In an instant, his avatar blurred into motion. Sid's blades carved through the first wave like they were paper, every strike fast and merciless. Heads rolled across the cathedral floor, bodies collapsing in heaps of pixelated gore.
He sprinted down the aisle, dodging, rolling, and slicing with no wasted motion. The chat couldn't keep up with the kill count.
[Chat]: "WTF HE'S A MONSTER"
[Chat]: "holy shit holy shit holy shit"
[Chat]: "is this even live?? how's he that fast??"
The screen became a graveyard of corpses in seconds. None of them slowed him down. None of them mattered. His avatar cut straight through the horde until the last body dropped, and there was nothing left standing between him and her.
The zombie bride.
[Zombie Classification Identified]
[Wave 6999 Boss Encounter]
[The Undying Bride]
She stood still at the altar, veil swaying, dress torn and stained with old blood. Her chest rose and fell in a shallow, lifeless rhythm. Sid's hands gripped the mouse tight, his own breath ragged.
"I'm gonna kill you. Right here. Right now. No more memes. No more edits. No more controversy. Everyone's gonna see, I can kill her."
He pressed his keys, moving his avatar forward.
The chat exploded again, but this time with something else, another name.
[Chat]: "WAIT… IS THAT ANNA???"
[Chat]: "lmaooo no way she's here"
[Chat]: "THE ANNA? HOLY FUCK"
[Chat]: "dude she actually joined his stream???"
And then, her message appeared.
Anna: "Show me, Sid. Show me you can."
Sid's chest tightened. His avatar stopped just steps from the bride. On-screen, she finally moved. Her arms twitched, then stretched forward as she began to walk down the aisle toward him, her eyes locked on his.
Sid's finger hovered over his keys, but he couldn't press them.
His hands trembled slightly. His pupils twitched, eyes starting to dart. It was as if the screen was warping, shifting in and out of clarity. His breath hitched. His chest burned. He blinked hard, but the screen blurred anyway.
The bride was closer now. Each second her hand reached nearer, stretching through the screen, pounding in time with his heartbeat. His ears rang with the crashing rhythm. His vision tunneled, the edges darkening.
He was suffocating.
Not from the game. But from whatever was happening inside his own body.
He tried to raise his aim, but the keyboard slipped in his sweaty fingers. His thumbs dragged, unresponsive. His legs locked stiff beneath the desk.
His lips parted, maybe to joke, maybe to drop one last liner but nothing came out. Not a sound. Yet in his head, the words screamed loud, cutting through the fog.
"Sid, what the fuck are you doing? This is the moment! You have to fight it, kill it! Kill the zombie bride!"
His breathing went shallow. His heart hammered. Then his whole body jolted, like a surge of electricity had shot through him. He froze, muscles locking up as if the cold had gripped him from the inside out.
His jaw clenched, teeth grinding as tremors wracked through him. He tried to inhale but the air wouldn't come. His chest burned, vision tunneling. His hand spasmed against the mouse.
On-screen, the zombie bride reached him. Her decayed hands clamped down on his shoulders as she leaned in, mouth opening wide.
In reality, Sid was seizing. His body convulsed in the chair, Thrashing violently against the desk.
The chat went insane.
[Chat]:"WTF IS THIS??"
[Chat]: "For the first time he didn't freeze, he's actually seizuring??"
[Chat]: "HE'S ACTUALLY BUGGING IRL??""
[Chat]: "Wait is he okay??"
Anna: "Sid…?"
The bride finally tasted his flesh. Her teeth sank into Sid's avatar, pixel blood spraying across the screen. In reality, Sid's body shook harder, his face twisted in pain, breath stuck in his throat.
Blood splattered the screen.
The words appeared in stark red:
[GAME OVER: YOU HAVE BEEN CONSUMED.]
The camera stayed on, catching every second as Sid's body convulsed in his chair. Saliva spilled from his mouth as he gagged for air, his chest heaving. His heart hammered, too fast, too hard…then faltered.
His vision tunneled, edges closing in, rimmed with red. For a moment, he caught his reflection in the corner of the screen and didn't recognize himself.
His muscles locked, cramping violently. He tried to scream, but only a strangled gasp escaped. Sweat poured down his face, drool slipping from his lips as tears blurred his sight. His chest burned like it was tearing open. Then his body gave out.
For a moment, the stream was silent. What followed was panic.
[Chat]: "Y'all he's not moving!"
[Chat]: "Is this a skit?? Someone tell me this is a skit."
[Chat]: "BRO HE'S LEGIT SEIZING WTF"
[Chat]: "CALL 911 CALL 911 CALL 911"
[Chat]: "Holy shit this isn't funny anymore"
[Chat]: "Oh my god oh my god oh my god"
[Chat]: "is Anna still in the call?? Do something!!"
He slumped, crashing to the floor, the back of his head striking hard. The ceiling light above spun like it was deep underwater. And with his final breath, caught between the game and reality, one thought echoed in his fading mind:
"Am I becoming a zombie?"
The screen glowed, a new message blinking beneath the words GAME OVER:
[SYSTEM RESET: Progress lost. Returning to Wave 0.]
[All equipment, skills, and inventory have been erased.]
As his vision slipped into darkness, voices echoed inside him.
"Why don't you kill them, Sid? They're dead. Zombies are dead."
The darkness shifted, forming a glimpse of memory. Sid sat in front of his computer, no camera, just the glow of the game screen, headphones on, mic pressed to his lips.
"I know… but look at them. They're still wearing their clothes. That one was an office worker… that one a student. Before they became zombies, they had a life, a family, a dream…"
Somewhere else, a girl's voice answered through the call. She sat at her own computer, headphones and mic in place.
"Oh, come on! It's just a game. None of this is real!"
Her shot rang out in the memory, the gun cracking as it tore through a zombie's skull. The sound shattered the vision, pulling him deeper into the void.