"Ray. My name is Ray."
"So, what did you see?" Ariel asked.
"Nothing more than what you two haven't seen yet, I guess. But during the morning, maybe four hours ago, I was heading to the deck with a bunch of random guys. It's the ideal time to face a new day anyway, and… well, when I got up the stairs, I saw a person staring toward the sun with a terrified expression—completely still."
Ray's expression darkened as he remembered the incident.
"I stopped, and for a while some people did as well, but then they just shrugged and went on. Everyone instinctively gazed at the sun and froze. Ten people's energy got sucked away in an instant, and they all wore that same terrified expression."
Ariel looked at Ray, noticing his dark expression, and gave him a reassuring smile.
"It's not that bad, right? We know we're in danger and can fight—unlike the others who didn't know. We have a chance."
"That may be true," Ace said, though his tone was solemn and bitter. "But we don't know if there's only one enemy or more. For now, we have nothing to give us a real chance against whoever—or whatever—we're facing."
Ace looked at Ray with a questioning gaze. Ray had experienced the same thing, yet it didn't make sense how he concluded that staring at the sun caused all this.
Ray nodded, understanding the look, and spoke again.
"I was shocked for a while. Then another man walked past me—he was drunk, ignored me, and went out of the shade. He didn't look at the sun at first, but I could tell he was getting weaker. By the fifth step, he snapped out of his drunken state and looked at the sun—and the same thing happened to him as everyone else."
'So it's not random,' Ace thought. 'It really is the sun… or something linked to it.'
"That gave me enough proof to back up my guess. What do you think?"
Ace narrowed his eyes, confused. It was hardly enough information, but it was enough to form a rough idea of what was happening and how to survive long enough to learn more.
"You went during the morning?"
Ray nodded. "Yeah. At least three hours after sunrise."
Ace lowered his gaze. None of this was normal. 'What has been normal since this morning?' he thought.
If Ray was right, timing might matter. The sun itself… or something connected to it. The only new information he had was what Ray said about the timing and gazing at the sun.
'That's why I didn't hear anyone scream when their energy got drained,' Ace realized. 'The sun's power was too strong. The drunk man… weaker, but still not enough to react. And the girl at noon… she screamed because it weakened more.'
Ace's eyes widened. He looked at Ariel and then Ray, both looking at him expectantly.
"Ray, when you saw the people, which side were they looking at?"
Ray frowned but answered. "The side of the sun… east or west? Sunrise? Which side does it start?"
Ariel gave him a deadpan look. He had thought Ray was some great observer, like Ace, but the guy didn't even know which way the sun rose.
'He saw something strange, formed a theory about it… and doesn't even know which way the sun rises,' Ace thought, sighing. 'What an idiot.'
"Pretty sure from the east," Ariel said, leaning against the door they had been about to open.
"By the way, I'm Ace, and this guy is Ariel. Nothing else special about us, except that Ariel can open locked doors."
Ray nodded, slightly embarrassed. 'I'll never forget sunrise and sunset again,' he thought.
"Well, why do you ask, uh… Ace?" Ray asked. Ace's expression grew serious as he tried to recall every detail since waking that morning.
"In the afternoon, when I went up, the sun was supposed to be directly overhead—and everyone I saw was looking straight at it," Ace said after a pause, glancing between them.
'They follow the sun… east in the morning, overhead at noon, west at sunset…' Ace thought. 'It all fits.'
"If Ray is correct, the sun really is the cause. People follow it with their gaze—they look east in the morning, straight above at noon, and west at sunset."
Ariel nodded, almost happy to have such a logical thinker with them—but frowned. "Then at night? Do they look at the moon… or down, just following the sun?"
"That…" Ace began, still uncertain. "I guess we'll have to wait until night. And if the sun's energy really diminishes through the day, we might be able to walk on the deck at night with minimal risk."
'We have to wait… and watch carefully,' he thought.
"Well, Ray, what did you do after figuring this out?" Ariel asked, pushing open the door he had been working on.
"I went down and, like you guys, searched for more people. I only managed to open doors that weren't locked," Ray replied, frowning. "Then… how come we didn't cross paths earlier?"
"The stairs I took were the south gate," Ray explained. "We're at the north gate now. There are four gates—I just named them because I didn't know their real names."
Ace and Ariel nodded.
"You think there are any other survivors?" Ray asked.
"I don't know," Ace admitted. "The chef might still be alive, but he usually stays on the deck during sunrise. My guess… no one else survived except us."
'I hope I'm wrong,' Ace thought.
"I see," Ray said quietly.
The rest of the day passed in quiet silence, broken only by occasional chatter that solved nothing. Floor to floor, they descended, opening doors to see the same scene—either empty rooms or people like those on the deck: no survivors.
Finally, they reached the lowest floor. There was only one massive room—the kitchen. The cafeteria was on the middle decks, but the kitchen stayed on the lowest floor. This room had no lock; it only needed a push to open.
They stepped in. Freezers hummed softly, a steady, soothing rhythm. Shelves bowed under neatly stacked cans and jars, and the floor bore the scars of countless footsteps. The air carried the familiar scent of fresh food—but strangely, it smelled too fresh, as if someone were actively cooking. And indeed, someone was.
The chef stood with his back to them, humming while moving deftly between counters and stove. Everything about him was normal—his movements, the clatter of pans, the rising steam—but in contrast to the emptiness outside, it felt surreal.
Ace noticed the windows. All were closed; not a single ray of sunlight pierced the kitchen. The aromas escaped only through the exhaust fan, and the man seemed oblivious to everything beyond the walls.
Ace let out a quiet sigh. "Poor guy… he's cooking for basically no one except us four."
Hearing Ace's voice, the chef turned, smiling brightly as he continued cooking.
"Oh, kids—I was wondering why no one came to pick up the food! At least you showed up. Don't worry, you'll get paid," he said. His smooth, melodious voice had the calm authority of a man in his early fifties. Finally, there was an adult among them.
"We're not here to take the food anywhere, sir," Ray said cautiously. 'Better to tell him now than later,' he thought.
The chef's eyebrows rose, then his eyes widened—and his smile grew even bigger.
"So you came to eat? No problem! Go ahead, I won't mind at all." He gestured toward the table with fresh food, inviting them to help themselves.
Just as they moved, Ace's eyes caught a clock on the wall. The hands pointed to 6:10 PM. Sunset.
And then it happened. Something unnatural.
The walls behind the chef exploded outward. A massive iron beast, twice the chef's height and width, crashed in. Its sword, almost as long as Ace, gleamed in its hands. In a single swing, it sliced the chef in two.
The beast wasn't just covered in iron—it was iron. Where its eyes should have been, two burning embers glowed, searing into the three teenagers.
"Crap," Ace muttered. 'We have to move… now!'
Without thinking, they bolted. The narrow corridors barely contained their sprint as the iron beast chased, smashing doors and walls.
Ray grabbed a mop leaning against the wall and hurled it.
It bounced uselessly off the iron body.
The creature didn't even slow down.
"Damn it." Ray whispered and just as the iron beast's hand almost caught Ace, all three cut into the turn and the beast crashed into the wall instead which broke like paper unable to handle the force of a being made of iron.
Though the three still did not stop, they knew that even though the iron beast was now falling to the ocean, the hole it made was enough for sunlight to creep into the surface, they ran, ran and ran finally halfway to the next turn and stopped for a breather, the rays of sunlight was still far away and they had escaped...or so they thought.
Well, sadly this was not some normal story and the beast jumped into the hallway making another hole except this was much closer to them, and now they had to escape the beast and the light, the iron beast looked at them, its sword reflecting the sunlight in their direction barely missing them.
The beast punched through the wall.
Instead of pulling its hand out, it ran forward, dragging the entire section of wall with it.
Concrete shattered behind it as sunlight flooded the corridor.
'Why is it not affected?' Ace thought before resuming to run towards the next turn though it was too far and it seemed like the beast would catch up and even before that, the sunlight would.
Ace ran with all his strength, he had never ran this fast ever in his life, and so he tripped and fell-and as the sunlight almost touched him-he was pulled by Ariel-fortunately even though the next turn was still far, they entered the kitchen through its other entrance and just as the beast stopped-it was pushed into the ocean by Ray.
The bastard Ray was strong-so strong for no reason, they got rid of the beast once again but sadly the sunlight was still there.
As Ace fell on Ariel and Ray pushed the beast down, they three watched the sunlight creep its way to them-time slowing as if mocking them or maybe letting them enjoy their last moment before they would become just like everyone else-helpless.
And after what seemed like an eternity of watching the light creep its way towards them-it finally did as the three teenagers fell down to the ground-enveloped in sunlight.