Episode 5: Blackout Protocol
The blood from the previous game hadn’t been cleaned.
It had dried darker against the tile.
No one stepped on it.
No one mentioned it.
The screen flickered to life.
White text.
Black background.
Static hummed softly through the speakers.
GAME THREE: BLACKOUT PROTOCOL
The room went silent before the rules even appeared.
They typed themselves slowly across the air.
All players will enter the halls.
Player A may move only when lights are ON.
Player A must freeze when lights are OFF.
Player B may move only during blackout.
Player B must locate and tag Player A.
Upon contact, roles switch immediately.
Wildlings roam during blackout.
Proximity violations will be punished.
Emotional instability reduces efficiency.
The final line pulsed once.
Ayato moved.
Measured.
Five steps between lockers.
Seven to the intersection.
Counted the flicker interval in his head.
Then—
Mio rounded the corner.
Too fast.
Too close.
They nearly collided.
Chest to shoulder.
Breath mixing in the narrow hall.
For half a second they stared at each other.
Calculation.
Irritation.
Mistake.
The ceiling speakers screamed.
PROXIMITY VIOLATION DETECTED.
Player 12 and Player 01 marked.
Red ignited around them.
Thin lines tracing their silhouettes.
Lights OFF.
Darkness dropped like a blade.
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They froze.
Instant.
Statues in the corridor.
The red outline pulsed.
Louder than their breathing.
Then—
The sound changed.
Not wandering.
Not scraping.
Redirecting.
Multiple sets of limbs dragging across tile.
Slow.
Intentional.
Coming toward them.
Mio’s throat bobbed.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he whispered.
Emotional Instability: 16% → 19%
A wildling detached from the dark.
Longer than the others.
Its spine bent wrong.
Like it had too many joints.
It didn’t rush.
It stepped.
One.
Two.
Three.
Each movement careful.
Studied.
Its head tilted.
Slowly.
Until it faced Ayato.
The red glow intensified around him.
Prioritized.
The wildling leaned forward.
Close enough now that Ayato could hear something moving inside its chest.
Wet.
Grinding.
Mio stood frozen two feet away.
Close enough to touch.
Too close to run.
The creature lifted its hand.
Not claws.
Fingers.
Long.
Trembling.
It hovered inches from Ayato’s throat.
A hair closer—
Its nail grazed fabric.
Thread snapped.
A thin tear across his collar.
Mio inhaled sharply.
Emotional Instability: 24%
The wildling’s jaw unhinged.
Wider.
Too wide.
Its breath washed over Ayato’s face.
Cold.
Rotting.
Its teeth descended slowly.
Deliberately.
Like it wanted him to see them.
Mio’s voice came out barely audible.
“Don’t you dare flinch.”
Emotional Instability: 28%
The wildling’s mouth hovered a breath from Ayato’s skin.
Time stretched.
One second.
Two.
The speakers hummed faintly—
Lights ON.
Everything froze.
Teeth suspended a millimeter from flesh.
The wildling’s eye staring directly into his.
Unblinking.
Ayato moved first.
Not back.
Forward.
Shoulder slamming into Mio.
Breaking spacing.
Mio reacted instantly.
Pivoted.
Bolted right.
Ayato cut left.
Distance widening.
Three steps.
Five.
The red outline flickered.
Then vanished.
Proximity resolved.
Emotional Instability: 31%
Behind them—
The wildling remained frozen mid-lunge.
Jaw open.
Nail still hooked in torn fabric.
Mio didn’t slow.
“Next time,” he called quietly, voice unsteady now, adrenaline bleeding through, “I’m using you as bait.”
“You turned the corner too fast,” Ayato replied evenly.
“You breathe too loud.”
“For now,” Ayato said.
Behind them—
The lights flickered once.
Just once.
And in that flicker—
The wildling’s eye shifted.
From deeper in the hall—
A voice cracked.
“Where—”
Emotional Instability: 31%
Lights OFF.
Wildlings spasmed.
One convulsed violently.
Head snapping toward the sound.
It lunged.
A scream tore through the dark.
Short.
Wet.
Then silence.
Lights ON.
Daehyun was gone.
A smear along the lockers marked where he’d stood.
PLAYER REMOVED.
Cherry’s breathing spiked.
Emotional Instability: 39%
Mizhang’s voice cut in.
“You hesitated.”
Ayato didn’t look at him.
“You spoke.”
46%
Lights OFF.
The wildlings jerked erratically now.
Less controlled.
More volatile.
Kaito froze mid-step.
He didn’t panic.
Didn’t move.
It didn’t matter.
A wildling slammed into him full force.
The scream didn’t last long.
Lights ON.
His notebook lay open on the tile.
He didn’t.
PLAYER REMOVED.
The instability meter hovered at 52%.
Too high.
Too unstable.
Yuri waited frozen down the hall.
Ayato moved.
Tagged her.
Switched again.
The cycles continued.
Shorter.
Faster.
More desperate.
Until—
The screen glitched.
ROLE CYCLE COMPLETE.
PREPARE FOR EXTRACTION.
Lights stabilized.
No more cycling.
Wildlings froze.
For half a second.
Then—
FINAL CONDITION: RETURN TO CLASSROOM.
Wildlings released.
They moved.
All of them.
At once.
No freeze windows.
No safety intervals.
Just running.
Lockers blurred.
Mio shoved Cherry ahead.
Yuri stayed close to Ayato.
Mizhang cut through the middle.
The classroom door came into view.
White light spilling from inside.
They funneled toward it.
Too close.
PROXIMITY CLUSTER DETECTED.
Wildlings accelerated.
They didn’t target the slowest.
They targeted the cluster.
One crashed into the group.
Bodies scattered.
Reina stumbled.
Ayato saw it.
For half a second—
He hesitated.
Reina shoved Yuri forward.
“Go!”
Teeth closed on fabric.
Her scream cut short as the classroom door slammed shut.
Silence.
The scratching outside lasted three seconds.
Then stopped.
The screen stabilized.
GAME THREE COMPLETE.
SURVIVORS: 27
Inside—
There were fewer desks.
Again.
Mizhang turned slowly.
“Where’s Reina?”
No one answered.
Ayato didn’t look at him.
He was counting.
One.
Two.
Three.
Twenty-seven.
He counted again.
Same number.
The screen flickered violently for half a second.
Emotional Instability: 0%
Then it vanished.
REST PERIOD: 10 MINUTES.
The lights dimmed slightly.
Cherry leaned back against Mio.
Mizhang stared at Ayato.
“You froze.”
“I calculated.”
“You let her—”
Emotional Instability: 18%
They stopped talking immediately.
Akari adjusted in her seat.
Her shoe scraped tile.
Ayato’s gaze dropped.
The sole was wrong.
He looked at the other foot.
Identical.
Left.
His eyes lifted slowly.
The student met his gaze.
And smiled.
Not wide.
Not threatening.
Just—
Too calm.
REST PERIOD: 00:03
Two.
One.
The lights cut instantly.
Total blackout.
No announcement.
No transition.
And in the dark—
Something inside the classroom breathed.
?
