By the tenth day, the world no longer felt like Earth.
The three of them had grown used to the emptiness—ghost towns, abandoned cars, shop windows frozen mid-sale—but now the emptiness was changing. The air itself seemed heavier, buzzing faintly like static. Streetlights would flicker at odd hours even though the grid was gone. Shadows bent in strange angles, longer than they should be, as though something unseen was pulling them.
Animals, too, were different. Crows circled overhead in flocks far larger than Abhi remembered, their cries sharper, more guttural. Stray dogs that once might've wagged their tails now growled low, eyes glinting unnaturally in the dark. It wasn't just that people were gone—the rules of the world were changing.
That morning, as they passed through a hollow suburb, RV noticed something unsettling: bells in temple ringing, though there was no wind. Kriti muttered a prayer under her breath. Abhi didn't say anything, but his grip on the pistol tightened. The Pickup jerked and came to a sudden halt. Abhi, got out to check the engine.
"Are we okay?" K asked looking around
Abhi gave out a sigh. "Engine's busted, must have been those stupid flaming zombies."
"So what do we do now?" RV muttered
"I guess we are on foot now" Abhi slamming the hood shut.
By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, they were exhausted. Nearby, they saw a school on the outskirts of a small town—brick walls cracked, weeds choking the playground, chalkboards inside still smeared with half-solved equations.
"This will do for tonight," Abhi said, scanning the halls with his rifle. His tone was steady, but inside he felt the unease gnawing at him. Classrooms should have echoed with kids, lockers should've been clanging. Instead, only the sound of dripping water and their own breathing filled the halls.
They set up camp in a classroom. Kriti lit a small lantern, the glow casting long shadows over rows of empty desks. RV leaned against a broken window, watching the horizon burn orange with a dying sunset.
And then the ground began to hum.
Kriti gasped first, clutching her chest. Her skin glowed faintly, threads of light racing like veins of lightning beneath the surface.
"K?" Abhi darted to her side, but before he could touch her, RV collapsed too. His body convulsed, heat shimmering off him like a furnace.
"RV!"
Abhi tried to drag them upright, but a force pushed him back—like invisible hands shoving him away. Around Kriti and RV, energy strands wove into translucent shells, tightening until both were sealed inside glowing pods that had completely engulfed them and sealed tight.
"No—no, no, no!" Abhi pounded the surface, katana clattering against the alien cocoon. His reflection stared back, warped by shifting light. He felt utterly useless. Guns, blades, all of it meant nothing here.
The pods pulsed, like living hearts. Abhi could only watch.
He barricaded the classroom door, set up lanterns around them, and sat cross-legged with the katana on his lap. Outside, distant groans echoed—undead moving through the night. Abhi's every instinct screamed to run, but he couldn't. Not while K and RV were trapped.
Time lost meaning. Hours passed. He stayed awake, muttering to himself, whispering to the pods.
"You better come out of this," he said, voice cracking. "Because I'm not carrying your asses to Germany alone."
Then the first crack appeared, Abhi jolted upright. The pods split with a sound like tearing silk.
RV tumbled out first, coughing violently. A sudden snap of his fingers sent a spark flying across the room—and a pile of books erupted into flames.
"The hell?!" Abhi yelped, kicking the fire out with his boots.
RV stared at his hand in horror. "I—I didn't mean—" Another involuntary snap. A fireball whooshed out, smashing into the chalkboard, leaving black scorch marks.
Then Kriti stumbled free. She raised her hand instinctively—and every desk in the room rattled before slamming against the far wall with a deafening crash. Her eyes widened, trembling. "Did I just—"
Abhi froze, then chuckled. Then laughed, until his sides hurt.
Kriti stared at him. "Abhi, this isn't funny!"
"No, no—you don't get it." Abhi wiped his eyes. "This is perfect. You guys have superpowers i guess and me? Guns and steel. Do you realize what this means?"
RV blinked. "That we're freaks?"
"That this just turned into the best thing of my life." Abhi smirked, swinging his katana onto his shoulder. "You're in my party now, and lucky for you two, I've been dreaming for this my whole life."
Abhi walked upto them and held both of them close. Kriti and RV could not even process what was happening.
"I'm just happy you guys are okay." They all embraced eachother close.
Moment was cut short. Groans and metallic clatters echoed outside. Figures emerged through the playground fog—undead zombies, skin peeling like wax. Behind them stalked something worse: a knight in corroded armor, helm glowing faintly blue.
"Great. Tutorial fight," Abhi muttered, racking his rifle. "Alright noobs, listen close. Rule one: don't panic. Rule two: follow my calls. Rule three: try not to kill me."
Kriti's voice shook. "Abhi, we don't even know what we're doing—"
"Exactly why you need me. RV—left flank, fireball—small burst, aim center mass. No nukes indoors."
RV snapped nervously. A fireball burst forth, slamming into a zombie's chest. The corpse lit up, staggering before collapsing in flames.
"Not bad," Abhi said, firing three precise shots into another undead's skull. "See? Damage over time. We're learning."
"K, you're crowd control. Push those desks—now!"
Kriti thrust her arms forward. Desks scraped violently across the floor, smashing into two undead and pinning them against the wall. She gasped at her own strength. "Woah!"
Abhi turned his sights on the knight. "Boss fight. My kill."
He took high ground on a desk, rifle braced, firing controlled bursts into the glowing helm. With a final crack, the knight's armor caved, collapsing into ash.
Silence. Smoke drifted in the air.
RV panted, hands still sparking with heat. Kriti stared at the crushed corpses, trembling. Abhi blew imaginary smoke off his rifle barrel.
"Textbook win. And tutorial complete." Abhi glanced at both of them, who were as shook as they were in awe of what had happened.
"What the actual hell is happening to us?" Kriti Mumbled
"You guys have become powerful." Abhi gathering himself.
"I can throw fireballs…" RV fixed gaze on his hands.
But when the adrenaline faded, reality sank back in. These weren't levels. There were no respawns. The monsters were only getting stronger, stranger.
Abhi cleaned his rifle in silence, staring into the lantern's flicker. His friends had powers now. Powers that could shift the tide of survival. And he? Just a guy with bullets, steel, and sarcasm.
Yet, for the first time, he didn't feel outmatched. He felt necessary. He was the one who saw patterns, tactics, weak spots. His gamer instincts weren't just escapism—they were survival.
He sheathed his katana and looked at Kriti and RV, both shaken but alive. "Alright, party," he said softly. "Level one's done. But don't get cocky."
Outside, something howled. Not a wolf, not human—something else.
Abhi's smirk returned, though his eyes stayed hard. "Bosses are still out there. And trust me… they won't wait for us to grind XP."
Kriti let out a giggle "Please, i dont even know what i am anymore."
"The most powerful telekinetic i know."
"Stop joking Abhi, if it wasn't for you. I dont even know what would have happened." she looked up towards him sitting across from the lantern. "Why didn't you get powers like us?"
Abhi stared at the lantern and then shifted his gaze towards her. "Honestly, I don't know but my theory is that maybe this is all just the start, maybe there's something out there for me also. Plus, I needed you both to be stronger. Let's be honest you guys are shitty with guns."
RV gave a slow nod and Kriti followed "True…"
"But isn't this all, like a little cool" RV muttered
"You mean, us fighting monsters and you guys getting powers?"
"Yes, I know i shouldn't say it like this but…" RV's gaze lowered
Abhi stared at him with a slight smile. "It is cool, true that the world is not ours anymore but what matters is we are here, together." Abhi glanced at Kriti. "And now, i have a team that i can rely on. Although you guys might need some help with your abilities. Consider me your personal coach."
"The point is RV, now we can fight back. We don't have to be scared of them or whatever come next." Kriti reassured him.
"Not just fight back, with practice and my help you guys can be unstoppable."
"For real?" Kriti raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, RV can create fire with a snap of his fingers, maybe he can do more once he starts understanding his abilities. Same goes for you, you were able to move desks by slight movements of your hands. Imagine if you become powerful enough you could toss a loaded truck like a twig."
"I can do that?" Kriti puzzled
"I don't know but I mean look around does anything seem impossible at this point."
"Big bro is right. Maybe I can do more than fireball."
They were silent for a while everyone just relaxing in their own way.
"How are going to move forward?" Kriti questioned lying down flat on the cold classroom floor.
"Now that we have better odds, we should be fine walking down the road." Abhi picked himself and started loading his backpack.
"We are moving now?"
"Yes… we have long road ahead"
The three of them packed their things, stepping back onto the road under the pale dawn sky. The world around them was mutating, collapsing, but for the first time since the beam of light, Abhi felt something else flickering beneath the fear.
Hope.