I was driving out of the Eisenhower tunnel above Denver when the system came to earth. When blue screens started populating my vision I knew two things. One, humanity was in deep shit. And two, I had no desire to get passed by drivers trying to read and drive at the same time. Fortunately, there is a nice wide area just outside the tunnel to park. Pulling over I popped my air brakes and began to read the screens.

System Integration Starting.

Scanning Universe 62634.

Commencing A.I. Population.

Ra A.I. Online.

Hermes A.I. Online.

Vulcan A.I. Online.

Terra A.I. Online.

Ares A.I. Online.

Indra A.I. Online.

Cronus A.I. Online.

Beira A.I. Online.

Poseidon A.I. Online.

System Note: Dwarf Planets are not a thing. All Extraorbital Bodies NOT designated Planets will be deconstructed for terraforming purposes.

System Requires 24 hours to fully assimilate Universe 62634. Class Choices will be unlocked at that time.

I didn't even hesitate. As soon as the message left I dropped my rig in to drive and gunned it. I knew I needed to get off the mountain fast. I'd read a ton of System Apocalypse stories on places like Goobazon and Kings Highway. So I had some idea of what was coming. I was honestly surprised my rig even worked at this point. Most of the stories I'd read, indigenous tech stopped working. From guns to car engines every story I'd read the tech died.

People all over the road had stopped to read the message or gunned it and read as they drove. The road was full of confused drivers hauling ass down the mountain or to whatever place they called home. Which now that I thought about it wasn't much of a stretch from the usual drivers I had to deal with.

As I made it to the last stretch of road down into Denver I could see columns of smoke rising from several places inside Denver. While I hadn't seen any monsters yet I knew they were coming. They always did in the stories I'd read. I was just praying whatever showed up I had the firepower to deal with.

As I began picking up speed down the mountain another system message hit me.

System Message.

Now beginning planet-wide power draw for Dungeon generation. Please find a safe place to stay while environmental changes occur.

Then my damn engine died.

I hit the brakes hard and rode my dead weight truck to the shoulder. As I did I could feel a massive energy charge in the air. I looked up and above Denver, a giant storm cloud was being generated. It looked just like a funnel cloud only it was being sucked up away from the ground.

There was a blinding flash of light and a massive stream of energy shot into the ground dead center of Denver. When it was done there was a massive black spire easily as tall as the Eiffel Tower. It looked like a Roman column. There was a weird electronic tracery of what looked like liquid crystal mixed with other materials. I was pretty far away so the details weren't super clear but it was an amazing sight from where I was.

System Message.

Continental Dungeons Generated.

Generating Content. Dungeons will open after Class Selection Protocols have completed.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

That's when I began to hear screams. I knew it was coming and it still surprised me. Again I didn't hesitate, being a combat vet will do that to you. I'd been a prepper all my life. Add in 3 tours in the sandbox and six more years as a "no such group" member and, well you get the idea. So I hopped out of the seat of my dead truck and went in the bunk to grab my toys. After I'd retired id used my connections to fast track a class three license. Then I'd opened "Tac-Ti-Kill Advantage", a business catering to everyone from local cops and Feds to Military Contractors.

Lifting my bunk shelf, I looked in the under compartment and began taking inventory.

Ar15 custom rigged and chambered for the 7.62x51. Check.

100lb ruck with survival supplies for a week including everything from mylar blankets to freeze-dried rations? Check.

Custom harness for reloads and miscellaneous" need it now" tools and knives? Check.

Grabbing everything I pulled it all out and began to gear up. The shittiest thing was my truck was full of new gear for the store. I was hoping it would be ok till I could come back for it but honestly, I wasn't betting on it.

Slapping a 100 round dual drum mag into place and chambering a round I looked out the windows to see if I could spot anything. It looked clear so I hopped out the side closest to the shoulder and, using the truck and shoulder rail as cover began to head for the back of the truck. I needed one more thing before I could leave.

Opening the lock on the back with my keys I popped the right door open and climbed up. Most of the inventory was new weapons and ammo with a few specialized orders like the mk19 sitting tripoded on the left. What I wanted was stacked on the right.

Under a tarp were four 1000 round boxes of tungsten core 7.62x51. I'd gone in with a friend of mine and ordered us custom loads. We'd split the cost since the shit was almost $7000.00 a case. Worth it though since, you know, Apocalypse and all. They were heavy as shit so I grabbed the little four-wheel ammo cart and dropped it out the back. Then I moved the ammo to the door, climbed out and began loading the cart.

There was still a bunch of screaming and it sounded like it was coming closer. Looking up the mountain I saw clouds of smoke and a crowd of people fleeing as fast as they could. Some tripped and fell rolling under the feet of others.

Now I'm no hero, I've done some truly questionable shit for my country, that doesn't exactly leave you with a lot of empathy. Or at least it didn't with me, maybe some people can not have nightmares and get on with their lives and what not. I retired and buried myself in what I loved most. Explodey stuff. That said there were people carrying kids up there. As I watched one woman stumbled and fell holding a toddler, maybe three or four years old. She used her body to cover the kid so it didn't take any damage from the fall. The dude running next to her stopped and helped her up, but now she was limping and crying. There must have been at least a hundred or so people streaming down the mountain with more coming behind.

So I did what any good soldier does and assessed the situation. Unknown threat. Check. Civilians in danger (specifically kids). Check. Trailer full of ordinance? Motherfucking check. I knew I wasn't gonna be out running whatever was coming. The crowd was moving fast and with all my gear, unless I wanted to take a path through the woods in an unknown situation, I was gonna have to face this.

Taking the cart and my ruck behind the trailer I set them next to each other. Then I climbed back in as people started to stream past. Dragging the Mk19 to the door I grabbed three cases of mixed ammo and dropped it near the door as well.

I had a ladder strapped to the inside of the trailer along the left wall. Grabbing that I hopped out and set it up so I could climb on top of the trailer. Then I hauled that heavy as shit Mk19 up there and dropped it so I had clear lines of sight over the crowd and a reasonable chance to not blow the crowd to shit. I crawled back down and grabbed my ruck, leaving the cart leaning against the rail. Then I began grabbing ammo cases and popping them open. I had three types. White Phosphorus, High Explosive and Incendiary. So I began linking them together in one long ass chain of "fuck you".

As I started linking the forty mike mike I heard a loud noise from up the mountain. Looking up from my work I saw, I shit you not, a flood of Ewoks. That's what they looked like. Little furry two-legged bears. Some even had spears and staves. I also noticed I seemed to have drawn a crowd. A few of the people streaming past had noticed what I was doing and started trying to ask me ridiculous questions. Stuff like "what are you doing mister?" "Do you have a permit for that mister?" "Can you give me a ride mister?"

I tuned them out. You can't talk to stupid and I didn't have time for them anyway. As the last of the crowd streamed past I checked the range. The max effective range of the Mk19 is about 1600 yards. I figured I'd let them get to a thousand then open the dance. I didn't have a ton of ammo but I was betting I wouldn't need it. Each case held 48 rounds which linked gave me just under 150 rounds. That's a lot of pain. Especially when you can rapid fire 60 rounds a minute, or single fire, or just drop 40 rounds per minute sustained. That's what I had planned.

At the first "Whump" from the barrel, several people in the small crowd around me screamed. I ignored this and started dropping rounds down range. Now I've seen some shit. But I gotta say I've never seen a crowd full of teddy bears explode and fly through the air. I'll admit I started laughing as I began servicing targets. It didn't take much. Some took direct hits and exploded showering their little brown buddies in gore and fire. Some dropped from the explosions or from white phosphorus setting their fuzzy asses on fire. The incendiary rounds were a special design id come up with for a friend. They were basically napalm coated mini Claymore. A solid core of Semtex set off by a contact fuse blowing small bb sized shrapnel in a 360° radius while also coating the area in an incendiary gel. I called them Hellstorm rounds. Those devastated the area.

Honestly, I almost felt bad about it. They had no chance really. They tried to retreat but I had the range now. None survived.

After the shit storm of death, I unloaded and dropped the remaining ammo into a case. Handing that down to one of my watchers I had him place it in the cart. I hadn't been planning to take the Mk19 but I figured now I might need it. So I let the barrel cool down and unassed the top of the trailer. Then I dropped the tripod and laid the entire thing in my cart. After that I made sure the trailer was locked and secured.

Looking up from my work I saw a few people staring at me in shock. So I grabbed my gear, strapping it all back on. I put my Ar15 in a tactical carry strapping it to my vest, grabbed my cart and began to walk down the mountain.

As I started down I said over my shoulder.

"let's go people. I got places to be and shit to do, I ain't got time to babysit."