Far from the previous city, in the middle of the night.
The duo was inside an old shack with a broken roof, surrounded by cracked earthy ground that contained nothing but bones from various entities.
A small flame illuminated the inside of the shack with a faint light.
Jesse looked at the boy who was watching the fire with eyes full of admiration and curiosity.
Meanwhile, he was lying on the ground watching the stars, immersed in his thoughts: "I survived another day... I don't know if I should be happy about my survival or frown because of my injuries.... Heh, I think optimism will make my sleep faster, so damn the injuries."
He placed his hat on his face and decided to rest himself from thinking and fall asleep.
The boy continued to stare at the lit fire without doing anything, until he noticed that the fire was gradually becoming smaller as time passed until it disappeared, leaving only the blackness of the burnt wood harmonizing with the darkness of the night.
The boy lay down on the ground, watching a small spider building its nest.
His eyes surrendered to sleep as time passed, but he was overcome by drowsiness and fell asleep.
In a small city bustling with cars and bright lights.
Eight-year-old Jesse was sitting on a public bench, staring at the black sky with empty eyes.
Suddenly, without warning, the city began to disintegrate little by little; the buildings eroded, and the people transformed into wanderers in hideous ways before his eyes.
They suddenly gathered around him and pounced on him, eating his limbs one after another, tearing the flesh from the bone and the guts from their place, with Jesse conscious of it all.
After several hours had passed....
Jesse opened his eyes in terror.
His heartbeats were racing, and sweat was pouring down his face.
He got up from the ground with difficulty while wiping the sweat from his forehead and said with a tired face: "Another disturbing dream."
Suddenly, the latter noticed something suspicious.
Shock appeared on his face when he realized that he was not in the same place.
A square room with dark gray metal walls, and some strange circles emitting a mysterious light coming from the walls, with a door at the end of the room.
Anxiety and tension took over his heart as he examined the place with his eyes.
He noticed that the boy was sleeping in the corner of the room, so he went to him and began to wake him up.
He opened his eyes slowly until he woke up, finding Jesse standing directly above his head, saying to him: "Wake up... we're in trouble again."
He opened the door at the end of the room to find another corridor, and at its end there was a door with the same appearance.
He headed toward the door and opened it slowly, only to be surprised by a room like the one they were in but larger, with 6 other doors except for theirs, and a huge door at the end of it.
Jesse put his hand on his face, saying in an annoyed tone: "I'm not in the mood for these games."
Then suddenly he heard the sound of a door opening nearby.
He quickly turned his gaze toward it, taking a defensive stance.
The door opened slowly, and from it emerged a black-skinned man wearing a white shirt and light blue pants, with one gray eye and the other covered with bandages, and intensely curly hair.
The other two doors opened slowly; from the first door emerged a girl with white skin wearing a loose gray shirt with long black pants and black hair extending to her shoulders and black eyes, and from the second door emerged a man between black and white wearing a winter hat with completely gray clothes and black eyes.
The black man began to look at those present in the room with looks of astonishment and indifference: "Nice, another room and new people."
Jesse looked at them with shock and astonishment on his face: "What is happening..."
But a voice of unknown source interrupted the thread of his thoughts, repeating in a cold tone: "Welcome all to my humble room."
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound to find that it was coming from a strange device hanging on one of the walls.
He continued speaking: "You must be wondering why I brought you here. You may not like what I have to say. But you are here to measure your competence through several tests to see your abilities and take those who deserve to join us, while the losers' fate in all cases will be death."
Jesse interrupted him with astonishment and confusion on his face: "Wait a moment, what exactly is happening here?"
He replied to him coldly: "We don't have all day to answer your questions. You will find out later once you survive."
Suddenly, a section of the wall opened in front of each door, and from it fell a gun that was clearly made from scrap for each person. Everyone present picked up the thrown guns, and the unknown man said: "Let's not talk too much, let's start the test."
The black man shouted at him nervously: "You son of a b*tch, stop this joke and get me out of here."
Jesse took a look at the thrown gun while feeling a kind of confusion, trying to comprehend all of this.
Suddenly, the huge door at the end of the room began to open, and from it emerged dozens of wanderers lurking at them like hungry wolves.
Seconds later, four of them rushed toward the girl, their faces deformed and their features indistinguishable.
The girl panicked upon seeing them and began firing randomly under the influence of fear.
One of the shots was about to hit the man with the winter hat, so he shouted at her nervously: "Stop shooting, you're going to get us killed!"
Jesse headed toward the girl and took the gun from her.
With indescribable agility, he killed all the wanderers in front of him.
As soon as he finished, he turned his gaze toward her, saying in a serious tone: "Stop this, you're going to get us killed... just stay here, we'll take care of things."
He turned his gaze toward the boy, calling him: "Hey boy, come here."
The one being called advanced toward the caller, full of curiosity about the reason for summoning him.
So Jesse gave him the gun, saying: "Alright, I know this isn't exactly the right time, but you need to learn how to use a gun, because I can't guarantee I'll stay with you forever, and when that happens, you'll have to protect yourself. Watch how I use the gun and learn."
Jesse aimed his gun at one of the wanderers, and the boy imitated him beside him but did not put his finger on the trigger.
His teacher watched him with examining eyes for mistakes and said to him: "You're holding it the wrong way. You need to put your index finger on the trigger so you can press it, and in addition, you need to aim and focus well on your target. Just a simple mistake in aiming will make the shot miss its target."
The boy put his finger on the trigger and aimed at one of the wanderers coming toward him.
He pulled the trigger, and the bullet shot toward the wanderer's head, piercing the middle of his forehead, causing him to fall to the ground dead.
Jesse put his hand on the boy's shoulder and said to him with a proud smile: "It looks like you're learning fast. A headshot on the first try? That's excellent!"
The boy felt flattered, and a wide smile appeared on his face.
The black man looked toward Jesse after he killed one of the wanderers and said to him: "Thanks for the professional teaching, but hurry up a bit and help us exterminate these."
Jesse turned his gaze toward the wanderers and raised his gun, beginning to clear them out with the rest.
After a period in which the sounds of gunfire dominated the atmosphere.
Silence fell over the place, and the ground was filled with dozens of wanderers' corpses.
Jesse and the boy were lying in front of one of the doors, with exhaustion clear on them, and the same for the others.
The voice of the unknown person appeared again, saying: "Congratulations, you have survived the first test out of two. To be honest... (line cut off)." An opening appeared in the wall, and from it emerged several bottles of water.
The man with the hat approached the girl who was frozen in front of one of the doors, her eyes tearing from fear and terror.
He extended her water bottle to her, saying: "It's over... almost... and sorry for shouting at you earlier, the situation was tense as you know. Hehehe...."
The girl looked at him out of the corner of her eyes for a few seconds.
Then she extended her hand toward the bottle without uttering a word.
At the same time, Jesse was looking at the huge door, saying to himself: "What awaits us behind that door? Another crowd of wanderers or maybe something worse? I need to rest to be ready for what will happen."
After thirty minutes had passed...
A metallic sound broke the false silence of the place.
Everyone directed their focus toward the door.
Caution and vigilance were visible on Jesse's face and the other man's.
Indifference on the black man's face.
Fear and terror embodied in the teary eyes of the girl.
And curiosity and confusion in the boy's eyes.
After the door was fully opened, a huge creature two meters tall emerged from it, with pale skin and a long neck.
It had a large mouth filled with teeth.
Its face was devoid of eyes.
With a skinny body and long arms extending to the ground.
Blood and guts surrounded its entire body.
(End of the chapter)