Miles' breathing was heavy, each inhale sharp, each exhale ragged. He pressed his hands against his chest, trying to slow the rapid rhythm, but it refused to obey.
His eyes was filled with deep constricted fear, even more than before.
Then, a noise outside.
The curtain he had left wide open swayed slightly, though the morning sunlight poured in steadily, warm and bright.
Standing up slowly, Miles walked toward the curtain, each step measured, as if moving too quickly might draw attention.
The sunlight hit his face, warm and familiar, yet it did little to ease the knot of tension coiling in his chest.
He reached out and touched the fabric, feeling it flutter slightly under his fingers.
Outside.. It was chaos, confusion was written in his Miles' face for a moment before shock.
'What was happening?'
His eyes froze on the scene outside, staring down at the road below.
It was chaos.
As people that has bloodstained clothes push through the crowd, biting, growling and tearing anyone at their path.
The sound of panic, A mix of cries, shouts, and gurgled screams reached him even from this distance.
Miles felt his stomach twist, a cold knot of fear forming as he tried to process what he was seeing. His mind refused to make sense of it.
He tried to call the emergency number, but it took for a while to be answered.
Once, it was answered. He could felt something was strong as panic and noise could be heard through the emergency call.
"H-hello, there's chaos as people biting people and tearing them apart other people."
Miles' report with a shaky voice, with some word unclear for the panic inside him. His hand is shaking, as his eyes frozen to the carnage infront of him.
The woman on the other end listened carefully, her voice calm but urgent as she guided him through what to do.
She reassured him, telling him that police were already on their way and that he needed to stay safe.
After giving his location, Miles sank into a chair, his hands still trembling as he clutched his phone.
The words of the operator echoed in his ears, but the scene outside his window refused to fade from his mind.
He tried to steady his breathing, each inhale and exhale heavy and deliberate, but his gaze kept drifting back to the road below, to the chaos that had erupted there.
He gripped the phone like a lifeline.
After a while, he turn his phone back as he stare through the screen and look through social media.
But, what he saw was nothing but chaos.
Every post, was exactly like the scene below. But, it was obvious. It was not the same place, the realization of the chaos is not only there but perhaps... Nationwide, send him to an utter shock.
Recalling the noise in the phone during the call, he finally piece it together.
'Could this still be a dream..?' A thought emerged in his head. But, he can't stop the feeling it was not.
It felt too real, as if it was truly real. After thinking it through.
He slapped himself, to make sure it was a dream.
"Could this still be a dream..?" The thought crept into his mind, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't.
It felt too real, truly real. After a moment's consideration, he raised his hand and slapped himself hard, desperate to prove it was all in his head.
But, The sharp sting across in his cheek felt real. He wasn't dreaming, It was real.
The truth settled heavy in his chest, leaving him dizzy and rooted to the spot. He pressed his palm against his stinging cheek, the pain a brutal confirmation he couldn't ignore. Below, the chaos only worsened—cars swerving wildly, people scrambling over each other, and those… things moving with unnatural speed, their snarls cutting through the air even from his third-floor room.
His hands shook as he fumbled to lock the window, yanking the curtains shut as if that could shield him from what he'd seen. The morning light that had felt so warm moments ago now seemed harsh, casting sharp shadows across the small room.
His phone buzzed again and again, messages from friends, family. The realization struck him deep, It's not a dream, it was real.
Miles stumbled back to his bed, collapsing onto the sheets still warm from his nap. The nightmare he'd woken from earlier felt like a cruel joke now.
Back then, he'd been relieved to find it wasn't real. Now… now he'd give anything to wake up and find this was just another terror his mind had cooked up.
He glanced at his roommate's empty bed, at the stack of textbooks on the desk, at the half-empty mug of coffee by the window.
All the small, ordinary things that made up his life, they felt so far away now, like relics from a world that no longer existed.
A crash from the street below made him flinch. He curled his fingers into his palms until his nails bit into his skin, trying to ground himself.
The operator's words came back to him. Stay safe, Lock all doors and windows.
Don't go outside.
Slowly, carefully, he pushed himself to his feet. His legs felt unsteady, but a quiet resolve began to replace the paralyzing fear.
If this was real, when this was real; he couldn't just sit and wait.
He needed to think, to plan, to do something before whatever was happening found its way up to his room.
But, before he could start to think of a plan.
He felt a buzz on his phone as notification appeared.
[How to live through the Chaos of the New Cursed World?]
The words in his phone was simple, and a bit like a fantasy, if it appeared before this chaos.
But, something within him make him want to click into it and check what kind of b*llsht is this.
And so he did..
[Author's Note: Hehee, this was my 6th novel I created and my second favorite among them. It was also the first to be uploaded. Please, Enjoy.]