The lights in the emergency stairwell were still on.
The backup power hadn't failed.
That should have been reassuring.
It wasn't.
Ethan instinctively quickened his pace. In the earliest stage of a disaster, the places that still looked "normal" were often the most dangerous.
Glass shattered somewhere below.
Not a single crash, but a series of irregular impacts—violent, arrhythmic.
Ethan stopped at the landing between floors.
He didn't continue downward.
Pressing himself against the wall, he held his breath.
Something was dragging across the floor below. The scrape of nails against concrete was unnaturally clear.
That was not a human gait.
The system interface flickered into view.
[Warning: High-Threat Individual in Close Proximity]
[Recommendation: Avoid Direct Contact]
Ethan didn't hesitate.
He turned and headed upward.
This building had a rooftop. It had backup communication antennas. It had elevation and visibility.
He didn't need to be a hero.
He only needed to survive the first hour.
At the Same Time · Three Blocks Away
Marcus Reed was dragging an unconscious stranger out of a car.
The man's mouth frothed with blood. His body still twitched in uneven spasms.
Marcus didn't hesitate. He pulled the man clear, shut the car door, and locked it from the outside.
A second later, the window cracked from the inside.
"Damn it…"
It wasn't the first corpse Marcus had seen.
But it was the first time he had watched a living person lose all control within seconds.
The street had descended into chaos.
Cars drove against traffic.
Some people abandoned their families and ran.
Others stood in the middle of the road gripping fire axes, their eyes shining with a volatile mix of fear and exhilaration.
Marcus assessed quickly.
No perimeter had been established.
Police presence was insufficient.
The broadcast system had already collapsed.
This wasn't temporary.
He made his decision.
Marcus turned onto a side road and headed toward the high-rise district beyond downtown—
Height meant advantage.
Resources.
Defensible structures.
At the Same Time · Emergency Entrance, City Hospital
Lena Walsh's hands were covered in blood.
Not hers.
Stretchers rolled in one after another. Bite wounds. Seizures. Nervous breakdowns. The emergency hall had lost all semblance of order.
"Don't let them in!" someone shouted.
"They're still alive!" someone else argued.
Lena didn't join the debate.
She was watching a young woman strapped to a stretcher.
Her heart rate was spiking.
Her pupils were dilated.
Her breathing, however, remained unnaturally steady.
It matched no known pathological pattern.
"Move her to isolation," Lena said.
"The isolation rooms are full!" a nurse nearly sobbed.
Lena was silent for one second.
"Then lock the doors."
It was the first decision she made that night—
But not the last one that would be irreversible.
Back to Ethan
The wind on the rooftop was strong.
The moment Ethan pushed open the fire door, he saw the first blaze rising at the edge of the city.
Not an explosion.
More like a chain reaction spiraling out of control.
His phone vibrated again.
[Increased Activity Among High-Adaptation Individuals Nearby]
[Physiological Indicators Stabilizing]
[Adaptation Phase: 31% Complete]
Ethan slid down against the wall and sat.
He wasn't the only one who had remained conscious.
He wasn't the strongest either.
But he knew one thing—
Before this night ended, this city would lose more than half of its "normal" population.
A helicopter passed overhead.
Then the sound vanished.
The system interface appeared one last time:
[Notice: Individual survival rates will diverge sharply within the next six hours]
Ethan closed his eyes.
He didn't know where the others were.
He didn't know who would still be alive by morning.
But they were all still in the same city.
The same night.
Standing at the same irreversible threshold.