We watched the zombies on the screens for a long while, trying to find any patterns, weak points, or gaps we could use to slip through. There weren’t any. The departure halls, staircases and even the escalators leading down to where the Digger was parked were crawling with them now.

  We gathered around a dusty desk covered in coffee stains and old forms, trying to plan our next move.

  “There has to be a way out other than fighting through all of them,” Siva said, voice tight.

  “Even if we had a hundred fighters and spellcasters, we can’t cut through a few thousand zombies,” Shawn added, leaning back in a chair and propping his boots on the table. The casual act didn’t fool me, he was tensed.

  I stayed quiet, half-listening while rifling through my inventory for anything useful. After the animal wrangling at the zoo, we’d each gotten random loot items and one piece of boss-tier loot. We’d already sorted through the haul of regular health and mana potions, crafting junk, and, for some reason, Shawn’s prize was a literal mountain of dirt. It listed itself as both Crafting Material and just ‘Dirt’.

  I reread the description of my own boss drop.

  [Coat of Invisibility: Imbues wearer with the Invisibility Spell for (Int × 0.5) minutes. Invisibility negated if injured or come into contact with hostile creatures. Cost: 10 mana. Cool down: 30 seconds. Spell duration and mana cost scale with user’s level.]

  Straightforward enough and currently sitting unused in my inventory. One, it was a bloody trench coat. Made of some kind of brown light leather, knee-length, and dramatic enough that I’d look like a cosplaying gunslinger. And two, this was Singapore. We only had two seasons, hot and humid. There was no way I was wearing that thing unless I absolutely needed to.

  I sighed, dismissing the item from my HUD. Sure, invisibility could be useful but even at my level, it’d only last a few minutes. In a hall full of zombies, I’d bump into one eventually, and it was clear contact would cancel it. And even if I didn’t, that would just get me out. Siva and Shawn would still be trapped in here.

  The thought crossed my mind before I could stop it. Could I escape alone?

  The objective was clear. Escape. Unlike the other Crimson Zones, there was no boss to kill, no trigger to unlock. Escape was the objective.

  And technically, I could do that. I had the coat. The invisibility. I had the means.

  I didn’t want to pull on that thread any further. Even thinking about it felt wrong. I felt dirty.

  Look at you, Chris… You would have left them in an instant a few years back.

  Yes. Yes I would. Now shut the fuck up.

  "How about fire?” I said, rejoining the discussion. “Let’s burn them. We’ve got loads of torches. I can make flame arrows and light them from a distance. We punch through and run for the exits.”

  Siva didn’t look convinced. He looked even more skeptical when Shawn shrugged and said,

  “Okay. First off, we don’t know if that’ll take them down. Are these Shaun of the Dead zombies or Train to Busan ones? If we’re following horror movie rules, it’s headshots or decapitations only. Fire might just make them rushing, pissed-off zombies. Or we get flaming slow shufflers. Either way, that’s messy.”

  “Also,” He paused and pointed up at the ceiling.

  We followed his gesture. Sprinklers. Great.

  “If those things still work, the sprinklers will drown the flames. If they’re Halon-based, we suffocate.” Shawn added, like he was quoting a safety manual.

  We just stared at him for a beat.

  “How do you even know that?” Siva asked.

  “Sold them,” Shawn replied easily. “Used to pitch these to construction firms.”

  Of course he did.

  I paced the floor while Shawn lounged in his chair and Siva scanned the monitors, searching for any weakness in the swarm.

  “Okay,” I said finally. “We’ve got to explore the place. There’s gotta be other exits, side offices, loading bays, maybe a maintenance tunnel.” I started to expand my minimap in my HUD to really explore the whole area as I talked.

  Shawn nodded, but Siva interrupted softly. “Uh, Chris…”

  “We’ve got plenty of food and water,” I continued, my boots making soft thuds on the carpeted floor. “No time limit on Crimson Zones either, so we don’t have to rush.”

  “Chris…” Siva’s voice rose an octave.

  “There’s only one door from the hall to the elevator. It’s at the side, and you’ve gotta turn the handle. I don’t see zombies doing that.”

  Shawn had already walked over to stand behind Siva, staring at the screen.

  “Let's think this through. Really take our time. Let’s not rush...”

  “Chris!” they both shouted in unison.

  I turned, more out of reflex than anything.

  Siva was pointing at one of the monitors. I leaned forward, expecting to see the zombies doing something new, maybe figuring out doors.

  This was worse.

  The camera showed one of the immigration counters. They stretched lengthwise across the entire breadth of the departure hall, spaced about a meter apart. Each had its own entry gantry where travelers would queue, hand over their passports for scanning and stamping, before passing through a second gantry that opened onto the causeway to Malaysia.

  Most of them were wrecked, their gantries twisted, counters half-collapsed and covered in debris.

  All, except one.

  Underneath one of the intact counters, a woman was hiding. She couldn’t have been more than her twenties, long black hair tied in a ponytail, eyes wide and terrified.

  She peeked out once, then ducked back under the desk.

  That was no zombie. That… was a fellow survivor.

  “Uh… so I guess we’re rushing this,” Shawn said, breaking the silence.

  The hum of the fluorescent lights filled the silence for a beat, just long enough for the dread to settle in.

  Then I found my voice. “Fuck!”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  We made for the elevator but decided against it as the doors slid open with a loud ‘ding’. We’ve learnt to read the little things, and the ding was a red flag. We sprinted for the stairs instead, boots thudding in the empty shaft. No alarms or hum of motors to give us away.

  “Silent mode,” I hissed as we fell into step. Party chat only from here on. We sketched a plan on the fly while pounding down four flights.

  Shawn: So… what are we doing?

  Chris: When we hit the second floor, we sneak into the glass corridor. I go invisible, slip through the door, get to her.

  Siva: Okay, then what? You can’t just say “hello”. You’ll scare the shit out of her.

  Chris: I grab her, flash the speed boots, and we bolt. Shawn, keep the elevator open and for fuck’s sake, stash the scythe unless you want to send out a beacon.

  Shawn’s weapon of choice was… theatrical. A massive scythe that was more farming implement than assassin’s tool but deadly in wide arcs. He’d learned to make it sing, and it had a few enchantments he could activate at will.

  Shawn: What do you want us to use man? Harsh language?

  Chris: Are you, Are you quoting Aliens at me? Here? Now?

  Siva: What’s Aliens?

  Chris / Shawn: You haven't seen Aliens?

  Chris: Fuck, not now. Shawn, area control. Hold the exit line. If things go south, clear a path. Siva, hold the door open. I’m going to run, and it’s going to be fast.

  Siva: Got it.

  We reached the second-floor stair door. Beyond it lay the half-frosted glass corridor, narrow and exposed, a fragile artery between us and the arrival hall below. It was our only shot at moving unseen. The glass door that opens into the departure halls stood adjacent to the stairwell and the elevator.

  I eased the door open, one slow push at a time, relying on my Class’s stealth abilities. The hinges didn’t even whisper. The air that wafted through was stale and cold, smelling faintly of dust and something rotten.

  I took a slow breath to steady myself and equipped the coat from my inventory. It materialized over my body, heavy but supple, its surface faintly shifting like liquid shadow. This was it, one grab, one sprint, and maybe we’d walk out of here with a survivor.

  I glanced at the others.

  Shawn crouched low, both palms aglow with that faint purple aura his necromancy always carried.

  Siva was half-hidden behind the stairwell door, katana drawn, its blade catching the dim light from the corridor.

  I cracked my neck. Let’s go.

  I activated [Invisibility].

  The world didn’t change. There were no distortion or shimmer as I imagined it would. Only when I raised my hand in front of my face and saw nothing did I realized it worked. But there was a faint shimmer at the edge of my vision.

  I stepped into the departure hall. My HUD pinged as a timer appeared at the top of my vision, ticking down second by second. It was my invisibility timer, I realized. I’d wasted a precious second figuring it out.

  Ahead, the arrival hall stretched open, a sea of bodies swaying in slow, discordant rhythm. The zombies were closer now. The sound they made wasn’t moaning; it was a low, wet chorus of breath and shuffling feet, like... a roomful of mouth breathers.

  I moved between them carefully, each step a measured glide. Up close, I could see the ruin in their faces. Half-melted skin, milky eyes and teeth bared in vacant hunger. Some still wore uniforms, others business attire. Patches of rot glistened under the fluorescent lights.

  I froze as one almost brushed past me. It turned its head sharply, nostrils flaring, then staggered on. I couldn’t let it touch me.

  The timer on my HUD ticked down faster than I expected.

  Five minutes. Four.

  I was running out of time.

  I ducked behind an overturned immigration counter just as the faint shimmer at the edges of my vision flickered and vanished.

  [Invisibility expired]

  I crouched lower, pressing my back against the underside of the counter as a zombie shuffled by close enough that I could smell it 's sour and damp rot. My breath sounded deafening in my ears.

  Chris: This is taking too long. I can’t navigate properly. Siva, I need you back at the control room. Use the CCTV to guide me. Tell me where to step.

  Siva: But what if you need backup here? Also… won’t you be invisible?

  Chris: Fuck. I’ll hold onto something after I go invisible. I'll pick something up. You’ll be able to track that.

  Shawn: You sure that’ll work?

  Chris: Fuck, man, I don’t exactly have a choice, do I?

  Shawn: Go, Siva. I’ve got him. Guide Chris through.

  I waited for the thirty-second cooldown to expire, just long enough for Siva to reach the control room.

  And in that brief lull, I thought about how fast we were now. Stronger and smarter, even. But at our core, we’re still human. Aren’t… we…

  Siva: I’m in.

  I drew a deep breath and cast [Invisibility] again. The world shimmered slightly around me as I picked up two torn strands of streamers from the floor and hooked them over my shoulders, one red and one blue.

  Siva: Are you holding red and blue… stuff?

  Chris: Yeah. They’re on my shoulders. Judge the distance. I’m moving.

  I slipped back into the open. The zombies shuffled and swayed around me, a tide of decay. Their movements were slow but unpredictable, jerking like puppets on tangled strings.

  Siva guided me through their ranks, his voice steady in my mind:

  Siva: One step left. Two forward. Stop. Wait. Okay, move again, now.

  I crept through the wreckage. Silently stepping past shattered glass, torn signs and bent gantries, ducking behind debris whenever my spell wore off. Each cooldown felt longer than the last.

  Finally, I reached the immigration counter where the woman was hiding.

  Up close, she looked to be in her late twenties. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, her breathing quick and shallow. She wore a white hooded overcoat, cinched neatly at the waist with faint blue runes etched along her sleeves and spine. Her eyes were wide, darting from shadow to shadow, the whites bright against the dim hall.

  She peeked out again and froze. I was right behind her, invisible.

  Chris: Standby.

  Shawn: Grab her.

  I lunged. One hand clamped over her mouth, the other locked tight around her waist. I was about to trigger [Boots of the Speeding Garrick], ready to bolt, but she moved first.

  A flash of silver appeared. It was a scalpel glinting under the flickering lights. She stabbed backward, wild and fast, the blade biting into the air by her shoulder blades.

  Then into me.

  She stabbed again and again and again.

  Pain exploded up my arm, white-hot and sharp. I clenched my jaw, choking down a yell as blood sprayed across her sleeve. The world narrowed to the sound of her muffled screams and the wet slap of metal into flesh.

  My grip faltered as she tore free and screamed. and then I saw it, the crimson shimmer racing down my forearm as my spell collapsed.

  [Invisibility Cancelled]

  Blood pattered onto the tiles. She thrashed and continued screaming, alternating between stabbing at nothing and stabbing at me until my outline solidified around her.

  And in that frozen heartbeat, I realized just how loud we’d been.

  We’re fucked.

  Every single head in the hall turned in unison. The sound was sickening ripple of bone and tendon creaking as the horde began to shuffle towards us, arms rising, jaws opening.

  I could hear them.

  The dead muscles straining. The air filling with that low, collective groan.

  But then I caught movement, blur of purple.

  Shawn burst through the glass door, his scythe singing with necrotic light as he swung wide, cutting down anything in his path.

  Siva: Chris!

  Chris: Shawn, get the fuck down!

  I pointed my bleeding hand toward the horde between us and the door. Mana flared, burning hot through my veins.

  I cast [Shockwave] and the world detonated.

  A visible cone of compressed air blasted out from my palm, a twenty-foot gale that sent bodies flying. Tables shattered and glass exploded as zombies were hurled like rag dolls across the hall.

  Shawn dove aside at the last second, hair whipping in the wind.

  With my other arm still locked around her waist, I triggered [Boots of the Speeding Garrick] and ran.

  The world blurred. In the blink of an eye, I was across the hall, slamming shoulder-first through the stairwell door, using my body to shield her as we crashed through the glass panel.

  We hit the floor hard. I rolled, grimacing, the sting of broken glass cutting through my coat.

  I looked up. The zombies that weren’t blown away were already closing in a tidal wave of rotting flesh.

  Shawn was carving his way across the hall, purple trails burning through the dark and then he was past us, scythe raised high behind him.

  “Go!” he shouted.

  I didn’t need to be told twice. I hauled her into the stairwell just as Siva arrived, katana in hand, eyes wide.

  “Run up!” I yelled, closing the stairwell door behind us.

  We pounded up the stairs. The horde slammed against the door behind us, clawing, scraping, groaning. The metal hinges screamed but barely held.

  I was about to turn back and hold the door, when with a heavy thud, a massive mound of dirt materialized, sealing the door shut in a perfect wall of packed earth.

  We froze, staring at the compact wall.

  Shawn thundered up past us, panting. “The fuck you waiting for? Move!”

  That spurred us back up the stairs.

  Back on level six, we slammed the door behind us and locked it.

  The lady stared at us, panting, her eyes still wild. Her hand still clutching a scalpel.

  Shawn flopped onto the floor like he’d just finished a marathon.

  And I… I didn’t even know what to say.

  We saved her.

  Now what?