When time resumed, the giant infected collapsed immediately, its massive body hitting the ground with a final thud that shook the earth beneath our feet. Dark fluid pooled around its ruined head, and the energy patterns that had been pulsing through its skin finally went dark.
Rachel stared at the fallen creature with wide eyes, her expression shifting from relief to something much more complex as she processed what had just occurred. When she saw me standing there with the defeated infected lying at my feet, she didn't need to be a genius to understand what had happened. The telltale signs were all there—my sudden movement from a position of mortal danger to one of complete tactical advantage, the precision of the killing blow, the way I'd somehow outmaneuvered a creature that should have been faster than humanly possible to avoid.
"It's over," I gasped, breathing heavily from the exertion and adrenaline of the fight. I turned toward her and reached out my hand.
