The sun had already fallen behind the moon. The night was dark and heavy.
They were all sitting around a bonfire they had made.
Aarav started.
"So… I wanna know something about you both. If you don't want to tell, it's fine."
...
"I'm a high school student," Mio muttered. "I also worked in a café to earn money. Though it doesn't matter now. I'm free from everything. I don't have to study. I don't even need anything.
When I was going home… I don't know what happened after that. I just found myself among those people."
Ross sighed.
"I'm a fighter. I used to fight in my good days. Then I got an injury, and since then I haven't stepped in the ring again.
Heh… now I'm not as strong as before."
Aarav gave a small laugh.
"Compared to you both, my life's pretty average. I was always in my room every day… just wasting time watching anime. Even my parents thought I'd never do anything with my life. That's just what I am."
"Well, thanks—"
Suddenly, they heard voices — humans screaming, and one by one, the screams were cut off.
"What is that? Who's there…?" Mio said, terrified.
"We have to move. We don't need to fight with something like that. It's better if we ignore it," Aarav said, fear in his voice.
"Yeah, our goal is just to survive. We're too close to risk something reckless," Ross said, startled.
They started to run to another place, moving away without looking back.
'I feel sorry for them… Please forgive me. But I'm only human after all,' Aarav thought.
"It's so dark… I can't see it properly," Mio said.
"Just run. It doesn't matter where — we just have to get as far as possible," Aarav said.
"What if that thing follows us here?" Ross asked.
"We'll think about it later. We need to find more people. There must still be some alive — we can find them here," Aarav said, glancing back.
After some time, Mio stopped, exhausted.
"Wait! I can't run anymore…" she said, breathing heavily.
"I think it's enough. It probably won't reach here for a while," Aarav said, looking back again.
Then Ross and Mio froze, staring at something.
"Hey! What happened to you two? You look like you've seen—" Aarav stopped.
'What happened here…' he thought.
The sight before them was nothing less than horrifying — dozens of dead humans floating in a pool of blood. Their bodies were mangled, torn into pieces.
'Disgusting.' Aarav gagged when he saw it.
Mio vomited right there.
"Are you okay?" Ross asked, concern in his voice.
'What the hell is that?!' Mio thought.
"What is this, Aarav? It looks like they really faced something bad…" Ross said, turning to him.
"It can't be… If all the humans die that easily, then who will clear the levels? No, it can't be…" Aarav was lost in thought.
"Hey! Aarav, can you hear me?" Ross said again.
"Yes… yes!"
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?" Ross asked calmly.
"No… it's nothing big. We should do something — unless we want to die here."
Then —
Some of the dead bodies started to twitch.
[ DEAD IS ALIVE ]
"Hey! Hey! I said look there!" Mio shouted when she saw them.
"What now…?" Aarav stared — the dead bodies were rising.
"Aren't they dead?" Ross said, his voice catching.
'Oh f*ck.' "Run! They're not alive anymore — they've turned into zombies!" Aarav shouted, panic in his voice.
"Zombies… huh…? Are you kidding me…?" Mio thought, frozen in shock.
"What are you doing? Do you wanna die?!" Aarav yelled. He grabbed her hand and started to run.
...
They all started to run again, but the dead people were also running fast behind them.
'Damn it,' Aarav thought. 'How can they run this fast?'
"Hey Aarav! If they're real zombies, does that mean if they bite us, we'll become zombies too?" Ross said.
"Yeah… it looks like that to me," Aarav replied.
"But why is this happening now?!" Ross shouted.
"Who knows. Just don't stop yet!"
"Yeah, I know that!"
***
Far away, someone was watching them from a distance.
"They look talented. I wonder who'll clear all the levels first… though from what I see, they're not going to die that easily. Everyone's doing their best.
I'm looking forward to welcoming you all when you reach the end… survivors…
A soft, eerie laugh broke out in the darkness, then faded away.
***
"Hurry up! Faster! They're not slowing down!" Aarav yelled.
"They look so horrible… I hate them…" Mio said, fear in her voice.
"Should we climb a tree?" Ross said. "I think they won't be able to reach us there."
"Good idea — it might work. Let's do it!" Aarav replied.
"Whatever! Just hurry up!" Mio shouted.
Aarav started climbing a tree — his body was flexible, so it wasn't hard for him. He reached down and held out his hand to Ross and Mio.
"Hurry! Grab my hand!"
They all climbed the tree in time, but the dead people stood below, groaning and clawing at the trunk, waiting.
"What do we do now? They're not going to leave us alone…" Aarav said.
"I don't want to become a zombie…" Mio said, panicking.
"Don't you think it's weird? What turned them into that?" Ross asked.
Then —
A voice came from above them. A man was sitting on a high branch of the same tree, holding a sword, looking completely relaxed.
"They're not zombies. It's the effect of a poison," the man said calmly.
"Who said that?" Ross looked around, confused.
"Look up, you idiots," the man said.
"What are you doing there? You might fall!" Aarav said.
"Don't worry about me. You should worry about yourselves. I'm just resting for a while."
"Don't you know what's happening down here? How can you be so calm?" Aarav asked, fear in his voice.
He let out a short laugh.
"Don't worry — that thing down there won't just leave. It'll kill us before we get away. Those who have already cleared this level are lucky. We're just unlucky… maybe because we were late."
His tone turned cold and heavy.
"But I'll do anything to survive. If it comes to it, someone here will have to die so the rest can live. And I'm not the one who's going to die."
***