Date: April 17th, 2027
Place: New York City – Lower East Side
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The screams didn't stop.
I don't know how long I stood there at the window, staring down at the madness, my chest heaving as if my lungs were trying to escape me. The city had always been noisy—horns, music, arguments drifting from open windows—but this wasn't noise. This was chaos. Raw, animal terror that seeped into my bones.
The lights outside flickered once more, then died completely, plunging the block into shadow. The only illumination came from fires—the overturned bus still burning, storefronts igniting, the orange glow flickering across the sea of bodies below.
I backed away from the glass, tripping over the fallen cup on the floor. My boot squelched in cold broth. My breath hitched, heart hammering so hard I thought it would break through my ribs.
This was it. This was the end.
A crash rattled the hallway outside my apartment. My head snapped toward the door, the sound echoing in the silence between screams.
Then came another crash—closer. A wet, choking sound, followed by a scream that cut off too quickly.
My blood turned to ice.
"No…" I whispered.
My body moved before my mind did. I tore through the kitchenette, grabbing the first thing my hands landed on—a rusted hammer, old and pitted with use, a tool I'd used on site a hundred times before. It felt heavier now, unnatural, like the weight of the world had sunk into its steel head.
The hallway outside boomed with footsteps. Not steady footsteps. Not human ones.
Dragging. Shuffling. A guttural, wet growl.
The scream came again. A woman's voice, high, pleading. "Help me! Oh God, please—"
It cut off with a sound that froze my marrow. Flesh tearing. Bones cracking.
I tightened my grip on the hammer until my knuckles whitened. My chest rose and fell in sharp, shallow bursts. Every instinct screamed at me to hide, to stay inside, to wait until it passed.
But I couldn't. Not after hearing that voice.
I moved to the door, my hands shaking as I reached for the handle. My reflection flashed briefly in the small mirror on the wall—dark hair damp with sweat, blue eyes wide with terror, jaw tight with fear and something else beneath it. Resolve.
I pulled the door open.
The hallway was dark, the emergency lights casting it in a faint red glow that looked more like blood than safety.
A body lay sprawled on the floor. Mrs. Greene—my neighbor across the hall. She was an older woman, hair always tied back in a bun, her wrinkled face kind in a way that reminded me of the grandmother I'd never known. She was kind. She always left little paper bags of cookies by my door on holidays.
Now she was sprawled against the wall, her chest torn open, her throat ripped raw. Her eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling, her mouth frozen in a scream that never finished.
Standing over her was the thing that had killed her.
It had once been Mr. Greene. His bathrobe still clung to his frame, but the man I knew was gone. His skin had turned gray, his veins swollen black, his eyes pure white. His jaw hung open too wide, stained with blood that dripped down his chin in thick ropes.
He turned at the sound of my door.
The world froze.
For a second, I saw both faces—the man who used to greet me with a nod, and the thing that now snarled like a beast. And then it lunged.
I swung.
The hammer arced clumsily through the air, my muscles straining, adrenaline burning through me. The steel head connected with a sickening crack against Mr. Greene's skull. The force jolted up my arm, rattling my teeth.
The creature staggered, letting out a guttural moan. Black fluid splattered across the wall.
It didn't fall.
"Shit—!" I gasped, stumbling back as it lunged again.
Its hands clawed for me, nails yellowed and broken, scratching at my arms. I shoved with all my strength, my body slamming into its chest. We crashed into the wall, the hammer slipping from my grip.
Its jaws snapped at my face. The stench of rot filled my nose. I braced an arm against its throat, straining to keep its teeth from sinking into my flesh. My muscles screamed, sweat stinging my eyes as I pushed back.
"Die!" I roared, my other hand scrabbling for the hammer on the floor. Fingers closed around the handle. I swung blindly, bringing the hammer down into its temple with all the force I had left.
This time, the skull caved in.
The thing shuddered once, then went still. Its body collapsed against me, heavy and limp, dragging me down with it.
I lay there for a second, chest heaving, the hammer trembling in my grip. Blood—black and thick—coated my arms, smeared across my shirt. The metallic stench filled my lungs until I thought I would choke.
Then, the world shifted.
The air shimmered, letters burning into my vision. I blinked, but they didn't fade. They were etched into reality itself, glowing faintly red.
[You have slain a Tier 1 Zombie.]
[+10 Essence absorbed.]
[Level Up!]
[Analyzing soul resonance…]
[Class Assigned: Laborer (Common).]
[Warning: Class rarity determines attribute growth and skill acquisition.]
I froze, staring at the words that weren't words, the symbols seared into my sight. My chest rose and fell, sweat dripping down my jaw as the messages hovered before me.
This wasn't just death.
This was something else.
Something… beyond human.
The hammer slipped in my grip, clattering against the floor. My hands shook as the last line burned brighter than the rest, pressing itself into me like fire:
Survive. Evolve. Or perish.
And in that moment, with Mrs. Greene's lifeless eyes staring at me and her husband's blood on my hands, I realized one truth:
The world was no longer mine.
It belonged to the System now.
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