The pickup truck rattled along the road, headlights cutting cones of pale light through the mist. The forest pressed in on either side, unnervingly quiet—no cicadas, no crickets, no wind.
When they reached the military camp, the gates yawned open as though inviting them in. Tall fences topped with barbed wire loomed against the night sky, casting jagged shadows. Guard towers stood at attention like sentries carved from stone, but no one manned them.
Abhi slowed the truck, his grip tightening on the wheel. "This… isn't right."
The silence here felt thicker than the road behind them. Not just the absence of people, but of purpose.
They drove past the parade grounds, where rows of boots still sat outside barracks doors, laces untied as though their owners had stepped out for a drill they'd never return from. Mess trays lay abandoned on tables in the mess hall, rice hardened and flies buzzing. A jeep sat in the motor pool, headlights faintly glowing though its engine was long dead, as though waiting for a driver that would never come.
"Nothing," Kriti whispered, hugging herself. "It's like everyone here just…"
RV swallowed. "Same as the city. Same as everywhere else. What else can we hope?"
The nightmare was now kicking in; the fact that they were alone was now cementing their thoughts. They thought the army camp could have some survivors, but it was deserted. Abhi stopped the truck near the armory. He killed the engine, listening to the faint hum of the fluorescent lights still burning inside.
He glanced at Kriti, her face pale but her jaw set. Then at RV, wide-eyed but clutching the notebook he never seemed to let go of.
"Stay sharp," Abhi said. "If the world's ending, this is the only place you can get the toys."
The steel door creaked as Abhi shoved it open. Inside, the armory was a shrine to violence—rows upon rows of rifles gleaming under flickering lights, crates of ammunition stacked chest-high, shelves of pistols, shotguns, even grenades.
Abhi let out a low whistle despite the weight in his chest. "At least the place is stocked. Sweet lord, I'm gonna enjoy this…"
Kriti shot him a look, equal parts irritation and fear. "Ah shit."
Abhi's expression hardened. He slung a rifle from the rack and checked the chamber with practiced hands. Click. Clack. "Well, team. Pay attention—lesson one. Guns don't save you unless you know how to use them."
RV fumbled with a carbine, nearly dropping it before Abhi caught it and shoved it back into his hands.
"Hold it steady. Finger off the trigger till you're ready. And when you shoot—don't hesitate. Things out there won't wait for you to make up your mind. And you should probably take a smaller gun. Start with a pistol, perhaps."
Kriti hesitated, picking up the pistol as if it were a foreign object. Abhi stepped closer, guiding her hands gently, showing her how to align the sights. His voice softened only for a moment. "Breathe. Aim center. Pull, don't jerk, like the movies."
"How do you know all this?" RV asked impressed by Abhi's demeanor.
"My Dad used to serve in the army. I picked up a few things early on, never thought I would use them."
"Cool. Big bro, you are absolute chad."
"I know kiddo."
"Show off" Kriti whispered loud enough for Abhi to hear.
"Do you know how to use a gun?"
Kriti just rolled her eyes "Whatever"
"Well, let me tell you out there nobody is going to help you. Not even me but this gun, might." Abhi stoically uttered as he continued to check the guns.
"The trigger is not working." RV broke in with his clumsiness.
"You have safety on" Abhi pointed towards the safety lock on the gun.
"Oh, So i have to keep it on?"
"Only when you don't want to accidently shoot a loaded gun."
"I have a question?" Kriti curiously asked while stuffing guns in a suitcase. "How many these do we have to carry?"
Abhi looked at her and smacked himself on the head.
"You are supposed to carry only two big guns, one medium and two pistols, why?, because we have to carry ammo for the gun. And knowing you, ammo doesn't mean bullet." Abhi held a magazine in his hand loaded with bullets and held up his hand to show her "It means this, see that inside. Only carry those."
Kriti stared blank, expressionless which made Abhi a little irritated "Do you understand?"
Kriti just nodded her head but her face was telling a different story. The visible confusion was immaculate.
"Just put stuff in we will figure out later."
Just then Abhi heard a low hissing sound, it was coming from outside the barracks. The sound was mixed. Abhi couldn't make out exactly what it was but it felt unnatural. A chill went down his spine, as if he recognised the sound but couldn't make sense of it. He quickly grabbed a bulletproof vest.
"Wear the vest, grab everything you can, we can't stay here any longer, I have a bad feeling."
When they left the armory, each carried more weight—guns, ammo, gear—but also the realization that survival meant blood on their hands.
As Abhi slammed the truck's tailgate shut, the silence broke.
It started low, almost mistaken for wind through the trees—a guttural rattle, like air pushing through broken lungs. Then another. And another. Shadows staggered from the barracks. Uniforms hung loose over withered frames. Flesh clung in strips. Eyes glowed faint, sickly yellow.
Kriti's breath hitched. "Oh my god…"
"Zombies, for real" Abhi muttered, raising his rifle.
He loaded the rifle and stood in front of them. The first one lunged. Abhi fired—a clean shot between the eyes. It dropped, but the rest surged forward, dozens of them, hands clawing, teeth gnashing.
"Move!" Abhi barked.
Gunfire cracked across the yard. Kriti's hands shook as she fired, bullets sparking off helmets and tearing through torsos. RV's shots went wild, but sheer panic gave him luck—one bullet ripped through a skull at the last second.
Abhi moved with ruthless efficiency, alternating bursts from his rifle. He ran out of bullets, with a swift move, pulled out a pistol and a knife. Every shot precise and calculated, the knife gleamed under the floodlights, cutting through rot and bone alike. He was a blur, cold, sharp, terrifyingly alive in the middle of death.
But the horde didn't stop. They clawed, dragged, piled on themselves to reach the living. Kriti screamed as one nearly caught her arm before Abhi cut it down. RV stumbled, but Abhi yanked him upright by his bagpack, shoving him toward the truck.
"GO!"
Abhi covered for them as they got in. Kriti turned the key but the engine denied with a shrieking jerk. Abhi kept firing at the horde of zombies that was coming towards them. As soon as he got a window, he jumped in the back of the truck. More undead poured from the shadows. Kriti floored the accelerator, the truck roaring as bodies slammed against the sides. Abhi managed to keep them from getting in.
Through the mirrors, the camp vanished into darkness, filled with shuffling silhouettes and glowing eyes. Abhi dropped in the pile of bags, looking at the gleaming night sky, rifle in his hand, catching a breath.
"Don't look back" Abhi shouted
They didn't stop until they reached a clearing deep in the forest. Exhaustion weighed on them as Kriti brought the truck to a halt near a clear patch of land. Everyone took a while before Kriti killed the engine and the lights.
The moonlight was bright enough to light the floor. Abhi pulled out a lighter and some cotton. Dipped it in oil and gathered some dry grass to set a small fire. Everyone sat around the fire for warmth and safety. The night pressed heavily. The silence wasn't peaceful—it was a silence that listened back.
Kriti's voice trembled. "Those were zombies."
RV scribbled in his notebook, hands shaking but determined. "Yeah, I don't know what more we will have to face. Zombies… undead knights…"
Abhi stared into the fire, expression hard. His hand rested unconsciously on the katana at his waist. "I've thought the same since we ran into the undead knight. You don't erase most of the world by mistake. This is… designed. Gremory knows something. Our world has been altered or people have been replaced with something sinister."
For a long moment, only the fire crackled.
Then a sound broke it.
A growl. Low. Resonant. Ancient.
Not from the camp. From the forest around them.
Branches snapped. Leaves trembled. Something massive pushed through the trees.
Abhi tightened his grip on the katana. Everyone stared in the direction of the growl. Then it emerged.
A wolf—if a wolf could stand the height of a truck. Its fur shimmered silver-white under the moonlight, each strand catching the glow like threads of ice. Its eyes burned golden, ancient and intelligent, not animal but a beast, something out of storybooks whispered around dying campfires.
It moved with grace—elegant, precise—but every step radiated raw power.
Kriti's voice cracked. "That's…"
"Yep, A giant wolf…" Abhi whispered, heart hammering.
The beast lowered its head, lips curling over gleaming fangs longer than Abhi's forearm.
"Run!" Abhi shouted.
The wolf lunged, scattering their fire in sparks. They scrambled into the truck, Abhi flooring the gas as the monstrous white silhouette bounded after them, each stride shaking the earth.
RV clutched the dashboard, pale. "That's definitely not from this world."
"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." Abhi groaned as he tightly turned the steering wheel to evade the wolf.
"What do we do?" Kriti screamed
"We have guns, remember."
Kriti grabbed a rifle and fired out the window, bullets sparking off its hide like raindrops against stone. It didn't even flinch.
"Guns aren't enough," Abhi muttered, eyes narrowing looking at the chasing beast through the rear view mirror. The thought gripped his chest like a vice. Bullets won't save us forever. This thing… monsters like this… we'll need more.
Just then, the airbase rose in the distance, its gates broken, hangars silent. Abhi swerved through the entrance, headlights flashing across empty runways.
"There—the control tower!"
"What? You want us to be trapped?" Kriti shocked at Abhi's idea.
"Trust Me!"
The wolf was rushing towards them. Abhi took a sharp turn as the beast lunged on them throwing itself into stacks of cargo. Eying the opportunity at hand, Abhi quickly drove the car to a halt, and three of them darted out. He grabbed a long bag, and they raced up the stairs as the wolf smashed through the gates behind them. The tower shook with its impact, claws raking the concrete walls.
Kriti and RV fired from the railings, desperate but useless. The beast's fur shimmered under each bullet like moonlit armor.
Abhi scanned the room—then pulled out an RPG from the bag.
He grabbed it, hands steady despite the thunder in his chest.
The wolf leapt, elegant and horrifying, jaws wide enough to crush the tower whole.
Abhi aimed. A Quick breath. Fired.
The rocket screamed through the night, striking the beast square in its chest. Fire bloomed, engulfing the wolf in a blinding flare.
Its howl was not of pain, but of fury—long, haunting, echoing into the sky before the beast collapsed in burning ash.
Silence returned.
RV sank to the ground, pistol slipping from his hands. "That was insane. Good call, big bro."
Kriti trembled, her pistol clattering to the floor. "If there are more like that… if that's only one…"
Abhi stood at the railing, staring into the smoking crater where the wolf had been. His face was pale, but his eyes burned with a dark resolve.
"This was just the start," he murmured. "Magical Beasts… otherworldly creatures. Guns won't hold them back forever." His hand gripped the katana at his waist, almost unconsciously. "We'll need more than bullets. We'll need to be stronger. Smarter. Ruthless."
He turned back to them, his expression edged with steel.
"We have to make it to Germany. There's no other choice. Death is not an option."
"If things like this are going be in our way, death seems to be the only option." Kriti muttered, out of breath.
"Remember what I said, Trust me."
Even though Abhi was reassuring both of them, he had realised that this would only get worse from here on out. What if there are more of them? What if even stranger enemies appear? Those were the questions he was tackling. The global power balance was shifting, and Abhi was now without a plan and slowly losing hope. The only thing driving him was Gremory. He has all the answers, the final goal, the only salvation…