"That's it," I whispered, pointing toward the far end of the corridor where a door marked "Technical Operations" stood slightly ajar. "Whatever's generating those calls, it's in there."

Rachel nodded. "How much time do we have before more guards show up?"

"Probably not long," I said, checking my weapons and the recording equipment. "Whatever intelligence runs this place knows we're here now. It'll be mobilizing every defense it has available."

We moved toward the Technical Operations door, our footsteps echoing softly in the corridor despite our efforts at stealth. The humming sound grew more pronounced as we approached, and I could feel it vibrating through the building's structure rather than just through the air. Whatever was generating that frequency had serious power behind it.

I pushed open the door carefully, revealing a room that definitely hadn't been part of the original radio station design. The space had been completely transformed, with all the normal broadcasting equipment removed and replaced by something that belonged in a science fiction movie rather than a small-town communications facility.

The alien device dominated the center of the room—a crystalline structure about four feet tall that seemed to be composed of materials that shifted and flowed despite appearing solid. Patterns of light moved through its translucent structure like slow lightning, pulsing in rhythm with the low humming that filled the space. The craftsmanship was beautiful in the way that truly advanced technology often was, all flowing curves and surfaces that seemed to bend light around them.

But what drew my attention even more than the device itself was what surrounded it. Six infected stood in a perfect circle around the alien artifact, their bodies positioned like points on a compass rose. Unlike the enhanced guards we'd fought in the corridor, these showed no signs of physical augmentation. Instead, they stood in the same motionless state we'd observed before, their eyes closed and their breathing so shallow as to be almost undetectable.

"They're not guards," Rachel whispered, her voice filled with horrified understanding. "They're components. Part of the system itself."

Like me the Dullahan Senses seemed whispering in her mind about the threats unconsciously.

She was absolutely right. As I watched, I could see subtle synchronization in the infected surrounding the device—their chest movements rising and falling in perfect unison, occasional soft harmonics emerging from their throats that blended with the alien device's humming. They weren't being controlled by the technology; they were integrated with it, serving as biological amplifiers for whatever signals it generated.

"The recordings," I said, pulling Mark's frequency analysis equipment from my pack with careful precision. "This is exactly what he needs to develop countermeasures."

But as I began setting up the recording equipment, positioning it for optimal signal capture, the infected around the device began to stir. Their synchronized breathing changed pattern, shifting from the slow rhythm of dormancy to something more alert and focused. Several opened their eyes, revealing the same unnaturally bright intelligence we'd seen in the enhanced guards.

The device itself began to pulse more rapidly, its internal light patterns shifting from slow, steady rhythms to increasingly complex configurations. The humming sound grew in volume and complexity, building harmonics and overtones that made my teeth ache despite the protection of my headset.

"It knows we're here," I said, working frantically to activate Mark's recording equipment. "And it's powering up for something big."

The frequency analyzer came online with a soft beep, its displays immediately showing signal levels that were far higher than Mark had anticipated when he designed the system. Whatever we were about to experience was going to push both the equipment and our protective gear well beyond their tested limits.

"Recording initiated," I said, watching as the device began capturing and analyzing the increasingly complex sonic patterns emanating from the alien technology. "But we need at least three minutes of clean signal for Mark to develop effective countermeasures."

The six infected around the device were now fully active, though they remained in their positions around the crystalline structure. Instead of the random vocalizations typical of infected, they began producing carefully modulated sounds that harmonized with the alien device's output. Each contributed a different frequency component, turning the biological amplifier array into a precision instrument for sonic manipulation.

The sound was becoming painful despite our supposedly protective headsets, and I could see Rachel pressing her hands against the sides of her head as if trying to block additional frequencies that were getting through our defenses. The alien device was clearly building toward something massive—a full-power transmission that would dwarf anything we'd experienced from a distance.

From elsewhere in the building came new sounds that confirmed my worst fears. Footsteps echoed through the stairwell, lots of them, moving with the same coordinated precision we'd witnessed from the guards upstairs. Whatever infected had been positioned throughout the radio station as a security force, they were now converging on our location.

"T…They are coming, Ryan" Rachel said through gritted teeth, pointing toward the door we'd used to enter the technical operations room. "Multiple of them, moving fast."

I checked the recording equipment—still capturing data, but only thirty seconds into what Mark had specified as a minimum three-minute requirement. We needed more time, but time was exactly what we didn't have as the sounds of approaching infected echoed through the stairwell below us.

The Screamer continued its power buildup, the crystalline structure now pulsing with increasingly intense light patterns that hurt to look at directly. The six infected amplifiers around it had begun producing more complex vocalizations, their harmonized sounds weaving together into frequencies that made my enhanced nervous system feel like it was being attacked by invisible.

"How much longer?" She gasped, blood beginning to trickle from her nose despite Mark's carefully designed sound dampening technology.

"At least two minutes," I replied, watching the recording device's displays show signal patterns that were becoming increasingly complex and powerful.

From the stairwell came the sounds of enhanced infected ascending toward our position—heavy footsteps moving with tactical coordination, probably a dozen or more of the superhuman creatures that served as the alien intelligence's security force. We'd already seen how dangerous they could be in small numbers, and facing an entire squad of them in an enclosed space would be virtually impossible.

The alien device's glow intensified further, its internal patterns shifting to configurations that seemed to bend light around them in physically impossible ways. The frequency recordings were showing levels that pushed Mark's equipment to its absolute limits, and I could see stress fractures beginning to appear in the device's housing as it struggled to process signals beyond its design parameters.

"Ninety seconds," I said, though I wasn't sure we'd survive long enough to reach that milestone. "Just hold on a little longer."

I looked at the Screamer.

There were six Infected there guarding it but if I stopped the time, I could destroy it but something inside me, my instincts screamed that it was a bad idea.

If I really put it in danger it will release his Great Scream and put the whole town in danger but even beyond that…

I looked at the six Infected connected to the Screamer and standing protectively around it in a circle. I didn't want to approach these things at all…even with the time frozen.

That's when my enhanced Dullahan senses suddenly screamed a warning that made every nerve in my body go into high alert. Something massive was approaching—not through the stairwell with the other infected, but from somewhere else entirely. The vibrations I could feel through the building's structure suggested something far larger and more dangerous than the enhanced guards we'd already encountered.

"Damn it!" I cursed, spinning around as my supernatural awareness pinpointed the source of the threat.

The sensation was coming from directly behind Rachel, from the wall that separated the technical operations room from what had probably been administrative offices. But the way the building's structure was vibrating suggested that whatever was approaching had the mass and power to simply smash through reinforced concrete as if it were paper.

"Rachel!" I shouted, rushing toward her position.

The wall behind her exploded outward in a shower of concrete fragments, rebar, and dust. Through the smoking breach emerged something that made the enhanced infected we'd fought earlier look like children by comparison. This creature was massive—easily eight feet tall and proportionally built, with muscles that bulged beneath skin that had the same metallic sheen I'd observed on the electrical infected from the warehouse. But where that previous monster had been powered by external electrical cables, this thing seemed to generate its own energy, with veins of light pulsing beneath its translucent skin like living circuitry.

It moved with incredible speed despite its enormous size, charging directly toward Rachel with single-minded focus. The Screamer seemed to be directing it specifically toward her, probably recognizing that her barrier abilities made her the greater tactical threat between the two of us.

Even though I was the original Host?

I hadn't time to think about it.

I reached Rachel just as the monster was about to impact her position, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her against my chest in a protective embrace. There wasn't time for anything more sophisticated—the creature was already swinging one massive fist toward us with enough force to pulverize normal human beings.

I activated my wind blade enhancement around my right arm, the compressed air currents forming a defensive barrier between us and the attacking monster. The impact when its fist connected with my wind-enhanced arm was like being hit by a freight train, but the rotating air currents managed to deflect enough of the force to prevent us from being instantly killed.

Even so, the residual energy from the blow was more than my enhanced physiology could absorb while maintaining position. The impact lifted both Rachel and me off our feet and sent us flying backward with tremendous velocity. We crashed through the large windows that faced the front of the building, glass exploding around us in a glittering shower as we tumbled through the air.

The fall from the third floor to the ground level seemed to take forever, giving me just enough time to adjust our position so that I would take the brunt of the impact when we hit. We crashed through what remained of the reception area ceiling—probably acoustic tiles and light fixtures—before slamming into the floor below with a bone-jarring impact that drove all the air from my lungs.

"Harghh!" I gasped in pain, feeling my back connect with the hard tile floor of what had once been the radio station's reception area. Multiple ribs cracked under the impact despite my enhanced durability, and I could taste blood in my mouth from where I'd bitten my tongue during the collision.

"R…Ryan!!" Rachel immediately began checking me for injuries, her hands moving over my torso as she looked for signs of serious damage. But her medical assessment was interrupted when she noticed what I was already seeing through my enhanced vision.

We were completely surrounded on every sides.

Approximately thirty infected had been positioned throughout the reception area in the same motionless standby state we'd observed elsewhere in the building. But our dramatic entrance had activated every single one of them simultaneously, their clouded eyes all turning toward us with the same unnatural intelligence and coordination we'd witnessed from the enhanced guards upstairs.

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