"Red Rum and Kaiser take the lead," the announcer said as the crowd began to roar. It's a bit fuzzy what happened after but I'll tell what I remember. I felt my phone vibrate soon after people started screaming, yells of terror filled the air. I couldn't figure out what was going on, out of nowhere something large hit the ground in front of my horse. Red Rum reared back and I went tumbling to the ground, as the large barbed and scale covered creature spewed a green mist out of it's mouth. It sprayed the horse and me causing my mind to numb, the horse almost landed on me as it collapsed. The big creature flew off with my horse holding it by the neck with its two large clawed feet, it's large wings beating the air sending pulse of wind crashing into the ground. My conscience faded as I tried to get my bearing on the things happening around me, to no avail.
A jingle began to sound, my eyes popped open. "What was," I cut myself off as I saw the littered pieces of bodies both man and horse laying all around the track. It seemed the jingle was the 6pm alarm, a warning that the track was closing. I felt my head swirl as I stumbled up to my feet. I began to look around for any survivors, I found a man under the weight of one of the dismembered horses. "Sir let me help you," I said grabbing and pushing on the horse. With his help, he came loose pulling himself from under the horse. "What happened," I said trying to remember.
"Some sort of beasts flew down and killed the horses, some of the riders and even the people that ran. It was a bloodbath," he said pausing then retrieving his phone to contact his wife. I helped him to find out if the creatures left and took him back to his car. I waved him off and as I did I noticed a dog wandering through a nearby alley. With the sounds of all the people in the city freaking out, car crashes and the like. I figured it would be fine to make a bit of noise. I grabbed some jerky from my car and whistled aloud for the dog, it didn't hear me the first time but on the second one it looked over then crossed toward me.
The dog ate form my hand on the first try, he was wearing a collar so I decided to check it. The dogs nameplate stated "Remi." He seemed to be a Rhodesian Ridgeback, a breed of tracking and guard dogs. He even has a brown nose which is less common in this breed of dog. "Remi it is," I said as he looked up and excitedly barked. "I'm Kaiser Lloyd, it's a pleasure. I'll make sure to help you out if you run with me, until you find your people, at least," I said feeling my phone vibrate. I opened the door to my truck and he leaped in. With a sigh I grabbed my phone from the waist holder I use for horse riding, it was Mom. I quickly answered, "Mom where are you? Are you hurt, do you know what happened?" A bombard of questions volleyed out as I heard a soft sigh of relief from the other side of the phone.
I heard a sniffle, "oh Honey, you should have answered the first time I called.
I checked my phone, "looks like you did call. Sorry, I was helping someone out of here we saw one of those creatures fly over head," I said as I pet Remi, taking a seat in the car.
"I'm checking on Echo right now," she said and then I heard the phone hit the ground.
"Mom, hey!" I screamed as I frantically started my car. I heard a scream from her side of the phone then the call ended.
I threw the car in drive and began speeding through the streets I had to take detour do to pileups. I saw a man sitting leaned up against a brick wall. I stopped and yelled, "are you okay sir?" He look up and blood was running down his face, there was a large wooden pole sticking out of his abdominal.
I covered my face as tears welled in my eyes, "please...sir!" He took a couple gasps for air and with slow and steady breaths he asked, "kill me?" I got out of my car grabbing my gun. I felt shadows cover my face as a clink could be heard, with the lever cocked I gave a small prayer. "Thank you," he said as I raised my Winchester and gave the trigger a squeeze.
A gunshot rang through the streets, after a couple seconds of grieving I heard Remi bark. I saw some sort of creatures rounding the corner of the street. I hopped into the still running truck and took off. Remi was sitting in the passenger seat, I was glad he was with me. I picked up my phone to check my calls and messages.
There was a strange text from an unknown number, it read, "Hello Mr. Lloyd, it seems that you have been chosen by the gods to inherit the class of Siren. A mystical class, with a knack for alluring others to them. Luckily for you, you have been chosen by the Maenads to gain the skill (Call of Protection). Usually this skill and class are saved for women, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress in this Apocalypse.
P.S Don't block this number or you'll have to start form scratch again."
Scrolling down it seemed there was a few more messages, "Due to your innate abilities you have gained the skill (Chivalric Order). Due to the contract you have activated loyalty with Remi (lessens Aggro to the effected). Due to your mental resilience your Wisdom is your main stat. You have gained a point in Mercy(Chivalric Order). Due to killing a player you have gained 30SP, SP is a currency that can be spent at Vendors and Trader." Each sentence was a different message, that was all the current messages for now.
I gritted my teeth, "I just killed someone and I got money and mercy. This some sort of fucked up game? If so why am I part of it," I said as I pulled into the driveway. I turned off the car and patted Remi on his back, he seemed very tense like earlier. I made sure to drop another round into my Winchester making sure to purge the chamber of the spent cartridge as well. With a sigh I opened up the door getting out of the car with Remi at my side. "C'mon boy stay close," I commanded as we approached the open front door.