The roar of the Cosmo Express's diesel engine slowly faded, replaced by the protesting screech of brakes. The yellow bus stopped about fifty meters from the giant green sign that was full of holes like Swiss cheese. [WELCOME TO BOGOR CITY] Below it, what should have been a military checkpoint now looked like a war scene diorama created by a mad artist. A charred Leopard tank with its cannon barrel drooping sadly. Several overturned Anoa jeeps, their wheels pointing to the sky as if in surrender. Barbed wire and sandbag barricades were scattered, stained by patches of dried black blood. The silence inside the bus was thick. For the last few minutes, no one had spoken. Even Dito, the little boy, just silently hugged his doll, sensing the tension creeping through the air. The cold atmosphere following the massacre at the rest area still lingered, freezing every interaction. Until fi

The first week at the Botanical Gardens Fortress felt like freshman orientation at the weirdest college on earth. Elian's group, now dubbed "The Jakarta Convoy" by the older residents, was given an area near the Orchid Garden. The location was somewhat isolated, separated by a lotus pond from the main camp where Colonel Badra and his troops were stationed. A deliberate separation, Elian knew. Badra wanted to watch them from a distance.The atmosphere between the two camps was full of polite mistrust. Badra's soldiers would give stiff nods when passing Elian's team, while the bus survivors would look down in fear when they saw military patrols. They lived together, but they were not united."This isn't a fortress," Rico grumbled on the third day, chewing on a ration of corn rice that tasted like wet cardboard. "It's like that reality show 'Neighbor Wars.' We're the weird family that just moved in, and they're the bossy neighbors reporting us to the HOA if our laundry is too wet."Elian

The sound of the war horn didn't come from a polished brass instrument. It was low, guttural, and vibrated deep in the chest, blown from a grotesquely curved mutant deer horn by one of the Death Knight lieutenants. DOOOOOOOOOOMMM... The vibrations cracked the glass of the remaining guard posts. Crows perched in the old banyan trees flew up in unison, cawing as they fled the imminent slaughter. Atop the main defense wall, Colonel Badra drew his pistol again. His face was flushed red, a mix of an old soldier's courage and the desperation of a man refusing to believe his world had changed. "ALL UNITS! LISTEN TO MY ORDERS!" Badra shouted, his hoarse voice cutting through the wind. "Do not fear their bone costumes! Behind those bones is just rotting meat! And rotten meat gets destroyed by hot lead! HOLD POSITION! THE KUJANG MONUMENT WILL NOT FALL TODAY!" His soldiers a mix of regulars

WEE-OOO... WEE-OOO... The emergency siren wailed like a wounded beast, slicing through the humid Bogor air. At the main gate, the soldiers' cheers of victory died instantly, replaced by a gripping confusion. Elian wasn't confused. He was terrified. "Rico! Drop the heavy ammo! Run as light as possible!" Elian shouted, sprinting back into the Botanical Gardens complex. "Vara, Gus, with me! The East Sector is breached!" They ran along the cobblestone paths, passing giant trees hundreds of years old. The distance from the main gate to the refugee area in the back was about a kilometer, but it felt like running a marathon in hell. As they approached the Orchid Garden—the area bordering the civilian zone—they saw the chaos. It wasn't a noisy Horde. It was silent. Soldiers' bodies littered the path. No signs of m

The sound of the walkie-talkie hitting the ceramic floor sounded too loud in the suddenly silent Greenhouse. Crack. The black plastic fractured, just like Rico's courage right now. "Rico..." Lina's voice trembled, her eyes wet. She was still holding the confused Dito's hand. "Aren't you coming into the warehouse?" Rico turned around. He forced his best smile, the one he usually used when asking for parking fees from fierce mothers who didn't want to pay. But this time, his lips felt stiff, as if injected with anesthesia. "Lina," Rico said, making his voice as casual as possible, even though his heart was beating like club music. "That warehouse is cramped. Stuffy. You know I have claustrophobia, right? I can't breathe in tight spaces. I'll guard here. It's cooler, more oxygen." "Liar," Lina sobbed. "You're lying. You want to intercept that monster alone, don'