They found him by the edge of a dried-up streambed, sitting on a rock with his hands raised and his eyes wide.
"Don't shoot or stab or… whatever. I'm human," he said quickly. "Promise."
Thomas and Nia froze. The man looked rough, maybe mid-twenties, tall and wiry with a bandana tied around his head and a jagged cut on his cheek that was still drying. A scavenged knife hung awkwardly in a makeshift sheath at his belt, but he didn't reach for it. He looked scared. Tired.
Thomas stepped forward cautiously. "You okay?"
"Not really," the guy muttered. "Woke up an hour ago. Wandered until I heard you. Haven't seen anyone. Not even a creature. Just this place. Whatever this is."
Nia eyed him carefully. "Name?"
"Jude. Jude Keene. You?"
"Thomas," he said. "This is Nia."
Jude exhaled hard, like their names made things real. "God, thank you. I thought I was alone."
Thomas saw it in him—what he remembered from himself not long ago. Panic hiding under calm. That cold feeling of being dropped into a world with no rules. No answers.
They decided to share food. Carefully.
They found a small outcropping with cover and settled down to eat. Jude told them his story—how he was on his way to meet friends after work, how the sky cracked open above a train station, and then darkness. When he woke, he was in the woods, just like them. Same strange sky. Same eerie silence.
He didn't have an ability yet, or so he said. His screen hadn't activated. "Maybe I'm defective," he joked. Neither Thomas nor Nia laughed.
They stayed there a while.
Long enough to lower their guard.
Long enough for Jude to strike.
It happened fast.
Thomas turned away to pack his bag, and Nia leaned over to adjust her spear on the ground. Jude moved in one smooth motion—he pulled the knife, spun, and slashed upward, catching Nia along the arm as she stumbled back with a cry of pain.
Blood. Fast. Bright red.
"Don't move," Jude said, knife up, wild grin on his face now. "Both of you. Real slow."
Thomas froze, heart slamming in his chest. He looked at Nia—she clutched her arm, backing away, but her eyes stayed locked on Jude.
Jude's tone shifted. Cold. Casual. "Nothing personal. I just don't trust anyone. You've got food, a working ability, and probably more gear. If I leave you alive, what's stopping you from jumping me later?"
"Maybe because we helped you," Thomas said.
Jude shrugged. "I helped people once too. Guess how that ended."
Thomas didn't speak. He waited.
Jude turned to him fully. "Now, hand over your—"
Thomas activated Null Field.
He vanished instantly, body fading like smoke on the wind. Jude flinched, stumbling back.
"What—?"
Nia used that second to lunge. She grabbed the broken spear, still sticky with her own blood, and swung low.
The spear slammed into Jude's shin. He screamed and fell forward.
Thomas reappeared behind him. He grabbed the knife-hand mid-swing and slammed Jude's arm against the tree trunk, once, twice—until the weapon dropped.
Then Thomas didn't stop.
He punched. Raw, panicked, bone-on-bone. Until Jude's body slumped and stopped moving.
Breathing. Bleeding. But not getting up.
Thomas backed off, chest heaving, hands shaking.
Nia knelt nearby, ripping a strip from her shirt to bind the wound on her arm. It wasn't deep, but it bled hard.
They didn't say anything for a long time.
Eventually, Nia muttered, "First one."
Thomas nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"You okay?"
He wasn't sure. His hands were still shaking.
"I almost believed he was like us," Thomas said. "That he just needed help."
"He was like us," Nia said flatly. "That's the problem."
She stood and grabbed her pack. Her arm was tightly bound now, the bleeding slowed. "He's not going to die unless something finds him."
"Should we—"
"No," she cut in. "We're not killers."
They turned away from Jude Keene, who lay unconscious beneath the trees, and walked in silence for a while.
Then Thomas said, "He knew what he was doing."
"Yeah."
"And if it's happened once…"
"It'll happen again," Nia finished.
They both looked at each other. Not scared. Just… changed.
The game wasn't just about monsters.
It was about people.