Zoe stared at the text inside her mind. An echoing voice, inhuman, unnatural, counting down.
[23]
[22]
She knew it was real with the same certainty she knew she was real. The numbers ticked down, and pressure towered above her brain. A wave rearing high and ready to crash upon her. She felt as though she were drowning, and she knew everyone else felt the same.
Blind, animal panic. The need to respond. Fight or flight. Yes or No.
[19]
[18]
The entire plane sat stunned. Somewhere, out of sight, a baby cried. Could the baby hear the same countdown as her? How was it supposed to respond to such a request?
How was she supposed to respond?
She exchanged a glance with Bella, but the jovial woman was pale-faced and speechless.
“Do you see it as well?” Zoe asked, though she already knew the answer.
“Maybe we’re drugged?” Bella said with a weak laugh. “Some kind of mass hallucination?”
The older man still stood in the aisle. His face grew red, and he growled like a cornered dog.
“I know what this is,” he said loud enough to attract the stares of those around them. “This is government mind control! They’re trying to hypnotize us like a bunch of chickens! And to that, I say no! No, I won’t be a part of your so-called system I’m a goddamn —”
An electric crackle cut his tirade short. Little flames guttered from his eyes as molten goop poured down his cheeks. He fell to his knees, a weak breath exhaling from limp lips, and collapsed face-first into the aisle.
For a stunned second, the baby cried alone. Then, passengers screamed. Chaos upon the plane.
[12]
[11]
[10]
More electric crackles. Pops echoed out from the plane. Each jolt audible over the shrieking panic. The intercom bleeped.
“Ladies and gentlemen this is the captain, please don’t panic, this is — oh my god, George vanished!”
The intercom died.
Zoe didn’t care. She stared at the numbers. What was she supposed to do? This morning all she cared about was finding her ex-boyfriend and her money, and now she had some kind of death switch countdown in her mind.
Her earlier thoughts of murder made her cackle.
And, laughing, she realized she knew what to do. If the old man said no and died, then what choice was there? She hadn’t gotten where she was in life by avoiding the unknown. Deep in the back of her mind, a young girl walked alone into a dark forest. She gripped the armrests tight.
[4]
[3]
“I accept,” she whispered so quiet she didn’t even hear herself. “I’ll join your system.”
The countdown silenced, and a cold sensation rushed through her. Numbed her fear. She doubted it was the bloody mary.
[Welcome to the System!]
[Congratulations, The Crimson Armada has initialized your world. As a new citizen, you may take part in the Crimson Armada Tutorial.]
[The Crimson Armada Tutorial presents unique training and rewards. This is a limited opportunity.]
[Would you like to join the Tutorial?]
[Yes] / [No]
[Tutorial slots remaining 80054/350000000.]
[Tutorial slots remaining 45102/350000000.]
She glanced over at Bella, who sat in her seat as wide-eyed and sweating as Zoe was herself. The women exchanged a look.
[Tutorial slots remaining 15678/350000000.]
Bella shrugged.
“Why dabble when we could double?”
[Tutorial slots remaining 799/350000000.]
Zoe directed her thoughts toward the voice in her mind.
“I’ll —”
[No Tutorial slots remain.]
Zoe frowned.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Well, that sucks. I think?”
[Tutorial engaged. You will not be participating. Good luck!]
[World integration Phase 1 initiated…]
[Warning: insufficient planetary mass. Recalibrating. Solar system harvest commencing. Please remain in Safe Zones during Phase 1. Safe Zones are generated based on citizen geo-positioning. Locating citizens. Please remain still…]
[Safe Zones generated.]
[Welcome to Safe Zone Gamma 45551!]
[Harvest beginning…]
Zoe stared out the window. A golden aura the size of a football field surrounded the plane. It was as though they flew through a bubble of dawn. The dark clouds lit rosy by the welcoming light. She felt safety deep in her core, as though she were curled up and surrounded by puppies.
The golden light was enough to make her forget the terror of the last minute. To make her forget the charred smell of cooked brains. To make her forget all the rage brewing in her heart.
A calloused hand took hold of hers. She squeezed, and Bella’s grip tightened in response.
“It’s so beautiful,” Bella wiped away a tear as she looked past Zoe and out the window. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” Zoe said. “But I want to stay here forever.”
“Yeah…”
[Warning: you are about to leave the Safe Zone.]
“Huh?”
Zoe’s eyes widened. The plane was still moving. If the safe zone was based around their position then…
A golden wall appeared down the aisle near the nose of the plane. Before Zoe could blink, it rushed down the aisle and swept through her. The feeling of warmth and safety vanished.
Her heart jackhammered as adrenalin kept at bay slammed back into place.
[You have left the Safe Zone. Warning: dangers abound!]
[Title awarded: Intrepid (+5 to all attributes).]
Zoe jerked in her seat as energy surged through her. It felt like diving into a pool of ice-cold coffee. She was suddenly more… everything.
She looked around and saw more in the darkness. The faces of people panicking almost in slow motion. Her fingernails scratched at the armrests, and she felt how cheap and flimsy the plastic casing was under her grip. Through the window, out in the night sky, a dim glow resolved itself into a bloody sphere glowing with unnatural light. Smaller than the moon, but pulsing with the same celestial importance.
Bella gripped her hand. Squeezing so much it should have made her fingers creak, but Zoe laughed.
She felt ten feet tall and bulletproof.
“Now I’m sure we got drugged,” Zoe said.
But Bella kept shaking her.
“Zoe!”
“Huh?”
“The pilots! What about the pilots?”
Bella’s words pierced Zoe’s euphoria. Raced through the circuits of her mind. She felt it in her gut, the way the plane tilted. Oxygen masks dropped from overhead and swayed like nooses of the damned.
Fired up with energy, with purpose, Zoe stood. She knew how to remain calm in intense situations. Cool resolve in her brain like a frozen glove around a fist. Frosty, cracking with each motion, but powerful.
She could do anything, as long as she did it fast.
Did it now.
“We have to get to the cockpit,” she said. “If the pilots are injured, or delirious, I can help them.”
She pushed past Bella into the aisle. The plane tilted, swayed, but she kept her balance. On instinct, she crouched and checked the older man’s vitals. A blue spark of static zapped between his skin and her fingers. She shook her hand and checked again. Dead as dead could be. Never even learned his name. He might have been a pedantic philosophizing ass, but he didn’t deserve this.
She looked around at the babbling conversations, the sweat and the stress, the panic. Nobody deserved this. So why was it happening?
The echoing inhuman voice derailed her thoughts.
[Phase 1 complete. Landmass Integrated.]
[Phase 2 beginning.]
[Disruption of all non-registered technology in 30 seconds.]
[30]
[29]
[28]
The panic bubbled up again, but Zoe shoved it down. She needed to act. There was no way she would let herself break in this situation. Because if she broke now, she might stay broken…
The surrounding passengers gave voice to her fears.
“Why is this happening?”
“We’re going to die!”
“Where did my children go? Have you seen them?”
A flight attendant scrambled down the aisle. She kept telling people to strap on seatbelts, but forgot what she was saying halfway through. Her voice a skipping record. Scratchy and wobbling. Tears streamed down her face.
Zoe pushed past her and charged toward the cockpit. The problem had to be the pilots. If she got to them, she could help.
Gales toyed with the plane. Her newfound strength and coordination helped her keep her balance as the aisle swayed and bucked. She gripped headrests and pulled herself forward. Gravity worked against her, but she persisted.
Her newfound focus helped her ignore the corpses in the chairs. Blackened eyes leaking smoke. Bubbling blood dripping into gaping jaws. Too many corpses. Too many people punished for saying no to the unknown.
But more terrifying than the corpses, were the absences.
Zoe had been the last group to board the plane. She walked past hundreds of people before she found her seat. Less than half those people remained. And only a couple dozen were alive. She understood the corpses. The fire in their eyes said everything, even if the sight tasted like bile in her throat.
But she couldn’t explain the empty seats. Where did they go? Was it the tutorial? She pushed the concern out of her mind as the numbers ticked down in her mind.
[19]
[18]
[17]
Not long now until the countdown reached zero. And then what? The dim lights along the ceiling, along the floor, would vanish. Only the moonlight through the windows would remain. A dark plane screaming through dark skies.
She pushed into first class.
Corpses greeted her. Horror washed over her in waves. Was she numb? Was she overwhelmed? Was she going to curl up and puke in a corner?
No.
Keep moving.
A lonely girl walking through the dark forest until the dogs found her…
No. She stood on a plane. Sick pilots needed her help. She was a doctor. She could do this. Focus.
The first-class corpses wore neater, cleaner, more expensive clothes, but the blackened tears of grisly death were the same. She no longer noticed the greasy smoke circling the ceiling as she reached the cockpit door. Tried the handle.
Locked.
Of course, it was locked.
[13]
[12]
Bella stumbled up behind her.
“What’s the holdup?”
“We need to get inside,” Zoe pointed at the keypad on the door. “Go get a flight attendant.”
Bella nodded and ran back through first class. Zoe glared at the door. Beige, nondescript, impenetrable.
Unless…
She kicked out with her newfound strength. Her heel slammed into the door and the hinges shook. But held.
“Damnit!”
She kicked again, and again. Slammed her fist into the metal. She opened nothing but the skin on her knuckles.
[8]
[7]
Bella grabbed her from behind.
“What are you doing?”
Zoe shook her head. Bella had found a flight attendant. The same scared, mascara-teared young woman who tried to convince people to wear seatbelts.
“It’s my first day,” she gripped her hands together. “I don’t know what to —”
Zoe pointed at the keypad.
“Open it.”
The young woman stared at the keypad with numb eyes, before she nodded and typed in the code. The keypad beeped, but nothing happened.
“You got the wrong code,” Zoe said, her heart sinking.
The woman shook her head.
“No, there’s a time delay so the pilot can respond…”
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Non-registered technology disabled.]
The lights went dark. The screams of passengers rose as the engines went silent. The plane lurched, no longer fighting the high atmosphere winds.
[Phase 2 complete.]
[Now initiating Phase 3]
[Spawning monsters…]