My Sniper System in a Zombie Apocalypse World-Chapter 81: Hunted

From the rubble, a hand pushed through broken concrete. Jaxon groaned as he shoved debris off his chest. Sharp pain stabbed through his side.

He could feel his ribs broken. But he did not stop.

He dragged himself up, his teeth clenched, and body shaking. From the destroyed building came a thick, rotten stench that spread through the air.

Nearby infected began to howl. Their movements grew frantic and wilder.

"Damn it," Jaxon muttered, though he could barely hear his own voice.

His ears still rang, useless, as he used his rifle to steady himself. The ground shook with approaching footsteps.

They were coming.

He forced his legs to move, stumbling forward, then breaking into a painful sprint.

Every few steps, he turned and fired, dropping the closest infected before pushing on again.

Pain burned through his body, but stopping meant death.

So he ran.

As Jaxon sprinted out onto the streets, a sudden movement from above froze him for a split second. A long, sinewy arm, muscles soft and oddly flexible shot out from a rooftop, reaching for him.

He twisted instinctively, sidestepping just in time. The sticky, grotesque limb missed him, slamming into a bald infected stumbling behind instead.

Jaxon’s eyes widened in horror as he looked up. Another mutated creature stood on the rooftop. Tall and thin, its distended jaw pulsed with veins that throbbed across its neck and chest. One hand ended in long, razor-like claws; the other stretched unnaturally, like a lizard’s tongue, sticky and prehensile.

The creature dragged the captured infected toward itself, tearing it clean in half with its clawed hand. Its elongated arm whipped back, scanning the streets, hunting.

"Shit," Jaxon muttered, pivoting sharply. He sprinted harder, narrowly dodging the sticky hand snapping at him again. The monster leaped from rooftop to rooftop, relentless, each movement precise and terrifyingly fast.

"Ugh, fuck it." Jaxon spun around, facing the mutated infected as it roared, a horrifying sound that rattled the air. He fired his rifle, but the creature seemed to anticipate his shots, darting behind a wall for cover as if it knew how a gun worked.

"Are you serious?" Jaxon muttered, glancing over his shoulder. A dozen infected were closing in fast, their snarls filling the streets. His eyes flicked back to the mutant crouched above.

He tightened his grip on his rifle, letting out a long, steadying breath, and sprinted at the mass of infected. He pushed every ounce of strength into his legs, leaping over the throng of shambling corpses.

He landed squarely on one infected, smashing the butt of his rifle into its head. The others came at him, but he used precise, forceful pushes and elbow strikes, applying the close-combat techniques Elena had drilled into him.

The mutated creature saw its chance to strike as its long, sticky arm shot out toward him. Jaxon anticipated the move, ducking low just in time. The arm snagged a bald infected behind him instead, yanking it up violently.

As the mutant tore the infected’s body in half, Jaxon’s fingers squeezed the trigger. Bullets flew, three striking at its head in rapid succession. It pierced through its skull, completely obliterating it. Its grotesque form collapsing onto the rooftop.

Jaxon didn’t have a second to breathe. The dozen infected nearby were still clawing and snarling. He pushed through, firing, swinging his rifle, and sprinting with everything he had.

...

Moments later, Jaxon pressed himself into the corner, gasping for breath. His heart pounded, legs shaking from the full burst of speed it had taken to outrun the horde that had been chasing him.

From a rooftop above, something watched. A hunter-like beast clung to the walls, moving silently like a shadow.

Then, with a sudden bulge of its legs, it launched itself like a rocket toward Jaxon’s back.

Jaxon barely noticed in time, twisting his body and side-stepping as its claws whistled past inches from his face.

’Fuck... what now?’ he muttered, teeth gritted.

The creature landed in front of him. Another mutated infected crouched low on all fours. Its body was lean, claws digging into the rooftop, its spine bending unnaturally.

It let out a guttural, bone-rattling growl and lunged again. Jaxon rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike.

(Speed +2)

(Agility +1)

Adrenaline surged as he slammed points into speed and agility. This thing was fast, faster than anything he had faced tonight.

The DMR vanished from his arms as he pulled out the pistol Natasha had given him, knowing the rifle would be useless at close distance.

He aimed for its head and fired. The creature twisted mid-air, avoiding the first bullets. Jaxon kept firing, each trigger pull precise. One shot hit its head, but it didn’t go down. With terrifying strength, it bounded from rooftop to rooftop, lunging at him with predatory speed.

Jaxon pushed his body to the limit, weaving, leaping, and sprinting despite the stabbing pain in his ribs and the weight of exhaustion. The creature’s claws sliced through the air mere inches from him, the screech of metal on concrete ringing in his ears as he narrowly dodged again.

"Bastard... you want to play?" Jaxon muttered through gritted teeth, bracing himself.

He sprinted, shedding his sniper cape as he moved. The fabric fluttered behind him, leaving him lighter, freer to maneuver.

He dropped near a broken car, cape in hand. Timing everything perfectly, he flung the dark sniper cape high into the air. The fabric unfurled, blotting out the creature’s sight for a heartbeat, a moving shadow that swallowed him whole.

In that instant, Jaxon dropped low and slipped behind the car. The mutated infected lunged, claws tearing through empty air where he had been just moments ago. Confused, it hissed and twisted, trying to locate him.

Then, almost like magic, Jaxon reappeared on the other side of the car, pistol raised. Bullets fired in rapid succession, striking the creature squarely in the head. It staggered, screeched, and finally collapsed.

Jaxon crouched behind the car, chest heaving, eyes scanning the surroundings. That was too close.

’These things... how are they mutating this quickly?’ The thought weighed heavy in his chest, pushing the decision to leave the city to the forefront of his mind.

He shook the dread off. There was no time to dwell. He needed to get out before anything else appeared.

Springing into action, he bolted into the streets, leaping from one abandoned car to the next, eyes scanning for movement.

.....

Meanwhile, atop a skyscraper kilometers away, a Variant watched the ant-like horde where the explosion had ripped through the streets. Its red glowing eyes seemed to pierce the distance, scanning the chaos below like it could see every movement.

A deep, bone-rattling howl tore through the air. Without hesitation, it leapt from the rooftop. Its claws sank into the side of the building, shattering concrete and glass as it slowed its descent.

Boom.

The ground cracked under its landing, yet it rose as if nothing had happened. With another roar, it sprinted toward the chaos, and hundreds of infected immediately surged after it.