The room was bathed in morning light.
Bruno, a slim, fit twenty-year-old, finished getting dressed in front of the mirror. He was wearing blue jeans and a red T-shirt. He fixed his hair, grabbed his keys, and left the room.
He went down to the kitchen. The house was silent. He opened the refrigerator, prepared something simple for breakfast, and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He ate standing up, distracted, while looking out the window.
That day, he would begin the job he had wanted for years.
The thought brought a smile he could barely hide.
Before leaving, he decided to walk around for a while.
When he stepped outside, the cool morning air greeted him. The street looked normal: a few cars moved in the distance, birds sang among the trees, and the sun lit up the fronts of the houses.
Bruno walked with his hands in his pockets.
A few minutes later, he ran into Tania, a neighbor he had known for years. They were good friends, though more than one person had hinted there was something more between them. They always denied it.
—Are you on your way to your new job? she asked.
—I still have time. I wanted to take a walk first.
—Then don't be late on your first day.
—No promises.
Tania smiled and continued on her way. Bruno watched her for a few seconds before moving on.
He had barely gone a few yards when he stopped.
Something was wrong.
His breathing changed. The air grew heavy, and the sound of traffic began to fade, as if someone had closed a door between him and the rest of the world.
The houses tilted.
The utility poles stretched before his eyes. The pavement seemed to ripple beneath his feet.
Bruno put a hand to his head.
—What… what's happening?—What the hell…
He tried to take a step, but lost his balance and fell to the ground.
The image blurred. The sounds gradually faded until they disappeared completely.
Then he opened his eyes.
The sky was still blue.
But he no longer recognized the place.
Bruno was sprawled across a street covered in dust and roots. Collapsed buildings rose around him, their windows broken and their walls covered in plants. Trees grew between rusted cars. Some traffic signs hung from a single bolt, swaying in the wind.
Everything looked as though it had been abandoned for decades.
He slowly sat up.
He looked at his hands. Then he examined his clothes and turned his gaze back toward the ruins.
—No… This can't be.
His voice came out ragged.
He struggled to his feet and spun around.
There were no people. No traffic. No inhabited houses.
Only dead buildings, vehicles covered in weeds, and a silence that was far too vast.
—Where the hell am I? What happened?
His chest began to tighten. Cold sweat ran down his back. His hands trembled as he tried to breathe.
He understood nothing.
A deep, rough sound rose from the ruins.
Bruno froze.
It wasn't an ordinary roar. It sounded like the uneven breathing of a gigantic animal hidden among the buildings.
A second sound answered from a different direction.
The plants shuddered.
Something moved behind a collapsed structure.
Bruno backed away. He looked around, searching for somewhere to hide. Then he spotted the open entrance of a store covered in vines.
He ran toward it.
He slipped between the fallen shelves and crouched behind a counter. He had barely managed to hide when footsteps began to approach.
Each step made the ground vibrate.
Bruno covered his mouth to keep from screaming.
An enormous shadow passed across the store entrance.
For an instant, an elongated limb stopped in front of him. Claws scraped the dust and left a deep mark in the floor.
The creature made a low sound.
Bruno closed his eyes.
He didn't breathe.
The silence lasted for several seconds.
Then the footsteps began to move away.
One.
Two.
Three.
When he finally dared to look, the entrance was empty.
Bruno stayed crouched for another moment. Then he lowered his gaze and discovered something in the dust: dozens of bullet casings.
He examined them carefully.
Some were rusty and covered in dirt. Others, however, looked much more recent.
His expression changed.
—What the hell is going on here?
One of the casings slowly rolled across the floor and stopped beside his hand.
Bruno picked it up.
It was still warm.
He looked toward the store entrance. Outside, the ruins remained still, but the sounds continued to surround him.
He didn't know where he was.
He didn't know what those creatures were.
He didn't even know whether anyone else was still alive.
He clenched the casing in his fist.
Then he realized something.
If he wanted to find answers, he would first have to survive.
And to do that, he would have to fight his fear before it finally destroyed him.
Another roar sounded in the distance.
This time, it was much closer.
Bruno didn't wait for the creature to return. He blocked the store entrance with a rusted sheet of metal and, after making sure it couldn't be moved easily, began exploring the collapsed warehouse. He needed somewhere to spend the night. He didn't know how long he would remain there or whether he would ever find a way back. He couldn't even be sure he would still be alive in the morning.
He searched through the rubble carefully, stopping at every strange movement or sound. He found a vending machine covered in dust. The glass was already broken, but he still cleared away the remaining shards with the sole of his shoe before reaching inside. There were several pastries inside: most were crushed or open, though some were still packaged.
He took them out one by one and set them beside him.
Water was harder to find. After rummaging through boxes, cabinets, and the remains of shelves, he found two plastic bottles behind a fallen counter. One was empty. The other still held barely a few sips. The liquid tasted strange, but Bruno drank it slowly. He couldn't afford to waste it.
At least he had some food and water to get through the night.
He curled up in a corner protected by two leaning walls, his small stash clutched against his chest. Outside, the ruins remained motionless. There were no screams, engines, or human footsteps. Only silence.
And that silence terrified him more than the roars.
Maybe it was a nightmare. Maybe he had been hypnotized. Maybe he had passed through a dimensional portal or awakened in a parallel reality. Every explanation seemed absurd, but none was more absurd than the scene before his eyes.
Then he saw the lights.
Far away, between the weed-covered streets, several red and blue flashes floated in the air. They moved slowly, as if dancing. At times they came together; then they separated and advanced toward the depths of the city.
Bruno watched them without blinking.
They seemed to be inviting him outside.
They could have been a distress signal. They could have been people. For a moment, he even thought they might be creatures capable of helping him. But they could just as easily have been something that would gut him before he managed to take ten steps.
He decided not to find out.
He stayed still and silent, counting his breaths until sleep began to overtake him. Before closing his eyes, he looked toward the street one last time.
—Tomorrow I'll find a way out of this place, he murmured.
Far away, beyond the collapsed buildings, an electrical storm lit up the night. Red lightning crossed the clouds and bathed the ruins in a sickly glow.
Between one of those flashes of lightning, something enormous became visible.
Something that should not exist.