"They turned into zombies?!!!"
Ethan's body shook as he continued watching from the window.
The lawn below was already painted in blood, the screams of the students mixing with the horrible growls of the reanimated corpses.
At that point, his mind screamed at him to move. To hide. To do something so as not to get involved in the mess that was going on, as he was already doubting his safety.
And then...
It was at that moment that he spotted one of the flying monsters break through one of the windows in the other girls' dormitory, a building facing directly toward the boys' dormitory, where Ethan was.
"ARGHHHHHH!"
"Help!"
"SOMEBODY HELP US!"
Ethan flinched upon hearing the screams, but he was still standing at the window with absolutely nothing in mind to do.
He was soaked in awe, and... fear.
And then, one flying monster flew by and accidentally turned its head.
In an instant, its glowing eyes locked straight on him while he still stood by the window.
"Shit," Ethan cursed, his eyes widening.
Before he could even breathe, the beast's wings snapped open and it darted toward the dormitory building, cutting through the air like a spear.
"Oh hell no!" Ethan shouted, spinning around.
His chest heaved as adrenaline kicked in, picking up his pace at once. He didn't care where he was running to... just anywhere but here!
He bolted out of his room and rushed down the corridor, his footsteps pounding against the creaking floor. Behind him, he could already hear the windows shattering as the monster forced its way inside.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck—!" Ethan cursed under his breath, his legs moving faster than they ever had in his life.
But the hallway ended in a stairwell, and in his panic, his foot caught the edge of the top step.
"WAIT... NOOOOOO... GODDDDDDD!"
His body pitched forward and the next thing he realized was that he was tumbling down the flight of stairs, crashing and rolling.
Unfortunately, it seemed like his skull cracked against the last step with a sickening thud, causing an excruciating pain at the back of his head, but that wasn't part of his worries at that point.
He wanted to keep running.
However, stars had exploded in his vision, the world blurred, and his body had refused to move.
And all he could think as his vision dimmed was...
"F*ck! I'm going to die!"
With the situation of things, there was no way he was escaping it.
...
Somehow, Ethan's eyes snapped open again as he sucked in a sharp breath.
His lungs burned like he'd been drowning.
"Wha—?!" He jolted upright. His head pounded, but he wasn't dead. He wasn't torn apart. The stairs beneath him were cracked, but there was no monster looming over him.
"What the hell…?!"
He remembered clearly that the monster had almost caught up with him, surely, meaning that something might have kept him alive... right?
"Ah, whatever... I never wanted to die anyway..."
"Not without making mom proud."
He stood up with a stagger, feeling the throbbing pain in his head and back, like he had broken a few bones.
But then he started worrying about that when he suddenly noticed a green screen floating right in front of him.
His jaw dropped at once.
"No way… I hit my head so hard I'm hallucinating."
However, he then happened to notice some glowing texts written on the green screen, which gave him every reason to read, and even before he did...
A strange voice already came ringing in his head.
[System Initialization…]
[Connection Complete.]
[Boyfriend System Activated!]
Ethan froze.
The voice was saying exactly what was written on the screen.
"What the fuck?! Boyfriend System???" He repeated aloud, his face twisting in disbelief.
But then the screen pulsed with another series of glowing lines.
[Congratulations, Ethan Reyes.]
[You are now the official host of the Boyfriend System.]
[Warning: You are currently single, pathetic, and at risk of dying alone with no hand to hold.]
Ethan's eye twitched. "Excuse me?!"
And yeah, it seemed like the system wasn't done.
[Initial Scan Complete.]
[Result: Host has been rejected 30 times by the same woman. Twelve times by another, and six times by another!]
[System Analysis: That is both impressive and utterly tragic.]
[Title Acquired: "The Rejected."]
[Title Effect: You have 0% probability of getting rejected by a girl from now on. You shall no longer suffer rejections of any kind from a girl.]
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Ethan shouted, clutching his head in confusion.
The screen flickered again, almost as if ignoring his outburst as the system wasn't done.
[Host, do not despair.]
[Your journey to becoming the Perfect Apocalypse Boyfriend has begun. And you must strive to survive the apocalypse.]
Ethan blinked rapidly, his mind spinning.
"Survive the apocalypse…? What kind of system is this?!"
He pushed himself forward weakly, glancing around. The stairwell was eerily quiet now, no monster in sight, though the distant shrieks of the campus still rang through the night.
"Did that monster just leave me alone? Or…"
His words trailed off as the hairs on the back of his neck stood.
"Wait. Did the system save me?"
[Correction, host. You tripped on your own clumsy ass. The monster lost interest because it prefers prey that can actually run.]
[Little advice. Stop being pathetic.]
The system responded.
"Ah, this system is a bully!" Ethan's face instantly turned red.
Yet, beneath the shock and insult, his heart raced differently now. Because no matter how insane it sounded, he wasn't dead.
That was something to be very delighted about, but he still wanted to know what this Boyfriend System actually is, and if truly that...
An apocalypse had descended.
His mind quickly drifted towards home.
His mother and sister lived in Atlanta, and if truly all this was happening everywhere in the world, then they must definitely be in danger.
Ethan's heart skipped a bit, fear swiftly taking over.
He quickly made his way out, walking down the other stairways as he attempted to leave the building.
And then, as if watching all his moves, the strange voice from the system sounded again.
[There's no way out, host. If you force it, you'll die.]
"What?!" Ethan frowned.
[The Mutants are everywhere around campus, and you won't make it if you try to leave. You can't even outrun Level 1 Mutant.]
"Okay, I think I'm done with your bullies, system. Just let me be," Ethan responded with a glare.
[Okay.]
Ethan insisted on stepping out of the building as he dashed out with insane speed, heading straight to the exit of the university.
New Land University. It was the name of the university where Ethan was attending. Located in Western Georgia, it was, well, where the youngsters that came from neither rich nor poor families attended.
Well, the truth was that Ethan's family was poor, but thanks to his smartness in securing a freelancing job online, he was able to earn enough to pay his fees at least.
But at the end of the day, it felt like he wasn't doing enough, because his freelancing job wasn't reliable enough, and sometimes wouldn't even pay much.
Recently, he hadn't been able to pay his final year fees and would be driven out soon enough.
But he guessed that wouldn't be happening anymore, right?
...
"MMRRRRR...!"
Just when Ethan was running towards the exit gate, a thundering yet frightening sound emerged.
He turned at once only to see a flying monster, which the system referred to as a Mutant, coming at him with unmeasurable speed.
Ethan widened his eyes, and he couldn't even move. The force and speed were too much that he knew he wouldn't even move an inch before the monster would pounce on him.
'Shit! I'm finally going to die this time.'
He closed his eyes, not wanting to watch how he would get torn to shreds. But he waited...
He waited to die because it looked so sure.
But...
BOOOOOM!
A deafening sound came right before the monster attacked.
Ethan opened his eyes at once, only to get stunned by what he saw.
The Mutant that had attempted to attack him was lying with most parts of its body scattered around, dead.
"Holy hell..."
[Starter Aid has been completely used up. The host will no longer get help from the system from now on and will have to save himself from any danger.]
[If I were you, I would stop being a d*ck and listen. If you try to leave, you'll die!]
Ethan was frozen in shock. This showed it was the system that had saved him when he fell from the stairwell.
There was no need to be stubborn anymore.
"I don't want to die."
He suddenly stood up and rushed back into the dormitory. Luckily for him, no Mutants came, and he made it.
[Good one, host. You have finally decided not to be stubborn.]
[Congratulations, you have received the Daily Intelligence Feature.]
[Do you want to check Today's Info?]
"Umm, yeah?" Ethan hesitated before nodding.
[Day 0001: The Mutants will kill 80% of the students in New Land University, with only one surviving Professor. There will be five surviving spots with yours included.]
[Today's Mission: Don't Die.]