The sudden sound of glass shattering nearly caused me to jump out of my skin.

Before Midori or I had time to react, a huge fireball shot in from one of the shattering windows and blasted through the entire building. Flames erupted everywhere, and the smell of smoke and burning wood filled the room like a thick miasma.

We were sent tumbling by the force of the blast, and the next thing I knew, I was rolling on the floor. I came to a stop on my belly right as a soft lounge sofa tumbled on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. Smoke began to fill my lungs, and I desperately held my breath. As everything came to a relative crawl, I struggled to get out from under the sofa as screams began to erupt all around us.

"Ikki! Are you alright?!" Midori shouted. Her voice sounded distant to me through the ringing in my ears.

"Ummm, just peachy I guess? Could be worse?" I called back.

Oh. Yeah. This is serious. I might be in a bit of shock. Just a bit.

I was still on my hands and knees, but I managed to crawl out from underneath the couch. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through my ribs as I pulled myself out with a forceful push. Fuck. Willis must have bruised my ribs, and that definitely wasn't helping the situation.

The hotel lobby was a scene of utter chaos: people ran screaming, and flames were already licking up the walls and pillars. I tried to get to my feet, but I was having trouble breathing. Everything seemed to be moving slowly, and the world was spinning. My vision was blurring; it felt like my brain was swelling from lack of oxygen. I was going to pass out. I was—

"Hey, snap out of it!" Midori yelled, hooking one arm around mine as she managed to pull me to my feet. "Come on, let's go."

"Buh? Wha—" I asked stupidly, still trying to regain focus on the situation.

"There's no time to explain. We have to get out of here," Midori replied, pulling me along. "If you can't walk, then I'll carry you."

I was stunned at how calm she was.

"I-I'm fine. Really," I protested. "Just give me a minute."

"No. We have to move. Now! Follow me." Midori insisted, dragging me along.

We peered over the shattered glass railing in the lobby below, and I was shocked to see that the fires had spread all over the hall. People were making a mad dash for the exits, and the air was filled with panicked yelling and sirens wailing. A chill ran down my spine when I realized that the fire was spreading in unnatural snaking patterns, almost like it was alive. Why weren't there any automatic sprinklers going off?

I nearly vomited when I saw a man and a woman enveloped by the surging inferno; the silhouettes of their bodies melting away flashed in the surging sea of flame before they disappeared entirely in a puff of black smoke.

A few other people caught in the blaze weren't so lucky. They screamed in agony as the flames ate at the flesh beneath their clothes. I shuddered, fighting down the urge to vomit.

Midori immediately pulled me away while looking at the situation below and shook her head.

She snapped her head to me and said, "This is bad. We need to find another way out. Come with me!"

The two of us rushed to a staircase and elevator lobby attached to the restaurant, pulling me along as we climbed higher and higher, trying to escape the raging inferno below. I saw her take out her phone and begin tapping furiously at it, even as we dashed up the stairs. The smoke was getting thicker, and I was having trouble breathing. I hesitated for a second — every instinct told me we should have headed for a back entrance, not the stairs. What was she doing?

"We can't head back down," she said as if reading my mind. "It's too dangerous. That balefire is going to swallow everything right up. The system must've detected the Chaos Surge and deactivated the sprinklers."

As she spoke, I realized that the air was getting thinner. I was gasping for breath; it was like I was suffocating again.

More explosions rang out in the distance, and the ground rumbled. Another wave of heat washed over us as we approached a door, and I coughed violently, trying to clear my throat as I rushed up the stairs. The air was almost completely gone now. I couldn't see nor breathe.

I heard a whistling noise, like a kettle on a stove. A whirring vibration came with it, and I swooned through the thick smoke, feeling a heavy brain fog over me as the sense of suffocation returned. Suddenly, the whistling noise ceased, and I heard Midori shout a warning to me.

"Careful, Ikki! I'm coming at the door."

Midori stomped past me with a fire axe and swung it with all her strength at the door. The blade sliced clean through the door and slammed into the wall behind it, creating a hole large enough to fit us through.

Midori dragged me into the doorway with a burst of energy, and I fell into the hotel hallway beyond.

I stumbled out of the doorway and collapsed on the carpeted floor, coughing and wheezing as my chest burned with pain. The hall was lit with a dim emergency light, which cast eerie shadows on the ceiling. It didn't take me long to catch my breath; with a deep inhale, I sucked in all of the cool, fresh air in the hallway like a drowning person flopping out of the water.

"We have to keep moving!" Midori said with urgency. "There's a way out on the opposite side of this floor. Come on!"

I stared behind me and saw the smoke rise up through the stairs behind us. The hotel was on fire, and it was a miracle that we hadn't been burned alive.

I didn't know any better, nor did I have any other options, so I just decided to trust that she knew what she was doing for now.

As we hurried down the corridor, I could hear the roar of the flames below and air raid sirens starting to howl outside. I felt the pressure of the heat against my back as I followed Midori's lead and kept a close eye out just in case anyone else was stranded and needed help.

As we reached the end of the hall, I could barely make out a small sign pointing to an exit to a...terrace?!

"H-hey—wait a sec, Midori," I said as the weight of the situation struck me. "Why are we heading to an open roof? Won't the whole place be on fire soon?"

"Not if we don't stay here," Midori said as she opened a metal stairway leading out onto the terrace. "This will be our only chance to get out of here alive. Let's go. Now!"

I looked at the opening to the balcony and swallowed hard. I knew Midori was right on some level, but I was terrified. I'd never been on the rooftop of a burning building before with a living fire behind me.

"Okay, okay," I agreed as I walked towards the door. "I'll trust you."

I grabbed the handle and pushed the door open slowly. As I stepped down a small set of stairs onto the small concrete platform of the terrace, the wind hit my face like an ice-cold slap. I looked around frantically and noticed that the sky was darkening, and the clouds were glowing orange from the fire burning below. Worse still — now that we were out here, I was more than aware that the entire city was on fire. Midori closed the heavy door behind us, which shut with a loud click.

Then the two of us stood there, looking out at the city as the wind whipped our hair about. We were surrounded by the glow of the flames; even from here, we could feel them roaring around us.

"This is crazy," I muttered.

"I'm sorry," Midori replied. Her voice was soft, and she sounded regretful. "This was the best option we had. If I thought there was a way to get us out safely otherwise, I would have taken it."

I sighed heavily as I gazed at the ocean's horizon in front of us—the waves crashing loudly in the night. I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare.

"So, where is this safe spot you were talking about?" I asked.

"Not far from here. We just have to go up the steps down the walkway and turn left to get to the upper level," Midori said. "Our pickup point is there."

Wait. A pickup point?!

"Eek!" a voice suddenly shouted from the darkness by our side on the terrace. Midori snapped her head with a startled look to see what it was.

"Umn umn, umm—" a voice stuttered out.

I squinted in the direction of the voice and saw a young girl with dark skin, yellow eyes, and brown curly hair, maybe nine to twelve years old. Her hair was in a messy scattered ponytail, and she wore a tattered shirt covered in soot.

"I-I'm sorry!" the girl said, looking visibly distraught. "I know I shouldn't still be here but I can't find my parents! They were in our room like ten minutes ago but I came back and they're not there anymore..."

I kneeled in front of her to put a hand on her shoulder and tried calming my nerves while putting on a brave face. I was still having trouble breathing; the air was so thin here.

"It's alright. Just tell me your name," I said gently. "Everything will be okay."

The girl took in a sharp breath, then nodded. "My name is Caroline. Are—are my mommy and daddy safe?" she asked, clutching at my arm.

"I'm sure they are, sweetheart," Midori said reassuringly as she knelt beside me. "Which room were you in? Was there a window they could have climbed out of?"

Caroline's expression clouded over at the question. "Y-yes. Umn. We were in room 407. But we're a floor up; they would have had to climb out the entire height of the building."

Midori shook her head, "No, there's a different possibility. I'm going to check the floor to make sure nobody else is stuck here. You wait here, and don't move from where you are, understand?"

"Yes, yes!" the girl replied with a nod, holding her hands together and twiddling her thumbs. "I won't."

Midori stood up and began walking to the staircase; she paused and glanced back at me. "I'll be right back."

"Wait, Midori," I said, standing up and grabbing her by the shoulders to stop her from leaving. "What about you? You're going back in there?! Are you crazy?"

"I'll be fine," Midori replied confidently as she pulled a scrunchie seemingly out of nowhere and skillfully tied back her already-short hair. "If something happens to me, do NOT try and rescue me yourself. I've sent our location on the rooftop to the ERC, and they'll be here any minute. Got it?"

I gulped down my fear and nodded firmly, wondering how Midori could be so composed in all of this. The Emergency Relief Corps. — or ERC, was a disaster relief corps comprised of magic users. The group was comprised mostly of reservists and volunteer Magical Girls, and they were only activated when shit really hit the fan. They weren't like the police or firefighters, who had to be called on for everyday emergencies like fires or robberies. Instead, the ERC was always on standby, ready to deploy whenever a terrorist attack or Chaos Event occurred. Or, if one of their members went missing for whatever reason.

"Alright, I'm counting on you, Ikki." Midori smiled and patted me on the head.

"H-hey! Stop! Okay! Alright! I got it, I promise! Don't do that again!" I said with a laugh as I rubbed at my head.

With that said, Midori turned and started climbing the stairs back into the hallway —but not before giving me another quick glance to ensure I wasn't following.

The second she reached to open the door, everything immediately went to hell. There was another massive explosion, and the heat became unbearable. The walls cracked, the ceiling crumbled, and the floor buckled; the whole hotel rumbled like it was falling apart, and I was helpless to do anything.

I reached out and grabbed Caroline's hand. The poor girl was shaking with terror, and I wanted to hold on tight to keep her from running away.

Then there was a loud crash, and the three of us whipped our heads around to see four bodies drop from the windows above us, landing with a thud. Two men, a woman, and a little girl. All of them were covered with blood.

"Mommy?! Daddy?!" the girl cried out, breaking my grip to run over to them. Faster than I could react, Midori dropped her axe and immediately dashed for the little girl, grabbing her into a bear hug in one smooth motion before I could even reach my arms out.

"Get—get back," Midori commanded as the girl clung to her. "We need to get out of here. Now!"

"But Mommy and Daddy—" the girl sobbed.

I heard a groan and a hiss from the bodies on the floor. Midori's eyes widened in realization.

"Run!" Midori ordered, pushing the girl into me as she picked up the fallen axe. "Now!"

The woman who had fallen from above peeled herself off the floor and stood; she was apparently a beautiful woman in life - with smooth, caramel-brown skin and lovely golden eyes like her daughter. She was wearing a long dress, which briefly covered her mouth as she let out a moaning cry and snarl. Then she charged at Midori like a wild animal; her eyes were wide and crazed, her teeth bared in a snarl, and she had pulsating blue lines running all over her skin. The other three slowly got off the floor and followed suit.

That image made my blood run cold, bringing back all kinds of bad memories. The blue lines were a telltale sign of corruption by Chaos Energy, which I had only witnessed as a young child. If that thing had been Caroline's mother before, she was definitely an Aberration now.

The most common, the weakest, and yet - the most dangerous form of Abberation, in fact.

Zombies.

Fucking. Zombies.