MY RIDER SYSTEM

Hope

“Couldn’t sleep, huh?”

The voice called from behind him.

Kael froze. He wiped his face quickly with his sleeve and turned to see Selena a few steps away, her hair messy from sleep. She had one hand shoved into her jacket pocket while the other held the metal door open behind her.

Then, without asking permission, she walked over and sat beside him on the cold rooftop floor. The concrete was soaked from rain water, but she didn't seem to care. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and let out a tired breath.

“Couldn’t sleep either. Kinda hard to when the world’s gone completely to hell.”

Kael looked away from her. “I just needed the air.”

Selena looked at him and pretended not to hear it. Then she glanced up at the sky, a faint smirk tugging at her lips.

“Were you... praying just now?”

Kael stiffened slightly. He didn’t need to answer, but she caught the look in his eyes and leaned back on her palms.

“You do know there’s no such thing as a ‘god’, right?” she said softly. “I mean if there was, he wouldn't just stand idly by and watch while we tear ourselves apart. He’d do something. Anything, infact.”

Kael stayed silent for a moment before finally speaking.

“My God does exist.”

Selena looked at him for a few more seconds before looking away again.

“…Must be nice.”

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, briefly illuminating their faces. She raised an eyebrow in response. “Was that Him, then? He sounds pretty pissed, don't you think?”

“What?”

“Never mind.” She sighed quietly. “None of this means anything in the long run, anyway. But staying alive? That’s about as close to meaning as we’re gonna get.”

She paused a while. Her tone softened when she spoke again.

“And... sorry about Tucker. He’s rough around the edges, but he's lost people too. More than most, infact.”

Kael nodded faintly, taking in her words. “About Tucker. He mentioned something earlier—about ‘Riders,’ about all this being some kind of game..."

Selena stayed quiet.

"...What did he mean by that?”

The woman let out a long breath. “I wish I knew for sure.”

“I thought you might have answers.”

Selena looked at him with fake offense.

“What, you think I’m some kind of walking, all-knowing encyclopedia now?” she teased, the faintest smile returning.

“That’s not what I—”

“Relax,” she waved him off gently. “I’m just messing with you."

For the first time since meeting her, Kael noticed she actually looked young when she smiled. It quickly disappeared though as her expression turned serious again.

"I might know bits and pieces, so listen carefully because this isn’t something you’ll hear very often.”

Kael leaned forward slightly, his eyes searching hers.

“When people die,” Selena began slowly, “they don’t just pass on. They come here. Why here? Nobody knows. But once you’re here, you’re thrown into fights against monsters. Kill them, and you earn points. Small ones barely count, but see the big ones—the bosses—they’re worth everything.”

She looked down at her hands, adding one more thing at the end. “And when you’re the last one standing… you get a wish."

"...What?"

"Any f*****g thing you want, you name it.”

Kael just stared at her like she'd lost her mind. “That’s insane.”

“Yeah,” Selena laughed quietly. “That's exactly what I thought too. It is pretty hard to believe, isn't it? But that's the truth of this world we just have to accept.”

Kael was silent again, processing her words. He looked down at the old armband wrapped around his wrist, clutching it tightly.

Selena noticed immediately. She seemed like the kind of person who noticed everything. Maybe that’s what had kept her alive this long.

“So…" she murmured softly. "It's just the two of you then?”

Kael looked up at her “Two?”

“You and your sister. You did say she was all you had."

Kael's expression dimmed instantly.

“...Yeah,” his voice grew quieter. “It’s just us now. Our parents died years ago. House fire.”

“I’m sorry.” Selena managed, staring at him.

Kael let out a weak laugh, the kind that wasn’t born from humor but from the pain of remembering.

“You know what’s crazy? When I and my sister were kids, they were like those perfect parents you'd see on those old TV shows, you know? We would sit together when we'd have family dinner and we'd hold hands and say grace."

A smile touched his lips briefly.

"I used to think it was cheesy back then. Now I’d give anything to have that again.”

Selena’s lips pressed into a thin line as she listened. “You know, from where I sit, I'd say you're one of the lucky ones. Your sister’s alive somewhere. That’s more than most can say. You should be grateful.”

"Grateful?"

Kael's anger reached its peak.

“My sister was taken!"

"I know."

"No, you don't. Don't give me that crap. I don’t even know if she’s still alive."

Selena looked away slightly. "You still have hope."

"Hope?" He turned toward her. "How the hell am I supposed to feel grateful now? She was dragged away right in front of me, and I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it! So forgive me if I’m not exactly feeling ‘grateful’ enough.”

Selena’s smirk disappeared and her expression slowly lost all traces of humor. When next she finally spoke, her voice carried a weight Kael hadn’t heard before.

"My family died years ago trying to reach an airport."

Selena stared blankly ahead while speaking.

“We thought maybe there’d be planes left, or soldiers, or something. My dad had all this cash with him, stacks of it, even though it was all worthless by then."

She let out a dry, bitter laugh that didn’t last. “Turns out, we weren’t the only ones with that idea. There were literally thousands. Everyone screaming, pushing, doing whatever they could just to get closer to the gates. It was chaos I had never seen before.”

Kael stayed completely silent while she drifted further into memory.

“I remember my dad’s hand—how tightly he held me—and then…” She closed her eyes. “Then it was gone. Just like that. I screamed for him, but I remember the noise swallowing me whole.”

Kael didn’t say a word. The wind whistled through the broken antenna above them, and he could feel the cold at his skin, but he didn't dare interrupt.

“And that’s when it started,” she continued. “The infection. It spread through the crowd like wildfire. People just… changed.”

She took a shaky breath. “I climbed onto a kiosk to get a better look and from up there, I saw everything. From bodies twisting to bones snapping… their faces splitting open like something inside them was just fighting to get out. There was this boy—his skin melted off his arms while he called for his mom. She was crawling toward him, but half her body was gone. Just gone.”

Kael’s stomach turned. He didn’t want to imagine it, but her voice made it real.

“And then I saw my dad."

Kael looked back at her to see her face had gone pale.

“Not my mom. Not my sisters. My dad.” Her voice broke. “He was… tearing them apart with his bare hands, like he didn’t even know them. Like they meant nothing to him.”

A single tear rolled down her cheek but she brushed it away quickly, forcing herself back into the calm, unshakable version Kael usually saw.

“So yeah,” she said finally, “you should feel grateful.”

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the low rumble of thunder across the clouds. Then the rain began. It started soft at first, then heavier by the minute.

Selena rose, pulling her jacket tighter against herself.

“Listen, Kael,” she said more gently. “You already believe in that big guy upstairs." She pointed toward the stormy sky where lightning flashed again. "Might as well keep the faith. At this point, supernatural bullshit is basically the norm in these lands."

Kael almost smiled faintly at that.

She hesitated before gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Try to get some rest, okay? Tomorrow’s not gonna be kind.”

And with that, she turned to leave, her boots splashing in shallow puddles. But just before she reached the door, Kael’s voice stopped her.

“I think I get it now,” he muttered.

Selena paused, glancing over her shoulder. “Get what?”

He looked up at her through the rain. “You know so much… because this is where it happened. This was your home once. This world.”

For a moment, something vulnerable crossed Selena's face but then it was gone.

“Get some sleep, Kael,” she said quietly. And then she was gone, slipping through the metal door.

Kael stayed sitting there for a long time afterward, staring out into the storm. The rain was cold, but he didn’t care. It mixed with the tears he no longer bothered to hide.

He looked down at the old armband again, gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned white.

“I’ll find you,” he whispered, his voice trembling but certain. “I promise I will.”

Thunder rumbled across the sky, as if it had heard him. And alone beneath the rain, Kael closed his eyes.

That's when it happened.