The yellow school bus rattled to a stop in front of the Riverside Complex as dusk bled across Ebonridge Haven. Salt air mixed with the scent of decay and wet concrete.
The decaying seaside town felt forgotten, abandoned villas with broken windows, overgrown lots swallowing old roads, and the constant crash of gray waves against jagged rocks.
Twelve high school seniors spilled out, bags slung over shoulders, phones glowing in the fading light.
They were loud, excited, treating the weekend trip like an adventure. The teacher had booked the entire fourth floor for cheap, "atmospheric" he called it.
The six at the center of everything led the way,
Jack, tall and cocky, basketball captain with a permanent smirk.
Jae, sharp-tongued and always filming for his socials.
Tade, quiet and muscular, steady as a rock.
Anna, confident with long black hair, the natural leader.
Lily, bubbly with pink- streaked hair, laughing at everything, and
Melinda, soft-spoken, holding Tade's hand, her gentle eyes hiding growing nerves.n
The other six trailed behind, happy to follow the energy. They claimed the fourth floor, girls took two connected rooms on one side and the boys took the opposite.
Bags were dropped with thuds, snacks appeared and casual conversations filled the dim hallways as night settled.
In the girls' room, Lily braided Anna's hair while Melinda scrolled her phone. "This place is actually pretty cool at night, kinda romantic in a spooky way."
In the boys' room, Jack tossed a basketball against the wall. "Yo, this trip is lame so far, we need to do something fun."
Jae grinned, eyes lighting up. "I got something. Found this underground app last week, called "The Voss". "Supposed to be some challenge. People say it gives real money if you win."
Tade frowned. "Sounds sketchy."
Jack laughed and shouted down the hallway, voice playful and echoing. "Hey!Everyone come out! We're playing a game!"
One by one, the twelve gathered in the dimly lit common hallway, phones in hand, curiosity winning.
Jack held up his screen. It's called The Voss. Download it, trust me, it'll be lit.
They pulled out their phones. The app appeared instantly on every screen, no search needed, as if it had been waiting.
Welcome!
Play The Voss - Lilith the Unburied.
A chill thicker than the coastal air settled over the group. The hallway lights dimmed slightly. Someone laughed nervously.
Jae tapped first. "Let's go!"
The moment they all accepted, everything changed. The air grew heavy with the scent of rotting flowers and old blood. Hallways stretched unnaturally, doors warping at the edges. Phones vibrated in unison.
Mission 1: Find a Knife or Any Sharpened Object.
First to bring one to the center wins immunity.
Time limit: 20 minutes.
Fail... and Lilith comes to you.
The six background students scattered eagerly, treating it like a silly scavenger hunt, laughing and shoving each other.
The main six hesitated only a second before joining the search, screams started twelve minutes in.
From the kitchen came the first horrific sound, wet tearing, like meat ripped from bone. One boy, Kevin, had found a rusted kitchen knife. He ran toward the center, triumphant.
He never reached it, the lights exploded in sparks. From the shadows stepped Lilith Voss, beautiful, barefooted, wearing the same torn clothes from the night she died, auburn hair wild. Her storm-gray eyes glowed faintly.
Kevin froze. "Who are you?"
Lilith smiled, wide and wicked. "You thought this was a game, huh?"
Black, thorn-like shadows erupted from the walls and wrapped around his limbs, yanking him off the floor, with deliberate slowness, she dragged the dull knife across his throat, not deep enough to kill instantly, but enough for hot blood to spray.
She leaned in close. "They used me too, now I use you."
She twisted the blade while shadows forced his mouth open, pouring his own blood down his throat until he drowned in it.
His body convulsed violently, feet kicking, before going limp. The other five suffered worse.
One girl was impaled slowly on shattered window glass, invisible hands pushing her inch by inch onto the shards, slicing through organs while she screamed and begged.
A boy had his limbs bent backward at impossible angles, bones snapping like dry twigs one after another, until Lilith peeled the skin from his face while he was still conscious.
Another was dragged into a bathroom mirror, his reflection pulled him through the glass while his real body slammed against it from outside, Lilith laughing from within the reflection as his screams muffled.
The screams lasted the full twenty minutes. Then silence, when the timer hit zero, only the six main survivors remained, Jack, Jae, Tade, Anna, Lily, and Melinda... standing frozen in the blood-stained hallway.
The walls wore grotesque patterns that looked like mocking smiles. Their classmates' bodies lay mangled in twisted poses, faces locked in ultimate agony.
Jack's hands shook. "What the fuck... what the actual fuck was that?"
Lily dropped to her knees, vomiting. Melinda clung to Tade, tears streaming. Anna's confident mask shattered as she backed against the wall, breathing hard.
"We need to leave, now," Jae said, voice tight.
They ran for the stairs, the front door, any exit.
But the building had changed. Hallways looped endlessly, doors opened into the same rooms. Windows showed only endless black void. No matter how far they walked, they circled back to apartment 404.
Lily broke first as she pounded on a wall, tears flowing. "Help! Someone help us! Please!"
Melinda's voice cracked into sobs. "How long do we have to stay here? I'm fucking tired now..."
Anna screamed, raw and furious, slamming her fist against a door until her knuckles bled. "This isn't funny anymore!"
Tade held Melinda tighter, his calm gone, eyes hollow. Jack and Jae tried to reassure everyone with forced confidence. "It's just a glitch, we'll find the way out, so stick together."
Their phones buzzed again.
Welcome to The Voss.
There is no way out until the end of the game.
Next Mission: Find the voss, find Lilith the unburied.
Panic erupted, crying, shouting, sweat pouring despite the cold. "This is bad, this is fucking terrible!" Anna yelled.
Jack's face twisted in rage. "We have to find this Voss bitch. If we kill her or whatever, we get out. Come on!"
Jae nodded. "Split up, in pairs guy and girl, Jack with Lily, Me with Anna and Tade, stay with Melinda."
They separated, hearts hammering. Jack and Lily moved down a long, flickering corridor. The walls seemed to breathe.
Jack spotted her first, at the far end, standing in a pool of shadow. Lilith leaned casually against the wall, smiling that same wicked, beautiful smile.
"You!" Jack shouted, grabbing a broken pipe. "You're the Voss! I'm gonna wipe you out today!"
"Do you think you can really get me?" Lilith tilted her head and laughed softly, a sound like velvet tearing. "Oh, darling... they all said that."
She moved faster than sight, jack charged. The pipe swung. Lilith was suddenly behind him. Her ice-cold fingers pierced his back, sliding between ribs to grip his beating heart. She squeezed slowly, letting him feel every weakening pulse.
Jack gasped, eyes wide in shock and pain, blood bubbling from his mouth as she whispered, " They used me, now I use you."
He collapsed, twitching, as she ripped the heart free and dropped it with a wet thud.
Lily screamed and ran, Lilith was already in front of her. Shadows coiled around Lily's legs, dragging her down. She knelt gracefully, stroking the girl's tear-streaked face almost tenderly before driving her fingers into Lily's eyes.
She scooped them out slowly while Lily thrashed and shrieked, then forced the bloody orbs into the girl's mouth, choking her on her own sight.
One by one, the others fell in the same brutal, personal ways.
Jae and Anna were cornered in the kitchen. Lilith made Jae watch as she slowly turned Anna's bones to liquid inside her skin, the girl collapsing into a screaming sack of flesh before Lilith finished her with a draining kiss.
Tade tried to shield Melinda. Lilith forced him to choose, his life or hers. When he hesitated, she peeled Melinda's skin away in long, agonizing strips while the girl begged him to save her.
Then she turned on Tade, making his own hands strangle him as shadows guided every desperate finger.
When the last body hit the floor, Lilith Voss stood alone in the blood-soaked hallway. She knelt gracefully beside the final corpse, lowered her lips to the gaping wound, and drank deeply. Warm blood coated her tongue, feeding the cold fire inside her.
She threw her head back and laughed, wild, angry and triumphant.
"Ha ha ha..." Her storm-gray eyes flared bright red, glowing with unholy hunger.
The apartment sighed in satisfaction around her. The game had only just begun and Lilith Voss was far from satisfied.