"Not here," Konrad grunted before kicking in the last door. "And not here, either."
Dmitry's frustrated laugh crackled through the static.
"Well, if they're keeping in with the theme, it'll be somewhere underground."
And yes, he did expect that, but—
"That's it for my sniper cover, then," he sighed, stopping to catch his breath.
He had no idea how Strelok had gotten through all this and found his way to wherever this siren had been blaring. Not while the zombies he had left behind were still trying to stop him.
Their duo had to be much more careful.
They exterminated every threat first, before moving on.
'I still detect a few more life-forms loitering nearby, though,' the brain noted.
Which made little sense.
"Why would they hold them back when we're about to overrun the place?! Reserves?"
'Our Psyonic protection might've caught them off guard,' the voice theorised. 'They must think that everyone would turn into a zombie if they tied them down long enough.'
Well, Konrad was already struggling with a mild headache.
And he had both the latest prototype of the Psy Dampener and a parallel brain to protect him.
"Will Strelok be all right?" he asked, searching for that elusive entrance.
Which, considering the man left a trail of blood and corpses in his wake, he still couldn't find.
'Hmm,' the brain pondered. 'You say these zombies have a coordinated network, right?'
He pointed Konrad in a direction, outlining a silhouette.
'Get me close enough to that one, and I'll try to hijack it. I'll tell you more after.'
Oh? Finally, an original idea.
The brain's performance had started to disappoint him lately.
"Does it have a gun?" he asked, sneaking up on his target.
'Does it matter?' the voice entered pouty territory. 'Guns can't hurt me, and if you want my help, you shouldn't have such unflattering thoughts of me.'
Ugh. Nope.
He might have missed Lily's needy voice from his head, but he didn't want another one.
"If he shoots me dead, you'll lose your vessel, too," Konrad pointed out.
And the response was something akin to a long sigh.
'Could take over the next zombie, but you're right. It'd be inconvenient.'
Thank the spirits it was. And that this zombie did not transform into a Snork yet, but for some reason, didn't have a gun, either. It still tried to claw at Konrad, but went limp pretty fast.
'That network might actually exist,' the voice noted, sounding surprised. 'But it's tough to crack.'
"Give me an entrance then," he demanded. "And at least a vague idea of what I am to face there."
'More of the same, I guess? And a whole labyrinth of tunnels, as it seems.'
Well, wasn't that great?
The closest entrance turned out to be near an electric transformer. But it couldn't have been the one Strelok took—since Konrad had to break it open.
"I'm going down," he announced through the radio, taking the three flights of stairs.
"Want me to join?" the Captain asked, and the answer would have been an obvious yes, until—
'I can't protect him like you,' the brain warned.
"Ugh. I guess not. Cover the area instead," Konrad groaned. "And report if anything moves."
He had already encountered two more zombies on his way down.
But thanks to Mama's Beads, he cut them down before they could get a clear shot at him.
"What even is this place?" he mumbled, fishing the flashlight out of his pocket.
The corridors were long, but much narrower than in Lab X-16.
With all the exposed cables and rust, it seemed like a maintenance shaft.
But maintenance for what?
That huge antenna complex was above the ground, reaching all the way to the sky.
'But there is another lab below it, and—uh, oh. Brace for impact.'
Impact of what?!
The corridor was empty, though he could hear some creaks, holding his sword out in front.
'No, behind, behind,' the brain warned, and Konrad turned in the very last second.
He didn't have the space to swing using the momentum.
But expecting the worst, he stabbed forward, the point of his blade catching on something.
Something very big and heavy that almost knocked him back.
And it's scream?
It chilled all the blood in Konrad's spine.
All while he could still not see a thing.
Not until he yanked his sword free, and blood sprayed from thin air.
'Don't let it any closer or you'll never peel it off,' the brain warned, but all he could do was to hold the blade in front of him. And something immediately knocked it out of the way.
"What the hell?" Konrad yelped, backing away on the uneven floor, littered with trash.
'One of the test subjects,' the voice said. 'They called it the Bloodsucker.'
"They made this fucking thing?!" he scowled, trying not to fall. "How is it invisible?"
But then, he remembered. In no small part thanks to the brain refreshing his memory.
The Psy Dog. It could also pull the same trick or project illusions using his Psyionic energies.
Which should have meant—
"Make it visible, damn it," Konrad demanded. "My blade is touching it."
And so the brain did, making him regret that request right away.
The thing was huge, at least seven feet tall.
It had dark red skin, milky eyes, and tentacles where his mouth should have been.
Why turn invisible, when its sheer looks could have scared the shit out of him?!
Well, now that he could see it, he could also kick it in the guts, yank his blade free, and—
Stab it in the chest. And the neck. Then in the eye as well.
And a few more times while it was screaming and falling, for good measure.
"Holy fucking shit," Konrad panted. "Tell me there's no more of these."
'There might be,' the parallel brain admitted. 'But if you want, I can project out an anti-invisibility field around you. They won't be able to sneak up on you closer than three feet.'
Yeah, no. That was way too short a warning, but he took what he got.
"What's all that screaming?" the Captain asked, the radio connection already breaking up.
"You don't want to know," Konrad grunted, taking another look at the dead monster. "But you might want to set some traps around your position. We have invisible enemies now."
Whether he had heard him or not, the headset would only project static.
And he wasn't even that deep underground yet.
'It's the Psyonic field,' the voice explained. 'They must've realized what they're facing, and upped the broadcast's strength. Don't worry, I can still cancel it fine.'
"Yeah, pre-recorded brain-waves my ass," Konrad said. "This thing is very much alive."
And it was better at what it was doing than his parasite was.
'That would be only possible if they used me as the blueprint to improve upon.'
Yeah. That did not help Konrad at all.
Not while he was alone in the dark on a narrow corridor.
Standing over a monster's corpse that shouldn't have existed.
Chasing a man he needed to reach, no matter what, but who might have already died.
"Okay, let's go," he said with a sigh. "And you'd better prove that there's no besting the original."