Sunri stepped back.

  The man’s struggling intensified.

  The ropes bit deep into his flesh,

  but he seemed to feel no pain—

  his eyes were fixed entirely on Pardy.

  There was hunger in that gaze.

  A hunger that chilled Sunri to the bone.

  Pardy looked at the thrashing man,

  his small face untroubled.

  He raised a tiny hand toward him,

  and a soft, milky glow formed in his palm.

  The light rippled outward,

  washing over the man.

  His body froze.

  The chair stopped shaking.

  His eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply.

  Then the change began.

  The bloodshot veins in his eyes faded.

  His pupils returned to normal size.

  The feral hunger drained away.

  He looked at Sunri,

  then at Pardy,

  his lips trembling.

  Pardy lowered his hand.

  The glow dissipated.

  He leaned against his father’s shoulder,

  suddenly tired.

  Seeing that small, exhausted body,

  Sunri felt a stab of pain.

  “You…”

  The man finally spoke,

  his voice hoarse,

  as if unused for a long time.

  “You’re… human?”

  Sunri nodded.

  “Why did you tie yourself up?”

  The man lowered his head,

  glancing at the bite wound on his arm.

  A bitter smile tugged at his lips.

  He didn’t explain what had happened to this world.

  He only muttered:

  “This world… is beyond saving.”

  He lifted his head.

  His eyes were clear—

  terrifyingly clear.

  “You should leave. Now.”

  “What happened here?” Sunri asked.

  The man shook his head.

  He didn’t want to speak.

  He only stared at the wound on his arm,

  his gaze dimming.

  “Untie me.”

  Sunri hesitated.

  He remembered the man’s earlier frenzy.

  “Please,”

  the man whispered,

  “I’m much better now.”

  After a moment of silence,

  Sunri stepped forward and loosened the ropes.

  The man staggered to his feet,

  flexing his wrists.

  He walked to the room’s only window—

  mostly boarded up,

  with only thin slits of light seeping through.

  He peered outside for a long time.

  Sunri edged toward the door,

  ready to flee if needed.

  Then the man spoke,

  his voice drifting like dust:

  “Soon the plants will replace the buildings…

  and this place will turn green again.”

  He turned around,

  looking at Sunri with unsettling clarity.

  “Take the child and leave.

  Don’t stay here.”

  “And you?” Sunri asked.

  The man didn’t answer.

  He only smiled—

  a smile filled with release,

  bitterness,

  relief,

  and a weariness too deep to name.

  Then he turned

  and hurled himself at the window.

  “Wait—!” Sunri shouted,

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  but he was too far.

  Wood splintered.

  Glass shattered.

  The man’s body vanished from sight.

  Sunri rushed to the window.

  Five stories below,

  the man lay twisted among heaps of debris,

  his limbs bent at impossible angles.

  Blood spread quickly across the ground.

  Sunri froze,

  mind blank,

  breath forgotten.

  Then the body moved.

  Not naturally—

  but in spasms,

  joints bending the wrong way.

  What had been a man

  pushed itself upright with a broken arm,

  its neck lifting at an inhuman angle.

  Its mouth opened—

  and the same guttural roar

  as the creatures in the hallway

  tore through the air.

  Sunri stumbled back,

  unable to watch.

  The black cat leapt onto the windowsill,

  gazing down with golden eyes

  that reflected the gray sky.

  It made no sound.

  It simply watched.

  The room fell silent.

  Sunri held Pardy close,

  his whole body cold.

  He understood why the man chose death.

  He refused to become that thing.

  But Sunri hadn’t known—

  in this world,

  even death could be twisted.

  The black cat jumped down,

  walked to a corner,

  and began digging through a pile of debris.

  It dragged something out with its paw.

  A handgun.

  Rusty, but well?kept.

  The cat nudged it toward Sunri

  and meowed once.

  Its eyes seemed to say:

  Take it.

  Sunri picked it up hesitantly.

  The cold metal felt foreign,

  heavy.

  He had never touched anything like it.

  The moment his fingers brushed the gun—

  —images burst into his mind.

  Not memories,

  but fragments:

  A room.

  A television on.

  A news anchor’s voice:

  “...breakthrough in genetic engineering…

  immortality no longer a dream…”

  White?coated researchers in a lab.

  The same room, a week later.

  The TV flickering with static.

  The anchor’s voice breaking apart:

  “...citizens advised… stay indoors… do not—”

  Screams outside the window.

  A street in chaos.

  A woman tackling a man,

  tearing into his throat.

  Blood spreading across the pavement.

  A supermarket—

  people fighting over food.

  A child crying alone in a corner.

  A high?rise window—

  an old man clutching his pet

  before stepping into the void.

  And finally—

  a trembling hand holding a gun,

  pressing it to its own temple.

  A trigger pulled.

  No sound.

  Only darkness.

  The vision ended.

  Sunri gasped,

  nearly dropping the gun.

  He understood now—

  this weapon had witnessed

  the collapse of this world,

  and its final despair.

  The black cat watched him,

  as if asking:

  Did you see?

  Sunri tucked the gun into his belt.

  He didn’t know how to use it,

  but instinct told him

  having it was better than not.

  Then the sun?mark on his palm heated.

  Gold light seeped through his fingers—

  gentle but firm.

  It was time to leave.

  Sunri exhaled quietly.

  He held Pardy close

  and looked around the room one last time—

  the chair where the man had bound himself,

  the boarded window,

  the dust?covered remnants of a life.

  This was the end

  of the last human in this dying world.

  The gold light grew brighter,

  wrapping around them.

  Then the black cat moved.

  It didn’t stay behind.

  It leapt lightly—

  straight into Pardy’s arms.

  Pardy hugged it naturally,

  stroking its sleek fur.

  The cat looked up,

  ears slightly lowered,

  golden eyes meeting Sunri’s.

  Its gaze said clearly:

  Take me with you.

  Sunri froze.

  Could a cat travel with them?

  But the light did not reject it.

  It wrapped around the cat as well.

  A heartbeat later,

  the world vanished in gold.

  Mini?Theatre: The Black Cat’s Final Move

  Just before the light fully rose,

  Sunri was still hesitating—

  Can the cat come with us?

  The black cat looked up,

  ears drooping slightly.

  Sunri stayed silent for five seconds.

  The cat’s golden eyes began to glisten.

  Sunri stayed silent for another five seconds.

  Then the cat let out the softest “mrrr…”

  a sound full of wounded dignity

  and quiet accusation.

  Sunri’s heart melted.

  —Fine.

  The moment he thought it,

  the gold light activated.

  Sunri stood there in silence,

  with the faint suspicion

  that the light was unusually lenient

  toward certain creatures.