The mall was dark—
not dim, but hollow.
The light had drained from the sky as though the heavens themselves had been erased. The sun hadn't set; it had simply ceased to exist, leaving behind a pale, sickly hue that clung to the broken skylights but never reached inside.
Kaai's breath came shallow and ragged. The air tasted of dust, dry as forgotten bone. The mall had once lived by daylight filtering through its glass crown, but now that light was gone, devoured. In its place stretched a vast, silent ocean of black, pressing against him from every direction.
Something moved.
Across the far windows, faint silhouettes rippled like shadows beneath deep water—bending, gliding, gone before his eyes could focus. His chest locked.
Panic bloomed, raw and instinctive. His hands trembled as he tore open his pack, rummaging blind. "The fire starter—come on—where is it?"
Fingers brushed cold metal. Relief cut through terror for a heartbeat before sound killed it.
A shriek.
Sharp and metallic.
The scrape of claws dragging across tile.
Kaai almost dropped the rifle. His pulse hammered in his throat as he stumbled toward the tool aisle, clutching the weapon like a lifeline. His every step echoed too loud in the empty dark, swallowed and thrown back distorted, as if the mall itself mocked him.
He reached the aisle—remembered the firewood stacked near the coal bags from earlier—and fell to his knees. His hands moved with desperate precision, pulling the firewood together, scraping flint against steel.
Once.
Twice.
Thrice.
"Come on… come on—please…"
The spark hissed—then caught.
A fragile flame blossomed, trembling, hungry. Its golden breath spilled across the tiles, licking the shelves, painting the world in fragile life.
Kaai froze, holding his breath.
He turned slowly, the flicker reflected in his wide eyes.
The light had returned—
and with it, the things that the dark had hidden.
For a moment, Kaai saw them—
creatures of grotesque proportions.
Their abdomens and chests were stretched thin, ribs jutting through skin that looked half-melted with what was once chainmail and cloth. Their limbs were too long, jointed wrong, each finger as thin and sharp as a dagger.
The instant the light touched them, they recoiled—hissing, retreating from its glow. The flame formed a trembling sphere of safety around him, five meters wide. Beyond it, the darkness thickened into a swirling black fog that pulsed like something alive.
Kaai stumbled backward, breath caught in his throat, eyes wide with primal terror. He could hear his pulse in his ears, deafening.
Then the thought struck him—
The girl.
"W–where is she?" he whispered, voice cracking.
He turned, spotting her to his right—hands trembling as she clutched her sword, the faint silver strands of her hair flickering weakly in the firelight.
He started toward her. That was when he saw it.
Another one of those things—clinging to the ceiling.
Its face came into view: a nightmare of black cloth soaked in ichor, eyes sewn shut, cheeks slit from mouth to ear. No nose. Only a hollow cavity that whistled with every breath.
Kaai froze.
The girl turned suddenly, reacting to his sharp inhale. Her head jerked side to side, searching, her senses alive but misaligned. She faced the beast several times—but never locked onto it.
The creature crept closer, its movements slow, deliberate, savoring the distance.
Kaai's stomach twisted. "Above you!" he shouted, pointing—but she didn't understand.
The monster coiled, limbs tensing like ropes pulled taut.
It was going to lunge.
Kaai didn't think. He aimed.
The gunshot tore through the mall like thunder, lighting the darkness in one violent flash.
The girl flinched, the shadows around them recoiling. A corpse hit the ground with a sickening thud, its grotesque limbs twitching and curling before going still. Half its head was gone.
The echo lingered in the empty corridors.
The girl turned toward Kaai, her expression torn between awe, fear, and relief.
He stood there, smoke rising from the muzzle, face pale, chest heaving. The gun trembled in his hands—but his aim didn't waver.
The girl rushed to Kaai's side the moment the body became stiff. Her movements were sharp, almost panicked, her glowing strands fanning wide like a protective veil around them both.
Then, the mall screamed.
It wasn't one voice — it was dozens.
A chorus of shrieks rose from every direction, high and jagged, so loud the air itself seemed to tear apart.
The walls trembled. Glass shattered in distant stores. The sound crawled through the vents, the floors, the shelves — a living, howling rage that shook the world around them.
Kaai flinched back, clamping his hands over his ears. His rifle nearly slipped from his grip. "Oh—oh, hell—"
The Ediron girl staggered beside him, her hair dimming to a ghostly white as her balance faltered. The screams pressed down like a physical force, vibrating through their bones, making their teeth ache.
The fog outside the circle of fire began to move.
Shapes slithered within it — dozens, maybe more. Each step came with the wet slap of flesh against tile, a skittering, dragging sound like claws pulled across glass.
Kaai's heart slammed in his chest. "Fucking shit, They're coming, GO, GO," he whispered.
The girl didn't answer — she didn't need to. Her expression said it all: fear, raw and unmasked.
Kaai didn't think — he moved. He grabbed the girl's arm, her skin cold and trembling, and yanked her toward the nearest corridor. The world behind them erupted.
Screams.
Dozens of them.
Every surface of the mall screamed — the walls, the floor, the air itself. The chorus of death rose in one violent, broken pitch that clawed at the inside of Kaai's skull.
He ran.
The sound of their footsteps was drowned beneath the stampede of the damned.
Something burst from the fog behind them — a blur of limbs and metal and bone. Kaai spun, fired blind. The rifle's crack split the air, lighting the hall with a strobe of fire. For a single heartbeat he saw the thing — its head twisted backward, arms dragging behind it like ropes — before it fell and vanished into the dark.
The Ediron girl was right beside him, sword drawn, her hair blazing pale white. But she was fighting ghosts — slashing at distortions, shadows, the ripple of air where she felt movement but could not see.
Kaai grabbed her wrist and pulled. "They're too close! Run!"
The hallway warped under the flickering emergency lights, each burst of red flashing like blood against the walls yet it was impossible as the mall had no power. A blur swept past them — a claw, a whisper, a flash of teeth — and Kaai ducked instinctively, the wind of it grazing his ear.
They turned a corner.
The screams followed.
They burst into the staff-only corridor — a long, narrow vein of concrete and metal lined with flickering signs and overturned carts. Every sound came back doubled, echoing like ghosts running ahead of them.
A metallic crash sounded to their right, another behind. Kaai's chest heaved; he could barely hear his own breathing over the chaos. "Come on—come on—"
The girl stopped dead. Her gaze snapped toward the right passage — where a faint green light pulsed at the far end. Kaai followed her stare and saw an emergency door glowing weakly in the dark.
"Safe room," he gasped. "We can make it—"
But she didn't move. Her pupils dilated, her hair flaring blue, then fading to ashen gray. The air around that door was wrong — to her, it didn't breathe. Energy didn't flow through it; it bent inward, folding on itself. A hollow place where energy went to die.
Her instincts screamed. The room was blind, empty, alien. Even the monsters outside feared such voids.
Kaai saw only a reinforced door and hope. "That's it!" he said, grabbing her wrist. "Move!"
She protested violently, pulling back, mouthing a soundless no. But the choice was stolen from them.
The fog behind them twisted — alive. Something massive crawled along the walls, shrieking, laughing. The floor vibrated under the weight of it.
Kaai fired into the dark. Missed. Fired again. The muzzle flash caught glimpses of horrors — flesh welded to chain, faces sewn shut, limbs dragging like spears. Dozens upon dozens of them clinging to the walls, floor and ceiling
"RUN!"
They sprinted.
The fog howled, the sound of claws scraping metal and the wet slap of feet too fast for flesh. Every echo drew closer. The green light flickered — then dimmed.
The door loomed ahead. Ten meters.
Five.
Then came the rush.
The things poured from the dark like a collapsing wave, shrieks merging into a single, thunderous roar.
The girl hit the door first, palm striking the handle. Locked.
Kaai threw himself against it, shoulder slamming metal. Pain shot down his arm. "OPEN—DAMN YOU—OPEN!"
She screamed silently, her attention was focused behind him. The fog boiled, hands clawing from it — a dozen, maybe more, slapping the walls, dragging toward them.
Kaai bared his teeth, roared, and rammed again. The steel groaned. The hinges shrieked.
The door Gave in.
They fell through, crashing hard onto cold concrete. Kaai twisted, grabbed the door, and slammed it shut just as the darkness hit.
The world outside exploded.
Something slammed into the door with bone-shattering force, denting it inward. Another blow. Another. Dozens, like thunder battering a coffin lid.
The air shook. Dust rained from the ceiling. The girl stood beside him, sword drawn, hair blazing white, eyes wide with fear and defiance.
Kaai stumbled back, breath ragged, ears ringing. The metal bulged, but held.
And then — silence.
Only their breathing remained.
Kaai stared at the door for a long, shaking moment. His heart beat so hard it hurt.
The girl glowing strands floated downward, fading to ghostly white — uncertain, unsettled.
The silence pressed in, thick and suffocating. The air here didn't move. Even the echoes died fast, swallowed by the room itself.
Kaai exhaled, trying to steady his hands.
But deep inside, he already understood —
they hadn't escaped the nightmare.
Not Yet.