Imperium of Man Terra Aeterna Season 01: Rise of Humanity's War Machin

Reuel ran at full speed, his body shooting forward like an arrow loosed from a bow. In mere seconds, he had already caught up with the rear line—the survivors still holding on.

When they saw Reuel sprint past them and immediately take the lead, panic exploded in their chests. Fear became fuel. They ran without stopping, but not all of them had the strength—some stumbled, tripped, or slipped on the debris-littered, damp floor.

And like predators sensing weakness...

"Please... it's just me...!"

The voice of one survivor echoed—hoarse, desperate, clinging to false hope. But that hope didn't last. A zombie dog lunged from behind. His scream turned into a bloodcurdling howl as his body was torn apart within seconds. The sound of flesh being shredded rang louder than any prayer.

Reuel heard the scream.

He didn't look back.

He didn't stop.

He didn't save anyone.

And neither did those behind him. They had seen too much death—children whimpering, elders left behind, friends suddenly turning into monsters. Empathy had died with the old world. Only one law remained: survive.

Suddenly, from the rubble to the right—WUSSHT!

A zombie dog shot toward a survivor next to Reuel. Its jaws wide, teeth bared, ready to tear.

But—

BANG!

A single bolter round smashed through the creature's head, blowing its skull apart like a watermelon hit by a sledgehammer. Blood and bone shards flew through the air.

"RUN!" Reuel barked, his voice sharp and cold like a command from a war god.

The person beside him—stunned, trembling, face pale—let out a spontaneous scream and ran faster. Adrenaline crushed fear.

Then, from up ahead, Alice's voice rang out:

"JUMP!"

At the end of the tunnel, the ground vanished—replaced by open air. Below lay a pitch-black lake, stretching out like a silent chasm. One by one, the people jumped, their bodies disappearing into the dark waters.

Reuel reached the edge. He glanced back—zombie dogs were still giving chase, their growls now close, far too close. A few had already leapt into the air, hot on the heels of their prey.

Without hesitation, Reuel tightened his grip on his weapon—and jumped.

---

The water greeted him like an ice-cold bullet.

Reuel surfaced with a single powerful motion. Water and breath exploded together as he scanned ahead. Around ten meters away, Alice and Claire were already swimming toward the lake's edge. The other survivors followed, gasping—but still alive.

Reuel swam with militaristic efficiency. Every stroke calibrated. There was no time for panic.

Behind him, from the cliff's edge, zombie dogs kept leaping into the water—but they weren't aquatic creatures. Their coordination collapsed as those rotting bodies sank one by one. They thrashed, shrieked, then vanished beneath the lake in a chaos of bloody bubbles.

But not all of them jumped.

At the ridge encircling the lake, dozens of zombie dogs stood still. They didn't bark, didn't move aimlessly.

They watched.

And slowly… they began walking in a wide circle along the mountain path, trying to find a way down toward Reuel and the others.

A group of people collapsed at the shoreline, bodies exhausted, breathing ragged. The last dregs of the escape still burned in their lungs.

But Reuel never let his guard down.

With one swift motion, he summoned his bolter pistol from its storage system. The heavy weapon clicked sharply into his hand. His eyes swept the area like a radar—cold, dark, hunting for threats hidden in the trees and mist.

Then suddenly—his heartbeat reacted.

"Careful."

His hand rose before anyone else even noticed. One loud shot rang out.

BANG!

A zombie dog exploded in a spray of blood and bone, its body hitting the ground like a rotted doll. Alice and Claire responded instantly, their weapons flashing.

RATATATAT!

BRATTAK!

BANG!

Explosions of gunfire tore through the charging beasts. Every bullet was a bid for survival. Every second, a choice between life and death. A few dogs dropped—but more came. Faster. Hungrier. More vicious.

"RUN! Don't waste your energy here!" Reuel shouted, his voice like a military alarm.

Everyone dragged their aching bodies forward—still tired, but more afraid of death than exhaustion. Alice and Claire fired while moving backward, flanking Reuel as he led the retreat.

Gunfire and breath became one rhythm: shoot—run—shoot—run.

Soon, they reached the entrance to the Hive.

The tunnel yawned ahead, dark and silent, like the mouth of a sleeping beast. The metal walls were old, scratched, and wet—still reeking of death from a decade ago. The ghosts of past battles lingered in the air.

But something strange happened…

When the horde of zombie dogs reached the tunnel's entrance—they stopped.

Not one entered.

They growled. They snarled. But not a single one dared step into the darkness. Some even turned tail, sprinting back up the hill, barking wildly.

Claire frowned, her breath still ragged.

"Why aren't they coming in? They chased us all the way here."

Reuel shrugged—calm, but ice-cold.

"Maybe... there's something in there that scares them more than us."

Claire swallowed hard, her expression growing grim. Alice, standing a few steps ahead, didn't respond. But her eyes narrowed. She knew well—The Hive wasn't just an underground facility. It was an open wound on the world. And down there, things even Umbrella couldn't control were still waiting.

"They're afraid. But we don't have a choice," Alice said quietly.

Reuel stepped into the tunnel first.

"Move. If this place were safe, it would've been sealed long ago."

The corridor greeted them with the hum of old electricity, the groan of shifting metal, and flickering lights—like the place itself was reluctant to awaken something long asleep.

Behind them, the howls of the zombie dogs began to fade—replaced by a silence far more terrifying.

A silence… that felt alive.

---

"Go, now! Don't stop!" Alice urged everyone while glancing back.

At that exact moment, the steel walls of the corridor began to move—shifting slowly but menacingly. The heavy scraping sound made everyone instinctively quicken their pace.

No matter how exhausted or close to fainting they were, survival instincts kicked in. They ran as fast as they could.

When they reached the end of the corridor, they saw a row of giant fans ahead—their blades massive, sharp, and incredibly dangerous. One glance was enough to make the scalp tingle.

"Get in! That's the main ventilation of the Hive. We have to get through before the system activates," shouted Reuel, his voice firm and urgent.

Without hesitation, Reuel grabbed Alice's arm on one side and Claire's on the other, pulling them into the ventilation shaft. The people behind them scrambled in.

As he crawled through, Reuel glanced at the fan—anxious. He knew damn well people in Resident Evil movies got sucked into those fans and turned into meat paste. He had no intention of reenacting that scene.

In less than a minute, Reuel, Alice, and Claire emerged from the other end of the vent. Reuel exhaled in relief.

Suddenly, the corridor lights blinked on one by one… then came the sound—"VVRRRRRMMMMM"—the fan roared to life.

"Run! It's starting!" Alice screamed, panicked but still focused.

Amid the chaos, Reuel leaned in and whispered something to Claire.

"We were this close to becoming ground beef."

Another scream rang out.

"Help! I'm stuck!" Abigail struggled from within the shaft, her face pale.

Without a second thought, Alice turned back and dove in. She shoved Abigail out forcefully, and with one calculated leap, slid out just seconds before the fan blades swept through the space.

Reuel and Claire stared at Alice wide-eyed—amazed and relieved.

Abigail sobbed, looking at Alice with deep gratitude. Alice had just saved her life.

"Go! Don't stop here!" Reuel yelled.

"Wait a second, we need time to—" Abigail began to protest.

"This fan can reverse any second, you idiot."

And as if responding to his words, the fan suddenly stopped spinning, leaving behind a silence that felt even more ominous.

Seeing the situation worsen, Reuel immediately grabbed both women by the hand and pulled them forward.

The others were just about to ask something, but it was too late—Reuel, Alice, and Claire were already sprinting away from the fan.

Moments later, the fan truly reversed. The suction force was so strong it dragged air and debris toward the vortex. Those who were too slow were lifted off the ground, their bodies sucked toward the deadly center.

"Help me!"

"Aaaagh, save—!"

One of them was completely pulled in, followed by a sickening "KRAK"—bones crushed, body twisted in an instant. The others could only watch, eyes wide, faces pale with terror. They clung desperately to pipes, corners, anything that could save their lives.

Meanwhile, Reuel and his group kept running. The farther they got from the ventilation hub, the weaker the suction became.

Abigail, the little black girl, managed to catch up from behind. In the movie version, she died at this part—sucked in and torn apart by the fan—but now her fate had changed.

Behind them, three more people didn't make it—choked and pulled in by an unstoppable force. The rest were speechless, frozen in horror.

Reuel turned and did a quick headcount.

Six left. Doc was still alive too.

Shit, Reuel thought. How the hell did that sneaky bastard make it?

No time to curse fate. He immediately led the small group forward.

A few minutes later, the corridor ahead began to shift. It didn't just narrow, it became more structured—the metallic walls now forming symmetrical square patterns, cold and mechanical.

Reuel gave a quick glance ahead, then said, "Keep moving. We're not safe yet."

Reuel crawled in first, shining his flashlight ahead. Alice and Claire followed right behind him, and the rest came along once they saw them moving.

Reuel's movements were cautious. He knew this narrow corridor was full of traps. Swiftly, he handed the end of a rope to Alice and Claire.

"Hold on tight. Don't get separated," he said without looking back.

The flashlight beam sliced through the darkness. The atmosphere inside was gloomy and unsettling. Damp metal walls reflected a faint shimmer, casting moving shadows that seemed alive. Suddenly, the corridor lights flickered on—bluish white, cold, and unfriendly.

Everyone tensed immediately. The memory of the horrific scene in the previous corridor was still fresh. No one said a word. They just scanned the surroundings with wary eyes.

Alice finally broke the silence.

"Keep going. But slow."

They had just begun to move forward when a scream came from behind.

"Haa—!"

Everyone turned to see a man slip. The floor beneath him suddenly vanished—a trapdoor opened and swallowed him whole.

Before they could react, two more people fell in one after another.

"Shit!"

Alice and Claire slipped too, but the rope held firm—Reuel had them.

"You two okay?" Reuel called out while pulling them up slowly.

"We're fine," Claire panted.

"Good."

Once he made sure they were safe, Reuel peered down into the trap. It was dark and deep, but clearly the only way forward.

"We'll have to go down through here."

From the system room, Reuel pulled out a long metal rod and tied the rope with a tight knot. He took a breath and looked at Alice and Claire.

"I'm going first."

"Be careful," they both said almost in unison.

Reuel slid down slowly. His feet landed on a cold metal floor. As he swept the area with his flashlight, the shadows of shelves lined with glass jars and dozens of dried corpses began to emerge. The place looked like a clinical graveyard.

Alice and Claire followed, landing near him.

"What is this place?" Claire murmured, her eyes fixed on the jars with disgust.

"This… looks like a lab," Reuel said quietly.

"It is a lab," Alice added, almost at the same time.

They looked at each other, then chuckled softly at the coincidence. The two nearly bumped into each other as they laughed, when—

"Bang!"

A gunshot shattered the moment.

Instinctively, they ducked and moved toward the source of the sound.

As they got closer, they saw them—Umbrella security guards chasing the other survivors down the corridor across the lab.

---

At the Umbrella Corporation Control Center,

Behind a wall of transparent glass and glowing blue digital panels, Dr. Isaacs stood facing a large screen displaying imagery from the underground lab.

"Dr. Isaacs, the intruders have fallen into the lab trap," reported a calm yet sharp digital voice—belonging to Lightning Queen, the main AI overseeing the facility.

Isaacs, with a relaxed expression bordering on smug, raised a glass of red wine to his lips. He sipped slowly while watching the red dots move on the monitor.

"Some of them survived... Interesting. They've got more guts and skill than average."

He half-turned and tapped on a holographic interface.

"Lightning Queen, have the clone troops been deployed?"

"Yes, Doctor. However... Doc is also in the area."

Isaacs rolled his eyes and clicked his tongue, then chuckled darkly.

"Useless pawn... He can't even get one thing right."

He tilted his glass, swirling the wine slowly, then continued in a sharp tone:

"Tell the clone troops: don't kill him. Maybe... maybe he'll still be useful later."

"Confirmed, Dr. Isaacs," Lightning Queen replied before her digital face gradually disappeared from the screen.

Isaacs stood still for a moment, staring at his wine as if planning his next move—with patience, but with full confidence that this bloody game of chess was far from over.