The Corporate Apocalypse: Jakarta's Survival Guide to Cosmic

Chapter 7: Death Logistics and HR from Hell

South Jakarta was usually a gridlocked mess of hipsters sipping lattes, but this afternoon, it felt like an office waiting room where the AC had been cranked down to ten below. The air had turned frigid since that jet-black geometric tower appeared in Kuningan. The sky was no longer orange; it had shifted to a strange, silvery purple, as if the entire city’s atmosphere was being viewed through a failed PowerPoint filter.

Rendy, Alana, Bang Gondrong, and Si Juling took cover in a bus station where every window was shattered. They were panting for breath. On Bang Gondrong's forehead, the "APPROVED" stamp still left a dark red mark, adding a touch of irony to his scarred face.

"I can't stand this smell," Alana muttered, sniffing the air. The usual stench of rotting corpses was now masked by something sharper: the smell of ozone, hot printer toner, and industrial-strength floor cleaner. "This isn't a zombie apocalypse anymore. What kind of end-times is this, Ren?"

Rendy didn't answer. He was busy flipping through the pages of his book, which now made a soft buzzing sound every time he touched the paper. "Hang on, Al. Coach Udin is updating the data. Look, page 50. The title changed to 'Chapter 15: Death Logistics and How to Avoid the Grim Reaper Couriers'."

"Couriers?" Si Juling interrupted, his wandering eyes trying to focus on the road. "Like the guys in the delivery jackets, Boss?"

"Worse," Rendy said grimly. "It says here: 'During the Liquidation Phase, the Company Owner will dispatch Couriers to reclaim non-productive assets. Those assets are you. If you hear the sound of a muffled scooter or a doorbell in the middle of the street, DO NOT LOOK BACK. Couriers don't need a signature; they need your organs for inventory'."

Just as Rendy finished the sentence, a sound drifted from the distance.

Beep-beep!

A very distinct scooter horn. It sounded cheerful, but in the middle of a dead city, it was a death knell. Then came the hum of an engine—too smooth for a normal bike.

"Hide! Now!" Alana hissed, grabbing Rendy's collar and forcing him to crawl behind the concrete barrier of the station. Bang Gondrong and Si Juling hit the deck at light speed.

From behind the rubble, they saw him. A courier—at least, he wore a metallic gray uniform jacket and a full-face helmet with a visor reflecting the purple sky. His bike didn't touch the ground; it hovered inches above the asphalt. Behind the seat was a large white box that hissed with cold vapor.

The courier stopped right in the middle of the intersection. He didn't growl. He didn't shuffle his feet. His movements were efficient, precise, and mechanical. He looked left and right, then pulled out a device that looked like a grocery store barcode scanner.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A red laser shot out of the device, sweeping over the ruins of the buildings.

"Asset not found at these coordinates," the courier’s voice crackled from behind the helmet. It was flat and emotionless, exactly like a customer service AI. "Initiating biometric scan within a 50-meter radius."

"He's going to find us," Alana whispered, her hands shaking as she reached for her arrows. "I can't shoot that guy, Ren. He... he doesn't look like a corpse."

"He's not a corpse, Al. He's a 'Contract Employee' from that building," Rendy flipped through Chapter 15, his fingers tracing text that was appearing in real-time. "Tip #34: 'How to Trick a Courier.' Couriers can only pick up packages with a clear address. If you want to survive, you need to change your identity to 'Damaged Goods' or 'Already Delivered'."

"How?!" Bang Gondrong demanded in a harsh whisper.

"We need packing tape! And a Sharpie!" Rendy dug through his backpack. "Alana, tape up your arms and legs! Gondrong, get over here, I'm adding to your forehead!"

In a situation that was as ridiculous as it was deadly, Rendy went to work. He haphazardly wrapped brown packing tape around Alana and Si Juling’s limbs. Then, he grabbed his permanent marker. On the back of Alana’s jacket, he wrote: WRONG ADDRESS – RETURN TO SENDER.

On Bang Gondrong’s chest, right under the "APPROVED" stamp, Rendy wrote: FRAGILE – DO NOT DROP (ALREADY BROKEN).

"What about you, Ren?" Alana asked in a panic as the hum of the courier’s bike drew closer.

Rendy looked at himself, then spotted an empty cardboard noodle box in the corner of the station. "I... I'm a returned package."

Rendy climbed into the box, cut two holes for his eyes, and wrote in big letters on the front: REJECTED – QA FAILED.

The courier stepped into the station. His metallic boots clanked on the floor. The red laser swept over Alana’s frozen body, then toward Bang Gondrong, who was holding his breath until his face turned blue.

Beep.

"Scanning subject..." The courier stopped in front of Alana.

Alana could smell the sharp scent of cleaning chemicals coming from the figure. Through the visor, she didn't see a human face. There were only thousands of lines of green code scrolling rapidly across a sensor screen.

"Status: Wrong Address. Unit not listed in today's manifest," the robotic voice echoed. "Bypassing unit."

The courier moved to Bang Gondrong. The red laser scanned his forehead.

"Status: Damaged Goods. Resale value below minimum threshold. Not eligible for liquidation." The courier turned away, ignoring Rendy’s cardboard box as if it were just common street trash.

"Report: South Jakarta Sector 4 clear of productive assets. Requesting further instructions from Corporate HR," the courier spoke into his wrist, then headed back to his hovering bike.

In an instant, he vanished at a speed that defied the laws of physics, leaving a trail of frost hanging in the air.

After five minutes of dead silence, Rendy let go of the cardboard box. His breath was ragged. "Okay... that was... way too close."

Alana ripped the duct tape off her hands so violently it took the hair with it. "Ow! Dammit! Rendy, this is getting insane! Couriers? Biometric scans? What the hell are we supposed to be?!"

Rendy stood up, his face pale under the eerie purple glow. He pointed toward the massive skyscraper in Kuningan, where strange, rotating antennas were beginning to sprout from the roof.

"Al, I think Coach Udin was right about the 'original contract.' This world... this apocalypse... it isn't some natural biological outbreak. This is a corporate rebranding of the planet," Rendy said softly. "Those zombies are just failed employees, and we're the leftover stock marked for disposal. We have to get to the Archives right now."

"The Burnt Archives," Alana recalled the earlier instructions. "South side, right? Where exactly?"

Rendy flipped to a new page. A map flickered into view—a layout of South Jakarta modified with gold ink. The marker pointed toward an old office district in the Pasar Minggu area.

"There," Rendy pointed. "The National Archives. But the book says the place is 'Burnt.' It looks like someone else is trying to wipe the paper trail of this contract before we get there."

"Someone else? You mean other people know about this?" Bang Gondrong asked, rubbing his forehead, which was covered in marker scribbles.

"Not people, Bang. 'Competitors'," Rendy swallowed hard. "Coach Udin said in Chapter 16: 'Beware the audit teams from the rival firm. They won’t scan you. They’ll just delete you'."

As they started toward Pasar Minggu, the temperature plummeted again. Along the roadside, the zombies that had been laughing at Rendy’s jokes suddenly changed. They stopped dead. Fine silver cables began snaking out of their mouths and ears, plugging into the asphalt as if they were charging or downloading new instructions.

"They’re updating their firmware," Rendy whispered in horror. "We have to reach the warehouse before the reboot finishes. If we don’t... these zombies are going to have AI, and my shitty jokes won’t work on them anymore."

Alana picked up the pace, gripping her bow tight. "Move it, Rendy. Before we all get updated into smarter corpses."

Above them, the purple sky began to flicker, displaying a massive line of text only visible to those who had "resigned": SYSTEM REBOOTING. PLEASE WAIT.

The apocalypse had just gained admin access, and Rendy had to find a way to hack the system before it was too late.