"What's wrong, Ethan?" Chris asked, frowning at Ethan's stunned expression.

Ethan didn't answer right away. Then, suddenly, he said, "Chris, try turning invisible."

"...What?"

Chris stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Dude, are you serious? If I could turn invisible, do you think I'd be wasting time chasing a girlfriend? I'd be sleeping with a different girl every night."

"I'm telling you, you can. Just try it. Focus. Think about disappearing—really concentrate."

Ethan's tone was dead serious, and though Chris looked skeptical as hell, he gave a reluctant shrug and did as he was told.

A few seconds passed. Then Chris's body began to fade—slowly at first, like mist thinning in the sun. And then, he was gone.

"E-Ethan?" Chris's voice echoed across the rooftop, high with disbelief. "I think… I think I actually disappeared!"

Ethan's eyes widened with amazement. Chris had vanished completely, and yet Ethan could still see him—clear as day. He could see the outline of his friend, arms stretched out, spinning in place like a kid who just discovered a new toy.

Ethan focused again, narrowing his vision—and just like that, Chris's invisible form sharpened into view. He was grinning like a maniac, waving his hands in front of his face.

"Holy shit, I can turn invisible! This is amazing! The women's locker room will never be safe again!"

"...Seriously?" Ethan rolled his eyes. "That's your first thought?"

"Come on, man, you gotta admit—invisibility is, like, the coolest superpower ever!"

"Yeah, well, it's the apocalypse now. The women's locker room doesn't have girls changing anymore. Just zombies waiting to rip your face off. Still wanna sneak in?"

Chris paused. "Uh… yeah, no, I'm good."

He scratched the back of his head, still invisible. "But Ethan, what the hell is going on? Why can I suddenly do this? Is this, like, an actual superpower?"

"Pretty much," Ethan said with a nod.

"But why now? Why me?"

"I think it's tied to the outbreak. Maybe the virus or whatever caused this apocalypse doesn't just turn people into zombies. Maybe it unlocks something in some of us. I don't know if it's good or bad, but either way, having powers gives us a better shot at surviving. That's something."

Chris nodded slowly, still trying to wrap his head around it. "So… what about you? What's your power?"

Ethan hesitated, then said, "I can see things other people can't."

Chris raised an eyebrow—well, Ethan assumed he did. "Like what?"

"Like your invisibility."

"...You've gotta be kidding me."

Chris reappeared with a shimmer, looking thoroughly betrayed. "Dude, your power hard-counters mine! I'll never be able to sneak anything past you again."

Ethan smirked. "What, you want me to start calling you 'Shadow King' or something?"

Chris waved his hands. "No, no, forget I said anything."

Then his eyes lit up. "But Ethan, if we both have powers… what if we could actually do something big in this apocalypse? Like, really make a difference?"

Ethan's smile faded a little. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First, we survive. Neither of our powers are combat-based. And surviving in a world crawling with zombies? That's already hard enough."

"True," Chris admitted. "But hey, I can turn invisible. I could sneak out and steal food. At least we won't starve."

"Don't get too cocky," Ethan warned. "From what I've seen, these zombies have insanely sharp hearing. If you make any noise, invisibility won't help you. They'll still come for you."

Chris's face fell. "So… I need to learn how to move silently?"

"Exactly. Practice walking without a sound. We'll test it later—find a zombie and see if it reacts to you while you're invisible."

Chris blinked. "Uh… are you sure that's not a 'test and die' kind of plan?"

"You'll be fine. Trust yourself."

Chris sighed. "Yeah… okay. I'll try."

"Hey, Chris," Ethan said suddenly, eyes narrowing in thought. "When you go invisible, your clothes disappear too. Does that mean anything you're holding goes invisible with you?"

"Let's find out." Chris bent down, picked up a rock from the rooftop, and activated his invisibility again.

Sure enough, as he vanished, the rock vanished with him.

"No way—it works!" Chris's voice rang out, full of excitement.

Ethan nodded, intrigued. "Okay, now try this—grab my arm and see if you can take me invisible with you."

"Alright." Chris reappeared, reached out, and grabbed Ethan's wrist. Then he focused again, trying to activate his ability.

Nothing happened.

Not only did Ethan stay fully visible, but Chris couldn't even turn himself invisible this time.

"Uh… yeah, that's a no-go," Chris muttered, frowning.

"Figures," Ethan said, thoughtful. "Must be a limitation—your power probably doesn't work on living things."

"So if I touch someone while I'm invisible, I'll pop back into view?"

"Only one way to find out."

Chris didn't hesitate. He vanished again, then reached out and tapped Ethan on the shoulder.

The moment his hand made contact, his body shimmered back into view.

They ran a few more tests—touching Ethan with his hand, with a brick, even brushing against him lightly. Every time, the result was the same: contact with a living being broke the invisibility.

"Yeah, that's the rule," Chris said, sighing. "Touch a living thing, and I'm visible again. Kinda sucks."

"It's still a powerful ability," Ethan said seriously. "But you'll need to be careful. Invisibility isn't invincibility. Don't touch anything alive while you're using it—got it?"

"Got it." Chris nodded, face solemn.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The sudden pounding on the rooftop door made both of them jump.

"Someone's in there! Open up!"

"Please! Open the door! There are zombies!"

The voices outside were frantic, the banging growing louder and more desperate.

Chris turned to Ethan, tense. "What do we do? Do we let them in?"

Ethan didn't answer right away. He stared at the door, eyes narrowing—and then, with a blink, his vision pierced through the metal.

Three guys stood on the other side, all of them panicked. One was hammering on the door with both fists. The other two were fending off a pair of zombies—one swinging a three-foot metal pipe, the other using a tall barstool like a battering ram. The zombies were trying to scramble up the stairs, but the height gave the guys an edge—they kept knocking them back down.

Ethan frowned. "We have to open it. If they keep banging like that, they'll draw every zombie in a mile radius. And I'm not sure this ladder can hold if a whole horde comes up."

"But keep your guard up," he added. "There are three of them. One's got a metal pipe. I don't care if they're classmates—this is the apocalypse. People change."

Chris nodded. "I get it."

"Alright. I'll move the ladder. You open the door. As soon as they're in, shut it again."

"Got it."

Ethan waited until the two guys outside knocked the zombies back again, then quickly pulled the ladder aside. Chris moved fast, yanking the door open.

The three guys didn't hesitate—they barreled through the doorway and slammed the door shut behind them.

Ethan shoved the ladder back into place just as the zombies reached the top. A second later, the door shuddered under their weight. But with the ladder braced against it, they weren't getting through—at least not yet.

"Holy shit…" One of the guys collapsed onto the rooftop, gasping for breath. The other two followed, all three of them drenched in sweat and wide-eyed with fear.

After a long moment, the skinny one looked up at Ethan and Chris. "What the hell took you so long? We almost got eaten out there!"

Chris's face darkened. "Wow. You're welcome, by the way. We just saved your asses, and that's the first thing out of your mouth?"

"This is a public rooftop," the tall guy with the metal pipe said, frowning. "You had no right to block the door. That's not cool."

"Yeah," added the third guy, a dark-skinned student with a tense jaw. "Our dorm door got busted down by zombies. We came up here to take shelter, and you guys had it locked. We almost died because of you. That's on you."

Chris opened his mouth to argue, but Ethan held up a hand.

"You're right," Ethan said calmly. "We shouldn't have blocked the door."

He turned and reached for the ladder.

"Whoa, hey—wait!" the skinny guy blurted out, eyes going wide. "Let's not be hasty, alright?"

"Yeah, man, no need to do anything drastic," said the tall one, suddenly sweating.

"You were right to block it! Totally right!" the third guy added quickly.

Ethan blinked innocently. "But you just said it was wrong. That it was dangerous."

"No, no, it's fine. Totally ethical. Very responsible."

"Not putting anyone in danger?"

"Not at all! Super safe. Very moral."

"Oh, good." Ethan smiled sweetly. He let go of the ladder.

The three guys flinched.

Just as they started to relax, Ethan grabbed the ladder again.

"Actually… maybe I should move it. What if someone else shows up?"

The three of them tensed all over again.

"No one's coming!" the tall guy said quickly. "We live on the seventh floor. Every door's locked tight. There are zombies all over the hallway. No one's getting out."

Ethan nodded. "That's a relief."

He gave the ladder a little shake, then frowned. "Huh. Feels a bit unstable."

The three guys looked like they were about to pass out.

"Then wedge something under it!" the skinny one said, voice cracking. "This isn't a joke!"

"Good idea." Ethan glanced at the ladder's base, then at the tall guy's metal pipe. "Hey, mind if I borrow that? Looks like it might fit."

"Sure." The guy tossed it over without hesitation. He was too focused on keeping the zombies out to think twice.

Ethan caught it, gave it a few experimental taps against the ladder, then smiled. "Perfect. Nice and solid now."

The three guys finally exhaled, slumping in relief.

None of them seemed to notice that their only real weapon had just changed hands.

...

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