Missy cast Cayden a helpless glance. She’s probably disappointed by Cayden’s lack of reaction, she simply squeezed her eyes shut and said,

“Yes. It’s not far from here.”

The thug grab her by the face and made her stand on two feet. Without caring whether the opposite sex is weaker, the thug is half dragging half carrying her out of the cafe. The other men followed closely.

The last one that stayed is a young man in his teens. He’s got an ugly scar on his cheek, tattoos on his collar and piercings on his mouth and nose. He stepped forward to where Cayden was chained and swiftly cut Cayden’s leg. The knife wound is pretty deep. Cayden can’t help but wince a little at the sight of the four inch deep wound.

Fresh blood poured out of his leg. As if not satisfied, the teenager grin maliciously and thrust to Cayden’s abdomen. The same place where he was stabbed by the rogue a few hours ago.

Two deep malicious eyes are grinning at him.

“Cayden!!” Pete screamed and struggled against his bonds. Following his scream is the growls of something inhumane in the distance. The teenager whipped his head in alarm.

Cayden looked down at his wounds. So that’s it. The teenager immediately stood on his feet and ran to catch up to his teammates. Leaving Cayden and Pete inside, with the two glass double doors wide open.

“Cay - Cayden is tha - that zombies?!” Pete’s eyes are filled with horror, staring behind Cayden. When he turned around, he saw the scene very similar to what he witnessed in the Seventh Trial.

The summer sun filtered through the gaps between the tall buildings, casting a golden glow into the pavement road.

Between the glass double doors and the driveway in the front yard, there was a group of people. To be exact it was a group of zombies. They are crouching towards something on the ground. On their feet a pool of blood and fresh red lumps are scattered everywhere. The group of zombies are crawling, gnawing, feasting and fighting over these lumps of flesh and limbs.

The sound of hard chewing mingling with sharp breaking of bones pierced Cayden and Pete’s ears. Pete had already witnessed a lot of queer gory things in the past few hours, but it was still not the same with this new sight of humans eating humans.

Cayden already figured out what these men are trying to do to him, to them. He tried to move, to get out of his bonds. But the more he move, the tighter the chain get, the more his blood spill in the ground.

At the side of the cafe, another zombie appeared. Clothes torn into tidbits but still cover some of his dark patch ugly body. The zombie is about to approach the zombie feasting group when suddenly, he stopped and sniff the air.

Pete and Cayden froze.

“Cayden…” Pete whimpered.

“Shhh” Cayden silence Pete. His hands are slightly shivering. Trying hard not to make a move but desperate to stop the blood from spilling into the ground. He now understand why Missy said zombies won’t come in here.

Of course they won’t come because that thug and the other men have been feeding those zombies outside with live humans. The fresh body that has been feasted by the zombies outside is the proof.

The zombie that came out from the side is staring at them. Cayden is not exactly sure if this zombie is blind but he can’t take chances. He can’t produce a sound to warn Pete nor can he make sudden movements.

It must be because Pete is pissed scared but he unexpectedly shifted on his leg. The heavy metal chain hit the metal table stand and the sharp zombie gleefully growl loudly.

The feasting zombies immediately looked up with their mouths soaked with blood and growled. It was like the Seventh Trial all over again. Hoards of zombies that broke from hell immediately rushed towards Pete and Cayden.

Pete knew this was his fault and tried to compensate for it by forcing himself free from the chain. Seeing it didn’t work, he changed tactics and repeatedly hit the metal table with his body, trying to uproot it from the ground.

Cayden sweated profusely and crumpled his fist, millions of thoughts entered his brain. Millions of trials played on his mind. But thinking was useless at this moment. They have no guns, they have no blades, they can’t run nor fight the hoard that’s breaking the glass doors.

The sharp sound of glass breaking struck their ears. Cayden and Pete looked up in horror. The zombies have broken through the cafe and are sprinting towards the fresh scent of blood and live humans.

In an instant, they are overwhelmed. There was no way to escape. Just no -

A sound suddenly clicks in Cayden’s brain. As if in trance, he opened his mouth. His eyes could no longer focus because of the pain. Numerous zombies attack him, bite him, tear his skin and feed on his flesh. He cannot see how's Pete on the other side but he was sure he is in the same situation as him.

With the last ounce of strength he began to enchant.

"Tick tock. Tick, tock. Hear me out and see my woes. I wish to return to the day when the Dark Tower emerged."

Scenes suddenly flash on Cayden's mind. It was as if the world was resetting backwards. He saw himself back to the entrance of the cafe with Pete.

Then backward to the forest. Until he was sitting on the sofa on the first floor, treating his wound in the abdomen.

"Cayden!"

Cayden was shaken out of his reverie. He blinked twice at the dimness. Then the sound of 'Little Indians' nursery rhymes floated in his ear.

[Welcome challengers and drifter.]

[Dark Tower expressed its deepest gratitude for your participation.]

[Challengers, at 12 pm on June 28, 2016, the first elimination game officially starts.]

[Game mode: Apocalypse]

[Game objective: Survive in Buble City for the next ten days.]

[Game rules: First, guns, grenades and other explosive weapons are not allowed, thereby rendered worthless in every game.]

[Second, eliminate every human who is not categorized as challengers.]

[Third, at 12 pm on July 7, 2016, you must arrive safely at the Dark Tower.]

[Fourth, meet and aid the other challengers to cross the city. For every successful aided challenger, points will be added. For every one hundred successful kill of unrecognized humans, points will be added.]

[Fifth, a total of twenty challengers are within the vicinity of Buble City. Within ten days, you must aid all twenty challengers on your journey towards The Dark Tower. Not one killed by you.]

[To all challengers, may the god of luck be on your side.]

The same words. The same voice. The Dark Tower is saying the exact same thing it did a few hours ago.

“I didn’t know towers extend wishing lucks to the poor tortured souls it force to play. Ugh, that’s creepy.” Pete shivered beside him.

Cayden stared dumbfounded at him. The Pete standing beside him has no dried blood trickled on his head nor chains binding him to the metal table stand. He was alive, healthy and injury free. After watching Pete die once - no, twice if you count what happened earlier, watching Pete alive and chattering nonstop… is somewhat comforting.

Cayden is about to say the same response when suddenly, a notification pop up. A blue screen write itself a series of letters and numbers.

[Ability: You stole my clock.]

[Owner: Cayden Campbell (Drifter)]

[Type: Special Type]

[Level: Unknown]

[Function: Drifter’s regression clock]

[Note: Due to your exploitation of the Ruler of Time’s goodwill, the ability book card will continue to be inaccessible until the first official trial. The Ruler of Time insistently demands you will be punished for your actions, the Ruler of Justice does not see any rule breaking from your deeds and thus conclude you will not be punished. But because of your negligence to the Dark Tower’s warning and insistence to break the normal flow of time, certain countermeasures and restrictions will be put into place.

The ability, ‘you stole my clock’ can only be used once in every trial and every game. Whenever used, it forfeits the functionality of your ability book card, rendering it useless for twenty four hours. In every minute consumed by this ability, twice the amount you shall spend in hours at the Caven of Titan’s Hole to survive, which is equivalent to death. If you are unwilling, you are required to eliminate the Boss monster/s marked by the Dark Tower before the trial or game ends.]

As he read the words written on the blue screen, he can feel his hands turning cold. He was really tempted to punch the Dark Tower right now if that thing has a face.

What countermeasures and restrictions?! This is really going too far! Wasn’t it that stupid Ruler of Time who asked what is his wish? So asking for unlimited power to control the Dark Tower is acceptable but asking for a single clock is punishable?

What the actual fuck?!

He can feel his breathing getting faster. He'd been trying to calm down his nerves and appear calm on the surface, preventing Pete from noticing something was amissed of him.

But Pete noticed his raging temper anyway.

"Man, you okay? Did that wound start to act up?"

Looking at the purplish bruise on Pete's eyes, Cayden can't help but laugh at his best friend's stupid concern.

In the previous normal world, having an attitude to care about others is good. But in this new world brought by the Dark Tower? Naivety is nothing but a burden and weakness which will kill you someday.