Adventure of Armorhide 1

Mara Venn, a lean middle-aged woman with cropped gray hair, a weathered face, and an orange rescue vest over dark work clothes, raises one gloved hand. She leads Armorhide through the depot doors without separating the restrained CDC researcher or the immune child from the construct’s protective hold.

The secured bay glows beneath emergency lamps. Generators hum beside working refrigeration units, their steady vibration competing with the distant moans beyond the barricaded depot.

Exhausted evacuees sort insulated containers and sealed medical packs across steel tables. Two workers check fuel levels while another braces the inner doors against a shuddering impact.

The immune child watches from against Armorhide’s blue-lit frame, clutching the specimen case while adults hurry around them. Their eyes move from the humming machines to the guarded doors, waiting to learn whether this place truly means safety.

Armorhide shifts her free arm, blue energy folding into a compact ion cannon. She angles the barrel toward the barricaded doors, keeping every human and the immune child behind her armored frame.

The cannon releases a controlled blue pulse through the inner doorway. Zombies outside drop back from the barricade, and the impacts against the doors abruptly cease.

The shot drains Armorhide’s core sharply; her blue glow dims, and the refrigeration generators stutter before recovering with a harsh mechanical cough.

Mara points toward a marked service bay. Two rescue workers, two young adult women with sturdy builds, medium-brown skin, dark hair tied back, and bright orange rescue jackets over work trousers roll out a dusty replacement tire and jack, setting them beside the depot entrance for Armorhide.