The cold came first.
Even with fire painting the skyline, the city felt dead. Like the heat was just for show. A false warmth over a corpse.
Not the weather—Veridium still burned, lit in patches of crimson fire and black smoke—but the kind of cold that sank into Charles's skin and stayed there. A creeping numbness, emotional more than physical, that made the weight of the pipe in his hand feel distant and unreal.
He walked without knowing where his feet were taking him.
After killing the Vinyling, he'd moved fast, hopping fences and ducking alleys, lungs aching and cuts stinging. He could still feel the monster's blood drying on his face. Could still hear that girl's last gasp before she was silenced. No matter how far he ran, none of it left him.
Eventually, he found a stairwell tucked between two ruined buildings—half-buried behind debris and scorched signs. Its rusted door was jammed, but a solid kick opened it. He descended quickly, pipe raised, breath sharp in his throat.
It was a parking garage. Or had been.
Now it was a tomb.
Dim emergency lights flickered overhead, painting shadows that stretched like broken limbs across cracked cement. Dozens of abandoned cars sat covered in soot and grime. Some were burned out. Others were splattered with something Charles didn't want to identify.
But most importantly, it was quiet.
And someone was down there.
He heard the click of a safety being turned off.
"Stop right there," a voice barked—male, older, rough with exhaustion. "You take one step closer, I put a hole in you."
Charles froze, raising both hands slowly.
"I'm not a monster.... whatever those things are. Just trying to stay alive."
A flashlight clicked on, searing into his eyes. He winced but didn't move.
The man behind the beam stepped into view. He was tall, maybe late thirties, wearing a security vest stained with ash. In his hands was a pistol—real, loaded, and trembling just slightly.
"You alone?" the man asked.
Charles nodded. "Yes."
The man grunted. "Come with me." He followed him toward what looked like an office and when the door opened, he was surprised to notice others in there.
One was a girl, maybe Charles's age, with oil-slick hair and wary eyes. The other looked younger—a boy, barely a teen, clutching a cracked phone like a teddy bear, Charles noticed the slight shiver that the boy did.
The adrenaline had long since burned out, replaced by pure fatigue. Once he was within the relative safety of the room, the tension dropped slightly. Just slightly.
The girl offered him a bottle of water. He took it with a mumbled thanks, ignoring the way his hands shook.
"Name's Marco," the man said after a moment. "Used to be campus security, ex-military. Not that it means much now."
"Charles, College student."
The girl nodded. "Selene, college student." She added, almost under her breath,
The boy said nothing.
They didn't speak again for several minutes. Just sat, listening to the muffled chaos above. When Charles finally worked up the nerve to check his arm, he found the cut from earlier had clotted, though it still throbbed like hell. He tore a strip from his hoodie to wrap it. It wasn't sterile, but it would do, the one on his chest didn't hurt that much turns out the creature didn't get him to deep there.
Then came the silence.
The moment where no one screamed.
No roars.
No glass.
Just... quiet.
Charles finally let himself slump against the tire of a ruined SUV and exhaled. For the first time in what felt like hours, he brought up the system.
[CHARACTER INFORMATION]
Name: Charles Taylor
Race: Human
Level: 1
[STATS
Strength: 10
Agility: 7
Mana:70
Magic: 70
Health: 11
Stamina: 10
No level up yet.
But he noticed the increase in stats, his health and stamina had increased, though he didn't fully understand what the health stat was, anything that could increase his survivability was good.
He closed the window and leaned his head back. "My stamina increased too, so its better than nothing."
Selene's voice broke the silence. "You saw the screens too."
He looked at her. She wasn't surprised. A little scared, but mostly tired.
He nodded. She nodded slowly, then went quiet again
"You?" Charles asked Marco. The man nodded his head.
Charles narrowed his eyes. "Have you killed anything yet?"
Marco hesitated, then shook his head. "No. Just ran. Shot a few, maybe caused a little damage and scared some off. But no confirmed kill."
Charles sat back, eyes narrowing. Looks like everyone is now connected to the system or maybe I just haven't met anyone without one yet, he thought,
"What about the kid, did he see the screens too" Charles asked, the kid who Charles later found out was named Phil nodded. Charles nodded and silence once again reigned supreme with everyone left to their thoughts.
He glanced down at his trembling hands.
His mom would've been calling by now. Checking in like she always did. Asking if he'd eaten, if he'd finally passed his physics midterm. He could practically hear her voice in his head—warm, loving, just a little stern.
The last time he saw her, she'd shoved a sandwich into his hand and told him to 'eat like a human for once.' He hadn't even said thank you.
And his sister… God. That loud little whirlwind of energy would've been spamming memes to their family group chat by now.
Were they still alive?
Had they seen the sky change too? The monsters? The windows?
He swallowed hard; jaw clenched. He should've gone home. Should've taken the earlier bus. Should've... "Calm down Charles, Mom and sis are fine and are safe, You just have make sure you are safe so you get to them" he took a deep breath "I will get to them, no matter what" he thought with determination gleaming in his eyes.
But there was no point in thinking that now.
Marco paced nearby, checking the barricade of the door. The boy—still silent—huddled on a sofa in the office, asleep. Charles wondered how he could sleep in this situation.
Then came the noise.
A thudding. Rhythmic. Heavy. Then there was the sound of bone and metal being pulled against concrete with purpose.
The noise grew louder. Closer.
A shriek echoed—high-pitched, but with depth like tearing stone. The sound stopped in front of the door of the office.
The lights flickered, like they too were horrified of the creature behind that door.
Selene's face paled, shivering, Marco teeth clenched, his grip on his gun tightened
Charles shivered, pipe clenched, heart racing, desperately praying that whatever it was would not notice them.
But just like everything else that happened since the beginning of the day, it didn't go as he hoped.
The silence in the room was loud and tense, everyone was trying their best not to move or even breathe with one hand holding her weapon, a makeshift spear mad with a metal rod and a kitchen knife, Selene was making sure that Phil didn't make any noise by putting her hand over his mouth, Marco was also tightly clenching a makeshift spear of his own.
After what felt like hours instead of a few seconds the screeching resumed, the silence remained tense until it was broken by a breath, Selene to her sudden movement to make sure that Phil made no noise, had less air in her lungs than she should have. So when the monster started to leave she had breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't loud but in the silence that enveloped the room, it might as well have been a thunder clap. Charles heard it, Marco heard it.
And so did the beast.
There was silence during which Charles changed his prayer, praying that by some miracle that the creature didn't hear or it would consider it irrelevant and ignore it and keep moving.
But how could such a thing escape from the senses of the evolved creature the silence lasted a few more seconds giving them a little hope.
It happened in an instant, all Charles heard was the loud sound of metal ripping a hole through the wooden door, the barricade held but everybody knew the barricade wouldn't last a single more of those hits and it seem that the creature knew too.
The beast stared at its new found prey with six all blinking out of sync and Charles could have sworn he saw the foul thing smile.