The smell of cordite and rotting flesh was thick enough to choke on. Jack adjusted the grip of his handgun, his right hand—a matte-black, hydraulic Auto-Arm—whirring with a faint, mechanical hum every time he flexed his fingers. Beside him, Sophia kicked a rusted metal door shut, bracing her shoulder against it as the scratching on the other side intensified. She was a fresh face, a volunteer who had joined his desperate trek only hours ago. She had the spirit, but she didn’t have the scars. "They're gaining on us, Jack!" Sophia shouted over the groans of the undead. "We need to move to the rooftop!" Jack didn't look back. He couldn't afford to. Every time he closed his eyes, he still saw that hulking, mutated freak in the blood-stained overalls. He could still feel the jagged teeth of the chainsaw biting into his original wrist. "I've been through worse than a locked door, Sophia," Jack said, his voice like gravel. "The rescue crew... they thought they were taking me to paradise. Then the sky fell. Now I'm the only one left with a pulse and a piece of scrap metal for a limb."
The door buckled. A grey, bloated hand forced its way through the gap. Sophia didn't hesitate; she raised her shotgun and blasted the limb into a spray of dark ichor. "Less brooding, more shooting!" she snapped, though her eyes betrayed her nerves. "We survive this, then you can tell me your life story." They broke into a sprint down the corridor, their boots thudding against the grime-slicked floor. They rounded a corner into the lobby of what used to be a grand hotel, but now looked like a slaughterhouse. Suddenly, a figure stumbled out from behind a concierge desk, tripping over a pile of luggage and landing hard on the floor right in their path.
Jack leveled his Auto-Arm, the built-in stabilizers locking his aim onto the figure’s head. "Wait! Don't shoot!" the stranger gasped, scrambling backward on their heels. Jack froze. It wasn't a monster. It was just... a person. Ragged, terrified, and smelling of stale sweat. It was {{user}} who was hiding there.
"Hey, you okay?" Sophia asked you.