Chapter 3 FIRST NIGHT OF THE DEAD
The station became a slaughterhouse in less than thirty seconds.
Screams echoed through the underground tunnels while survivors trampled each other trying to escape the swarm pouring from the darkness. The infected creatures moved with horrifying speed, their twisted bodies smashing into panicked humans like starving wolves.
Blood sprayed across cracked concrete.
Someone nearby begged for help.
Another person was dragged screaming beneath a pile of bodies.
And through all of it
the System remained coldly silent.
Riven Bourne backed away slowly, gripping the ruptured steam pipe tightly in both hands while boiling vapor hissed from the cracked metal.
Think.
Don’t panic.
Panic killed people faster than monsters.
A creature lunged toward a teenage boy near the ticket booths.
The boy froze completely.
Wrong move.
The monster tackled him to the ground instantly.
Its jaw split open far wider than humanly possible before tearing into his face.
The boy’s scream cut off wetly.
Riven’s stomach twisted hard.
Not from fear.
From realization.
This was real.
Nobody was waking up from this nightmare.
A heavy crash thundered through the station.
One of the newly armed survivors,a massive man wearing crude steel armor,swung a warhammer into an infected creature hard enough to shatter its spine.
The survivor roared triumphantly.
“THEY DIE EASY! FIGHT BACK!”
For one brief moment, hope flickered across the station.
Then three more infected rushed him at once.
One grabbed his arm.
Another bit through the back of his knee.
The third slammed him to the floor.
His screams lasted longer than the teenager’s.
People broke after that.
The crowd dissolved into chaos.
Survivors fled in every direction: down tunnels, onto tracks, through maintenance corridors.
Riven forced himself to stay still for one extra second.
Observe first.
The infected ignored some people entirely while attacking others immediately.
Why?
His eyes narrowed.
One woman sprinted past a creature without being chased.
Another survivor was instantly targeted despite standing farther away.
Movement?
Noise?
Blood?
No.
The infected closest to him suddenly turned toward a man screaming hysterically near the station stairs.
Aggression increased with emotional instability.
The creatures reacted strongly to panic.
Riven’s heartbeat slowed.
Useful.
Another blue System prompt flashed briefly across his vision.
PASSIVE OBSERVATION BONUS ACTIVATED
Pattern Recognition Increased
The message vanished instantly.
Riven barely had time to process it before another infected spotted him.
The creature rushed forward with twitching, unstable movements.
Riven stepped sideways at the last second.
The infected slammed directly into a steel support pillar.
Before it could recover, Riven smashed the ruptured pipe into its neck.
Scalding steam burst into its face.
The creature shrieked.
Riven kicked it backward onto the subway tracks.
Electric sparks exploded beneath the rails.
The infected convulsed violently before going still.
ENEMY DEFEATED
EXP GAINED: 4
Another message appeared immediately afterward.
LEVEL UP
RIVEN BOURNE — LEVEL 2
Warmth spread through his body.
Not healing exactly.
More like sudden clarity.
Fatigue faded slightly from his muscles.
His senses sharpened.
Nearby footsteps echoed through the station.
Fast.
Human.
Riven turned sharply.
The black-haired girl from the warehouse sprinted toward him through the chaos, breathing hard.
Blood still streaked one side of her face.
Behind her, two infected chased relentlessly.
“Move!” she shouted.
Riven grabbed a loose metal barricade beside the tracks and shoved it sideways with all his strength.
The barricade crashed into the first infected mid-charge.
The second creature vaulted over it unnaturally fast
and the girl drove a broken screwdriver directly through its eye.
The creature collapsed twitching.
Riven blinked once.
Interesting.
She wasn’t weak.
The girl bent over breathing heavily before looking up at him.
“You’re still alive.”
“You sound disappointed.”
A faint snort escaped her despite everything happening around them.
Then another scream echoed nearby.
Her expression darkened immediately.
“We need to leave.”
Riven nodded.
“Agreed.”
The station was already lost.
Dozens of bodies littered the ground now.
Some motionless.
Some beginning to move again.
That was worse.
The dead weren’t staying dead.
A survivor stumbled backward nearby clutching a bite wound on his arm.
“No… no, I’m okay… I’m okay…”
Black veins crawled visibly beneath his skin.
Riven’s eyes sharpened.
Infection progression.
Fast.
Too fast.
The injured survivor suddenly slammed into another woman, biting into her shoulder hard enough to rip flesh free.
The station exploded into fresh panic.
The girl beside Riven swore under her breath.
“We’re getting surrounded.”
She was right.
More infected emerged from every tunnel entrance now.
Too many to fight directly.
Riven scanned the station rapidly.
Exit routes. Obstacles. Terrain.
Then he noticed the flickering maintenance signs above a side corridor.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
A narrow path.
Defensible.
“Come on,” he said immediately.
The girl followed without hesitation.
That surprised him slightly.
Most people argued first.
They sprinted through the collapsing station while infected chased survivors in every direction around them.
The smell hit next.
Blood.
Rot.
Burned flesh from exposed subway rails.
Riven forced himself not to look at the bodies.
Focus on survival.
Nothing else mattered right now.
They reached the maintenance corridor just as an infected spotted them.
The creature charged.
Riven slammed the heavy security door shut.
The infected crashed against it violently from the other side.
Metal groaned.
Another impact followed.
Then another.
The girl shoved a nearby pipe through the door handles.
Temporary barricade.
Smart.
The banging continued for several horrible seconds before finally fading.
Silence settled over the corridor.
Both of them stood there breathing hard.
For the first time since falling into Floor 1…
there were no screams.
Only distant echoes far beyond the walls.
The corridor itself was narrow and dimly lit by flickering emergency lights. Rusted pipes ran along the ceiling dripping water onto cracked tile floors.
Riven leaned briefly against the wall, controlling his breathing.
The girl studied him carefully.
“You figured things out fast.”
“So did you.”
A small pause followed.
Then she shrugged slightly.
“I didn’t freeze.”
“Most people did.”
Her expression hardened.
“Most people thought this was a game.”
Riven looked at her more carefully now.
She wasn’t panicking anymore.
That alone made her different from nearly everyone upstairs.
“What’s your name?” she asked finally.
“Riven.”
She hesitated briefly.
“Seraphine.”
The name suited her strangely well.
Cold. Elegant. Sharp around the edges.
Before either could speak again—
a soft chime echoed through the corridor.
System messages appeared before both of them simultaneously.
FLOOR 1 SURVIVAL EVENT UPDATED
ACTIVE PLAYERS REMAINING:
347
Riven froze.
There had been at least two thousand people in the warehouse alone.
Seraphine stared silently at the number.
“…That’s impossible.”
No.
It wasn’t.
That was the terrifying part.
Another message appeared.
SAFE ZONES AVAILABLE:
3
TIME UNTIL LOCKDOWN:
02:43:11
Riven’s eyes narrowed.
Safe zones.
Meaning the rest of Floor 1 would become worse somehow.
Seraphine looked toward him immediately.
“We need one.”
“Yes.”
“How do we find it?”
Before Riven could answer—
a low growl echoed deeper within the maintenance corridor.
Both froze instantly.
Not infected.
Something bigger.
He slowly turned toward the darkness ahead.
Two massive yellow eyes opened within the shadows.
A new System notification appeared before Riven’s vision.
THREAT DETECTED
MUTATED HUNTER — LEVEL 6
WARNING: EXTREME DANGER
The creature stepped partially into the flickering light.
Too thin.
Too long.
Its arms dragged against the floor like broken limbs while exposed bone protruded from blackened flesh.
Rows of needle-like teeth twitched inside an oversized jaw.
And worst of all
it was smiling.
Seraphine whispered softly,
“…Run.”
The Hunter screamed.
And charged.
