Humanity went to sleep in a thriving world and woke up in its grave.
Earth has been reclaimed by nature. Cities lie silent. Civilization is gone. Only a fraction of humanity remains.

As the survivors struggle to rebuild, they discover a terrifying truth: the universe itself wants humanity extinct.
To survive the Deadlands, they must overcome nature, uncover the mystery behind the world's transformation, and defeat the greatest enemy of all—themselves..

At the break of dawn, rays of sunlight illuminated the dimly lit room. Excel groaned as he lifted himself from the desk, bags still under his eyes. He looked around, realizing he had somehow fallen asleep. 'How did I even fall asleep? 'He shook his head, trying to clear his vision. 'I feel like someone knocked me out'. 


He stood up and headed for the door. Seeing the door barricaded, he thought for a moment. 'Oh shoot... I almost forgot'. He chuckled.


A light moan sounded from behind him, followed by a soft crackle. Excel looked at Anna, who stretched lazily like a cat before letting out a yawn. Her eyes darted around before landing on Excel.


He went over and picked up the phone, then turned it on. 'There's still power in it'. He let out a breath and looked around. 'The backup generator doesn't seem to be working, or it has run out of power. If it has run out of power, then doesn't that mean it has been running for a long time?'


He stroked his chin, then exhaled deeply. Let's not think about that now.


He scrolled through the phone. 'The chat still seems pretty lively. That's good, I guess'.


He looked at Anna, who was still rubbing her eyes. 'But last night... that was real'. 


He went to the other group. There wasn't much said, so he decided to tell them there. He didn't have time to answer everyone's questions, but the people here would know how to pass the information on to the rest of the population.


"I gotta work on my communication skills," he said to himself with a light chuckle before pressing the send button.


Almost immediately, someone posted it on the general forum. It was a bit exaggerated, but it was well put together. This surprised Excel.


'They didn't even ask anything and already shared it with the world'. 


Yuhma: <Don't be surprised, @user09673782827. Something like this is vital and must be treated with urgency.>


Excel typed back: <I get that, but wouldn't it be better if you first verified the information?>


Yuhma: <Why and how? It's not like you'd spread stupid rumors just to cause panic. And look around you. The chances of something like a monster roaming around aren't out of the question. I'd say there's at least a 70% chance, even considering the wild animals we've already encountered.>


Excel thought for a bit. 'True. With how things are, it's better for everyone to be on alert than to be taken by surprise'. 


Apex: <Another matter at hand is that the internet won't be holding out for long. Thanks to @Yuhma, we were able to get communication across, but that won't be the case later on.>


Yuhma: <The communication satellite is facing a huge problem, so I advise us to get military radios or any radio at all to keep communication going.>


Voidance: <The communication seems fine now, which means you were able to do something, correct?>


Yuhma: <Yes, but it requires a lot of electricity to keep it going. Also, using a simple PC to handle the whole internet server won't be easy, so I'm going to limit it for now until we can find a way around it.>


Excel: <Cutting off some of the internet won't be a good idea because it's what keeps most of us both updated and sane.>


Apex: <True, but we don't see a way around it.>


Excel: <How long do you think the internet can hold?>


Yuhma: <A week or two would be fine, but I can find a way to make it last a month if we decide to go all out.>


Voidance: <If electricity is provided?>


Apex: <Electricity won't be the only problem. The satellite is connected to a simple receiver, and with the rate of chats per minute, it would start bugging out and eventually fail.>


Excel: <If I may suggest, we should find a way to group some of us together by region. It would help limit communication.>


Apex: <That seems like a good idea, but how...? >


Chapter 6 - CH6