Waking up with the sense that today is the same as every other day. My clothes lie where they were left out last night, ready for the morning. A short sleeved beige shirt ironed open at the collar and creases down the sleeves that could be used to shave with. This gets tucked into my pair of khaki trousers, a crease straight down the front of the leg. The uniform is finished of with a fabric belt coloured red, Blue and yellow which goes around my waist and the shiniest black oxford shoes.

Living down the road from the local barracks is pretty handy. Being able to walk to my job as a medic in the medical centre there makes life a lot easier. After kissing my wife goodbye and grabbing a nutri-grain bar from the cupboard I head out the house. It isn't far to camp, only a fifteen minute walk but taking a different route each day for safety can cause delays. Today my path heads left and up past the officers estate. It's a nice estate and my morning greetings are answered readily. Everyone nearby is military or married to military. It creates a close knit community.

As I'm passing some roadworks, that have been there since before posting here, a chill creeps over me. My gaze sweeps the area to and fro, unable to place my feeling of unease. My head throbs suddenly and my eyes blur, something runs across my vision. My focus zones in on it and quickly realise it's scrolling text!

Warning! System stall detected. Progress halted. Prepare for system restart...

System restart in 24:00:00...23:59:59...58...57

Survive until restart to qualify for reincarnation. Collect points to improve start parameters.

As soon as the notice registers, it disappears but the countdown moves to the corner of my vision. A cacophony of noise shatters my stunned mind. Dogs howl, cats hiss and insects start to swarm. A sharp pain registers on my arm as an insect bites me. SMACK! My other hand lands on it, no effort of avoidance made by the little shit. A red 1 floats away from it as it dies. A new counter appears below the countdown reading:

Points – 0.01

It clicks then that points are earned by killing things. The implications flash through my head, the realisation of the impending end of the world and chance for a better start in the new world is motivation enough for plenty of people to do horrible things.

My wife is in danger! The thought burns bright in my mind. Turning to sprint back towards the house my ears register mauling and ripping coming from a nearby house. That family had the biggest, cutest and most cuddly German Shepherd. Not so cuddly any more by the sound of it. My pace soon gets me to the corner and onto my street. Insects are buzzing everywhere now and a few have already tried their luck with me. A few swats did them in and my point counter went up another 0.07. My door is hanging open and on approach the teeth and claw marks can be seen clearly on the frame.

One glance through the door and into the corridor is enough to tell me my wife is in trouble. My logical medical brain tries telling me the amount of blood loss clearly evident is too much but my emotions stamp it down. Running through the house my hands follow the trail of blood and as the back door hits it's frame from the speed of my passage my vision locks onto John Coots. He stands over Diane gripping her arms and holding a blood soaked knife. The light in my wife's eyes that I remember so fondly all those years is gone, a gash from ear to ear tells me there's nothing left to do.

In these situations there's a lot of reactions the human body can decide is the sensible thing to do. Some people give up, becoming despondent. Not me I've been forged in the bullshit of the British army training programme. Some people go crazy deciding to take everyone and everything down with them, Perhaps the reaction my acquaintance John here is having to the system message, although he did have a pretty big case of PTSD anyway (not that I should be telling you due to patient confidentiality but heh, the world is ending). Not me either, my path is the path of righteous justice. Surviving this shitstorm, and reincarnating to make the new world a much better place. First things first, make sure John doesn't reincarnate into the new better world.

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Now John over there is an infantryman through and through. No stranger to Thursday night brawls in the local, No stranger to fighting on the front lines. He can and has fought for his life. Me on the other hand, a medic, bringing people back from the fight and making sure they live isn't quite the same preparation for this situation. However John is very familiar to me, he's been to the medical centre many times. His condition and triggers are almost as familiar to me as the back of my hand. It takes only one sentence to put him on the deck.

“Contact IED, wait out!” John drops the knife as he hits the deck. Within seconds he's in a foetal position cowering. It's only too easy to grab the knife and draw the blade across the crease of his left arm. Blood spurts indicating the brachial artery was hit. Next target, the back of the knee hitting the Popliteal artery. John's shuddering form switches from freeze to fight and an elbow comes at my face. It hurts and causes me to stumble back slightly and John follows up with a blood soaked punch. Don't get me wrong it's agony but the adrenaline hides it. John is weakening though which may have dampened the blow too. I've dropped the knife because of the blow and it looks like this just became a battle of attrition. Johns already too delirious to grab the knife, but he's in full on fight mode and I don't even have enough time to defend the flurry of punches and kicks that strike my body. I notice each blow getting slower and weaker and within thirty seconds John is on the ground unconscious, blood pooling around the cuts to his arm and knee.

Points – 15.08

Saying I'm ashamed at using his condition against him would be a lie. After all, he did just kill my wife. That bastard. Before there's even a second to mourn or even consider burying her limp form, growls and the sound of pounding paws come from the house behind me. The strong smell of blood must have drawn them. Sprinting towards the fence, my assault course training kicks in and it's only too easy to navigate my way smoothly over it. Followed by the next one. My body aches and the pains from the recent beating twinge with each movement. Finding somewhere to lay low becomes my priority, somewhere to weather the storm.

My mind jumps back to the roadworks from earlier and a small adjustment carries me towards them. Some truly massive insect swarms and one very aggressive dog force me to adjust my course a couple more times. As the roadworks approach it's easy to lower myself into the drain, brace my legs against each wall and grab the grate and pull it over the entrance. The journey to the bottom is a good five to ten metres down. Confident in my safety under the drain it's time to settle down. A few more insects are extinguished by my hand before my bum hits the cold cement and the long wait begins. The adrenaline soon wore off and it didn't take long to fall asleep.

Points – 16.8

A few hours later I jolt awake. Nothing has disturbed me since coming down into the drain and looking around it's difficult to identify what woke me. It's almost pitch black now and the sun had obviously set. The ground shudders again. It was the first shudder that awoke me. Not long after feeling the shake the most almighty roar rages against my ears and the grate above me rattles. A crack runs down the walls of the drain. A third vibration rockets through the ground and the walls split and crumble around me. They collapse inwards on top of me and a bright light, the brightest ever seen sneaks through the gaps between the rocks falling above me. This is it. The end has come. Should have stayed above ground where at least it's a fair fight...

Oh wait, still alive. Unable to move for the tonnes of rock and concrete above me but I'm still breathing at least. Scanning my body for injuries and finding nothing major reassures me. There may still be a chance to make it to the system restart. A quick check of the time left.

System restart 04:12:18

Shit, that sleep was longer than I thought. The amount of air available worries me. My breathing relaxes as much as possible in an attempt to reduce consumption.

System restart in 01:02:00...

Nausea, dizziness and a headache creeps in. My slowing thoughts slowly puzzle at my symptoms. This isn't due to lack of oxygen, that scenario would barely register as I simply slipped away. Then it hits like a brick. Acute radiation syndrome. The bastards above must of nuked everything! It sure is a quick was to amass the kills. Someone somewhere just struck the reincarnation jackpot and they are the most despicable human beings around. Making good on my promised righteousness just got a lot harder.

The shivers set in. It's getting damn cold down here. My headache is pounding strong now and I'm drifting through my own thoughts. Sweat drips down my brow and i'm too weak to try to blow it off. My arms are pinned by my sides. Need to hold on just another five minutes. This train of thought is what keeps me going. Just another five minutes, after that, just another three minutes, and another minute. When the counter ticks down to 00:01:23 unconsciousness takes me. My only hope is that my body keeps fighting long enough to get me there.