The descent of the System was not a peaceful thing anywhere in the world. This tale is but one of thousands like it, played out in replication across a beleaguered and changing globe. Nolan Fair was not blessed with a unique starting position or additional explanation like a few lucky chosen ones. He, like billions, was simply going about his day.
The Shift began to occur at 12:16 on the 30th of April. Twenty five minutes later, the world changed forever. In a whirlwind of chaotic magic, a lurching felt in the heart and stomachs of every living being and a flash of light with colours that had never existed before, humanity was thrown into their newest challenge.
“Daddy, you’re hurting,” a soft voice to Nolan’s right whimpered. The large man immediately released his vice grip on his youngest daughter’s fingers and turned to her, brushing her down while scanning the area. An ominous voice had begun to ring in everyone’s head at once, counting down to some unknown change. As Nolan tried his best to figure out exactly what that change was, he made sure to smile apologetically.
“I’m so sorry babygirl,” he cooed, “that was scary, wasn’t it? Even Daddy got a little frightened! We’re okay now, though. Aren’t we, Lu?” Their location hadn’t changed, as far as Nolan could tell, and a grunt from the teenager at least confirmed she was still there. His older daughter was like him, stoic and discerning. Sarah was more like her mother. Big brown eyes wide in fear, but trust allowing her to remain calm while I did.
The Fair family were slightly scattered, and Nolan was both terrified to imagine his wife’s status. She was a first responder in London for Christ's sake. The sounds of destruction had started before the countdown even ended, and knowing Maisie, she would have done whatever she could to help people right away. Nolan allowed himself to settle on pride for the love of his life while he worked to protect their children. It was hard not to be out there with her, but he could not be more grateful for the rare day off which had placed him and his girls in their local park when the countdown began.
Sarah nodded, her lip quivering. “Daddy what’s happening? Why are all the people running?” Nolan’s heart shuddered as he scooped up the nine year old and started moving again. A glance and nod to the eldest to make sure she was following, Nolan brushed his fingers through Sarah’s chestnut curls.
“I’m not all the way sure, baby. Do you think maybe that scary voice was just starting a game of hide and seek?” Nolan saw an angle to latch onto, even as the seventeen year old behind him scoffed. Sarah had always loved hide and seek. While she was almost old enough to be called a young woman, the childish idea was enough of an explanation for now. “So, we should find somewhere really good to hide, I think.”
Her face buried in his chest, she nodded an agreement. There were a lot of challenges between Nolan’s career and his wife’s, but being prepared for the unexpected was not one of them. Her, a lifesaver, Nolan, a protector. He hadn’t felt like much of one recently, but the training he received from being in the police force was a rock to rely on. They would be okay as long as he controlled the situation in his immediate area. While he was not regularly equipped with one, Nolan found himself wishing he had a firearm.
The world was already a horror show. People had always been the problem.
Nolan had tried to get the group home before the countdown finished but it had been impossible. They had been on a father-daughters walk somewhere near Hammersmith and with the confusion everything had ground to a halt. He certainly wasn’t getting onto public transport while the world ended. Now, Nolan aimed himself for the only place he could think of which might have everything they would need. “Is your phone working, Lu?”
“Of course not,” she hissed. Nolan didn’t take it personally, he was frustrated and scared, too. The signal their phones relied on for data had vanished, which made Nolan feel sick. If that was true across the world? They weren’t ready for this. Just that single implication realigned a few principles for the intense man.
“Okay then, let’s hurry inside.” A few other people were wandering around the shopping centre which Nolan had decided to take his family to, but he paid them little attention. There was some looting happening already, but most seemed to be disappointed about something, walking away from the stores. They can’t have been emptied already, can they?
His fears were confirmed, though not in the way he expected. Nolan found a small bed and mattress store and claimed it for himself and his girls while they figured some things out. The owner was still inside, unsure of what to do with himself but able to give Nolan some much needed information. His name was Peter, and his thick southern accent made Sarah giggle despite the not-distant-enough sounds of fear and anger in the air.
First, the Shift had seemingly stolen most of the resources in the area. When the countdown finished, multiple business owners had run around asking what had happened. Peter hadn’t lost much from his own shop, but some had apparently been emptied in a moment. Most of the food was gone, which was no doubt where most of the current fighting was happening. Nolan’s hopes of finding some supplies here were dashed, and some vicious thoughts started to gain purchase.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
He would do anything to protect his girls.
Something which might become easier with the second piece of information Peter provided. “Concentrate on the word System in your head, like it’s got a capital letter.” Though the explanation was a little strange, the interface for the System was intuitive after the shock of a text box appearing in mid-air wore off.
Name - Nolan Fair Race - Human (Grade 0) Level - 01
Title - None
Fortitude - 8 Speed - 5 Mental - 5 Will - 6
Free attribute points: 0
4 Per Level
It wasn’t long until Nolan understood just how close he had been when he guessed the voice in their heads had started a game. It had, but not one that Nolan liked. A full-scale battle royale, every man, woman and child for themselves. His heart broke over and over again as the hours ticked by and his understanding grew. Nolan had gained his first level by accident when someone swaggered past the store and noticed the group inside.
“Out!” He had demanded, hands stained with the blood he had dried on his own clothes. Nolan didn’t even get his name, convincing him to walk around a corner with him. Nolan’s assault had been brutal, all of the day’s fear, stress and rage combining into one devastating punch to the man’s chest. The power behind the blow had surprised even Nolan, but not as much as it had the stranger with the caved in ribs.
A few moments later, the level up notification appeared along with the ability to take the man’s valuables. This had in turn shown Nolan about the inventory screen, as well as given him a long knife which he immediately threw away. It had dripped with blood when he removed it from his own inventory. Nolan’s lip twitched as he took the man’s corpse, vanishing it into his personal magical storage to dispose of later. Placing two points into Fortitude and two into Speed, Nolan gritted his teeth at the strange sensation of increasing attributes before smiling widely.
Nolan would do anything to keep his daughters safe.
That first night , Nolan kept watch outside the store. Peter had been a gentleman, even able to share a packet of biscuits he still had. That didn’t mean Nolan trusted him enough to leave his girls with him. Tomorrow he wanted to get a better sense of what was happening, he just needed to make sure Lucy and Sarah were okay first. As night fell properly, someone managed to lower the shutters on the main doors.
That was probably the only reason the people inside survived to the morning. As darkness took the land, things began to go bump in the night. The electricity to the area was somehow still working, but anywhere the evening’s darkness found purchase became a tunnel to hell. Monsters began to stalk, quietly at first, but soon nowhere was safe.
Unsure of what to do, Nolan grabbed Peter and shuttered his girls inside the mattress store. Peter had squawked in protest, but Nolan didn’t care. “They stay safe in there, we keep them safe out here.” The screams of those people still outside the main doors would haunt Nolan for the rest of his life, but he would be damned if his daughters would share that fate.
The first monster Nolan met in the nightmare of this new world was a vicious looking lizard man, with an even more gnarly looking weapon. In its muscular arms was a heavy looking glaive, nothing fancy about it except the sharp blade at the end. A small part of Nolan couldn’t avoid finding thrill and excitement in it all, which was good because he focused on that portion rather than the screaming doubts in his mind. Peter whimpered and did nothing, but Nolan hadn’t actually expected the old man to help.
A large volume of sharp teeth sat in a gruesome, crocodilian jaw. Two milky yellow eyes blinked at them, straight pupils flickering between Nolan and Peter as its tongue shot out to taste the air, easily a foot long. The general physique was that of a muscular human, but its entire body was covered in knobbly grey, green and black scales. Nolan had never seen anything so terrifying in his life.
The fight between Nolan and the lizard lasted less than fifteen seconds, but he might as well have aged a lifetime. It moved with fluid grace, the weapon snapping forward like a viper’s deadly bite. Nolan surprised himself by even being able to react, dodging the first stab and punching the weapon away with his palm. The second attack, a swipe at his legs, he was less ready for. Unable to dodge, he stepped into the blow and countered himself.
Pain focused his attention and ignited the killer instincts that fear deadened. All of Nolan’s muscles roared as he grabbed the lizard by the throat, wrapped his other hand around the monster’s elbow and then shoved his good leg against its chest. The three points of contact were enough for Nolan to heave and rip. With a horrible screeching and a tearing sound like wood being broken, Nolan tore the lizard apart. Its arm came away in one hand, and its head another.
He gasped, throwing away the gore and falling to the floor. His left leg had been punctured by the glaive, the large weapon buried up to the bone even now. His head spun and Peter moved over to give him some help. The older man looked paler than Nolan as he brandished a ripped up piece of bedding, aiming to tie it around the wound as a tourniquet. Nolan held up a hand, opening his character page instead.
The fight had given him another level, all four attribute points of which went into Fortitude. The wound on Nolan’s leg closed before their eyes, and he grunted in satisfaction before hefting the glaive off the floor where it had fallen, pushed from his leg by the healing. A path was crystallising for Nolan, despite the dangers. He looted the lizardman, and his eyes widened.
Before he could focus on what he had found, the screams brought him back to the present. A growing number of monsters were breaking into the shopping centre. Peter didn’t bother sticking around once Nolan made it clear he wasn’t hiding in the store with his daughters, opting to run off instead. It was a shame, but it gave Nolan an opportunity to devour the meatball sub he had looted from the lizardman.
More than anything else, the meatball sandwich in his inventory was like a miracle. The thing was even still hot. In the guiltiest moment of his life, he devoured it. Knowing he couldn’t face his children, he told them through the shutters to stay put. He couldn’t go far but he didn’t have to wait long until more monsters appeared. Very quickly, Nolan began to see them as experience to make him stronger and food for his daughters.
This was how he saved them, he knew. One bloody, vicious battle at a time.