Eva Morte sat on the edge of her bed, her eyes fixed on the chaos beyond her window. Screams cut through the evening air, sharp and desperate. Sirens wailed somewhere in the distance, then died abruptly, swallowed by an unnatural silence. The campus outside, once bright and loud, now flickered with sporadic bursts of light—fires, explosions.
Her gaze drifted to the photo on her desk—her brother, Garret, grinning awkwardly, his arm slung around her shoulders.
Her fingers tightened around her phone. She had tried calling Garret three times now, but each attempt ended the same way, no signal. The moment she saw the message appear in her vision, etched into her retina like burning code, she had known that something was deeply, irreversibly wrong.
{The weave has finally reached earth, rejoice
{Name: Eva Morte
Level: 0
Race Human
Path: none
Distinction: None
Attributes; Strength:10 Agility:10 Health:20 Stamina:10 Mana:40 Magic:40}
The letters hung in the air before fading into her vision, leaving her blinking, disoriented.
"Garret…" she whispered to herself.
Outside her room, the muffled chaos continued. Doors slammed. Something crashed against the wall down the hall. A girl screamed, a sound that ended too suddenly.
Eva's heart hammered against her ribs. She forced herself to breathe, to think. Her dorm room was small but organized—books stacked neatly, posters still hanging from the walls, a half-finished mug of coffee on her desk. Everything looked so ordinary. But the world outside had already changed.
A soft whimper drew her attention.
Luna, her white shepherd mix, was trembling beside the desk. Her fur stood on end, and her body quivered violently as if fighting off an unseen force.
"Luna?" Eva knelt beside her, reaching out. The dog's eyes glowed faintly purple, the same eerie hue that tinted he eyes seconds ago.
"Hey, it's okay, girl. You're fine…"
But Luna wasn't fine. Her breathing grew heavy, labored. She convulsed, claws scraping against the floorboards. Eva pulled back, terrified.
"Luna! What's happening to you?!"
The air grew thick, charged with something that felt alive. A strange hum filled the room, resonating in her bones. Then, before her eyes, Luna began to change.
Her muscles swelled, bones creaking, fur rippling like waves under moonlight. Her snout elongated slightly, her fangs gleaming sharper than before. A faint aura shimmered around her, like heat distortion, pulsing in rhythm with Eva's own heartbeat.
Eva's breath caught in her throat. "No… no, no, this can't be real…"
The dog looked at her not with hunger, but recognition. She whimpered again, stepped closer, and nudged Eva's hand with her snout.
And then the smell hit her, rot. Death.
Something was in the hallway.
A slow, dragging sound. Footsteps, wet and uneven. Then, a thud.
Eva's gaze darted to the door, still open. She had forgotten to close it.
"Shit."
The door shuddered once. Then again, harder. A pale, rotting hand curled around the frame, fingers like claws. The face that followed was worse than a nightmare—sunken eyes, blue-grey flesh, a mouth full of shattered teeth.
A corpse. But not dead.
Eva screamed and stumbled backward. The creature lunged forward, hitting the floor with a sickening thud, its jaw snapping open.
"LUNA!"
The dog moved like lightning. With a snarl that shook the walls, Luna leapt between Eva and the undead. Her jaws clamped down on the creature's neck. Bone cracked. Flesh tore. Blood sprayed across the floor as Luna shook the thing violently, slamming it into the ground again and again until it stopped twitching.
The room was silent again, save for Eva's ragged breathing. Her heart pounded so hard she could barely hear. Luna stood over the corpse, panting, eyes burning with that eerie purple light.
"Good girl," Eva whispered, reaching to pat her. Her hand trembled against warm fur.
"Good girl… you saved me."
Her mind was racing. If this message, this "Weave," was real, then the rules of the world had changed. Whatever was happening outside wasn't a passing disaster, it was transformation.
She needed to get out.
Eva packed quickly, her hands shaking as she shoved a few essentials into her bag—water, snacks, her old folding knife. Then she looked around the room, the familiar space that had once been safe. Now it felt like a cage.
The hallway outside was darker than before. Luna padded ahead, ears twitching. Her growls were low, constant. They moved in silence. Eva kept her back to the wall. She stepped over blood streaks, over fallen debris. The air was cold, metallic, heavy with the scent of death. A moan echoed from somewhere below. Another from above. The whole dorm felt alive with movement.
On the stairwell, two corpses staggered into view. Their skin shimmered faintly blue, veins glowing under their translucent flesh. They turned toward her at once, heads jerking unnaturally fast.
Eva froze. "No… no, no, no—"
Before she could finish, Luna charged, quickly decimating them.
When she passed Room 26, she stopped. The door was ajar, the light inside swinging wildly from the ceiling. She recognized the shoes near the entrance, Mari's. Her best friend.
"Mari?" Eva whispered, stepping closer.
The moment she looked inside, she regretted it. Blood painted the walls in broad, sweeping arcs. A body lay half-slumped near the bed—Mari's, or what was left of her. Her eyes were open, mouth frozen mid-scream. Eva covered her mouth, choking back bile. She stumbled backward, bumping into the doorframe.
Eva didn't wait. She turned and ran.
They reached the stairwell. The railing was broken in places, the walls cracked. She peered down, darkness. Somewhere below, she heard muffled movement, maybe footsteps.
She took a deep breath. "Come on."
They descended. Each step groaned under their weight. Halfway down, she slipped on something wet and fell to her knees. The first floor was worse. Bodies littered the hallway, some half-eaten, others torn open in ways that made her eyes burn to look at them.
She moved slowly, quietly, avoiding the pools of blood. Luna stayed pressed against her leg. A sudden clang made her jump. Something had fallen in the cafeteria. She turned toward the noise, holding her knife out uselessly.
Then she saw movement—a man, stumbling, clutching his arm.
"Wait!" she called.
He turned toward her, and her words died. His face was wrong. His skin blistered and stretched, eyes completely black. He hissed, a horrible sound, and charged.
Eva screamed, backing away. Luna leapt between them again, teeth flashing.
"Luna! Come!"
The dog disengaged, blood on her muzzle again. Together they bolted through the side exit, bursting into the night air.
Outside, the campus was unrecognizable.