Chapter 3 – I Die Tonight… So They Stop Watching
The question hung in the air like a blade pressed to my throat.
"You didn't eat properly today, did you?"
Priya's voice stayed soft, but her eyes were the same flat stones I had stared into while my lungs burned yesterday. The main door rattled harder. Wood groaned. That wet, gurgling laugh scraped through the crack—Uncle Rajesh, no longer human. I knew the sound too well from a hundred ordinary evenings. Now it only meant teeth and hunger.
My pulse slammed against my ribs. The polybag was gone, flushed away, but the bitter ghost of the dal still clung to my tongue. One slip and this second life would end exactly like the first.
No.
Not this time.
I let my shoulders slump a fraction. Enough to look exhausted, not terrified. "I did," I said, voice slower than usual, thicker. "It was good. Really."
Priya tilted her head. The ceiling fan creaked overhead like it was keeping count. Outside, the banging turned into something heavier—shoulder against wood.
I let my hand tremble as I set the glass down. The tremor wasn't acting. My body still remembered choking on the floor, Priya's shadow watching while Vikram's voice planned my end through the phone. Phantom pressure squeezed my throat right now. Good. Use it.
She stepped closer. "You look pale, Kripa."
I pressed two fingers to my stomach like it was starting to cramp. "Maybe the traffic… or the heat. I'm fine."
Another bang. The doorframe shuddered. A low moan leaked through, thick and wet, like someone drowning in their own blood.
I let my knees soften. "Priya… my stomach feels… off."
Her eyes narrowed. Calculation, not fear.
[Threat Assessment: Partial Scan Complete]
[Outside Entity: Infected Civilian – Stage 2 Aggression]
[Internal Threat: HIGH – Wife observing]
[Time until Midnight Deadline: 2 hours 41 minutes]
[Primary Quest Progress: 0 % – Escape the House Before Midnight]
The mechanical voice cut clean through my skull. Sharp pressure flared behind my eyes. I didn't flinch.
I stumbled half a step, catching the table. The spoon clattered. Perfect.
Priya moved fast. Her fingers clamped my chin, nails digging in. "Look at me."
I let my eyelids flutter. Breathing shallow, ragged. The real memory of dying crashed over me—black spots, lungs on fire, her voice saying my name like it was already a corpse. I wasn't acting anymore. I was reliving it. My body remembered dying better than it remembered living.
Her thumb pressed under my jaw, hunting for a pulse.
I slowed my heart deliberately. Held my breath until the edges of my vision grayed. Come on. Believe it. Believe every poisoned bite went down.
Seconds stretched. Her face inches from mine. Jasmine perfume and something metallic underneath.
Her grip tightened.
Then the door exploded inward with a crack like bone snapping.
Wood splinters sprayed across the room. A gray, bloated hand punched through the gap, fingers curled into claws, nails black and split. Uncle Rajesh's face—half of it—shoved into the opening. One eye milky white, the other bloodshot and furious. Black foam dripped from torn lips. He snarled, wet and ripping, and slammed his shoulder into the weakening wood again.
Priya's head snapped toward the noise.
Her fingers loosened—just a fraction.
I let my legs give out.
I collapsed sideways. Shoulder hit the floor hard. Head lolled. Eyes half-closed. Chest barely moving. I gagged once, real and ugly, drool slipping from my lips.
Priya stood over me.
No scream. No panic.
She exhaled once—long, slow, satisfied. "Finally… done."
The words landed colder than the tile against my cheek.
She pulled her phone out. I watched through my lashes as she dialed. Vikram's name lit the screen.
"It's finished," she said, flat. "He ate everything tonight. Collapsed right in front of me. No mess this time." A pause while Rajesh rammed the door again. "Yes, I'm sure. Pulse is gone. Come through the back alley. Main road is probably crawling already."
She listened, then added, "If he's not completely dead… we finish it tomorrow anyway. He won't last outside. Not in this."
Practical. Cold. Like I was a chore finally crossed off.
The call ended.
Priya crouched. Two fingers on my neck again—steady, professional. My heart hammered like a trapped bird, but I kept it buried deep. The death memory clawed at me: legs kicking helplessly, her shadow simply watching. I wanted to scream. I stayed limp.
She stood.
The door gave another violent shudder. Hinges screamed. Rajesh's second hand punched through, grabbing the edge, pulling. The gap widened enough for his shoulder.
Priya walked to the kitchen counter, picked up the heavy steel pressure-cooker lid, and turned back. Her jaw tightened. A thin sheen of sweat on her forehead.
[Warning: Breach Imminent]
[Host has 87 seconds before more hostiles converge]
[Basic Instinct Boost – Unlocked for 180 seconds]
[Reaction speed +40 % | Adrenaline regulation active]
The system's gift hit like electricity in my veins. Colors sharpened. Sounds clarified. Body lighter, coiled.
I waited three heartbeats.
Priya raised the lid as Rajesh lunged. The door tore off its top hinge with a metallic shriek. He staggered inside—shirt ripped, belly bloated, black veins crawling up his neck. The smell rolled over me: rot, spoiled meat, something chemical.
She swung. The lid connected with his skull in a wet crunch.
I moved.
Slow at first. Rolling onto my stomach like a dying man still twitching. Then crawling—quiet, deliberate—toward the narrow passage to the bedroom balcony. Fingers brushed cool tile.
Behind me, Priya grunted, shoving Rajesh back. His nails raked her arm. Blood welled. She hissed but didn't panic. "Vikram—hurry up!"
I reached the bedroom doorway. Stood in one smooth motion, knees bent low. The balcony window sat open a crack for the night breeze. I slid it wider.
The colony outside had already changed.
Streetlights flickered. A car alarm wailed down Lalpur Road without stopping. Distant screams rode the April wind—real ones. Glass smashed two buildings away.
No time to stare.
I grabbed the long iron curtain rod I had installed last month. It came free with a soft scrape—too loud. Rajesh's head jerked toward the bedroom. His milky eye fixed on the movement for one frozen second. He sniffed the air, a wet ripping sound, and took one lurching step in my direction.
My stomach clenched.
Priya noticed. She glanced over her shoulder.
I froze.
One heartbeat. Two.
Then she turned back to Rajesh and swung the lid again, buying me the second I needed.
I stepped onto the balcony. Concrete under bare feet. Two stories down to the narrow service lane. No drainpipe. Just a thin railing and a five-foot drop to the neighbor's shed roof, then eight more to the ground.
[Quest Update: Escape the House Before Midnight – Progress 28 %]
[Bonus Objective Unlocked: Acquire First Improvised Weapon]
[Survival Points: +50]
I swung my legs over the railing.
My foot slipped on the edge—sweat, or maybe the boost made everything too sharp. I caught myself on the rod, heart lurching. The metal clinked once against the railing.
Below, shadows moved between parked scooters. Old Mrs. Sinha from Block C shuffled past with that same jerky gait, head tilted wrong, blood streaking her white sari.
I dropped.
The shed roof met me hard. Pain flared in my ankles. The boost dulled it to a warning. I rolled, then dropped the final distance to the lane. Gravel bit my palms.
I was out.
The house loomed behind me. Our balcony light still on. Priya's silhouette turned toward the bedroom at the exact moment I looked back.
Our eyes met across the distance.
She paused.
A slight smile touched her lips—small, tired, the same one she used to give when dinner was ready.
"…not dead," she said, almost to herself.
Then, louder, calm as ever: "We finish it tomorrow."
No chase. No shout. Just fact.
Vikram's scooter engine coughed to life somewhere near the back alley. Headlight sliced the darkness, sweeping the lane like a searchlight. The beam caught the edge of the shed roof, then swept straight toward me.
I ducked into the narrow shadow between two water tanks, pressing my back to cold concrete. The light passed inches from my face. Vikram's silhouette flashed—broad shoulders, one hand on the handlebar, the other holding something long and dark. He didn't stop. The scooter roared past the gap and turned toward the front of the building.
I didn't wait for him to circle back.
I sprinted.
The lane spat me onto the main colony road. Chaos swallowed me whole.
Cars sat abandoned, doors open. One had plowed into the tea stall; glass and blood painted the shutter. A man in a white vest knelt over a woman, tearing at her throat with his teeth. Wet ripping sounds followed me as I ran.
Streetlights kept flickering. My phone buzzed once—network dying—then went black.
[New Alert: Safe Zone Radius Detected – 1.8 km North toward Kanke Road]
[Survival Points: 150/1000]
[First Stage Enhancement Available After Quest Completion]
Bare feet slapped broken glass and spilled blood. The iron rod felt solid in my grip. Every breath burned clean. Every step carried me farther from the woman who had killed me once and the man who had helped her.
Yesterday, I died begging.
Tonight, I died lying.
Tomorrow… I won't die at all.
The colony gate loomed ahead, half-torn off its hinges. Beyond it, Ranchi's skyline flickered under failing lights. Sirens wailed in the distance—too late for any of us.
I gripped the rod tighter and ran toward the darkness that used to be my city.
[Quest Progress: 67 %]
[Time until Midnight: 2 hours 12 minutes]
Whatever came next—zombies, Vikram, Priya's tomorrow—I would meet it standing up.
The fan in that small room was still creaking behind me.
I wasn't going back.