The outside world was loud and busy, but inside his head it was worse…chaotic, deafening. He let himself sink into the dark, his voice barely more than a whisper.
"I'm scared this is me forever. That I'll never get it back. That I'll never be enough for anyone. That every girl's just gonna look at me the way she did when I left…"
His voice cracked again, tears streaming freely.
"Like I'm a fucking joke."
Meanwhile, Anna gasped as she slipped the dildo inside herself, moving it in and out in a rhythm that mimicked Sid's thrusts. She moaned.
"Sid… oh god, Sid…"
Her fingers found her clit, rubbing it in circles as she fucked herself with the toy. The vibrator buzzed against her nipple, sending shocks of pleasure straight to her core.
Anna arched off the bed, lost in a haze of lust and desire for the boy who had left her unsatisfied and aching for more.
Sid's vision blurred with tears. His thumb hovered but he couldn't stop reading.
"I'm not that guy… I'm not… I'm just—fuck! I don't know what I am anymore."
He slammed his fist against the pavement, the sound echoing down the empty alley.
"Why won't it work? I want it. I want her. I want this. But my cock… it's like it hates me."
He curled forward, tears dripping down his jaw. For a moment, he thought about just never standing up again.
And then, a voice, her voice.
Not Anna's. Not the mob's. But a softer memory, one that slipped into his head.
"Forget the world. When it gets too loud, too heavy… just boot something up. Jump into a game, wreck some zombies, blow their heads off. Forget the people, forget the noise. Just kill the dead ones and breathe again."
Sid froze, eyes stinging harder. He could almost hear her laughter in the back of his skull, warm and uncomplicated. He whispered the memory back to himself like a prayer.
"Forget the world. Just… kill the dead ones."
He sucked in a shaky breath, wiping his face with the heel of his palm. Slowly, Sid pushed himself upright. His legs trembled, but he forced them to steady.
The weight in his chest was still there, but beneath it, something new pressed through. The same thing that used to make him sit for hours grinding rank, chasing high scores. Resolve.
He shoved the phone back in his pocket.
"They want me to break. They want me to be a freak, a joke. But no. I'm ending this. For good."
Sid pulled his hood back up, turned, and walked out of the alley. Each step felt like dragging chains, but he kept moving. His destination was clear now. Not Anna. Not the streets. Not escape.
Home. Back to his apartment. Back to the one place he could still fight.
The game.
The undead.
And the truth.
"I'll kill that zombie bride. For real this time."
And while Sid Wilder wrestled with his demons, Anna was reaching her climax.
Her breathing grew heavier, her hips bucking wildly against the dildo as she chased her release. She could feel the tension building in her core, her muscles tightening with each thrust.
In her mind, Sid was there with her, his hands gripping her hips tightly as he pounded into her.
"Come for me, Anna!"
She imagined him saying, his voice husky with desire.
"Let me see you fall apart."
With a final cry of Sid's name, Anna came undone. Her orgasm crashed over her like a tidal wave, her body convulsing with pleasure as she rode out the intense waves of ecstasy.
Tears of frustration and satisfaction streamed down her face as she slowly came back to reality, the dildo slipping from her grasp as she lay there panting.
But even as the haze of lust began to lift, Anna knew one thing for certain: she wasn't done with Sid Wilder. Not by a long shot.
"Run all you want, Sid. I'll make you mine. And when I do… you won't ever leave that bed again."
Sid popped the cap off the small bottle with his thumb and shook another white tablet into his palm.
His throat was raw, but he dry-swallowed it anyway, forcing the bitter chalk down before he could gag. The ache in his knee still pulsed from earlier, but he needed the edge dulled.
He exhaled hard through his nose, zipped up his jacket, and started moving again. His muscles screamed as he scaled the first fire escape.
He swung himself up and over, then sprinted across the rooftop, the wind snapping his hood back. For a moment, the city blurred beneath him. Neon lights, cars humming below, people laughing in the distance.
All that noise, all those lights, only made his mind spin faster.
Sid leapt the gap between two buildings, his foot sliding dangerously close to the edge before he caught his balance and kept running.
His lungs burned, every jump a reminder that his body wasn't built for this anymore. Still, he pushed. He had to get home. He had to face it all.
By the time he reached his apartment window, his hoodie was soaked with sweat. He dragged himself inside, shut the glass with shaking hands, and leaned against the sill.
Silence wrapped around him. He stood in the middle of the dark room, the glow of his monitors waiting… idle, eerie.
He stripped off his jacket and sat down, fingers hovering over the keyboard. His reflection stared back from the black screen: tired, angry eyes under damp hair. A man split between breaking and fighting.
"No more running."
His hands trembled as he powered the system on. Fans whirred, lights flickered, and the login screen glowed. He wiped his face with his sleeve, opened the streaming software. His finger hovered over the "Go Live" button.
Click.
The screen shifted. "LIVE" glowed red in the corner. Within seconds, thousands of viewers flooded in. The controversy had been burning across every corner of the internet, and now he was at the center of it again.