MADE UP GAMES AHEAD!
𒅒𒈔𒅒𒇫𒄆
"I saw her using the computer upstairs," Zai muttered, eyes flicking toward the hallway.
Takeshi blinked. "Wait, how? Isn't the internet down everywhere?"
"Apparently not here," Zai replied. "She's got a generator running outside. Maybe she's patched into a local network. Satellite. Private server. Who knows."
"But your phones?" I asked. "No signal?"
"Dead. No service for days," said the one with the rusted wrench. "We've been keeping them off to save battery. Doesn't matter anyway. Nothing comes through."
I looked at all three of them. They were older than me, maybe early 20s?
But what stuck out was their phones new models. Top of the line. If the government had sent out a real alert, they would've gotten it.
"So how'd you even find this place?" I asked. "This place is barely on a map."
"Our car died a few kilometers out," Vale shrugged. "Didn't know where we were going. Just followed power lines. Saw smoke. This area's nothing but old houses. Dead-end streets. Feels like a graveyard someone forgot."
Zai nodded. "Everything's crumbling. Rotting out from under itself. We thought this house was abandoned too, till we saw her."
"Mizuki?"
"Before we even found her house," Zai said quietly, "we saw her on the road. Middle of nowhere. Just standing over someone."
Vale added, "They were still twitching. Could've been alive."
"But she didn't hesitate," Takeshi muttered. "One hit. Knife straight to the neck like she'd done it before."
"We followed her after that," Zai continued. "Didn't say anything. Just watched her disappear into the trees. Thought maybe she was heading toward shelter."
"That's how we ended up in this forest," Vale said, nodding toward the window. "the only place that looked alive.
"When's the last time you saw other people?" I asked.
"Four days ago," Takeshi said.
So recent?
"Maybe more. People were collapsing in the streets. No wounds. Just dropping."
"You didn't check towns? Look for help?"
"We passed a police station," Zai muttered. "Everything inside was untouched. Doors unlocked. Like they just walked out mid-shift."
What?! the police station?
"And the gas station," Takeshi added. "Still working but no cars. No customers. Same with the convenience store. Locked from the inside."
I stared at them, something uneasy twisting in my gut.
They hadn't looked for answers.
"So," I said quietly, "you weren't trying to help or figure anything out."
"No," Zai said. "We were just trying not to get caught up in it."
Vale stretched his neck. "People think they'll save someone when things go bad. But most of us? We just survive. Nothing noble about it."
"You guys got family?" I asked.
Takeshi shook his head. "Parents might be in Osaka. Haven't heard from them. Might be gone already."
How is he so casual about it?!
"I'm an only child," Zai said. "No girlfriend either. Just me and the games I couldn't bring."
Vale shrugged. "Same. Family's out of touch. Just work or sparring."
"You guys trained together?" I asked.
Zai nodded. "Taekwondo. It was our thing. Vale's also into boxing."
"Takeshi used to fix stuff," Vale added. "Washing machines, old radios. He's the reason our car ran as long as it did."
That might be helpful in the near future.
"You say that like it's not a big deal," I said.
"It's not," Takeshi muttered. "None of it matters now."
𒅒𒈔𒅒𒇫𒄆
Vale was cleaning his wrench with rubbing alcohol. Vale kept pacing.
"We should go to the city," Takeshi muttered. "There's gotta be something there. Military. Supplies. Radios. People."
"No," Zai said flatly.
Takeshi stopped pacing. "Why not?"
Zai looked up from the map he was sketching on the back of a cereal box. "Because it's dumb."
"That's not a reason."
"It is," Zai said. "If you've played Collapse Protocol, rule one's obvious don't go where people gather. Cities mean chaos. Too many variables."
Vale scoffed. "Dude, real life isn't a game."
Zai didn't even blink. "Games are just simulations. Models, the logic still applies. Panic spreads fastest where the crowds are."
Vale added, "And if anyone was helping, like military, they'd be rolling through here already. You think they'd skip the towns and forests?"
"Exactly," Zai nodded. "In Echo Rot, they didn't even deploy convoys until 60% population loss. That's the kind of silence we're in now. No radio chatter, no drones and no sweepers."
I leaned forward. "So… your plan is to stay put? Forever?"
"No," Zai said. "Just not headfirst into a trap."
He pointed at the crude map. "This zone's quiet. Barely anyone left. That's either luck or design. Either way, better odds than a city."
"Even Dead Signal: Tactics punished people who rushed in," he went on. "You always stuck to fringe areas. Cleared houses. Took it block by block."
Takeshi added, "In Greyline Sector, safe zones looked like traps until you learned the patrol patterns. If there's military, they'd be moving logically—not randomly."
What are those games?!
Vale threw up his hands. "So what, we just hole up in this creepy-ass house and wait for Mizuki to bark orders?"
"Unless you want to end up like that thing Mizuki killed—yeah. We stay out of the city."
No one spoke for a while.