"What do we do, Kei?" Toby shouted.
"I don't know!" I yelled back.
I tried calling my brother. Then my mother.
Nothing.
My screen flickered and glitched, the signal warping as if something was actively interfering. Messages refused to send. Calls failed instantly.
It felt deliberate. Like a third party was blocking everything.
Still, there was one small relief.
They had both used the app just two minutes ago.
That meant they were alive. Still moving. Still using their phones.
The situation was spiralling out of control.
The darkness of the sky was edging closer and closer.
The street lamps began to turn on.
Everywhere we turned, those zombie-like voids kept appearing. Crawling out of houses. Staggering from alleyways. Slowly, relentlessly.
Individually, they were not fast.
But in numbers, they were a wall.
Speed meant nothing when the only thing ahead of you was an unbreakable mass.
Think. Think.
Considering the situation, the safest place would probably be our school, right?
The thought clicked into place.
"I have an idea," I said quietly. "Follow me."
People were running in every direction. Panic ruled the streets.
I nearly collided with someone rushing past, their face pale with terror.
I kept my voice low. If we drew too much attention, the voids would hear us.
And if that happened, they would follow.
That would be the end.
"If it's a plan you came up with, I'll follow," Toby replied quietly.
Then a scream tore through the air.
A corpse flew out of a house window and slammed onto the pavement.
The condition was brutal.
It looked like it had been eaten.
Then discarded.
More voids emerged from nearby houses, dragging their feet forward. Their mouths were smeared with blood, their eyes hollow and empty.
Windows were cracked and shattered.
A child was crying somewhere inside a house.
A woman screamed.
A man shouted orders.
I saw him through the chaos, gripping what looked like a sword. He swung it desperately, cutting through the voids as another person fought beside him, also wielding a blade.
The sight was unreal.
My thoughts scattered.
My route to the school slipped from my mind.
Toby placed a hand on my back.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "Get it together. We can live through this."
A void staggered closer, its footsteps scraping against the pavement.
That snapped me back.
Now was not the time to freeze.
We turned sharply and ducked into an alleyway. It looked like a shortcut. Or at least, I hoped it was. Besides the darkness allowed us to hide.
Suddenly, our phones vibrated.
A second later, a speaker blared to life.
"This is the government. Due to the current situation, all citizens are advised to evacuate to designated safe areas."
"Please proceed to the locations marked on your map. This feature has been implemented on all devices."
My heart sank.
This was bad. Seriously bad.
Now was not the time for announcements like this.
All it would do was cause more panic. More chaos.
Worse, the sound from our phones had just exposed our position.
I pulled up the map.
My breath caught in my throat.
The nearest evacuation point was the school.
The same place we were already heading toward.
Damn it.
Everyone nearby would rush there now. The place would be flooded with people.
Overcrowded.
There would be limits.
And once it reached capacity, anyone left outside would be as good as dead.
First come, first serve.
Survival of the fittest.
Then another notification appeared beside the school icon.
Closing in twenty minutes.
My heart, which had already dropped, plummeted even further.
We were at least twenty-five minutes away.
"Hurry, Toby," I said, panic bleeding into my voice. "We don't have time."
We ran past the alleyway and burst onto another street.
The road ahead was blocked.
A horde of zombies filled the street from end to end, bodies packed tightly together like an unmoving wall.
Behind us, people were screaming as faster voids chased them down, their footsteps pounding closer and closer.
"Wait, I know a detour," Toby said frantically.
"Go, go, go," I yelled.
He did not hesitate.
Toby sprinted toward another alleyway, and I followed right behind him. The moment we entered, he slammed himself against the wall and took cover.
I did the same.
Ahead of us, several voids wandered aimlessly, patrolling the narrow space.
Time was slipping away.
Each passing second tightened something in my chest, desperation building until my thoughts started racing.
Then it hit me.
I still had the speed potion from the dungeon.
I called out to Codex in my mind, and a translucent screen appeared before my eyes.
From my inventory, I pulled out the potion. I drank half of it, then handed the rest to Toby.
"Drink," I whispered.
He did not ask questions.
The moment we finished, another screen popped up.
Instead of a twenty five percent boost, it showed twelve point five percent.
Was that because we split it? I wondered.
There was no time to think further.
Toby looked at the screen once and nodded. He understood immediately.
That burst of speed was enough.
We shot forward.
Before the voids could react, we rushed past them, slipping through gaps, dodging grasping hands, barely brushing past decayed bodies.
By the time they turned, we were already gone.
I nearly tripped over a corpse due to the darkness.
The boost faded shortly after, but it had done its job.
We exited the alleyway and found ourselves on a wide road.
I recognized it instantly.
The school.
All we had to do was run straight.
So we ran.
The street was quieter here, eerily so. The voids stood scattered around, motionless, like discarded mannequins.
Then a notification appeared above the school marker on my map.
Time remaining: 5 minutes
Capacity remaining: 10 people
My stomach dropped.
This was bad. Time was almost gone.
Suddenly, voices erupted behind us.
"They're heading for the school," someone cried out.
You have got to be kidding me, I thought.
Now was absolutely not the time.
Then I heard chanting.
A boy's voice rang out, sharp and clear.
"Throughout ice and water, let them slow and slow as water thickens and freezes."
"Activate."
A screen exploded into view.
Status Condition
You have been afflicted with Slowness for 2 minutes by another player
Movement speed reduced by 50 percent
Effect ends if the caster dies or the duration completes
My legs felt heavy instantly.
We were still running, but each step felt like pushing through thick mud.
They were catching up.
Damn it.
Then Toby reached into his pocket.
My eyes widened.
The last grenade.
He turned, aimed without hesitation, and threw it.
The explosion shook the street.
Status Condition
Affliction ended
Nice one, Toby, I thought.
We surged forward again, but Toby started slowing down, his breathing uneven.
A few voids still wandered ahead of us, but the road was wide enough.
We weaved past them, cutting close but never stopping.
Then I heard it.
An engine.
A car was speeding toward us from behind.
I did not think.
I tackled Toby, and we crashed onto the pavement just as the car roared past.
We rolled hard, scraping skin against concrete.
We had not slept. We were exhausted. Our bodies were shaking.
Nothing had changed.
"I killed someone," Toby whispered.
His face was pale, twisted with guilt. His eyes trembled, filling with tears.
"I thought the dungeon was a dream," he continued. "But it wasn't. Rivian, I killed people."
I slapped him.
Not hard enough to hurt.
Hard enough to ground him.
"We'll think about it once we're inside," I said urgently.
I understood him.
I remembered the feeling of crushing that boy's fingers.
When you kill someone for real, fear follows.
Fear that you will change. That the person you were will hate the person you are becoming.
I regretted it.
But I refused to let circumstances define me.
Toby staggered to his feet, but his mind was unravelling.
He ran, muttering under his breath.
"Murder. Murder. Murder. Mom, I'm a murderer."
Then we saw it.
A group of people ahead of us were being slaughtered.
Not by a horde.
By a single void.
This one was different.
The car that nearly killed us managed to slip past.
We were not so fortunate.
Its gaze locked onto us.
The void stood in the middle of the street, its body wrapped in a heavy chain like a grotesque blanket. Compared to the creatures in the dungeon, it lacked armor. No plated skin. No reinforced bones.
Only shredded trousers, a torn shirt, and the chain it wielded as a weapon.
That alone made it dangerous.
An idea sparked in my mind instantly.
"Toby, give me the knife you're holding," I shouted.
"Yes, sir," he replied weakly.
He handed it over. The knife with four remaining uses.
I told Toby to go left.
Instead, he turned right.
Idiot.
The creature noticed immediately. Its head snapped toward him, sensing easy prey.
Shouts echoed behind us.
The group chasing us was getting closer.
The void swung its chain.
It wrapped around Toby's leg in an instant.
Toby cried out as he was yanked off his feet and dragged across the pavement. The creature reeled him in, claws flexing, ready to finish him off.
Not happening.
I lunged forward.
The creature's attention was completely focused on Toby.
That was its mistake.
A perfect opening for me.
I slashed upward, cutting deep into its neck.
The blade sank cleanly.
The void froze, then collapsed to the ground.
A notification appeared in my vision, but I ignored it.
I grabbed Toby and hauled him up.
"Move," I said.
We ran.
The school gate loomed ahead.
Notification
Time remaining: 2 minutes
Capacity remaining: 3 people
We can make it.
I could see it.
But the gate was already closing.
Why?
Then I saw them.
A horde was approaching from the opposite side.
Too many.
But luck tilted our way for once.
The gate malfunctioned, stuttering as it slowed.
That was all we needed.
Toby and I sprinted and dove forward.
A guard at the gate shouted.
"Hurry. Hurry."
Three seconds left.
Two seconds.
We barely made it through as the gate slammed shut behind us.
Not a second too soon.
"Get inside," the guard ordered. "Someone will guide you."
We walked toward the entrance, legs trembling.
Behind us, fists slammed against the gate.
Screams erupted.
"Hey, you. Guard, he-"
The voice cut off.
The horde reached them.
They were surrounded.
And were consumed.
Their screams echoing as I walked away.