2025-07-08 22:15:25Aisha handed Shihab a half-eaten chocolate bar her last one with a stubborn frown when he tried to refuse.
"You need energy more than we do," she said, pressing it into his calloused hands. "You’re the one searching all day." Rima nodded, curled up against his side like a kitten. "And you’ll find them. You’re strong. Strong people don’t need to steal." Shihab’s throat tightened. He unwrapped the bar slowly, the chocolate smudged on the foil. "I hope you’re right," he murmured. "You know we are," Aisha declared, kicking a pebble across the floor. "Right, Rima?" "Right!" The little girl grinned, her missing front tooth making the word whistle. For the first time in days, Shihab laughed. The sound felt foreign in his chest. Three days later, the city’s ruins smelled of wet ash and rust. Shihab found an abandoned office building, the windows were broken and half of the building was destroyed. He went inside out of curiosity. He walked around and carefully searched for any sign of life, then he heard a voice. "Shihab? Is that you?" He spun, weapon raised, only to freeze. A lanky figure with a familiar big head stepped into the light, his younger brother Ayham’s best friend since middle school. The guy’s leather jacket was streaked with blood, but not his own. "Tariq?" Shihab lowered the gun, heart hammering. "You scared me." Tariq’s face twisted. He glanced over his shoulder before dragging Shihab behind an unstable wall. "Sorry, But I've got to tell you something important… your brother, he disappeared the night the zombies showed up. Later I found out he joined Qasim’s crew." The name hit like a slap. Qasim is the leader of the Black Vipers, a gang that ran arms deals before the apocalypse made business booming. Shihab grabbed Tariq’s collar. "Why?" "I don't know. Your mom…" Tariq swallowed. "She begged him to stay. But Qasim offered him protection, guns, and said he’d pay him well. I Don't know how Ayham got caught up in their business, I told him not to do it but he didn't listen." A gunshot echoed in the distance, cutting him off. "Look, he changed his number after. No one’s heard from him since the Vipers’ hideout got overrun last week." Overrun. The word buzzed in Shihab’s skull. He released Tariq, hands shaking. "Where?" "Old textile factory by the river, but" Tariq flinched as another shot rang out. "It’s crawling with zombies now. And if your brother is alive…" He didn’t finish. They both knew what Qasim demanded in exchange for his protection. Shihab stared at the broken glass under his boots. Zombies, apocalypse and now gangs. His mother and younger brothers were missing, his brother was caught up in gang war. Things just couldn't get worse for his family. Tariq pressed a crumpled photo into his hand, Ayham at a rooftop party, grinning, Qasim’s arm around his shoulders like a vice. "If you find him… tell him I’m sorry." Then he vanished into the rubble. Shihab pocketed the photo. Somewhere, his family waited for him, and he swore he would find them. "Strong people don’t need to steal." Aisha's words echoed in his mind. strength, he realized, came in forms he hadn’t yet dared to wield. The blue light of the system flickered to life before Shihab's eyes as he crouched in the ruins. Dust particles floated through the air, catching the eerie glow as words materialized: [NEW TASK OFFERED Objective: Survive 72 hours in current zone. Reward: Verified location of your family. Failure penalty: Location data will be permanently erased.] Shihab's breath caught in his throat. His fingers trembled as they hovered over the virtual accept button. Three days. In this hellscape. Bur on the other hand he doesn't have to steal. No betraying his morals. Just pure, brutal survival. He swallowed hard, tasting blood from his split lip. Somewhere outside, a chorus of guttural moans signaled another roaming pack of infected. With a deep breath, he pressed ACCEPT. The system pulsed once, then displayed a new message: "COUNTDOWN INITIATED: 71:59:59 Recommended survival strategy: Move northeast to high-ground positions." As the numbers began ticking down in the corner of his vision, Shihab tightened the straps on his backpack. The weight of his rifle suddenly felt heavier. Somewhere out there, his family was waiting. And now he had a deadline.
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Chapter 32 The Bravery Of The Younger Brother
The room was silent, save for the ragged sound of their own breathing and the distant, fading moans of the horde. They were a sorry sight, dripping pool water onto the cracked floor, shivering in the cool air."We can't stay here," Shihab said, his voice low but firm. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind a deep, bone-weary exhaustion and a simmering anger he was struggling to contain. "The noise or the smell will draw them back. We must move."He led the way, his crowbar held tight, as they slipped out of the building through a side gate. The street was eerily quiet, a testament to the diversion Shihab had created. A few blocks away, they spotted their salvation: a dusty red car parked nearby, its driver's side window smashed, likely from an old looting attempt."Check it," Shihab ordered Karam, while he kept watch, his eyes scanning the shadows.Karam peered inside. "Keys aren't in it. But the steering column is exposed, Ayham, you’re the expert. Can you hotwire it?"Ayham, stil
Chapter 31 The Scent of Chlorine
Shihab fought like a man who had already lost everything, which, to him, he had. From the rooftop, Karam watched in horror, his shouts swallowed by the chaos below."Shihab, no! Pull back! It's a suicide mission!" Karam screamed, his voice raw. But Shihab was beyond hearing. Each shot from his pistol was a step closer to his brother, each fallen zombie a number counted in his head.Then, the pistol clicked empty for the final time.The sudden silence was more terrifying than the gunshots. The horde, sensing his vulnerability, pressed in with renewed hunger.Shihab turned and ran, diving back through the building's main doors and slamming them shut. He shoved a heavy reception desk against them, but it was a temporary fix. The doors shuddered under the weight of the bodies outside.He was trapped in the lobby, weaponless. The pulsing red dot on his mental map was so close, yet completely out of reach. He frantically searched the reception area, throwing open drawers. Nothing. A fire ex
Chapter 30 The Count to Fifty
Shihab drove like a man possessed, the truck's headlights cutting through the deepening gloom. The coordinates from Karam burned in his mind. Every second felt like an hour, every shadow looked like his brother.He took a shortcut through a neglected industrial park, the road little more than a dirt track. The recent rains had turned sections into a bog. The truck’s tires spun, then sank, digging themselves deep into the thick mud."No, no, no!" Shihab slammed his hands on the steering wheel. He threw the door open, intending to push, but froze.The sound of the struggling engine had drawn them. Dozens of figures emerged from between the decaying warehouses, their groans forming a horrifying chorus. He was surrounded, cut off from the truck.Panic threatened to choke him. Ayham was waiting. Karam was waiting.The panic hardened into a cold, sharp rage. He reached into the truck, grabbing his rifle and a pistol. He didn't think about the danger. He didn't think about the noise. He thou
Chapter 29 The Static and the Silence
For two days, Shihab and Jawad’s search for land felt like a cruel joke. Every promising spot, a community garden gone to weed, a flat rooftop, a cleared lot on the city's edge was either swarming with infected or drew them like flies the moment they set foot near it.They’d spent the morning sprinting away from a pack that had emerged from a ruined supermarket adjacent to a perfect, sun-drenched plot of land."Again!" Jawad snarled, bending over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath. "It's like they're guarding the stupid dirt! Every single time!"Shihab leaned against a crumbling wall, equally frustrated. They were wasting energy and ammunition. He watched a lone infected shambling in a wide circle farther down the street, oblivious to them. An idea, desperate and dangerous, began to form."Okay," Shihab said, straightening up. "New plan. We use their numbers against them."Jawad looked at him like he was crazy. "How? Ask them nicely to leave?""No," Shihab said, a focused
Chapter 28 The Bandaid and the Bleeding Wound
Tariq led them through a maze of crumbling alleys to a small, battered door. The smell of sickness and despair hit them before they even stepped inside. The single room was dark and damp, a makeshift curtain separating the sleeping area. On a thin mattress on the floor, three small children lay listlessly, their breathing shallow and raspy. Their eyes were too big for their thin faces, and the shape of their bones was visible under their skin.In a corner, a woman who looked like a ghost from exhaustion tried to quiet a newborn’s weak cries. She barely had the strength to rock the baby. There was no food in sight. Only a single, empty pot sat by a cold hearth.Jawad stopped in the doorway, his usual tough exterior completely shattered. He just stared, his jaw clenched tight. Ayham turned his face away, unable to hide his horror.Shihab felt a cold knot tighten in his stomach. He had seen hunger, but this was different. This was a slow, quiet fading away.Tariq stood by the door, asham
Chapter 27 The Cost of Flour
The next morning, the nightmare was still fresh in Shihab’s mind, a dark stain on his thoughts. He found Ayham making breakfast , humming quietly to himself. The casual normalcy of it, after the horror Shihab had envisioned, was too much to bear.“Ayham,” Shihab began, his voice more strained than he intended. “I’ve been thinking. You should go to Al Noor Island.”Ayham paused his humming but didn’t look up. “What? Why?”“To be with the family. With Mom and the others. They’re safe there. You should be safe there, too.”Now Ayham looked up, his brow furrowed in confusion. “But I am safe. I’m here with you.”“It’s not safe here!” Shihab’s voice rose, edged with the fear from his dream. “It’s dangerous every single day. You’re too young for this.”A defiant look flashed in Ayham’s eyes. He put the frying pan down and turned to his brother. “I’m not too young. I’m a Peace Seeker now. I want to help people, just like you do.”“That’s not the point,” Shihab argued, trying to keep his tone
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