Absolute silence.

It was the most precious luxury I'd ever known.

I took stock of my supplies in the recording studio: thirty cans of food, twenty bottles of water, a water purifier, and enough energy bars for a week.

There was also Grandpa’s old whiskey and a first-aid kit stocked with every medicine imaginable.

Best of all, deep in a storage locker, I found a full surveillance monitoring station and a pair of noise-canceling headphones.

My Bio-Stasis drastically reduced my needs.

Normally, this food would last four days. For me, it would last two weeks.

Cheers thundered from above.

"Zombie shooting contest starts now!" Sarah's voice was shrill. "Whoever gets the most kills is today's MVP!"

Gunshots rained down.

"Twelve!"

"Fifteen!"

"I'm at twenty already!"

Every shot was followed by wild laughter and screams.

They were treating the end of the world like a carnival.

The rock music from the speakers got faster, the bass so heavy the whole estate seemed to shake.

"This isn't exciting enough!" Chloe's voice announced. "I have a surprise for you all!"

On the monitor, I watched her reach into what looked like an ordinary handbag and start pulling things out.

One by one, military-grade weapons appeared.

"Holy hell!" Marcus gasped. "Where did you get those?"

"The perks of a Pocket Dimension!" Chloe said proudly. "I cleaned out the family armory!"

She kept pulling them out: assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, even a couple of rocket launchers.

"Now we're talking!" David shouted, grabbing for an assault rifle. "Give me one!"

"Wait." Chloe's smile vanished. She pulled the arsenal behind her. "This is valuable equipment. And I will manage it."

"What do you mean?" James frowned.

"I mean," Chloe lifted her chin, "I decide who gets what. It's my talent. My supplies. My call."

The air went still.

"Are you kidding me?" Sarah's voice turned sharp. "We're a team!"

"Exactly, we're a team," Chloe said sweetly. "And as the quartermaster, it's my job to distribute resources properly."

"Who made you quartermaster?" Marcus grumbled.

"Because I'm the only one who can put them back in the pocket," Chloe said, as if it were obvious. "If we need to move fast, scattered weapons will just slow us down."

"That's bullshit!" David coughed, his voice hoarse. "Why do you get to decide?"

"David, you okay?" Liam asked, noticing his cough.

"I'm fine!" David snapped, but his eyes were losing focus. "I just want a decent damn gun!"

He lunged, trying to rip the rifle from Chloe's grasp.

"Get your hands off my stuff!" Chloe shrieked, yanking it back.

David's movements turned violent.

His eyes started to turn bloodshot as he growled, reaching for her.

"David!" Several people jumped in, holding him back.

"Let go of me! Let go!" David thrashed wildly, his strength shocking. "I want the gun! Give me the gun!"

On his neck, the dark red veins grew more prominent.

"What's wrong with him?" Sarah backed away in fear.

"Could be the alcohol," Liam said, trying to stay calm. "David, listen to me. Take a deep breath."

Strangely, Liam's calm voice seemed to work. David slowly stopped struggling.

He blinked, the wild look in his eyes fading.

"I... what just happened?" David looked around, confused.

"You got too excited," Liam said, patting his shoulder. "Go rest for a bit."

"Probably just exhausted from all the fighting," Marcus said, giving him an out. "We all need a break."

"Yeah, just tired." David nodded and walked toward a sofa.

But I saw it clearly on the monitor. As he turned, a flicker of something alien flashed in his eyes.

The virus was waking up inside him.

During the chaos, Chloe had already stashed all the weapons back in her Pocket Dimension.

"See? This is why we need centralized management," she said, patting her handbag smugly. "When emotions run high, anyone can do something dangerous."

The others looked at each other but finally gave in.

After all, no one could take that pocket from her.

The music started again, but it wasn't as loud this time.

David's sudden outburst had put everyone on edge.

I muted the family channel, put on my noise-canceling headphones, and pulled up a silent film I'd downloaded onto a tablet.

Black and white pictures. No sound.

This was the world I needed.

I was woken up at midnight by a scream.

Not a zombie's roar from outside, but from inside the main house.

I flipped on the monitors.

David was standing in the middle of the living room, but he wasn't David anymore.

His skin was a dead grey, his eyes completely clouded over, and black fluid drooled from his mouth.

Worst of all, the dark red veins now covered his entire face.

Sarah was screaming in a corner.

"Help! Help me! David's turned into a monster!"

The others rushed out from their rooms and froze.

"That's impossible!" Marcus stammered. "He wasn't bitten!"

The zombified David let out a beastly roar and lunged for the closest person, Emma.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gunshots exploded indoors, the echoes deafening in the enclosed space.

Emma was firing, but her hands were shaking so badly that bullets flew everywhere.

"Stop! Don't fire inside!" Liam yelled.

Too late.

The chain reaction of gunshots and screams was instant.

James suddenly clutched his head, groaning in pain. "My head... it hurts so bad..."

His eyes began to turn bloodshot. The same dark red veins appeared on his neck.

"Another one!" Linda shrieked. "James is infected too!"

"Infected? How?" Marcus shook his head frantically. "No one was bitten!"

BANG! BANG!

More gunshots.

In the panic, everyone was firing.

Bullets ricocheted around the room. Screams and gunfire blended into a symphony from hell.

"Cease fire! Everyone, cease fire!" Liam tried to regain control.

But no one could hear him. The noise was too loud.

Fueled by the frantic noise, more people started showing symptoms.

Sarah's eyes turned red.

Marcus started coughing violently.

Linda stumbled into a wall.

"Weapons! Give us weapons!" someone yelled at Chloe. "Give us the guns!"

"The guns are useless!" Chloe screamed back. "Look at them! They're all turning into monsters!"

"You!" Emma suddenly pointed a finger at Chloe, her voice dripping with venom. "This is all your fault!"

"What?" Chloe stared, stunned.

"You hoarded all the weapons!" Emma accused wildly. "If we had good guns from the start, David wouldn't have turned!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Chloe shot back.

"Of course it does!" Marcus joined in. "You selfishly stockpiled everything! We didn't have enough firepower to protect ourselves!"

"You're all insane!" Chloe clutched her handbag. "These weapons are mine!"

"You're still thinking about yourself at a time like this?" Sarah screamed. "We're going to die! We're all going to die!"

The argument grew louder, more vicious.

Just then, the air shimmered.

Liam appeared out of thin air, clutching a blood-soaked Emma.

"I've got her!" he panted. "The teleport works!"

But Emma was thrashing in his arms, letting out an ear-splitting scream.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

Her shriek was louder than anything before.

The air shimmered again, and Liam teleported with her to another corner.

But Emma's screaming didn't stop. It grew more hysterical.

"I want out! I want out!"

Every time Liam teleported, Emma's screams grew wilder.

And with every scream, the symptoms in the others worsened.

Liam realized what was happening, but it was too late.

With every "rescue," he was just making things worse. He wasn’t a savior. He was a catalyst. His teleports, Emma's shrieks, their own panicked screams—it was a symphony of death, and he was its conductor.

"Stop! Liam! Stop teleporting!" Chloe yelled in desperation.

But Liam was exhausted. He collapsed on the floor.

His teleport ability had a limit, and he had reached it.

The chaos in the house hit its peak.

Gunshots, screams, roars, arguments—all the sounds mixed together into a hell of pure noise.

I glanced at the decibel meter on my monitor.

The needle was slamming into the red.

80... 90... 100...

The warning light flashed like a rave.

And on my other screen, the green dots of my family's life signs blinked out.

One. By. One.

Day three.

"Is anyone alive? Please, answer me!"

The voice came from the family channel, filled with terror and despair.

It was Aunt Linda, but she sounded nothing like the elegant woman she used to be.

"I'm in the wine cellar! Is anyone else alive?"

"Me too!" Uncle Marcus's voice trembled. "But I can hear monsters all over the place!"

I watched the carnage inside the house on my monitors.

Bodies were strewn across the living room, the carpet stained a deep brown with blood.

The family members who had been laughing and chatting just days ago were now either shambling monsters or lifeless corpses.

Only four were still alive, hiding in the wine cellar.

Linda, Marcus, and two of my younger cousins, Kevin and Tom.

"Where's Liam?" Kevin's voice was young and terrified. "What about his teleport ability?"

"He passed out!" Marcus answered. "He used it too many times. He's completely exhausted!"

"What do we do now?" Tom sobbed. "We're going to die in here!"

Muffled sobs came from the cellar.

"What is happening?" Linda asked, breaking down. "Why are people turning without being bitten?"

"It's because someone was infected from the start!" a sharp voice suddenly cut in.

Chloe.

She was still alive.

"What do you mean?" Marcus asked urgently.

"Think about it!" Chloe's voice was laced with a hysterical paranoia. "David was the first to turn, but he was acting weird before that! He must have been infected all along and spread it to the others!"

"But he didn't have any wounds," Kevin said weakly.

"Who knows?" Chloe retorted. "Maybe he got scratched while he was on patrol outside! Maybe the wound was too small to see!"

"What about the others?" Tom asked. "Why did Emma and James also..."

"Because David infected them!" Chloe interrupted. "This virus must spread in a way we don't understand!"

"Are you saying..." Marcus's voice was filled with dread.

"I'm saying the infection is already in this room!" Chloe shrieked. "One of us is a ticking time bomb!"

The wine cellar went silent.

Then it erupted into a furious argument.

"You're crazy!" Linda said angrily. "None of us have symptoms!"

"Not now, but that doesn't mean you won't!" Chloe shot back. "David looked normal right before he turned!"

"By your logic, you're a suspect too!" Kevin shouted.

"Me?" Chloe's voice got even sharper. "I've been with everyone the whole time! And I have weapons to protect myself!"

"The weapons again!" Marcus exploded. "You're still hung up on those damn weapons!"

"If you had just listened to me about managing them, maybe so many people wouldn't be dead!" Chloe countered.

"Bullshit!" Tom roared. "It's because you selfishly hoarded them that we didn't have enough firepower!"

The argument escalated, each of them pointing fingers at the others.

Fear had stripped them of all reason.

Just then, a cold, electronic tone sounded.

[Emergency Protocol Activated: Channel Permissions Reset.]

[All Admin Privileges Revoked.]

"What?" they all gasped.

[Channel Permissions Reset to System Default.]

[Updating Game Information.]

I sat up straight. It was finally time.

[System Announcement Updating...]

[Update Complete.]

A new announcement appeared on everyone's screen.

[Reckoning Game - Phase 1 Rules]

[VIRUS TYPE: NOISE-ACTIVATED VIRUS]

[ACTIVATION CONDITION: SUSTAINED EXPOSURE TO 60+ DECIBELS]

[TRANSMISSION METHOD: AIRBORNE. NO DIRECT CONTACT REQUIRED.]

[INCUBATION PERIOD: VARIES. FASTER ONSET WITH STRONGER NOISE STIMULATION.]

[NOTE: Virus activation method has been updated: Noise-Activated, Airborne.]

The channel fell deathly silent.

A few seconds later, it was filled with a new kind of despair.

"Noise-activated?" Linda's voice trembled. "That's impossible!"

"Airborne?" Marcus was practically screaming. "Then we're... we're all..."

"We were lied to," Kevin sobbed, his voice cracking. "The whole game... it was a lie from the start."

"Wait," Tom choked out. "The last line. Look at the last line!"

[NOTE: Virus activation method has been updated.]

"Updated?" Chloe's voice was a raw, terrified screech. "What the hell does it mean, updated?"

They all realized the horrifying truth at the same time.

The announcement had been edited.