The digital clock in the CDC control center ticked down.
[00:29:59]
"The air handling units have just shut down," Dr. Jenner said, his voice void of emotion. "The generators are tapped out. In thirty minutes, the decontamination protocols engage."
"Which means what?" Rick asked, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Which means the fuel-air explosives in the basement detonate," Ren answered for him. He was leaning against the console, twirling the USB drive containing the entirety of human knowledge on the Wildfire Virus. "This place becomes a crater."
Panic, cold and sharp, spiked in the room.
"Open the doors," Shane barked, raising his shotgun. "Open the damn doors!"
"I can't," Jenner said. "The lockdown is hardcoded. It's designed to keep the virus in."
Daryl swung his axe at the blast doors. CLANG. The steel didn't even dent. The axe vibrated, stinging Daryl's hands. "It's sealed tight!"
Lori was crying, holding Carl. The group looked at Rick, but Rick looked at the door, helpless.
Ren stood up. He pocketed the USB drive.
"Step aside," Ren commanded.
The group parted like the Red Sea. Ren walked up to the main blast door. It was six inches of reinforced titanium and steel.
"Jenner," Ren said without looking back. "You want to stay? Fine. Jacqui wants to stay? Fine. Death is a choice. But these people..."
Ren's eyes began to glow with a fierce, electric blue light.
"...They belong to me."
He placed both hands on the center seam of the blast doors.
[Skill Activated: Limit Breaker (Strength Boost)]
[Skill Activated: Elementalist (Lightning Overdrive)]
"Open!"
Ren roared. The muscles in his back tore through his tactical shirt. Veins bulged on his neck like steel cables. Blue lightning surged from his hands, flowing into the metal, superheating the locking mechanisms until they glowed cherry-red.
CREAAAAK.
The sound was deafening. The screech of metal shearing against metal. The entire underground bunker vibrated.
Slowly, impossibly, the blast doors began to separate.
Jenner watched, his mouth agape. "My god..."
Ren forced the doors open three feet. Enough for a person to run through. He held them there, his arms trembling slightly under the tons of hydraulic pressure trying to slam them shut.
"GO!" Ren shouted. "Move! Now!"
Rick grabbed Carl. "Go! Everyone go!"
They scrambled through the gap. Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, Carol.
Andrea stood by the console. "Jacqui?"
"I'm staying," Jacqui whispered. She looked at Jenner.
"Andrea!" Ren yelled, the strain evident in his voice. "Move or I drag you!"
Dale grabbed Andrea, and they ran through the gap.
Ren looked at Jenner one last time. "Die well, Doctor."
Ren let go. He blurred through the gap just as the doors slammed shut with a force that would have crushed a tank.
They burst out of the CDC entrance, lungs gasping for fresh, hot air.
"To the vehicles!" Shane shouted. "Move your asses!"
"No time!" Ren grabbed Amy and Andrea by their waists. "Get down! Behind the blast wall!"
He tackled them behind a concrete barricade near the parking lot entrance. Rick and the others dove behind the RV.
BOOM.
The earth heaved.
The CDC imploded first, the windows sucking inward, and then a pillar of fire erupted into the sky. The shockwave hit them a second later, a wall of heat and dust.
Ren shielded the girls with his body. Debris rained down—concrete, glass, metal. A chunk of rebar bounced off Ren's back. He didn't even flinch. His Regenerative Factor healed the bruise instantly.
As the dust settled, silence returned to Atlanta.
Ren stood up, dusting off his shoulders. He looked down. Amy and Andrea were clinging to him, their faces buried in his chest.
"It's over," Ren said calmly.
He looked at the burning crater. One chapter closed.
[Quest Completed: The Escape.]
[Reward: 500 System Points.]
[Hidden Achievement Unlocked: "Titan of Strength" (Force open a blast door manually).] [Reward: Strength +2.]
They drove for two hours, putting distance between them and the city. They set up a temporary camp off the highway, near a dense patch of woods.
The morale was weird. They were alive, but they had lost their hope for a cure.
Ren, however, was busy.
He sat inside his tent—a large, military-grade tent he had pulled from his inventory.
"System," Ren whispered. "Open Pocket Dimension."
A ripple in space appeared in the corner of the tent. It looked like a shimmering mirror.
Ren stepped through.
He found himself in a 10x10 meter white room. It was sterile, clean, and empty.
"Cozy," Ren muttered. "Needs furniture."
He stepped back out into the real world. He went to the RV where Andrea and Amy were sitting, looking shell-shocked.
"Ladies," Ren said, extending a hand. "Come with me."
"Where?" Andrea asked, exhausted.
"Somewhere safe. Somewhere quiet. No walkers. No heat."
Intrigued and trusting him implicitly now, they followed him to his tent.
Ren pointed to the shimmering ripple.
"What... what is that?" Amy asked, eyes wide.
"My world," Ren said. "Trust me."
He led them through.
As they stepped into the Pocket Dimension, the sounds of the forest—the crickets, the distant groans of walkers—vanished. The air was cool and filtered.
Ren waved his hand. From his inventory, he pulled out a king-sized mattress (looted from a furniture store during a skipped montage), pillows, blankets, and a battery-powered lantern.
"Sleep," Ren said. "Real sleep. No guard duty. Nothing can get in here unless I let it."
Andrea looked around, touching the invisible walls. "Ren... who are you? Really? The strength, the lightning... this?"
Ren sat on the edge of the mattress. He patted the space beside him.
"I'm a traveler," Ren said honestly. "I go from world to world. And right now, I'm the man who is going to keep you two alive."
Amy didn't hesitate. She crawled onto the mattress, curling up. The stress of the last two days hit her like a hammer. "It's quiet," she murmured. "It's so quiet."
Andrea hesitated, then joined them. She sat on Ren's other side.
"Does this mean you're leaving?" Andrea asked, fear in her eyes. "Going to another world?"
"Eventually," Ren said. He wrapped an arm around Andrea's shoulders. She leaned into him instantly. "But not yet. I have things to conquer here first."
[Harem Progress Update]
[Amy: 95% (Devoted)]
[Andrea: 80% (Dependent/Attracted)]
Ren lay back, two beautiful women resting against him in a dimension outside of time and space.
"System," he thought. "Status."
[Name: Ren]
[Race: Enhanced Human]
[Level: 3]
[System Points: 1,300]
[Current World: The Walking Dead]
[World Sync Rate: 15%]
"Sync Rate?" Ren queried.
[To travel to the next world, Host must achieve 100% Sync Rate or Complete the "Main World Quest".]
[Current Main Quest: The Sovereign of the Dead.]
[Objective: Establish a Safe Zone capable of sustaining 100+ people OR Eliminate a major hostile faction (The Governor or The Saviors).]
Ren smirked. "The Governor? Negan? Looks like I need to speed up the timeline."
The Timeskip
Three weeks later.
The group had changed.
Under Ren's leadership, they didn't wander aimlessly. They moved with purpose. Ren trained them daily.
Carl was learning to use a knife. Glenn was becoming a tactical scout. Even Lori was learning to shoot, though she spent most of her time giving Ren conflicted looks.
They found the Greene Family Farm not by accident, but because Ren led them there.
Ren rode his motorcycle up the long dirt driveway, the dust kicking up behind him. The RV and the others followed.
Hershel Greene stood on his porch, watching this convoy of heavily armed survivors approach.
Ren stopped the bike. He dismounted, looking like a warlord. His black tactical gear was pristine. A sword (a katana he bought from the shop) was strapped to his back.
"Can I help you?" Hershel asked warily.
Ren walked up the steps. He didn't smile.
"We need water. We need space. And in exchange," Ren pointed to the woods, "we will clear your barn."
Hershel froze. "Excuse me?"
"I know what's in the barn, Hershel," Ren said, his voice dropping. "I know about your wife. I know you think they're sick."
Ren leaned in. Incubus Charisma flared.
"They aren't sick. They're dead. And I'm the only one who can stop them from eating your daughters."
Hershel looked into Ren's glowing blue eyes and felt a chill of absolute authority.
"Who are you?" Hershel whispered.
"I'm the solution," Ren said.
[Quest Generated: The Farm Arc]
[Objective: Recruit Maggie Greene. Resolve the Barn Issue without chaos. Secure the Farm as a temporary base.]
Ren turned to see Maggie Greene walking out of the house. She looked at Ren—tall, powerful, dangerous. She blushed.
Ren smiled. Three.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Ren called out to his group. "Welcome home."