The afternoon sun hung low over the schoolyard, stretching four boys' shadows across the pavement. Ren dribbled his basketball lazily, the rhythmic thumps mixing with Yu's loud complaints about yesterday's video game loss.
"Man, that last round was total BS! The lag was insane!" Yu shoved his hands in his pockets, kicking a pebble.
Beside him, Zhi adjusted his glasses with a sigh. "Or maybe you just suck."
"Shut up! You only won 'cause you spammed that cheap move!"
At the back of their little group, Yu kept scrolling through his phone, barely looking up. "If you idiots don't hurry up, all the good onigiri will be gone."
Ren was about to tease Yu about his endless appetite when he noticed it - the sky darkening too fast, too wrong. Not like storm clouds, but something thick and oily creeping over the school gates.
"Uh... guys?"
The others followed his gaze. The black fog moved like living smoke, swallowing the soccer field whole. The air turned icy despite the summer heat.
Then the screaming started.
They spun around to see him - Morita, that quiet kid from class. Except now his mouth was split wide like a broken doll, his skin peeling back to reveal glistening muscle underneath. His head lolled sideways at an impossible angle as he charged on all fours.
"WHAT THE F-" Yu barely got the words out before Ren grabbed his arm.
"RUN!"
The schoolyard warped around them as they fled. The path to the gates stretched endlessly, lockers swelling into towering metal cliffs. Behind them, more shapes moved in the fog - things that used to be their classmates.
"Over here!" Zhi yanked them toward the stairwell just as the ground heaved. The metal railings twisted like snakes, smashing between them. Ren hit the ground hard, watching in horror as the others disappeared into the swirling dark.
"ZHI! YU!" His voice echoed down the empty hallway.
Drip.
Drip.
Ren looked up.
Above him, clinging to the ceiling like some pale spider, the thing that used to be Morita smiled with too many teeth.
"Found... you..."