Alexis sat on the stairs, covered in blood, glasses fogged up, sobbing. She had got lucky, but that was no recompense for lost friends. If anything, she felt guilty for having survived the morning. She continued sobbing quietly and let the memories of the past few hours come.
Waking up in the middle of the night to be greeted by the Welcome Message and the Tutorial had unbalanced her, as it would have anybody else. She had spent most of the rest of the night going through the Help Menu, adjusting her Interface and reading up on the new reality she now lived in. Still, she went to volunteer at the animal shelter like she did every Saturday.
Most of the staff hadn’t shown up, but two volunteers, some staff and her best friend Susy, the veterinarian, were present and looking after the animals. She had assumed that those missing didn’t come because of transportation issues, cycling to the shelter had been strange as there was no traffic on the roads. A few cars were abandoned and some had crashed, although she didn’t see any major accidents. Fortunately initiation here had happened in the middle of the night, she imagined that had it happened during rush hour consequences would have been worse.
She had taken a few of the bigger dogs from the kennels to the yard so that they could get some play-time. Alexis had then started feeding the dogs remaining in the kennels. That was when things had started going wrong, she first noticed Anora, a husky bitch, who was usually a friendly and calm dog, growling and charging at the gate she was behind. Then she heard the screams. She had turned and run towards the noise, arriving at the scene of a savage fight.
Brutus, Rex, Noni and Bella had jumped out of the yard and were attacking the staff and volunteers. Somebody was lying on the floor, throat torn out and bleeding. Brutus was clamped onto Marc’s groin, who was screaming in a high pitch and beating the slavering dog with a bucket. Noni was dragging herself towards another volunteer, her back broken, while Bella was savaging the volunteer’s arm. Blood was spreading from underneath the gate to the yard, a ball had tracked through it and left a trail on the path.
Susy was missing and she could her someone sobbing in the office. Alexis had grabbed the nearest heavy object, a brick, and slammed it into Brutus’ head. The feeling of the skull giving way would remain with her for a long time. Bella released the volunteer and charged at her, but was hit by a dart flying out of the office window, lost coordination and tumbled off her feet.
Rex had been lying on a body, dart sticking out of a shoulder and jaws clamped around their throat. Susy had recognised the red hair, Carmen, a staff member. Marc was now lying on the ground, still howling weakly, copious amounts of blood flowing from his groin and joining an ever increasing pool of blood on the ground. The volunteer had wandered off in shock. As if in a dream she had stumbled to the office, a trail of blood laying a bright red path in front of her. The sobbing meanwhile had stopped.
Another body in the hallway, Leandra, whose upper thigh looked like a burger patty, blood slowly seeping out. The lake of blood in the hallway could not have belonged to a single human, she dimly thought. Bloody footprints continued to the office, she had followed them, only to find Susy in the office, a rubber tube serving as a tourniquet around her left leg, pale as a ghost and passed out, still clutching the dart gun.
Alexis had rushed to her side, a scream of anguish welling up, but stifled. She had quickly checked on Susy’s vitals. Susy had been breathing, but her pulse had been weak and erratic. Alexis’ medical training came to the fore, loss of blood pressure, damaged femoral in the left thigh. Third year medical school knowledge had helped her diagnose the problem but provided no solution to addressing it given the lack of human blood and plasma present. She had known Susy was a universal donor, so couldn’t even donate her blood through direct transfusion, although the equipment in the veterinary clinic would have made it possible.
So she had sat next to her best friend and watched her slowly pass out of this world. Eventually she had been roused out of her stupor by the racket still going on outside. The dogs in the kennels were barking mad and Rex had been slowly stumbling around outside.
Ever the vet, Susy must have loaded the dart with the correct dosage of tranquiliser to subdue the dog without harming it permanently. Sudden fury had gripped her then, and she had loaded the remaining darts with the stuff Susy used to put down animals.
Dim memories of walking through the shelter and putting down the monsters, the two cat enclosures had been a charnel house. The sole remaining female, now twice as big as before, had been hissing and trying to charge her through the mesh, missing most of her fur and scarred all over, one eye blinded. The enclosure for the males had been empty, but it appeared that there also was a survivor judging by the scattered body parts and the torn mesh.
Kira nudged her hand, whining. Right, one bright memory in all of the horror remained, Kira. She had arrived at Kira’s kennel, subconsciously leaving her favourite to be the last. Kira had been sitting at the back of her kennel, whining softly. Something had stayed her hand, the dart gun clattering to the floor. Staring at Kira, an Inspect result had popped up, L1 Malinois/Akita cross, female.
Cooing softly to the dog, Alexis had approached the gate. Kira coming to meet her, tail hesitantly wagging but ears laid back. She had held her hand to the gate, allowing Kira to sniff it, and the Interface popped a flashing message into her field of view: Bond to L1 Malinois/Akita cross, female? Select Yes or No. Alexis had immediately selected yes and broken down, crying in relief. Unaware of time passing she had cried her soul out, somehow ending up on the stairs to the office.
Alexis Brigid
Level 5
Experience
700
Next Level
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750
Statistics
Strength
Muscle Strength
8
Intellect
Speed
12
9,0
Tendons
10
13,0
Cognitive
15
Bones
9
Memory
12
Agility
Muscle Speed
13
Will
Resolve
10
11,0
Nerve Speed
10
12,0
Force
13
Cartilage Friction
10
Focus
13
Dexterity
Muscle Control
11
Energy
Capacity
9
11,0
Proprioception
10
11,0
Efficiency
12
Flexibility
12
Regen
12
Constitution
Resilience
8
Perception
Acuity
7
9,0
Healing
8
10,3
Psy Range
17
Shield
11
Processing
7
Available Points
50
Affinities
Kinetic (macro)
8
Kinetic (micro)
26
Gravitational
15
Light
28
Space
14
Time
21
Matter
35
Electromagnetic
16
Biological
41
Psychic
27
Skills
Class Skills:
None
Profession Skills:
62 listed
(expand)
General:
10164 listed
(expand)
Achievements
Sole Survivor
bonus not chosen*
First Tamer
bonus not chosen*
Pets
Kira
Level 1, Female Malinois/Akita
Alexis gathered her resolve, her mom would have held her, giving comfort, but in the same vein encouraging her to go on, get stronger, saying something banal like “What do we do when we fall down? We get up, learn, become stronger.” Something Alexa decided to take to heart, become stronger, survive, thrive. She opened her Character Sheet, surprised at how her Level had grown, she decided to first remedy her bad eyesight and Constitution, averaging everything and then increasing her Constitution to an acceptable level.
Alexis decided that she would only allocate her Stat points at this stage, given the fact that she previously had no idea that Achievements existed and had consequently not read up on them. Plus, she was uncertain as to her ability in dealing with the emotional fallout that was inherent in choosing a bonus for an achievement for which she was wracked with guilt. It also vexed her that the Interface only provided relevant information when discovered, she hated going into situations blind and without having a comprehensive game plan, something her raid guild had leaned on successfully during her WoW days when challenging boss fights.
The surreal experience on allocation, the new understanding and insight gained only checked her determination to continue with the day for a moment, she would reflect on the experience at a more suitable time. A time where she had peace and quiet to do a great deal of contemplating. Satisfied with her allocation, Alexis took one last look, before swinging into her saddle and heading home, dodging the non-existent traffic, whistling for Kira to follow her.
Alexis Brigid
Level 5
Experience
700
Next Level
750
Statistics
Strength
Muscle Strength
11
Intellect
Speed
15
11,0
Tendons
11
14,0
Cognitive
15
Bones
11
Memory
12
Agility
Muscle Speed
13
Will
Resolve
10
13,0
Nerve Speed
13
12,0
Force
13
Cartilage Friction
13
Focus
13
Dexterity
Muscle Control
11
Energy
Capacity
12
11,0
Proprioception
10
12,0
Efficiency
12
Flexibility
12
Regen
12
Constitution
Resilience
16
Perception
Acuity
13
16,0
Healing
16
14,0
Psy Range
17
Shield
16
Processing
12
Available Points
0