Jose ran until his legs gave out, the miles behind him nothing but a blur, swallowed by panic and grief.
He collapsed to his knees, gasping for air, dry-heaving until his stomach threatened to fold in on itself. He'd traveled the Northeast enough to know this place wasn't part of it anymore.
In fact, he wasn't sure that he was even in the same state, or maybe even the same country.
Emotionally unbalanced as he'd been, he hadn't noticed the change, but now he stood surrounded by tropical flora. Cement homes with tin roofs dotted the landscape. The highway beneath his feet was familiar, but everything else screamed foreign.
The eerie silence from earlier still blanketed the world, thick and oppressive. The sun dipped low in the sky, and with no electricity in sight, there was no ambient light to soften the descending dark. Shadows lengthened like claws.
One thing Jose had learned in his life was that predators—human and not—thrived in the dark. If he was going to survive and get back to his family, he needed shelter. Fast.
After catching his breath, Jose moved off the highway, knocking on doors, jiggling handles.
Most were locked tight. Finally, he found one open. A small, one-floor home. He needed something defensible, and breaking in would only invite attention.
His mind was still in turmoil from the earlier events, but now he had to concentrate on hunkering down for the night, lest he'd end up getting himself killed.
The house was empty. Too empty. Ashes on the floor told him why. The former residents had turned to dust like others he'd seen.
He locked the doors and windows and slumped onto a worn couch. He was exhausted, but sleep wouldn't come.
Instead, he stared at the ceiling as scenes from the day replayed in his mind—vicious Tainted ripping people apart, thugs slicing a woman's throat, his failure to help the married couple, and the mercy-killing of a broken man.
Again and again, the memories cycled, each time replacing strangers with the faces of people he loved.
***
He awoke to the sound of gunshots the next morning, though he wasn't sure when exactly he'd fallen asleep.
The shots were close—maybe a block away.
'Someone's fighting out there. Monsters… or other people.'
More than one shooter. A storm of noise and danger.
Jose wrestled with himself. He wasn't a hero. But he also wasn't the kind of man who coul;d ignore people in need. Not when he could help.
The images of the day before still tore at him. Did he have it in him to fight again? Could he kill? Was he ready to keep the promise he'd made in grief and rage?
That wasn't like him. He'd been called a fool, a mentor, stubborn, smart, stupid—but never indecisive. He needed to find that part of himself again.
If it was monsters out there and he didn't act, he'd never forgive himself.
Resolved, Jose stepped into the street. Relief bloomed when he saw the threat: monsters, not men.
At least twenty people were under siege, pinned between cars on both sides of the road. They'd formed defensive wedges and were laying down smart, overlapping lines of fire. Someone among them knew tactics.
Five Tainted remained, and three massive rat monsters—each the size of a car, covered in hard, scaled plates—threatened their line. Ammo carriers hustled between groups, but it wasn't enough.
Bullets pinged off the monsters' armor with little effect. Two rat corpses behind the fight showed progress, but the fighters were running dry. One ammo runner waved an empty bag in the air. Pale faces told the rest.
Jose's stomach twisted as anger boiled up. Was he going to watch people die again? Was this the new reality?
But wait, he had access to a game like system.
Before he knew what he was doing, he opened his status and moved half his free points into strength and agility with a mental push.
[Health: 255/255 Ether: 30/30
Level: 3
Soul: Ancient
Race: Sapient
Genus: None
Species: None
Strength: 11
Constitution: 8
Endurance: 11
Agility: 13
Dexterity: 10
Awareness: 12
Wisdom: 9
Capacity: 14
Free Points: 6
Skills: Strike, Orb]
Before the monsters could move in on the group, Jose raised his sword and screamed:
"HEEEYYYY!!!"
Every head turned—human and monster alike.
One of the rats charged. Jose dashed to meet it, moving with maddening speed.
The rat reared, claws steaming with poison. Jose stabbed forward and roared, "Strike!"
His blade crashed into the monster's skull. Its head exploded.
[You have received nourishment for defeating an Armored Rat.]
Still riding the momentum, Jose darted to the next. "Strike!" The blade plunged into its eye. Red lightning surged. The monster dropped.
[You have received nourishment for defeating an Armored Rat.]
He left his sword in the second rat's face, grabbed his baton, and lunged at the third. "Strike!"
But this one dodged, and his blow skittered off its scales. Pain shot up his wrist. He dropped the baton and dove back, narrowly avoiding a slash of steaming, rotten claws.
Definitely poison—or worse.
He retreated, using the second rat's corpse as cover. The monster slashed again and again, furious. Jose ducked and weaved, then retrieved his sword and drove it into the creature's throat. It bucked, gasping, then collapsed.
These were probably low-tier monsters. But even so, they could kill. Strength was the only answer in this new world.
Jose knelt by the corpses and began cutting. He searched for cores—valuable in every fantasy he'd read. Chest cavity, heart, organs… nothing.
Maybe these monsters were too weak.
Noticing he was done with his gruesome task, a man approached cautiously, weapon at the ready, "I'm Juan, thanks for your help. But who are you? And where did you come from?" He asked, eyes narrowed, apprehension written on his face.
Jose appreciated the caution and figured this might be the leader of the group.
"Jose, and you are welcome," he answered—the man had spoken in spanish so did he—noticing that the rest of the group had finished off the Tainted but still hadn't put down their weapons either.
"Where am I?" he asked, nodding to the scenery.
"You're in Panama. Or at least what is left of it. The world has gone mad and has apparently taken some of the land with it," answered Juan.
"I see, so it is what Rashon had feared. The land—and mabe even the people—were somehow shuffled around like dominoes on a board during the blackout." Jose said pensively, then turned to Juan, "I started in a US state called Rhode Island, and somehow, after a day of hard travel, I ended up here."
"Not sure about you, but I, and some others I met after waking up, are unable to remember anything about how this came to be and what we were doing prior to."
"You know, now that you mention it. None of us have any memories of that either… But more importantly, we couldn't help but notice you using some type of magic. Mind telling us how you did it? Some of us have awoken… ah, something… after defeating monsters. But we have yet to figure out how to use this new power."
Something about Juan and his group was off-putting. It was almost as if they were operating on autopilot. 'Maybe they are too traumatized or in shock to come to terms with the situation yet?' Jose thought, rationalizing the behavior.
Nodding his head he answered, "Sure I don't mind helping with that. But I have a question first. Were all of you from Panama before the blackout?"
Looking around at the group he could see confusion on some of their faces. "Raise your hands if you originally lived somewhere else before waking up here please."
There were twenty people in the group and at least eight of them raised their hands confirming his fears. Not only was the land magically moved around, but so were people. It was very likely that it would be a very long time before he found his family.
A tingling sensation skittered down his spine. Something was wrong. Like he was being hunted.
He scanned the crowd. Nothing.
"Is everything okay?" Asked Juan.
"Uh, yeah. I just had a weird feeling all of a sudden. Uhm, so for those of you who have become galvanized, concentrate on pulling up the status interface you saw when the change first happened."
Jose began instructing them on viewing their status and using their skills.
***
'That was amazing,' thought the woman at the back. She pushed forward through the crowd, heart pounding. He would protect her. He would be hers.
She activated her ability—projected feelings into his mind. Warmth. Loyalty. Love. Dependence.
She saw herself at his side, clinging to his strength.
But something resisted. He turned suddenly, eyes sharp, scanning. His gaze brushed over her, and she froze.
He knew.
Fear gripped her.
She panicked and pushed a thought into Juan—her puppet like so many others.
'Quick. Distract him.'
Juan stepped forward, speaking again, just as she slipped back behind her living shields.