"Ha… guh… huh…" Isaac sprinted like there was no tomorrow, as if no one else existed. He ignored everything around him, focused only on running forward.
Faint screams drifted from behind—a feminine voice—soon drowned by the sickening sound of flesh tearing from bone. But the noises faded, leaving only the pounding of Isaac's footsteps. Each step felt heavier than the last, yet exhaustion never came. He felt numb.
"Oh my god…" he muttered. In the vast nothingness he traverses on, familiar faces emerged—Nick Jones, the man who had once saved his life.
"Ahh, I'm not alone," Isaac thought, forcing a smile.
"Mr. Jones!" he called out, waving. "I—"
**Chomp.**
Before he could finish, a massive hound's jaws clamped down on his head from behind.
Blood sprayed over a teenage girl standing frozen nearby, too stunned to react—too shocked to even notice the massive, tiger-sized dog growling inches from her face.
"RUN!"
Too late. The hound pinned the girl to the ground and tore into her, spilling her insides.
—
"It was a good run," Liam thought, while Tyler slapped at a snake dropping onto his head with his branch. "What are you doing just standing there?!" he snapped.
"Oh… okay then, maybe I can still live," Liam thought, swinging his branch at the approaching snakes.
Two snakes fell on Chris, who had abandoned his branch to beat up the male survivor earlier.
"Chris!" Brandon yelled.
"AHHH!" Chris struggled, gripping both snakes by the neck to keep them from biting him. But one still managed to sink a fang into his wrist. "Goddamn it."
Nearby, the male survivor swung his branch wildly, fending off snakes. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted.
The pain made Chris's grip falter. The snake slipped free and sank it's other fang into his wrist. "AH!" Panicked, Chris freed his other hand to pull the snake off—but the snake liberated immediately lunged for his neck, fangs sinking deep. Chris couldn't even scream.
"NO!"
"Shit."
Brandon and Tyler exclaimed in horror.
Another snake dropped from above, biting Chris's left eye. Blood poured down his face like tears. Black veins spread rapidly from all three wounds as Chris collapsed to his knees.
—
Samantha scrambled up, knife trembling in hand. She thought she was in best conditions to fight among them.
Nearby, the middle-aged woman who'd been knocked out earlier by a kick awoke—only to face another rabid hound. It lunged, dragging her away by the hair.
Samantha held her ground, shielding her injured father even as the hound feasted.
Nick didn't like it. "Sam…" he stood and placed her behind him.
"No! No, Dad! Get behind me!" She tried to pull him back, but her strength was no match for his.
"Run, Sam… tell your mother I loved her."
"No! You're not doing that!" She clung to him desperately, trying again to drag him behind her, like dragging a boulder three times her size.
"And remember, I love you too…" Nick's voice cracked.
Tears welled in Samantha's eyes. She didn't turn her back or run. Instead, she rested her head against his back, defeated.
"Run, Sam… please run. Don't leave your mother alone…"
"I'm not leaving you alone." Her voice was steady. "I'm fighting with you."
"Sam…"
"I'M FIGHTING WITH YOU!" She released him, grabbed her kitchen knife, ready to fight. But Nick blocked her path with his back. "Please run… please, Sam."
He turned, eyes pleading, desperate.
The hound lost interest in its torn victim, fixing its burning red gaze on Nick. It growled and leapt with fury.
—
"AHH!" A snake bit the male survivor's neck from behind. Black veins spread; his eyes darkened. Brandon was also surrounded, nearly overwhelmed.
"Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!" Tyler panicked.
"We should run," Liam urged—unaware a snake approached from behind. Tyler shoved him aside, taking the bite himself.
"Tyler." Liam grabbed the snake's tail, yanked it off, and threw it with all his might.
He checked Tyler's forearm, now bitten.
"Hehe… you said my name…" Tyler smiled weakly before collapsing onto grass. Black veins spread fast.
Liam squeezed and massaged the wound, desperate to stop the venom.
He leaned in to suck it out—his last hope—when Tyler stopped him weakly, "Are you stupid?"
Though dying, Tyler's face was calm, faintly smiling despite his darkening eyes. "At least I saved one of you… Thank God Liam… You do acknowledge me as your friend after all..."
Those were his last words as he slipped away in Liam's cold embrace.
At that moment, the snakes poised to strike Brandon froze mid-air—their fangs inches from his face.
The snakes near Liam, who clung tightly to Tyler, also stopped moving.
—
"HARH!" Nick swung wildly, but the hound dodged flawlessly and bit his legs clean through.
"ARGH!"
"DAD!"
"RUN!"
Samantha still couldn't move—caught between obeying her father and fighting to defend him.
She watched helplessly as the hound's jaws closed over Nick's face.
Devastated, her legs gave out. Blood, sweat, and tears soaked her as numbness spread through her body. Her mind went blank.
"Dad?" she called, even though she's unable to see his face.
She was utterly helpless.
The hound, mid-leap toward Samantha, suddenly froze. Time seemed to stop—blood hung motionless in its mouth, fur paused in mid-air—defying all physics.
Brandon looked around: the snakes, the fire, even the swirling ashes and smoke—all frozen in time.
Only humans on the island and in the mall remained unaffected.
Confused, Brandon remembered the rules of the Would You Rather game. Checking his watch: 2:49 a.m. The game was supposed to end at 4:00 a.m.
"What the hell…?" Brandon muttered, eyes growing heavy along with everyone else's.
Sleepiness overwhelmed them.
"You feel tired?"
"Yeah, I don't… I don't know…"
**Thump. CLINK. CLANK.**
He fell, knocking down kitchen utensils.
The woman beside him also dropped like she hadn't slept in weeks.
One by one, everyone fell asleep—on the island and in the mall—until no one was left awake.
Except the man piloting the helicopter and another man in a three-piece suit clinging to its side. The helicopter descended slowly, its bright spotlight scanning the shore, where the suited man observed the players through binoculars.
"That was intense," he commented.