2026-05-03 18:42:34They didn’t stop running,they couldn't risk stopping
The alley behind the store twisted into a maze of narrow paths, broken fences, and crumbling walls.zayn followed closely behind the girl, his breath ragged, legs already screaming in protest.
“Slow down ” he gasped.
“If you slow down, you die,” she shot back without looking at him.
Fair point.
Zayn pushed himself harder.
Behind them, the sounds had changed.
It wasn’t just one creature anymore,it sounded like more has joined the chase.
Scraping,dragging, roaring and hot on their tail
“They’re tracking us,” Zayn said.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“They remember.”
Zayn grimaced. “I hate that answer.”
She turned sharply, ducking under a half-collapsed metal beam,zayn barely managed to follow, the rusted edge scraping across his jacket.
They emerged into a wider space,and zayn skidded to a halt.
“…That’s not good.”
The alley opened into what looked like a courtyard,wide,empty,and exposed,and worst of all,blocked on the other side by a collapsed building.
“No way through,” he muttered.
The girl stopped beside him, scanning quickly.
Her expression hardened.
“…We’re not going around in time.”
A chorus of sounds echoed from behind them,closer now
Zayn turned slowly,and a few shapes and shadows began to emerge from the darkness at the alley entrance.
One.
Two.
Five.
More.
Their glowing eyes pierced through the night, locking onto them with eerie precision.
“…You said one was lucky,” zayn said quietly.
“It was.”
“…What do you call this?”
She didn’t answer,because there wasn’t a word for it,the first creature stepped forward the one that had chased Zayn earlier.
He recognized the twisted limbs,the too-wide smile,it tilted its head again,it's eyes not leaving them as if amused.
Then the others spread out behind it,forming a loose semicircle.
Herding them.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Zayn whispered. “They’re trying to surround us”
“Yes.”
“That’s worse than I expected.”
“Yes.”
Zayn let out a shaky breath, gripping the knife tighter. “Okay… okay, think…”
Running wasn’t an option,hiding wasn’t an option.
What's left….
“…We fight?”
The girl finally looked at him.
“You won’t last ten seconds.”
“Good to know.”
The creatures cautiously advanced closer towards them almost as if they knew there was nowhere to go.
Zayn’s heart pounded violently.
“…Then what do we do?”
The girl’s gaze flicked upward.
Zayn followed it.
Fire escape,rusty,and half-broken,hanging off the side of the building to their right.
“…That thing?” he asked, throwing her a worried look
“It’s our only chance.”
The creatures moved even closer towards them now trying to tighten the circle around them
The circle tightened.
Zayn nodded once. “Then we go for it.”
“On my mark,” she said.
“When?”
She didn’t answer immediately,she was watching them, calculating and waiting for the right time
The creatures shifted again,two of them moving slightly to cut off an angle.
Smart.
Too smart.
“Now,” she said suddenly.
They moved.
Zayn sprinted toward the wall, adrenaline surging as the creatures reacted instantly.
A shriek tore through the air,and the creatures rushed towards them
Zayn jumped, grabbing the lowest railing of the fire escape ladder.
It rattled violently under his weight.
“Climb!” the girl shouted.
He didn’t need to be told twice,he pulled himself up, boots scrambling against the wall as he climbed.
Below,a creature slammed into the ladder shaking the entire building
“Go, go, go—!”
Zayn climbed faster, ignoring the burning in his arms.
The girl was right behind him,then suddenly,a hand grabbed his ankle.
Cold.
Unnatural.
Zayn screamed, kicking wildly,almost letting go of the railing.
“Get off…!”
The creature’s grip tightened, claws digging into his leg,pain shot up his body.
“Hey!” the girl shouted.
A sharp clang echoed,as she swung her metal rod down, smashing it against the creature’s arm.
Once.
Twice.
A sickening crack sounded as the monsters grip loosened.
Zayn kicked free, scrambling higher.
“Move!” she yelled.
They climbed,fast,and desperate, rushing towards the top of the building
The creatures below screeched, clawing at the wall, some trying to climb over each other to reach them.
One of them jumped,its fingers brushed zayn’s shoe,but he luckily yanked his leg up just in time.
They reached the platform.
Zayn rolled onto it, gasping for air as his arms gave out.
“…I hate… this game…” he wheezed.
The girl pulled herself up beside him, immediately turning to the ladder.
“Help me!”
Zayn forced himself up.
Together, they grabbed the ladder and pulled,it resisted.
Below, the creatures began climbing.
“Faster!” she snapped.
“I’m trying!”
With a final pull,the ladder snapped upward, folding out of reach.
A creature lunged towards it but missed,and fell back with a shriek.
Silence followed,not complete,but enough.
The creatures gathered below, pacing, watching and waiting.
Zayn leaned back against the wall, chest rising and falling rapidly.
“…We’re safe.”
“For now,” she said automatically.
Zayn let out a weak laugh. “You really need a new line.”
She didn’t respond.
Instead, she crouched near the edge, watching the creatures carefully.
“They won’t leave,” she said.
“Yeah, I figured that.”
“They’ll wait until we come down.”
“…Also figured that.”
Zayn glanced up at the sky.
Still dark.
Still hours to go.
“…We’re stuck,” he said.
“Yes.”
He sighed, running a hand through his hair.
“…You have a name?”
The question seemed to catch her off guard.
A pause.
Then
“…Lira.”
Zayn nodded slowly. “zayn.”
Silence followed again,it was less tensed this time
PROXIMITY BONUS ACTIVATED
SURVIVED FIRST HOSTILE ENCOUNTER
REWARD–STAT INCREASE
Zayn blinked. “Wait what?”
Another screen appeared.
STRENGTH +1
AGILITY +1
“…Huh.”
He flexed his hand slightly.
It was little but it was there
“…I feel… different.”
Lira glanced at him. “That’s how it starts.”
“How what starts?”
She looked back at the creatures below,her expression unreadable.
“You surviving long enough to become something else.”
Zayn frowned. “Something else?”
She didn’t answer.
Below, the creatures shifted again.
One of them looked up and smiled.
Zayn’s stomach tightened.
“…Yeah,” he muttered. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
Zayn asked how much time was left and the screen glowed up and the timer continued to count down.
TIME REMAINING–03:21:09
Zayn exhaled slowly,three hours,three more hours in a world that wanted him dead.
He tightened his grip on the knife.
“…Alright,” he whispered. “Let’s see what this system throws at us next.”
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 10
Light swallowed everything,not blinding at least, not in the way Zayn expected,it was softer,warmer,and even almost… comforting.That alone made it dangerous.When the light faded, he wasn’t in the containment level anymore, instead he stood on grass.Real grass.Soft beneath his feet, swaying gently in a breeze that actually felt alive,the sky stretched endlessly above him,blue, clear, untouched by the decay and distortion of the world he’d been trapped in.For a moment,zayn didn’t move.“…This is fake,” he said quietly.“Correct.”The voice came from behind him.Zayn turned.A figure stood a few meters away.Human,completely human,no distortion,no flicker,no glowing eyes.Just a man,dressed simply, hands clasped behind his back, watching him with calm, unreadable eyes.“…You’re not an enemy,” Zayn said.“Not in the conventional sense.”Zayn exhaled slowly. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”He glanced around again.No Lira.“…Where is she?”“Removed,” the man replied.Zayn’s expressio
Chapter 9
The door opened and the silence broke,cold air rushed in first, carrying that same heavy, metallic scent. Zayn stepped through beside Lira, every muscle tense, his mind already reaching for the edges of his upgraded skill.The hallway beyond had changed,the red emergency lights were gone,now it flickered in a dull, pale white,but unstable,and glitching“…It wasn’t like this before,” Zayn murmured.“No,” Lira said quietly. “It wasn’t.”The corridor stretched ahead longer than it should be.Too long.Zayn frowned. “…Did it get bigger?”Lira didn’t answer.Because she was already moving.Zayn followed, slower this time, eyes scanning every shadow, every flicker of light,his mind felt… sharpe,not clearer,but faster,like something beneath the surface was constantly calculating,and predicting what was to come.A faint flicker,he saw it.A movement that hadn’t happened yet,a distortion at the far end of the hallway.“…Stop,” Zayn said suddenly.Lira froze instantly.“What?”Zayn’s eyes narro
Chapter 8
Darkness pressed in from all sides.Zayn leaned against the cold wall, forcing his breathing to steady as the lingering effect of the system’s penalty drained through him. It wasn’t just fatigue,it felt like something essential had been taken.He didn't feel much pain,not exactly but he felt an absence within him“…I feel lighter,” he muttered.Lira glanced at him. “That’s not a good thing.”“Yeah,” Zayn said weakly. “Figured.”The room they’d stumbled into was small,and enclosed,no windows,no visible exits beyond the door they had just sealed behind them.And worst of all,no sound,no movement,no enemies,as good as that sounded it wasn't really comforting Zayn slowly pushed himself upright, gripping the wall for balance. His legs still felt unsteady, like they didn’t fully belong to him anymore.“…Where are we?” he asked.Lira moved cautiously toward the center of the room. “I don’t know.”That alone was unsettling,she always seemed to know something.A faint hum began to fill the ai
Chapter 7
The fall felt longer than it should have,wind tore past zayn’s ears as the rooftop vanished above them, replaced by open darkness and the rushing blur of broken walls. His grip tightened around Lira’s arm instinctively, his other hand reaching for anything that could slow them down.“zayn!” Lira’s voice cut through the air, sharp with alarm.“I see it!”A narrow ledge,two floors below,barely standing on its own,barely wide enough to stand on.Not ideal.Not safe.But it was something.Zayn twisted midair, pulling Lira with him as gravity dragged them down faster.“Brace!”They hit hard.The impact exploded up his legs, forcing a strangled gasp from his throat as his knees buckled. Lira slammed beside him, her shoulder crashing into the wall with a dull thud.For a split second,everything went black.Zayn sucked in a ragged breath as sensation rushed back all at once.Pain shooting through his body “…Still alive,” he groaned.“Barely,” Lira muttered beside him.He pushed himself up sl
Chapter 6
Zayn tried to rest for a bit but he just couldn't,he tossed around his head from side to side but whenever he closed his eyes all he could see was what seemed to be a dream but it felt all to real,one of the monsters lunging at him and he narrowly escaping its claws “…Echo Trace,” he murmured.Below, the creatures were still trying to climb up the building Five of them now,their limbs scraping against the wall, their glowing eyes locked onto him with terrifying intent.“zayn!” Lira snapped. “Focus!”“I am,” he said, though his voice had shifted,quieter, steadier,different.The moment one of the creatures moved,he saw it,not just the motion,but a faint after image.A trail of where it had been… and where it was about to be.“…Whoa.”The creature lunged upward,but Zayn moved before it even reached him,he sidestepped instinctively, the claws slicing through empty air where he had just been.His eyes widened.“I saw that…”“What?” Lira demanded.“I saw it before it happened!”No time to
Chapter 5
They didn’t stop running,they couldn't risk stoppingThe alley behind the store twisted into a maze of narrow paths, broken fences, and crumbling walls.zayn followed closely behind the girl, his breath ragged, legs already screaming in protest.“Slow down ” he gasped.“If you slow down, you die,” she shot back without looking at him.Fair point.Zayn pushed himself harder.Behind them, the sounds had changed.It wasn’t just one creature anymore,it sounded like more has joined the chase.Scraping,dragging, roaring and hot on their tail “They’re tracking us,” Zayn said.“Yes.”“How?”“They remember.”Zayn grimaced. “I hate that answer.”She turned sharply, ducking under a half-collapsed metal beam,zayn barely managed to follow, the rusted edge scraping across his jacket.They emerged into a wider space,and zayn skidded to a halt.“…That’s not good.”The alley opened into what looked like a courtyard,wide,empty,and exposed,and worst of all,blocked on the other side by a collapsed buildi
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