Six hours earlier…
Ethan Cole hated his life.
He hated the smell of gasoline clinging to his uniform. He hated the endless drone of traffic jams as he weaved through the labyrinth of city life. Heck, at some point, he even hated living.
He hated the way his manager yelled at him to move faster while pocketing tips that shouldn't been his. That bastard.
And he hated, more than anything, the feeling that nothing he did mattered.
At twenty six, Ethan had no degree, no savings, no family left to call. His mother had died when he was sixteen, his father gone years before that. Since then, every day had been survival; late rent notices, cheap noodles for dinner, waking up every morning wondering why he bothered at all.
That morning, as he strapped his delivery bag onto his bike and checked his cracked phone screen for the next order, he'd muttered to himself.
"Maybe something exciting will happen today".
He hadn't meant this.
…
Present, 7:54 pm…
The city became completely engulfed by darkness.
The remaining fires from the afternoon continued to burn while casting orange and black hues across the sky.
The sirens that once filled the streets had stopped ringing because the monsters and collapsing buildings produced a louder noise.
The atmosphere was heavy with an oily quality which carried the desperate hopelessness of the end of the world. Ethan walked through the empty street while the thick air burned his eyes.
Each movement he made while walking through the broken glass and hot metal produced a distinct noise. He dreaded it, but he couldn't help it.
Burnt relic of cars lined the road, some still burning.
He soon passed a bus that was flipped on its side. Its windows were shattered, streaks of dried blood running down its frame.
The silence here was different too. It was too quiet, broken only by the occasional echoing screech of some distant predator.
His hands still trembled from earlier.
The improvised gauntlet, the spear, it felt like a dream, some hallucination born of terror. Yet the faint glow of the system's wheel still hovered faintly in his vision, a silent reminder that it was real.
~----~
[System Advisory]
[Unique Ability – Survivor's Gacha:]
*Improvisations will activate under critical threat.
*Survive, and you will adapt.
*Adapt, and you will endure.
~----~
Ethan glanced at the message, a dry laughter escaping his lips.
"Yeah," he muttered in a hoarse voice. "Endure. Right".
Right as he said that, he heard it… another sound! The sound of dragging footsteps.
Ethan froze. He spun, heart hammering; but it wasn't a creature. It was a man. Or what had once been a man.
Ethan held his breath as the figure staggered toward him from the shadows. One of his arms hang uselessly at its side, while the other clutched a jagged pipe.
His face was pale and hollow, a reflection of his shredded and blood-soaked clothes. Yet his eyes, cloudy and unseeing like a blind man locked onto Ethan.
The man groaned, then charged at Ethan with his pipe raised.
Ethan quickly stumbled back, his hands scrambling for anything within reach. He searched for a weapon, a rock, something, anything. And that was when the glowing wheel flickered.
DING!
~----~
[Improvisation Draw Activated!]
[Improvised Gear: Shock Coil Taser]
"A jury-rigged stun weapon formed from scrap wire and battery cells. Packs a paralyzing charge for one strike".
~----~
A crude taser materialized in his grip.
Ethan barely had time to react before the man swung the pipe. He ducked under it, jamming the taser into his attacker's ribs.
BUZZ!
The man's body displayed electric blue arcs of electricity which crackled sharply through the air.
The man lost control of his body before he hit the ground with a sudden motion. He remained unconscious but his breathing continued normally.
Ethan remained motionless while his taser transformed into smoke before his eyes. His chest heaved. This wasn't a monster. The person before him had transformed into a feral state because of fear or hunger or possibly something worse.
It was hard to believe someone could change like this. 'It's not even been 24 hours yet!' The idea caused his stomach to twist into a knot.
He retreated slowly while his stomach burned with feelings of guilt.
He spoke a quiet apology before disappearing into the darkness.
…
Hours passed.
Ethan gathered what little he could; a half-empty water bottle from a wrecked shop, and a crowbar from the ruins of a hardware store.
He kept moving, eyes scanning for shelter. Every shadow felt alive. Every distant scream made his blood run cold.
Ethan reached complete exhaustion during the midnight hour. The city fires had vanished into darkness which now covered everything. The night became illuminated only by the strange light of the rift which hovered above while serving as a permanent symbol of the day's destruction.
He spent what seemed like an eternity walking before he discovered a partially destroyed office building.
The main entrance? Just a pile of rubble. The side door remained functional despite the surrounding destruction.
Ethan released a breath of relief before entering the building.
The atmosphere inside was stale with strong odors of dust and aged paper. He ignored his thoughts to move a desk in front of the door.Only after that did he feel safe and sink into a corner. The crowbar rested on his lap. He was too paranoid to leave it anywhere but his lap.
And for the first time since the world fell apart, he let himself breath.
He thought of his mother. He thought of the nights they'd gone hungry, of the promise he had made to her dying face.
He took a deep breath.
"I'll survive," he muttered, his eyes sharp with determination. "I'll survive no matter what".
He hadn't kept that promise before.
But now… maybe this power gave him a second chance.
…
The floor vibrated.
Immediately, Ethan's eyes snapped open. The first thing he noticed was dust falling from the cracked ceiling. Then came a sound that froze his blood… a literal chittering chorus, dozens of claws scratching asphalt in unison.
'What now?' he thought.
He crept to a shattered window and peeked. His breath caught.
Down the street, he saw a swarm of smaller insect-like creatures crawled over burned cars and cracked pavement.
Each was the size of a large dog, their chitin gleaming under the moonlight, mandibles clicking with hunger. 'Damnation!' he cursed.
There were literally hundreds of them. They moved as one, sweeping the street in search of prey.
One broke from the pack, its segmented head turning toward the office building. A low hiss escaped its maw.
Ethan's chest tightened. If they found him…
But then, the glowing wheel spun into view.
~----~
[Critical Threat Detected… Improvisation Draw Activated!]
~----~
He clenched his fists. No running this time. If the swarm came for him, there was only one choice.
He spun the wheel.
DING!
~----~
[Improvised Ability: Shadowstep Dash]
"For 5 seconds, move with supernatural speed and silence. Perfect for evading detection or landing a lethal first strike".
~----~
'Wait… I can get abilities too?' Ethan was stunned.
His body felt… lighter. Muscles coiled with energy. His heartbeat slowed to a crawl.
The swarm drew closer. Mandibles clicked. Claws scraped.
Ethan gripped his crowbar tight.
In the ruined office, in a world that had already ended, he waited in silence, ready to strike, every instinct screaming one thing:
Survive the night.