This coudn't be real.
But the blood on the floor said otherwise.
Something impossible had just happened.
And it was only the beginning.
The cabin was filled with terror. Everyone trembled. Even Micheal—who always acted tough—was frozen in shock, his body betraying him as warm liquid pooled beneath him.
Loid's breath hitched. His body screamed at him to run.
But how?
They were trapped in a teleférique. There was nowhere to go.
Then—
BOOM
A loud explosion echoed from below. The entire cabin shook violently, causing them to stumble.
Loid's heart pounded as he looked down through the glass floor. More monsters.He couldn't see much, but the streets below were in chaos—screams, overturned cars, people running for their lives.
But up there, they had a bigger problem.
Mia was still changing.
Before she could complete her transformation, Joe reacted instantly.
He pulled a metal bat out of his backpack.
Joe wasn't just some ordinary student.
He was a fighter
A former gangster, he had spent years in street brawls, gang disputes, and survival fights. His father—a strict, law-abiding man—tried to pull him away from that life, but Joe always kept something for protection.
And right now, that bat was the only thing standing between them and death.
Joe gritted his teeth and swung the bat at the cabin window.
CRACK. The first hit barely made a dent.
"JOE, HIT MIA!" Loid screamed, his voice trembling.
Joe hesitated, his grip tightening. "SHE'S OUR FRIEND! WHAT IF SHE GETS HER CONSCIOUSNESS BACK?!"
Loid wanted to argue. But there was no time.
CRASH!
Joe slammed the bat again. The window shattered, shards of glass raining into the void below.
"WE'RE GETTING ON TOP!" Joe commanded. "BELLE, YOU GO FIRST. LOID, MICHEAL—KEEP YOUR EYES ON MIA!"
"Pat… he's dead?"
Micheal fell to his knees, his face pale.
His hands trembled as he reached out toward the blood pooling on the floor.
Tears streamed down his face. His body shook violently.
"MICHEAL, GET UP!" Joe shouted.
Micheal didn't respond.
His heartbeat was too loud in his ears. His body refused to move. His mind refused to accept reality.
Loid clenched his fists. Pat was his best friend. He wanted to break down too.
But if he lost it now—they would all die.
"FOCUS, MICHEAL!" Loid yelled, his voice cracking.
Belle climbed out onto the roof of the cabin, her hands shaking violently.
"BELLE, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!"
She looked down. The other side of the line was far.One wrong move, and she'd fall to her death.
Mia's grotesque voice interrupted her hesitation.
"GUYS… RUN. I CAN'T… I CAN'T STOP IT ANYMORE."
Her body was fully mutated.
Long, disproportionate legs.Sharp, black nails.
The most horrifying part? Her monstrous face still had makeup.Smudged mascara. Red lipstick smeared over sharpened teeth.
"BELLE, IF YOU DON'T JUMP—WE ALL DIE!" Joe roared.
Belle sucked in a deep breath.
And she jumped
Her body flew through the air.
For a second—just a second—Loid thought she wouldn't make it.
But she landed.
Safe
Joe turned back. "MICHEAL, MOVE!"
Micheal still wasn't responding.
Loid took a deep breath. They had no choice.
"JOE. KNOCK HIM OUT."
"WHAT?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"
"JUST DO IT!"
Mia lunged forward.
Loid grabbed Joe's bat and swung it at her head.
She staggered backward, growling in pain. It worked.
Joe let out a frustrated grunt and snapped Micheal's neck hard enough to knock him unconscious.
"JOE, GRAB HIM AND RUN!" Loid commanded.
Joe hesitated—but then he trusted Loid.
He grabbed Micheal's body and climbed on top of the cabin.
Now it was Loid's turn.
He looked down at Pat's lifeless body.
His hands trembled. Blood stained his fingers.
It was Pat's blood.
Mia snarled, her sharp nails dripping with venomous black liquid.
Loid raised the bat.
He swung again.
SNAP
His eyes widened.
He was out of options.
He turned and jumped out of the window.
As Loid soared through the air, memories flooded his mind.
A moment in school
"Bro, don't give a fuck about Alex. Just focus on yourself, man. You're cool in your own way."
Pat's hand rested on his shoulder.
"I don't understand… what did I do wrong?"
Pat grinned. "Cheer up. Have this."
He handed Loid a wasabi lollypop
Loid unwrapped it and shoved it into his mouth.
Instant regret
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU GIVE ME?! THIS TASTES WORSE THAN THE CAFETERIA LASAGNA!"
Pat burst out laughing. "DUMBASS, IT'S WASABI!"
Loid spit it out, eyes watering. "YOU'RE ACTUALLY EVIL!"
Pat kept laughing
That was just 2 week ago
And now Pat was gone.
Loid's vision blurred.
His body was weak.
He was going to miss the jump.
"SHIT—"
His hands slipped. His body tilted backward.
He was falling
But then—
A hand grabbed his wrist
Joe.
Joe caught him
Joe saved him
Loid gasped, his chest tightening
"LOID, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Belle screamed.
Loid's face twisted.
"I'm sorry… Pat… I'm so sorry…"
Tears slipped down his face
Behind them—Mia screeched
She slashed at the teleférique cable with her claws.
The entire cabin tilted dangerously
It was going to fall.
Loid forced himself up.
Joe pulled him onto the ledge.
Micheal was unconscious.
Belle was trembling.
And Mia's monstrous silhouette loomed over them.
The spectator was no longer watching.
It had begun.
The group ran, breathless and shaking, the night pressing in around them. The streets were eerily silent except for the distant echoes of screams, the world around them slowly collapsing into chaos.
But then—
"Joe… Belle… Loid… please… save me…"
Mia's voice rang out from the téléférique cabin, so fragile, so human.
Belle turned, her breath catching. "She's still there! We can still—"
Joe's grip on her wrist tightened. "No."
Belle looked at him, pleading.
"That's not Mia anymore," he whispered.
Loid exhaled, his hands clenched into fists. "She killed Pat."
The words lingered in the air, suffocating.
Belle shut her eyes. Mia.
Mia was always put-together. Not in an obsessive way, but in a way that made her stand out.
Her makeup was always flawless—not too much, never too little. Just enough to highlight her sharp cheekbones, her full lips. Her perfume? Always subtle but undeniably there.
She took hours to get ready for a simple hangout, but somehow, no one ever got mad at her for it. "Beauty takes effort, habibi," she'd say with a wink, smacking on another layer of lip gloss.
Belle still remembered their countless sleepovers, lying on the floor of Mia's room as she carefully applied face masks for them all.
"You need to take care of yourself, babe," Mia would say, gently massaging Belle's skin. "Because no one else will do it for you."
She always made sure everyone felt beautiful.
Even Joe, who didn't give a damn about skincare, had once left her house with an exfoliated face. "I feel like a peeled tomato," he'd grumbled.
Mia had laughed so hard she nearly cried.
And Loid? Even he wasn't spared. Once, she had cornered him with an eyebrow pencil, insisting he "just try" filling in his brows for fun.
He had refused, obviously. But she still fixed his hair, fussing over his appearance in a way only she could get away with.
Mia had cared.
About her looks, their looks, everything.
She wasn't shallow. Not in the way people assumed. She just believed in presenting the best version of herself—of all of them.
And now—
Now, she was screaming for help. Alone. Stuck with Pat's corpse.
Belle's stomach twisted violently.
Mia had always hated being seen in a bad state.;Even if she was just sick with the flu, she'd refuse to go out, claiming she didn't want anyone to "see her like that."
So what the hell was she feeling right now?
The thought made Belle feel like she was going to throw up.
She took a shaky step forward. "We can't just—"
"No," Loid said again, voice firm.
Belle turned to him, eyes burning. "She's our friend."
Loid didn't flinch. "Mia was our friend. That thing isn't."
Joe swallowed hard. "Belle, she's infected."
"But—"
"Do you want to die?"
The words were cold. Brutal. And they shut Belle up instantly.
Loid looked away. "We need to move."
Belle's fists clenched. She wanted to scream. To cry. To run back.
But instead, she turned away.
And they ran.
The streets were unrecognizable.
Bodies lay twisted on the pavement, their faces frozen in agony. Some were slumped against walls, others sprawled in the middle of the road. Their skin was pale, their veins darkened. They didn't just die—they withered.
The infection wasn't just killing people. It was draining them.
Belle's stomach churned. "This isn't normal."
Loid, scanning the surroundings, caught movement in the distance. A shape, crawling.
His breath hitched.
It was a man—or what remained of him. His legs were bent the wrong way, his arms digging into the asphalt as he dragged himself forward. His mouth opened and closed, his breath ragged.
Loid's chest tightened. He wasn't dead. Not yet.
The group quickened their pace. They couldn't stop.
Another turn, and they saw a car with its doors wide open, its headlights flickering.A family lay half inside, half outside—a mother, a father, a child. Their hands were clawed, their mouths frozen in silent screams.
Joe swore under his breath. "This is a nightmare."
Belle couldn't look away from the child
A girl, no older than five, clutching a stuffed rabbit. Her tiny fingers were still curled around its ear.
Loid gently pushed her forward. "Don't stop."
They moved faster, their footsteps echoing against the broken pavement.
Then—a noise.
A soft, wet gurgle.
Joe's head snapped to the left. A figure was hunched over one of the corpses, its back rising and falling.
Belle's breath caught in her throat. Eating?
Loid didn't wait to find out. "Run."
The figure's head jerked up, eyes gleaming in the dark. A sickening smile spread across its bloodstained face .
They sprinted.
The téléférique station came into view. The supermarket was just beside it.
The glass doors were slightly open, the flickering fluorescent light inside casting eerie shadows.
Joe gestured for them to slow down. "There might be others."
Cautiously, they stepped inside.
Shelves were toppled over, snacks and supplies scattered across the floor. But they weren't alone.
A small group of students—maybe six or seven—were huddled in the back, whispering. Some were crying. One guy stood near the entrance, gripping a metal rod, his face set in a scowl.
He recognized them immediately. "Joe?"
Joe frowned. "Ethan?"
Ethan exhaled sharply. "Shit. You guys made it."
Loid glanced around. "Is it just you all?"
Ethan nodded. "Some of us were already here when it started. We locked the doors, but we're not safe. People out there are changing
Belle's stomach twisted. "We know."
Ethan eyed them warily, then noticed Joe still carrying Micheal, who was unconscious."What happened to him?"
Joe hesitated. "He—he couldn't handle it."
Ethan didn't ask more. Instead, he stepped aside. "Come on in. For now, this is the safest place we've got.
Loid, Joe, and Belle exchanged glances. They had escaped one horror. But at what cost?
-
Fin