It was a sunny day, but not a green day. It was a white day, and white days were meant to be enjoyed.

Elias rubbed his hands together—it was cold, colder than anything he’d experienced. He'd grown used to the warmth of the building, but he had to go out now to keep his promise. Besides, he’d prepared himself for this moment. It was finally time to bring the vehicle for the monorail to its rightful place.

The good news was that the place that stored the vehicles could be accessed simply by walking on the monorail itself; he’d follow a straight path until he arrived. The bad news was that this particular place was in the direction he’d come from, back where the holes in the walls were—back where the Shadows had lurked. He could expect to find a high concentration of them if he was unlucky.

“Or,” Crystal hypothesized, “they could have moved.”

It was a possibility. In the best-case scenario, the cold could have dealt with them, rendering them immobile to do him any harm. Whatever the situation was, they’d never come out when the sun was up. If he was careful to return before sunset, there wouldn’t be any problems.

“Why can’t we do this when it’s less cold?” he sighed, peering at the snowy landscape. He was already regretting his decision of opening one of the slabs that had blocked off the side of the platform. While the wind wasn’t blowing, the cold air was devouring the heat of the station.

“There are plenty of reasons. Just like you feel dull from the cold, so will the Shadows or any other creature that lurks in the city.”

“I get that, but I still don’t like this,” he grumbled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Argh, whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

“That’s the spirit!”

The walk would take around an hour and a half, considering that he was walking on thin rails. Less if he hurried. But if he tripped from a height that was three to four stories high, he’d get more than just a scratch. It was one of the reasons why he was making this trip when there was plenty of snow around.

The ice would have been a problem; thankfully, he was wearing winter boots that wouldn’t slip. Crystal would also catch him if he ever did fall—a tether linking his backpack (it was a smaller one) to the drone wouldn’t necessarily let him float, but it would break the fall dramatically. It was safe, and he liked being safe.

“This is worse than I thought it would be,” he said, looking at the path he had to take. “It’s barely half a meter across. If I stumble…”

“You’ll be fine,” Crystal urged. “Trust me. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. What happened to the Elias who was excellent at parkour?”

“That was months ago.”

“You’ve trained.”

“Yes, I have. Why am I having this argument? Let’s go.”

He finally stepped outside of the platform and began to tread along the narrow bridge. It took him a few moments before he was fully comfortable with his movement, after which he adjusted his steps into a stride. He thought about jogging, but he wouldn’t risk it. Besides, the scenery was nice.

Piles of snow thickly blanketed the roads and trees like frozen clouds, and the buildings were frosted all over as a cake would be. The snow had covered the station’s glass dome, but seeing it naturally was another thing altogether—it brought a smile to his lips. In the sunny weather, walking above the landscape, he felt like a tourist walking through a park.

“You were right,” he said, looking at Crystal. “White days are meant to be enjoyed.”

He’d seen snow before once—when he’d first visited Jewel’s home. Her parents’ home, to be exact. All he remembered from back then were the stripped trees, darkness, and the blizzard. It hadn’t been a bad memory.

After around thirty minutes, he sat down for a break, making sure he wouldn’t slip. The surface of the concrete was cold, so he placed his bag under himself. He enjoyed the view while he munched on a candy bar. It was something he hoped to restock from other vending machines, and the thought of stuffing his bag with new goods was a motivation in itself.

“Do you think there are people here?” he asked, gazing across the white-topped structures. “People who are hiding like me? Survivors?”

“The only way to find out is to explore,” Crystal answered next to him. “What would you do if you found someone?”

“Talk to them,” he said. “Play games, hear about what happened.”

“What if they tried to kill you?”

“Like that would happen,” he snorted, smirking. He looked at Crystal to see if she’d smile.

She wasn’t.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” she repeated with a serious look. “You never know what can happen. Someone must have caused this catastrophe. There’s no harm in being too careful.”

“There wouldn't be a reason for them to.”

“There could be plenty of reasons you wouldn’t know of. What if they were cannibals?”

“They’d eat me?”

“It’s an example.”

He thought about it for a bit. Reasons why someone would try to kill him. But he couldn’t think of any.

“Eh. I’ll worry about it when I actually do meet someone,” he concluded, getting up. “I doubt they’ll be as strong as me. You’ll also have my back.”

“I hope so,” Crystal said.

Elias continued on his way before his body grew too cold. He’d never freeze since Crystal was managing his metabolism, making it so that his body was producing enough heat for him to feel comfortable. He’d burn more energy than usual because of that, but that’s what the candy bars were for.

He had consumed his third candy bar by the time he saw what he assumed to be the terminal—a giant building with multiple monorails entering it through various entrances. It couldn’t have been any more apparent.

“Finally!” he yelled, doing a small, happy skip. “It’s not even noon yet. We’ll have plenty of time to explore.”

“Be careful,” Crystal warned, touching his shoulder. “It’s not open to the sun like our place is.”

He nodded. “At least the top floor is,” he observed, looking at the glassy covering of the terminal. “We can start from there if we can make it past the other floors. Given that there are Shadows. Or we could try and jump onto the other rails—maybe find a way up without crossing the other floors. And if we’re super lucky, there might not be Shadows at all.”

“Maybe.”

“No point in dawdling. Let’s get right into it.”

The path was tilting up now towards the entrance. Now that he could make out the details of the large terminal, he saw that there were plenty of stairs that clung to the outer shell of the building, probably the emergency exits. Those were exposed to the sun.

“Luck is on my side,” he chuckled.

“It seems so. We can—”

A million pieces broke at the same time in an ear-splitting crash. His field of vision jerked into a blurry mess, and he felt his feet slip off the floor as his body began to plummet.

What?

BOOM. A loud crack filled the air, dampened by the distance it had traveled. He recognized the gunshot with inhuman clarity.

He didn’t know whether he was screaming or silent when his body met the hard ground.

⤙ ◯ ⤚

Cold. So cold.

Something tickled the inside of his throat, and he coughed. It didn’t help that much. There was a dull throbbing at his feet, and his toes boiled when he squeezed them. His vision was blinking in and out of existence, and he almost fell after his head did a sort of squeeze that made black spots dance around even when his eyes were closed.

Weirdly, nothing felt bruised or broken. He touched his scalp and found it unharmed, free of lumps. Groaning, he moved his legs and slowly rose to his feet.

“Crystal. Crystal,” he muttered, squinting to see better. His thinking was like sludge, with a strange coolness that made him feel afloat. Not good, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was why the sky was orange with a tint of purple. It was beautiful, and he wondered why no one was around to see it.

“Crystal,” he said again, mostly out of habit. Right now was when she’d say something funny, or comforting, or wise. But the silence was deafening. Something pulled on his bag when he stepped forward, and he looked around.

The drone lay on the ground, utterly crushed on one side. A deep crater was all that was left where the camera had been, and pieces of equipment stored inside had spilled onto the snow.

“Crystal!” he yelled, rushing to the drone. Out of desperation, he tried to do something—but the damage was irreversible. Numbly, he fell on his knees, holding the broken pieces in his hands. Second by second, the gravity of the situation dawned on him as he forced his mind to speak to him.

Normally, Crystal would have told him something. But he was alone with his thoughts.

“You said you wouldn’t leave,” he whispered, unable to tear his eyes away from the broken machine. “Weren’t you supposed to be bulletproof?”

No one responded. He shivered. His body ached from the cold that had seeped into his bones. With clumsy fingers, he began putting whatever materials he could find from the wreckage into his bag: ropes for his bow, and most importantly—undamaged bullets. The rest were useless to him.

When he was done, he tried to lift the drone. He could, and with time, he would be able to bring it along with him to the station.

But time was something he didn’t have. The sky would lose its light, and when it did—he’d be in big trouble.

As if confirming his fears, a distant scream filled the air—one, long note that made the ends of his hairs stick up. He had to move now.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he cried, bursting into a sprint. His body felt heavier, his vision was darker. Crystal wasn’t there to assist him; his senses were completely physical now.

Elias cursed under his breath. This had meant to be a short trip. The snow crunched under his boots, yet he barely felt his steps. His feet felt like moving blocks of stone that were connected to his legs—unfeeling and stiff. It wasn’t frostbite; it was subtle, but he could feel the skin of his toes. Then again, he didn’t know what frostbite felt like, but it didn’t matter. As long as he could move, he would.

Warm blood raced through his body with each frantic step, giving him better control of his limbs. The looming terminal was visible behind the buildings. He’d reach it soon—he had to; the sun was going down, and there was nothing to stop it.

Another scream. Elias spotted humanoid figures in the window of a broken apartment. Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to run and run and run.

He was sweating when he reached the building, panting for breath. His lungs felt raw—the freezing air had hacked chunks of flesh from them. At least, that was how it felt. He thought he tasted blood.

“FUCK!!” he yelled after spotting a group of Shadows huddled together within the broken glass doors of the terminal. “Fuck. FUCK!!!”

Elias rammed his foot into the ground over and over, unable to contain his anxious fury. It was the first time he felt this lost and out of options, driven into a corner. There was nowhere he could run.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Somehow, he was able to cool his head. Breathing in deeply, he examined the building again.

Emergency Stairs. Now he remembered. He and Crystal had planned to use them.

Then what? Now that the sun was down, getting to the top floor wouldn’t mean anything. He could hear the seconds waste away with the wind, all the while the sun descended incessantly. What did he have to do? He had to find a vehicle for the monorail.

A bizarre plan took shape in his mind. The Shadows usually went out at night, and they tended to avoid buildings. He wondered if he could stay in hiding until the Shadows emerged, after which he could sneak inside, find a vehicle, and retreat to his shelter.

But how? How would he hide himself? The plan would mean throwing his precious moments of daylight away. The risk was too big, and the chances of success too slim.

If only Crystal had been here. She could have distracted them, even killed the ones in the terminal. Without her, he was a sitting duck.

He took out the MUP, which had been separated to fit in his bag. His fingers shook while he reconfigured the pieces into a rifle, but he managed to complete it. He hated that the rifle took the longest to make, but he’d need it for now.

Twenty-six bullets. That was all he’d been able to scavenge. Crystal had shown him how to use it through a simulation, and he followed what he remembered. This was not a complex rifle—it was meant to shoot with a button-like trigger. It had no safety mechanisms nor a comfortable grip, all sacrificed for the sake of reconfiguration.

At the very least, it was accurate if he aimed it correctly to a distance of about a hundred meters. Two hundred if he had a stabilizer—which he didn’t. Had Crystal been there to assist him, he knew he could land every shot in someone’s head.

Her absence was weighing down on him like shackles of lead.

The sun wasn’t gone yet. Maybe it was a stupid decision, but he loaded the rifle and aimed it at the Shadows within the terminal. He knew he was being rash, but his logic was still in pieces.

A life alone, without Crystal, without anyone, wasn’t something he wanted.

The bullet whizzed through the cold air, landing on a random Shadow. It made no noise as its body jerked back and fell on the floor with a thump. The others simply turned their heads to look at him.

“Come at me—you monsters!!” Elias screamed, reloading. He closed his mouth to terminate another Shadow before shouting his frustrations out again.

“If it wasn’t for you—!”

His voice was ringing through the streets when he abruptly decided to shut up. Now that he thought about it, the Shadows couldn’t have attacked the drone. Something with a projectile had. Elias gritted his teeth and continued shooting.

Who? Who exactly had attacked? While he had been briskly picking up the bullets, he’d seen the hole where the projectile had struck. Except that there had been no projectile—only a ball-shaped cavity the size of his fist, smooth where it had stopped.

He’d seen it a couple of times before. Never had the weapon been directed at him.

The sky was nearly dark when the last Shadow fell to the floor. He had three bullets left to spare, which he threw into his bag. There wasn’t time to change his rifle into a spear, so he held the base of the weapon like a hilt and proceeded to enter the terminal.

The darkness had receded from the bodies, leaving only the gray corpses with white marbles for eyes. He’d forgotten how horrible they had been. He turned his eyes away to the illuminated object in the middle of the plaza. A screen. When he neared it, he saw the monorail next to the machine.

He’d found it so easily—the interface for using the vehicles. The label ‘Monosphere’ was written above the screen. The screen itself had a simple user-friendly layout, and he pressed the ‘Use Monosphere’ immediately.

‘Location’ was the next thing that popped up. He frowned, biting the insides of his cheek. 4-1-1, he remembered. Crystal had repeated it to him multiple times before they’d left. Quickly, he punched the numbers in.

“Please relocate to the fourth floor,” the machine beeped. “Your ride will arrive in six minutes and thirteen seconds.”

“Why aren’t the lights coming on?” he complained, looking around. Without Crystal, his vision was worsening by the second as the shadows deepened into darkness. He regretted not bringing a flashlight along. Crystal wasn’t supposed to die.

He cursed, blinking furiously as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He’d have to take the emergency stairs after all.

Running, he made his way to the stairs and began his ascent. There was barely a trace of orange in the dark blue sky, and it would be minutes before the city completely plunged into the night.

On the third floor, he saw a horde of Shadows emerging from the buildings, all making their way towards the terminal.

He would have cursed if he wasn’t so out of breath. He was much more tired than he should have been—no one was there to alleviate his pain and micromanage his muscles.

Tears threatened to appear in his eyes, but he held it down through sheer will and fear. He wasn’t weak. He had taken on thirty-two Shadows yesterday.

The fourth floor was like the first, almost identical in layout except for the positioning of the monorails. He waited. Two more minutes until his ride arrived. Every second was stressful, and he strained his ears to hear the footsteps that came from below.

He heard them—the uncanny, muffled drumming of feet. Elias regretted everything. If he had been more of a coward, wimpier, nothing would have happened. If he hadn’t cared about searching for anyone else, he’d be safe.

But nothing would change. He’d have to deal with the consequences.

The spear now complete, Elias swung it with rage. He was skilled, completing the transformation in just under two minutes.

“Asses. Come,” he growled, his eyes darting to the various stairs.

He heard the low hum of machinery as the floor opened up and a monosphere appeared from within—a sphere made out of glass. The upper part was a clear dome, while the bottom half was fitted with wide, cushioned seats and a section for the controls opposite of the entrance. It was large enough to fit five people, spacious enough to do a dance inside and jump without hitting the ceiling.

The glass was what worried him; he wasn’t sure if it would hold. But hearing the growls and shrieks reminded him that he had no choice, so he jumped in right away as the door opened, praying it would close quickly.

It didn’t. He spotted a Shadow in the distance running towards him.

His throat felt clogged with terror, but he calmly glanced over the controls and found the close button. He pressed it, and the door sealed itself with a pshh.

“Go!!” he howled, smashing the ‘Start’ button with his finger. “Move!”

Slowly but steadily, the monosphere began to move along the rail, heading towards the outside. He roared with laughter and excitement.

“I did it! I really did it!” he cried just as a Shadow slammed into the vehicle. The monosphere didn’t budge. Elias hollered with relief.

“You can’t catch me now!” he shouted at the Shadow. Two more joined in—then a fourth jumped on top of the glass dome. Their dark tendrils slid against the glass, silently and ruthlessly. One even slammed its head repeatedly into the glass.

More were coming, jumping on the monosphere until all Elias saw was a mass of horrifying bodies clinging onto each other. His hope diminished, and he held his MUP spear with his life.

All at once, a chunk of the darkness tore away, plunging into the city below. Elias saw that they were outside now, moving along the narrow bridge that made it difficult for the Shadows to maintain their grip. The only Shadows that remained were the ones directly above him, and even those slipped off as the vehicle picked up speed.

He was finally alone when he passed the place where Crystal’s drone was. Even in the darkness, he thought he saw the broken remains of the machine in the snow.

“I promise I’ll get you later,” he muttered, sinking into his seat. He lay down, dropped his spear, and covered his head with his bag. So many emotions, yet the most prominent of them was the joy of being alive.

He felt empty, out of life. He wondered why he was alive and why Crystal was destroyed. It was too quiet, too still—too alone.

Thunkunkunku—

Elias jumped after hearing the noise and felt his heart drop. The Shadows were blocking the rail, running towards the monosphere, smashing on the glass, and finally falling down below. The vehicle was much tougher than he had thought, because it barely shuddered with each roadkill.

He looked at the controls for something he could use. His eyes fell on the ‘Hide’ button, which he pressed. The glass of the vehicle turned into an opaque gray, concealing him from the outside.

The thunking still continued, but there was little he could do. He sat down again and hoped that all things would pass.

It was a good thing that he’d locked all of the doors before leaving, because the Shadows would be crawling all over the station by now. He’d have no choice but to wait inside the monosphere until morning when the sun rose and forced the Shadows to retreat.

Thunkunkunku—

The noise continued, albeit less frequently. Elias sat on the ground and hugged his knees in the dark, with only the dim lights from the controls to comfort him. He buried his face into his arms.

“You have arrived at, 4-1-1.”

The vehicle stopped. He was probably at the station now, though he didn’t dare look. The thunking noises on the glass made it clear. He lay down on the ground, too afraid to stay near the glass by lying on the seats. His bag tucked under his head, he closed his eyes.

Sleep came reluctantly. When he woke up in the middle of the night, he pressed the ‘Hide’ button, not thinking clearly. After seeing the Shadows surrounding the vehicle like mannequins, he hid himself again, petrified. They had never seemed this ghastly before.

He whispered for Crystal to find him in his tribulation. It helped him fall asleep.

⤙ ◯ ⤚

Beyond the cloudy glass dome, the sun shone through and touched his face. Elias shuddered, wincing. The inside of the monosphere wasn’t cold, but the hard ground had been horrible for his skeleton. His bones cracked as he twisted his neck, his back, his hips, wrists, ankles—everywhere. He got up and sluggishly bent down to grab his MUP spear.

Elias pressed the button, and the glass became clear again. The station was empty—all the Shadows had left. It was so different from the nightmare he remembered that he couldn’t help but let out a weak laugh. Not a happy one, but a sarcastic, miserable one.

Considering the fact that the fiends had scared the living daylights out of him, they’d been gentle with the place. Nothing was broken, and everything was just as he’d left it. Perhaps that made it scarier—the fact that they could move with intelligence, only pursuing their prey.

The door opened with a button, and he stepped out onto the platform. With little motivation, he trudged along to the control room and unlocked it with the keycard they’d found inside. The door swung open after a small beep, and he proceeded to close all the openings that would allow unwanted visitors inside.

Someday, Crystal. I promise. Someday, I’ll go and get you.

In the end, she had simply been an SPC. Risking his life to retrieve her broken parts was a stupid decision, one he wasn’t willing to take.

His chest felt so heavy.

When he spotted a Shadow’s head poking out from the depths of the bathrooms, he nearly threw his spear across the room.

“Why—ARRGGGGHH!!” he shouted, digging his nails into his palms. “Why are they here. Why. WHY?!”

His mind flared with wrath, and he stomped towards a bathroom, gripping his spear.

The Shadows were silent as they were run through, though many of them flailed as their darkness evaporated from their corpses. One by one, Elias cleared the rooms, skillfully stabbing the Shadows through their stomachs. He wasn’t even sweating when he’d finished; the Shadows hadn’t really given much of a fight.

He’d have to remove the bodies before they began to rot.

One by one, he dragged the gray bodies to the monosphere. He’d dispose of them somewhere far away where they wouldn’t disturb him. It was scary, it was eerie, it was unnatural—but he didn’t have a choice.

Three of the bodies were children. Two girls and a boy with a hole in their chests. Thirty minutes passed before he’d regained the strength to move again.

They were dead already. I don’t have to feel guilty.

After closing all of their eyes and placing them on the seats so that they’d be sitting, he opened the other side of the station and commanded the vehicle to move.

It was peaceful as the monosphere slid along the elevated path. Its movement was too gentle to let the bodies topple over, which he was grateful for. He remained standing.

After passing through the third station, he let the bodies drop from the tracks. They dove into the unmelted snow, making dull thuds as they hit each other. The children were the last to go, and he tried to throw them further away so that they’d land in the snow instead of other corpses.

He returned to his station when he was finished, and only then did he realize that what he’d done went against his reasoning to not go after Crystal’s remains. He justified himself—the drone was on the ground. It would be too risky to walk all the way back and forth unless he had a ladder, which he didn’t.

There were ropes.

Still too risky. He’d done something foolish by going so far to get rid of the bodies. It was a miracle that he was still alive, and he’d never make the same mistake again.

That was what he told himself.

He double-checked the station again to see if anything was out of place. No; there was nothing wrong now. A little bit emptier than before, but still the same.

Elias took a shower. The bodies hadn’t stunk, but he could imagine their odor clinging onto him like a curse. He felt terrible, and it took him many minutes before he finally got out of his curled-up position at the corner of the stall. He changed into fresh clothes and went to his bed, sitting down. He stayed seated for a long time, not being able to think properly.

He finally decided to sleep and crawled into his blanket, tossing it over his head. He didn’t bother shutting off the lights. He needed some light today.

He was safe now. He’d made it through somehow.

He didn’t feel alive. His mind refused to rest, and he tossed and turned on the mattress, balling his fists, crumpling his face.

Crystal was missing. She was gone. Even if he recovered her remains and the important parts were intact, he’d have no way to put her back together in this ruined, apocalyptic world. There was no point in trying anymore.

The tears wouldn’t come, no matter how hard he tried. Was it because she hadn’t been a real person? Was it because he was too shocked? He was tired and burnt out—she’d understand if he didn’t mourn for her.

Hours and hours passed, but his brain refused to shut down despite his efforts. Insomnia tore at him like a mad disease, making it hard to breathe, making him feel compressed and bound—but to what? He was like a lost spirit in a desert, searching for shade, but none was given to him. After repeating the agonizing cycle of shifting positions for an eternity, he was allowed respite in his dreamless slumber.

It was brief, though hours had passed when he opened his eyes. His body felt airy, but not in a good way. A little prick would let his insides gush out.

Elias lumbered past the bathroom to the tables to grab something to eat. Chewing would make him feel better.

At the tables, there was a board game that he and Crystal had been playing. Just yesterday, they’d been laughing together as they rolled the dice. He sat down on a chair and fumbled the pieces in his hands, tossing them into the box since now, he wouldn’t have an opponent to play with.

He didn’t sob. He didn’t make a sound as his tears fell down his cheeks. He only sat there with his hand on his forehead, wondering why things had taken a turn for the worse.

No one comforted him, not even himself.