The SUVs moved through the city like silent shadows.
Inside the vehicle, no one spoke.
The engine hummed softly beneath the armored frame, barely louder than the distant crackle of burning buildings somewhere far away.
Outside the tinted windows, the world had changed.
Streetlights flickered erratically along the empty boulevard. Some had already gone dark, leaving long stretches of road swallowed by darkness. Abandoned cars sat crooked across the lanes as if their drivers had simply vanished in the middle of their commute.
Some doors hung open.
Some engines were still running.
The city felt… interrupted.
Like time itself had stumbled and never resumed.
Marcus drove steadily, hands firm on the wheel as the convoy moved deeper into the streets. The second SUV followed closely behind them.
Every few blocks, shapes wandered across the road.
Zombies.
Most of them staggered aimlessly between cars or along sidewalks, their movements slow and disjointed. None of them reacted to the passing vehicles.
The engines were too quiet.
That small mercy allowed the convoy to slip past unnoticed.
Victoria leaned slightly toward the window, her face pale in the dim interior lighting.
"…Look at that," she said, her voice trembling.
No one needed to ask what she meant.
A restaurant near the corner intersection was burning.
Flames poured from the shattered windows while thick smoke rolled into the sky above the building. Inside, overturned tables and chairs were visible through the broken glass.
The kitchen must have caught fire when the blackout happened.
Someone must have been cooking.
Then the world went dark.
Henry's voice cut through the silence.
"Keep driving."
Marcus nodded once.
Further down the road, another fire burned. Then another.
Entire sections of the city skyline were beginning to glow faintly red.
It was happening everywhere.
People collapsing in the middle of their daily lives.
Stoves left burning.
Electrical failures.
Chaos spreading faster than anyone could stop it.
The city was eating itself alive.
Iris rested her head lightly against the window.
The cool glass pressed against her temple as she watched the ruins of her world slide past.
A few blocks later the road curved slightly along the coastal district.
Between two high-rise buildings, a familiar strip of silver appeared in the distance.
The ocean.
Even in the dim light, the water reflected faint moonlight as waves rolled steadily against the shore far below.
For a moment, Iris simply stared.
A quiet ache stirred somewhere deep in her chest.
Before everything happened… she had promised herself she would go there someday.
She remembered the morning clearly.
The chauffeur driving through the city while she tried to get used to this new world on her way to the university.
Billboards flashing past the windows.
And just for a second, the ocean appearing between buildings like a glimpse of another world.
She had thought about the beach.
About warm sand.
About the sound of waves crashing along the shore.
Just one day away from expectations. One day without feeling like someone she was not.
Just one simple day.
Now the city burned behind her.
And the ocean remained as distant as ever.
Iris slowly looked away.
The moment passed without a word.
Ahead of them, the street widened into another major intersection.
A group of people suddenly burst from an alleyway.
Five… maybe six of them.
They were running.
Two men were swinging metal pipes at something behind them while another dragged a woman by the arm.
Zombies poured out of the alley seconds later.
One of the men spotted the approaching SUVs.
He stumbled into the road and raised both arms frantically.
"HELP!"
His voice cracked through the night.
"Please! Stop! Stop!"
Inside the vehicle, Caleb instinctively leaned forward.
"Dad…"
Henry didn't even look toward the window.
"Keep driving."
Marcus didn't slow down.
The SUV passed the man without hesitation.
The survivor's desperate shouting faded behind them as the convoy continued down the street.
No one spoke for several seconds.
Then Benjamin finally broke the silence.
"…Where are we going?"
Henry leaned back slightly in his seat, his expression calm but cold.
"There's another property near the university district."
Iris glanced up.
'Near my school…' Iris thought, faintly remembering the day she resumed. The rumors. Seraphina. The fainting spell.
Then the realization came back to her again.
She was inside the novel.
Iris shook her head slightly, pushing those thoughts away. Not right now.
Henry continued.
"A smaller villa. We rarely use it. No public records tie it to the family."
Victoria understood immediately.
"… the one with no reporters. No paparazzi?"
Henry nodded once.
"In normal circumstances it's a privacy retreat."
Outside the window, the city continued to crumble.
"Right now," Henry finished quietly, "it's the closest thing we have to a safe location."
The convoy continued deeper into the burning city.
Behind them, the world they once knew was already disappearing.
For several minutes, the only sound inside the SUV was the steady hum of the engine.
Then someone shifted behind Iris.
A faint rustling.
She glanced back.
Daniel sat hunched slightly in his seat.
His head rested against the window, his breathing heavier than before.
Marcus noticed it too in the rearview mirror.
"You alright back there?"
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
He lifted a hand slowly and pressed it against his forehead.
"…Yeah."
His voice sounded strained.
"Just… tired."
Claire frowned. "You're sweating."
Daniel blinked slowly.
His skin looked pale under the dim interior lights.
"I'm fine," he muttered.
But his hand trembled slightly when he lowered it.
Victor glanced toward him from the opposite seat, his injured forearm still wrapped tightly with cloth.
"You sure?"
Daniel forced a small nod.
"Just adrenaline wearing off."
No one pushed the issue.
Not yet.
Outside the vehicle, another burning building came into view as they turned onto a quieter avenue.
Most of the surrounding residential blocks were dark.
Some houses stood with doors wide open.
Others had shattered windows.
Occasionally a lone figure wandered slowly across a lawn or sidewalk.
The infection was spreading.
Everywhere.
Inside the SUV, Daniel shifted again.
This time his breathing grew sharper.
A low sound escaped his throat.
Claire immediately leaned forward.
"Daniel ?"
His head jerked slightly.
"I said I'm fine…"
He stopped mid sentence.
His hand suddenly clenched around the seat.
Hard.
Marcus saw it in the mirror.
"Daniel?"
The man's breathing had become ragged now.
His chest rising and falling too quickly.
Sweat soaked through the collar of his shirt.
Then he looked up.
For the first time since the fight, everyone could clearly see his face in the dim light.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
The veins along his neck looked darker.
Almost black.
Claire's voice dropped to a whisper.
"…Marcus."
No one in the SUV spoke.
Daniel swallowed hard.
His eyes flickered.
For a brief second, the pupils looked strangely cloudy.
Like milk spreading through water.
Marcus's grip tightened on the steering wheel.
"Daniel."
The man opened his mouth to answer.
But instead of words…
A low, guttural sound escaped his throat.
The same sound every one of them had heard earlier that night.
A sound none of them could ever mistake again.
The SUV fell into dead silence.
And Daniel slowly turned his head toward them.
His eyes were no longer completely human.