Zain had lost the sense of time. He had no clue how long he had been in that room, bound to the chair. His head was looking down at the floor, staring at his feet, both tied to the chair legs.

‘I messed up. Once again. Even though I was only trying to do the right thing over and over.’ Zain thought to himself. While staring down, a memory flashed in his head, and images of a dark room appeared in his mind, just that it was much smaller than the current one.

His legs weren’t tied, although they were much smaller. It didn’t take long for him to reckon that he was in his much younger self.

“Just stay in here, hero.” A voice resonated inside his head, and the door knob’s clicking sound came as if someone had closed the door. “Try and get yourself out of this one if you want to help her.”

The younger Zain struggled as he tried to get out of the chair. Muffled screams could be heard as he tried with all his strength to get out, and then there was a strange sight. Blood slowly crept from below the door, spreading across the room as it got closer to his feet.

His heart began to beat rapidly, his whole body was sweating, and his wrists were bleeding as he continued to struggle._.

“What is that?! Get away!” Strange voices appeared in his ear but seemed different from the voice from before. The voice from before had resounded in his head, whereas this one sounded as if it was not far from him but just on the other side of the door.

Zain frowned and blinked a few times. Just then, the entire room changed. He found himself in the storage room again, with his heartbeat calm, he wasn’t sweating, and his legs looked like they were the normal size again.

‘That voice…was that Skittle?’ Zain thought. ‘Am I losing my mind, or is it really him?’

He pulled his head forward and tried to listen carefully. Soon, he could hear several voices and the sound of the familiar grunt from the undead creatures, the Zombies.

‘What are you doing, Zain…why is that nightmare repeating itself? You are not the same person you were once. You got yourself out of that situation on your own but failed to get someone else.’ Zain thought. ‘I won’t let that happen again.’

Looking up and staring at the door, Zain was determined to get out of the room. He couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. If he knew his friends, they most likely had woken up and come here looking for him, and now it sounded like they were in trouble.

Using whatever force Zain could build up, he started to twist his body. There was a slight movement in his feet, and perhaps a normal human wouldn’t have been able to do anything, but Zain could.

From the little strength in his toes, Zain continued to twist his body and push off, turning the chair slightly. He continued to do this until his body was now facing a completely different direction.

That was when Zain started using his toes again to push himself off the floor. His chair rocked backwards slightly, and then leaning forward and back, he began to build momentum.

He continued this, and the chair’s hind legs were eventually the only thing touching the ground, and when the chair rocked forward, just as he was about to fall, he used all the strength in his toes to push himself off.

It allowed for Zain to head straight into the shelves of the storage room, and his face and whole body crashed into them, causing several tools and all sorts of equipment to fall off the ground.

Zain was now lying on the floor but still bound to the chair, although he had his fingers slightly free. He reached behind him, looking for anything that could be useful. He picked up the first thing that felt like a screwdriver. He tried to twist his wrist and began chafing it on the rope.

‘Come on!!! Come on!!! Work!!! Let me out. If I don’t get out there in time, the same thing will happen again!’ Unsure if the screwdriver was working, he threw it away and started to reach around for something else. The next thing he touched was sharp and thin. If he was to guess, it felt like a piece of glass that had broken from the fall.

Holding it tightly, he started to use it on the rope. He could feel liquid falling from his hand, which was most likely blood, but there was no pain, and Zain didn’t care because his mind was focused on just one thing.

‘Come on break! Cut it! Cut the damn rope!’ At that moment, he could finally feel the tension decrease as one of the ropes snapped, and now there were only a few more to go.

With the reduced tension, Zain could work on it a lot quicker. He had more movement, and it didn’t take long for Zain to completely free himself from the chair.

The first thing he did was grab a mop from the corner and kick its end off with his feet to snap it and create a sharp-pointed pole.

‘It isn’t as good as my other weapons, but it will do.’ Zain thought.

As he walked towards the door and put his hand on the doorknob, he thought about his earlier vision. ‘That voice…I thought I had forgotten about it.’

Then clearing his thoughts, he pulled the door knob towards himself and broke the lock.

As soon as he walked out, Zain saw the open freezer door, and there was a dead body in the freezer. It was unrecognisable, but a familiar suit was on the body, which made Zain quickly realise who it was.

‘I knew he would be the one to cause all of this trouble. I should have acted on my instincts…but I wanted to test a few things with Barbara.’

Just then, two system prompts appeared in front of him.

[Warning: A stage 2 Evolved Zombie has appeared]

[New quest received: Survive]

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