"Stop crying! You're a grown man—who taught you to bawl like a kid?" No sooner had the scolding left his mouth than the lights overhead flicked off with a sharp click. Total darkness. The house ran on its own solar-powered grid—ample energy stored during the day, enough to keep it lit through the night. And yet… everything had gone dark. A bloodcurdling scream pierced the silence from upstairs. Theresa's head snapped upward. Within seconds, she and the others were rushing to the second-floor landing. When they reached it, they saw the open door of the corner room at the end of the hall. Inside, in the dim shadows, a creature hunched over a man's body.A zombie, its limbs bending in all the wrong directions, straddled a man pinned to the floor. It had both hands locked around his head, tearing savagely at his face with gnashing teeth. One bite, and his lips were gone—ripped clean off, leaving his bare gums and bloodied teeth exposed. He screamed, mouth wide with agony, but even his ability was forgotten in the pain. As soon as his jaw dropped open, the creature lunged again, sinking its fangs into his tongue. It yanked its head back. Squelch. The tongue came free in a long, wet, bloody strip—mucous membranes and all. The creature chewed loudly, greedily, like it was enjoying a delicacy. Within seconds, it had swallowed it down. Tanner could no longer scream. He was just a lump of torn flesh beneath the zombie's weight."It's Tanner!" Nathaniel shouted. The usual bitterness in his voice was gone. He raised a hand and launched a rapid burst of water orbs at the creature. His aim wasn't perfect, but among the group, he was still the strongest. It took everything he had, but finally, the creature collapsed—dead. Tanner twitched once in the pool of his own blood. Then his legs spasmed, his body twisted grotesquely—feet turning backwards, torso arching forward. He stood up. No tongue in his gaping mouth. Just a red, gory pit. It looked like a cavern—bottomless, hungry. "Ugh…" Nathaniel summoned a powerful sphere of water and hurled it at the reanimated Tanner. But the moment it struck, a burst of flames exploded and dispersed the water instantly. Tanner had been a fire-based ability user. Now… he was a fire-based zombie. Nathaniel didn't stand a chance. Just as Tanner charged, a massive blast of water—just as tall as he was—erupted from behind Nathaniel. Crack. The zombie was slammed straight into the wall. His head split cleanly in two from the force of the impact. A gleamstone rolled out of the remains of his skull. Theresa stepped forward and calmly picked it up. The others stood frozen, shocked. They stared at her. That powerful?At that moment, Landon came rushing down from the third floor. "What happened?!" "Landon—Tanner turned into a zombie!" Half an hour later, Landon and the others had searched the entire guesthouse. They discovered Tanner's window wide open. From the scratch marks and blood trails, it was clear—something had crawled in from outside. "This wasn't an accident," Nathaniel muttered. "Someone did this." "But we were all at dinner," someone protested. "Wait—only Madeline wasn't." The voice came from Rhett, who'd barely spoken before. Madeline, who had just come down with Landon, paled instantly. Before she could lash out, Landon stepped in. "No proof, no accusations." That stopped their mouths, but not their thoughts. The silence became heavy, the stares heavier. Madeline, suffocated by suspicion, turned and ran back upstairs. Theresa's gaze swept the group. Amelia—small, quiet—clung to Rhett, her boyfriend. But her eyes kept drifting back to where Tanner's body had been. Rhett wrapped an arm around her and whispered, "It's okay. Don't be scared. No matter what, I'll protect you." Amelia nodded faintly. Once the chaos had settled, Landon sent Nathaniel and Julian to the basement to inspect the power system. He took the others to check the rest of the house. "Keep your guard up tonight," Lucas said once they'd regrouped. "This isn't just some random fluke." They eyed the food Landon had prepared. "Let's eat our own stuff," someone suggested. "Yeah." Theresa silently agreed.They ate their own supplies. Afterward, Landon's group took turns having dinner. But Amelia never came down. Rhett said the sight of Tanner's death had killed her appetite. No one questioned it—not until everyone had finished eating when Isabelle suddenly burst from her room, her face pale. "Something's wrong! Something's really wrong!" "What now?" "Our supplies—they're all gone!" Even as they reeled from the news, they heard it. The unmistakable rumble of an engine outside. Someone had stolen their only working vehicle. And driven it away.