Something screamed back at me and I realized it was myself.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Third was hissing. Some part of me knew my other self was right. That screaming now was akin to death.

But I’d just died.

I felt my throat being cut, my chest pierced. The sensations, so fresh in my mind, made my body convulse and squirm. Warm blood covered me, seeping through my clothes—

At some point, I realized I was being carried, hand over my mouth. My vision was blurry with tears, my face covered in snot. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to curl up and hide.

A part of me raged at that. Angry for the first time in god knows how many years. Truly angry. Of all the shit I’d been through, this is what breaks me? That stubborn, idiotic, thought cut to me.

My parents dying? Struggling through school? Working part-time and juggling grades good enough for scholarships? The sacrifice of my entire social life? For years and years, alone? And this, a damn apocalypse, was going to shut me down?

It was so ridiculous I started laughing. A laugh so absurd and out of place, it was enough to snap me back into focus, to center my emotions and mind.

I stood up.

Third had taken me to one of the labs, chancing to open the door. It was empty and he’d brought me in after checking the fact. I took a step away from myself and greeted Second the Second, technically the fourth, but I stuck to my own convention.

He looked at me how I’d look at myself, which again, was understandable. There was nothing to comfort, no words needed to be said, we were all the same. Me.

Anger burned red hot in others, people lost control, hurt those around and themselves. I would know most of all. I was once that troubled kid prone to violent bursts of anger. I had cooled down since then, found my peace with the world.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t be angry at the new one. Now, anger for me was a simmering cold. The kind of cold that burned and hissed. It brought ice to my veins and washed me in sudden clarity.

That was me now.

I secured the laboratory. No other entrances, but no other exits. The thick steel door wasn’t ideal. It was still better than being exposed in the hallway, open to the cave monster. I suppressed a shiver as I rummaged through the room in three different places.

Boxes of neatly organized safety equipment: goggles, gloves, lab coats, masks, amongst others. Two fire extinguishers, two first aid kits along the walls, an emergency shower, an eyewash station. Microscopes, beakers, funnels and bottles, flasks, test tubes, pipettes, and other tubing.

Second grabbed the first aid kit and managed to fit the whole thing into my [Spidersilk Backpack]. Third found the other one and did likewise.

Item: [Spidersilk Backpack]

A backpack crafted from superior light materials. It is enchanted for extra storage and weight reduction.

- Holds three times its volume.

- Reduces weight by half.

More details. I’d have to make sure to inspect things more thoroughly when they came up.

“Check if the water’s running.” One of us said.

Someone turned a knob and we had a stream of water going. Crystal clear and cold. We took to filling the bottles and stored those in my bag too. Survival meant food, water, and shelter. I needed a source of food.

My mind whirled with ideas but nothing made sense pursuing without an advance of information. Now that I had calmed down, as much as anyone could be expected to given the circumstances, I thought about what was best.

I didn’t think I could survive going through the cave even with forewarning. Whatever that creature was, it had… killed me in an instant. I hadn’t even seen it before it was just there.

Which meant that was off the table and actually worse than going back to the surface. I’d come all the way down here to find a dead-end. But not without buying myself time to figure out what it meant to be a [Solo].

That method of using my clones was a stroke of genius. Obvious, in hindsight, but unthinkable for someone in constant distress. And there was the detail of coming across my new backpack.

Come to think of it, I should check that chest out as well.

“Second watches the hallway, Third checks the [Uncommon Chest]. I think I get the notifications even if I’m sitting right here. Then… you survey up above.” I said, taking a seat at one of the lab stations. The position was so familiar I had vertigo, as if I was in lab waiting for the one of the aides to lead the experiment.

I shook it off, handing them lab masks. “And I think it’s better I don’t advertise I can clone myself.”

“Sounds good.” Second responded, taking the mask and covering his face.

“Yeah.” Third replied, doing the same.

Both looked the same, unfortunately. Matching outfits, same black mask, same posture, height, and movements. At least the face was covered.

I saw them out the door, shut it, then locked it. The metal clicked into place a deep thunk and I was alone again. I sat there, tracking their progress, quietly piling up chairs or tables against the door.

Second peered around the corner towards the cave and, after a moment, Third was moving for the storage closet. There he found the [Uncommon Chest], something we’d barely stopped to inspect further.

Item: [Uncommon Chest]

Chests are hidden troves of treasure, capable of holding great boons and riches. This chest has the potential to hold uncommon valuables, either in effect, rarity, or quality.

That was interesting. Hidden troves of treasure. What made something worthy of a notification like this? I wasn’t quite sure, but it was obvious nothing ever mentioned in this strange way was normal.

I was the first piece of evidence. Something had changed me, altered me. I could’ve thought about it all day but my mind was outside. Tracking myselves.

I moved about perfectly in sync, not practiced, no, but my rhythm was evident between each of my clones. One watched, the other moved. I did both, clearing the building. Three times I paused waiting, fearful but ready.

Then I was moving again. This was the science building. Biology, botany, marine, ecology, pre-med, biomedical, and the like. And there were dead bodies. In the laboratory, the original me suppressed the urge to throw up.

Not all of the bodies were whole. And, clearly, some weren’t just halved, but half-eaten. Chewed.

I moved through the building, eyes for anything useful, for any survivors. Both me’s paused at the lecture hall I’d been attending. A general science course. There was an oddly smooth concrete slope to one side, rubble everywhere else, and I realized I was looking at something that had melted it.

I didn’t see the people I had left behind. They had either fled or died. Maybe both.

The second me chanced a peek out the lecture hall. A destroyed campus, worse than before. Now that I had more time to look, I saw the terrain that seemed to be spliced with what I knew from the university, was something akin to a forest. Tall trees in the background where there was none before, thick vines hanging between them.

I frowned, backing away from the exposed lecture hall, and proceeded upwards. To the top of the building. I felt others would’ve done the same, if there were any.

I stopped at the nurse’s office, hearing something. Breath. Muffled and pained. I took up both sides of the door and froze, there was a trail of blood leading inside.

On an invisible beat, I pushed into the room.