Lila half-dragged, half-carried Kai through the crumbling streets, her arm locked around his waist like a vice. Every step sent fresh lightning bolts of pain through his shattered ribs and the venom-laced gashes across his chest.
The jacket she had tied around his torso was already soaked through with blood, sticking to his skin and pulling with each movement. The red sun hung low now, a bloated, angry orb sinking behind the jagged silhouettes of broken skyscrapers that towered like accusing giants.
Their twisted frames groaned in the wind, purple vines pulsing faintly as if alive and feeding on the dying light.
Kai's mind reeled, anxiety clawing at his throat like the monsters on the horizon. This can't be real.
Those buildings… they look like they were torn apart by something massive.
The sky is bleeding. I died in a car crash on a normal Tuesday, and now I'm naked in some post-apocalyptic nightmare? His heart pounded so hard it hurt worse than the broken bones. Flashes of his old life hit him — the fluorescent lights of the office, the lukewarm coffee, the endless emails — all clashing violently with the sulfur-scented dust and distant roars growing louder by the second.
"Keep moving," Lila hissed, her voice low and tight. She kept her free hand near the knife at her belt, eyes darting to every shadow between the ruined cars and collapsed storefronts.
"Two more blocks. That old apartment block up ahead — half the roof caved in, but the ground floor still has a steel door. I scouted it yesterday. Don't you dare pass out on me now."
Kai tried to answer, but only a wet cough came out, more blood flecking his lips. The venom from the wolf's claws burned like liquid fire spreading through his veins, making his vision swim with black spots.
"The… the eyes," he rasped, glancing back. Thousands of glowing red pinpricks dotted the horizon now, moving closer in a rolling tide. The ground trembled faintly under their feet. "What the hell are those things? You said waves… but they're everywhere."
Lila didn't slow down, but her grip tightened — not just to support him, but in that same cautious way she had since the fight. She was helping because he had saved her life; in this world, a life debt was ironclad. But seven years of betrayal had taught her better than to trust a naked stranger who claimed he remembered nothing.
Head injuries wiped memories clean all the time — raiders used that excuse, lords' scouts used it, even desperate survivors faking amnesia to get close. She angled her body so she could drop him and draw the knife in half a second if he tried anything.
"They roam day and night," she said quietly, breath steady despite the weight of him. "The smaller ones — wolves, rats, insect swarms — hunt whenever they're hungry. They nest in the dungeons inside old buildings, old subways, malls. But at sunset the System Gods rip open the rifts. That's the Wave. Thousands pour out at once, coordinated like they're hunting us for sport. The Gods watch it all. Entertainment for them. That's why the sky stays red — their energy leaking through."
Kai's stomach twisted. Anxiety flooded him hotter than the venom. System Gods? Rifts? I played video games about this shit as a kid, not lived it. He stumbled over a chunk of concrete, nearly taking them both down. The broken skyscrapers loomed closer now, their shattered windows like empty eye sockets staring down.
One building had a massive claw mark gouged from the tenth floor to the ground, as if something the size of a bus had climbed it. "I… I don't remember any of this," he gasped, panic rising. "My life… office job… car crash… this isn't Earth. Or it is, but wrong. The sun… the buildings… everything's ruined like a war happened overnight."
Lila shot him a sideways glance, her silver hair whipping in the growing wind. She still assumed memory loss — it was common enough after a bad hit or System overload.
People woke up in the wastes with blank minds and had to be told the new rules or they died screaming on day one.
But she stayed cautious, knife hand ready, body tense. "Most who lose memories don't last long," she muttered. "You're lucky you ran into me instead of a raider pack. They'd have stripped you for parts already."
They reached the half-collapsed apartment block just as the first howls split the air. The building was a five-story wreck — the upper floors had pancaked inward years ago, but the ground level still had thick concrete walls and a heavy steel fire door hanging on one hinge.
Lila kicked debris aside, hauled Kai inside, and slammed the door shut behind them. The clang echoed like a gunshot.
"Barricade it," she ordered, already dragging a rusted filing cabinet against the frame. Kai tried to help, but his arms shook violently.
He managed to shove a chunk of fallen concrete into place before collapsing against the wall, sliding down until he sat in the dust. Pain radiated everywhere. The venom made his chest feel like it was melting from the inside.
The room was dim, lit only by faint red light leaking through cracks in the boarded windows. Dust motes danced in the air. Old furniture lay overturned — a couch with claw tears, a table splintered, faded photos on the wall showing smiling families from before the Cataclysm.
Kai stared at one: a father, mother, and two kids at a park. What happened to them? Anxiety choked him again. Am I going to end up like that picture — just another dead memory?
Lila worked fast, piling more junk against the door while keeping one eye on him. "Stay quiet. The first wave always starts with scouts — smaller packs testing weak spots." She finally sat across from him, back against the opposite wall, knife resting openly on her knee.
Close enough to help if the venom killed him, far enough to defend herself. "You really don't remember the Cataclysm, do you? March 15, 2025. Red skies everywhere. Rifts tore open in every city. Monsters poured out — not just animals.
Things with tentacles, acid blood, things that screamed inside your head. Governments lasted six weeks. Nukes did nothing; the Gods just absorbed the energy. Seven billion dead in the first month.
The rest of us… we learned fast. Build walls from anything — cars, rubble, monster bones sharpened into spikes. Burn repel-herb braziers at night; the smell drives the weaker ones away for a few hours.
Everyone stands vigil — men, women, even kids old enough to hold a spear. Miss your shift, you're out. That's the new world. No police. No laws. Just lords who claim territory and survivors who pay tribute in food or bodies."
Kai's head fell back against the concrete. The System screen flickered again, colder than before.
[Host Vitality: 2/7]
[Venom Effect Active: -1 Vitality per minute]
[Monster Wave #1 Incoming: 11 minutes until full breach]
[Reminder: Deploy Starter Tent for +200 temporary shelter points? Y/N]
He stared at it, confusion and terror mixing. "The System… it's talking to me. Says I'm dying in minutes. Tent… I can deploy a tent? What the hell does that even mean?" His voice cracked with anxiety. The red light outside grew darker as the sun finally vanished.
Howls turned into a deafening chorus right outside the door. Something heavy slammed against the barricade once — then twice.
Lila's eyes widened slightly at the visible screen glow only she could partially see. "You really do have a rare one. Most of us got basic classes — Warrior, Scout, Healer. Yours sounds… different. Harem Settlement? Never heard that before." She stayed cautious, knife not moving from her knee, but her tone softened a fraction — the life debt still mattered. "Deploy the tent if it gives shelter. We need every second."
Kai mentally selected "Y". A small burst of blue light filled the room. A plain canvas tent materialized in the corner — basic, barely big enough for two, but it came with a faint glowing barrier around its entrance.
The System pinged:
[Basic Tent Deployed. Settlement Points: 500 → 300]
[Temporary Shelter Bonus: +15% defense against Wave #1]
[Bond Slot 1 still available. Compatibility with Lila Voss: 87%. Warning: Claiming requires physical contact and consent. Delays death timer by 30 minutes.]
The barricade rattled harder. Claws scraped metal. A low, wet growl seeped through the cracks. Lila sprang up, knife ready, pressing her back to the door.
"They're here. First wave scouts — probably more wolves or rat swarms. The big ones come later." She glanced at Kai, still slumped and bleeding.
Helping him had already cost her energy, but the debt was sacred. "You saved me out there. I'm not letting you die in here without a fight. But listen — in this world, people change. Men especially. Lords take what they want. Women learn to fight or hide. Kids grow up too fast or don't grow up at all. If you're really from… before… you'll learn quick or die."
Kai's vision tunneled. The venom was winning. Flashes of his old life hit harder now — the safe routine, the loneliness, the feeling that nothing ever mattered.
Now everything mattered and he was useless. Anxiety turned to raw fear. "I'm not… I'm not a lord. I was nobody. Office worker. This System says I can bond with you… share stats… 10,000 times growth? But I'm dying. Naked. Broken. And those things outside want to eat us."
Another slam against the door. The filing cabinet shifted an inch. Lila braced it with her shoulder, muscles straining under her torn fatigues.
"Bonding? Sounds like the kind of thing lords dream about. But if your System is real… use it. I'm not bonding with a stranger on day one — not even for stats. But if we survive tonight, maybe we talk. For now, stay alive."
The howls outside rose to a frenzy. Something larger slammed the door — the whole frame shook. Dust rained from the ceiling. Kai felt his vitality dropping with every heartbeat.
The tent's faint barrier flickered. Lila's knife flashed in the red light leaking through cracks as she prepared for whatever came through first.
"Hold the line with me," she said, voice steady but eyes flicking back to him with that same guarded caution. "Or we both die here."
Kai pushed himself up on shaking arms, grabbing a broken chair leg as a pathetic weapon. The barricade cracked. Glowing eyes appeared in the gaps. The first wave had found them.
And in the blood-red darkness of the ruined world, Kai Reed realized this was only the beginning of hell.