Loid leaned in close to Joe, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Bro, don't trust anyone. Just us—me, you, Belle, and Michael. The rest? We need to be careful. One of them might turn next."
Joe nodded, his grip tightening around his bat. "I know, man. That guy who transformed... he was just the beginning. This isn't over."
Belle, who had been lost in thought, suddenly spoke up, her voice tense but steady.
"We need to figure out how this happens. The symptoms, the cause… Why did Ziad transform? Did he show anything—fatigue, coughing? If Loid's right, what was his life like before? He looked strong, but in the end, he was weaker than the monster we fought."
A trembling voice cut through the conversation.
"You... look behind you."
It was Samir. His face had drained of all color, his hands shaking as he pointed toward the shattered supermarket entrance.
The monster outside was still there.
But something was different this time.
Its sunken eyes burned with hunger, its lips curled back to reveal jagged, rotting teeth. Saliva dripped down its chin, its hands twitching uncontrollably, nails digging into its own flesh. It looked... desperate. Starved.
Joe clenched his jaw, gripping his bat with white-knuckled force. In an instant, he swung—hard.
The sound was sickening.
Ziad collapsed to the floor, blood pooling around his broken skull. His body twitched for a moment before going still.
The room fell into stunned silence.
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Lynn's scream shattered the stillness. "YOU JUST KILLED OUR FRIEND! YOU'RE THE MONSTER!"
Joe's breath was ragged, his eyes cold.
Ethan took a step forward, voice sharp as a knife.
"LOOK AT HIM! DO YOU THINK THAT'S ZIAD ANYMORE? HE WASN'T HUMAN! DO YOU WANT TO DIE NEXT?! STOP THINKING WITH YOUR HEART. THINK WITH YOUR HEAD."
"BUT HE WASN'T DANGEROUS!"
Lynn's voice cracked, but before she could say another word, Jade cut in.
"Lynn, he's right. If we hesitate, we're dead."
Jade stood tall, arms crossed. Unlike Belle and Lynn, she wasn't shaking. She wasn't panicking. Her eyes flicked to the others, sharp and calculating.
"Someone check their phone. The government must be doing something by now. I lost mine while running to this crusty-ass supermarket."
"I have mine," Samir muttered, fumbling for his phone. "But… there's no signal. Nothing."
Frustration and fear swirled in his voice.
Loid clenched his fists.
"We're missing something." His voice was quiet, but firm. "That monster… he's been standing there since we got here. Other monsters would've attacked by now, but not him. He's just… watching."
Silence.
Then, a thought struck Loid like a slap to the face.
"He's connected to this place, I am sure of it."
The realization sent a shiver down his spine.
Before anyone could react, a groggy voice mumbled from behind them.
"Wha… what happened?"
Michael.
He had finally woken up. His head ached, his vision blurry. Belle quickly knelt beside him, explaining everything—the monster, Ziad, Joe's actions, the panic, the fear.
Michael's breath hitched as his eyes landed on the creature outside.
The monster took a single step forward.
Loid grabbed Joe's arm. "Weapons. We need weapons. Now."
Joe snapped out of his trance. "Yeah. We need something to fight with."
Michael, still trying to make sense of everything, suddenly slammed his fist into the wall.
"What's the point?! We're all gonna die anyway!"
His voice cracked, filled with hopelessness.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then, Jade exhaled sharply.
"Then sit there and wait to die. The rest of us? We're fighting."
Outside, the monster took another step forward.
And this time, it wasn't stopping.
Loid's warning had settled into everyone's minds like an unshakable curse.
"We need to gather anything we can use. If that thing comes for us, we can't fight it with our bare hands."
No one dared to disagree.
They spread out through the supermarket, each of them battling the overwhelming sense of dread creeping up their spines.
Joe gripped his bat like a lifeline as he rummaged through the aisles, his eyes scanning for anything remotely useful. He found a few rusted knives in the area—better than nothing.
Ethan, breathing heavily, ripped apart a metal shelf with brute force, prying loose a few sturdy rods. He tested their weight, tightening his grip. It'll have to do.
Belle and Lynn were quick, sweeping shelves for food. They emptied whatever they could into backpacks—cans, bottled water, anything that would keep them alive.
"At least we won't starve," Belle muttered, but her voice was hollow. Food meant survival, but only if they could make it out alive.
The supermarket was eerily silent, save for their frantic movements.
And outside… it watched.
The monster.
Hours passed.
Their minds screamed for sleep, but their bodies refused to rest. Every second stretched endlessly, the weight of fear pressing down on them like a physical force.
Then, without warning—
A sound.
Not a growl. Not a roar.
A deep, guttural breath.
It was inside.
Glass shattered.
The front entrance exploded into a storm of shards as the creature tore through it like paper. Shelves crumbled under its weight, sending goods crashing onto the floor.
Joe was the first to react.
"SHIT—!" He swung his bat, aiming for its head. A perfect hit.
Nothing.
The monster didn't flinch.
Ethan lunged, stabbing a metal rod straight into its leg. The rod bent like cheap plastic.
Samir, in a blind panic, hurled a heavy box at it. The box bounced off harmlessly.
The monster moved like a nightmare given form—fast, precise, relentless.
"We can't kill it!" Jade's voice rang through the chaos. "We have to run!"
Belle grabbed Lynn's wrist, dragging her back as the monster advanced.
Jade's eyes darted around, desperate for a way out. Then—
A storage room.
"THERE!" she screamed.
The back storage had a second exit. If they could make it there, they could escape.
They sprinted.
The monster roared, its claws slashing through the air. It was close—too close.
They dove into the storage room one by one.
But just as Loid was about to make it—
A hand shoved him back.
Loid's world spun as he hit the cold, hard floor.
For a moment, his mind struggled to comprehend what had happened.
Then he looked up.
Michael.
His classmate stood over him, eyes wide with terror. His breathing was ragged, his hands trembling.
The monster had been right behind him. It had almost grabbed him.
But now Loid was in its path.
Michael had made a choice.
"I… I'm sorry." His voice cracked.
Then he ran.
The door slammed shut.
Loid was alone.
"NO!"
Joe's scream was raw, a sound that ripped through the room like a wound torn open.
He lunged for the door, pounding against it with both fists.
"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!" His voice was filled with rage, with desperation, with something that no one had ever heard from him before. "DON'T LEAVE HIM!"
Belle was crying.
Not soft, silent tears—no.
Her whole body shook as she screamed, fists clenched, nails digging into her palms until blood surfaced.
"We have to go back! HE'S STILL IN THERE!"
Ethan grabbed Joe's shoulder, yanking him back. "We can't!"
"LIKE HELL WE CAN'T! Joe roared, trying to push past him.
Jade stepped in, voice firm. "Joe, listen to me. If we go back, we'll die too."
"I don't CARE!"
"I CARE!" Jade snapped, eyes burning. "And Loid wouldn't want you to throw your life away like an idiot!"
Joe was shaking. His hands balled into fists. His whole body screamed to fight back.
But he didn't.
Because deep down, he knew.
They had to run.
And Loid was gone.
Loid lay motionless, seems like he was knpcked out, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps.
The monster towered over him.
Its heavy, ragged breathing filled the room.
It should have killed him.
But it didn't.
Loid's fingers twitched.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
And the monster… was gone.
"The monster's past"
Once, this creature had been a man.
This supermarket had been his life.
His pride.
His home.
He had spent years building it, working day and night to keep it running. To provide for people.
And how had they repaid him?
They stole from him.
They disrespected him.
They destroyed everything he had built.
And when the world began to crumble, they ransacked his store, tearing it apart like vultures, leaving him to rot.
He has had enough.
Now, he was something else.
A monster.
A guardian.
A prisoner.
Bound to this place.
Forever.
Back to loid
His body ached.
His mind screamed at him to run, to escape.
But there was nothing.
No monster.
Just silence.
And the lingering question—
Why did it let him live?
-
Fin