The vehicle was an angkot, one of the ubiquitous public transport minibuses, though this one had seen better days. Much better days. Rusty metal plates had been crudely welded to its sides, and the windows were covered with thick wire mesh. It sputtered to a halt directly in front of the 24/7 Mart, its engine cutting out with a final, rattling sigh. Its headlights, one of them cracked, cast a weak, yellow light on Kael's barricade.
Kael held his breath, hidden in the darkness, peering through a tiny gap.
Three figures emerged. The first was a woman in her late twenties, moving with an efficient, predatory grace. She wore practical cargo pants and a leather vest over a worn t-shirt. A simple, unadorned bow was slung over her shoulder. Her eyes, sharp and alert, scanned the entire street before giving a curt nod. She was clearly the leader.
The second was a mountain of a man, Budi, as he was soon called. He carried a stop sign that had been ripped from the ground, its metal pole now serving as the handle for a brutal-looking club. He grunted, moving to a position where he could watch both ends of the street.
The last to get out was a skinny young man, Adi, who looked barely out of high school. He clutched a large wrench like a weapon and nervously fiddled with the angkot's side mirror.
"It needs coolant. And I'm almost out of bypass wires for the ignition," Adi said, his voice thin. "Rin, are you sure about this place?"
"It's a convenience store, Adi. They have coolant. They have batteries. They have food," the woman, Rina, replied, her voice low and steady. "We stick to the plan. Budi, watch our backs. Adi, you're with me. We're in and out in five minutes."
Kael's mind spun. Survivors. An organized group with a vehicle. This could be his ticket out of this nightmare. But the memory of the slaughtered Players was still fresh in his mind. He was an anomaly, a glitch. To them, his [Undefined Error] class might as well be a sign that read "useless." They could kill him for the supplies he'd just gathered.
He stayed perfectly still as Rina and Adi approached the entrance.
"Barricaded," Rina noted, examining his handiwork. "Recent. Could be a solo survivor. Could be a trap."
She didn't try to break it down. Instead, she pointed to the large, shattered window panel beside the main doors. "We go through there. Quietly."
Kael shrank further into the shadows behind the counter as the two slipped into the store. Rina moved like a cat, her feet barely making a sound. Her [Code Perception] tag was different from anything he'd seen before.
// Name: Rina // Class: [Pathfinder]
Adi was less graceful, stumbling slightly and muttering an apology.
// Name: Adi // Class: [Tinkerer]
They swept the main area with small flashlights. "Clear," Rina whispered. "Looks like it's been picked over. Adi, check the back. Storage room. Look for bottled chemicals, antifreeze, anything useful."
"Right," Adi said, trying to sound braver than he was. He headed towards the back of the store, his flashlight beam bobbing nervously.
Kael's heart pounded. The storage room. He hadn't checked the storage room.
A moment later, a terrified scream ripped through the silence, followed by a crash and the sound of chittering, snapping jaws.
"Adi!" Rina yelled, drawing an arrow from her quiver in a single, fluid motion. She and Budi, who had abandoned his post outside, charged towards the back.
Kael crept to the edge of an aisle and peered toward the storage room door. Rina was firing arrows into the darkness, each shot followed by a pained squeal. Budi stood in the doorway like a wall, swinging his stop sign club, blocking whatever was inside from getting out.
"There's too many of them!" Adi shrieked from within. "Skitterers!"
Kael focused his perception on the dark room. He could see Rina and Budi's health bars, slowly but surely chipping away. And he saw the enemy. A dozen small, fast-moving creatures, their data tags reading [Shadow Skitterer]. They were weak individually, Level 2, but they were a swarm.
This was his choice. His defining moment. He could stay hidden, let these strangers die, and keep his sanctuary. Or he could help, and risk everything.
He thought of Lily, alone somewhere in this broken world. He prayed that if she were in trouble, someone, anyone, would be brave enough to help her.
His decision was made.
He sprinted towards the storage room. Rina saw him coming. "Get back! It's not safe!" she yelled, thinking he was a civilian.
He ignored her, his eyes locked on the ceiling of the small, dark room. He saw exactly what he was looking for: a simple, industrial light fixture.
// Object: Incandescent Bulb Fixture // Power_State=False // Special_Attribute: Fragile_Filament
He didn't try to turn it on. He didn't have time for a delicate hack. He did what he did in his apartment hallway. He focused on the object, on the fragile filament within the bulb, and pushed. He didn't inject a value; he injected pure, chaotic energy. BREAK!
The pain in his head was instantaneous, but he grit his teeth.
The bulb didn't just turn on. It detonated.
FWOOM!
A flash of pure, blinding white light erupted in the confined space, accompanied by a sharp crackle. The Shadow Skitterers, creatures of darkness, shrieked in agony, their sensitive eyes completely overloaded. They stumbled, writhed, and crashed into each other, stunned and momentarily blind.
The sudden silence was deafening.
Rina, Budi, and Adi were also reeling, their vision filled with spots. They blinked rapidly, turning away from the source of the impossible flash. Their eyes slowly focused on the figure standing at the doorway, half-hidden in shadow, his hand slightly outstretched towards the now-destroyed light fixture.
They stared at Kael, a strange, lone survivor who had appeared from nowhere and saved them with a miracle. Friend, or foe? No one knew.