The heavy bunker gates slowly slid apart.
The grinding of metal echoed through the passage, sharp and unpleasant, as if even the doors themselves resisted opening. A cold wind rushed inside, brushing against my face like an invisible hand.
This air was different.
It carried no familiar smells—no food, no metal, no recycled oxygen from the bunker's filters. It felt empty. Dead. As if the world beyond these walls had already given up on the living.
I took a step forward, my chest tightening.
So this was it.
The world outside the bunker.
"Don't freeze," Ami said coldly from the front of the group. "If anyone wants to turn back, do it now. Once we move forward, there will be no second chances."
No one answered.
No one moved.
Her gaze swept across us—slow, sharp, indifferent. After a moment, she turned away and walked forward without waiting. One by one, we followed her.
The Yellow Zone greeted us with silence.
Half-collapsed buildings lined the street, their windows shattered, walls scarred by claw marks and deep cracks. The road beneath our feet was split open in several places, weeds and dark stains filling the gaps. It looked like a city that had tried to survive—and failed.
Every step felt wrong, like we were trespassing somewhere we didn't belong.
After several hundred meters, Ami suddenly raised her hand.
"Stop."
We halted immediately.
She turned to face us, her expression calm and unreadable.
"Listen carefully. I won't repeat myself."
Her voice was steady, devoid of fear or reassurance. It was the voice of someone stating facts—facts that didn't care whether you liked them or not.
"The world is divided into zones," she began.
"White Zones are fully cleared. Almost none remain."
"Green Zones have minimal monster activity. Weak classes only. Some people still live there."
"Yellow Zones—" she gestured around us, "—are unstable. Monsters up to the second class appear here regularly."
Someone swallowed loudly behind me.
"Orange Zones contain higher-class monsters. Survival there depends on luck and experience."
"Red Zones are death traps."
"And Black Zones…" She paused for half a second. "If you see one, turn around. Immediately."
No one laughed.
No one asked questions.
"Today's mission is simple," Ami continued. "Scout the area and eliminate any dead-class monsters we encounter. Stay in formation. Do not chase. Do not panic."
Her eyes briefly stopped on me.
"Fear gets people killed."
We moved again.
The deeper we went, the heavier the atmosphere became. The silence pressed against my ears until even my own breathing sounded too loud. My fingers tightened around the weapon in my hands, slick with sweat.
Then—
A sound.
A wet, scraping noise echoed from between two ruined buildings.
Ami raised her hand instantly.
"Contact. Left side."
Something crawled out of the shadows.
Its body was twisted, black flesh stretched unnaturally over sharp, broken limbs. Its head hung at an impossible angle, mouth split open far wider than it should have been.
A Dead One.
"Formation," Ami ordered calmly.
The monster screeched and rushed forward.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
Move.
If you freeze—you die.
One of the trainees struck first, his blade cutting deep into the creature's side. Black fluid spilled onto the ground, hissing softly. The monster howled and lunged—
Ami moved.
I barely followed her motion.
In a single step, she closed the distance and struck. The creature collapsed instantly, its body crumbling into dark particles that dissolved into the air.
Silence returned.
For a moment, no one spoke.
"Good," Ami said. "You didn't hesitate."
My hands were shaking.
That was just one.
We continued forward.
The second encounter came faster.
Then the third.
Each time, the monsters grew more aggressive, faster, more numerous. I fought on instinct, my body moving before my thoughts could catch up. Fear burned in my chest, but I forced myself not to stop.
I couldn't afford to be weak.
Not here.
Not ever again.
The last monster fell with a heavy thud, dissolving like the others.
Breathing heavily, I wiped sweat from my face.
"We're done?" someone asked quietly.
Ami didn't answer.
She raised her head.
Then we heard it.
A deep, distant roar.
Then another.
And another.
The sound rolled through the ruined city, shaking the air itself.
My blood ran cold.
Ami's eyes narrowed.
"…So they've noticed us," she said softly.
The roars echoed again—closer this time.
And the Yellow Zone was no longer silent.