[Palm – Rooftop – 8:15 a.m.]
No one speaks.
Not about Kao.
Not about Dean.
Not even about Lin.
It feels like if we open our mouths, the weight of all of it will crush us.
[8:20 a.m.]
Best finally moves. He paces like a caged animal, muttering curses under his breath.
Win sits with his head in his hands.
Namtan presses herself against the far wall, as if even the rooftop railing can protect her from what she just saw.
And Kao—
Kao hasn't moved since Dean jumped.
She just stares at the spot where his body should've been.
Like she already knows he isn't lying broken down there.
[8:25 a.m.]
"I don't get it," Win whispers, his voice raw. "I don't get any of it. Lin's gone. Dean's—Dean's not Dean. And Kao's…"
He doesn't finish.
No one does.
Because if we say it out loud, it makes it real.
Best stops pacing and spins on Kao.
"You knew,"
he snaps.
"You knew about Dean, didn't you?"
Kao's lips part, but no words come out. For the first time, she looks… small.
Human.
And that scares me even more.
[8:32 a.m.]
I swallow hard, forcing words through the knot in my throat.
"Arguing won't change what just happened. We need to… we need to think. About what Dean said. About who this 'Him' is."
Best growls low, frustrated.
But he doesn't argue this time. Maybe even he feels it—that invisible noose tightening around us.
[8:40 a.m.]
The air shifts.
It takes me a moment to notice it, but when I do, my stomach drops.
Not silence.
Not anymore.
Moans.
Low. Rising.
Coming from below.
[8:42 a.m.]
I stagger to the edge of the rooftop. My hands shake as I look down.
The street is alive.
No—not alive. Wrong word.
It's moving.
Dozens. Maybe hundreds.
The dead swarm the ground floor, their bodies pressing against each other, clawing at walls, piling over broken glass and cars like insects spilling from a hive.
They weren't here before.
So why now?
[8:45 a.m.]
"Shit,"
Win hisses, pulling up beside me. His knuckles go white on the railing.
"It's starting again."
"Not starting," I mutter, throat dry. "It never ended."
Best curses under his breath.
Namtan lets out a soft sob.
Kao finally turns from the edge where Dean vanished.
Her voice is calm. Too calm.
"They're coming again."
[8:50 a.m.]
The sound below grows louder—snapping jaws, dragging nails, the wet grind of hunger.
I can't look away.
Lin's sacrifice. Dean's words. Kao's truth.
And now this.
For one night, we thought we had peace.
We thought we could sit by a fire, tell stories, remember who we were.
But the dead don't care.
The dead never rest.
And maybe—
Maybe neither can we.
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