"Three minutes from now, the people around you will turn into zombies."

Luna Foster stared at the text, half-laughing—what a typical prank. That zombie doomsday meme had been everywhere lately. Tons of influencers were jumping on the trend. She replied without thinking: "Kayla? Or is it Holly? Trying to mess with me again? April Fools came early this year?"

But just as she hit send, the office lights above her flickered. Her heartbeat skipped a beat.

Her coworker, Anna Carter, glanced up too. "Weird... When was the last time we had a blackout in K City? What’s going on?"

Luna was a 22-year-old intern at a tech startup, and overtime was just part of life by now. It was 6 p.m.—already dark out since it was early winter. The sky looked heavy, like it would rain at any moment. The tree outside the window swayed against the night, casting twisted shadows like some creepy monster from a bedtime horror story.

She wasn’t usually that jumpy, but when Anna turned to look at her, Luna froze.

Anna’s face was pale—too pale—and her eyes looked vacant and stiff. Luna’s gaze dropped to Anna’s fingers. Her nails were taking on a weird bluish tint.

Anna leaned in a bit, frowning at Luna’s dazed expression. "Luna? What are you spacing out for? Better snap out of it before the director starts snapping at you."

The smell that hit Luna made her stomach turn—like something rotten. She shot out of her seat.

Around the office, people turned to look. No one had a clue what had gotten into her.

"I’m not feeling well. Heading home first. Can you tell the director for me?" she said, grabbing her bag without looking back.

Anna blinked, clearly baffled. "What? You seemed fine just now. Young people these days really are delicate... Look at me, got bitten by a dog yesterday, still came to work after a rabies shot! Hey! You better hope Director doesn’t fire you!"

Luna was already at the office door when that last comment reached her. “Fired? Whatever. I quit!”

Her heart was racing like crazy.

Pulling out her phone after stepping outside, she saw it had been exactly two minutes since she got that message. Thank god the company was only on the third floor. She didn’t hesitate—noped out down the stairs.

No way was she risking the elevator with the lights acting up. Getting stuck now would mean one thing: canned zombie food.

She basically flew down to the ground floor. Just as she made it outside, a blood-curdling scream pierced the air from above. Her hands started shaking.

All around her, other people jumped at the sound.

"Holy crap, what was that?!"

"Someone ready to jump? Work stress too much again?"

"God, that was scary. Let’s get out of here!"

…

Luna’s grip tightened around her phone. It buzzed—exactly three minutes. She didn’t dare look up. Just swiped out of the tech park as fast as she could.

The moment she left the building area, she scanned a rental bike and pedaled like her life depended on it. Because honestly? It probably did.

No way she was getting on a bus or train now.

She kept checking her phone—no new texts, but signal was spotty.

She tried messaging all her closest friends to warn them.

None of it sent.

That’s when she knew—this wasn’t a joke.

The end was coming. The storm was just beginning.She pedaled like her life depended on it, thankful that at least the people on the streets still looked normal.

After about twenty minutes, Luna Foster finally made it back to her community. That let her breathe a little easier, but she didn’t waste a second. Before heading upstairs, she pushed open the door to the biggest supermarket near the gate, yanked a cart over, and started grabbing stuff like her life depended on it.

Milk, bread, instant noodles, chocolate, and every high-calorie, super-sweet drink she could get her hands on.

Her brain wasn’t really functioning at this point. Everything felt hazy, her nerves were strung tight like piano wires. She was basically running on pure survival instinct, moving on autopilot.

By the time her cart was packed to the brim, Mrs. Smith, one of the supermarket workers, came over and commented with concern, “Hey sweetheart, are you okay? You don’t look too good. Bad day? And why aren’t you working late tonight?”

Luna often stopped by the supermarket after work, so the staff kind of recognized her.

“Huh? Oh… yeah. Just kinda in a bad mood, figured I’d pig out a little,” she said, forcing a smile and trying to sound casual. “Oh right, you guys do delivery, right? Can you send ten cases of bottled water to Building A, eighth floor? Just put them in the elevator.”

Mrs. Smith nodded, but looked puzzled. “Ten cases? Girl, what are you doing with all that water? How long’s that gonna last you?”

Luna kept grabbing canned meat while replying, “Too lazy to keep shopping. Got fired today, so I’ll be busy job hunting starting tomorrow. No time for groceries.”

That got Mrs. Smith all sympathetic. “Ay, poor kids these days, the stress’s brutal. Alright then, I’ll write it up for you in a bit, just remember to come pay. But sweetheart, don’t just go bingeing on all this junk food! That stuff’s rough on your stomach, especially when you’re feeling down.”

Hearing her speak with such kindness hit Luna right in the feels. She was adopted, and after the elderly couple passed away, their home was torn down. She’d only been living in this neighborhood for less than a year. Getting comforted by a virtual stranger like this—it really got to her.

Her lips parted a few times, but in the end, she still didn’t say a word about the whole zombie thing.

Not that she had real proof the apocalypse was actually coming, anyway.

So, she just quietly followed Mrs. Smith to pay. The woman even helped pack everything neatly and walked her all the way to the elevator.

With her supplies and ten cases of water loaded, Luna stepped in. Right before the doors closed, she could still hear the security guard chatting with Mrs. Smith.

“Hey there, doing deliveries again, huh? What’s with that girl buying so much?”

“Sigh, got the boot at work and she’s feeling low. Says she's too lazy to buy water later since job hunting starts tomorrow. Young folks these days shop away their stress. Not like us old timers who had to count every dime.”

“Haha, true that.”

After the elevator doors shut, Luna made it to the eighth floor. In a rush, she dumped out all the stuff, slammed the elevator shut, and hauled the supplies into her apartment.

Finally back in a familiar space, she could breathe a little. She crashed onto the couch, the ceiling light glaring right into her eyes. She shut them, hoping to calm down and take a breath before sorting the piles of stuff by the door. But as soon as she closed her eyes, something felt off.

Like she was hallucinating.

Out of nowhere, she saw this crazy Rubik’s cube spinning in her mind—it wasn’t even a normal one, but some hyper-complicated, multi-faceted version with endless faces.

Spinning so fast it made her dizzy.

Next thing she knew, Luna was gagging and nearly puked from the vertigo.