The eagles dive. Metal beaks like battering rams, talons like guillotine blades.

  Screams erupt—raw, panicked. Someone trips. Someone begs. Neither will matter in ten seconds.

  I don’t look back. I can’t look back.

  Their shrieks rattle my skull, vibrating down my spine. The wind from their wings slams into my back like a hurricane, stealing my breath.

  I run. Hard. Fast. Sprinting like my life depends on it—because it does.

  The forest looms ahead. Close. Not close enough.

  Ten feet.

  Five.

  Three.

  One—

  I throw myself forward, diving behind the first tree I see. Overshoot. Hit the dirt. Momentum sends me sliding down the incline, leaves and mud scraping past. My ribs slam into a root, but I don’t stop.

  Not yet.

  I claw forward, scrambling on all fours, dragging myself deeper into the cover of the trees. A second later, something massive crashes behind me—talons carving trenches into the earth where my head used to be.

  No time to breathe. No time to think.

  Run!

  I tear through the forest, branches clawing at my arms, roots reaching to trip me. I don’t count the trees. I don’t check if anyone else made it. The only thing that matters is putting as much distance as possible between me and those metal nightmares.

  Leaves crunch. Wind howls. Something crashes behind me, but I don’t look back.

  My legs burn. My lungs are fire.

  Still, I run.

  Until I can’t.

  The ground tilts. I slide down a slope, slam into the base of a thick tree. My back smacks the bark, hard enough to shake my spine.

  For a second, everything is still.

  I breathe in. Shaky. Raw.

  I breathe out.

  Not a minute ago, I was screaming—where are the monsters?

  Well, here they are. And if those eagles are just the first, I don’t want to know what comes next.

  My fingers curl into the dirt. The cold, damp earth feels real. Too real.

  “30 days, huh,” I mutter, breath ragged. That’s just to survive one floor.

  How many floors are there?

  How many levels to this nightmare?

  I swallow hard. My head thumps back against the tree, the weight of it all pressing down.

  I… I am really in a fantasy world.

  After everything I’ve been through—harassed, wrongfully accused, abandoned—I never thought even my own world would spit me out like garbage.

  What, was existing too much for them? Couldn’t even stand to share the same air as me?

  My jaw clenches. My hands shake. The weight in my chest swells, tightens, snaps.

  “Fuck you, world!” I scream, voice raw, jabbing a finger at the sliver of sky peeking through the thick foliage.

  The trees don’t answer. The wind doesn’t care.

  This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it?

  And it’ll get the better of me if I don’t start acting against it.

  I push off the tree, legs still shaky, lungs still burning. Doesn’t matter.

  I scan the forest. Sharp branches. Rocks. Anything I can use.

  I need a plan. I need a weapon.

  “HELP ME!”

  The desperate cry cuts through the chaos, barely louder than the shrieks of the metal eagles.

  I know that voice.

  The woman with the purple eyes. Is she injured?

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  I climb up, scanning the trees. Where?

  There. Left side. She’s crouched behind a thick trunk. Not bleeding. Not hurt. Just paralyzed in fear.

  “Somebody help me! My grandma, she’s stuck!”

  Oh. It’s for the granny.

  I shake my head. That’s a terrible way to go.

  At least she lived her life.

  Still… she didn’t deserve it—

  None of them did.

  They’re all here because their world spat them out, same as me. Kicked to the curb like yesterday’s trash.

  “Fuck you again, world,” I mutter, flipping the sky off for good measure.

  Then I grit my teeth and run toward the woman, keeping low, keeping careful.

  I crash against the tree right across from her. She doesn’t hear me. Just keeps screaming.

  “Shut up. I’m here,” I say.

  She freezes. Turns to me, teary-eyed.

  “My grandma—”

  “I know,” I cut her off. No time for a breakdown.

  I peek out into the open.

  Twenty feet ahead, the old lady lies face-first in the dirt. Not dead. Her back moves, her hand curls, struggling to free the dog’s leash trapped beneath her.

  The dog tugs at her sleeve, whining, trying to get her up. But she’s got nothing left.

  They don’t deserve this. Neither of them.

  And I’ll make sure the world sees it.

  I take a deep breath. Steady my pulse. Then glance up—past the woman, past the carnage—

  Wait.

  There is no carnage. Not even a stain of red.

  What?

  I frown, eyes snapping to the eagles. They’ve stopped attacking. They’re… playing?

  One nightmare bird swoops down, grabs a screaming guy, and soars back up. He should be in pieces—those scythe-like talons should’ve carved him apart. But he stays whole.

  They have that much control? Or… are those talons not metal?

  My thoughts slam to a stop as the eagle lets him go—just drops him from at least a few hundred feet.

  “No…” The word catches in my throat. I look away. No saving—

  Another bird snatches him mid-air.

  Flies high. Drops him again.

  Then another catches him.

  And another.

  The cycle keeps going.

  My mouth hangs open. What the fuck?

  At least half a dozen people are in the air, tossed between four of the birds like playthings. Some still conscious. Some out cold.

  And more are scattered across the ground. Still breathing. Just passed out.

  I count. Nine.

  So barely half of us made it to safety.

  Come on. You can’t survive like that.

  “My grandma,” the woman whimpers again.

  “Yes, yes,” I say, snapping my eyes back to her. I’ll go get her. But first—

  I need to wrap my head around this.

  Why are they playing with their food? Arrogance? Some kind of fear tactic?

  Like Vivian told them not to kill us outright—just scare the shit out of us.

  That… is smart.

  Because it’s working.

  I’m scared to go out.

  If they see me as someone who doesn’t fear them, will they come for me? Tear me apart instead of playing?

  Shit! My knuckles go white, fists clenched so tight they might break. What the fuck do I do?

  If they grab the granny, she’s dead. Instantly. Her bones won’t handle the force.

  Neither will mine—

  But I can’t let her die.

  Can’t let the world have its way.

  It wants me to fear. To lie down. To accept death like it’s some inevitable truth. That’s why it sent me here.

  Oh, no, no. I won’t die. I refuse to die.

  I won’t let you have the final laugh, world.

  Those people. Their collective fucking consciousness doesn’t get to decide my fate.

  “They can go eat shit!” I snarl—then bolt.

  Straight into the open.

  I rush, but keep an eye on the sky.

  No eagles notice me. They’re too busy.

  Good.

  I slide to a stop beside Granny. First, I yank the strap free, then push the dog away. “Run, boy,” I say. The woman behind the tree gestures frantically for it.

  “…Girl,” the old lady grumbles.

  I roll my eyes, shove the unwilling dog farther. “Go on, girl. Run.”

  She doesn’t. I give up.

  “Come on, Grandma.” I grip her arms and try to pull her up.

  Dead weight.

  “Leave me,” she mutters.

  “Oh, I can’t,” I say, adjusting my grip.

  One grunt, one heave, and I get her off the ground. Sling both her arms over my shoulders, her body on my back.

  Ready.

  Run.

  Not five steps in—

  “Look out!” The purple-eyed woman’s scream tears through the air, her finger pointing past me.

  I don’t need to look. The massive shadow swallowing me whole is enough.

  “Come ON!” I roar, pouring everything into my legs.

  I lean forward, every muscle screaming, every instinct yelling too slow, too slow, too slow—

  I shut my eyes and run like hell.

  The wind howls. The ground trembles. Something huge slams down behind me, close enough that I feel the impact in my ribs.

  The trees—just ahead—almost there—

  I dive.

  Hit the dirt hard.

  Granny lands on top of me, knocking the breath clean out of my lungs.

  Pain flares up my arms, my side—hell, everywhere—but I flip over anyway, gasping, eyes locked on the sky.

  Middle finger up.

  See that. I didn’t die.

  A rustling beside me. Then a grumble. “Hmph. Could’ve dropped me… gently.”

  I turn my head, still panting. Narrow my eyes.

  “Buzz off, old hag.”

  .

  .

  .

  I lean against the trunk behind me.

  Breath still ragged.

  Body still a hell of a mess.

  Can’t remember the last time I ran like that. Probably back in college. And that was—what—six years ago?

  Yeah. My body needs some serious work if I’m gonna survive this hellhole.

  I glance at Granny.

  She’s across from me. Looking… way too good for someone who just played dead weight.

  Was she faking it just to get carried?

  Nah. She’s smiling because her dog is frantically licking her face.

  Yeah.

  Her granddaughter—the one who looks nothing like her, different facial features, different eye color—sits beside her, checking for wounds.

  And me? The guy who just risked his ass for them?

  Nope. No concern. No thank you.

  People are selfish.

  Not that I did it for them.

  I did it for me.

  “Yup,” I mutter, letting my head rest against the trunk. A little less tension in my muscles now.

  Then I look up—and see it.

  The eagles… they’re leaving.

  I straighten.

  One by one, they drop people off. Not tossing them. Sliding them down.

  Just… finishing the scare job.

  That proves it. They were never here to slaughter. Just to terrify.

  They follow orders.

  Not wild beasts. Something worse.

  Once the last person is down, one of the eagles turns its head toward the forest. Just for a second. Like it’s checking.

  Then it flies back toward the tower.

  The rest follow.

  And just like that, they’re gone.

  Leaving behind a field littered with unconscious, bruised bodies.

  Not a second later, the few who hid—one guy climbing a tree, hauling a duck and a cat with him—start coming out.

  Are they stupid? I think at first. There could be more dangers.

  Then I get it.

  Scattering in the forest isn’t saving anyone. Strength in numbers.

  Only together can we actually do something.

  Maybe finish that side-quest.

  Activate the System. Awaken.

  Awaken what, exactly?

  No idea.

  Guess I’ll find out soon.

  And so I plant my hands, grit my teeth, and push myself up.

  God, it hurts.