"Wha?"
Al looked around. It was dark.
Where was he?
What was with this place?
He could feel more than see the things moving around there, at the corners of his vision. Yet, it felt...comfortable. Who slept with the lights on, anyway? And he was quite used to feeling like something was there in the dark. Watching him. Standing by his bed, or in the closet and looking at him. He had that feeling all the time! There was literally nothing to be worried about.
There was light over there, but well, he didn't feel like waking up. No, he was just fine, right here, in the dark.
Al yawned and then closed his eyes, rolling over and feeling like a blanket was back on him.
Ah, hibernation.
----------------------------------------
Al opened his eyes in a hospital. It was dark out.
He felt like he was forgetting something, but he did feel quite well rested. That was understandable; when you were used to getting only five hours of sleep, any more felt pretty good.
[Coma] status effect removed.
Logged.
[Existential Terror] status effect removed.
Logged.
[Survivor of a Nightmare] title acquired!
+1000 Esteem Points!
Existential Terror? A coma!?
When had that happened?
Al, slowly sat up, removing the breathing mask and little needles in his skin. He didn't like those.
He could hear...well, nothing outside. And that? That was unnerving. Usually, there would be at least the sound of people talking. Of people walking by or driving by in their cars.
Yet, now, there was silence. The lights were on. The lights were on, but, it smelled. Smelled like...blood.
The other patients weren't talking and playing board games now either.
The nurse hadn't come to check on him, but the machines were working...no, they were beeping now since he'd removed them. There was probably a proper way to go about things, but he felt perfectly fine and quite disliked having the IV tube inside himself.
It was kind of bleeding now though.
That was bad. If he recalled, the nurse would be wiping it with a disinfective and then bandaging it. He should probably do that.
Looking around, the disinfectant bottle was where the nurse had left it from the first time, on that little medicine table and the cotton and bandages were there too.
Idly, he listened to the slight sounds he made echoing. It was...cool. But strange.
There should have been more than just the drone of machinery as background noise. What about that guy who was always cough - oh!
There were footsteps!
Somebody was coming!
That was great!
He straightened up where he was, on the bed and cleared his throat.
The footsteps sounded strangely...heavy and unrhythmic. There were more now. Shuffling.
What was that?
Feeling his hairs stand up - possibly the cold, as hospital gowns were quite...breezy - he slowly got up, obeying his instincts saying not to make a sound.
Al had known the importance of stealth from a young age.
Should he...grab something?
He looked around and aside from the IV stand, there didn't seem to be any obvious weapons.
Not to mention, holding the stand when the nurse walked in would be...suspicious to say the least.
He wanted to clear his throat, but the silence, broken only by the footsteps, the machines, and his breathing made him feel like he should be quiet...wait. Breathing?
Now that he thought about it.
He couldn't hear...breathing.
Step
Al found himself standing near the door, one hand on the doorknob, leaving it closed.
They stopped.
Now they would knock, right?
Hahaha, he'd watched too many horror movies.
Thud. Thud. Thump.
Oh, and now there were more of them heavily hitting the door without making other sounds and more shuffling and walking noises from the hallway.
Yep, they were just worried since he'd taken out the tubes and set off the machines. He was pretty sure in that one show he watched, that when the machines started beeping the doctors got an alarm too.
It was fine.
"Gruuaaahhh."
Never mind.
He was trapped in a silent hospital room on the third floor, probably alone - which was a classic horror setting - and now there was...something outside.
Great. Just great. How could his day get any worse? Well, he hoped he hadn't jinxed himself with that, but...things were looking down.
The only reason he wasn't panicking now was because Al had killed goblins. He'd always felt quite comfortable with fighting. The idea of sharing his pain with others felt nice, and watching it in anime had always made it seem as simple as dodge and hit.
No, it was pain that sucked.
Pain, and not having a weapon.
The only good thing was that since the place was originally intended to hold him for questioning, the door was a heavier one. Sturdy.
He was fairly safe for now.
Well, the thumping said he wouldn't be.
Maybe the blue screens could help?
Oh there were a lot.
WARNING!
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The shields have fallen!
Mortals, prepare for battle! Arm yourselves, your friends, your family, even your cat if you have to. Burn and bomb and shoot. Hold nothing back or be eaten. Or you could just be faster than the slowest guy. Bear attack rules apply.
Know one thing though, as we shall not baby you.
Expect anything and everything. The multiverse is not bound to, or restricted by your common sense.
Run and hide or stand and fight, you'll probably still all die within the year.
If you don't though, make sure to watch my channel and click the subscribe button at 'THEGODOFDARKNESSISTHEBEST...see more (12478 more characters)'
Oh well that was inspiring.
Al was sure that had raised humanity's spirit in their struggle against...probably goblins and zombies.
Oh wait.
He had an idea about that, but...more boxes.
The War has begun!
Select a class from options that are generated by your actions and titles (after First Contact)!
Class: Fighter
Description: A regular combatant that fights on the front lines in order to eliminate weaker foes or hold the line in emergencies.
Increased physical growth and tends to fight in small groups.
Pretty lame. Basically cannon fodder.
Class: Soldier
Description: A regular combatant that fights on the front lines in order to eliminate weaker foes or hold the line in emergencies.
Less physical growth than a fighter, but has more abilities useful in large group conflicts.
Does it need to be said? It's lame. You're actually less likely to die if you have some others there though. Strength in numbers and all that jazz. Still cannon fodder though.
Class: Guard
Description: A regular combatant that stays at locations of importance and guards them.
Increased physical growth but less likely to get choice in mission assignments.
It's technically still lame but you get to look cool in front of the peasents. Or look lame as you die horribly but with an audience!
Class: Lone Fighter
Description: A regular combatant that takes the fight to the enemy.
Increased physical growth but while less fighter skills are available, scout skills are also available.
I dunno if this needs to be said, but 'taking the fight to the enemy' for these guys means dying horribly. Soloing doesn't work. It like, doesn't work. By the way. Yes, that means you're alone in hostile territory. See how much I help you?
Class: Carpenter
Description: A regular craftsman that works with wood.
Increased physical growth pertaining to wood-working
I mean. It's not that bad an option all things considered. You could have been safe and protected in the back, building houses and stuff. Too bad, huh? Well, you could try building a house for the guys outside without tools. I'm sure they would appreciate it. Maybe they'll let you go?
Ok, now leaving aside what the classes were...that flavor text guy explained much. Much.
It was actually slightly helpful to know he was stuck in hostile territory - enough to get a class option for it - which was interesting because that meant plenty of classes were only available if the environment favored them.
Though he couldn't understand why carpenter was an option. The most he'd done in that field had been...maybe that one time trying to make a catapult in his high school physics class?
Which was weird, because then why would soldier and guard show up? Unless they were super basic options that everyone got.
Not to mention, the last few windows.
Mission Generated
Difficulty: High Time Limit: 10 Hours
Description: You are located inside a zone that has been authorized for Quarantine. Evacuate the area before Quarantine is enacted or face the victims on your own.
Zone Bounds: Leave the city of Linop and up to a 25 kilometre radius
Mission Failed
Difficulty: High Time Limit: Elapsed
Description: You are located inside a zone that has been authorized for Quarantine. Evacuate the area before Quarantine is enacted or face the victims on your own.
Zone Bounds: Leave the city of Linop and up to a 25 kilometre radius
That would definitely explain the silence and possibly zombies.
"Urrraaaaaaa..."
No, definitely zombies.
So, if it was quarantined, was this a virus, and infectious somehow?
That was pretty much zombie 101.
For all he knew he was already infected...damn.
Al closed his eyes and took a deep breath to clear his thoughts.
Dwelling on possibly becoming a zombie was completely unhelpful. He just had to...stab them...somewhere?
Ok, first things first, a class.
There were only a few options but the choice was pretty obvious. It would have to be the Lone Fighter. It sounded kind of stupid, but ultimately, he needed a combat class and the Lone Fighter seemed to be made for his current situation.
Concentrating mentally, he tried to 'select' the Lone Fighter like in novels and to his surprise...it didn't work.
Feeling a bit stupid he quickly pressed it instead.
Choose Lone Fighter?
Y/N
'Yes.'
Surprisingly, that one worked just mentally and he put his hand back down.
Updating...
This place did have signal, right? His data plan was crap.
Al snorted and smiled a bit, cheered by his stupid joke.
The hospital gown would protect him from absolutely nothing so the first priority would be to not get hit.
Then, there was the issue of what kind of zombies these ones were.
Were they the ones where you had to target the head? The heart? Or even a core that sometimes varied in location, from book to book, or worse, from individual zombie to individual zombie?
And, even if he got the 'core' right, would it need to be totally destroyed to work, like making mashed potatoes out of their heads, or was a decent hit fine?
The worst possibility was that these were the ones that revived after a while unless turned to ashes or just didn't die, and turning them to ashes only made them incapable of hurting you.
Well, even worse was the possibility where they were created by some parasites that could infect him actively.
He'd never really been a religious person, but for once, Al put down the IV stand and clasped his hands, watching the door that was starting to make creaking noises, praying that somehow, someway, he would make it out of this.
The System chose that moment to finish updating.
Name: Al Berts Title(s): Headstart, Survivor of a Nightmare Species: Human (0.1) Age: 19 Class: Lone Fighter (Level 0.0) Class History: N/A
Skills: Traits: N/A N/A
Currenc(y/ies): Kill Points: 550 Esteem Points: 1000 System Points: 0
Seriously? The class started at 0 too?
No, it made sense, but he'd been hoping it was the 0.1 that would apply and make him even a little bit stronger.
The fact that that 0.1 had been moved over to his species column was quite interesting and all, but no, right now, the new window caught his attention.
Mission Generated - I'm Too Young to Die (HAHAHAHAHAHA!)!!!
Difficulty: Very High Time Limit: 6:23:59
Description: You, who fell into a coma with terrible timing, now face a threat highly harmful to your life! Survive the week without dying and you may yet see the light of day once more!
Notes: The Quarantine cannot be exited.
Objective 1: Exit the hospital
Objective 2: Clean the hospital
Objective 3: ???
Oh, great. The flavor text...entity - who Al had decided would be called Bob from how on (it made him feel better about his situation and own name) was quite possibly hinting something here...and clearly had some sway with the System. It seemed Bob was the one who made this mission for him.
Well. At least the difficult didn't say 'Impossible' or 'Nightmare' or 'Hell' or something. That would have sucked.
He'd never even cleared something on Impossible before...except the ones where you could grind to victory.
He wasn't sure if killing zombies gave levels though...
Greetings Subject AEDS34658693y9537563hd749u3729jw83333#gd99938364516385937,
With the shields having fallen and your world's War beginning in earnest, you will be given a basic tutorial!
1. Level up by completing missions
2. Use the shop (limited when not near a designated drop-zone) to get skills, items, traits, and more.
3. (Don't) Die.
Thank you for your time, and you are wished a relatively nice death.
Ok so basically, killing stuff without a mission didn't give levels? Maybe? Possibly?
And there was a shop.
Well, leaving money sitting around was only good if you were alive...and earning interest.
It was time to see whether the shop had some dead-be-gone spray or something. Or dead-be-gone scented candles. He wasn't picky. Yes, either would be fine.
"URRRRAAAGHH."
At this point, Al had had enough of the background noise - which, at some point, had gone from creepy to annoying - and decided that if he was going down...it would be after he tried to smack them to death with money like a rich upstart.
'Shop.'