The Bigshot's Superstar Wife

Athena's ears twitched as the faint cry for help echoed through the still air. She halted, eyes narrowing as she turned toward the direction of the voice. Xavier stopped as well, his posture tense, hand reaching toward the weapon strapped to his back. The voice was distant, muffled by debris and broken structures, but unmistakably human. Despite everything they had seen, the screams held a genuine desperation that couldn't be mimicked by the monstrous creatures they'd encountered. It was rare to find survivors in this part of the ruins, but not impossible. The two exchanged a brief glance—one that held a thousand unspoken agreements. No words were needed; they would investigate.

They advanced cautiously, weaving between fallen beams and overturned vehicles, the rubble crunching softly beneath their boots. The city had once been a vibrant place, bustling with life and lights. Now, nature and destruction had taken over. Vines choked buildings, and skeletal remains of civilization lay sprawled under dust and ash. Every turn felt like a trap, but the cries grew louder. Whoever it was, they were close. They followed the sound to the collapsed remains of what used to be a metro station. The once-busy platform was nothing more than shattered concrete and rusting rails, but under one of the broken steel beams, a young woman was pinned. Blood pooled around her side, her face pale and slick with sweat.

Athena hurried to her, dropping beside her and assessing the wound. The beam had pierced her side but missed anything vital. Xavier moved quickly, lifting the debris with a grunt of effort as Athena pulled the woman free. She screamed, clutching at her side, but Athena held her steady, whispering reassurances. "You're alright now. We've got you," she said, though she didn't believe it herself. The woman was weak, barely conscious. She had likely been trapped for hours. Her name was Mara, she managed to whisper, a researcher who had been separated from her team when the creatures attacked.

Mara spoke of a nearby underground tunnel system that had once been a military shelter—one the creatures hadn't yet discovered. Athena and Xavier exchanged a look again, this time more serious. An underground facility, untouched and stocked with supplies, might be exactly what they needed. But time was against them. Mara needed immediate medical attention, and staying in the open much longer risked their lives. They crafted a makeshift stretcher from broken signage and wiring, lifting her carefully as they began the trek toward the entrance she had described.

The journey was brutal. The streets twisted like a labyrinth, filled with fallen buildings, rotting cars, and ash that hung in the air like fog. The daylight faded quickly behind the horizon, casting the city into a dull gray before sinking into pure black. With each step, the world felt colder, quieter, like it was holding its breath. They could feel the presence of something else—watching from the shadows. Twice they had to stop and hide behind debris as strange figures passed them by, their movements too precise, too calculating to be zombies.

Eventually, they found the entrance: a rusted metal door half-buried beneath vines and loose concrete. It groaned loudly as Xavier pulled it open, revealing a stairwell that led downward into darkness. They descended with caution, using a dim flashlight to guide their way. The walls were damp, lined with moss and flickering wires, but the further they went, the more the signs of an old military facility became clear. There were signs posted in faded paint—emergency procedures, containment warnings, symbols from a world before the fall. It was eerie but promising.

They reached a large hallway with several intact doors. Xavier forced open one, revealing a room with old bunk beds and emergency supplies still stacked in crates. Athena quickly set Mara down, checking her wound again before sterilizing it with a half-broken medkit. Mara winced but stayed quiet. "Thank you," she whispered. "You're… not like the others." Athena tilted her head. "What others?" she asked, but Mara had fallen unconscious before answering.

Xavier paced restlessly around the room, fingers tapping against his thigh. "She was being watched," he muttered. "Did you see the marks on her arm? That wasn't debris. That was surgical. Someone got to her before us." Athena frowned, remembering the strange precision of the wound and the faint scar lines that suggested prior medical tampering. Was Mara truly a survivor, or had she been used and discarded? Questions piled up in her mind, but answers felt far away. For now, they needed to rest.

That night, Athena couldn't sleep. Her thoughts were haunted by memories—fragmented images of glowing chambers, the echo of her own voice in an empty lab, instructions she didn't remember giving. She dreamed again of the interstellar man, his long black hair drenched in blood, eyes filled with sorrow as he whispered her name. He said it like a promise. She woke up sweating, heart pounding in her chest. She stared at the ceiling, at the pipes that ran across it, and asked herself if what she was feeling was a memory resurfacing or just another dream forged by the sword's influence.

The next morning came quietly, broken only by the distant rumble of something above ground. The pests or zergs hadn't found the tunnel—yet. But they couldn't stay here for long. Mara was barely able to sit up, but she insisted on speaking. "They're making more of us," she croaked. "Not zombies. Weapons. Human-based." Her voice broke into coughing, and Athena held a bottle of water to her lips. "The research continued. I thought it was destroyed in the first wave, but they took it underground. The creatures you saw… some of them were once like me."

Xavier's expression darkened. "Then that confirms it. Someone down here is still operating. And they're not just experimenting—they're turning people into tools."

Athena's mind reeled. She thought back to the developing embryos, the alien-like structures in the last lab they'd seen. Those things weren't extinct—they were evolving. And now, they were actively multiplying beneath the earth. The apocalypse was no longer a natural failure of human defenses. It was an engineered war.

They decided to explore the rest of the facility. The rooms were covered in dust and grime, but Athena could feel the remnants of power pulsing faintly through the walls. In one chamber, they found a still-operating console flickering with static. Xavier worked to restore its interface while Athena stood guard. Eventually, the screen brightened, revealing a list of test subjects and project codes—one of which caught her eye.

Project A3: Athena Model – Status: Unknown

Her throat tightened. The date on the file was decades ago, long before the fall of society. She scrolled further, seeing her own image, her own face, but younger—more mechanical. And beside it, a name. Codename: Sinalta's Blade.