Ryan Rivers woke up in a cold sweat. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it would explode. His head felt like it was about to rip itself in half. He tried to stand up but as soon as his feet touched the cold tiles he fell to the floor. His face slapped the ground hard as darkness overtook him.
It took all his strength to pull himself back onto his feet. Every step he took was agony but he had regained his ballance. As he looked around he realized he was in a hospital room. Although the place felt abandoned. At the foot of his bed was a medical clipboard with his information on it. They had him listed as a John Doe, below that it said deceased.
Well looking around the room he found a set of clothes in a brown backpack. It was a set of jeans and plain black shirt along with a set of boots. The clothes didn't seem familiar to him but everything fit well. After he dressed himself Ryan opened the door to the hallway. As soon as he did he was struck by the smell of death. It's was so overwhelming he began to vomit but there was nothing in his stomach. The hallway was so dark he couldn't tell where the smell was coming from. Ryan steadied himself and began making his way towards the exit.
He had no way of knowing if he was heading in the right direction but it seemed like he was in luck. Before to long he came to the exit. As he stepped out of the hospital he realized how lucky he was. Most of the building was collapsed from what looked like an explosion. Several of the surrounding buildings in the area were also destroyed. The part of hospital where his room was seemed to be at the edge of the destruction. The streets were empty with very clear signs of evacuation. Abandoned vehicles were everywhere along with suitcases and other luggage. Every one left in a hurry leaving personally items behind.
Off in the distance a very large concrete wall had been erected around the entire city. Ryan walked for a few hours before stopping at a convenient store. All of the shelves were still full however all the fresh food had begun rotting. It didn't seem like the evacuation had been to long ago. Ryan was starving and quickly ripped into some junk food.
Just before he finished his food Ryan heard foot steps approaching. From the sounds of the claws hitting the ground it was some kind of animal. Ryan crouched down behind the register trying to be as quiet as possible. Through the mirror on the ceiling he could see it. It was large, almost the size of a lion. It had dark black and red scales covering its whole body but still looked like a dog. Ryan noticed a double barrel sawed-off shotgun tucked under the register.
As quietly as he could Ryan grabbed the gun. Carefully he opened it up checking to see if it was loaded. The empty barrels made his stomach drop as the fear grew inside him. The creature had disappeared deeper into the and out of sight. Not knowing where it was made everything worse. Ryan pushed the junk on the shelf to the side and grabbed the box of shells that was hidden in the back.
As soon as he dropped two shells in the hound let out an ungodly howl and began to charge him. It mouth opened wide revealing deadly teeth ready to rip its pray to shreds. As the beast pounced at him he showed the barrels into its mouth and pulled the triggers. Its head exploded in a spray of gore. Its lifeless body twitched on the floor for a few seconds before becoming motionless.
Ryan wiped his face before getting up to close the front doors. After he grabbed the soda machine and pushed it infont of the glass doors. Just as he finished he noticed more of the hounds just outside. Ryan was sure he couldn't survive if more than one attacked at a time. They didn't try to force their way in but it didn't look like they would be leaving anytime soon.
Staying low Ryan made his way to the back of the store checking for a back door. It wasn't to hard to find and had a sturdy bar holding it closed. Next to the back door was a stair case going up to a second floor. Satisfied that the first floor was secured he went to check upstairs.
The top floor was a small apartment, likely belonging to the owner of the store. After a quick look around he noted a fire escape with the ladder pulled up. "Nothings getting in here" he said to himself. There was still running water but no electricity, so Ryan decided to stay for the time.
Two days past before the hounds finally left the area. During that time he was able to get the metal gate down in the front of the store. With the shades drawn and the doors locked he had a good little fort with plenty of food. The hounds had chased after what sounded like a dirt bike. This was the first sign of people Ryan had gotten since he woke up.
Ryan grabbed his backpack as he jumped out the window and on to the fire escape. He took the later to the roof hoping to catch a glimpse of the person that had passed. As soon as he got up top he noticed group of people heading in his direction. He wanted jump up and down calling to them but hesitated. "What if they are hostile" he whispered to himself. Ryan had seen enough horror movies to know humans are very dangerous in situations like this.
Ryan ducked down to stay out of sight. He pulled out a pair of binoculars he had found the day before. As he took a better look at this group he knew hiding was the right choice. Everyone in the group looked like gangsters, each holding different homemade weapons. "Are you sure we're in the right area?" One of the men said. He looked to be the leader of the group from the way they responded to him. "Not sure but a them death hounds was hanging around here" one of them said pointing to the street. Another guy added "that gun shot would of got their attention."
The group began heading towards the convention store. As soon as they reached the middle of the road they stopped dumbfounded. Their leader dropped to the floor dead. Before they could react another one feel beside him. The other four started running for cover but a third body hit the floor before they could duck down behind a car.
Minutes past in silence with nobody moving or making a sound. Finally one of them attempted to take a look. His head went back in a spray of red mist a second after he showed himself. In a act of desperation on of the remaining two shoved the other out in the open then took off running. The one that ran hit the ground just before reaching the corner of a building. Before the last one could stand back up he to collapsed to the ground as a pool of blood collected underneath him.
As Ryan sat there breathless his backpack began to ring. Stumbling he began fumbling through it looking for the sounds sorce. Nearly dropping it he pulled out a walkie talkie. "You alive over there" a girls voice called out. Pushing the button to respond he shakily responded "yes I'm fine uh who. Who are you?" The girl giggled before responding "names Emma I've been keeping an eye on you since you left the hospital. I was friends with the old man that owned the store you're squatting in. Catch you later." Ryan tried to ask more questions but she didn't respond.
It seemed for now he had a garden angel watching over him. He was still no closer to understanding what was going on. The only thing he knew for sure was he needed to survive. "I don't want to die again" he said to himself well looking up at the setting sun. Before he could head back inside a loud noise thundered across the sky. "Initializing system start up, beginning player integration." The sky was covered in a large display screen along with the robotic voice that echoed everywhere.
After a few seconds a smaller display screen appeared before Ryan. It showed his basic information on. Along with a bunch of stats that were all under five. The skills section was empty and so was the friends section. "This feels just like a video game" he muttered to himself. The last thing he noticed was the quest log. Under main quest it just simply said survive.