Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse

A sudden chime pierced the silence—a sharp, insistent tone that resonated directly within his mind. Thomas's eyes snapped open, the HUD in his vision flickering to life.

[NEW MISSION ALERT]

Designation: Apocalyptic Threat Emergence

Location: Unknown

Objective: Identify and Neutralize

Difficulty: [CLASSIFIED - NEW PARAMETER INITIATED]

Rewards: [System Upgrade]

He sat up abruptly, the cold floor sending a jolt through his bare feet. The mission parameters were unlike any he had seen before. The inclusion of a difficulty rating was new—a feature the system had never utilized. And the term "Apocalyptic Threat"? That was unprecedented.​

Without hesitation, Thomas grabbed his uniform, foregoing the usual morning routine. There was no time. The system's urgency was clear.

***

The corridors of Conrad were eerily quiet as Thomas made his way to the command center. The usual buzz of activity was absent, replaced by a tense stillness. As he entered, Marcus looked up from his console, eyes wide.​

"​Sir, you're here."​

"​I received the alert from the system. What's the situation?"​

Marcus gestured to the main screen, which displayed a satellite image of Metro Manila. A massive, pulsating structure had erupted in the heart of Cubao, dwarfing the surrounding ruins. The creature was stationary, yet its presence was causing seismic disturbances and electromagnetic anomalies.​

"​We don't know what it is, but it's affecting all our systems. Communications are down in the vicinity, and our drones can't get close."​

Thomas studied the image.

"What the heck was that?"

"We don't know sir…perhaps it has a name."

Thomas looked closer, the system has granted him abilities to know the name of the monster and based from the text above its form, it's name was Colossal Worm.

"What the heck was that?"

"We don't know, sir… perhaps it has a name."

Thomas leaned forward, narrowing his eyes at the grainy satellite feed. The image trembled slightly from EM interference, but the shape on screen remained unmistakable—towering, organic, still.

And then it flickered.

Only in his vision.

A translucent overlay blinked into life—a system interface, visible only to him.

[ENTITY DETECTED: APOCALYPTIC CLASS]

[NAME: COLOSSAL WORM]

[THREAT LEVEL: UNKNOWN]

[REWARDS: System Upgrade]

[NOTE: ENTITY IS FIXED IN POSITION. HOSTILE POTENTIAL – MAXIMUM.]

[OBJECTIVE: FIND A WAY TO DESTROY]

The moment he read the name, a cold chill went down his spine. Colossal Worm. Not a metaphor. Not a nickname. That was its designation—granted not by some analyst, but by the system itself. And for the first time since the outbreak began, the system had included a difficulty rating that was blacked out.

"Sir?" Marcus asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

Thomas blinked, refocusing. "That thing has a name. The system gave it to me directly. It's called the Colossal Worm."

Marcus looked back at the screen. "It doesn't look like it's moving."

"It doesn't have to."

The command center remained dead silent for several seconds.

Thomas stepped back and turned toward the drone operators. "We need visuals. High altitude. Long-range optics. I want details—surface composition, energy readings, biomass structure, everything we can pull."

One of the operators, Lena, nodded quickly and began programming a fresh launch sequence.

"Deploying Reaper Three-One now," she said, fingers flying across the terminal. "We'll keep it well above its EM field. 400 meters up, max zoom."

The feed came online slowly. A blurry visual at first, then sharpened. The drone's camera locked onto the monument of flesh and plating now rooted in the ruins of Cubao. The worm didn't move, but even from this distance, the power it radiated was unmistakable. Its spiral maw, now half-open, glowed faintly with violet heat.

Marcus stepped closer, crossing his arms. "It's like it's not even alive. But it's doing something. Look—there."

He pointed to the outer shell. Across the body, faint pulses of light traced up from its roots to its peak like veins running in reverse. And at the very base—surrounding buildings were warping, bending toward it like flowers turning toward the sun.

"Jesus…" Lena whispered. "It's not just emitting a signal. It's… changing the terrain. Bioforming the city."

Thomas's jaw tightened. "That's not all it's doing."

He gestured toward the screen. "Zoom on that spiral core."

The operator complied.

The violet light flickered erratically, like a strobe beneath water. Then for a split second—only visible frame by frame—a concentrated pulse of plasma arced upward into the sky.

"Frame it," Thomas ordered.

They froze the feed and enhanced.

"It's firing upward," Marcus said, squinting. "But there's nothing up there."

"It's signaling," Thomas said flatly. "Or scanning. Maybe both. This thing isn't just calling the infected. It's looking for something."

Or someone.

Thomas didn't say that last part out loud.

Lena gasped suddenly. "Sir—uh—drone feed is unstable."

"What?"

"Something's changing. EM interference spiking. Readings jumping across all ranges."

"Abort visual. Pull it back," Thomas ordered immediately.

But it was too late.

On screen, the spiral maw of the Colossal Worm began to unfurl again. Fully this time. The violet glow brightened into a blinding flash. The core convulsed once, like a giant pupil dilating—and then fired.

A beam of focused energy launched upward—then bent midair, curving unnaturally through the clouds, locking straight onto the Reaper drone.

There was no time to react.

The screen went white.

Then black.

[SIGNAL LOST]

Everyone stood frozen.

Thomas clenched his fist.

That wasn't an accident. That wasn't passive.

"That thing saw the drone," he growled. "It tracked it. Adapted to its path. It's not broadcasting blindly—it's scanning, triangulating. It's aware."

Marcus's face paled slightly. "Sir… if it can detect aerial recon, it could potentially jam future Reaper flights."

"It doesn't need to jam anything," Thomas said. "It just needs to fire again. And again."

He turned away from the screen and looked at the 3D simulation table.

"Load atmospheric data. I want a breakdown of the plasma shot. Speed, heat, spread."

Lena pulled up the figures. The numbers weren't comforting.

"Plasma output exceeds standard anti-air weaponry. Equivalent to a ship-grade pulse cannon. Effective range? Probably citywide. Accuracy? High. It's not a blind weapon—it's aimed."

Thomas muttered under his breath, "Then we're dealing with an anti-air monstrosity the size of a skyscraper… that sings."

"Get Phillip on standby," Thomas continued. "And start prepping the heavy birds. Apache gunships, artillery grid lines, even Spooky if it's ready. We're going to need everything."

Marcus hesitated. "Sir… you don't even know if the thing can be destroyed."

Thomas turned to him, eyes hard.

"Then we're going to find out."

He exhaled slowly.

Because something told him…

This wasn't just the biggest threat they'd faced.

It was the beginning of something worse. Something ancient. Something planned.

The Colossal Worm had emerged.

And it had only just begun.