Up on the rooftop, the two of them kept watch over the zombie-infested campus while scrolling through the latest updates online.

Suddenly, Chris's eyes lit up. "Ethan, check this out—someone posted a video of a fight with a zombie."

Ethan leaned in. The video was on YouTube, shot from a window with a surprisingly good angle.

On screen, a man in a security guard uniform was locked in brutal combat with a zombie. He had a pistol in one hand, a baton in the other. Six zombie corpses already littered the ground around him.

The guy was tall and built—clearly someone who worked out. His pistol was out of ammo, so he was relying on the baton now. Every swing landed with a heavy, meaty thud. He wasn't holding back.

But the zombie didn't even flinch. No matter how hard the man struck, it kept lunging at him, relentless and unfeeling.

Luckily, the guard was quick on his feet. He dodged by inches, then countered with another powerful blow. The fight dragged on for over two minutes—one man, one zombie, locked in a desperate dance.

Then, two more zombies appeared, drawn by the noise.

The guard spotted them and froze for a split second—just long enough to make a fatal mistake. He turned to run, but one of the new zombies lunged and sank its teeth into his ankle.

"Ahhh—!"

His scream echoed through the video as he collapsed. The other two zombies closed in fast.

The footage cut off there—maybe the person filming panicked—but they didn't need to show the rest. Everyone could guess how it ended.

Ethan and Chris sat in silence, the weight of what they'd just seen settling over them. The world outside was far more terrifying than they'd imagined.

After a long pause, Ethan spoke, voice low. "From the looks of it, zombies aren't stronger than regular people. But they don't feel pain. They're like cockroaches you can't kill. That's the real problem."

Chris swallowed. "Ethan… we're not gonna have to fight them, are we?"

Ethan gave him a look. "What do you think? If we want to survive, we'll have to. It's kill or be eaten."

"But… I can't," Chris whispered.

Ethan sighed. "You think I can? We're just regular guys. We've never killed anyone. Most people haven't. But the world's changed. We don't get to choose anymore. We either face it… or we die."

He clapped Chris on the shoulder. "We've got a good position here. We've got time. But we have to use it to get over the fear. If we don't, when the time comes, we'll freeze—and that'll be the end."

Chris nodded, pale as a sheet. "I'll try…"

Ethan gave a small nod back. Truth was, he wasn't doing much better. He was just a college student too. The only difference was, he'd been on his own for years. He'd had to think ahead, plan for himself. And he knew—if they couldn't get past the fear, they were already dead.

He looked down again. No more signs of life. Just zombies, staggering aimlessly. Anyone still alive had gone into hiding. No one dared show themselves.

Ethan frowned. There was no way they could leave the dorm like this. But food supplies were limited. If they stayed holed up, they'd starve eventually.

"We have to find a way out of this," he muttered.

He lifted his gaze toward Patterson Hall across the way—and froze. Movement. Shadows flickering in the windows. A fight?

Bates West and Patterson Hall were far apart, too far to make out details. But Ethan had a hunch—someone over there was fighting zombies. And whoever it was, they had guts.

He squinted, trying to see more clearly—and then something strange happened. The world around him blurred, like a camera lens shifting focus. Patterson Hall zoomed in, sharpening until it was as if he were looking through a high-powered scope.

Now he could see everything.

On the sixth-floor hallway of Patterson Hall, four tall women were going to town on a group of zombies. They were armed with whatever they could grab—stools, laundry poles, even bed slats—and they were swinging hard.

From their builds, Ethan guessed they were athletes—probably from the sports department. All four looked like they were from the same dorm room, and somehow, none of them had turned. That alone was a miracle.

But what really stunned him was that they'd left their room at all. That took serious nerve.

Then again, they had a clear physical advantage. The zombies in front of them were all shorter, and the narrow hallway worked in their favor. Their makeshift weapons lashed out in a flurry, forcing the zombies back step by step.

From the way they moved, it looked like they were trying to reach another dorm room up ahead.

Ethan shook his head. Those women were being way too naive. Sure, they had makeshift weapons and the physical edge, but charging out like that? All they were doing was drawing more zombies their way. Sooner or later, they'd realize just how bad an idea that was.

And sure enough, just as Ethan predicted, the noise attracted more undead. Zombies from other dorm rooms began to stagger out, drawn by the commotion, and then broke into a full-on sprint toward the hallway.

The four women froze as the horde surged toward them. Their faces went pale. Without wasting another second, they bolted back into their room and slammed the door shut, locking it tight.

The zombies crashed into the door a moment later, pounding on it with frenzied force. The whole thing shook violently under the assault. If they didn't have something heavy braced against it, that door wasn't going to hold for long.

Ethan pulled his gaze away, but the moment he did, a wave of dizziness hit him. His vision swam, and he staggered, nearly collapsing.

Chris caught him just in time. "Ethan? What's wrong?"

Ethan steadied himself, then pointed toward Patterson Hall. "Chris, can you see what's happening over there?"

Chris gave him a baffled look. "Are you serious? It's way too far. I can barely make out the building."

Ethan nodded slowly, his mind racing.

I'm nearsighted, he thought. Not bad enough to need glasses, but still—there's no way I should've been able to see that clearly. Not from that distance. And it wasn't just clear—it was like I was right there.

That's not eyesight. That's something else.

A spark lit in his eyes.

Could it be… a special ability?

But why now? I've never noticed anything like this before. Did it just awaken last night?

Maybe this apocalypse doesn't just turn people into zombies… maybe it unlocks something else in some of us.

The idea sent a thrill through him. Superpowers had always been the stuff of movies and comics, but hell—zombies were real now. Why not abilities too?

To test it, Ethan turned his focus on Chris, narrowing his eyes.

Chris immediately squirmed under the stare. "Dude… what are you doing?"

He shifted uncomfortably, then instinctively covered his crotch with both hands, like he was being scanned by an airport X-ray.

"Relax," Ethan said with a grin. "It's not like I haven't seen it before."

But inside, he was practically buzzing. He'd only meant to test his vision again, but what he discovered was something else entirely—he could see through things.

X-ray vision.

The holy grail of teenage daydreams. And now, somehow, it was his.

Even for someone as level-headed as Ethan, the excitement was hard to contain. He kept staring at Chris, pushing the ability further, trying to see just how deep it went.

Then suddenly, his expression shifted—his eyes widened, and his face went pale.

He'd just seen something he absolutely hadn't expected.

...

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