Kill to evolve: A system that demands blood
Chapter 30: Something dangerous

Chapter 30: Something dangerous

Chapter 30

Ronan’s eyes snapped open, his breathing heavy as his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room. Gently, he sat up on the bed, his brows furrowed. There wasn’t anyone around. Cold air brushed against his skin, sterile and dry. The faint hum of malfunctioning machines buzzed from the corner.

Where am I?

His arm twitched as he lifted it to brush the damp strands of hair from his forehead, but something tugged him back. He looked down. An IV line. Connected straight into his vein. That’s when it clicked—hospital. Or something that passed for one.

"Anyone out there?" His voice rasped like gravel, the sound foreign to his ears.

No answer.

No movement.

He yanked the IV out with a quick, sharp jerk and slid off the bed. His legs felt stiff but stable. Like muscle memory had taken over before his mind caught up.

Each step across the tiled floor echoed too loud. The door creaked open slowly, revealing a hallway bathed in dim emergency lighting, red pulses flashing at timed intervals. But more than the lights... it was the silence. Not quiet. Not peaceful.

Empty.

Dead.

He stepped into the hallway, the soles of his bare feet cold against the ground. Then, from the far end, the sound of rushed footsteps. Multiple sets. Boots. Urgent voices.

Then they appeared.

Four guards, dressed in black armor with the sentinel order’s logo stamped across their chests, followed a pale-faced nurse in white.

"There! He’s—he’s awake?" the nurse stammered, skidding to a stop.

Ronan tilted his head, slightly confused because of how shocked she seemed to see him. "...Why wouldn’t I be?"

One of the guards narrowed his eyes, then turned to the nurse. "Explain. What the hell did you just say happened?"

The nurse didn’t answer right away. Her breathing was shallow, chest rising and falling too fast.

Then she lifted a shaking hand and pointed. "Look... over there."

They turned.

At the other end of the corridor, two guards slumped against the wall. Faces pale. Eyes wide open but unseeing.

At first, it looked like they were just unconscious.

Then someone stepped closer.

"What the...?"

Their skin—ashen. Collapsed veins. Completely drained.

Like someone had sucked every last drop of blood from their bodies.

The nurse choked on her next words, eyes darting between the corpses and Ronan. "He did that. While unconscious. He wasn’t even awake... and he did that."

Ronan’s expression darkened, jaw tightening.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he muttered, a low growl in his voice.

He didn’t remember anything. Not those guards. Not even being brought here.

One of the soldiers raised his weapon slightly, not pointing it, but ready. "Sir, we’re going to need you to come with us—"

"I didn’t do anything," Ronan snapped, being arrested was the last thing he wanted right now, all on his mind was returning home to his son.

And just like that, the temperature dropped.

Everyone felt it. A sudden weight in the air, pressing down like gravity had spiked. The hallway lights flickered. That same presence again... like being too close to something ominous.

Dangerous.

Ronan’s eyes pulsed red for a brief second. Just a flash.

The nurse staggered back.

He saw it in their eyes, the fear. The uncertainty.

They didn’t know if they were escorting a patient...

Or containing a threat.

One guard’s finger inched toward the trigger of his weapon, but Ronan didn’t flinch.

He could feel it, something crawling beneath his skin. A pressure. A hum. Not pain. Not fatigue. Power. Raw and untamed, like a storm waiting to be unleashed.

"I said," Ronan said, his eyes narrowing, "I didn’t do anything."

The nurse took another step back, her voice trembling. "Your vitals were off the charts, no heartbeat, no pulse, but your body was still warm. Then those two collapsed. And... and their blood just, disappeared."

One of the guards finally lost his nerve. "Stand down, now!" he barked, raising his weapon fully.

Ronan didn’t move. "If you were smart, you’d lower that before someone else..."

Too late.

The guard fired.

The shot echoed like thunder in the narrow hallway,

but it never reached him.

The bullet stopped mid-air.

Frozen.

[New skill activated: Telekinetic]

Time itself didn’t halt, but the space around Ronan bent, warping the bullet’s trajectory until it disintegrated in a crackle of black mist.

The silence that followed was deafening.

"What the f—"

The second guard collapsed, clutching his head, screaming in agony. Blood dripped from his ears. His eyes rolled back.

The others took a step back.

"What’s happening to him?!" one of them shouted.

Ronan clutched his head. That humming was now a roar. Visions, flashes, flames, blood, a dark figure with hollow eyes, standing over bodies. Screams that didn’t belong to him echoing in his skull.

He staggered, then leaned against the wall, panting.

What the hell is happening to me?

A calm voice suddenly echoed from behind the group. "Everyone, back away. Now."

They turned.

A man in a dark grey suit, older, composed, with silver hair and a cybernetic implant glowing faintly along his temple, approached. His ID badge read Dr. Calen Myre – Lead System Recovery Division.

"Step away from him," the man ordered again. "You have no idea what you’re dealing with."

"But sir—he killed them! He—"

"He was unconscious," Dr. Myre said coldly. "And you fired the first shot. Consider yourself lucky he didn’t tear this entire floor apart."

Ronan’s eyes snapped up. "You know what’s happening to me?"

Dr. Myre studied him carefully. "Not everything. But enough."

He turned to the remaining guards and nurse. "You’re dismissed. Leave the floor. Now."

No one argued.

Once they were alone, Myre walked slowly toward Ronan.

"You’re going to start feeling things, hunger, urges, power spikes. The system that resurrected you is unlike anything we’ve ever documented. It doesn’t just give power... it evolves it. Based on instinct. Emotion. Blood."

Ronan tensed. "You’re saying I did kill those men?"

Myre didn’t answer.

Instead, he tapped a button on his wristpad. A screen projected between them, showing security footage from earlier.

Ronan—unconscious on the bed.

Then his eyes shot open—completely red.

The guards at the door stood stiffly for a moment. Then one dropped. Then the other.

Ronan’s body didn’t even move.

"It’s like something within you acted on its own," Myre said quietly. "And if that something gains control... a lot more people are going to die."

Ronan stared at the footage, horror creeping into his expression.

"So what now?" he asked.

Myre sighed. "Now? We need to run tests. Monitor the system inside you before it evolves into something uncontrollable."

Ronan looked away. "And if it already has?"

The doctor paused. Then said calmly, "Then you won’t be leaving this facility alive."