Aiden stared at his phone screen, heart pounding.
Wasted PotentialYou let a future ally vanish.Try harder not to waste what could be.
His stomach dropped.
"Foolish creature…"The monster's words echoed again. It wasn't random—it remembered. It knew something. Maybe it even remembered him between loops.
That night, Aiden made a decision.
He sat next to the girl—the one person he knew was still alive with him this time.
She shifted, clearly uncomfortable.
"Do you really have to sit right next to me, you creep?" she muttered.
Aiden gave a slight smile. "No. I was just… charmed by your beauty."
She blinked. Froze. Then blushed—but didn't say a word.
When Aiden reached for the soup bowl, she didn't stop him. Didn't even react. She just sat there, red-faced.
Soup spilled slightly from the trembling bowl in her hands.
"Careful," Aiden whispered, gently guiding her hand. "Wouldn't want to waste this."
He offered a soft smile. She looked away, even redder than before.
That night, she laid down, back turned.
Aiden quietly slid next to her, slowly wrapping his arms around her. She didn't move. Didn't sleep.
By sunrise, her eyes were puffy and tired.
"You awake?" Aiden asked. "Your snoring sounded kinda nice."
She bolted up, flustered. "A-a-a-alright, I'm going to go hunting now!"
But before she could go, Aiden stood and hugged her from behind.
"Please don't go. I… I don't know what'll happen to me if something happens to you."
She hesitated.
And then nodded.
That morning, grief struck.
Karen's child had passed in his sleep—his sickness left untreated for too long. The mother cried all day. No one could comfort her.
That night, hunger woke Aiden early. He walked deep into the woods, searching. Eventually, he found a patch of wild mushrooms. He licked one.
Extremely bitter.Perfect.
He cooked them into soup and drank two bowls. Oddly satisfying.
One bowl left.
"This shouldn't go to waste."
He gently woke the girl. She gave him a confused glance, but drank the soup without asking.
By morning, Karen was gone too—dehydrated from nonstop crying.
And day by day every single other survivor died either by starvation or simply depression.
And now only Aiden and the girl remained.
Days passed.Then weeks.Then months.
They hunted by day, sat by firelight at night. They depended on each other. Became close. Maybe even… something more.
Four months of silence and survival passed.
But one night, everything changed.
The fire had burned out.
Aiden woke to the sound of something stepping closer. The air turned colder. He turned toward the dark woods…
And saw something standing just beyond the edge of the light.
Its that same monster with antlers that has being haunting them...
Before he knows it the monster picked up the girl and torn her apart infront of aiden
Aiden is horrified at the heart wrenching scene happening in front of him
Then came his turn.
Aiden's breath was shallow. His eyes wide.
He stood at the edge of the campfire clearing—again.
The same crackling flames. The same cold forest surrounding them. But this time, something was different.
He turned around slowly.
The pilots—alive, chatting quietly beside the fire.The man he once dragged into the forest—laughing awkwardly, dusting his hands.Even the girl—calmly stirring a pot of something warm, her expression unreadable.
It was as if nothing ever happened.
But Aiden knew better.
His phone buzzed. The screen glowed:
You've surprised us with your performance.Here's a gift for you.
And below the message:
Gift Unlocked: LOST UNITS RESTOREDSome things, once lost, may return… for now.
Aiden stared at the message, speechless.
"They were dead," he whispered to himself. "I saw them die. I lived months without them."
He took a few steps forward.
The man—whose head had once been severed—smiled and gave a small wave. "Yo. You good? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Aiden didn't answer. His eyes shifted to the pilots. The girl. All alive. Reset like pieces on a board.
He looked back at his phone.
Game #4: COMPLETE.Next game begins soon.
He sat down slowly beside the fire, still shaken, but now filled with a new kind of fear.
They were back.But for how long?
And more importantly…What exactly is this game playing at?