Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse

The Black Hawk thundered low over the skeletal skyline of Ortigas.

From above, the city no longer looked like a city. It looked like something a god had bled on. The once-familiar geometry of towers and intersections was now a writhing sculpture of orange and crimson veins. Biomass stretched from rooftop to rooftop like parasitic webs. The largest Bloom Nest, visible even from five kilometers out, loomed like a tumor in the heart of the business district.

Inside the bird, Phillip adjusted his AVF Mk II visor, toggling through filters until thermal and biochemical overlays came online. The other members of Shadow Team sat silent and focused. Ghost was seated beside him, arms crossed over his carbine, visor already locked in.

"Five minutes out," the pilot called over comms.

Phillip keyed his mic. "Copy. Drop us on the rooftop of Robinsons Summit Tower. It's the highest vantage with minimal vine coverage."

Ghost checked his gear again. "You think these things are aware of us?"

Phillip didn't answer right away. He stared out the side window. "Let's hope they're asleep."

The Black Hawk slowed to a hover. The blades chopped the air hard, kicking spores and debris off the rooftop. Vines clung to the helipad surface like blood vessels, twitching slightly in the wind.

"Touchdown."

"Go," Phillip ordered.

The team dropped fast and smooth, weapons raised, sensors activated. The moment their boots hit the ground, the external filters kicked in, a faint hum signaling that the air was laced with particles not meant for lungs.

"Biohazard containment active," Shadow-4 said, clipping a canister to his belt.

Phillip moved forward, visor scanning the rooftop perimeter.

No movement. No heat.

Yet everything felt alive.

He tapped his slate and activated the Quantum Pulse Radar. A wave of energy rolled outward, mapping the nearby buildings in ghostly outlines. Within thirty seconds, a 3D scan of the nearest Bloom Nest came into view.

"Reading a central structure—forty-two meters high. Base looks hollow. Tendrils are feeding something below."

Ghost knelt beside a vent, pulling out the Spectral Particle Scanner.

"Air's thick. Spore count's rising. Ten times baseline."

"Mark it and keep moving," Phillip said.

They advanced to the building's edge.

Below them, the Bloom Nest writhed.

It was fused into the remains of the Shangri-La Plaza. Every window had been burst outward by vein clusters. The bloom sphere itself was embedded into the mall's upper floors, pulsing in rhythm with some unseen heartbeat.

"Jesus…" Shadow-2 muttered. "It's growing through the concrete."

Phillip raised his scope.

The bloated sack at the center flexed once.

Then again.

Ghost stepped beside him. "It's breathing."

"Which means it's alive," Phillip said.

He keyed in a Reaper drone overhead. "Reaper One-One, this is Shadow 0-1. Paint the center of the mass. Begin full thermal sweep."

The drone's feed streamed into their visors. The pod was hot—far hotter than anything else around it. Heat signatures inside. Multiple.

"Bloomspawn?" Ghost asked.

Phillip nodded. "Dormant. But in there."

Shadow-6 set down one of the Cryo-Vials and walked to the edge of a vein-covered ledge, reaching out with a sample blade.

He sliced a bit of biomass—thick like jelly, slick like oil.

The moment it was cut, the vein twitched violently.

"Shit—"

A spurt of dark fluid hissed out, but nothing else happened.

Shadow-6 sealed the sample fast.

"Got it. It's acidic. Burned through the knife edge."

Phillip frowned.

He turned to Shadow-5. "Any electromagnetic interference?"

"Yeah. EM Field Reader's jumping. It's like something's pulsing from inside the pod. Intermittent signal."

"Could be communication. Or a growth trigger."

"Or a heartbeat," Ghost added grimly.

They continued moving along the rooftop, scanning and logging each section of vine-strangled infrastructure. The vines had cracked windows, devoured cars, and even twisted around a toppled crane that once towered over the boulevard.

Then Shadow-3 froze.

"Movement."

Phillip spun.

But there was nothing.

"Where?"

"North building. Second floor. Brief silhouette."

"Human?"

"No way to tell. It ducked back fast."

"Mark it," Phillip said.

Ghost raised his rifle. "You want to go look?"

Phillip hesitated.

"No. Not the mission. Eyes only. We're not triggering whatever this thing defends."

He crouched, pulled up the data they'd gathered so far.

Spores, EM pulses, organic structure, acidic blood, active life signatures inside the core—and now movement nearby.

This wasn't just an infection.

It was an ecosystem.

"Prep extraction," Phillip ordered. "We've got enough data."

"Copy. Pinging the bird," Shadow-4 said.

They moved to the western edge of the roof, setting down containment crates, each one loaded with samples. One by one, they clipped in sealed vials, EM readings, and atmospheric logs.

The Black Hawk circled in from the south, lowering a winch line.

"Extraction platform coming down. Let's move," Ghost said.

Phillip glanced back one last time.

The Bloom Nest pulsed again.

And this time… something on the surface twitched.

A finger?

No. Just a vein. But still.

He didn't say anything. He just turned away.

One by one, they clipped in and ascended to the bird.

Phillip was the last.

As the chopper banked hard west and the city began to shrink beneath them, he tapped his mic.

"Command, this is Shadow 0-1. Package secured. Full recon sweep complete. Bloom is active. Living. Possibly sentient."

Static filled the line a second before Thomas's voice broke through.

"Copy that, Shadow. Debrief when you're back. We'll have Research standing by."

Phillip looked out the open door as the Bloom Nest faded behind the horizon.

He had a feeling this was only the beginning of something larger.

The Black Hawk touched down on the MOA Complex helipad with a muted hiss of hydraulics and swirling dust. As the ramp lowered, Phillip stepped out first, his boots hitting metal with a solid thunk. The rest of Shadow Team followed, visors lifted, their gear stained with spores, acidic grime, and the weight of what they'd just seen.

Medtechs were already moving in, unloading the containment crates and bio-sample canisters with practiced urgency. The crates hissed as they were sealed into portable coolers, every item tagged and logged for Research.

Phillip removed his helmet as he walked toward the command lift.

He didn't look back.

He didn't need to.

The nest was still out there—breathing, growing, waiting.

And whatever was inside it… had seen them too.