Weapon System in Zombie Apocalypse

Three weeks later.

The lights in the briefing room dimmed as Thomas stepped to the front of the stage. The central holotable displayed a rotating 3D topographical scan of western Mecca and the surrounding desert ridges. Red sectors marked Bloom Nest concentrations; a flickering yellow ring circled the estimated position of the Wraith Titan.

The room was silent.

Dozens of Overwatch officers and specialists sat in rows—field operatives, engineers, pilots, and tactical AI handlers. All of them were focused on the man at the front.

Thomas clicked the remote once.

"This is not a raid. It's not a sweep. This is a surgical strike."

He turned to face them.

"We're calling it Operation Black Halo. Our objective is the Wraith Titan. We neutralize it, and the Mecca Bloom Cluster collapses with it."

A new feed appeared. Drone footage showed pulsating towers of biomass rising from cracked earth, twisting skyward like diseased trees. Spore clouds burst from them at regular intervals.

"We believe the Titan is acting as a relay—a mobile command unit for infected growths worldwide. If it links with the Sudan Nest, we lose half the continent in under a month."

He paused. Then pointed to a glowing silhouette on the holomap.

"This is where Goliath comes in."

All eyes shifted to Phillip, who stood at the far end of the room in full pilot gear. His undersuit clung to his frame like a second skin, neural ports visible along the spine and collar.

"He drops in first. We hit the field with kinetic fire, isolate the Titan, then clear the area for a containment lockdown. The rest of you are on drone suppression, artillery overwatch, and evac duty."

Rebecca stepped forward. "Our intel suggests the Titan feeds on energy, not biomass. That means it's learning. Adapting. No more direct hits with nukes. We go clean. Precise. And final."

Thomas looked back at them all.

"This is the fight that decides whether we're pushing forward… or running forever."

07:30 Hours

Over Sinai Airspace – C-5 Galaxy Transport Craft "Orpheus One"

Phillip sat inside the armored cockpit of the Goliath, the launch cradle humming beneath him. Every part of the machine was synced to his vitals. He could feel the turbine cycling up like it was part of his own lungs. His heart rate echoed faintly through the chassis.

The cargo bay doors opened ahead.

Sunlight streamed through.

Below them stretched the fractured outskirts of Mecca—part holy land, part nightmare. Skyscrapers lay buried under living coral-like masses. A haze of pink spores drifted on the wind.

"Drop window in twenty seconds," Angel's voice echoed in his ear. "Final check: sync is optimal, all weapon systems green."

"Copy," Phillip said. "Set me down."

The cradle lurched forward and locked into deployment position. HUD lights flashed across his vision. [ALTITUDE: 12,400FT. DESCENT LOCKED. VENTRAL RETROFIRES ENGAGED.]

"Thomas," Phillip said quietly.

"Go," came the reply over comms.

"If I don't make it back…"

"You will."

The light turned green.

Then gravity took over.

The Goliath dropped.

Ground Zero – Sector Halo-One

The impact crater was massive.

Goliath slammed into the earth like the wrath of a god—retro-thrusters flaring, ground cracking outward in a radial blast. Dust and spores flew into the air. The machine stood tall seconds later, fully deployed and weapons armed.

"Visual confirmed," Rebecca said from the satellite uplink. "Wraith Titan is moving—northwest vector, coming in fast. ETA: five minutes."

Phillip engaged thermal optics.

He didn't need them.

The thing was a walking bonfire.

Molten veins glowed in the haze. It towered over the ruins like a demon made of steel and rage. As it moved, the terrain shifted—sinew lines beneath the soil twitching like nerves.

"Railgun primed," Phillip muttered. "Time to test who's king of the monsters."

He fired first.

The railgun cracked. The blast streaked like a meteor and struck the Titan's shoulder. Bone and metal erupted.

It didn't scream.

It charged.

08:15 Hours

Battlefield – Black Halo Primary Zone

The Wraith Titan moved like a landslide.

Phillip barely sidestepped the first lunge. Goliath's servos screamed as he pivoted, slamming an elbow into the Titan's flank. Sparks and ichor flew.

The monster didn't slow down.

It swung a clawed limb the size of a van. Goliath blocked with the shield generator, the barrier flaring with heat and distortion.

"Shields holding—twelve percent bleed," Angel's voice echoed. "Don't let it push you against the towers!"

Phillip fired again, this time aiming lower.

The railgun's slug tore through the Titan's leg, sending the beast stumbling.

Now.

He activated the jump thrusters.

Goliath leapt—a controlled burst that hurled it twenty meters into the air. It landed behind the Titan with a thunderous quake and unleashed a close-range plasma burst directly into its spine.

The creature shrieked. Its back erupted in glowing cracks.

But instead of falling, it retaliated with a seismic shockwave—its fists slamming the earth, pulsing biomass veins outward like detonating arteries. The wave hit Goliath like a sledgehammer.

Phillip grunted, forced back.

"Power core stable—but your left actuator's misaligned," came Angel's urgent update.

"I can work with it," he growled, reorienting.

Suddenly, new blips appeared on his HUD—six more.

"Bloomspawn incoming!" Rebecca shouted. "The bastard called reinforcements!"

08:30 Hours

Halo-One – Outer Wall Perimeter

Overwatch teams Alpha and Echo dropped in on the western edge, deploying drone turrets and establishing a fire line.

Casimiro's voice rang over comms: "We're in position! Keeping the swarm off your six!"

Behind Phillip, bursts of gunfire and drone missiles lit up the desert. The Bloomspawn reinforcements roared and surged toward the war machine's blind spot.

He didn't look back.

He couldn't.

The Titan was still on him.

It launched a cluster of organic missiles—pods that crackled with bio-electricity.

Phillip dove left. Goliath's shoulder plate absorbed most of the blast, but warning signs lit up across the screen. Minor breaches. Smoke curling from his hip vents.

"You've got thirty seconds to end this before it starts regenerating," Thomas barked. "Use the override!"

Phillip flipped the emergency cover on his controls. A red key.

"Overdrive system engaged," the HUD announced.

The fusion core surged.

Time slowed.

The Goliath's limbs pulsed with power.

Everything sharpened—Phillip's heartbeat synced with the surge. The cockpit lights dimmed to red, filtering out distractions. Energy thrummed through the frame like a living heartbeat. For a second, he felt like a god.

The Wraith Titan loomed ahead, recovering its posture. Its wounds were already knitting together—molten flesh slithering back over exposed metal. Its eyes, twin orbs of green flame, locked onto Phillip's.

But Goliath was faster now. Stronger.

Phillip charged, kicking up sand and spore-soaked debris. The railgun snapped forward, humming louder than ever. He didn't aim for the limbs. Not this time.

He aimed for the core.

The shot fired.

A streak of white-hot plasma ripped forward and slammed into the Titan's chest, punching through its ribbed armor and igniting its internal organs like an overstuffed furnace. The beast recoiled violently, spewing burning sludge in every direction.

Phillip didn't let up.

He activated the wrist-mounted arc blade and sprinted forward. The blade ignited—a meter-long lance of blue-white energy. He slid under the creature's counter-swipe, dodging by inches, and carved straight into the joint beneath its left arm. Sparks flew. Bone snapped.

The limb dropped uselessly at its side.

The Wraith roared—more vibration than sound—and tried to stomp him flat.

Phillip boosted up and over, landing on its back.

"Phillip, what the hell are you doing?" Rebecca yelled over comms.

"Ending it!"

He drove the arc blade deep into the glowing fissure he'd opened earlier. The Titan thrashed violently, twisting and bucking, but Goliath's magnetic stabilizers kept him locked to the spine.

"Core is overheating," Angel warned. "You have ten seconds before the power limiter burns out."

Phillip gritted his teeth.

"Ten is all I need."

He yanked the blade free and jammed it in again—deeper this time, rotating the hilt to carve a molten wedge. The Titan convulsed. Its claws spasmed, striking empty air. Its legs buckled.

Then the fissure burst.

A final railgun shot to the wound sealed the kill.

The Wraith Titan exploded from the inside—flames erupting from its chest and spine in a cascading chain of detonations. It collapsed onto the ruins with a deafening crash that shook the ground for miles.

Silence followed.

Then static.

"…Target down?" Thomas's voice cut through.

Phillip exhaled shakily. "Target down."

Cheers broke out across the comms.

"Goddamn, that's what I'm talking about!" Casimiro howled.

"Bloomspawn are falling apart," Rebecca added. "Losing coordination. The cluster's unraveling!"

Phillip stared at the smoking carcass of the Titan. Its flames cast shadows across the ruined cityscape. Bloom towers began to wilt. Fungal structures sagged and split apart, melting in slow collapse.

Mecca… was clearing.

But the battlefield still crackled with unease.

As he guided Goliath away from the burning wreckage, a low rumble echoed from deeper beneath the sand—like the churning of something much older.

"Command," Phillip said, "we've got tremors beneath the basin."

"We're detecting the same," Angel confirmed. "A tunnel collapse… or something deeper."

Thomas came back online. "We'll run seismic scans. For now—regroup. You did your job."

Phillip leaned back in his seat. The overdrive cycle powered down, the cockpit returning to normal.

"I hope to god that thing wasn't just a decoy."

Outside, the last bloom tower collapsed.

And overhead, for the first time in weeks—

The sky over Mecca was blue again.