A sickly crimson glow pulsed from Dr. Malcolm Voss' body, the veins beneath his skin throbbing with the same unnatural corruption as the Crimson Hunters. His eyes, once human, now burned with an eerie bioluminescent red.
Evelyn took a slow step back, hand tightening around her rusted weapon. "Voss... what the hell have you done?"
The scientist smiled, revealing jagged, irregular teeth. "I've transcended."
Mia aimed her pistol. "You look like another freak we need to put down."
Voss chuckled, his voice distorted, layered with something inhuman. "Oh, Mia... always so shortsighted. Do you think bullets will stop me?"
Without warning, his body spasmed.
Flesh tore. Bones cracked.
His torso split open, revealing writhing tendrils of muscle and sinew, twitching hungrily. His arms elongated, fingers warping into razor-sharp claws.
Faster than the human eye could follow, Voss lunged.
Reaper fired—the shotgun blast tore through his side. Black ichor sprayed the walls.
Voss barely flinched.
Instead, he snatched Reaper by the throat and slammed him against the wall.
"You're all so fragile," he mused, tightening his grip.
Reaper gasped, struggling.
Evelyn grabbed a rusted metal pole and drove it straight through Voss' side.
He snarled, wheeling on her.
His mutated flesh absorbed the wound, the pole sinking in as if swallowed by a living organism.
Evelyn's blood ran cold.
Voss grinned. "You still don't understand, do you?"
Mia fired three rounds into his skull.
Voss staggered back, his head snapping violently to the side.
The wounds sealed instantly.
Mia cursed. "Oh, screw this."
The Crimson Hunters howled from below, their shrieks echoing in the tunnels. They were coming.
Evelyn grabbed Reaper, pulling him to his feet. "We can't fight him. We run—NOW!"
They bolted up the ruined stairwell, pushing through the rusted emergency exit into the ruined streets above.
Voss watched them go, a slow, satisfied smile creeping across his face.
He wasn't hunting them. Not yet.
He turned, his corrupted form quivering with dark energy.
Below, the Crimson Hunters waited.
Their twitching, grotesque forms knelt in submission.
Voss stepped forward, raising a clawed hand.
The creatures stilled.
Every limb, every nerve, every twitching muscle. They were his.
His voice was a whisper of madness.
"Rise, my children. It is time to spread the Bloodbound."
The city shuddered as the infection moved.
The true nightmare had only just begun.