KarlMrax

But I don’t have to look behind because a
manhole cover blasts out of the
street right in front of me, and
farther ahead, and all the way
down the street like a row of space
shuttles blasting off on columns of
white water. I run through an
intersection and something’s
blocked off the street to my left
and it’s moving and holy Mother of

KarlMrax

I’ve noticed by now: The cloak
isn’t perfect. It turns you to
something clearer than glass, but if
you keep an eye out you can see
the occasional refraction artifact in
bright light. Even in semi-darkness
there’s the barest bit of motion
shimmer you might be able to pick
out. If you know what to look for

KarlMrax

I’m almost wishing that these guys
were better shots because half the
rounds that don’t hit me are
smacking into the windows.
Spiderwebs are cracking through
the glass everywhere I look. I can’t
believe the windows haven’t
shattered yet.
Fortunately, fragging CELL asses
and covering my own is a full-time

KarlMrax

I start to see patterns: The pinger
has a habit of strafing the air with
high-frequency click bursts,
especially when it can’t see me.
It’s echolocating. No wonder the
damn cloak doesn’t work.

Crysis: Legion, PILGRIMAGE

KarlMrax

I’ll tell you what else I
remember. Squiddie laying a bull’seye
on my chest the moment I
crawled up onto Battery Park. I
remember knowing beyond any
shadow of a doubt that I was
dying. I remember Prophet
dragging me across the battlefield,
stashing me in that warehouse,
stripping himself out of this suit

KarlMrax

And back on this side of the
street, something’s following Torres
down from the fifth floor.
It shatters the pavement in front
of me as it lands: a tank on legs,
cannons for arms, compound eyes
like clusters of sodium spotlights. A
Ceph Heavy, and if these garden
slugs are even capable of anything
approaching human emotion, this

KarlMrax

You may think the N2 turns
you into God’s own jihadist,
what with the induced
bloodlust and the enhanced
reflexes and the
superconducting cognitive
enhancements.

Crysis: Legion, PILGRIMAGE

KarlMrax

There are sandbag barricades everywhere
—sandbags, Roger, can you fucking
believe it?—and the guys who take
cover behind them do seem to be a
bit better at staying alive but it’s
not because a few burlap sacks full
of dirt can stop a Ceph shell worth
shit. It’s just that the Ceph haven’t
noticed them yet.

KarlMrax

We lose another one going back
up the stairs: Private First Class
Andrea Gamji, her midsection
shredded by enemy fire. I’m the
last thing she ever sees; one second
she’s staring up into this goddamn
faceplate and the next she’s just
gone, nothing at all left behind
these dull frosted things she used to
look out from. I rob her body and

KarlMrax

I hit the surface straight vertical,
perfect entry. The river closes over
my head with barely a splash. Dead
of night, pitch-black water, viz so
low I can’t even see my own hand
unless I push it right up against the
helmet, and you know what?—
It doesn’t bother me a bit. No
sign of the fear that’s plagued me
ever since I was eight years old. Not a twinge.