The world was broken. The sky was shattered like glass, while the city burned and echoed with the screams of the dead. A black moon glowed in the sky. And above it all, in the shattered sky, a glowing panel.
DOOMSDAY COUNTDOWN:
00:00:00
I look out at the ruined city in disbelief. I don't even notice the glowing panel pop up to the side. "What's going on? The hell?" I notice the panel, and my blood runs cold.
ITEM SELECTION
"The hell?" I tap the panel. It flickers, and comes up with a list of various items. Armour, weapons, tools. Not one item was the same as another. The only similarity… was the fact they were all from famous video games. The portal gun from Portal, the Runner companion from Generation Zero. A lightsaber from Star Wars.This list had everything. I mean, there was Iron Man's gauntlet. The glowing words at the bottom of the list caught my eye.
CHOOSE THREE ITEMS: (0/3)
And below that, a timer, swiftly counting down.
00:06:59
Then I realised. This system. The items. They're just like…
"Shit."
I start scrolling through the list. I watch as an item disappears. Someone else must have chose that. I end up choosing the Portal Gun(B), the Runner companion(C), as well as Iron Man's gauntlet(C). I step back from the panel as words flicker across it.
ITEM SELECTION COMPLETE (3/3)
UNIQUE SKILL ROULETTE
SPIN WHEEL?
A US wheel? In Convergence Survival, each player had an individual skill, unique to their character. It was decided by a random wheel spin. The early community said that it took years for the dev team to finish the skills.
I wonder what happened to the dev team. Are they behind this? I wonder as I tap YES.
I watched as the wheel animation played on the holographic panel. It disappeared, and a profile page popped up.
PLAYER: REX WALKER
AGE: 18
GRADE: ???
UNIQUE SKILL: BLOOD MANIPULATION
STATUS: HUMAN
"Blood manipulation?" A hologram appeared, of a person pricking their thumb, and then drawing out the blood. I see… so it requires my blood to be out in the open, then it'll take the shape I desire? That's good… but if I use my power too much, I'll lose too much blood.
Movement outside the building catches my eye. On the sidewalk, I can see Ms. Shannon, the resident who lives on the floor below. But something is wrong. Her normally tan skin has turned grey, and she's shambling along without any clear goal. Her once piercing eyes have turned red. Her normally pristine clothes are sullied with blood. One though rushes through my mind.
Zombie.
I duck behind the wall, avoiding her dead gaze. As I do, I fail to notice the chest that appeared in the middle of my room, and I fall over it with a loud bang. The zombies head snaps up in my direction, and it runs inside the building.
"Shit!" I swear. I open the chest and see the items that I chose. I grab the portal gun and the gauntlet, and slip them on my hands. I grab my backpack, load it with some basic supplies, grab a kitchen knife, and aim the portal gun at the sidewalk.
BAMF! The orange portal appears on the sidewalk, inactive since the blue portal hasn't been used. I turn the portal gun on my wall and with another BAMF! the portals are active. I leap through, and land on the sidewalk. I look around, and start heading down the road.
Right. Humanity's screwed, so what's the most important things in a zombie apocalypse? I had three things that I needed. Food, water and shelter. Weapons weren't that important in the first days of the pandemic, especially because I had my gauntlet to defend myself if I needed. I consulted the map I had brought along. Right. Where is that shop? I wanted to avoid supermarkets, because of the fact that they would attract a large amount of zombies, and other survivors would try and head there too. Survivors… in this world, survivors would be competing for essential resources, such as food and hygiene supplies. I was heading to a small neighbourhood shop, where it'll get me everything I need, and maybe even a place to hole up.
The shop was a mess. Glass was shattered from the windows, and the food was scattered all over the floor. I step in through the door cautiously, the glass crunching under my boots. I head to the canned foods section, and start loading up my pack with them. I head to the small medical section, and grab some water purification tablets. But the sound of crunching glass made me look up. I grab my knife, and listen as the footsteps get closer.
This is bad!
TIME TO NEXT IMPACT:
467 DAYS, 5 HOURS, 3 MINUTES