“Hi, I’m Claire!” Claire said, stepping in front of the boy crying the loudest.

“What,” the boy answered weakly.

The others in the van turned their heads towards the overly enthusiastic red headed girl.

She didn’t mind their glares, pausing and staring at the boy.

“Well, what’s your name?” She pointed. “It’s sort of your turn. I’m Claire…” She waited.

“John,” he whispered, looking up at Claire. “I’m John.”

“John, John, John, there. I’ve said it three times, so I’ll never forget it. Not ever,” she forced a smile, “I lost my mommy too. We don’t have to worry anymore, though, they promised we’d be safe now.”

I climbed into my window and passed out almost immediately as my head hit the pillow.

*****

“Claire, get up now! Claire!” Chen banged on the door. She could walk in, it was her place after all, but she’d always tried to give me my space.

And as I looked down, blood still on my clothes and still in my ‘secret outfit,’ I was grateful she’d let me sleep in. She’d probably already seen my gear many times before and assumed that the blood was from monsters, but I appreciated her not bringing it up either way.

“Now, Claire! I will not miss gardening with the ladies because you stayed up all night,” she banged on the door again.

“I’m coming!” I yelled, trying to will away the massive headache.

I hated mornings. Like with a passion.

Chen knows that, but here we are.

Standing up, I took off my dark and bloody clothes and changed into my bulkier normal-people clothes. An apocalypse happens and people still look at you funny if you’re covered in blood. Sure, there’s guys who spent the cash to get better protection, but ten years in and people are still in denial.

How do you explain this, assholes?

Claire Platt

Class: N/A

Integrated Energy: 23,024

Mana: 230/230

Skills (Unspent Points – 0):

Manifest Dagger (E) – 4 / 25

Improved Physique 3 (E) – 2 / 25

Poisonous (D) – 1 / 75

Hide (F) – 5 / 10

Grim Haste (C) – 5 / 200

Active Quests:

Avenge the other orphans: Kill everyone who actively participated in the program.

Dungeon duty: Defeat four dungeons to unlock next target.

Confirming that a new active quest was there, I finished putting on the rest of my regular clothes and opened the door… where I almost walked straight into an annoyed Chen standing on the other side about to knock again.

Part of me wanted to close the door just to annoy her more, but I shrugged past her instead.

“Did you get any sleep?” Chen turned as I walked past, jumping into Mom mode. She wasn’t my mom, but by God did she try to be sometimes.

“Did you make anything to eat?” Hungry, I ignored her questions and prayed to the System that she’d made chive pancakes. Portable and delicious, they were spectacular.

Chen was many things. A bad-ass Asian woman. A small business owner. An apocalypse survivor. A solid partner to bring with you into a white Ranked dungeon.

But above all those things, she was a stellar cook. So good that the system even gave her ‘Cooking’. Most called it a useless Skill, but they hadn’t tried her chive pancakes. Or her orange chicken. Wow.

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She may not be mom, but damn can Chen cook.

“There’s something on the stove, eat it quick. Because of you we’re leaving late, so don’t be surprised when the leeches are there waiting,” she said, following behind me down the stairs.

“Oh joy,” I said, racing down.

And praise the System, Chen’s chive pancakes were waiting for me on the stove.

Maybe today wasn’t going to be all bad.

*****

Ten years, billions of people dead, cities ruined, literal monsters, superhuman abilities, and still (!) these assholes show up every damn day to protest in front of the dungeons.

Honestly, a lot has pissed me off about the system, but the protestors are probably top five. Scratch that, definitely top three. And though Chen called them leeches, I honestly think that was doing leeches a disservice.

The nearest dungeon was about twenty minutes walking from Chen’s. We could’ve gone to another one, but this one was familiar. And familiar meant safe.

Plus, there was no limit on the number of times you could go through this dungeon per month. Some dungeons had a limit. And as soon as people found that out, groups started hoarding those for themselves. If a dungeon had a limit, that likely meant the rewards were better. More integrated energy if you defeated it, more chances to have something good drop, higher difficulty, and maybe more.

The whole system was a mystery, so who knew what else we could get.

Chen didn’t want to aggravate any of those groups, and I didn’t want to be on their radar either, so we stuck to dungeons that they didn’t care about. The ones that anyone could go into, that didn’t have a limit, and were close enough that we could walk to and still make it back in time for her gardening with the ladies.

We turned the corner, and a swarm of protestors slithered their way around the street leading up to the dungeon.

“You’re dooming humans!”

“The aliens will protect us!”

“Get out of our city, freaks!”

“Leave the dungeons alone and they’ll leave us alone!”

“The screens are a LIE!”

What kept me from throwing a bunch of daggers into the crowd is still a mystery. It wasn’t Chen, since she hated them even more than I did. Scared of what they didn’t know, they’d blocked out years of anguish and somehow found this to be the answer.

When humans hadn’t known how to deal with the System and it’s weird messages, monsters started hunting them like prey and thousands died in this city alone. On top of the billions that died in the initial wave around the world. And somehow, they thought us, the people helping to stop that from happening again, were the issue.

Absolute idiots. The whole lot of them.

“Just keep walking,” I whispered, half to myself and half to Chen as I saw her gripping the bat in her hand. I couldn’t give her any of the daggers I created, but I’d offered to help pay for another weapon over the years. She always refused.

A bat was effective enough in this dungeon, but people were getting the hang of this System stuff. And that meant there were better options. Expensive options, but still options. And though Chen wasn’t eager to face a yellow dungeon anytime soon, a bat wasn’t going to cut it forever. I’d convince her eventually, but not today.

It was too early in the morning for that.

“What’re they going to do if a monster appears? ‘Protest’ it to death? I swear that guy has Skills in ‘Report Writing’,” she said, pointing towards one of the idiots jumping up and down with a sign that said ‘Faith alone will get us through this’.

I chuckled and walked through the street, ignoring the protesters on each side of our path.

Like antelope hiding from a lion, at least they knew to stay out of our way.

*****

The dungeons all looked similar, pillars of light that shot up out of the ground like beacons to those brave or foolish enough to step inside. And though they didn’t reach the sky, they were impossible to miss from a block or two away. Some even reached higher than the tallest skyscrapers. When they’d first arrived with the System, they’d been different colours, but I couldn’t remember. I had a lot going on at the time.

After the System changed a second time, mainly the stark white pillars remained.

Chen and I stepped inside, phasing through the gleaming white side of the tower and appearing in a dark room. And as if the protestors hadn’t been bad enough, I was annoyed to see who we’d be grouping with for the day.

No wonder Chen was in a rush this morning; we had people waiting.

“Claire!” Brett exclaimed as we appeared in the staging area.

“Really, Chen?” I turned and looked at my middle-aged roommate.

“I like the kid, sue me,” she shrugged, “You and him on a team make sure we make it through the dungeon alive,” she said, walking towards Brett’s friend Gill. “Be nice, Claire. And I mean late night after a successful dungeon dive nice, not early morning covered in blood and hangry Claire nice.”

I sighed, annoyed that she couldn’t have at least told me. There was only one way out of the staging area and I didn’t even bother trying to escape as Bret reached me and started talking.

“I’m so happy to see you! I can’t believe we’ll be going into the dungeon together again. These older people expect us to carry them through the dungeons because we got the extra blessing, but it’s still tough, you know? Guys, we’re not even 18 yet, cut us some slack. Right?

“What am I saying, of course you don’t know, you’re crazy strong. I always feel so much safer when I’m in there with you,” Brett rambled.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I said, walking past Brett and towards the other two.

“So, I was wondering,” Brett started again.

Oh God, I thought, and I must’ve made a face because Brett immediately started to backtrack.

Brett laughed. “No, no, nothing like that. I was just wondering again if you’d tell me your other Skills. It’s just that you’re so strong. At least the Rank for your ‘Improved Physique’. Like we both have the same Skill and yet I feel like you could kill me in a second.”

I could.

“No, Brett. For the hundredth time, I’m not telling you my Skills or their Ranks.”

“But we’re a team! The more we discuss, the better off we’ll be!”

“Talk to the city leaders, not me. Maybe they’ll have some useful information to share. I don’t.”

“Those people? As if they even know I exist. And besides, I have you right here, why would I go bother them? It’s just that… I feel like…” he pondered as he tried to come up with a different reason to pester me again, “…we should be sticking together because we’re from the Blessed Generation. Like- “

I stopped walking and glared at Brett.

“Brett, I’m going to say this one last time and you’re going to stop bothering me about it. No. And there’s nothing about our generation that’s Blessed. Don’t lump me in with that stupid name. I’m not blessed, and neither are you, don’t buy into that bullshit.”

I stormed off towards Chen and Gill. They’d picked up a fifth for our team, thankfully, and looked ready to go.

All dungeons only allowed teams of five or less. At least all the ones I’d ever been into. I could do this dungeon alone, but Chen needed the Integrated Energy. And enough credits for a better weapon. I’d do the other dungeons for the week alone, but I needed to make sure she would be fine if I ever had to leave.

Whenever the quest decided that would be.

Brett ambled to the group, noticeably quieter as the others prepared their weapons.

Then, confirming that our group was ready, Chen announced that the countdown was starting.

I sighed, eager to get this over with.