Zeke swallowed the ant. Alright, here we go.
Ordinary Ant
Worth 0 Levels
Choose Skill
None
Zeke scowled. “Not even Resilient or Steel Stomach?” He looked at the rest of the ants, then shook his head. Maybe if I eat them all? Lowering his head, he licked up a line of ants.
[Devour]
Many Ordinary Ants
Worth 0 Levels
Choose Skill
Teamwork (Minor)
Carapace (Miniscule)
Blinking, Zeke shrugged. “Teamwork, I guess?”
Teamwork (Minor) (Passive)
Gain a small boost when working on a team.
Lifting his arm, Zeke crawled on. This isn’t working. I need to find something with actual skills, not just… ordinary ants. The pigeon gave good skills… but it was a member of an apocalypse. The cockroach gave skills too, but it didn’t say it was a member of the apocalypse, so why did I get good skills from it? What’s the connecting line? What should I look for?
Cockroach
Special Category: Survivor
The cockroach survives when nothing else will. Although not a member of an apocalypse, it gains access to the System and special features based on its category.
Zeke blinked. “So there’s more than just apocalypses out there?”
Yes.
“What else is there?”
No response.
He wrinkled his nose. Sometimes it’s chatty, sometimes it’s the silent type. It seems to like talking most when I have some kind of hint or clue. Maybe I need to find things to unlock more information.
But… first, I need to survive.
Hurried footsteps came up behind him. Zeke crawled on, slowly pushing his way down the sidewalk. Don’t mind me, just dying here.
The footsteps stopped. Rough hands grabbed onto his shoulders and flipped him over. Zeke screamed, grabbing his broken arm and side. “What the fuck!”
The skinny, grungy-looking man standing over him ignored his protest. Instead, he knelt and patted Zeke down, pausing at his pockets.
“Are you fucking kidding me? You’re mugging me? Now?” Zeke grabbed the man’s wrist.
The man shook him off, easily escaping his weak grasp. He found Zeke’s wallet in his back pocket, and a smile spread over his face. Quick fingers fished it free of Zeke’s jeans.
Zeke grabbed the man’s arm again, holding on with all his might. “Fuck no.”
“Let go of me, punk. I’ll finish you off,” the man snapped. He flashed a gun in his off-hand.
The System says I’m a god-damned apocalypse. Do you think I’m going to lie here and get mugged? Zeke heaved himself off the ground with all the strength he could muster, baring his teeth.
[Devour]
He lurched forward, faster than his mangled body ought to move. His teeth latched onto the man’s throat. The man struggled. Gunfire blared, and fresh pain lit up Zeke’s side. He ignored it, grinding his teeth deeper into the man’s throat. The man dropped the gun—the magazine empty—and pushed at Zeke’s shoulder. Zeke let him, yanking back at the same time. The man abruptly stopped pushing. Too late. Zeke twisted his head and tore out the man’s throat.
Blood gushed. Trying not to think too much about it, Zeke swallowed. I have to swallow for [Devour] to work. It only activates afterward.
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The man stared, his eyes widening even as they blurred. He pointed. His mouth formed the word, zombie.
Zeke licked his lips, tasting blood, but not his own this time. Rolling his eyes at the man, he said, “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m still alive. No thanks to you.”
Congratulations on your first kill! Bonus: +1 Level
Level +.5
Level: 1.61
Please assign your stat point.
Your condition has stabilized by a minor margin.
Regeneration +100% (Temp.)
Regeneration rate: +101% (Temp. 1:32 remaining)
Bones ground. Muscles stitched together, and skin healed. The bullets left in his body shifted, pushing toward the skin. One plopped out with a metallic thump. Zeke flinched, grimacing against the pain. Ow, ow, ow…
Wait, hold on. First kill? But I… killed… animals…
Does it only count humans?
Estimated time to death: 5:52
Estimated time to death: 6:04
Estimated time to death: 6:15
It hurts, but at least death is getting further away. And that temporary hundred percent regeneration rate boost is no joke! Do I get that boost every time I [Devour] a person? He snorted. I guess that ‘apocalypse’ moniker is no joke. It’s seriously pushing me to eat people. Is this System meant to annihilate humanity?
What was that black dome called? The Apocalypse Incubator?
Yeah… I guess that makes sense, huh. We’re the apocalypses. The strongest one gets to escape and destroy the world. And that means destroying lots of humans.
I don’t want to kill people if I can avoid it, and I certainly don’t want to destroy the world. But… come to think of it, there must be lots of apocalypses in this dome. I mean, if pigeons can land an apocalypse, it’s not like the Incubator was being picky.
If I don’t take the top spot, that means someone else wins and gets set free to destroy the world. Someone… who might not hesitate to follow the System’s human-eating imperative, unlike me.
He lifted his head, staring after the long-gone dinosaur skeleton. Or… not necessarily someone else. Something else. After having seen the Pigeon Apocalypse and Dinosaur Apocalypse, I’m pretty sure apocalypses aren’t just humans.
Zeke nodded to himself. I need to become the strongest apocalypse. I can’t trust anything else.
Glancing at the mugger’s body, Zeke grimaced. He shook his head. “Sorry. It was self-defense.”
Blood spurting out of his teeth-torn throat, the man gazed blankly at Zeke, his body shivering as he bled out.
Zeke licked his lips. Yeah… I don’t think a jury of my peers is going to buy ‘eating a man’s throat’ as legitimate self-defense.
Then again… He crawled onward, continuing his slow journey. Who’s going to arrest me? It’s the apocalypse. An apocalypse. Several apocalypses.
…All the apocalypses?
Choose Skill
Drug Resistance (Major)
You are slightly resistant to drugs both harmful and helpful.
Fighting Spirit (Minor)
Small increase in power when you are lower level or weaker than your foe.
Firearms (Small) (Minor)
Able to use firearms at a novice level.
Mug (Activatable)
Higher chance of gaining valuables when you Mug someone.
Zeke scowled. None of those are going to help me survive. Drug Resistance sounds as likely to hurt as help. As for Firearms, there’s a finite amount of ammo inside the dome, and I don’t have any of it. Mug is… well, I’m not about to set off on a career as a mugger. Which leaves Fighting Spirit.
Skills
Resilience (Minor) +1
Fighting Spirit (Minor)
Teamwork (Minor)
Zeke laughed. “I’m definitely the number-one threat to humanity… or whatever it is Ryan said.”
Wait, huh? Number-one threat to humanity… why did he say that before the Apocalypse Incubator even arrived? How could he know? Was it just a coincidence that his mental break happened to be coincidentally accurate to what was coincidentally about to happen? It’s a lot of coincidences, but weird things are happening today.
But if he knew… what does that mean?
Zeke raised a hand to his chin thoughtfully, then shook his head. I don’t know. If I see him again and he doesn’t try to kill me, I can try asking him.
He crawled on, elbow and knee scraping against the concrete. I’m still not out of danger yet. I still can’t walk, let alone fight. I need to find something better to [Devour], so I can heal up.
Ahead of him, trash blew down the street, caught up in the breeze from where piled-up trash bags spilled out of the alley behind the museum. The trash began to spin, slowly winding together. Dancing over the sidewalk, the little trash twister flew toward Zeke.
Zeke crawled toward it, somewhat reluctantly. Trash is… it isn’t great, but maybe if I eat leftover food, I can heal? I don’t fully get how this System works yet, but it did mention eating to raise my regeneration rate.
The trash twister stopped suddenly. Despite everything, Zeke somehow got the impression it was looking at him. He stared back.
“System, is that…?”
Litter Apocalypse
Danger Rating: D
Level: 1
“Damn, worse than the pigeon,” Zeke muttered.
You are stronger now.
“Do you mean the skills, or do you mean I’m bleeding out slower?” Zeke queried.
No answer.
The litter apocalypse spun in place for a moment. As if it made up its mind, it hurtled at Zeke.
“Does it also see danger ratings?” Zeke asked.
Yes.
“So why is it coming at me? If it’s a D to me, I must be an A, at least.”
A few beats of silence. It is litter.
Zeke snorted. “Right. Not exactly known for its intelligence.”