Once violence starts moving… nobody controls where it ends. As the prison transport doors exploded outward, unlocked from inside. Every vehicle on the shattered highway swerved violently as prisoners spilled from the transport into the middle of an active battlefield. Gunfire erupted instantly and screams followed, chaos also multiplied.
"What the hell?!" Kane shouted.
Mercer leaned out of the truck grinning like a maniac.
"Oh, this just got interesting."
The convoy split across the dead interstate. Dominion escort vehicles slammed into broken guardrails while Free Men trucks accelerated through smoke and flying debris.
Explosions rolled across cracked asphalt and flames illuminated ruined cars abandoned from the old world decades earlier. The entire highway became a war zone moving at full speed and trapped in the middle—The prisoners ran blindly between bullets and burning wreckage. Jasper's eyes locked on the smiling prisoner climbing calmly from the opened transport unlike the others he wasn't panicked or trying to escape.
He was watching Jasper.
The hum inside Jasper's skull pulsed sharply with a connection and recognition of danger.
"Get down!" Stacy shouted.
Gunfire tore through the side of their vehicle as Dominion soldiers opened fire from nearby armored trucks. Mercer answered with shotgun blasts loud enough to shake the air itself, bodies dropped onto the highway and vehicles crashed behind them. Still the convoy kept moving.
Dozens of survivors sprinted across ruined lanes desperately trying to escape. Some made it into wasteland terrain beyond the road, others got caught in crossfire instantly. A young man tripped near burning debris—and a Dominion vehicle crushed him beneath reinforced tires without slowing.
Stacy cursed under her breath.
"This is the worst."
The escort vehicles weren't panicking
"They expected transport breaches," Kane realized.
"Of course they did," Jasper muttered.
"They plan for human desperation."
A fuel truck erupted behind them in a massive explosion as flames rolled across the highway, swallowing abandoned vehicles and forcing Dominion escorts into tighter lanes. Heat blasted across Jasper's face as smoke turned the night into a burning nightmare and somewhere ahead—
The smiling prisoner kept moving calmly through it all and toward him.
The Free Men fighters roared with excitement as they smashed deeper into Dominion lines. One truck rammed directly into an escort vehicle, sending both spinning violently into guardrails.
Another Free Men fighter climbed atop a moving truck firing dual pistols wildly while laughing like death itself.
"They're insane," Stacy said.
Mercer grinned proudly.
"That's why we survive."
The smiling prisoner moved through gunfire untouched not because bullets missed accidentally but because he seemed to know where they'd land before they fired. Jasper noticed immediately just like him and the realization chilled him instantly. The prisoner stopped beside the highway divider and looked directly at Jasper through smoke and fire.
Then he raised one hand slowly inviting him and every Hollowed unit nearby suddenly turned toward him instead of Jasper.
Kane stared in disbelief.
"…What did he just do?"
Jasper already knew or at least feared he did.
"He accessed the network."
Dominion commanders immediately reacted.
"Asset breach confirmed!"
Several escort vehicles broke formation entirely now not to stop the escaping prisoners but to intercept the smiling man, that alone told Jasper everything that this prisoner mattered a lot.
The highway stretched endlessly through ruined wasteland while war consumed it completely with burning vehicles, dead soldiers and screaming survivors with explosions reflecting across broken cities in the distance and beneath all of it a hidden system fought to maintain control.
"Jasper!" Stacy shouted.
A Dominion attack bike tore toward them aggressively through smoke. The rider raised an automatic weapon and Jasper fired first, The bike flipped violently and the rider skidded lifelessly across burning asphalt without hesitation and that realization disturbed him deeply.
Mercer slammed their truck through a collapsing escort line while Free Men fighters opened fire into transport vehicles. Prisoners have escaped everywhere now as chaos spreads uncontrollably across the highway but Dominion forces still protected one thing above all else; The lead command transport had heavy armor
Kane noticed too.
"That truck matters."
Jasper nodded slowly.
"Command center."
Suddenly the strange prisoner appeared beside their moving truck without vehicle or protection whatsoever, he was just sprinting unnaturally fast alongside them through gunfire and then he grabbed the side rail effortlessly and pulled himself aboard.
Stacy immediately aimed her weapon.
"Don't move!"
The prisoner ignored her completely.
Instead, he looked directly at Jasper.
"You took longer than expected."
Jasper's chest tightened.
"Who are you?"
The man tilted his head slightly.
"You really don't remember anything before awakening?"
That question hit like a knife.
"Before awakening?" Jasper thought
"What are you talking about?" Jasper asked
The prisoner smiled faintly.
"That's unfortunate."
A Dominion gunship suddenly emerged overhead through smoke. Spotlights cut across the battlefield instantly and heavy weapons rotated downward.
"Oh that's BAD," Mercer shouted.
The gunship opened fire and the highway exploded. Vehicles shattered beneath raining gunfire while Free Men fighters scattered wildly.
One truck vanished completely in flames.
Another flipped repeatedly into burning wreckage as the convoy disintegrated completely now. Prisoners fled into wasteland darkness. Dominion units regrouped aggressively as Free Men fought harder and the Hollowed adapted faster. And above all the gunships hunted.
The smiling prisoner stayed perfectly calm through the destruction. Then quietly said;
"They sent the gunship because they're afraid of you."
Jasper stared at him.
"Why?"
The man's smile faded slightly.
"Because you weren't designed to survive this long."
Suddenly the gunship spotlight locked directly onto Jasper. Warning sirens screamed from the aircraft instantly.
"PRIMARY SUBJECT LOCATED."
Every Dominion unit on the highway shifted focus toward him simultaneously.
The smiling prisoner looked upward calmly and then spoke one horrifying sentence;
"They've decided to erase you."
Missile ports opened beneath the gunship and far beyond the battlefield more lights appeared across the dark horizon with additional Dominion forces incoming. It was an entire kill division.