The warning flashed in Eliot's eyes again: WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED DATA STREAM DETECTED. SOURCE: UNKNOWN. CONTENT: EXTERNAL THREAT PROTOCOL INITIATED. ALERT: HOST VULNERABILITY DETECTED.
His blood turned to ice. He pulled his hand back from the dumpster, his eyes darting around wildly. The park, the street, the store – everything looked normal, bathed in the bright streetlights. But the System, this strange thing now part of him, was screaming about danger.
He pressed himself against the rough brick wall of the store, trying to hide in the shadows. His mind raced, replaying the words. "Unauthorized data stream." "External threat." Was someone watching him? Someone else with a similar "System"? Or was it something else entirely?
His initial fear of the System itself quickly disappeared, replaced by this new, unknown danger. He was weak. The System had said so. But how? He was just a jobless man, unnoticed by the world, until a few hours ago.
Suddenly, the hum inside him grew stronger, shaking his bones, a low, urgent vibration. The blue light around his hands flickered, then spread, forming a faint, clear shield that pulsed around his whole body. He couldn't see it with his normal eyes, but the System's display showed it, a glowing outline of his shape.
DEFENSIVE PROTOCOL: ACTIVE
STATUS: UNKNOWN THREAT APPROACHING
RECOMMENDATION: EVASION. HOST ENERGY RESERVES ARE LOW. DIRECT CONFRONTATION NOT ADVISABLE.
Evade? But evade what? He still saw nothing. The feeling of being watched, though, was now overwhelming, a tingle on the back of his neck. He felt like he was prey.
He forced himself to move, away from the dumpster, away from the store's bright lights. He stumbled back into the deeper shadows of the park, his senses sharper than ever. He heard the distant hoot of an owl, the rustle of leaves, the quick thump-thump of his own panicked heart. Every shadow seemed to move, every rustle a possible attack.
Then, he heard it. A faint, almost silent shimmer in the air, like heat rising from the road, but without the heat. It was coming from the street, moving fast.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to focus, trying to understand the unseen. He could feel it now, a pressure in the air, a presence. It wasn't human. It felt… artificial. Cold.
He broke into a desperate run, ignoring the pain in his legs, the burning in his lungs. He ran deeper into the park, weaving between trees, his backpack bouncing awkwardly. The blue shield around him pulsed with every panicked step.
He risked a glance over his shoulder. Nothing. Yet, the UNKNOWN THREAT APPROACHING warning from the System remained, now with a new, more exact tracker: (DISTANCE: 50M… 40M… 30M… ). It was catching up to him. Fast.
He ducked behind a large oak tree, pressing himself against its rough bark, trying to control his ragged breathing. His mind screamed for answers. What was this thing? Why was it hunting him? Had the System brought it to him?
Just as he thought this, a new line appeared on his display, an answer that filled him with a fresh wave of terror.
THREAT SOURCE: INITIATED TRACKING PROTOCOL. SYSTEM SIGNATURE DETECTED.
System signature. It wasn't just an outside threat. It was another System. And it was tracking him because of his own. He was being hunted by something just like him, or maybe, something far more powerful. His new "gift" wasn't just a lifeline; it was a deadly beacon.
A branch snapped to his left. He flinched, spinning around. Nothing. But the shimmer in the air was closer now, with a faint, almost silent hum that sounded like the one inside him, but colder, more like a machine.
He knew, with a chilling certainty, that whatever it was, it wasn't looking for a chat. It was looking to stop him. He had to run. But where? And how could he escape something he couldn't even see? His "low" energy felt like a ticking clock, counting down to when he would be caught, or worse.