𝘐𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳, 𝘢 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘈 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺.....
***
A teenager slowly opened their eyes to the sight of the ceiling of their room; the teenager rubbed their eyes for a few moments before sitting up straight on their bed. "I hope I don't get to see many people today." the teenager said.
The teenager walked to his door and opened it; he went to the bathroom down the hallway. Kayden did his morning routine of brushing his teeth and fixing his hair in the bathroom. After he finished that, he hesitantly went downstairs. The teenager slapped himself lightly on the cheeks a few times and said, "ok, Kayden, just another day of tolerating people; it will be fine."
Almost immediately after Kayden stepped downstairs, he was tackled by his older brother. His older brother tackled him down to the floor and put him in a chokehold.
"Oh, for god's sake, let go of me, Felix!" Kayden desperately pleaded. "Come on, Kayden; you need to work on your muscles more! It's so easy to put you in a chokehold." Felix responded. They wrestled on the floor for a few more moments until Kayden pushed him away, effectively ending the tussle.
"Why do you do this almost every morning? I'm getting sick of it!" Kayden said weakly. Felix laughed for a few seconds before responding, "The fact that I can get you every time keeps me motivated; I'll give you a deal, put me in a chokehold next time; then I will stop doing that every morning." "Fine by me," Kayden said. Felix left to eat breakfast as Kayden went to the living room next to the stairs.
He sat down on the leather sofa and turned on the TV. The TV showed the local news, and it started listing the weather for today. "Huh, usually in movies, when the news is on, it will show the weather for a bit, then interrupt it by showing a national emergency." Kayden thought to himself while snickering.
After waiting for a minute to see if it would happen, Kayden gave up. "Oh well, I guess something exciting like that will never happen to me." Kayden let out a big sigh and then got up from the sofa. "Wait, did I just activate a flag for myself?" Kayden thought. After getting over his useless thoughts, he went into the kitchen where his brother Felix resided.
Kayden checked on Felix's eating; it was a buffet of healthy foods and proteins.
"Hey, you damn jock, why do you always eat a thanksgiving worth of food every morning!" Kayden growled. Still stuffed to the brim with food in his mouth, Felix responded, "It's important to get the right amount of proteins; you look skinny these days; why don't I show you a well-balanced diet you can try? Out." "Yeah, right; the last time I trusted you on that, all the food you gave me tasted like dog shit mixed with mustard gas," Kayden responded sarcastically.
"My dear little brother, who said getting fit was easy?" Felix said in a threatening tone.
Kayden slapped the back of his brother's head and responded angrily, "Will you stop acting like that and calling me your dear younger brother for one second!"
"My dear younger brother, why did you hit me on my head?" Felix responded while fake crying.
Just before Kayden could punch Felix, their mother came downstairs. "I see you two are up and ready; you going at it again?" Kayden's mother said. Kayden resisted the urge to punch his brother and responded, "Yea, sure, mom, we are just a happy bunch." "Hey now, why do you always have to be negative? Lighten up!" Felix said
"Whatever, I'm heading out," Kayden said. Before anyone could say anything, Kayden grabbed his black jacket from the coat hanger and immediately left the house.
***
𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘥𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴
A burly middle-aged older man with a white beard was rubbing his temple in a mix of confusion and frustration.
"Something wrong, Doctor Heines?" asked a short blonde-haired man
"Hmm, it is nothing serious, but it is quite a strange predicament," responded Heines.
"May I ask how so, Doctor Heines?" asked the blonde-haired man. "I wouldn't have said it is a strange predicament if it was classified, anyway; you know about the new virus?"
"Yes, I heard about it, though I also heard it is a minor virus with minor symptoms." The blonde man responded. Heines shuffled in his chair for a moment and tapped his pencils a few times before replying, "That is true, but it also spread extremely fast, and so because of that, almost all major countries and small countries have at least a few people infected within their borders."
"That is true, Doctor Heines, but why go over already well-known information?" The blonde man asked curiously.
Heines let out a deep sigh, then responded, "The disease made its way to Canada eight hours ago; I just got an updated report."
"Oh well, that is annoying, but we can deal with it, especially since it's a minor virus." The blonde man said. "Frank, it's not only that... Heines waited a few seconds before responding; it has already infected 6% of the whole population of Canada." Frank was shocked and responded, "After eight hours, it infected over two million people. Although that is an alarming amount, it shouldn't be able to cause much harm."
Heines sighed deeply at Franks's simple thinking, perhaps that is why Frank is still an assistant, but he decided to educate Frank.
"Frank, there's no telling how far this virus will go; it can mutate and evolve to become extremely deadly to humans, so many possibilities can happen. It won't be good with how many virus cases are reported globally. That is why we must take action before it becomes a problem."
Frank shook his head in agreement and then tidied up the lab.
Heines went back to work investigating the virus and its origin and finding a way to counteract it.
"You are a strange virus, and I will find out how to stop you," Heines said softly.
***
Kayden entered a convenience store fifteen minutes after leaving his house and looked around. Most of the stuff was junk food or drinks; Kayden decided to get a bag of chips and a water bottle after a minute of contemplating and went to the cashier to pay for the stuff.
"That will be $4.39, sir." The brown-haired girl said at the cash register. "All right, thanks," Kayden responded.
After buying the chips and water, Kayden started walking back to his house.
After five minutes of walking through the urban rundown streets, Kayden heard a pained grunt in a dark alleyway. Kayden could see the outlines of what looked like three dogs, massive dogs.
Kayden thought to himself. "I'm in the middle of someone getting mugged, killed, or initiated into the mafia, or I'm in the middle of a horror movie for an unsuspecting citizen just trying to help a person."
Although it was dusk and dark, he decided to check anyway, but from far away, with his phone flashlight pointing in the direction of the strange noises. When Kayden flashed his lights on the three "dogs," he saw a messy abomination of a tan-skinned, dog-shaped, straight out of a creepy-pasta animal.
"Holy hell, what is that!" Kayden said as he backed away slowly. The dogs quickly glanced toward Kayden and snarled their teeth at him. The teeth looked like shark teeth but were more fitting for the more petite mouth of these "dogs" the dogs also had noticeable blood stains on their teeth. Before Kayden could react anymore, he heard distant screams and pleas for help erupting throughout the city. At that moment, the dogs leaped forward with the sole intent of making Kayden their next snack.
Without caring about the screams heard around him, Kayden quickly unzipped his jacket and wrapped it tightly around his arm. Since the dogs were closing in on him, Kayden could look at them and tell what they were. The "eyes" looked like crudely carved-out holes in a V shape, and the beast's body was slightly bloated with green pores protruding everywhere on their body. Lastly, it seemed to have faded tan skin around its body.
"That's one fucked up looking dog." Kayden thought to himself. Kayden did a quick scan around himself to see if anyone would help him, but everyone was in a state of chaos; although Kayden couldn't see what was causing all this chaos, it didn't mean he didn't hear it.
Kayden quickly concentrated back on the deformed dogs as they started advancing. After a few seconds of staring down, the dog closest to him he was lunged at Kayden. Kayden kicked the dog with the sole of his foot with his total momentum. The dog fell back a few feet but quickly recovered; although Kayden managed to knock it back a few feet, he knew that it probably would have been fractured if he were to kick the dog the same way with the top of his foot. "This damn dog has tough skin." Kayden angrily said to himself.
The second dog leaped forward and was getting ready to attack Kayden. Kayden quickly let the dog bite the arm where the jacket was covering it. The dog gnawed at the jacket wildly, and even though the coat was thick, it was still getting shredded to pieces. The third dog left no space for recovery and leaped at Kayden with its claws, ready to slice Kayden's stomach wide open.
"S-shit, I can't avoid this." Kayden thought to himself. The dog leaped forward with a mixed sense of bloodlust and pleasure as it finally was able to kill its prey. Before the dog could slash his insides, a bright white light emerged. Kayden blacked out; the last thing he saw was the dogs disintegrating right in front of him.
***
"𝘐𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦? 𝑯𝒂! 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆. Calm yourself; let's check him first. 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦-𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳, 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘴. 𝑯𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒚, 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉, 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒏𝒆! We have no one else; he was one of the first candidates. 𝑯𝒎𝒑𝒉, 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕, 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕'𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖. I will take all the blame if this candidate fails."
***
Kayden woke up in the alleyway. Kayden felt light-headed and was in a cold sweat. With Kayden's weakened body, he willed himself to get off the ground. He supported himself on the brick wall, grimed with blood from either the dog or himself, and walked out of the alleyway. The dogs were nowhere to be seen, to Kayden's shock.
All around, Kayden saw destruction, charred buildings, and corpses. Kayden dashed toward his mother's house; he ran until his lungs were burning, and he kept moving forward. "Please don't be gone, mom, even Felix! Please!" After five minutes, Kayden found his house.
All that remained in Kayden's house was a burned shell. The flames grew taller, and the house continued to collapse; luckily, Kayden could not see his mother or brother's body or smell a burnt corpse.
"Fuck, what is happening right now? This whole city is being burnt, including my house. I have to go to the police station." Kayden thought to himself. Kayden ran to the nearest police station, ensuring not to get burnt by the embers that seemed to attack him.
Kayden's lungs burned as he approached the police station. What awaited him was a barricaded door with boards, furniture, and many other objects. Kayden did not want to find out whatever the thing that caused them to burrow themselves into the police station frantically. Kayden was slick with sweat and could hardly breathe.
Kayden decided to try and find an opening into the police station; the fact that the police officers boarded up the police station like this suggested that terrorists had attacked the city. Kayden hurriedly searched around the building, ensuring not to make any unnecessary movements to make any noise.
Suddenly, Kayden felt eyes on him the whole time, a shaky feeling of unease and pressure that made his legs buckle under him. "Why do I feel like this? Maybe it's the stress." Kayden thought to himself. Kayden went to the back of the police station, an employee parking lot overgrown with vines and weeds protruding from asphalt cracks on the floor. The cars parked in the parking lot have been looted, burned, or destroyed. "What the hell happened here!" Kayden said to himself quietly.
After that, Kayden looked over to the police station's dried, sleek, painted blue walls and noticed a wide-open back door. "This will undoubtedly kill me, but it looks like I have no choice by the state of this shit show," Kayden said dismissively, using this as a way to enter the building by the conspicuous-looking gray door.
Kayden went up to the door, hesitantly peeked his head through the door, and entered the police station. A metal detector was the first thing that invited him into the police station; making sure not to have anything on him that would set off the metal detector, Kayden passed it, although hesitantly. Beyond that, what greeted him was a reception table, a waiting area with overturned chairs, blood on the floor, and multiple signs of a struggle involving guns.
"Shit, did the terrorists break into the police station and start killing people?" Kayden thought to himself. Kayden hurriedly went to the reception table and leaned over, "God, that smell is putrid; hey, is anyone there? I..." Kayden abruptly stopped talking mid-sentence and recoiled on the floor.
Kayden saw what could best be described as a mesh of flesh; it was what looked to be a human, but with half of its jaw missing, eyeballs plucked out, and most of the body was eaten. Their stomach was cleanly opened with a suspicious lack of organs in the body. "What the fuck is going on here," Kayden thought to himself.
Kayden felt himself becoming sick and decided to leave the room; Kayden went into a hallway with even more caution. Kayden thought to himself, "What am I doing here, this place isn't safe, but the outside is the same; maybe I can at least gather weapons or find a police officer." Kayden's worries about carrying a gun on him without a permit were at the bottom of his list as he quietly moved forward in the hallway. The luminescence lights, which lined the walls evenly in the hallway, seemed to flicker at Kayden's every movement. After taking two lefts in the hallway, Kayden found a door labeled "physical training room."
Kayden decided to take his chances and see if anyone was holed up in this room. Kayden slowly unlocked the door and peeked his head through. After seeing no signs of activity, he slowly made his way inside the room. After taking a better look at the room, Kayden saw that this room was exactly like a gym, with benches laid out neatly and a rack with dumbells.
Kayden went over to one of the benches and sat down. "Looks like nothing is here. I need to keep searching." Kayden thought to himself. Incidentally, after saying that, Kayden heard a loud growl from the hallway.
Kayden immediately jolted off the bench and hid behind a wall. Kayden patiently waited for two minutes, sweat beaming down his face and his heart racing as he waited for another growl. He shifted his way to peek his head out to the hallway. The hallway showed no sign of activity.
Kayden was about to go into the gym to investigate more when he heard an earth-shattering scream filled with fear; Kayden's heart dropped, and he quickly ran inside the gym, hiding behind a bench. The cry sounded like it came from a young girl. "Is there a child in the building?" Kayden asked himself. "If they're, then...no, I can't do anything about it; if whatever the thing that killed that secretary showed themselves, I'm as good as dead."
Kayden continued reinforcing his decision to save his child when... "Ahhh!!" Kayden heard another scream from the child. Kayden decided to hole up in the gym until the screams stopped. Kayden forced himself to move to the door to close it. He could feel the blood rushing through his face and body as his heart rate increased with every step he took to the gym door.
As he grasped the doorknob with his moist hands, he heard another scream from the child, which sounded much closer than the other screams. Kayden couldn't help but peek into the hallway; at the end of the hallway, he saw a small child. The child was running from something tailing her; the child couldn't be any older than twelve years old. The child had on a plain white t-shirt with black cargo pants on. The child was running in sandals toward Kayden.
The child had long silky black hair that draped over her shoulder. Her body is battered, and she has multiple noticeable injuries. Her running in sandals across the epoxy floors created a reverb with every step she took; after quickly taking a look at the girl Kayden looked up and saw what she was running from.
"What the fuck is that thing!" Kayden said in shock. What followed behind the girl was a zombie-like thing. It looked human. However, it was noticeably decayed, with arms barely holding onto a lump of muscle fibers, its skin was a light green color, and it had no eyes. Instead, it only had its mouth; Kayden could see the thing grinding its teeth; the thing was foaming and drooling as it tried to eat the girl; surprisingly, its teeth seemed to be in perfect shape, ready to bite at anything to move.
After quickly analyzing the situation, Kayden hurriedly closed the door, leaving the girl to fend for herself. "So what if it wasn't a good thing to do? I'm prioritizing my life over a random girl!" Kayden thought to himself as he kept on making excuses.
"What the actual fuck was that thing, though? I need to get out of here-" Kayden was interrupted by his train of thought when he felt a tugging on his shirt. "Monster!" Kayden shouted as he slapped the arm, tugging on him. Kayden quickly backed up; like a cornered cat, he swiftly created distance between what touched him.
Kayden finally looked at what touched him. To Kayden's shock, it was the child he had just left to fend off the ghoul on her own. "Ow, you didn't need to slap my arm." The child said while rubbing a red spot on her arm. "Y-you! How did you get into the gym?" Kayden asked, confused. "Hm? Wasn't your plan to let me slip through into the gym while passing by the gym door?" The child responded with a confused expression. "Holy shit, this kid thinks I was planning on letting her in." Kayden thought to himself while struggling to keep calm.
Kayden decided to do what he does best and lie. "Yes, of course! Of course, I intended to save you. I'm glad you caught along, kid!" Kayden said while forcing a big smile on his face. The child returned a massive smile, grinning from teeth to teeth. In Kayden's mind, he was praying that karma would never catch up to him.
"So, uh, kid, what is your name anyway?" Kayden asked absent-mindedly. "My name is Sylvia; What about you?" "The names Kayden," Kayden responded plainly. After the introductions, there was a few seconds of awkward silence until the silence was broken by a slamming coming from the gym door. "Tsk, that monster is still here. I almost forgot," Kayden said bitterly. Kayden looked over to Sylvia and saw her trembling in fear; her eyes were fixated on the door, almost like she was screaming out to the door to hold out until it either goes away or we get help.
"Sylvia, let's find a way out," Kayden said calmly. On the inside, Kayden was also trembling in fear. The constant reminder of its disgusting green flesh and rotten body ringed in Kayden's mind after every time that thing banged on the door.
After calming himself down, Kayden quickly rushed to the other side of the gym without wasting another moment, where he found emergency exit doors. He tried to open the door; however, it did not budge. After trying several different methods, he gave up and decided to see what Sylvia was doing.
"Sylvia, any luck with exits?" Kayden asked in a panic. "N-no, I can't...I can't find anything." Sylvia responded weakly. Kayden saw that she was barely holding herself together; her legs were buckling, and she had a frightened expression like a wounded dog. "Keekkk!" The monster screeched like a bat; Kayden and Sylvia quickly shifted their gaze to the gym door. The pounding became more violent; the door wouldn't hold out for another minute. "Shit, Sylvia, I think we have to fight that thing!" Kayden said. "Huh?! What do you expect me to do? I'm eleven years old!" Sylvia responded angrily.
"If things get bad, I can use her as bait and run away. I never said I would help her anyway." Kayden thought to himself. Kayden readied himself; although he wasn't a gym freak like his brother, he could fend for himself well enough. Sylvia steadied herself, too. She has remarkable resolve despite her young age.
The monster kept screeching and pounding at the door; the door was on the verge of its life, and after a few more poundings, the door hinge flung off the door, and the monster could enter the gym. The beast seemed almost surprised that it could break open the door as it stumbled inside and almost fell over once the door flung itself open.
The monster looked up at Kayden; although it had no eyes, it was obviously after Kayden. The creature made a loud screech and started itching at the decaying skin and muscles on its body. Then wasting no time, the monster lunged toward Kayden with an overwhelming urge to kill.
Kayden wasted no time and dodged to the side; the monster stumbled and fell after missing its target. It immediately recovered and started widely clawing at Kayden with an unnatural bloodlust. Kayden kept dodging the predictable attacks; although this thing wasn't as dangerous as it looked, Kayden would quickly run out of stamina if he kept dodging. Waiting for it to swing, Kayden swiftly dodged and punched it in its left temple. The thing didn't even notice the attack and clawed at Kayden, Kayden could not react in time, and the monster clawed Kayden's left shoulder.
"Guh! God damn, that hurts like hell," Kayden said while wincing in pain. It was not a deep wound; however, he was bleeding badly. The monster almost looked like it was smirking at Kayden, forming a wide grin at Kayden with its rotten face as it finally hit him.
Kayden kept his distance, thinking about a plan to beat the monster while keeping his eyes on it. Sylvia was nowhere to be seen; she had most likely run outside. Kayden, after analyzing his surroundings, saw the dumbbell rack. The ghoul lunged at Kayden, and Kayden swiftly dodged out of the way. Kayden quickly did a 180 turn and ran to the dumbbell rack.
"Hey, you fucker, I'm going to cave in your skull with a dumbbell, so you better run," Kayden said threateningly. The ghoul screeched in response and ran at Kayden; Kayden swiftly took the five-pound dumbbells and gripped them in both of his hand's palms. The monster swung at Kayden towards his vulnerable adam's apple. Kayden ducked and swiftly uppercut the monster's rotten chin with his dumbbell.
The monster stumbled onto the floor and started squirming, screeching with a mix of bloodlust and rage. Kayden dropped the dumbbells on the monster's head as it desperately tried to defend itself. Kayden knew he couldn't risk turning around and picking up more dumbbells to drop on the beast, so once he dropped the two dumbbells, he pounced on it like a tiger. He punched it in the head multiple times; at first, it was defending itself and tried to attack back. However, the monster was too predictable, and Kayden could dodge and counter-attack ferociously on the beast.
Kayden felt his hand go numb after punching for what seemed like an entirety; he felt the monster's facial bones crunching after smashing into it repeatedly. Kayden held his breath the whole time he attacked the beast, hoping it would eventually stop moving. After three minutes of relentless punching, the monster stopped moving, and Kayden collapsed on the floor, gasping out a sigh of relief.
"F-fuck I think I fractured my knuckles," Kayden said while lying down. He didn't look at the monster; he knew that most of its face was most likely missing, but in his adrenaline, he fought blindly, and he wasn't going to throw up now.
After Kayden caught his breath on the floor for a few moments, he pushed himself off the ground. Looking away from the mess left by the monster, he thought of his choices. "If I go now, it'll be a good chance I meet more of those things; I could stay here and try and hold up in hopes people come." Kayden thought deeply while rubbing his temples.
"Kayden, watch out, behind you!" a familiar voice shouted a warning to Kayden. Kayden spun around and saw the monster inches from his face; the monster pinned Kayden down to the floor and started biting down at Kayden's neck. Kayden managed to hold back the beast. However, it pushed itself further as its bloodlust rose.
The best was drooling all over Kayden as it bit down on thin air as the distance between them was closing in. "Fuck, get off me, get off me!!" Kayden screamed out in desperation. The monster was inches away from Kayden's vulnerable neck and was about to take a hearty chunk out of it.
...Thwack!
The sound of a metal pipe connected to the monster's face, the monster's grip lessened, and Kayden took this opportunity to turn the tables on it and pinned the beast down on the floor. Kayden punched with all his might, fractured or not; as long as he had his fists, he would continue to beat his enemies.
Kayden gritted his teeth as the monster trashed his body, attempting to escape Kayden's grip, but this time Kayden was determined to finish it. He continued to punch; his body became numb with pain, and his attacks echoed throughout the hallways as he beat the monster down. After another three minutes, the beast stopped moving; its face was now a bloody mess of brain matter and rotten flesh.
He collapsed on the floor in exhaustion. He was filled with adrenaline. However, when he calmed down, Kayden knew his whole body would be sore. "Sleep, I want to sleep," Kayden said as if he were ordering his body to sleep. "Hmm, aren't you going to thank me for saving you first?" The familiar voice said out of nowhere, the familiar voice being Sylvia.
Kayden sprung up in shock, his whole body responding by sending a shock of pain. "Ah! Sylvia, you were here? I forgot!" Kayden said, surprised. "I was the one who warned you about that thing ambushing you; I even found a metal bar and hit it with it!" Sylvia responded angrily.
"Is that so? Well, good job not abandoning me. That's very admirable of you." Kayden said sarcastically. Sylvia only sighed in response.
[Requirements met, quest complete "Starting In The New World"]
A giant blue screen suddenly appeared in front of Kayden, with bright white letters showing those words. Kayden flinched and backed up after it suddenly appeared in front of Kayden. "Hey, kid, can you see this?" Kayden said while pointing at the blue screen. Sylvia looked over at Kayden with a blank face, like Kayden had said something crazy.
"Nevermind!"
Kayden stroked his chin, "it looks like I'm imaging things because of sleep exhaustion." Kayden poked at the blue screen for a bit; when he touched the screen, the place where he felt it spread out like water.
[Opening status window, to open it in the future, say, status out loud.]
"Huh?"
[Status window]
Kayden, LVL - 2 | Exp - 2/100
Health - 98/120
Race: Human
Stats
Strength - 2
Agility - 1
Intelligence - 3
Constitution - 1
Available points - 3
Skills
N/A
"Huh???"
"These hallucinations are vivid as hell. I need a good sleep tonight."
[𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧, I am no hallucination, I have no name, but for simplistic sake, call me system]
"Uh-huh, yep, voices in my head, mind getting rid of the blue screen?" Kayden said absent-mindedly.
[So annoying; humans believe in ghost stories so quickly when they have never seen one themselves, but when I appear in front of them, they don't believe me.]
Kayden ignored the voice and started squinting to see if the blue screen would disappear.
[Hm, very well, ignore me if you wish; I still have things to announce. That child of sin you killed with your fists, I will show the rewards for it now.]
"Oh great, another blue screen; please go away." Kayden pleaded desperately.
[Ghoul killed, earned 27 exp, leveled up once.]
[Human accept me as reality, for I am now a part of you, your mind, spirit, and body are all forfeit.]
"Ok, I think I've relaxed enough, kid; let's find a place to sleep tonight; I suggest we hole in here tonight as it doesn't seem like they're any more of those monsters; your screaming would attract them." Kayden proposed to Sylvia.
[Huhhh! I just felt ignored, you disgraceful punk!]
Kayden smirked slightly.
[Ok, I'll show you I am not a hallucination. Human, ask the miniature human who Tommy Falken is.]
"Ok, hallucinations, I'll humor you a bit," Kayden said absent-mindedly.
"Hey kid, do you know who Tommy Falken is?" Kayden said sarcastically. Sylvia looked shocked for a moment, and then her face turned into horror. She backed away from Kayden and began sweating. "How? N-no, I don't, I don't know...him."
Kayden was shocked and started to panic. "Uh, kid, he's like a celebrity. I was just wondering," Kayden said, being sure to be careful with his words. "O-oh, ok, no, I don't, sorry!" Sylvia said, with relief flushed on her face.
[So how is that? How would I know something personal about something you don't know yourself? That's simply impossible for a "hallucination"]
"I'm not sure I can still fully believe that. However, I've seen stranger things today. Now, if you aren't simply a hallucination that will go away after I sleep, mind telling me about these blue screens obscuring my view and saying all these strange things to me?"
[The system is a way to visually show you your growth, as well as having the benefit of visually seeing how you progress with pinpoint accuracy. You can manually choose what you want to improve upon. When you kill children of sin, you gain experience and become stronger, which you saw with the ghoul. That's the basic gist of it. Oh, and to get rid of the screens, say "close menu.]
"Close menu," Kayden said half-heartedly. The blue screens instantly disappeared. " I don't get this, although if it is real, I'm not averse to growing stronger simply by beating up rotting carcasses," Kayden said excitedly.
[You must become stronger faster, sleeping right now when you just started will stunt your growth]
"Huh? What do you expect me to do? I'm exhausted; the most I can do is talk to you right now." Kayden responded sarcastically. Suddenly a wave of relief spread across Kayden's body; it was as if all his exhaustion disappeared instantly. Kayden could now freely move around.
[Think of it like a reward for leveling up, although I can't do something like that freely, this time is fine.]
"Woah, this is freaky; how is any of this possible? Who are you?" Kayden said.
[You are asking a useless question now? It looks like your exhaustion made you care less; well, for one, I can tell you, your world is not the same anymore; you'll find out more later. Now I suggest you leave the police station; many ghouls are lurking on the roads.]
"Even though my exhaustion is gone, facing just one "ghoul" is troublesome; I'm not leaving," Kayden said firmly. [Right now, you have points you can use to grow your body. I'm sure you saw it when you first opened it. Click on one of the stats if you wish to upgrade it; use them wisely.]
"Status," Kayden said plainly.
[Status window]
Kayden, LVL - 2 | Exp - 0/100
Health - 98/120
Race: Human
Stats
Strength - 2
Agility - 1
Intelligence - 3
Constitution - 1
Available points - 3
Skills
N/A
"Strength, agility, and constitution are self-explanatory; although I don't have a clear view of intelligence, I already have a good amount so I won't focus on it. I can already dodge well enough against ghouls; I won't worry about agility as much."
After thinking deeply about what stats to choose, Kayden chose to increase his strength by one and constitution by two.
"Close menu."
"I can't use my points if I'm dead, so I'm going to increase my constitution; I also want to beat ghouls and other things easier strength is necessary," Kayden said.
Kayden, after getting the basic gist of everything, turned to Sylvia, who was looking at the wall daydreaming. "Kid, I changed my mind; I'm going to go out and scout a bit. Stay here since I'm sure it's more dangerous outside."
Sylvia looked at Kayden hesitantly for a few moments until she started talking. "Ok, but come back soon; I'll barricade myself the best I can," Sylvia said with a hint of fear. "I can't guarantee I'll come back soon, don't overthink it," Kayden responded truthfully.
Kayden, after waving goodbye, slung the ghoul's corpse on his back and hastily made his way to the door, where he entered the building. Once he made it to the door, making sure not to look at the body in the reception area, he hurriedly opened the door and tossed the ghoul's corpse in a dumpster near the abandoned cars.
"Yeesh, I thought I was going to die from the lack of oxygen; I held my breath the whole time carrying the corpse," Kayden said while gasping for air. Kayden turned his head towards the road; it was barren with no sign of life; only the ash and fire from the buildings and cars scattered across the street were present.
Kayden hesitantly walked from the back of the police station to the road, scanning the area for any sign of life. Kayden started walking, passing by buildings and stores he was going to just a week ago. Everywhere he went, the same, burning cars and buildings, destruction everywhere, but not a single body in sight. "Strange, besides the body in the reception area and the ghoul I faced, I haven't seen a single drop of blood or any signs of life; it's eerie..."
"Hey, system, you seem to know a lot. Is this normal? All this makes no sense, but not a single sign of life in this overpopulated city? That's ludicrous." Kayden inquired.
[No, this is not normal; something like this shouldn't happen. This situation reminds me of something...]
"Well, what the fuck? Maybe ghouls are clean eaters and picked humans clean." Kayden said sarcastically.
[Even if they are vultures that pick meals clean, which ghouls don't, ghouls would be around here wandering.]
Kayden kept walking, the same scenery presented to him, block after block. "I've been wandering for miles; where are all the people, for god's sake!" Kayden said to himself in frustration. He walked, without even thinking, straight back to his house. The house's flames were dying down, and the place was destroyed mainly by now.
Kayden explored around it, making sure to avoid any flames; it was a typical suburban two-story house you'd see in a high school drama in the background. With a well-groomed lawn, which was now burnt to a crisp, the once roomy atmosphere was replaced with destruction and the smell of smoke and ash.
The house's second story was caved in; however, by Kayden's closer observation, he could not see any bodies. "Hm, it looks like they made it out; I wonder where they went," Kayden said thoughtfully.
Kayden stepped out onto the road and started walking again, making sure to be alert of any ghouls. "Well, system, it's time we go; the girl will be fine on her own. She would get in my way anyway." Kayden said unsympathetically.
[You are remarkably cruel, and you seem very used to this situation and haven't panicked much.]
Kayden responded, "I suppose I am used to war, although this is something I have never seen before."
Kayden kept on absent-mindedly walking when he suddenly tripped onto something squishy below his feet. Kayden went face-first onto the asphalt. "Ow! What was that?" Kayden asked while grimacing in pain. Kayden looked back and saw a severed hand, exposed bone protruding on the pointer and ring finger, almost like someone was licking the fingers like a popsicle.
[WARNING MAJOR THREAT DETECTED, APPRAISING THREAT.]
A giant blue screen obscured Kayden's vision in front of him, threatening to make him go blind by how close it was. Kayden was confused and started to lift himself when he suddenly felt a mixture of dread and pain as he collapsed on the road, unable to move.
Kayden felt fear unlike anything he had ever felt, his heart felt like it was going to explode at any moment, and a rush of warmth flooded his chest and legs as his adrenaline spiked to an alarming rate.
"Another person so soon? Ain't you unlucky to meet me."
[THREAT EVALUATED, SHOWING INFORMATION NOW.]
Akuzo Hirotima, LVL - 68 (Sealed)
[NO MORE INFO AVAILABLE]
[Status window]
Kayden, LVL - 2 | Exp - 0/100
Health - 138/160
Race: Human
Stats
Strength - 3
Agility - 1
Intelligence - 3
Constitution - 3
Available points - 0
Skills
N/A