The man before me rose stiffly to his feet, his limbs jerking slowly yet suddenly as if he were only just figuring out his own motor functions. His face remained blank and expressionless, as he stared, seemingly unseeing, beyond me. I took a step back from him carefully. He turned his head to face me directly, though his eyes were still focused on the horizon. Silently, he stepped towards me, mouth fixed in a neutral line. I tried calling out to him, hoping he might respond, but it was pointless. He seemed unable or unwilling to understand my words. Aware of the noise I was making, but not its meaning. He took another forced step towards me, forcing me to take a further step backwards. I'd begun to regret ending up in the side passage with the man between me and the main corridor.
His progress was slow but consistent, as we slowly progressed along the corridor. I used the time to my advantage, trying to piece together was was happening, while also struggling not to panic. He didn't have a pulse. I was sure of it. His heart only started beating after I'd touched him, and even then it was far too irregular to be viable. I'd heard of certain drugs that could slow the heartbeat, but those rendered the victim catatonic. Some kind of modified strain perhaps? A virus that would give every outward appearance of death? Of course, the blood couldn't be sufficiently oxygenated which would cause brain damage and likely a loss in higher brain function. That seemed plausible. Some experiment gone wrong, infecting half the facility? I wasn't even sure if the figure before me was hostile, but some feeling of dread made me wary of it all the same. There was a word stuck in my mind that I really didn't like. Zombie. Ridiculous, surely. It couldn't be the reanimated corpse of a researcher, but then again was I only playing semantics by not using the word?
While I was backing away and fixated on the man, I didn't take heed of where I was advancing. With a jolt, I collided with something large and metallic. With a furtive glance behind me I realised I was out of hallway, and had arrived quite literally at the end of the line. It was a large steel door, similar to what you might find in an industrial freezer. A large concave hemisphere made of durable clear material was inset on the door at head-hight, allowing a view into a laboratory area. A similar card swiping device like the ones I'd encountered earlier was positioned on the wall near the handle. I turned back to my pursuer, who was much closer to me now. His arms were raised, fingers bent claw-like. His mouth was open and his teeth bared. Yet his expression was still neutral. He looked like a man expecting a dental checkup, not some feral creature.
I'd faced more physically intimidating foes before, but nothing as terrifying as the sight before me. When an opponent is staring you down, gearing for a fight or readying to cause harm, you can see it in their face. The sneer of malice, the look of grim determination, the fire in their eyes, it all helps to galvanize them as a threat. An obstacle to overcome. But this foe had none of those signs. He was an unstoppable force. No reason, no cause, no goal, as blank and impersonal as a hurricane. You can't fight a hurricane, merely endure it.
With a suddenness of movement that caught me off-guard, he lunged at me, grabbing my right wrist and clamping on tightly. His grip was immensely strong, his gloved fingers digging into my flesh hard enough to draw blood. His head bobbed forward, attempting to bite me as far as I could discern, though I didn't feel like giving him the opportunity to confirm. With my free hand, I swung a fist into his solar plexus, with no effect. I didn't understand. That should have knocked the wind from his chest and had him hunched over in pain. There wasn't even a flicker of discomfort in his eyes. He was as serene as always, apart from his attempted murder. Changing tactics, I used my left hand to hold his shoulder, keeping him a distance from me while I worked on freeing my right. I could scarcely believe his strength. While I wasn't particularly fit, the man before me had a particularly scrawny build, yet the strength of a bull. Still, as strong as a man can be, there are certain structural weaknesses in the design of humanity. I gave my attacker a sharp sideways kick to the side of his knee. It doesn't matter how little pain he could feel when the lateral force would break the joint. He collapsed instantly, letting go of my arm as he fell. The damage didn't deter him though, and he was immediately crawling towards me eager to continue his assault. I'd bought myself a vital few seconds though. With a quick flash of my sonic probe, the door behind me buzzed open, allowing me to make a quick exit. Into a locked room. With the only way out guarded by a cannibalistic madman.
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