I didn’t even need to turn around.

I already knew that grating voice behind me.

"You have no business here.”

"You have your little machine that's gonna get you where you need to be—so many little hints you can't pick up. But besides that, haven't you already experienced so much? People dying, people trying to kill you. People work like a hivemind, never lost or confused. They seek out the weak and devour their strengths. Such is the way in this circle of life. They are cunning, thoughtless, and depraved. People turning into unspeakable horrors."

"And that's a system that you took part in."

"Ho-ho. I love your lack of realization of the consensus. Let's say you're close to the end. You don’t want to deny your state of being, but you’ll learn to suffer more than you might think. We'll see what happens to such a predicament—maybe you'll be the one to truly go insane."

"I see you're awfully more thought-provoking than before."

"I've always been quite cryptic, haven't I?"

This suit does wonders to protect my ego. It’s so hard to remember past events… even the present.

"You’ll love being in denial, trying to be a savior to the world, thinking two random-ass people are gonna do anything that major. I’m a bit envious of your blind optimism, but that would mean being in the situation you're in right now."

This thing was already pissing me off. I was about to go off, but I kept my fist clenched, trying to maintain some semblance of calm.

"I'm not that stupid. I don't even think we're gonna do it. I'd rather at least try than sit on my ass every day. I'm more interested in finding answers than killing this so-called mastermind."

He eagerly tapped a finger against his lip, his smile a bit more muted than before. Then, just as quickly, he began to gloat again.

"Hmm, I'm sure you'll have LOTS of answers. But maybe work on who's with you. Don't trust yourself or her—just a word of advice. Well then, I'll see you both again soon. Perhaps only one of you."

He spun into his little portal and disappeared once again.

"One of us?"

That thought lingered in the back of my mind as soon as he left. Did he mean only one of us would survive this journey? I wasn’t sure. It felt like he was hinting at something—maybe even planning something.

I was so distracted by what he said that I hadn't even noticed Melody had already gone ahead.

I ran down the street, calling her name, trying to find her.

"Keep it down!" Melody hissed.

"My bad. I got caught up in something," I admitted. "Wasn’t important."

"You did take quite a while, but never mind." She shook her head. "Look, it's fine, but we gotta be cautious in these areas. We don’t want to draw unwarranted attention."

"I’ll keep that in mind."

My thoughts drifted again as I placed a hand near my chin, trying to figure out our next move.

"Well, we should focus on finding a good spot to stay," I said. Though, if I was being honest, I wasn’t exactly in the mood to spend the night here.

It felt like anyone could mug us… or hell, even kill us in our sleep. Considering the ‘guests’ here weren’t as friendly as the last place—not that it was much better—this city didn’t seem like a reasonable place to rest before we moved on.

Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.

"Do you think our best approach should be inside or outside?" Melody questioned.

"Inside is probably safer—just as long as no one is already in there," I replied. "Or, you know, as long as there isn't a bomb or some bear trap waiting for us."

Melody sighed at my exaggeration. "Yeah, I think that's a bit of an overreaction. I doubt they’d set up traps, even if people were inside."

"I'm just anxious, is all. There are more crackheads here than in the last area."

"Can't argue with that. There's probably some hidden loot that we shouldn't find." She smirked. "Nah, we should definitely go find it."

Melody looked excited to uncover whatever mysteries were hiding in this city.

"I can't really stop you, can I?"

"Nope!"

"Let's just hope we don't find anything disgusting."

"So, where should we start?"

"I was thinking the city's west side. We haven’t explored much over there."

"Alright, let's start there and hopefully find something worthwhile."

Melody was right—we still had plenty of daylight left since it was only mid-afternoon. Ideally, I wished we were focusing on securing a place to sleep, but instead, we were chasing after some lousy ‘treasures.’ All I really wanted was a decent weapon—something better than a kitchen knife or crowbar.

Without thinking, I rushed ahead, not realizing what lay in front of me. Melody quickly ran after me, grabbing my shoulder and yanking me back.

"Don't be an idiot! Can't you see how many creatures are over there?"

She was right—there were a lot of them.

"Hey, look," I said, forcing a grin, "a good reason to turn back and find a place to stay. You know, like we should've done from the beginning? Because hunting for something we don’t need is just begging to get us hurt or killed."

"Didn’t we just promise to kill all of them that got in our way?" Melody argued. "I’m not letting more shit-stains roam free."

"Think logically for a second. You’ve almost died several times fighting these things. Do you really think facing triple the amount is a good idea? And by the way, I didn’t promise shit—that was all you."

Melody rolled her eyes.

"Look, it’s just too much of a risk. We really should head back."

"I'll admit there are a lot of them, but you shouldn’t worry. Do you want more people to suffer? Killing them here makes it less likely for someone else to wind up dead."

Melody was starting to get irritated with my arguments.

"Just listen to yourself, dammit! Wasn’t the whole point of this to kill the mastermind? That would wipe all of them out."

"First of all, that was just an educated guess. There's no way to know if killing him would actually get rid of them all. And even then, I’m not sure we can even pull it off. Right now, I just want answers about what's been going on. Second, do you really want more innocents to die? You saw what happened when we set up camp. All those people—dead on the ground."

Melody crossed her arms and gave me a cold stare.

"You can go ahead and deal with whatever crap you want. I'm not helping. But if you screw up, I’ll be the one to behead him myself."

That last part caught me off guard.

"What?! How many people have you even killed?" I asked. "Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?"

Melody just rolled her eyes, completely unfazed.

"Eh. You know what? Fine. I won’t bother asking." I scoffed. "Let’s just forget this conversation even happened. We’ll grab what we need and get out."

"Fine by me."

"The only people I’ve killed are dangerous ones anyway," Melody said dismissively. "Not a big deal."

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a little overwhelmed, shaking my head as I tried to process everything.

Despite our argument, we eventually found another route down the street—away from the danger. At the end of the road stood an abandoned apartment building, more decrepit than the rest of the city. Its windows were shattered, its walls crumbling with age.

"You still think this is a good idea?" I asked, eyeing the structure warily.

Melody seemed confident. "If anything happens, I'm prepared."

We slowly crept inside.

To our surprise, all the lights were on.

"So… people are living here, then," I muttered, my voice tinged with unease. "I’ll refrain from commenting on what we were talking about earlier."

We ascended the stairs as quietly as possible, though each step creaked under our weight. The apartment wasn’t as tall as a standard high-rise—it looked like a normal building cut in half.

When we reached the top floor, we found ourselves standing before a lone wooden door. Unlike the others, this one seemed… different.

"That door looks special," I murmured.

Melody stepped closer. "If I’m right, it should open to some goodies that might interest us."

"I just really hope we don’t regret this."

Without hesitation, Melody swung the door open.

The moment we saw what was inside, I felt my stomach drop.

Melody turned pale.

The room was filled with rotting corpses.

They were all seated—some in chairs, others on the carpet—posed as if attending a family gathering. It was grotesque, like a scene from a horror movie directed by a madman.

I could barely move. It felt just like that time I found the girl and the old man, lifeless in their seats.

I was shaking. My breath hitched. My mind screamed at me to look away.

Then, something snapped me out of my paralysis.

I felt a presence behind me.

Before I could react, a blunt object struck the back of my head.

Everything went dark.

I woke up with an agonizing headache. My eyes focused on a looming figure standing only a few feet away. Shadows obscured it, making it impossible to determine who it was beyond its humanoid shape.

"Can't believe I forgot to lock the fucking door."

That voice—it was the same one we had encountered when we first entered the city.

He slowly approached me, stepping into the light. My heart pounded as he formed a sickening grin.

"It's unfortunate that idiots like you can't keep to themselves. I gotta clean up the trash again," he muttered. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not in the mood to kill you or your friend. I did make sure your friend wouldn't be here, though."

My chest tightened. "What did you do to her?"

He laughed like a maniac. "I only tied her up and kept her hidden in my closet. I wouldn’t worry about her too much."

I tried to muster the strength to break free, but I knew it would only make things worse.

"What the fuck is your problem!?" I shouted.

"Why?!" He scoffed. "I'll tell you the fuck why. All these goddamn shits think they’re gonna survive by stealing and killing however they want. They don’t care about people—only money and riches. The ones who came here? They got what was coming to them. It’s amusing, watching these shitheads barge in, thinking nothing’s gonna happen to their ‘perfect lives.’"

His eyes burned with madness.

"I’m not the one at fault," he continued. "All these pieces of goddamn shit are. They would’ve killed me if they had the chance. So tell me—what’s so wrong about me doing the same?"

"You’re a fucking psychopath!"

"Shut up!"

He punched me hard in the gut, knocking the air from my lungs. The impact was so brutal I nearly vomited.

"The bodies here," he sneered, "are reminders for anyone stupid enough to come here. This is my property, and I can do whatever I want with it."

That smirk returned—this time filled with even more malicious intent.

"You know what?" he mused. "I haven’t had much fun in a while. Usually, I just kill them and leave their corpses here, but I’ll make an exception for you. Knocking someone like you down a peg might just give me that feeling I’ve been looking for."

He turned and walked into another part of the room. I struggled against the ropes with everything I had, but no matter how hard I fought, they wouldn't budge.

When he returned, a baseball bat was gripped tightly in his hands.

"Hopefully, this’ll keep you quiet," he said, raising the bat. "Although, not permanently, I’d wager."

Before I could react, he swung at full force.

The bat struck my head with a sickening crack. A wave of pain surged through my skull, throbbing and unbearable. I knew he wouldn’t stop until I was unconscious.

"That’s your first warning," he taunted.

I tried to respond, but no words came out. Only pain—and the slow trickle of blood dripping down my scalp.

I gritted my teeth and attempted to push myself up, desperate to flee.

I barely moved an inch before he swung again—this time even harder.

"I SAID, STAY THE FUCK DOWN!"

I collapsed, my body refusing to respond. The only thing keeping me conscious was sheer determination.

I can’t give up. I won’t.

I had to escape. I had to save Melody.

Ignoring the excruciating pain, I fought to move—to do something. But it was useless.

Through my blurred vision, I saw him lift the bat one final time.

The last thing I saw before everything went black was the gleam in his eyes—and my own blood staining the carpet.

I didn't know how long I had been unconscious. The pain from waking up again was harrowing, pounding in my skull. Blood pooled on the ground from the impact. Even without a mirror, I could tell my body was bruised and bloody.

Then I noticed him—sleeping on the other couch.

Did three blows from a bat tire that bastard out?

I knew this was my chance to escape this hell. I scanned the room for anything I could use to cut myself loose. A pocket knife just so happened to be lying near the kitchen counter.

I mustered the strength to walk toward it, but the pain in my head was unbearable. Every step made me feel nauseous and dizzy. Any second, I could collapse.

But I had to push forward.

My vision blurred the closer I got, making it difficult to see anything in front of me. I could barely make out the faint outline of the knife. With shaky hands, I carefully grabbed it.

Now came the hard part—cutting the ropes.

Movies make it look easy, but none of those characters had blurred vision and a head spinning like mine. The odds of cutting myself were far greater than my chances of succeeding unscathed.

Still, I had no choice.

My hands trembled, making it nearly impossible to saw through the thick rope. It took longer than I had hoped, and, as expected, I lacerated my hands in the process. The stinging pain was sharp, but I kept going. Finally, after what felt like forever, the ropes snapped free.

I needed to move carefully. Waking him up would be the worst possible outcome.

I tucked the pocket knife into my pocket, just in case, and quickly searched for Melody. The room wasn't big, so I didn't have to look far. A closet stood nearby—exactly where he had said she was.

I yanked open the door, and sure enough, there she was, bound and unconscious.

I couldn’t just drag her out; I had to free her first.

"Melody," I whispered. "Wake up. We need to get out of here."

She stirred, then her eyes fluttered open.

"Wha—what happened?" she mumbled.

"I’ll explain later. Right now, we have to go."

I used the knife to cut her ropes. She gave me a quick nod of gratitude before we both tiptoed toward the door, careful not to make a sound. We left it open slightly, not wanting the noise of it shutting to give us away.

Getting down the stairs wasn’t difficult. Even if we ran, he wouldn’t have heard us.

For a moment, it felt like we were in the clear. But deep down, I knew it wouldn’t be that easy.

And I was right.

A gunshot echoed through the air.

Pain exploded in my shoulder as the bullet struck.

I hit the ground hard, my arm instantly going limp as I writhed in agony.

Melody rushed toward me. "What the hell happened?"

"I—I got shot," I groaned, clutching my arm.

"Ah, shit!"

A cruel, mocking voice filled the air.

"You really thought you were slick, huh? Leaving so easily?"

I turned my head to see him standing in the doorway, gun in hand.