The wind outside the cabin picked up, whispering through the gaps in the wooden slats like it carried secrets—low, cold, and persistent. Shin could feel it creeping against his skin as he sat by the warped frame of the door, watching the trees sway just enough to make the forest feel alive. Or haunted.
Kent pulled himself to his feet with a grunt, stretching his sore arms above his head. "We'll need to leave before noon. No supplies, no signal. If Fatal's watching us, I doubt we're safe even here."
Shin gave a short nod. "We should split responsibilities. Check the woods for water. Gather anything that burns. Make a plan."
Alix, brushing the hair from her face, sighed. "I'll go with Evelyn and look for dry wood. There might be some in the clearing east of here."
Shin glanced back. "Kent and I can check the back trails. We saw a stream when we slipped into that trap door yesterday—maybe we can find it again without falling into another one."
"Hopefully," Kent muttered. "Though falling into one might be the only thing keeping us on track."
They started moving slowly, quietly, each motion still heavy with the weight of the last twenty-four hours. Elie attempted to rise again, leaning on the table's edge. Her ankle was better wrapped now, thanks to Evelyn and Alix the night before, but the pain was still sharp.
"I can help with the firewood," she offered, forcing steadiness into her voice.
"No, Shin said, firm but not cold. "You need rest. You took the worst of that blast."
Elie scowled at the floor but didn't argue. The unspoken truth was clear in everyone's eyes—if they lost one more person, the balance would break. They needed all five.
As Shin and Kent made their way out of the cabin, the woods greeted them with biting air and cautious silence. Their footsteps crunched over brittle leaves, and every sound felt magnified, like the trees were listening.
Kent broke the silence after a while, his voice lower than before. "Do you think he's watching us now?"
Shin didn't answer immediately. His eyes swept over the brush and the shadows between tree trunks.
"Yes," he finally said.
A pause.
"Me too," Kent admitted. "But it's not just Fatal I'm worried about. He picked us. All of us. From different schools, different systems. Different… lives."
Shin narrowed his eyes. "You think there's a reason behind the choices?"
"I know there is," Kent said, kicking a rock aside. "He mentioned we were all 'great test subjects.' This wasn't random. It's been curated."
Shin let that settle for a second before speaking. "If he curated us… what makes us similar?"
Kent gave a dry laugh. "You mean besides trauma?"
Shin didn't smile.
Eventually, they found the stream again—murky but flowing. They filled two empty bottles with the cold water and rinsed the dirt from their cuts, wincing as it stung against the wounds.
Back at the cabin, Evelyn and Alix had returned with a modest stack of sticks and broken branches. Alix's arms were scraped up, probably from thorns, and Evelyn had dirt on her cheek—but they both looked more alive than they had the night before.
Elie sat at the center of the cabin, absently staring at the flame they had coaxed into life from a pile of dead pine needles and dry bark. Her fingers fidgeted in her lap. Her gaze shifted briefly when Shin and Kent stepped in, and again when she saw their faces and torsos still marked with half-washed blood and bruises.
She looked away quickly—but not before Alix caught the glance.
Elie's voice was soft. "Did you find anything?"
"Water," Shin replied. "Not clean, but it'll do."
As everyone gathered again around the fire, the world seemed to still. The flames crackled and spit faint sparks into the musty air, and for a few brief moments, there was no Fatal, no trap, no catastrophe looming in the distance. Just the breathing of five people, bound by accident or design, warming themselves beside a fragile flame in the middle of a world that was falling apart.
Somewhere out there, Fatal waited.
But in here, for now, they were alive.
And that was enough—until it wouldn't be.
As night surrendered to a murky dawn, a low mechanical hum began to pulse through the forest—so faint at first it could've been mistaken for the wind. But Kent's eyes twitched open immediately, his senses on high alert.
Shin was already awake, leaning against the wooden wall near the door, his hand resting on the hilt of a broken metal rod they had scavenged earlier. He'd heard it too.
Then came the sickening scrape of metal against bark.
Kent stood, locking eyes with Shin.
"You hear that?" Shin whispered.
Kent nodded. "It's close."
The hum grew louder. A sharp click-click-click followed, echoing unnaturally through the trees. Then… silence.
Until Elie let out a soft gasp and pointed out the cabin window.
Shin's eyes followed.
Just beyond the treeline, something staggered forward. Its skin was gray-green and stretched tightly over exposed muscle. Jagged seams ran down its torso like crude surgical scars. Wires jutted from its arms and spine, sparking faintly. Its eyes were white, pupil-less—and glowing.
"Everyone back," Shin said, stepping forward, voice low but firm.
The creature moved like a drunk at first, limbs jerking with mechanical twitches. But then it locked onto the cabin—and charged.
Kent reacted instantly, grabbing a broken chair leg. "What the hell is that?"
"Fatal's answer to 'reward,'" Shin growled. "It's a construct. Flesh and machine—"
The cabin door shattered as the creature slammed into it.
Kent and Shin met it head-on. Wood splinters flew. Alix grabbed Evelyn and Elie, dragging them toward the back.
Kent ducked a wild swing and jabbed the chair leg into its ribs. The creature didn't flinch—just howled, a broken, synthesized cry—and backhanded Kent across the floor.
Shin leapt onto its back, locking his arms around its neck. The thing bucked and twisted, trying to shake him loose.
"Now, Kent!" Shin yelled.
Kent, bleeding from his temple, grabbed a burning stick from the fire pit and rammed it into the exposed wiring at the base of the creature's skull.
The scream that followed wasn't human. The smell of scorched tissue filled the air.
The creature collapsed mid-roar, jerking once before going limp.
The cabin fell into stunned silence.
Alix stepped forward, shaking. "What was that?"
Shin panted. "A drone, maybe. Controlled, or at least monitored. He's watching us again."
Kent's face darkened. "We're out of time."
Shin turned to Alix. "We need elevation. If the cities are still alive, we'll see something—lights, smoke, anything."
Alix nodded.
"I'll go with you," she said, voice thin but steady.
They sprinted up the nearest trail while the others tended to Elie, still weak from the injury. The climb was brutal, rocks slick with dew and roots threatening to trip them at every step.
When they reached the top, Shin shielded his eyes, scanning the horizon.
Nothing.
No smoke. No faint lights. Just endless forest stretching into dead silence. Roads grown over. Towns swallowed by the wild.
Alix exhaled, deflated. "It's all gone."
Shin didn't respond. He didn't need to.
Dr. Fatal hadn't just unleashed chaos. He had erased the world's response to it.
There was no cavalry coming. No cities left to run to.
Only them—and whatever came next.
Shin and Alix made their descent in tense silence, their boots crunching softly against the forest floor. The weight of what they hadn't seen up there—the absence of light, of smoke, of anything remotely alive—hung heavier than any words could carry.
Alix's breath fogged in the chilly morning air. "There really wasn't anything, was there?"
Shin shook his head. "Not even a flare. It's dead out there."
She slowed her pace for a moment, glancing sideways at him. "Do you think it's like this everywhere?"
"I think Fatal planned for that." His jaw tightened. "And if he didn't do it himself, he triggered something that did."
By the time they made it back to the cabin, the others were huddled inside, quiet, exhausted. Evelyn had started boiling rainwater in a dented pot they'd found behind the structure. Kent sat by the fire sharpening a piece of metal, eyes distant, his thoughts clearly still on the attack.
Elie was lying with her ankle elevated, but she looked up sharply the second Shin and Alix entered.
"Well?" Kent asked without turning.
Shin met his eyes. "Gone. Everything."
Elie blinked. "The city?"
"The whole skyline. Looked like nature ate it."
Alix moved toward the fire, holding her hands out to the weak heat. "It's like the earth never even remembered it was there."
Evelyn exhaled slowly. "So… there's nothing? No sign of help?"
"No planes, no signals, no lights," Shin said. "No one's coming."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Kent looked up, voice low. "Then we stop waiting."
Shin gave him a slight nod. "Agreed."
"We can't afford to sit here. That thing from earlier—there could be more."
"There will be more," Evelyn said bitterly. "This was a test. He wanted to see how we'd react."
"And we're still here," Kent said. "We're alive. So we move forward. But we do it smart."
Alix tossed a small branch into the fire. "Forward… to where?"
Shin answered without hesitation. "Wherever the last signal leads us."
Evelyn raised an eyebrow. "You picked up a signal?"
"I picked up a pattern," Shin said. "Back in the files we watched. One of the maps showed overlapping test zones. There's a place—deep inland. It was marked differently. No trials were performed there. No subjects. Just… a red X."
Kent stood. "So Fatal left it untouched."
"Or he left it alone for a reason," Shin said. "Either way, it's our best shot."
Elie stirred on her makeshift cot. Her voice was quiet but firm. "Then let's go."
Shin looked around at the group—their bruised faces, their trembling hands, the shadows of fear behind their tired eyes. But he also saw grit. Resolve.
He nodded once.
"Then we head out at first light."
The night dragged on in silence, save for the occasional crackle of the fire and the wind murmuring through the cracks in the wooden cabin. No one truly slept—at least not deeply. Sleep came in fractured pieces, interrupted by aching muscles, haunted dreams, and the distant fear of something watching them from the dark.
When morning finally bled across the horizon, pale and grim, Shin was already up, crouched beside the embers. His shirt was damp and wrinkled from where it had dried by the fire overnight. He tossed a few twigs into the ash, coaxing the flames back to life. Kent soon joined him, rubbing sleep from his eyes, the red gash across his face now bruised and stiff. He didn't complain. Neither of them did. Words were becoming a currency not easily spent.
One by one, the others stirred. Alix was first, groaning as she stretched out her arms. She glanced around, then down at Elie, still lying with her ankle propped up.
"How's it feel?" she asked softly.
"Like crap," Elie muttered, trying to flex her foot. "But I can walk. I'll manage."
Evelyn knelt beside her and started rewrapping the bandage they'd fashioned from an old curtain. "You sure?"
Elie gave her a hard look. "We don't have time for me not to be."
Shin stood and dusted off his hands. "We'll move slow. Keep to the tree line. Kent and I will take point. Alix, help Elie. Evelyn, watch the rear. No one separates, no matter what."
Everyone nodded.
As they stepped out into the forest, the air felt colder than it had the day before—like the earth itself had stopped breathing. They walked in silence, the crunch of dirt and broken leaves under their feet the only sign they were real and not part of some shared nightmare.
Hours passed.
The trees grew thicker. The sky disappeared beneath a web of branches. Every now and then, Kent would stop and check the crumpled map they'd salvaged from the lab computer, now barely holding itself together from moisture and wear.
Eventually, they reached a ridge—one that offered a faint glimpse of something in the distance.
Smoke.
Thin, barely visible. But real.
Shin stepped up beside Kent. "See it?"
Kent narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. Southeast. Maybe two miles."
Alix shifted her pack. "Could be survivors."
"Could be another trap," Evelyn muttered. "We've seen what he's capable of."
"I'll take either," Elie said, limping forward, her voice a little too sharp. "Anything's better than more silence."
Shin hesitated. Then: "We head toward it."
They moved downhill, more cautious now, the possibility of life reawakening something anxious and uncertain in each of them. But deep inside, none of them could ignore what still clung to their minds—
That Dr. Fatal had planned everything.
And if this was just another page in his design…
They were heading straight into it.