The crunch of boots on rusted metal shattered the stillness, each step crumbling flakes of oxidized steel that drifted into the stagnant air. Towering beams loomed overhead, their skeletal frames clawing at the sky, convulsing under the flicker of dying emergency lights.

  The wind crawled through the ruins, sluggish and heavy, dragging the stale scent of oil and decay through the hollow corridors. It wove lazily between the figures moving in tight formation, its breath thin and tired, as if reluctant to stir the dust of what had long been abandoned.

  “Raze” McCallan kept his team close. He growled over the comms.

  “Move slow; don’t rush him. He’ll burn himself out soon enough.”

  His tone was calm but heavy with the weight of command.

  “Brick” Kowalski groaned into the channel, voice dripping with derision.

  “We’re chasing a damn lab rat. I’ve put down real threats, Raze—this ain’t one of ‘em.”

  He rolled his shoulders, gripping the shotgun in his massive hands like a toy.

  “Say the word, and I’ll end this circus.”

  “Stick to the plan, Brick,” Raze snapped, his steel-blue eyes scanning the shadows ahead.

  Somewhere beyond the derelict beams, Kareem Almasi stumbled through the ruins, muttering furiously to himself. His words were fragmented, inaudible over the faint hum of the environment and the creaks of dormant machinery.

  Brick spotted their quarry between the columns—gaunt, limping, barely upright. He sneered. “Look at him. Guy can barely stand. Why are we even here?”

  Alyssa “Ghost” Richter stalked ahead, her silhouette flickered between cover with the silent precision of a hunter.

  “He’s talking to someone. Does he have an earpiece?” She whispered over the comms.

  “No,” Raze replied. “Probably the shock setting in. Stay focused.”

  Brick tapped the butt of his shotgun against his palm, the sound echoing in the stillness. He advanced a step, ignoring Raze’s warning.

  “This is a joke. Could’ve been halfway to my next op by now. Let me take him down already.”

  “Stand down, Brick,” Raze barked, his voice icy.

  But Brick pressed on, his heavy boots crunching debris as he moved closer.

  Kareem twisted suddenly, his movements jerky but startlingly precise, narrowly slipping behind a support beam as Brick closed in.

  “The hell?” Brick growled, frustration tightening his jaw.

  He lunged forward, but Kareem pivoted again, moving in a strange, fluid motion that made him an impossible target.

  “Enough of this cat-and-mouse crap,” Brick snarled. “I’m finishing this.”

  His voice crackled with barely restrained anger.

  Ghost’s voice froze his frustration, cold and steady.

  “He’s still muttering. I thought comms… But there’s no earpiece, no signal. Nothing.”

  She tracked Kareem’s erratic movements, noting how his head tilted slightly, as if listening to words no one else could hear.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Raze interjected, his calm starting to fray.

  “Cut off his exit. This ends now.”

  Kareem’s breath rasped in the distance, a fractured whisper as he darted between shadows. The team fanned out, their movements deliberate yet tense, the predator-prey dynamic shifting subtly.

  Brick tightened his grip on the shotgun, his pride boiling over as he locked eyes with Kareem between the gaps in the metal beams. For a moment, Kareem froze, his face twisted in an expression of pain and defiance. Then, like smoke, he was gone.

  Brick swore under his breath, the vein in his temple throbbing.

  “Keep running, lab rat. It won’t save you.”

  Kareem’s faint muttering rose from the gloom, steady and incoherent, needling Ghost’s composure.

  “He’s unarmed,” she murmured, her tone betrayed unease. “Why does this feel wrong?”

  Raze said nothing, his eyes narrowing as he pushed forward. The hunt wasn’t over, but Kareem wasn’t the only one starting to feel the weight of the chase.

  ***

  Kareem stumbled into the darkness, his breath hitching with every step. His side burned where shrapnel from the helipad IED had struck; the sticky warmth of blood soaking into his shirt. Jagged pain perforated his ribs with every motion. His lungs refused to fill completely. He pressed a trembling hand to the wound, willing the agony to subside.

  “Just keep moving,” he muttered.

  The mantra looped in his head as though repetition could override the mounting fatigue. His legs felt leaden, his knees threatening to buckle with each faltering step. A pipe jutted from the ground ahead, its rusted surface slick with condensation. He gripped it for balance, but the cold metal against his skin did little to anchor him.

  The AI burrowed into his mind, whispered between his thoughts—cold, invasive, inescapable. Kareem’s vision sharpened unnaturally; drawn to the faint glint of Ghost’s pistol across the room, then to the deliberate way Brick flexed his fingers around his shotgun. The details details surfaced without warning, as though someone else was controlling his eyes and pulling focus.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Kareem’s voice cracked, barely audible.

  He stumbled forward, his body lurching before his mind had time to decide.

  “You’re supposed to help me—protect me.”

  The AI never answered. It simply coiled around his thoughts, threading a serpentine path through his consciousness, devouring what little control remained. The room around him seemed to tilt, the shadows elongating unnaturally. Fleeting images of Samira flickered across his mind. Her voice, her laughter—fragments of something fragile—slipped away as soon as he reached for them.

  He blinked hard, trying to banish the vision, but it left a hollow ache in its wake. Were those memories real, or just another trick of the AI? Kareem couldn’t tell anymore. His hands tightened around the pipe, the rough surface digging into his palms as his thoughts spiraled into chaos.

  The sharp crunch of boots against metal yanked him back to the present. Brick’s hulking form loomed in the faint light, his shotgun swinging lazily at his side. A sneer curled his lips.

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  “A scientist with a pipe? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  Kareem’s grip on the pipe tightened, his knuckles white. He didn’t want this. He didn’t want to fight. Lightning shot down his spine and the AI stormed into power. His feet shifted before he was ready. His legs locked and his arms betrayed him, wrenching the pipe above his head.

  Brick lunged, swinging the butt of his shotgun with brute force. Before Kareem could think, his body twisted without him. The pipe collided with Brick’s forearm in a deafening clang, the shock rattled Kareem’s bones.

  Brick roared, his weapon clattering to the ground. His eyes bulged in disbelief.

  “Bastard’s got a little fight in ‘im,” Brick snarled, clutching his arm.

  His amusement evaporated, replaced by a seething rage.

  Kareem stumbled back, his chest heaving. The AI constricted, threading into his limbs with inhuman strength. Ghost’s silhouette flickered from the shadows, her pistol glinted in the light. Kareem’s heart thundered in his chest, but the AI was already moving, calculating.

  The crack of gunfire came too soon. Move! he thought, the command desperate and primal. He flinched, bracing for the pain. The AI wrenched Kareem sideways with staggering unpredictability, the bullet screaming past his shoulder and sparking against a nearby support beam. Ghost cursed under her breath, recalibrating her aim.

  Kareem’s muscles screamed in protest, but the AI ignored the strain, driving him forward again. He ducked low, his vision narrowing to a pinpoint as Ghost closed in, her ice-gray eyes locked onto him with lethal precision.

  Every step was a battle, not against Ghost or Brick, but against the unrelenting force inside his own head. The AI cared nothing for his limits—it only pushed and pushed.

  Kareem’s thoughts were a cacophony of fear and defiance as the AI surged. Its presence wasn’t just invasive now—it was consuming. His muscles moved with a precision that wasn’t his, his vision focused unnaturally on Brick as the operative circled back with renewed aggression.

  Brick flexed his fingers around a combat knife, the shotgun discarded at his feet. He advanced with confidence, his gait full of anger.

  “You’re done, lab rat,” he growled. “No tricks left. Just you and me.”

  Kareem tried to stop himself, to scream at his limbs to freeze, but the AI seized control. His body tensed, his vision sharpening to track the subtle shifts in Brick’s stance. A slight drop in the man’s left guard was all it took.

  Without warning, Kareem lurched forward. The movement was impossibly quick, a blur of sensation. The pipe struck with brutal force, numbing his fingers. Brick wheezed, coughing up blood, his hands scrambled to block the follow-up, but Kareem’s movements were ruthlessly choreographed. The pipe found its mark again—this time piercing his throat.

  Kareem’s mind screamed in protest as Brick staggered backward, blood spilling down his chest. He collapsed to the floor with a gurgling choke, his life extinguished in mere seconds.

  Kareem staggered, his chest heaving. Control of his body flickered back for a fleeting moment. His hands trembled, streaked with Brick’s blood, as his mind reeled in horror.

  No… no, no, no,” he gasped.

  His knees nearly buckled under the weight of what had just happened.

  “I didn’t… I didn’t mean—”

  The AI surged again, silencing his protest. Ghost moved in, her expression cold but cautious. Her gaze darted between Kareem and Brick’s lifeless form, the unshakable operative now visibly rattled. Her pistol rose, trained on Kareem’s chest.

  “You’re done,” she said, her tone flat. “Stay down.”

  Kareem’s lips parted as if to speak, but the AI was incapable of surrender. His body slumped forward slightly, feigning weakness. Blood dripped from his fingers as his breaths grew shallow—a predator’s lure disguised as vulnerability.

  Ghost hesitated for half a second, her finger poised on the trigger. It was all the AI needed. Kareem exploded into motion, his hand darting out to grab her wrist with bone-crushing strength. Ghost gasped, pivoting to kick Kareem in the ribs, but his grip didn’t falter. Her wrist snapped with a sickening crack, and she fell to her knees, her face contorted in pain.

  The AI sparred no compassion. Kareem’s hands blurred—the snap of bone audible. Ghost crumpled, her final breath a broken sigh.

  Kareem stumbled back again, his vision swimming as the AI’s control briefly waned. He clutched his side—his heart pounded his ribs.

  “Stop,” he muttered, body trembling. “Please, just stop…”

  The AI ignored him, driving him forward once more.

  Raze’s shout echoed off of the walls, his calm authority fraying.

  “Show yourself, Almasi! Enough of this.”

  He stood in the center of the facility, his pistol raised as he scanned the shadows. His once-imposing figure seemed smaller now, his confidence eroding with every second of silence.

  Kareem moved with predatory grace, curling through the shadows like smoke. The AI’s gaze locked onto Raze’s weapon, noting its position and the slight twitch in his fingers. A screwdriver glinted faintly on a nearby table—a tool that would suffice.

  Raze turned sharply, firing into the darkness, muzzle flash illuminating tense features.

  “You can’t hide forever!” His voice faltered, cracking beneath the fear.

  The AI seized control completely, shifting Kareem forward onto the balls of his feet—waiting. Raze fired again, but the mag clicked empty.

  Kareem shot forward from the shadows, his hand extending to grab the screwdriver. One hand swept the useless weapon aside, the other drove the screwdriver through Raze’s boot and pinned him to the metal grate below. Raze’s cry of pain echoed across the factory, composure shattering as he struggled to free himself.

  Kareem’s body moved with chilling precision, his hands gripping Raze’s shoulders and slamming him into a rusted support column. The force knocked the air from Raze’s lungs, leaving him gasping as the AI tightened its hold.

  “What… what are you?” Raze rasped, his steel-blue eyes liquid with terror.

  His voice cracked as he fought against Kareem’s unyielding grip, but it was no use.

  The AI offered no answer, only cold efficiency. Kareem’s hands tightened around Raze’s throat. He clenched his jaw, fighting his own body.

  No, no! Raze’s struggles slowed, his desperation glazing over. Stop, please!

  The factory fell into silence once more. Kareem straightened, the AI guiding him with mechanical precision as it scanned the room for further threats. The faint sound of Kareem’s labored breathing was the only sign of humanity left in the darkened expanse.

  The stillness was suffocating, crushing Kareem, squeezing the thoughts from his head. The faint sound of dripping water echoed through the hollow space, each drop a cruel reminder of the lives extinguished moments ago. Kareem’s legs gave way, his body folding against a rusted support beam as he collapsed to the floor. His breathing was ragged, shallow, every inhale clawing at his battered lungs.

  Blood seeped between his fingers, his wound an unrelenting ache. His limbs trembled uncontrollably, his strength drained by pain and exhaustion. The cold metal beneath him bit into his skin, but he welcomed the sensation—it reminded him he was still alive. For now.

  His vision blurred, but the faces of the dead remained razor sharp. Brick’s sneer frozen in rage, Ghost’s icy composure cracking, the terror roiling in Raze’s eyes.

  “I didn’t… I didn’t mean to,” he whispered hoarsely, though no one was left to hear.

  The AI’s presence swelled, a shadow swallowing his thoughts. Its influence was smothering; its calculated precision still rippled through his muscles.

  He pressed his hands to his temples, as if he could claw it out. “Leave me alone.”

  Its silence was cruel mockery, a reminder that it had no need to justify its actions. It was part of him now, a cold and unyielding force he couldn’t escape. Kareem’s mind screamed, his thoughts desperate and defiant. But the AI was indifferent, a predator watching its prey struggle in vain.

  The room darkened around him, the edges of his vision closing in as his strength ebbed away. Kareem’s head slumped against the support beam, his breaths growing slower, weaker. He fought to stay conscious, but the blood loss, the pain, and the memories pulled him under.

  “Leave me alone,” he murmured one final time, his words barely audible. And then, silence.

  Its directive met, the AI’s hold loosened, releasing Kareem’s body as his consciousness faded. For the briefest moment, the AI remained aware. It kept a silent vigil over him, before its own awareness flickered out, leaving Kareem’s form cradled in shadow.