The eerie silence was becoming normal. Abhi and Kriti, walking down the street with backpacks and empty bags in their hands. It felt weird; the world had become still, like a canvas, with anything that was moving having come to a halt. The air so still, almost as if it had died.
"Now that the clothing is sorted, the only other thing we need is food, essential supplies, car, and we are good to go."
"Where are we going now?" Kriti asked, strolling but clenching the bag close to her
Abhi let out a sigh. "Well, we will get everything at the supermarket down the road, and then we can just take any car that is functioning and drive out."
"Okay, so we are stacking food at the supermarket."
"Nope, not just food, the electricity will not last for much longer, so we need everything that can help us at night, and all the camping essentials are also available there."
"Wait… Why will the electricity go out?"Kriti, startled by Abhi's Remark
Abhi stared at her blankly, his eyebrows raised
"Oh!… the power plants…" Kriti's expression changed from a question mark to an exclamation.
"There you go." Abhi said with a smirk, "Now remember, take only those food items that have long expiry dates or none at all, nothing else, and I mean it."
"Can I take chocolates?"
"What did I just say not to take?"
"Perishable. Noted." Kriti leaned a little. "Not even one?"
Abhi stopped, turned to Kriti with a death stare, "We can only carry so much on our backs, so only items which are necessary for our survival should be kept. Understood?"
"The world has gone to shit, and now he's Rainman."
"Yeah… I have had dreams about this my whole life. It's a dream come true for any gamer"
"For real? This is your dream scenario?"
"Yeah, you might not agree to it since you never entertained my hobbies." Abhi rambled
"I don't think I would agree even if I did." Kriti, almost on the verge of disgust
"Well, the joke's on you, this is our reality now."
"Yeah…" Kriti looked and then darted her eyes towards Abhi's Waist. "Why are you carrying a sword, by the way?"
Abhi gave her a look in return, "First, that's not a sword it's a Katana. Second, it's a training katana meant for self-defense, and it can't cut like a sword, it's a polyester compound. Just in case we need it."
"Who is going to attack us in this abandoned world."
"You never know."
Soon enough, they arrived at the supermarket, and it was haunting. Abhi and Kriti moved like ghosts through the supermarket, their footsteps loud against the polished tile. Automatic doors still opened with a tired sigh, their mechanical obedience mocking the fact that no one was left to shop. Shopping carts were abandoned mid-aisle, some tipped over, their contents spilled like guts. Milk cartons curdled in fridges that hummed on without an audience. The lights still active but for how long?
Kriti held her breath when they passed the children's aisle, a forgotten teddy bear sitting upright in a cart seat, waiting for small hands that would never return.
Abhi, on the other hand, was focused. Backpack strapped tight, katana bouncing against his hip with every step, his eyes scanned shelves with efficiency: water bottles, canned food, instant coffee. Calories and utility, nothing else.
Kriti threw in a chocolate bar.
He raised an eyebrow.
"What?" she snapped. "It's just one."
Abhi looked at the chocolate, turned, and walked away silently.
That's when they heard the rustle.
From behind the counter, a skinny figure popped up like a jack-in-the-box, glasses askew, a backpack bulging with scavenged electronics. His hands shot up in surrender before either of them could react.
"I'm not—uh—look, I'm not stealing, okay? I mean, technically I am, but everyone's gone, right?"
Abhi rested his palm on the katana. "Relax, kid. We're not mall security."
Kriti softened her tone. "What's your name?"
"Rugved," he said. "But people call me RV."
He was maybe fifteen, nerdy in every way—awkward stance, overstuffed backpack, oversized headphones. His voice was shaky, but his eyes had the sharp, restless gleam of someone who spent more time online than outside.
"What's in the bag?" Abhi asked.
"Solar chargers, power banks, batteries. Radios still work if you know the bands. Internet's patchy, but… I can try to track signals. It's not much, but it's something."
Abhi gave him a slow nod, impressed despite himself. "Not bad. Nerds might actually be useful in the apocalypse."
Kriti side-eyed. "Really, you are the one to say?"
"What? I can give compliments" Abhi reverted in a flash
Kriti gently raised her chin and side-eyed."Sure"
RV blinked. "You… you're carrying a katana."
Abhi smirked. "Yeah."
The moment was cut short by a sound that didn't belong in a supermarket.
Metal. Dragging.
It scraped across tile like nails on glass. Kriti froze. RV's eyes went wide. Abhi instinctively unsheathed the katana.
"What is that sound?" RV almost whispered
"K, Stay behind me." Abhi dragged Kriti by his arm behind him away from the sound.
From the shadows of the freezer aisle, something emerged. Rusted plate armor clung to brittle bones. A ruined helmet tilted, revealing a hollow skull lit by two faint, unnatural blue flames. Its weapon, a chipped longsword, screeched against the ground as it moved.
An undead knight.
Kriti's voice cracked. "That… that can't be real."
Abhi's jaw tightened. "Ain't that a surprise?"
The knight charged with an inhuman screech. Shelves exploded as the sword tore through them. Abhi dodged sideways, the longsword flashing silver under flickering fluorescent lights. Abhi hurled the Katana at the metal armor plate, no effect. The knight swung another attack, Abhi dodged it, but his sleeve caught it. The fight was fast, brutal, and terrifying. The knight's swings were heavy, shattering tiles with every miss. Abhi was dodging relentlessly. He darted in, his blade slashing through rust and bone, getting into the weak spot. He nudged his sword between the ribs and swung with both his hands ripping apart the knight. It collapsed into a pile of bones and rusted steel, and his skull rolled away towards Kriti and RV. The blue light in it flickering out like a dying star.
Silence returned.
Abhi's chest heaved. His hands shook around the katana's grip. He forced himself to sheath it calmly, as though he hadn't just fought death itself in a supermarket aisle.
"See, it did come in handy," Abhi panted, standing over the bones that had turned to dust.
RV's voice was a whisper. "You… you killed it."
Abhi shook his head. "I barely survived. That's all."
Kriti's hands trembled as she reached for him. "Abhi, if these things are out here…"
He met her eyes. "Then we need weapons. Real ones. Guns, body armor, grenades, everything we can get our hands on. That will level the playing field."
"Where?" she asked.
"The army camp outside the city." He slung his bag higher. "We will find everything we need and more, hopefully."
RV swallowed hard but nodded. "That's… actually smart."
"I know, kid. You stick with us now. Okay?" Abhi sternly replied
"Yes, big bro."
They left the supermarket, stepping into streets that didn't feel like theirs anymore. The longer they walked, the more they saw the aftermath—not just of people vanishing, but of everything stopping mid-motion.
Cars had crashed, and drivers had disappeared at the wheel. One bike still leaned against a tree, engine humming, rider gone. A city bus had smashed into a divider, seats empty but still warm. A delivery bike lay broken on the pavement, its package intact, a family-sized pizza going cold in its box.
Above, the distant sky buzzed faintly. A passenger plane had fallen in the suburbs—smoke still smeared the horizon like a scar.
Kriti's breath hitched as they passed a small playground. A swing swayed gently in the wind, though no one had touched it. She grabbed Abhi's sleeve, holding tighter than she realized.
He squeezed back. "Don't look too long, K. It'll eat you alive."
RV tried to distract himself with facts, voice quick and nervous. "Power plants will hold for a while… but without workers, blackouts will spread. Food supply chains are gone. Hospitals—anyone mid-surgery just… gone. It's everyone. All just gone…"
Abhi muttered, "Guess we are on our own now. But we are not alone. You are not alone."
A car showroom sat like a shrine on the corner. Rows of polished cars gleamed untouched behind glass, spotlights frozen in eternal display.
Abhi stopped dead, eyes locking on the centerpiece: a matte black pickup truck. Its angular frame glinted like it had been waiting for him.
"Oh… she's beautiful," he whispered.
Kriti groaned. "Seriously? This is your priority?"
RV pressed his face to the glass, grinning for the first time. "That's the X-Runner. Adaptive suspension, dual-motor hybrid torque, reinforced frame. It's basically apocalypse-proof."
Abhi turned to him with a grin. "Kid, you just earned shotgun."
Kriti sighed, "Aren't we supposed to go to the army camp?"
"We… We do need a ride."
Abhi and RV walked into the showroom and went straight for the X-Runner. Sadly for them, the car was locked with no keys. They both looked disappointed.
"You guys were seriously hoping the keys would just be there." Kriti remarked like a mother being disappointed by her two kids.
She walked towards a cabin and went in. The keys sat neatly on the desk, as though fate had left them out. She came out and rang the keys like a bell. Both Abhi and RV looked at it like overgrown children, their eyes wide with excitement.
"Give me the key," Abhi replied excitedly, pulling out his hand.
"On one condition." Kriti grinned. "Do not drive it like a madman."
"I will not!" Abhi exclaimed
The engine roared alive, deep and powerful, sending echoes through the hollow street.
Kriti braced in the passenger seat, muttering, "You promised me!"
Abhi's grin widened as he slid on sunglasses he didn't even need. He turned to Kriti and adjusted the sunglasses. "Correction—I just agreed to…"
Abhi slammed on the accelerator and rammed the truck straight through the glass. The truck rolled through roads, past temples still draped in marigolds, past malls with mannequins staring blankly, past railways where trains sat frozen mid-journey.
Billboards still screamed Breaking News: REXON Labs on its way to change the world, but no one was left to believe it.
RV leaned forward between the seats, voice hushed. "That beam… it wasn't fire. No ash, no burn marks. Just light. Precision. It didn't spread like an accident—it selected people. Which means…"
Kriti glanced back nervously. "Which means what?"
RV hesitated, then said it anyway. "Which means someone meant for this to happen."
The words hung in the cab like a bad smell.
Kriti shook her head quickly, as if denial could undo it. "No. No, it was just the machine failing. An experiment gone wrong. They said it was going to change the world—no one builds something like that just to…" Her voice cracked. "…just to erase people."
Abhi's knuckles tightened around the steering wheel. His eyes stayed locked on the empty road, but his voice carried a weight that silenced both of them.
"We don't know yet."
Kriti turned toward him, stunned.
Abhi continued, jaw set.
"Look around, K. No burn marks. No rubble. Just… absence. That wasn't chaos. That was order. Controlled. Like flipping a switch."
RV nodded slowly, nervous but vindicated. "Exactly. Like someone drew a line between who stays and who doesn't."
Kriti's voice shook. "But… why us? Why would we be left?"
Abhi finally looked at her, his gaze dark, sharp. "That's the part that scares me the most. Accidents don't play favorites. So, why us?"
For a moment, no one spoke. The only sound was the growl of the pickup's engine rolling through hollow streets.
Behind them, the city was collapsing without its people.
Ahead of them lay the army camp—and the first real chance to find out more about the world remaining and get hold of something that may as well become their only chance at survival.