Gana rushed up to the third floor, trying to escape the madness below. The escalators had all stopped, frozen mid-motion. As he reached the fourth-floor escalator, he saw a girl coming down in a panic.

She was trembling, clearly terrified. As she tried to descend quickly, her foot twisted—and she lost her balance. She tumbled forward, heading straight for the ground.

If Gana hadn’t been there, her head would’ve slammed against the hard floor.

But he caught her just in time—and the impact knocked both of them down. He landed on his back with a painful thud.

GANA

“Ahhh—my back… Hey—are you okay?”

The girl was breathing heavily.

“Y-Yeah… yes…” she stammered.

GANA

“Can you stand? My back’s killing me.”

They both got to their feet.

She looked like she had stepped out of a dream—and straight into a nightmare.

Her hair, long and dark like midnight, clung to her face in wild strands from all the running. Yet somehow, even disheveled, it framed her features perfectly. Her eyes—big and a rare, shimmering grey—seemed almost unreal, glowing faintly in the low light like polished silver under moonlight. They held fear, yes—but also something fierce. Something alive.

Her skin was smooth, lightly dusted with ash from the chaos, but still radiant. Her lips, naturally full, were slightly parted as she caught her breath, the kind of effortless beauty that made everything else around her blur and fade.

She didn’t look like she belonged in this world of blood and fire.

She looked like someone who belonged on a canvas, in a museum, in a story that had a happier ending.

But right now, she was here.

In the middle of the nightmare.

Just like him.

CREATOR (Narrator Voice)

Dude, close your mouth already. “Your back’s not hurting anymore now, huh?”

The girl was about to thank him—when a terrifying roar echoed from above the escalator. A blood-covered man stood there, growling like an animal.

GANA

“So that’s who you were running from… We need to go. Now—!”

He turned to the girl—

She was gone.

GANA

“What the—?!”

GIRL (from a distance)

“What are you doing?! Move!”

GANA (shocked)

“When did you—?”

But he didn’t have time to finish the thought.

The monster started making his way down the escalator, step by step, blood dripping from his mouth.

Gana snapped back to reality—and ran. The creature snarled and lunged forward, chasing after him.

The monster was closing in. Gana’s breath caught in his throat as he stumbled, slipping on the wet mall floor. The creature’s snarl grew louder—it was only feet away.

Just as the monster leapt toward him—

SLAM!

A shop door burst open beside them, and a man sprinted out, maybe trying to help—or maybe just trying to escape.

But in that split second…

The monster’s attention snapped to the movement. It turned.

And grabbed him instead.

GANA (shocked)

“No—!”

The stranger didn’t even have time to scream before the creature tackled him to the ground. The monster tore into him savagely, teeth sinking deep, blood splashing across the floor tiles.

Gana froze, horrified—then realized this was his only chance.

GANA (whispers)

“I’m sorry…”

He turned and ran, heart pounding, footsteps echoing as the stranger’s screams faded behind him.

The mall had become a graveyard.

And Gana had barely survived—again.

Gana’s legs burned as he sprinted through the mall corridors. The echoes of the stranger’s screams still rang in his ears, even though the voice itself had long gone silent.

He didn’t know the man’s name.

He didn’t know why he ran out of that shop.

But he knew one thing—

That man had died instead of him.

Gana ducked behind a shattered cosmetics counter and crouched low, panting. Blood dripped from the ceiling. Distant growls reverberated through the dark, flickering mall.

His body was trembling—but not from fear this time.

It was guilt.

GANA (to himself)

“He wasn’t trying to save me. He just… ran out at the wrong time.”

He clenched his fists.

“I should’ve done something. Yelled. Thrown something. Anything.”

But deep down, he knew it wouldn’t have made a difference. That creature—whatever it was—wasn’t going to stop. Not for kindness. Not for begging. Not for anything.

He pulled his hoodie tighter, forcing himself to breathe.

There was no going back.

Not to his home.

Not to his past.

And not to that version of himself who froze in fear while someone else died.

GANA (quietly)

“I’ll remember you, man… I promise.”

Just then, a light flickered ahead—a faint glow from a still-functioning emergency panel.

He slowly stood up, wiped his face, and moved toward it. Every step felt heavier than the last. But he kept going.

The city was falling apart.

Monsters were roaming the streets.

And Gana had no idea who to trust—or what he was becoming a part of.

But one thing was clear.

He was still alive.

And he wasn’t going down without a fight.

The glow from the emergency panel led Gana deeper into the mall’s second floor. Most of the lights were dead now, and the silence had become eerie—broken only by the occasional echo of distant growls or the creak of metal shifting in the heat.

Gana knew he couldn’t keep running. Not all night.

His body was breaking down.

His back still ached from the fall.

His mind was spinning.

He needed a place to hide. Somewhere—anywhere—that could keep him alive until morning.

He passed a few ransacked stores. Broken glass crunched beneath his shoes. Blood smeared across mannequins made them look like twisted statues from a nightmare.

Finally, he found a small electronics shop, half-closed by a rolling shutter. The front was wrecked, but the storeroom in the back was still intact. Gana slipped inside and pulled a heavy metal rack in front of the door to block it.

He collapsed against the wall, chest heaving.

It smelled like dust, sweat, and burnt plastic. But it was quiet.

Safe—for now.

He sat there in the dark, knees pulled to his chest, listening to every distant noise.

GANA (muttering)

“I shouldn’t be alive…”

He leaned his head back against the cold wall, shutting his eyes, but the images wouldn’t go away. The stranger’s body. The monster’s blood-covered mouth.

He wasn’t ready for this.

He didn’t even know what this was.

But somehow—he’d survived Day One.

He sat there in the dark, knees pulled to his chest, listening to every distant noise.

Sometimes, the silence was broken by loud, terrifying sounds from outside—screams, crashes, growls that echoed through the halls like something out of a nightmare.

And then… complete silence.

So quiet it felt like the entire world had stopped breathing.

That silence was even worse.

More haunting.

Like something was waiting—listening—just beyond the walls.

GANA (whispers to himself)

“What the hell is happening out there…”

His breathing slowed.

The adrenaline faded.

And eventually, sleep took him, shallow and restless.

Somewhere outside, something growled again.

But Gana didn’t wake.

TO BE CONTINUE...

Hello tapas family 

Author’s Note:

I’d be really happy if you shared your feedback in the comment section. Let me know what you liked or what I can improve—I want to make this story even better for you.

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