Slowly, Zeke’s eyes begin to flicker open, the light from his room penetrating through the gaps in his eyelids. The familiar scene of his ceiling fan, broken with 2 of the 5 wings missing, slowly came into his view albeit blurry. The ringing in his head eased by the fans methodical spinning and the silent noise they made as they swished as he came back to his senses. Zeke begins to rub his temples as he leans himself up, pain throbbing in his head. He lets out a sigh, as he slouches near where he sits “can’t do anything right it seems”. He gets up and stretches, and the lightheadedness mixed along with his massive headache throw him back to the ground. Guess I gotta take it easy for a bit.
A woman’s scream howled through his window; It was more a shriek than a scream, the sound of which caught Zeke completely by surprise. As he regained more of his consciousness, Zeke grew increasingly aware of his surroundings, realizing there were more sounds of terror, of… chaos coming from outside his window. Zeke began rising to look out his window, until the ringing in his head had subsided and he was greeted by a cacophony of gun shots, yelling and even more screaming.
He recoiled from the commotion, sitting back against the wall, eyes driven into sharp focus with fear. Motionless, Zeke sat in his spot for only a few moments stricken. “Fuck it”, Zeke got up and looked through the window, ignoring the voice within fighting against it. Peeking out with his eyes barely reaching above the ledge of his window, at first, it was kind of hard for him to see, it was already night. How long was I out for? My roommate doesn’t seem to be back yet either. Zeke was snapped back from his thoughts by the sounds outside again, he couldn’t see much… Was he going insane? Was he suffering side effects and hallucinations? Did I really die?
As Zeke was contemplating the possibilities, his eyes began to acclimate better to the darkness outside and with the newfound clarity came something that he simply couldn’t explain. There people running through the open green park of his University, but it wasn’t the people that shocked him, as there were always people there, it was what was chasing them that left him dumbfounded. “This can’t be real” Zeke muttered to himself. He kept trying to process the image, make it make sense somehow Have I gone insane?
He looked on in disbelief, mouth agape from shock, however cognizant enough to know that what he saw was real. As he watched the group, he noticed they were running, avoiding things scattered about the floor. When he realized what they were, Zeke pulled his hands up to cover his mouth as he nearly puked. They were dead bodies; littered everywhere. With his stomach churning, Zeke yelled out “Run! Run faster, damnit!” as the corpses around them began to rise up. Many in the group caught off guard were grabbed by the rising corpses around them and pulled down, being bitten and clawed to death with screams and cries for help bellowing out in their last moments. A couple had managed to avoid and get past the newly risen bodies. They were holding hands, wading through the legion of hands grabbing at them, until the girl, terrified broke hands with her male companion and started running outpacing him. His hand still raised, fear and panic apparent on his face.
“Cindy!” He yelled out at her. He had slowed then, and it then became obvious why they were holding hands earlier, he was injured and limping and got slower as he walked. Cindy did not look back, she kept her pace towards the dorms Zeke was in, to what she thought was safety. The man who was left behind, kept calling out to her, pleading that should would come back for him, but all he managed to do was draw more attention to himself and away from her. Eventually he collapsed over and started crawling, the gash on his leg finally bringing him down, and the hands and mouths he tried so hard to avoid, consumed him. He wailed and screamed having his flesh torn and pushed into the greedy mouths around him, the pleas and cries for help quickly drowned out by the blood filling his throat, Zeke unable to do anything but look on in horror helpless.
***
Cindy had made it to the doors of the dorm room thinking she was in the clear. She pulled on the handles, but the door did not budge. She didn’t give up, as she kept pulling trying to pry the doors open, but they gave no way. “Behind you!” Cindy heard, looked up and saw a man leaning out a window, then quickly checked behind her to see the creatures quickly approaching. She hadn’t realized they were already done feasting on her friend, and she cursed herself for not paying attention. Cindy observed the area around her, she knew she had no change of making back across the field, there were more creatures about and her previous companions may have already added to their numbers. With no choices behind her or in front of her, she jolted to the side of the building running hoping whoever locked the main entrance, did not lock the side doors.
***
Zeke could no longer see her, he hoped she was able to get in. He fell back down to sitting against the wall, loudly panting as if it was him who had just ran across the field. How could this be real? Thoughts of him having died swirled within his mind again. He looked out to the sea of mess he called a room, tissues and bags of snacks and bottles of water littered about, clean and dirty laundry strewn about the floor intermingled with each other. He looked upon the familiar scene, his creation hoping to find something that would bring him back to reality but was only met with the grimness of what had just occurred. He gulped down, trying to calm himself, he was having a panic attack. “Zombies…” he said, as he came to grips with things. He was alive, he knew that much to be true.
Zeke, finally regaining his composure, and his adrenaline wearing off noticed something off about his vision. With everything going on before, and how quickly things had escalated, he hadn’t really had much time to process his own situation. There was, what seemed to be a blinking…Icon?
As his thoughts focused on it, a blueish screen had popped up in front of him, floating, right in the middle of his vision. It was see thru, and was the size of a tablet screen, he could put his hand through it and it would distort like a hologram. What the hell is going on here exactly? In the middle of the screen, it said ‘Welcome’.
“welcome to what??
The screen had changed after he said that and presented him with a message.
Greetings. Your planet has been infected by the void and will begin to change shortly. The effects will be slow at first and given the randomness of the event one hour notice is all we can give you, use it wisely. We, The Genesis Nine, have implanted a system to combat the rifts of the Void. You are now the tenth universe to be infected by the energy emanating from the Void. Survive the oncoming onslaught and fight back. You have been given the means by which to protect yourself. You are now part of the V.C.S. The Void Combat System. The system itself is powered by the energy absorbed by defeating the Voidborne. Eliminate the enemies before you and become stronger. Those of you who manage to survive, join us in Universe 1 to fight back against the void head on.
Zeke started at his screen with a dumb look on his face as if someone had played a prank on him. The Genesis Nine? We are the tenth? All this weird information seemed like something out of a science fiction novel. Zeke could not deny the information presented to him. There was no way else to explain what was going on. The Void… what exactly is this thing?
The world was moving as too quick a pace for him and the headache he had was becoming even more painful in kind. Everything he knew seemed to be ending around him, the little safe haven he built here in his dorm room, the place he hadn’t left in years felt inhospitable to him. Vibrations started coming from his pocket located on the left side of his marvel pajama pants, then the buzzing noise accompanied with the vibration made its way to his ears. It was his cell phone. He had been so engrossed by everything going on, he had completely forgotten about it.
His phone was giving him a reminder of his missed calls. 12 missed calls? Christ, someone was actually contacting me? Zeke checked the call history and realized all the messages were from Tia. He gritted his teeth, “Shit”, he managed to squeeze through not letting off the pressure he placed on his teeth. Zeke dialed her number, sweat beading from his head as nervousness took over, but then replaced by worry hoping she was okay.
Zeke listened to the ringing intently, as his phone dialed out. He soon came to regret this, as he was greeted by shouting of someone with a high-pitched voice.
“Mother fucker, I’ve been trying to reach you for the past hour”,
Zeke nearly toppled over, his head feeling like someone was banging pots and pans in it “S…sorry I…was sleeping” Zeke said to her, not knowing what else to say. Tia had a very high-pitched voice which always made her sound like a little girl when talking, hell her size along with her voice always made guys weary of hitting on her. Her voice wasn’t squeaky or irritating, just lacked any semblance of base. For the most part it was very pleasing to listen to, when she wasn’t shouting into your ear.
“Sleeping? How could you sleep through that noise? The ringing was fucking intense when the message came through” Tia exclaimed
“Deep sleeper, I suppose. Are you okay? I just woke up in the middle of this hell, people getting eaten by fuckin’ zombies”?
“shit I am fine somehow, locked up in my room... I’ve seen the same scenes outside my window, I had to push my shelf to block it though since I’m on the first floor. Are we loosing our mind’s Zeke?”
“You aren’t, same thing happened to me, something related to this thing called the Void is causing all this or at the very least seems to be the catalyst.”
“Yeah, I was greeted by the same message, seems it was sent out to everyone, do you…” Tia paused, longer than Zeke was comfortable with
“Tia! hey? Are you there? Tia!”
“Sorry, I’m fine” Tia responded in a whisper, “The zombies are inside the dorm, they seem to be attracted to sound like from the movies”
“Okay good, that scared me. I am in my room too but haven’t heard anything from outside. My roommate is definitely not home, though the dorm in general seems to be empty” Zeke was only guessing, he was never much of a social creature and usually stayed in.
“Probably because its Halloween Zeke, did you forget? Even I was getting ready to go out before all this shit went down. Anyways the reason I called is because my roommate had gone up to your floor earlier to see her boyfriend before we all went out to a party, I’ve been ringing her, but no answer, so I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind…”
“Oh, yeah. Sure, I'll look.” He said a little dejectedly. Of course, Tia wasn’t worried about him, why would she? He was probably the only person she knew on this floor or the only one who answered at the very least. Tia and Zeke were childhood friends, though that had changed and they Tia had stopped speaking to have a couple years ago, this was the first time she had taken the imitative to contact him since. He had tried to reach out many times to her, but never got a response Of course, it took the end of the world for her to finally get back to him. In a way, Zeke was still surprised she even called him then.
She didn’t even ask if I was okay Zeke chuckled to himself in depressingly. Maybe her reaching out like this mean’s she wants to mend things? I’ll do this small favor and even if she doesn’t need me, I am sure I can support her in some way
“I’ll call you after I check”
“Thanks” She hung up the phone
Zeke attempted to further process everything that had happened, but quickly decided not to dwell on things. There was nothing he could do to prevent what was happening and thinking about it would lead nowhere. For now, all he needs to do was survive. Thinking about survival brought him back to what the Genesis Nine said, about gaining power by killing the Voidborne Is that what those zombies are? Voidborne? How do I even gain this power anyways?
A new screen popped up in front of his face, similar in display to the previous one with the message but presenting different information.
Class: Destitute
Health: 100
Stamina: 100
Mana: 100
Vigor: 1
Endurance: 1
Vitality: 1
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Intelligence: 1
Faith: 1
Luck: 1
Required Void Energy: 1000
This is a fucking video game Zeke immediately thought to himself. This window resembled a stat screen out of an RPG. Slaying monsters and absorbing their void energy? Sounded like experience gaining now that he thought about it. He noticed that his stats were extremely low, not that he had anything to compare it to but everything being 1 didn’t leave much to desire. Then he realized his class said ‘Destitute. What the hell kind of class is that?
Having thought about his class, a description popped up in his vision.
You are a destitute, the VCS has deemed you a waste of resources and that you do not deserve to be given any benefits. You have accomplished nothing of merit and have lived that has only hampered those around you. You have given up, instead of striving. You deprived yourself of life, therefor your class reflect it.
Reading his class description, Zeke fell back on to his bed, sitting on it befuddled by what he’d just read. Sitting staring at his stat screen for what seemed like an eternity… It seemed like destiny itself had decided he should just die. How many more hints does the universe plan on sending me... However, he remembered his conversation with Tia, she still needed him. fuck it, fuck the world, fuck the V.C.S, fuck Genesis Nine. I don’t care about any of that shit, my friend needs me and that’s all I care about right now.
Zeke steeled himself to this, he’d made his choice. This VCS system had made its mind up about him, but he was still part of it, he could still get stronger. He noted that it would take him 1000 Void Energy to be able to get an attribute point to assign, shouldn’t be too hard to achieve, he thought not even knowing how much he would get from a kill. His mind went back to thoughts about the carnage he had seen outside, he would have to be careful… One hit and he was most likely dead.
Zeke started thinking about this being more like a game, he noticed he had a health stat, mana stat and stamina stat. He thought about it and then a bar for each appeared in his vision top left-hand, easy access for him to monitor his vitals. Even though he wasn’t very strong, his knowledge of games, since that is all he spent his time doing the past few years, was to give him an advantage.
With his resolve rejuvenated, he left the confines of his room, which were once a safe space for him, after what he had seen outside though, the room had become tainted in his eyes. He made his way to the kitchen with his backbag and collected as many supplies as he could. Some instant noodles, bottles of water, chips and a variety of snacks a hermit gamer would collect to eat late hours into the night.
While he was picking them up, he observed a weird snack bar he had picked up, most likely belonging to his roommate Shit, I hope he’s okay out there. While observing the bar, something like a Bing! went off in his head.
Skill Achieved: Observe
Skill Achieved: Identify
“That’s weird” More surprised by how unaffected he was by this, he was getting use to things popping up in his vision quickly, though he wasn’t sure how much of a fan he was of this. It could become a distraction. When he looked back at the snack bar in his hand, he now noticed there was more information in a tiny blue screen next to the bar.
Gluten Free Granola Bar: Recovers 10 stamina instantly.
Now this had gotten a bit more of a raise out of him, then he started looking at the other items he had picked up. Bottle of water would instantly recover 20 points of stamina and then another 10 over 10 seconds. Bag of Chips on the other hand gave no stamina, but would subside hunger, so that was a no brainer. This is cool, can’t complain about getting more information about things I have around me and what I pick up. He realized as he was doing this though, he would have to think about this identify skill in order to get the information and then observe the item to find out its details, else the item would just say its name if it was obvious and then the details would simply have three question marks. Information was key to survival and those two skills he unlocked would assist with that.
After Zeke had finished filling his bags with snacks and whatever food he could find in his fridge, he knew that he needed a weapon. Even though he was literally going to the dorm on the opposite side of his, he wanted to be prepared for the future. He identified and then observed the knifes in the kitchen. Most seemed useless, but one which was a decent brand seemed like the best he would get from the selection.
Chiefs Knife: 3-6 Damage, 1% increased slashing damage, 5% chance to bleed. 5/7 durability.
Bleed status in RPG’s were always great. Even if an enemy wouldn’t die from a direct hit, if you could outlast them, the bleed status effect would eventually cause them to run out of health over time and die. Zeke knew this could be very handy, but he still didn’t want to get too close to the zombies unless he absolutely had to. He then remembered he had some duct tape; duct tape solves everything Zeke grinned. He grabbed the duct tape from the drawer in the bottom shelf of his kitchen cabinet. Then then walked out to a closest in the living room where he acquired himself a wooden broom.
“This will do” Zeke said, he grabbed the duct tape and the knife, and then taped the knife on the end of the broom and made sure it was tightly placed on.
Skill Gained: Basic Crafting
Zeke noticed the little pop up at the side of his vision and decided to ignore it for now, he’d spent enough time reading in menu’s while he still had a task to complete. He then identified the weapon he had made.
Makeshift Spear: 5-9 Damage, 3% increased piercing damage, 7/10 durability.
Not bad he thought to himself. He wasn’t sure though as he had no idea how these stats compared to the zombies he may have to face. However, it was now or never, he had prepared as much as he thought he could. Fear then started creep up on him, dulled earlier by his burst of motivation. It was becoming real, the room that had protected him this whole time, his sanctuary at moment... he was about to leave it. He shoved the thoughts of despair making their way to his mind to the side of his brain for later and went to make it to the door to exit his dorm until a voice whispered into his ear.
Destitute
Stunned by the sudden voice in his ear, Zeke swung around with the spear out stretched. “whose there”, he nervous eyed every inch of the room.
Hello Destitute, abandoned one.
Zeke then realized the voice wasn’t coming from the room, or anywhere around him, it was directly within his mind, a cold sweat broke out on him. “Hello… who are you”
Who we are is of little importance, what we can do for you abandoned one, is the real question.
The whispers clearer, sounding like a hissing noise as if a snake was trying to speak to you. Zeke responded to to the hiss. “How are you in my head, where are you”
Again, with the unimportant questions. We have come to assist you abandoned one. That is all that matters. Will you accept our assistance?
Zeke was starting to get annoyed, this voice… Wait, is it one voice? Sounds like many though he had a hard time telling with the hissing going on. He didn’t want to fight with them though, things that could intrude his mind, he didn’t want to mess with those. “What kind of assistance can you offer me and why do you call me abandoned”
We call you abandoned, as that is what you are. One who has been abandoned by the VCS, by the Genesis Nine. One who has been unfairly judged. We come to assist those who were unjustly left behind.
Zeke already new what they meant by abandoned, but it hurt to hear it anyways, and he wasn’t even sure why he asked. He assumed he needed the confirmation. He started thinking about the assistance the voices could provide him, though he thought they sounded extremely shady.
Your reservations are understood abandoned one. You are right to not trust. You have been placed in a new world veiled in deceit. Trust not us, not those around you and definitely not the Genesis Nine.
“Then who can I trust?” he asked with a face of incredulity written on it
Yourself. Your own actions. Your own truth. We simply want to provide you with the abilities to carve your own path with this deceitful new world. You have been listed as a Destitute. A class given to those the system deems unworthy of spending resources on. We do not see you that way. We see you as someone motivated, to prove they are more then their past dictates. Are we correct?
Zeke thought about their question, for most his life he was a disappointment to his parents and to his friends around him. Never being able to keep his self out of trouble, unable to keep the ones he loved safe… ruining his relationship with Tia. His depression started to seep in and rise up within him. He hated himself, he hated who he was. No, I hate who I had been. No longer am I that piece of shit, I’ll show the Genesis Nine they shouldn’t turn their backs on me. “I accept your offer of assistance” Zeke told the voices, not realizing he made his decision in haste and without a clear mind.
Fantastic. No longer abandoned, you have been provided with a unique class. It will present it self to you when you have developed further. Your path will be difficult, much more difficult than other others among you. Though, if you persevere, if you struggle against the faith the system laid out for you, you will know power beyond your wildest imagination. Now go. Struggle. Survive. Bring Death Upon Those Who Would Oppose You.
The last few words were said with a power behind them, and the whispering became more of a command said with a hefty weight behind it and a level of base he had never heard in a voice before. Then, as if they were never there, the voices… voice? Left his mind. “did… I make the right choice?”
System interference. System infiltrated.
You have been assigned a new class. You are now a ‘???’. You need the proper attributes to unlock its class skills and abilities. Your unique class will be hidden until you have proven you are worth.
A new screen had popped up in his vision yet again, which was starting to really grate on him. He’s felt lucky he wasn’t in a fight or anything else these messages would most likely get him killed. So, I can’t see the class until I develop more? Interesting. I hope it’s something powerful. Once he was finished viewing this most recent screen, he thought it away, only to be presented with another one “For crying out loud!”
Quest Received: The Truth of All Things – You are tasked with discovering the truth of The Void. Reward ???
Quest Completed: Begun Upon the Path of Truth – You have taken your first steps towards the path of truth. To finding your own truth and carving your own way. Reward 1000 Void Energy.
“That wasn’t cryptic at all”. After it was all said and done, Zeke noticed he felt no difference. He assumed it’s because he would need to increase his stats before he felt any benefits. At least I’m not a destitute anymore. Everything was still the same. He noticed numbers in brackets next to his attributes, which he assumed were the required amount to fully unlock the class. Zeke was a bit bummed that there had been no direct changes... that is, until he looked at the bottom. What he saw made him give up and lose any determination he had on the spot.
Class: ???
Health: 100
Stamina: 90
Mana: 100
Vigor: 1 (2)
Endurance: 1(2)
Vitality: 1()
Strength: 1(3)
Dexterity: 1(3)
Intelligence: 1(4)
Faith: 1
Luck: 1
Required Void Energy: 5000
The requirements for him to gain an attribute point had gone from 1000 to 5,000. There was absolutely no way he could survive this now. This entire system, the Genesis Nine, The Voice, all of it was one big joke. All of it was against him, they all wanted him to die. The despair that Zeke had been fighting back ever since he first heard the sounds coming out of his window had finally made its way to the surface. Even the buzzing in his pocket couldn’t shake him out of it, so he decided to walk back to his room, to his bed. He decided to sleep through this whole nightmare. Not like I haven’t given up before. Just because it’s like a game, I thought life would be any different? That I’d find some advantage? Why do I keep finding ways to lie to myself! Zeke made his way to the door of his room but stopped when he heard a loud bang against his door outside. He then heard “Zeke, it’s me, Charlie, open the fuck up man shit is crazy out here”.
It was his roommate, stunned at first, he didn’t move a muscle. But then Charlie continued banging on the door, so he ran out and opened the it, “Charlie you’re alive!” He felt a bit of the relief seeing his roommate, and knowing he wasn’t alone in the dorm anymore. Those feelings of comfort left as soon as they came as Zeke noticed Charlie was bleeding heavily from his left arm. “Jesus Charlie, what the fuck happened”, he said fearing the worst.
“Those fucking monsters outside man, they just came at me as I was coming back from the bar with Zoe... oh god Zoe, they tore her apart man, just completely ripped her apart in front of me. I barely managed to get away after one took a swipe at my arm” Charlie said, as he was frantically trying to stop his arm from bleeding.
Zeke didn’t have a good feeling about this, if the those were really zombies out there and Charlie had been injured by one, the only possible outcome would mean Charlie would turn in to one, right? But that was assuming these zombies even followed normal logic, maybe if they stopped the bleeding, he would be alright Zeke thought.
“Fuck! This stupid bar thing keeps going down and the pain keeps increasing. It just keeps blinking red and won’t go away, and the pain is just getting worst, I’m burning all over” Charlie screamed, clutching his stomach and bending over.
Zeke, not sure what to do to help his friend. It didn’t look like he could save him, but he grabbed some nearby paper towel and tried to help his friend who was now kneeled over on the ground clutching his stomach. “it’s going to be okay buddy, I just have to stop the bleeding and you will be fine” he said more for himself than Charlie at this point since he wasn’t even sure Charlie could understand or even hear him.
Charlie stopped screaming and moving. He still and completely hunched over on the ground. It looked as if he was prostrating while hugging himself. Zeke was left terrified and and stunned. Sitting, looking at what he knew was the dead body of his friend. He had seen someone die earlier, but that was from far away. He barely even saw anything. This was right in front of him. He felt sick to his stomach. His friend was dead and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
Then something happened. Charlies body, started to jerk violently, Zeke caught off guard as he was stricken with grief and had forgotten about the possible side effects, was terrified and frozen in place for a moment, though he managed to dodge out of the way quickly as Charlies reanimated body lunged at him barely missing him. He grabbed his makeshift spear that he had built and discarded in the living room earlier to defend himself.
As Charlie then dashed again towards him, Zeke plunged the makeshift spear into his throat and it came out the other end, causing blood the spurt out of the small crevices between blade and skin. This didn’t stop the creature that was once his friend though. It kept pushing towards him and Zeke fell over onto his back, it was starting to slowly move its way into the spear he had made and was coming closer and closer to Zeke.
He was helpless against the zombie. All the preparation he had done, was all for naught. Getting his unique class and going against The Genesis Nine, all for naut. This was how his life would end, killed by his roommate. “Oh god, please, just stop, stop!” He cried out, but it was pointless, Charlie... the zombie kept inching closer to him with every step it took.