There were still a few hours until the gorzerks' plan was meant to be set in motion. At the very least Ronan could make sure James was secure and away from the action. It was a bit odd for a security guard to be this shocked by one of the shapeshifters, though. Isn't it their entire job to protect the bunker from them? And each other…

The chief and the other guards had been rather troubled by the emergence of a shapeshifter amongst them. The chief was the most worried. He gave Ronan an exceptionally fierce glare. Ronan knew why. He was meant to have been replaced by the first gorzerk he called.

The fact that he had ended up killing one of the shapeshifters at the gate could only mean that their plan had already started to fail. He would need to watch his back, but the chief couldn't attack him openly, either.

They'd sent him back to the gate with another guard. The blonde woman turned out to be called Janice and apparently her and Davy were good friends. Which had left Ronan in an awkward position, given that he didn't know a damn thing about her.

He also had a bigger problem than the small tidbits of awkward conversation that he was forced to have with her every few minutes—Janice was talkative, and apparently her and Davy had been quite close. Ronan had learnt that the inner gate was the only one that could be operated by the guards. The outer seal, the one that actually kept the bunkers safe from the nuclear winter that raged outside, was controlled by the tech maintenance team.

Unfortunately Ronan couldn't just leave his post without drawing suspicion. Janice was already making a few comments about his behaviour. "You're withdrawn today, Davy. Usually you would have laughed at that one. How hard did you hit your head?"

Ronan winced. "Pretty hard. I'm still missing some memories. Actually, my head is kind of ringing right now. I think I need to head back to the med-bay. The doc said I should if I experienced any further problems." He made a show of clutching his head and taking a step away from her.

Despite her carefree personality it seemed that Janice actually cared about Davy. "That's not good. Tell the chief first so he can send someone to replace you. Maybe they won't be in such a shitty mood." She elbowed him lightly and he put on a pained smile. She'd bought his act.

Ronan made his way back to the security headquarters. The chief was one of the elite gorzerks. He wondered if he could find a way to get the bastard alone and take him out. With one less leader to organise them, the shapeshifters might find it difficult to respond when he started interfering with their plan.

He knew they had to have failsafes. They had been working on this for sixty years if the first bastards he'd killed had been correct. Now that I think about it, wouldn't that put the beginning of their plan before the supposed nuclear war? How does that make sense? Something was really off about all of this, but Ronan couldn't quite put his finger on what.

He entered the security building and found it emptier than earlier. Maybe some of the guards had finished their shifts or gone to other areas of the settlement. It was huge, after all, and likely needed a lot of work to keep secure. The chief looked up when Ronan walked through the door.

"Davy, what are you doing back here? I told you that there would be no early finishes, you lazy prick!" The stubby man slammed a fist on his desk, making the whole thing shake.

Damn, dude's got some serious anger management problems. Ronan suppressed his amusement. "Sorry, chief. It's just that my head started ringing and hurting again. The doc said I should head back to the med-bay if that happened, so…" He shrugged.

The chief sighed. "I guess you need to be alive to do your damned job. It would be funny to see you as a vegetable, though." The chief's distasteful joke earned a couple of muted laughs. "Come into my office quickly, I need to talk with you about something before you head off."

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Ronan narrowed his eyes. That was suspicious, but it might work out perfectly in his favour. He nodded and relaxed his expression. "Yes, chief."

The 'office' wasn't much to show. Like everything else in these post-apocalyptic settlements it was a white metal cube that was built for maximum space efficiency. It only had a desk and a few cabinets, along with a large screen built into the wall. The screen was currently off, so Ronan couldn't get any insights into the tech they had going here.

The chief closed the door behind them. There were no windows here, only walls. No one outside could see what happened inside the office. The chief motioned for Ronan to sit at the chair opposite his. "I'll stay standing, thanks. If I sit down now I don't think I can get up again." He leaned on his fake injury so he could stay combat-ready.

"That makes sense." The chief walked around Ronan so that he was in the periphery of his vision. "Long live Gorz'Arak."

It was barely a whisper, but Ronan heard it. The moment he'd been waiting for. The chief was trying to see if he was the gorzerk who was supposed to have taken over his body. Rather than immediately kill the bastard, Ronan decided to see if he could get some more information out of him. "Long live Gorz'Arak."

He had feared that he might butcher the pronunciation, but his translation skill was powerful and did most of the heavy lifting. The chief's body visibly relaxed as he let out a sigh. "You scared me when you came in talking about a head injury, you slippery shit. I thought the possession had failed somehow. Did you get shifting lag? Is that why you're behaving like a fucking moron? The plan is underway, we can't afford mistakes this close to our moment of glory!"

Shifting lag? What the hell is that? Some kind of problem when they take a new form? Ronan had many thoughts but he couldn't voice them without exposing himself. "Yeah, something like that. I'm fine, really. I already told that annoying bitch Janice I needed to see the doc, though. I can make contact there and see how they're holding up." The gorzerk didn't have names, so it was hard for him to word that, but Ronan knew that there were at least two who had replaced med-bay staff.

"That makes sense. You should have spoken with me first. This didn't need to get so messy. Anyway, there's enough of us here to handle things. Now fuck off and don't do any more improvising." The chief waved him out. Ronan's breath hitched. If he was going to act, now was the moment.

He decided there was no need to hold back.

"Actually—" The chief raised his head at Ronan's words, exposing his throat. Ronan conjured a throwing knife and tossed it at the pink flesh, marking it with his epic skill at the same time. The split-focus was difficult, but his dual mind trait made it possible.

The knife tore through the air. The chief let out an exclamation of surprise but it was too late. The knife buried itself in his throat and he gurgled. Ronan was already moving, a small hammer in his hand.

The chief tore the conjured blade out of his neck. A small squirt of blood sprayed out but then his skin peeled back to reveal torn-up grey flesh instead. The bastard was bigger than the other shapeshifters he'd killed. He was far from the biggest monster Ronan had dealt with, though.

The hammer sang as it tore through the air. It smashed against the ringed maw of the gorzerk elite and blew a hole in it. The monster screeched and thrashed, smashing a deep dent in the metal desk. Ronan stepped back into its range and swung his hammer again. This time it caved in the shapeshifter's shoulder.

A rubbery limb shot at him too fast to avoid. When it struck his arm, however, it bounced off harmlessly. "You? What the hell are you? How—" Ronan's next hammer blow was his fourth, but unfortunately the chief's hit had interrupted critical tempo. Even so, it blew off half of the monster's head and was enough to finish the job.

You have killed [Elite Gorzerk Lv.32]!

+541 Copper Credits

+5 [Blunt Weapons VII] Mastery

+4 [Mana VI] Mastery

+1 [Stamina VI] Mastery

+4 [Perception II] Mastery

+Gorzerk Lymph Node (Rare)

+Elite Shard Lv.32 (Body)

+Bunker Security Key 2 (Epic)

You have leveled up to Lv.29!

…

You have leveled up to Lv.32!

+60 Vitality

+60 Endurance

+8 Wisdom

+8 Intelligence

+12 Acuity

+80 Charisma

+3220 Luck

+1324 Free Stat Points

He just about finished reading the kill notification when the door to the office burst open. "What the hell is going on in here—" The speaker's voice faded as they caught sight of Ronan standing over the dead shapeshifter, hammer in hand.

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