"Hurry!"
The fire was raging.
I could hardly feel my hands. They were numb from the pain.
It hurt...
But despite the pain, I remained clear-headed.
Bang!
I punched the wall again, clearing up the opening behind the painting.
Darkness t my gaze.
"Get over here! There’s not much ti."
I checked the ti.
Ten seconds left. My heart was drumming loudly inside my chest as I looked at the raging flas behind . The smoke had completely taken over, and I could hardly see within the flas. Voices continued to whisper as the faint outlines of several silhouettes appeared within the flas.
They were drawing closer and closer.
’Co on... Co on... Co on...’
The anxiety of the situation was killing . I wanted to go and help them out, but I knew that I would only get in their way. The only thing I could do was focus on expanding the wall that was next to .
Bang, Bang—!
I punched a couple of tis, expanding it further as I struggled to breathe.
"Cough! Cough...!"
The smoke was starting to get to , my eyes stinging in the process.
"H—!"
Swoosh!
Outlines began to appear in the smoke next to , just as my heart began to sink
"....!?"
They dashed past , running into the opening one by one.
One, two, three...
I counted them slowly.
Four, five.
"....."
"....."
Five...
One person was missing.
Ti suddenly started to slow down in that mont, my breathing growing rougher.
The team comprised six mbers. Including , it was seven. For there to have only had five people pass...
"O-oh."
My chest trembled.
And then—
BOOOM!
A terrifying explosion erupted, the flas spreading and consuming everything around . The heat was so intense that I had no choice but to dive into the opening, sprinting forward even as the fire seared my back.
The pain was unbearable, nearly forcing a scream out of .
However—
It all soon stopped the mont I managed to cross the opening. As if the fire couldn’t enter, and all noise was stripped away... The mont I crossed the opening, I fell down onto the ground with a soft ’thump’ as the world around grew silent.
That was also the mont that sothing within stirred.
"S-arah...? Has anyone seen Sarah?"
"Where is Sarah...? Soone..."
"She..."
My head ached, and I suddenly stopped feeling anything.
"O-oh god."
Voices continued to whisper around . They were everywhere. My head started to hurt so much.
"S-Sarah..."
I grew numb.
It didn’t take long for to understand what was happening. I was experiencing the side effect of my fracture.
"A-ah."
***
Bang—!
A white garbed figure fell onto the floor.
"Just what the hell is going on?"
Kyle stood over the figure, looking around in confusion. He was in the middle of a large hall, filled with similar figures. Each of which was currently being taken care of by those from his team.
The mont he sensed sothing was wrong with the sll in the air, he used his node and stopped ti. Everything else was easy for him and his team.
The issue, however, lay in the fact that they had been stuck on the sa floor for quite so ti.
Nothing was going as they had previously anticipated. If it were just so small changes, he’d understand. But to this extent?
’...It’s clear that sothing has gone completely wrong.’
Kyle’s eyes sharpened as he looked around, eventually settling his gaze on his phone, where he read the chat.
Live Views — [471,482]
—What the hell is happening?
—Is this fake...? Or are they under attack?
—Holy shit!
—Wait, you should check this other stream. Shit is crazy over there!
—Which stream?
Reading the comnts, there was sothing in particular that intrigued him.
’Why are they talking about so other stream?’
It looked to be everything that everyone was talking about. He could see the number of people tuning in to his stream starting to dwindle.
’...Just what the hell is happening in the other stream for everyone to tune out like this? And whose stream is it?’
It didn’t take long for him to get an answer.
—Holy shit! There’s a guy with sunglasses in the middle of a fire!
—Sunglasses? What sort of lunatic wears sunglasses?
—Don’t tell it’s a special item.
"....."
Kyle’s lips twitched. The mont he heard the ’sunglasses’ part, he imdiately understood what was happening.
He wasn’t the only one.
"Kyle..."
He lifted his head and caught Zoey watching the sa stream. She glanced at him, then pointed to her phone.
"They’re talking about ’him’, aren’t they?"
"No doubt."
By ’him’, they were obviously talking about Seth.
Who else would be this much of a lunatic to wear sunglasses in the middle of a fire?
’I’m also sure those sunglasses aren’t special items. They’re probably there to block Seth’s vision so that he doesn’t have to puke in case he sees sothing gory.’
...Or at least, that was what he’d used to believe. He wasn’t so sure anymore.
Either way, it was clear that whatever was happening on Seth’s floor had captured everyone’s attention.
This was good to so extent as Kyle looked at Zoey.
"Did you get any answer from the Section Chief?"
"I’m still talking to him," Zoey replied, her face sowhat grim. With the communications not down, it wasn’t hard for them to reach the Section Chief. "The issue is that he can’t enter the gate. He believes that so sort of external force has breached the gate and is trying to kill all of us present."
"External force...?"
"Yeah."
Zoey replied with a brief nod, scrolling through her phone.
"It seems to be connected to that strange cult that’s been active lately, but I can’t say for certain. The Section Chief thinks it’s likely them, though he’s not sure either. He’s still investigating."
"I see. If that’s the ca—"
"What should we do?"
A voice cut in suddenly, prompting Kyle to stop. Rowan stepped between them, his eyes narrowing as his eyes fell on Zoey’s phone.
His sudden interjection caused Zoey to pause, her eyes similarly narrowing as she looked at him. Thinking about how he used to be in the past, for a mont, she thought he had interjected on purpose, but then—
"I heard that sothing happened to Seth. Is he alright?"
"....."
Right...
"He’s fine."
Zoey turned her attention back to her ssages with the Section Chief.
"I’ve checked the situation. Ten are dead, several are injured, and a few are missing. Among the missing is Myles."
"Wait, Myles?"
"Yes."
"....."
Kyle’s expression turned extrely serious. Myles was part of his team, and as such, was his responsibility. Not only that, but he was also incredibly talented. He couldn’t allow for anything to happen to a talent like that.
He imdiately turned around.
"What are you doing?"
Zoey suddenly called out to Kyle, noticing the strange shift in his movents.
"I’m going to look for Myles. I can’t have him die here."
Kyle didn’t look at her as he spoke. He closed his eyes, preparing to activate one of his nodes. He had to act quickly. Every second was valuable.
"Don’t do that."
"No, I have to. He’s part of my team. I—"
"That’s not it. Look."
Zoey’s words made him pause. He opened his eyes to look at her, and she turned her phone to show a particular stream.
The mont Kyle’s eyes landed on the stream, his expression changed.
The sa was true for Rowan and everyone else who managed to catch a glimpse of Zoey’s phone.
"That’s..."
"Yes."
Zoey nodded.
"He’s with Seth." A fra where Myles stood opposite each other appeared. The two stared at each other for a brief mont, speaking quietly.
Quiet enough for it not to be picked up by the stream.
"I don’t know how he got there, but he’s fine. If that—Uh!?"
Zoey’s expression drastically changed before she could finish the sentence.
"....!?"
"....!!"
The sa went for Kyle and everyone else. Seth suddenly appeared in front of Myles, grabbed him by the collar, and tossed him aside, his fist smashing down before Myles could even react. It all happened so fast that nobody had the ti to react.
But when they did, a sudden silence fell onto the stream as the mouths of several opened at the sa ti.
What...?
What the hell just happened?
User Comments
0 comments from readers