Jack's lungs burned as he jolted awake, coughing violently. The mask was gone. Fluid gushed past his lips as he stumbled out of the open containment tube, collapsing onto the slick floor. His body trembled, naked and cold. The dull pain from the fall faded almost instantly.
As if on cue, a white screen flickered into his vision:
[VIRAL SURVIVAL SYSTEM]
Subject: Jack Hale
Strain: Aegis Virus
Health Status: Good
Sync Rate: 42%
Viral Infection: 0.02%
Adaptation Skills
Branch 1 – Soldier's Path
• Enhanced Recovery (Tier 1): Heals faster from minor wounds (cuts, bite wounds, bruises).
(A/N: Each skill has three tiers before maxing out. The system has branching paths, but they may change depending on the story. Jack earns new skills through "milestones," similar to D&D progression.)
Jack blinked at the screen. "What the fuck… am I some kind of RPG character? Great. Too many video games, and now my life's flipped upside down."
He concentrated, and the system screen faded away. Jack frowned, then focused again—the screen returned. Relief flickered across his face.
"At least I don't have to shout for it like some anime character…"
His gaze sharpened suddenly. Jack rubbed at his eyes, then froze. Did the Aegis Virus fix my vision? He could see objects down the hallway with perfect clarity, where before everything had been a blur without glasses.
The facility around him was in chaos. Alarms wailed. Red emergency lights pulsed in strobes. White mist hissed from ruptured pipes. Somewhere deeper in the wing, glass shattered, followed by an inhuman scream that made his skin crawl.
Jack staggered to his feet, dripping and shivering. His bare skin was quickly chilled by the sterile air. He grabbed the nearest thing—a bent steel rod—from the wreckage of his tube.
The hiss of movement froze him in place.
At the far end of the hallway, one of the containment tubes had opened. A figure staggered forward.
Alan Chu.
Unlike Jack, Chu still wore a medical gown. His dog tags clinked faintly against his bloodied chest—the same style of tag that hung around Jack's own neck. But his eyes were cloudy, lifeless. His jaw hung slack, working as if to form words. Only a wet, guttural gurgle spilled out.
"...Chu?" Jack whispered, hope clinging to his voice. "Come on, man. It's me, Jack. We were in the same squad…"
The thing that was Chu shrieked, stumbling forward in jerking, puppet-like steps.
Jack stumbled back. His grip tightened on the steel rod. "One last chance, man. Don't make me do this…"
But the only response was another garbled growl, savage and mindless.
"No…" Jack muttered, his hands trembling. "Not him… not like this."
Chu lunged, clawed hands outstretched. Jack swung. The rod cracked against Chu's skull. The mutant reeled but didn't fall. Instead, it snapped its jaws at him, teeth gnashing inches from his throat.
"Goddamn it!" Jack roared, shoving Chu away and slamming the rod again. Crunch. Again. Another crunch. Until at last, Chu collapsed, twitching, before going still.
Jack's chest heaved. Dread clawed at his mind. If this had happened to Chu… what about the rest of the squad?
The VSS flickered again in his vision:
[VIRAL SURVIVAL SYSTEM]
[Milestone Reached: First Kill]
[New Adaptation Acquired: Reflex Response (Tier 1)]
Jack dropped the rod for a moment, staring at his bloodied hands. His stomach twisted violently. He wanted to puke.
Before he could even process the horror, more guttural noises echoed down the corridor. More of them were coming.
Jack's eyes flicked to Chu's corpse one last time. His chest tightened with guilt.
"...I'm sorry, bro."
He clenched the metal rod tighter in his fist, turned, and ran.
Jack's bare feet slapped against the slick steel floor as he sprinted, lungs burning with every step. The guttural shrieks behind him echoed through the hallways, growing louder. He didn't look back. He couldn't.
The red strobe lights painted the corridors like a nightmare, flashing broken glimpses of shattered tubes, blood trails, and claw marks carved into the walls.
Jack skidded to a stop.
A thick, reinforced metal door loomed in front of him, sealed tight with Umbrella's red security lock. He cursed under his breath, slamming the butt of the rod against it. The metal didn't even dent.
"Come on! Open, damn you!"
The shrieks were closer now—shambling, pounding footsteps. His pulse spiked.
Then, with a hiss, a side door slid open to his right.
A woman stepped through, grabbing his wrist and yanking him inside before the door slammed shut.
Slim, elegant. Short black hair that framed her pale face. And the one-piece red dress—the same one he'd glimpsed on the catwalk outside the facility.
Clean. Impossibly clean, as if the chaos of the facility didn't dare touch her.
The woman's eyes swept over him—slowly, deliberately—lingering on his bare, blood-smeared body. They paused, shamelessly, on his lower half before flicking back up to his face. A faint, amused smirk tugged at her lips.
"You've got a bright future, soldier boy," she said, voice smooth with a teasing edge.
Jack flushed, instinctively covering himself with one hand. "The hell are you staring at…?"
Before he could finish, she produced a folded set of fatigues from a satchel at her side—a Marine uniform.
He snatched it from her quickly, turning his back as he dressed. Ada didn't look away. If anything, her smirk deepened as her eyes traced the lines of his back and shoulders, muscles tensing with each hurried movement.
Only after he finished buttoning the last strap did Jack finally whirl back toward her, frowning. "Name's Jack Hale. Who the hell are you?"
The woman tilted her head slightly, lips curving into a faint smile.
"Call me Ada."
Behind them, the reinforced door rattled as the infected pounded against it.
Jack scowled. "That's not an answer. Start talking. Who the hell are you really, and why are you here?"
Ada's cool eyes met his. She didn't look afraid, or even unsettled.
"I told you," she said smoothly. "Ada."
Jack's grip tightened on the rod, anger flashing across his face.
The red strobes painted her like something unreal—too sharp. Too clean.
"Fine," Ada said at last, her voice calm but deliberate. "I'm attached to NATO intelligence. We've had eyes on Umbrella's activity in the region for months. Your squad wasn't the first to go missing. But you might be the first to… survive."
Jack blinked, the rod lowering slightly. "NATO…?"
Ada's lips curved faintly. "Think of me as clean-up. I'm not here to fight Umbrella's monsters. I'm here to gather proof, intel, anything to shut them down. But after what I just saw in there—" her eyes flicked toward the sealed containment hall, "—I'd say luck just handed me an ally."
Jack clenched his jaw. The explanation made sense. NATO, intel ops, Umbrella's shadow projects—it lined up with the missing reports his leadership had whispered about.
He studied her, still suspicious. "So what—you're some kind of spy? Here to save the world like James Bond?"
Ada's smile didn't reach her eyes. "Let's not get dramatic, soldier boy. I'm just here to survive. Same as you."
Silence stretched between them. Jack's grip on the rod loosened slightly. He didn't want to believe her completely, but after Chu, after the torture from Weiss… trusting her was easier than facing the nightmare alone.
"Your squad," Ada said casually, turning as she walked further into the corridor, "some of them might still be alive. If you want to find them, keep up. Otherwise… stay behind and find out what happens when the lights go out."
Jack's heart lurched at her words. Still alive?
He swallowed hard, forcing his legs to move.
Suddenly, the VSS popped into view again:
[VIRAL SURVIVAL SYSTEM]
[New Hidden Path Unlocked: Bonds Path]
[New Bond Milestone with Ada Wong: Dangerous Alliance]
Jack tightened his grip on the rod and followed.