
The man hesitated.
Then, with a small, defeated nod, he backed into his apartment and closed the door by propping it up against the entrance then the sounds of clutter happening behind it as the door was braced against further incursion.
Carter sighed, glancing at 1.
"Assuming each floor has twenty or thirty zombies, we'll run out of weapons before we reach the ground floor," 1 rumbled, his ability to speak had increased greatly since before.
"I'll buy more from the system, even if they break"
Carter replied.
"For now, conserve your strength. Aim for the head. That's their weak spot."
The warriors grunted in acknowledgment.
Carter rolled his shoulders, straightening his stance.
"Let's keep moving."
And so they did—deeper into the dark, deeper into the infested halls, where only the strongest would survive.
The hunt was far from over.