Kale looked around, remaining calm and feeling no fear. To him, this was just an event created by his mind—a mere dream.
"End of the world...?" Alya whispered softly.
Suddenly, Kale snapped back and started to panic! Right! This may be just a dream for him, but what about Alya? If she were to die here, would she also disappear from his dream?
Kale quickly grabbed Alya's hand and hurried out of the car. Cars were jammed everywhere, people had exited their vehicles, and there was chaos all around with people screaming and panicking!
He estimated they had about two minutes before the meteors would crash down.
Where could they hide?
"Think... Think!"
Kale swiftly pulled Alya along, not even looking back, just holding onto her hand. He then spotted a building and remembered it had an underground floor!
He rushed towards it. As they entered, people from the building were also rushing out, likely unaware of the incoming meteors. He pushed through them, holding Alya's hand tightly.
Once inside, they headed to the underground floors. There were two basement levels, and he planned to go to the lowest one.
'Boom! Boom!'
"This way, Alya!" Kale shouted.
He pulled her behind a metal table used for clothes in the mall. The ground was shaking now, as meteors crashed outside. Kale imagined the explosions outside and the likely thousands of people who had already died.
He thought about his family in this dream. Even though they were strangers, as this dream had only started a few weeks ago, he didn't want them to die.
As the mall's lights went out, they were plunged into near darkness. Kale covered Alya's nose to shield her from the smoke and debris filling the air. He himself remained unaffected and could breathe normally, knowing he wouldn't feel pain even if debris hit him.
When his dream had first started a few weeks ago, he'd tested it by punching a wall and had felt no pain. He could even return to reality whenever he wanted, without having to wake up his real body.
After a few minutes of shaking and explosions it has finally stopped.
If earlier, it had been deafeningly loud, now the silence was almost eerie.
As the thick smoke slowly dissipated, Kale spoke.
"Alya, are you okay? Just inhale and exhale slowly, okay? Don't worry, I'm here."
He understood how she felt, likely traumatized and deeply worried, especially since they didn't know the fate of her parents.
"I'm fine, brother. Don't worry about me..." Alya whispered softly.
Alya slowly took out her phone, which had no signal. She quickly turned on the flashlight to bring some light into the darkness. She then froze upon noticing the severe bleeding near Kale's eye.
"You're bleeding near your eye.." she worriedly said.
Kale, surprised, touched his left eye and found his hand covered in blood. So, that was why he couldn't open his left eye!
Since he couldn't feel pain in this dream, he hadn't realized it.
"Hold on, I'll get a cloth," Alya said.
"No, stay here. There could be more debris, and you shouldn't leave this spot."
"Brother, don't be stubborn! Look at your injuries from protecting me!" Alya snapped.
This was the first time Kale had seen her express anger or any strong emotion. She was usually calm and reserved. Ignoring her, Kale quickly went up, found a cloth, and returned.
"Don't be angry now; we don't have time for that," Kale said calmly.
Without saying another word, Alya began cleaning the blood from his eye. She was surprised by Kale's calmness, and despite this wound, he seemed unbothered. She sighed with relief upon seeing that his eye was unharmed; the wound was above his eye.
She then bandaged it with the towel to stop the bleeding.
"Try contacting Dad or others." Kale said.
"There are No signal.." Alya replied.
Kale expected that and began thinking of other solutions. If the main building above had collapsed, they might be trapped down here. Their next priority would be food! Thankfully, this floor had a grocery section, so they didn't have to worry about that.
Outside,
Corpses and collapsed buildings lay scattered everywhere. This scene was mirrored across the world. Yes, the small asteroids had struck globally.
On the meteor rocks, a terrifying event was unfolding. Millions of tiny, elastic worms were emerging, rapidly moving around. One worm approached a corpse, quickly eating its flesh, and entered the body. Within moments, it climbed to the brain of the corpse, and seconds later...
The corpse's eyes opened, and it slowly rose. Missing both arms and covered in wounds, it walked slowly, and as it did, more corpses around it began to rise.
Now, they were controlled by parasites...