*ONTO THE WAY TILL THE VENUE*
Said Zayn,"we should go by the metro as it will be more faster an would free us some time to rehearse and discard our mistakes with thorough practice."
"yeah! That's a good plan, by the way."Aaron agreed with him by nodding vigrously.
I and Insha agreed to go with them by saying,"OK! Then if you guys say then we'll go"
The decision was final. Our endearingly disorganized group of four—two girls and two guys—along with a few others we weren't particularly acquainted with, opted to take the metro to the venue and walk the remaining distance. It wasn't the most strategic plan, but it felt like an adventure waiting to happen.
{TIME: 12:30 p.m.}
We'd arranged transportation, and as always, Insha and I stuck together. This time, we joined the rest of the group and headed to the station. Lost in our usual whirlwind of gossip, none of us noticed we hadn't picked up anything to eat. We all knew there were food kiosks nearby—but in the chaos of chatter and excitement, grabbing a snack completely slipped our minds.
The other people said,"ok then we will go to our homes from this way now. BYE!!" They stepped of the metro on some other station's metro to go to their houses and get ready there but we had other plans.
We stepped into the station—two of us headed straight through the check-in gates, while the other two stayed behind to grab snacks. It had only just dawned on us that we hadn't eaten.
So, of course, Insha and I started calling out our orders across the station like a pair of lunatics—shouting food requests as if we were at a street stall instead of a public transit hub. (Not our most graceful moment, but hey—it got the job done.) We promised to split the cost evenly, regrouped at the platform, and waited as the metro pulled in beside us.
{TIME: 1:00 p.m.}
We reached the station in just under thirty minutes, but something about the empty metro felt… off. It was too quiet, too still—unlike anything we'd experienced before.
But we laughed it off; after all, we had other things on our minds. As we stepped onto the platform, we could see the venue in the distance—a promising sight—but that uneasy feeling lingered in the background like a shadow we couldn't quite place. I couldn't explain it, but something in the air felt wrong. Still, we were determined to make the most of the day.
Maybe I'm only saying this now because, in hindsight, it really did feel like a final chapter—the last time we'd be together like that: laughing, singing, eating, capturing fleeting moments on our phones. Little videos that would soon become nothing more than .mp4 files—silent proof of a life that once felt full of light.
The moment we stepped out of the station, the world felt… wrong. Not just the station, but the roads, the stalls, the air itself—everything had an eerie stillness, like the city had taken a breath and forgotten to exhale.
One of us finally pulled out a phone, almost instinctively, and that's when reality cracked open. News alerts lit up the screen: reports of a rapidly spreading airborne mutation—some unknown virus accelerating at an alarming pace. There were no clear details, no known symptoms—just panic wrapped in uncertainty.
Our minds froze. The only official notice was stark and unsettling: stay indoors, stay safe, and secure enough food and essentials. Whatever this was… it had already begun.
Yeah, we're doing great—just like the notice said: outdoors, underprepared, and clearly not panicking at all. What could possibly go wrong?
{TIME: 1:10 p.m.}
*ENTERED THE VENUE*
We ran towards the VENUE and entered the place but when we went through the gate inside the vibe was something else. Everyone was running, playing, rehersing and no signs of any kind of reactions upon listening the NEWS.
For a moment I thought that it might be wrong, this was something that was in all our minds, such a contrasting vibe it was there.
We looked at each others faces and a pile of questions came into our minds like " is it really not true? is it something which only we know about? or are we dreaming?...."
No words but then we got the answers, without anyone saying any words, our ears heard it and our eyes saw it and this moment neither I nor my buddies could forget.
(phewww... what a moment it was to watch. Nobody other then us and the IRL viewers of it could tell about the unnerving situation...)
{TIME: 2:35 p.m.}
Our stage wasn't on the ground floor—it was on the first, and we were all sprawled across the wide staircase near the towering floor-to-ceiling windows. The view outside was open and unsettling. Insha suddenly nudged me and the others—Zayn and Aaron—and told us to look out. That's when we saw it: a speeding truck loaded with gas cylinders collided head-on with a bus full of schoolchildren. A massive explosion followed—searing, deafening, and soul-shaking. The blast rocked the air so violently that we lost our footing, thrown to the ground by the shockwave, even though the crash had happened across two main roads. For a moment, everything went silent. We couldn't even hear each other's voices over the ringing in our ears.
But I knew—this was it. If we didn't move now, we wouldn't get another chance. I shouted for everyone to run and find a room, any room, to hide. That's when we saw them—a swarm of people covered in blood, their bodies twisted and disfigured, charging toward the building like something out of a nightmare.
Panic surged through us as security rushed to barricade the main entrance. Everyone else ran to their assigned rooms—each one locking their doors behind them, refusing to let us in. One by one, doors slammed in our faces.
Then we heard it—scratching, clawing, the metallic BANG! BANG!! echoing through the halls. Something had broken through. We were out of time.
The only option left was a small storage room meant for staff—unassigned, unused, and locked. Desperate, Zayn grabbed a rock from a decorative plant nearby and began smashing the padlock. We stood frozen, panicking, hearts pounding, just praying it would open before the horror outside found its way in.
{TIME: 2:41 p.m.}
Finally—the lock gave in with a harsh crack. But at that exact moment, from the far end of the corridor, a figure emerged. Or rather, something that used to be human. Twisted. Disfigured. And sprinting straight at us.
We screamed.
Insha didn't hesitate—she shoved all of us inside the room with every bit of strength she had. We tumbled in, collapsing on top of each other in a heap of panic and limbs. She slammed the door shut behind us just in time.
We were in... but our souls felt like they were still out there, reeling from the chaos that had unfolded in mere seconds.
Catching our breath, we untangled ourselves from the pile we'd become—and then we looked up.
And we saw…