He reached the rooftop, looking out over the city. The ReiHook pinged, highlighting a rare boss a mile away. Elias felt his fingers twitch, the script already calculating the path of least resistance.

He wasn't sure if he was surviving the apocalypse anymore, or if he was just the most efficient program left running in it.

To the other survivors in the safe zone, Elias was a legend—the man who never missed, the scavenger who always found the pristine medicine in the most dangerous loots spots. They didn't see the cost.

Every time the ReiHook ran, the world felt less real. The zombies weren't monsters anymore; they were just hitboxes. The survivors weren't people; they were just stationary NPCs. The "Hook" was pulling him out of reality, anchoring him to a version of Fairview that was nothing more than numbers and code.

The rain in Fairview didn’t wash away the grime; it just turned the blood and soot into a slick, black sludge. Elias adjusted his gas mask, the filter whistling with every ragged breath. Outside the boarded windows of the Haverbrook Apartments, the "Grey" were moaning—a sound like dry leather tearing.