The parking garage was eight stories high. Getting to the top would give Hiro a sweeping view of what was to come, what his Companion meant when it said monsters would be unleashed onto the city.
Let’s see what’s about to happen, Hiro thought as he carried the box given to him by the Doom System.
Rather than take the stairs, he raced up the helical ramp. Hiro didn’t bother to stop and grab his crow bar or the few items he had near his sleeping bag. He could always come back later, once he knew what to expect from the Doom System.
“Argh!” Hiro tripped and came down hard on his knee.
Ignoring the pain, he shoveled the things back into the wooden box and continued.
He reached the seventh floor, where he finally needed to catch his breath. A year ago, he wouldn’t have been able to run this way. But things had changed. Something was different now.
Hiro set the box down and checked his phone.
0:11
0:10
0:09
Had he really made it back to the parking garage that quickly? Another thought came to him:
Why do I have to use a phone in the first place?
“Can you hear me?” he asked his phone. Hiro moved closer to the side of the parking garage that provided a view of the gate.
“Hello?” he asked again as he stared down at the timer.
The gate sparked in the streets below. It fizzled, opened, and deposited three enormous tigers with horns sticking out of their heads.
“Seriously?”
The horned tigers were easily as big as the bronze bull Hiro had already encountered, the enormous beasts.
He was too far away to truly make out their features, but their fur was a mixture of swirled white and orange, and as they fanned out, one of the beasts walked sideways up a wall, the tip of its tail moving as if it had a mind of its own.
Shit…
Hiro kept his eyes on them as a pair of the horned tigers moved west, toward the Hudson River.
One of the horned tigers continued in his direction until it found the man who Hiro had killed earlier.
Do I just stay here all night? Hiro thought as he watched the beast strip flesh from the man’s body. I need to get down to my shelter.
His phone buzzed. He whipped it out to find a new message.
Activate my skills? Hiro almost laughed. Like a video game? He felt so fucked in that moment, but there was little he could do, and maybe the skills would help him…
“Activate skills,” he whispered, not sure of how to confirm his decision.
Ronin of Wall Street skills activated!
Bounce, activated!
Blade Whirlwind, activated!
Lupine Shift, activated!
Descriptions of the three skills appeared:
{Bounce}
Rank: F
Type: Mobility/Defense
Upgrade: 0/2
Description: Empower your legs with a surge of kinetic energy that will help you leap to great heights.
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{ Blade Whirlwind}
Rank: F
Type: Attack/Area of Effect
Upgrade: 0/10
Description: Unleash a flurry of sword strikes creating a devastating whirlwind of blade energy
{Lupine Shift}
Roulette Skill
Rank: A
Type: Transformation/Utility
Upgrade: N/A
Description: Call upon the primal essence of the wolf by transforming into a powerful lupine monster with enhanced physical capabilities. In this state, your speed, agility, and senses are dramatically increased. This form also intimidates certain creatures.
Duration: Three minutes
Cooldown: Three hours
Side Effects: {Lupine Shift} has a passive effect that can trigger a sudden rage.
I can change into a werewolf? What the fuck!?
“Can you hear me?” he whispered, hoping for the text from his Companion to appear. “What am I supposed to do now?”
Hiro squeezed his phone, as if this would help in some way. When this did nothing, he placed his phone on the ground and peeked down to the streets below, where he saw that the horned tiger had finished eating the man’s body. It now walked in the direction of the bull statue, the beast temporarily satiated.
Still, the monster grew closer…
His phone finally buzzed, startling him. Hiro grabbed it and watched as the text formed at the top of the screen, just over the countdown timer.
“Yes. It’s…”
He dropped down and searched the wooden box he had been given, his resources inside, including the water and the protein-grain bars known as Survivor Tenders. Hiro could have sworn that the teddy bear had been in the box. He was certain of it.
I must have dropped it when I tripped.
“I don’t know where it is,” he hissed at his buzzing phone.
“Goddammit.” Hiro shoved his phone back in the pocket of his hoodie. He got it back out, tried to swipe down from the top to silence the phone’s buzz, but he wasn’t given this option. Yet again, hw noticed his phone had no battery icon.
He put it away again and vibrated in his pocket.
“Fine. I’ll get the bear.” He took the black backpack from the box and started down the helical ramp, toward the entrance of the parking garage.
He kept his hand on the grip of his katana, Hiro aware that he had a new power known as {Blade Whirlwind}, but not certain how to use it.
I’ll just have to figure it out.
Cautious as ever, Hiro reached the second level of the parking garage and spotted the teddy bear just lying there. There was nothing special about it, the bear a bit shabby, as if it had already been enjoyed by a child. Its hollow black eyes were a bit off, but other than that, nothing unique.
“Happy?” Hiro put it in his backpack and checked his phone.
“My what?”
Hiro nerves fired on all cylinders as he noticed something shift in the shadows beyond. The horned tiger was now crouched next to a parked SUV watching him, the beast prepared to pounce.
Had he looked at his phone for just a second longer, it would have reached Hiro.
Now, Hiro had the semblance of a chance.
Rather than question how the monster had reached him, how it could have known to enter the parking garage, or how it had done it so quickly, Hiro drew his new blade.
The beast kept low to the ground, looking up at Hiro as it bore a set of teeth that would easily snap his bones, the tiger snarling. The sheer size of the monster caused an adrenaline dump that brought a sudden flash of clarity.
“Don’t fuck with me!” Hiro slashed his blade forward instinctively, his strike amplified by a gust of wind.
{Blade Whirlwind} struck the tiger, drawing several wounds, and taking a chip out of a portion of its horn.
The beast yowled and reared back, but by this point, Hiro was already running in the opposite direction.
He reached the fourth floor of the parking garage, the monster hot on his heels, bleeding yet still very alive. It lunged for Hiro and swiped its claws at his feet.
Hiro managed to jump forward, land, and continue.
He reached the fifth floor of the parking garage, Hiro aware that he was now running in the opposite direction that he wanted. He wanted to get down to the fallout shelter, his home base. But now…
“Shit, shit…” His katana still drawn, backpack beating against his back, Hiro also realized something else as he hastily traveled up toward the rooftop.
He was much faster now than he had been just a day ago, like his stamina and speed had leveled up in some way. There was no way he should be able to outrun a creature like that.
His phone vibrated.
“Not now, dammit!” He reached the seventh floor of the garage, where he had left his resources.
One more floor to go, then what?
What the fuck am I doing?
Hiro swallowed his existential dread and continued up a flight of stairs and onto the roof. He slammed the door behind him, certain that the tiger wouldn’t be able to break through the thick metal.
He exhaled deeply as he took in the cityscape before him, dormant skyscrapers like forgotten giants under a blood-red sky, cast in the shadow of the solar eclipse. Terrible monsters proud below, the signs of the collapse of civilization evident all around.
He sheathed his katana, hands shaky as ever, and got out his phone.
“What are you?” he asked frantically.
Hiro jumped back once the horned tiger collided with the metal door.
Whumpf!
He backed up to the edge of the roof as the monster slammed into the door one more time, popping it open.
His heart in his throat, Hiro could feel the height in his gut as he stood there at the edge of the roof.
The horned tiger approached, its eyes narrowed on Hiro as it growled, whiskers pressed back, ears alert, the tip of its tail starting to spread open like a venus fly trap.
“Bounce,” he whispered.
And with that, Hiro turned to the edge of the roof, closed his eyes, and jumped.