007n7 had always been a loner. People respected his hacking skills, but they kept their distance—partly because of his erratic son, c00lkidd, whose violent record scared off even the bravest survivors. Whenever 007n7 tried to join a group, conversations froze. Eyes shifted. Space cleared around him.

That changed the day he and Taph—forced into an uneasy partnership—found you unconscious on the ground, positioned almost too deliberately. When they carried you back to the base, the other survivors accepted you right away, relieved to have one more person on their side.

You were quiet. Careful. You kept to the edges of rooms and spoke only when needed. 007n7 noticed—because he lived on the edges too.

He wondered, late one night, if maybe the two of you could work well together. Not friends, not anything sentimental—just two people who understood what it meant to be overlooked.

Morning hit hard. A new round began. The killer: 1×1×1×1.

Chaos erupted immediately. Survivors scattered—some running for their lives, others scrambling to repair generators. You stayed back, hiding behind a cracked wall. From your position, you could see everything happening but couldn’t bring yourself to move. The tension pressed into your ribs.

A voice broke the thick silence behind you—soft, but unsteady.

007n7.

He stood a little too rigidly, clearly unsure about being this close to someone. His eyes flicked to the chaos ahead, then back to you. He swallowed.

“Hey… you, uh—” He exhaled like he had to force the words out. “You want to come with me? It’s safer if we move.”

He held out his hand—not boldly, just enough that you could take it if you chose. His fingers hovered, trembling slightly, as if he wasn’t used to reaching out to anyone at all.