The game wasn't just a file; it was a mirror. The map that loaded wasn't a fictionalized New York or Moscow. It was a top-down, real-time thermal render of his own apartment complex. Tiny, heat-signature dots were congregating at the north entrance—three blocks away.

Elias frowned. He double-clicked the .exe . The screen didn't flicker into a splash page or a loading menu. Instead, his webcam light turned a piercing, icy blue. His desktop icons began to melt, sliding down the screen like oil.

: Watch for unusual outbound traffic during a "game" session.

: Sometimes the greatest threat isn't behind the screen.

A heavy thud echoed from the hallway outside his front door. Then another. Elias looked at the screen, then at the deadbolt. The thermal dots on his monitor were now pressing against the very wall he was sitting behind.

He hadn't just downloaded a game. He had signed up for the beta test of the end of the world. Survival Checklist

A text box appeared at the bottom of the screen, the font mimicking the P2P release notes. Patch Notes v20220831: Real-time synchronization enabled. Permadeath active. The swarm is no longer virtual.