Chapter 1: Damn it all to hell.

“For the last time, Lila!! I never cheated on you!”

My voice cracked—actually cracked—echoing through the run-down apartment like it was bouncing between every water-damaged wall. Someone’s box TV down the hall mumbled through thin drywall, adding this strange, sitcom laugh-track that was starkly contrast to the fact that my life was falling apart.

I realized I’d been backed up almost completely into the corner. My hands were trembling and I hated that I knew she could see it.

I wasn’t a big guy—more skinny-athletic than anything. Runner’s build. Slight tan, a dark brown wolf-cut brushing my shoulders, a look that usually made me feel cool.

Right now I probably looked like a kicked dog.

Frustrated. Tear-stained.

Frailer than I wanted to admit.

Lila stood in front of me—same height, maybe an inch shorter. Normally, she was…beautiful. I used to brag about it. Dirty-blonde hair down her back, eyeliner sharp enough to kill someone even without the knife she was holding.

But now those same features twisted into something terrifying. Her eyes were red from crying, the eyeliner streaking down her cheeks like war paint. The blade in her hand glinted under the flickering apartment light.

“That’s not what the fuck Aubrey told me,” she snapped.

Aubrey.

That bitch.

Why couldn’t she mind her own damn business?

I stayed quiet while Lila ranted, twisting Aubrey’s words into something even worse than whatever started this mess.

The accusation was insane on its own, but Lila…she would’ve sworn the sky was purple if it meant blaming me for something.

I finally exhaled, exhaustion punching through my chest.

“Why would you believe her? After everything? After two years and five months—”

She didn’t want to hear it. Something in her face changed—like a wire snapping.

And suddenly she was closer.

Too close.

Cornering me fully.

“It doesn’t matter if it happened or not…” she whispered.

Her free hand rose, fingertip dragging slowly down my cheek. The softness of the touch made it worse than the knife.

“The fact that I even imagined you touching someone else… that look you gave that stupid, dumb, bimbo blonde bitch… that’s betrayal enough.”

Her smile stretched—soft, twisted, unhinged.

“But don’t worry.”

She leaned in, voice a breath against my ear.

“I already took care of the problem.”

The words hit me like a bullet train.

Took care? Of what?

“Lila…” My heartbeat spiked so hard I could feel it behind my eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

She frowned, almost annoyed at the question.

“If she was a threat to us, I had no choice but to get rid of her.”

My mind blanked. Everything was normal with her until 2 weeks ago. What the fuck even caused this change? Why me? Why the hell did I have to be in the center of this nightmare?

My voice came out strained. I almost choked on my own words.

“What the fuck did you do, Lila?!”

Her brows furrowed— her own frustration boiling as her anger began to flare.

“What’s the big deal? It could’ve been you instead. Would you have preferred that?”

“I would’ve preferred if you killed nobody!!”

My shout rattled the whole room. Lila just frowned—not sad…more irritated.

Before either of us could speak again—

BANG.

A muffled, pissed-off voice from upstairs, accent unmistakably Chicago:

“Shut the FUCK up down there!!”

Neither of us answered. The silence that followed was razor-thin.

“Lila, what the fuck has gotten into you??”

I tried to keep my voice quiet. I couldn’t. The frustration burst out of me, raw and ugly.

She tilted her head, stepping back a fraction.

“I just thought—”

“No, you didn’t think about anything!! You’ve been impulsive as hell! This is my future you’re screwing with! You dragged me into this shit!”

This time, she actually looked hurt upon hearing the words I hurled. Genuinely— just for a second.

“I thought you said we’d be in this together… no matter what happened…”

“Not if you fucking kill somebody!”

I shot back.

“You think I wanna go to jail for this? You think I was a straight-A student for nothing, Lila? I was gonna go to an Ivy League, damn it! Why are you so selfish!?”

The word broke her.

Her eyes widened—then hardened into glass-sharp fury.

“Selfish? I’m selfish, Adrian???” she hissed, gripping my shirt with white knuckles. “I do everything for you.”

Before I could respond, everything outside seemed to shift before me.

Something exploded somewhere nearby. A fireball? A car? I didn’t care—I just felt the heat brush my face through the thin window.

before my senses got a chance to recoup from even that , screams ripped through the streets, raw and jagged, bouncing off the cracked concrete walls, making my bones shake.

To be honest, I didnt even catch what Lila was saying in that moment.

Yet,

Her knife reminded me that she was very much present. The cold metal pressed against my throat.

Too much shit was going on for me to keep up with.

“I killed for you, I’d die for you…” Lila’s voice quivered with rage.

“And you have the gall to call me selfish???”

I stared at her, my eyes flickering with something akin to fear and frustration.

Just then, the TV flickered.

The channel switched on its own— to breaking news.

Lila’s grip loosened only slightly. She focused on her periphery, the tv’s light glinting in her eyes.

A reporter was frantically explained something impossible:

TV Anchor (studio):

“We interrupt your regular programming with breaking news developing across multiple neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. Police are responding to what they’re calling a ’citywide violent incident.’ Details are still coming in, but we’re going live to our reporter on 63rd. Maya, what can you tell us?”

The reporter seemed to be on the street, breathing hard.

“Yeah—Jim, this situation is… it’s escalating faster than authorities can contain it. Within the last twenty minutes, we’ve had dozens of calls reporting people attacking one another at random. No known motive, no prior connection between the victims and attackers.”

A distant scream is faintly audible behind her.

“Police are urging residents to stay inside and lock their doors. We’ve already seen EMS crews overwhelmed. Several officers have described individuals as—uh—unresponsive to commands, extremely violent, and showing signs of… erratic behavior.”

Another shout. Something crashes nearby.

“One moment—sorry, Jim—there’s—there’s a group moving down the street right now, and it looks like— okay, folks, we’re going to move back— move back—”

Camera shifts, shaky. A silhouette lunges across the street.

She panicked.

“Jim—Jim, they’re attacking people for no reason! They’re not stopping— they’re—”

She screams. The mic picks up a heavy impact, the camera jerks sideways, and a wet, choking sound erupts from the feed.

Camera Operator:

“GO, GO—BACK UP! BACK UP!”

A second scream. The camera hits the ground. Footsteps. Something drags across concrete.

The TV Anchor was nothing short of horrified as he watched everything unfold.

“Maya? Maya, can you hear us? Maya?—”

Static.

My blood ran cold, eyes reflecting the purple light from the tv.

My stomach twisted into a pit.

“Fuck this shit,” I muttered, shoving Lila back. “I’m outta here.”

Her eyes went wide.

“Wait—where are you going??”

“Far away from you. We’re done, Lila—!”

“Adrian, wait! Outside is too dangerous—!”

To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know where I was gonna go. My family’s up in New Jersey. I really had no one to check on.

New Jersey…

Damn it, I was supposed to go there soon for college. It would’ve been so great.

As I gave Lila one last look, I couldn’t help but think to myself that somehow…somehow this was all her fault.

That…gave me comfort.

The doorknobs twisted as I stepped outside. Even with the carnage around me, I felt a sense of relief.

I was finally away from her crazy ass.

But— the relief cut short as I felt hungry eyes of bloodlust stare into my back a corridor down.

Something wet scraped across the concrete.

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