The stairs behind me vanished into thin air the moment my foot completely left the bottom step and settled onto the train platform. Several nearby survivors glanced in my direction, though their eyes revealed no surprise, merely the dull acceptance of people who had witnessed this particular magic trick dozens of times already. Their indifference left me wondering if anyone had attempted to escape by darting up someone else's stairs before they disappeared. Probably not successfully, judging by how no one even bothered trying to run past me. They just went back to sitting around like prisoners waiting for something worse to happen.

  However, the sight of so many people gathered in this cavernous space did nothing to ease my growing anxiety, if anything, it amplified it.

  The hairs on my neck prickled with suspicion. After all, What was the point of gathering this many people here? If my hunch was right, and this was called the Trial of Worthiness, then it didn’t take a genius to figure out that not everyone here was going to be deemed "worthy." No way they needed hundreds of survivors if they planned to let everyone through. Maybe it had nothing to do with worthiness at all. Maybe this whole thing was just for entertainment – a bloody game for someone sitting on a throne somewhere, laughing at people fighting and dying like animals. Wouldn’t be any different than the real world, honestly. Rich and corrupt leaders had always started wars and crushed lives just for their own amusement, and the common man never had a say in it.

  I scanned the crowd, desperately trying to recognize any familiar face among the sea of shell-shocked survivors. Despite the station appearing to have been plucked straight from Japan, the people trapped here seemed primarily from my city.

  I guessed all these people had been outside when the invisible giant crushed the buildings, just like me.

  But some of them clearly looked way worse off. A guy near me was missing an ear, blood dried dark and crusted down his neck. Another was cradling a half-eaten arm, the stump wrapped in dirty fabric that probably used to be a shirt. A few others, though, looked better prepared – armored up in scavenged gear, holding baseball bats, knives, even a couple of guns. Most of them had already clumped together into little groups, whispering and arguing about whatever was coming next.

  Still, plenty of people were like me. Alone. Wandering without a clue what the hell to do.

  People like me were often the first to suffer, though, victims of the poor choices we typically made. Lone wolves rarely survived when real predators prowled nearby.

  “Hey, did you encounter a monster?”

  A voice yanked me out of my spiraling thoughts. I turned to see a boy about my age, maybe sixteen or seventeen, standing there with wide eyes, scanning me like he was trying to size me up.

  “Yeah.” I nodded after a second.

  The boy nodded back, all serious. “What loot did you receive?”

  Well, that was an odd conversation starter. What happened to hello and hi? I just stared at him for a second, completely blank, not sure what to say. I didn’t have anything particularly worth mentioning, and for all I knew, this guy was planning to rob me.

  “Oh, come on, dude.” He threw up his arms in frustration. “If you have nothing useful, just say so. We don’t know how long we’ve got before something else decides to gang up on us.”

  “I… I didn’t receive anything useful. Nothing that could help against monsters,” I answered honestly, feeling a little stupid saying it out loud.

  “No spell or perk or anything?” he pressed.

  “Nothing.”

  “Ahh, man.” He groaned and rolled the metal bar he was carrying in his hand like a baseball bat, clearly disappointed.

  “Good luck,” he said, already turning away. “Don’t let yourself get eaten without putting up a fight. I’d suggest you stand at the front so you can give the real fighters a better shot.”

  That was rude. I stood there speechless as he waddled away, swinging his bar casually like I was already written off as monster bait. I could tell he was probably trying to form a group, looking to increase his chances by picking people with useful skills. Honestly, it was the smart thing to do. Even if it stung a little.

  Ignoring the small hit to my already crumbling ego, I adjusted my backpack higher on my shoulders and started squeezing through the crowd. Everywhere around me, people were doing the same - small groups forming, hands shaking, people checking each other’s loot or injuries, trying to size up who was worth keeping close and who wasn’t.

  “Come on, I think you can make a place for one more! See, I have a 5% buff on my punches. I killed the first monster I saw with one hit!” a boy with a bloody knuckle was saying loudly to a group huddled near the cracked vending machine.

  “No way, dude. You probably just got a weak spawn. You’ll slow us down!” someone else barked back.

  "I found these weird berries that restored my health bar. I've got four left – I'll trade one for a weapon," offered a girl no older than twenty, her small palm extended with bright red fruit.

  "Stay away from the shadow creatures! They can't be hit with physical attacks!" warned an elderly man with shattered glasses taped together at the bridge.

  "Those things in the ventilation shafts? They're attracted to sound. My whole group got taken when Marco started screaming..."

  “You ain't gonna believe this - Joe’s mac and cheese is magical. My Passenger said it provides a 10% strength buff. Check any snack you have, who knows, it might also be able to provide some useful buff.”

  “Hey, I want your gun. I’m willing to pay you however much money you want. Here’s an empty check.”

  “Are you stupid? Did you not hear the world-ending announcement by those goblin assholes? Earth is no more. No government. So the dollar has no value. Roll it and shove it up your ass, stupid fuck.”

  Smack!

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Aaaa!

  Bang!

  The whole place buzzed like an anthill kicked over. Everyone desperate, scrambling to find an edge, an advantage, anything that might give them a sliver of a chance to survive when others wouldn't. My mind was trying to parse all the crazy things I was overhearing while still trying to process everything that had happened to me. I thought about the chocolate bar I had in my bag, or well, the one I had before I threw everything at the Tooth Fairy like a scared idiot. Too bad. If snacks really could give buffs, I had chucked away a damn valuable item. I made a mental note to keep an eye out for any processed food in the future. No matter how stupid it sounded.

  However, when I looked at myself, my thoughts turned grave. With just a backpack containing a tiny fairy dress and three mysterious coins… Yeah… it was pretty clear I was already dead..

  Weapon, I need something, I can't have my hands empty... The words repeated in my head nonstop like a bad song stuck on loop. I looked around, the thought of stealing not even crossing my mind, not for moral reasons, but because it would be suicidal. If I tried to snatch something, I was pretty sure a dozen angry survivors would beat me into the ground before I could even blink.

  Bingo! My eyes suddenly landed on a billboard for advertisements. The advertisement itself was useless crap – a pretty kpop idol promoting a soft drink, but the frame… the frame was metal. If I could break it off, twist it right, it would be good enough as a makeshift weapon. Something like the metal bar that one guy earlier had.

  Normally, as an introvert, my anxiety would have paralyzed me in front of such a huge crowd. I'd have been physically incapable of drawing attention to myself. But with death lurking around every corner, the mind overcomes fears that would otherwise be insurmountable. My hands shivered inside my wet hoodie. Despite the station being relatively warm, I hated the soggy feeling against my skin. Catching pneumonia seemed like a ridiculous concern given the circumstances, but then again, survival meant thinking beyond just the next monster attack.

  "Excuse me."

  "Excuse me."

  I murmured as politely as I could, squeezing past a few resting people leaning against the walls. Some grumbled but didn’t move. Most of them looked too tired or too injured to care. I felt a small pang of guilt. I wasn’t trying to bother them, but survival didn’t leave much room for being considerate.

  Luckily, there wasn't anyone who seemed eager for confrontation, no gym bros who'd watched Andrew Tate videos for breakfast. God, I could only imagine how those types would be making everyone's apocalypse experience even more miserable right now. I prayed I wouldn't encounter any.

  I scanned the large billboard once more, feeling my cheeks burn with embarrassment for no fucking reason except habit, the ingrained response of someone desperately trying to remain invisible. I attempted to hide my discomfort behind a mask of seriousness, but it wasn't convincing anyone, least of all myself. Still, I swallowed my shame and shyness before I could drown in it.

  It took considerable effort, a lot of grunting, pulling, and awkward leverage. People stared at me, yeah. Some even snickered or chuckled. But most lost interest pretty quickly, like I was just another sad sideshow in this circus of desperation. Moreover, my life was on the line, so it was better to ignore what they might be saying. After five minutes of intense struggle, the metal frame fell with a loud twak.

  "June, is that you?"

  I stiffened, frozen by the sound of my own name. Who could possibly recognize me in this nightmare? I slowly rose and turned to look up at the girl who had just crowded my vision of the train tracks.

  "Oh, hey, Zoe."

  "Omg," she clasped her hands over her face, eyes welling up. "Thank god, I actually found someone."

  Huh? Why did she look so happy after seeing me?

  I mean, sure, we had a few classes in common back at school, but technically, we had never really talked. She was one of those pretty, popular girls who always had people orbiting her – boys, girls, teachers even. They all adored her. They looked sweet on the surface but probably whispered all kinds of crap behind closed doors. I shook my head. I shouldn’t judge. Yes, she had seen me getting bullied more than once and never stepped in, but it wasn’t her job to save me. Still, it always left a sour taste in my mouth.

  Maybe I just didn’t like people, especially people from my school. Not when there was always the chance they were going to pull the same old shit again, even here.

  Zoe clasped her head, her voice cracked like she might cry anytime, “You don’t gonna believe how crazy the whole day’s been. One second I was hanging out with friends at the café, then I got a call from my mom. I had just walked outside to take it and the next second, everything was just... gone. I couldn’t even hear my mom’s voice anymore.”

  Uhm. Okay? Why are you telling me this? I thought, staring at her a little blankly. I didn’t even know what happened to my own parents, if they were alive or dead, and here she was, unloading all this onto me.

  And she started crying. Like, full-on crying. Loud enough that a nearby group of people turned to glare at me like I had somehow ruined their moody end-of-the-world brooding. I sighed and shifted the metal frame in my hands. It was lighter than I’d hoped, not much better than swinging a wet noodle around. Pretty disappointing for something I had high hopes for.

  Zoe rubbed at her eyes, smearing mascara that had already given up hours ago. “I’m sorry for dumping this all on you. I know it’s weird and creepy. I mean... we technically don’t even know each other.”

  I realized I was still just kind of staring at her like an idiot. I quickly snapped out of it. “Uh, it’s fine,” I mumbled, standing up straight again. After a second, another thought clicked into my head.

  “You can’t be sure your mom’s dead.”

  She blinked at me, still sniffling.

  “I mean... the cell towers probably collapsed too. It might just be a signal cut. Maybe she was outside calling you, maybe she got away.”

  A flicker of hope passed over her face, faint but real. And for some stupid reason, it made me feel a little better too.

  “Yeah... you’re probably right. It might just be the signal,” she said, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

  For a few seconds after that, we just stood there in awkward silence. She seemed to have completely forgotten why she had come running up to me in the first place. Not that I was complaining , I had no idea what to say to her. I wasn't about to start playing the white knight either. I wasn’t about to grab her hand and announce, worry not, my princess, I’ll protect you.’ I wasn't that stupid, not yet anyway.

  Internally, I liked the fantasy of having a sugar mommy, someone who would adopt me and keep me safe from all this horror. I giggled internally at the ridiculous thought. But I could only wish I was handsome enough for anyone to care about protecting me in this hellscape.

  Maybe I should invest points in Charisma, I thought dryly. Maybe the stat screen would surprise me. Miracles happen, right?

  Zoe shifted her weight awkwardly, then spoke again, breaking the silence.

  “I’m sorry... for the past.”

  “Huh?” I blinked, caught off guard.

  “I mean... I saw everything,” she said, voice low. “We all did. We saw you getting bullied. And none of us did anything. Just one person standing up would’ve probably been enough to stop it. But we all just...” she trailed off, her face crumpling with shame.

  As she spoke, the ground beneath our feet slowly started to vibrate.

  Everyone on the platform immediately went silent, like a classroom when the principal walks in unexpectedly. The trembling intensified, subtle at first, then unmistakable as if something massive was approaching.

  A cold mechanical voice echoed across the broken intercom system:

  "Attention All passengers. Please stand behind the yellow safety line. The train is arriving."