Time left: 59m 32s

An hour to find an orb. Racing and fighting others in an attempt to survive. Could this be another trick? Are those who absorb it dealt an agonizing death just as I had seen moments ago? Biting my lip, I walked toward the window, ignoring Gray as I passed beside him, and stuck my head out to peer down at the streets.

The expectation of hearing the sound of cars and buses zooming down the street with the occasional horn honking, and perhaps a shout or two, as I stuck my head out quickly diminished as the stench of death penetrated my senses.

Chaos adorned the street as dozens of people swarmed around each. People were shoving one another to the bloodied asphalt while others pulled their clothing from behind causing them to slip on the slick surface. Screams and shrieks echoed between the buildings as a man punched another one in the jaw causing the limp map to fall to the hard ground with a smack.

Among the people, radiating orbs of white floated through the streets. They floated between the buildings and cars as the swarm fought to get near them. The orbs gave off a faint radiant glow of white that reminded me of a halo of light that I would see when the bright headlights of a car would beam into my eyes when it was dark.

Some of the orbs were at a standstill. Others had a calm swaying movement as if they were caught in a swirling wind. A few had some speed to them and zipped in a single direction before banging off a wall or car and then shooting off in another direction. I witnessed one of these orbs pummel the chest of a shrieking sobbing woman, who was standing in the middle of the street like a lost child in a mall.

As my eyes widened from the audible thud the orb had produced from the collision, the woman was forced to the ground with a vicious snap. Her body, now motionless on the ground, a radiant glow began to shoot out of her skin. A soft golden light enveloped the woman, spreading to every inch of her body as the light shimmered and danced upon her skin. The golden light expanded, casting a soft, celestial glow that bathed the surrounding space causing shadows to be cast from whatever stood in its path. The light intensified with every moment, my eyes refusing to look away, and in an instant, she vanished. Not a trace was left behind.

My heart skipped a beat as I yanked my head back into the office as if it had started to rain. I continued to watch as more and more people fought their way to make contact with the other orbs. Golden light flooded the streets as it made its way inside the window into the office.

I turned to the other two and ran my hand over my mouth before I said, “They are all fighting over the orbs. I watched them touch the orbs. They burst into light and disappear.”

Evie seemed to be a bit taken aback while Gray remained emotionless.

“Did it look painful? I don’t want to die like Fred”, Evie said, her mouth barely getting the words out.

“It didn’t look painful but I am not 100% sure. I could only hope that it isn’t,” I said. “The light that shot out of them was golden. I don’t think golden means pain. Although, it could be a trick just like the coin flip but at least people aren’t exploding into pieces all over the place this time.”

Gray spoke up, “So you actually think that the orb is fine to touch?”

“I think so. It’s either touch the orb or wait an hour and see what happens then. I suspect we might explode if we don’t touch the orb,” I said.

Gray grunted in response. Evie remained silent.

Continuing to think out loud, “I guess we should head to the street and try to find a few of these. Everyone is fighting for them though. If we wait too long we might not get one.”

At that moment a dull but audible sound of something colliding with a cubicle wall rang out. I gave Evie and Gray a curious stare and stood beside Evie. I pushed up myself off my feet, to my toes, in an attempt to get a glance of what the cause of the bang was.

What I saw was the soft glow of an orb that seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace within the office. It had collided with the soft wall of the cubicle and bounced its way into the view of the three of us, with Evie and I being the closest to it while Gray was lingering near the window behind us.

I held my breath as it approached closer and closer. My eyes darted between Evie and the orb as I wondered about how I would convince Evie to touch it. I wanted her to have it and to do it quickly before Gray had any wise ideas. She didn’t seem to be holding up so well after the past events, not like she was supposed to be fine considering the nature of those events, but compared to myself and Gray, she was worse. I had to get her out of here.

I stepped forward and turned to Evie and opened my mouth. “Evie, I thi—“

A surge of stars exploded into my head, each point of light a burst of agony, as they flicked against the darkness of my mind with vibrant hues that obscured my vision for a moment. Pain radiated outward like a shockwave from my nose as I instinctively reached for it. The taste of metallic copper flooded my mouth as the sensation of warm blood trickled down my upper lip. My senses seemed to spin in a dizzying whirlwind as I struggled to regain balance.

Evie had punched me in the face, square in the nose, and took off toward the orb.

I cried out in pain as the stars began to fade. “What the fuck, Evie?”, I shouted. Gray laughed from the window.

Picking my head up, I searched for Evie which came to an abrupt end as I found myself looking at the glow of golden light near the spot the orb just was. Then, in an instant, she was gone.

I turned my attention to Gray who was smiling at me.

“Jesus Christ, she fucking hit me,” I said. “I was going to try to convince her to touch it and she just punches me.”

Gray laughed. “Maybe she was sick of always having to stick up for poor little Asher all the time.” I scoffed at the suggestion.

Pinching my nose to stop the bleeding, I made my way back to the window and took another glance outside. To my astonishment, the street was devoid of any life. No one was running or fighting. No screams. No shrieks. Just silence. And blood. Lots of blood.

As I continued scanning the streets, I noticed another orb floating over the top of a parked red car, motionless.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A gasp escaped my lips, which I regretted immediately, as it piqued Gray’s curiosity causing him to shuffle on over to the window and poke his head out. I started to back away from the window and turned toward the office exit.

Gray spoke in a long drawn-out voice, “Oh! I see.”

He turned and began walking in my direction and flashed me his smug grin, his yellow teeth peeking through his lips. “I guess it’s time to race.”

My hand had reached the doorknob to the exit, twisting it and swinging the door open hard, as it crashed into the wall behind it. I scrambled out of the exit and began sprinting down the hall toward the stairwell.

* * * *

Time left: 48m 03s

We were on the 10th story of an office building in the middle of the apocalypse. I was making a mad dash down the hall toward a stairwell. The elevator zoomed passed. Ignoring it, I assumed it had ceased functioning like the other electronics and electrical devices.

The hall was dark. Darker than the dim office. Only the light from the office crept its way in but was abruptly consumed by the darkness. The walls were lined with door after door of offices, utility closets, and bathrooms, as well as the elevator to the bottom floor.

I knew that the stairwell was located at the end of the long hall, a little ways past the bathrooms. On certain occasions, when the elevator filled up and everyone stared back out at the ones that couldn’t fit, I would skip hopping on it and head to the steps. It had happened far too often.

My breathing was heavy as I took lengthy strides with my long legs that sped me forward into the darkness. The location of where the door should be neared as I slowed my pace. My right hand was caressing the wall, feeling for the frame of the door while my left arm was thrust forward to ensure my face didn’t find itself slamming into the end wall of the hall. Blood continued to flow freely from my nose as it trickled down over my upper lip and into my mouth, neither hand free to stop it.

My right hand drifted over the handle to the door. I cemented my feet to a halt and yanked open the door.

Light flooded in from the window in the stairwell. Staring down the hall, toward the office, I saw the dark figure of Gray galloping toward me, not far behind. I sprang forward, slamming the door shut behind me in an attempt to buy myself a few seconds, and started my descent to the outside.

My long legs were capable of skipping four to five steps at a time. Hanging on to the railing, I pushed myself upward to give myself some more air time before coming down a few extra steps, allowing me to descend fast.

After descending a few dozen steps, a reverberating noise of the stairwell door swinging open and slamming shut came from above proceeded by the sound of hurried stomps down the steps.

A panic feeling rose from within, forcing me to increase the speed of my descent. I skipped and jumped and even tried sliding down the railing to get more speed. The railing couldn’t fit my ass due to the wooden barrier that stood behind it. Probably to prevent people from attempting to slide down a railing and fall to their deaths.

I kept moving as fast as I could until I reached the bottom floor. As my left foot left the final step and came back down it slipped from underneath me causing me to lose my balance. The slip was enough to send me crashing to the floor, landing on my stomach as my chin bounced off the cold floor. Placing my palms flat on the floor, I pushed myself upward and hopped back to my feet. The fall caused me to lose a few precious seconds from the head start I had on Gray, as he continued to close the gap behind me.

I burst through the door leading into the main lobby of the office building to find myself standing in a grisly site—human remains painted the lobby’s floor, furniture, and walls. The odor of decay permeated the air. My face grimaced but I did not gag. The odor was something I was already getting used to.

I moved through the lobby, avoiding the insides and limbs of other humans, as I made it to the front door. It was one of those automatic sliding doors. I habitually waited for it to open for a couple of sacred moments before I realized what I had just done.

Taking rapid breaths, I forced my fingers in between the door to pry it open. It slid open with ease as I threw myself past it, exiting the building and finding myself standing on the death-covered sidewalk.

With no time to waste, I began scanning for the orb, running down the street in the direction it last was, looking for a car. A red car. “Where is it?” I shouted.

The clambering sound of Gray forcing himself onto the street came from behind as well as the noise of metal clanging to the ground. I didn’t dare to look behind to see how close he was.

There wasn’t anyone else on the street that I could sense. The only sounds were the noise made by our shoes catching and pushing our feet forward as we ran in a frantic race for survival.

The red car came into view. It was no longer adorned by a white orb on its roof.

Fuck. It must’ve been consumed by someone else or floated away. I hoped to god it just floated away as I continued to run.

The end of the street appeared with no orb in sight but I didn’t stop moving. The street shot off to the left and right. Choosing at random, I turned down the right side as my eyes scanned down the other way to ensure it hadn’t floated down the opposite direction.

Lo’ and behold it had done exactly that. The orb was floating down in the opposite direction, sitting between two vehicles, as it made its way further down the street. A panting Gray appeared from around the corner his eyes locked in my direction. He was now carrying a new weapon he had found. A thick metal pipe hung in his right hand.

My heart jolted as I took a step back away from him. Adrenaline had already coursed through me as my hands were trembling from the feeling.

Gray was about 20 feet in front of me. He jerked his head down the street in the opposite direction before turning back with a smile. He began to bang the metal pipe into his left hand over and over.

“Well, well. Lookie here. I think I’m about to have me an orb,” said Gray. He stretched out his arms from his sides and spun around, his head scanning the streets and buildings. “And there doesn’t seem to be any more around here. Why don’t—”

Now, seething with rage, I sprang forward before he was able to complete his spin. I was going to tackle him and bash his head in with his pipe.

Running as fast as I could, I reached him as he finished his 360-degree turn. I lowered my head and drove my shoulder square into his stomach. This caused him to let out an involuntary blegh noise from his mouth. As we both fell to the ground, Gray managed to put his arm around my neck and squeeze.

We both landed hard. The front of my head smacked the ground causing the familiar stars to reappear, dazing me in the process. His arm, now limp, allowed me to free my head and I was able to roll off of him onto the street and lay flat on my back. Groaning from the pain, I placed my hand on my forehead.

Sounds of pain came from Gray as well as he struggled to gain back the air I knocked out of him. I remained sprawled out there for a few minutes in an attempt to gain my bearings.

The spinning in my head did not slow down. The stars had faded as I rolled myself to my hands and knees. Forcing one leg forward, I proceeded to push myself upward. I wanted to puke as I struggled to keep my balance, forcing myself forward. I had to keep moving or else Gray would win, again.

My feet shuffled, little by little, as the orb neared. My head was pointed downward toward the ground as having it pointed forward made the nausea worse. I would sporadically glance upwards to see where the orb had moved to before assuming the downward position. I focused on taking one step at a time, as long as I was going forward, I should be alright. The orb was now only 100 feet away

The groans of Gray had stopped. There wasn’t any sound of him climbing to his feet or picking up the metal pipe. Or maybe there was but I didn’t hear it. I was about 10 feet away. I could see the soft glow illuminate the ground near my feet.

Jerking my head upward, the orb dominated my vision. I was almost in arms reach. A few more feet and this would be over.

A feeling of relief washed over me. A shaky laugh left my mouth as I raised my arm with a straightened finger on my hand, to touch the orb that was mere inches away. The comforting warmth of the orb caressed my face. I smiled. Then, in an instant, the lights had gone out.

I woke up staring at the sky. My head throbbed as pain radiated from the back of my head. Forcing myself into a sitting position, I touched the back of my head. Dried blood caked my hair as I ran my finger over my scalp, wincing when I reached a new wound.

A pipe lay beside my legs. That fucker. All that just to earn a metal pipe to the back of the head. Deciding to check how much time was wasted fighting with Gray, I forced the timer up with a mental command.

Time left: 5m 25s