Shawn came looking for me outside the 7-Eleven after a while. I had stood there, chain-smoking, not realizing the team had sent me messages asking if everything was okay.

  He took one look at me and asked, “Do I want to know?”

  I shook my head in response but decided to tell him anyway. I needed someone to talk to. Siva was too young, and Jess was nice, but she was too new to the team. Too new to me.

  Shawn, however, despite his penchant for cringe-worthy jokes, was actually a thoughtful man. I told him everything, about my conversation with the GM and my interaction with Eva. I hadn’t dared to speak out loud about the extra gift Eva had dropped on me, so I shared that part via private chat.

  He let out a low whistle and asked for a cigarette.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” I said, surprised. I retrieved an entire pack from my inventory and handed it to him.

  He lit a cigarette, took a long drag, then looked distastefully at it. After a moment, he continued smoking.

  “Yeah, I quit a couple of months ago. But now’s as good a time as any to pick it up again,” he replied.

  I nodded. I was in no position to lecture him on the virtues of staying clean. We agreed it was best to give a trimmed-down version of what happened with the 'GM', and there was no need to inform the rest about the electrical module... yet.

  And that’s exactly what I did when we went back to the hawker center. I told them everything that had happened with the GM, leaving out the part where it directly threatened them.

  As I spoke, I saw a mix of confusion and apprehension appear on their faces. Jess seemed more introspective. I could practically see the gears turning in her head as I shared my story. Siva, on the other hand, looked increasingly worried.

  “So… What's the plan? Are we really going to look for it?” Siva asked.

  “Let’s see if there’s really a way out of this zone first,” I replied, addressing the table.

  They slowly nodded their agreement.

  “Causeway Point then?” Jess asked.

  I smiled. Causeway Point. The sprawling seven-story shopping center with two wings. Eight stories if you count the basement. I gave them what I hoped was an encouraging nod.

  “Let’s finish this.”

  We decided to park at a neighborhood carpark nearby instead of within the shopping complex and approached the place on foot. We didn’t want to risk something going wrong and our truck getting locked in.

  All the building’s entrances were covered in a translucent barrier. That meant we couldn’t see inside, not even through the glass sliding doors at any of the three entrances. This was something new. At the previous Crimson Zones, we could look into the area before crossing the threshold and locking ourselves in.

  We steeled ourselves, weapons ready, as we stepped over the barrier and straight into chaos.

  A kinetic blast narrowly missed my head, the shockwave exploding on the barrier behind me. I felt a searing sting as it cut into my neck and shoulders. We dove out of the way, hearts pounding, as the world exploded around us. Small explosions and screams echoed through the air, filling the space with a disorienting symphony of violence.

  I activated a healing potion as Siva and I rushed behind an overturned display counter, perfume and moisturizer samples scattering beneath our feet like confetti. Across the entrance, I saw Shawn and Jess sprint into a nearby fast food joint, crouching low behind the store's facade, using the shelves and counters as makeshift shields.

  Before us, a brutal battle raged in the open foyer of the shopping center. This area, once used for displays or pop-up promotional events, had now become a warzone. From our vantage point, we could see the huge open space, its glossy tiles cracked under the weight of chaos, and the distant corridors of the upper floors teeming with shadows.

  A horned, red humanoid creature swung a massive battleaxe down onto a human, whose shield buckled under the force but held strong. The fighter retaliated with quick, precise strikes from his sword, his every move a blur of calculated desperation. Blood sprayed across the tiles, painting the air with a grim streak of crimson.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The sound of gnashing metal, grunts, and screams blended with the guttural roars of mobs. Groups of human fighters clashed with grotesque creatures that seemed ripped from the darkest nightmares of horror movies. I saw Jason with his trademark machete, Freddy with his gloved claws, and Pennywise grinning, all circling and hunting their prey. And then... there was Pumpkinhead? The massive, grotesque creature lumbered toward its next victim, its jack-o’-lantern face twisted in a permanent grimace of malice.

  What the fuck...

  A lone human fighter was desperately trying to hold his ground on the escalators in front of us, surrounded by two mobs that resembled giant tarantulas the size of dogs. Their legs clicked and scraped against the metal steps as they advanced, venom dripping from their fangs, while the human struggled to fend them off with a long spear, his breath coming in ragged gasps.

  Magical blasts and projectiles streaked through the air, their vibrant arcs of light flashing and crackling against the walls. One shot exploded near the second-floor railing, sending debris raining down in a shower of sparks and shattered glass. Humans in various types of armor were locked in battle with mobs of every conceivable kind, each clash sending violent tremors through the floor beneath us.

  Above us, the scene was even more surreal. A goddamn pterodactyl circled near the roof of the building, its wings casting shadows over the chaos below. Arrows flew from the fifth floor, hissing through the air and narrowly missing the creature's massive form. Magical blasts followed, but the creature evaded them with startling agility, its screech reverberating through the open space.

  I couldn’t see the people on the fifth floor as the angle was too steep, but the flashes of light and explosions above were enough to tell me that the fight was not confined here on the ground floor.

  My HUD pinged with a team message notification.

  Shawn: What the fuck is going on?

  Before any of us could reply, my HUD pinged again.

  [Crimson Zone Objective: The monsters are loose.]

  [Find out why and put an end to this infestation to clear the zone]

  I’d never seen so many survivors fighting together in one place. The sheer scale of it hit me like a tidal wave, and I suddenly felt overwhelmed. Here were others. Like us… and they were fighting. Fighting to stay alive, fighting to slay whatever creatures the corrupted world had vomited out at us.

  I stood and fired multiple shots at the spiders harassing the lone fighter on the escalator. The arrows found their mark, the creatures shrieking as they were pierced, but I didn’t stop to watch. I ducked back down behind cover, heart pounding, already preparing for my next salvo.

  Chris: I have no fucking idea.

  Siva: This is like Warcraft.

  Jess: I… don’t know what that is. But it like we’ve joined mid-fight with other survivors.

  Siva: Like Warcraft.

  I saw Jess’s head spring up like a meerkat over a sand dune, shooting Siva an angry glare from across the floor. She looked pissed, but before she could say anything, Shawn yanked her back down behind cover.

  Shawn: There’s more people behind here with us. They got the same objective as us, but got pinned down the moment they entered. They seem really under geared. One of them’s carrying a fucking slingshot.

  I wanted to jump into the fight, to help. The memories of losing so many of Andy’s group, of Shawn’s friends, during previous boss battles surged up, unbidden. We had to save as many as we could. But I knew, deep down, the objective wasn’t to clear the monsters. It was to find out why this was happening and put an end to it. Surely others would figure that out too.

  I could feel my body itching to act, to throw myself into the chaos. But the decision wasn’t so simple.

  Siva, who had been crouched next to me, shifted restlessly. He glanced over at the battlefield, his jaw set, and then at me. I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his hands clenched and unclenched as if he couldn’t stay still. “We can’t just sit here, Chris,” he said, his voice tight, almost pleading. “We need to help. People are dying, and we’re just watching.”

  I clenched my fists, torn between the need to stay focused on the objective and the pull to fight. The thought of losing more people, of watching helplessly as others fell, haunted me.

  It had barely been a minute since we entered, and already I was wrecked with indecision.

  A strangled cry snapped me back from my thoughts. I looked up just in time to see a severed arm fly through the air, a sword dropping from limp fingers as blood sprayed in an arc. The human woman who’d lost her arm was on the floor, struggling to crawl away, her one good hand clutching her bloodied stump. A skeleton wearing ridiculous, oversized medieval armor stood over her, preparing to deliver the killing blow with a short sword.

  Then, a blur of movement caught my eye.

  Jess vaulted over her barricade, running toward the injured woman, Shawn close behind her. He reached out, and with an effortless wave, flung the skeleton aside with a force push. The creature crashed into a nearby display, crumpling in a heap.

  Jess slid to a halt beside the woman, her hands beginning to glow with healing energy. Shawn stood protectively over them, facing an onrushing horde of skeletal mobs.

  That made up my mind as Siva and I left the relative safety of the counter and sprang into action. We were no longer on the sidelines. We had jumped right into the ongoing war.