[Warning!]

[5 hours before the first wave invasion.]

[Please prepare yourself.]

Seth frowned. Invasion. That word again. It didn’t mean anything to him, at least for now.

He closed the pop up window, wanting to look around the game. But, another po up window appeared, no less futuristic-looking than the previous one.

[Get up to 40% discount on first wave invasion’s mystery survival kits before it begin!]

Seth touched the icon, and it displayed the offered items. There were three mystery survival kits with the same cost of 3.000 cells. With the discount in place, it was priced at 1.800 cells.

[Break a Damn Leg! Survival Kit]

[You Got It Bro! Survival Kit]

[Love is Everyting! Survival Kit]

Rising an eyebrow, Seth couldn’t help but being cringe at the names. He chose the most cringey one.

[Congratulations!]

[Love is Everything! Survival Kit package will be sent to your inbox one minute after the first wave invasion begin.]

Huh. Figures.

This was just a scam afterall. Nothing to be serious about. Fuck this game.

“Seth Holden. Follow me if you want to stay alive.”

He looked up from his phone. A ragged man with unkempt beard was standing on his path. If not for the glimpse of a gun under his jacket, Seth would think he was just a homeless guy instead of a mugger.

But, how could a mugger know his name?

Narrowing his eyes, Seth reluctantly did as told. Despite what happened and what he said this afternoon, he was in no mood to be a mere bloody speck on the ground after a freaking mugger going nuts on him.

The would-be mugger brought him to a café. Not a dark alley where Batman’s parents and Spiderman’s uncle were shot dead. He jokingly ordered an elaborate cup of coffee to make it cost much more than average. The would-be mugger paid for it, surprising him.

“Who are you?” Seth asked the moment they sat down on the corner of the café,  not too far from where a plump girl with eyeglasses hunched over her macbook. It was Friday night, and yet, the café was practically empty. He took a mouthful of the elaborate drink, and quickly hid a grimace at the overly sweet stuff.

“What would you do if the world ends tomorrow?”

That fucking question again. What the hell’s wrong with everyone?

“That’s what your professor asked you,” the unkempt stranger said.

“You’re in my class?”

He got no answer. Seth eyed the would be mugger. Now that he was sitting face to face, he could swear he had seen this person somewhere.

“How could I not be in your class?” The would-be mugger asked, chuckling as if he was–

A realization dawned on him. “Professor Louise?”

“In the flesh.”

“How … what are you–“ Seth was at lost for words. “You’re playing a joke,” he stated instead, because there was no way this haggard, unkempt man was Victor, the youngest professor in his university.

“I wish,” there was a sense of wishfulness exuberate from him. “It’d be so simple, if I were joking.”

“But–“

“There is no much time left, Seth.”

“Why? Are you going to give me a million and fifteen minutes time to spend it all? You’re a freaking host of that ridiculous reality show now?”

The self-proclaimed professor Louise locked his gaze to him. “At midnight tonight, the first wave invasion will start. From there, nothing will be the same again. All I ask, is that you believe what your System tell you.”

That again.

“You really are playing a joke with me. What is this? Revenge for taking your class lightly? You do this because I embarrassed you today?”

“I could care less about any of that.”

“So what?”

“You were given a chance! An early start to it all and you throw it away! As if it doesn’t matter! As if life doesn’t matter!” Victor’s heavy breath stink, but he continued on anyways.

“You,” he looked at Seth, dead in the eyes. “You threw it all away…”

Seth didn’t know what to say. If this was Victor volunteering to fill up the vacant drama club, he was doing a great job. But still, there was something chipping away at the edge of his mind. It pulled a string in his heart.

“You’re not talking about me,” Seth whispered, accusingly accurate.

Victor only seemed to be aware now. His rigid shoulders slumped, no longer appearing high-strung. “No,” he sounded hollow. “No, I’m not.”

“Then, wh–“

“I really want you to listen to me,” Victor said, desperately. No trace of his usual overly proud aura. “Just this once, Seth. It’s the least you can do. You owe me this much.”

Swallowing the bitter taste on his mouth, Seth nodded.

“You received the System.”

“You mean the game–“

Victor grabbed his collar before he could blink. “It’s not a game!”

A vision of destruction of the world suddenly surged in his mind, flashed before his eyes. It was hell on Earth. There was nothing but despair and tragedy. Nothing but–

Seth leaped from his chair. Horror plastered on his face. “What was that?”

Victor’s dreadful expression was enough to tell him, “A glimpse of the future.”

“… no.”

A crazed and sad smile crossed his professor’s face. “And that’s only the second invasion. Who knows what will happen on the third one.”

“So you come from the future,” Seth’s gaze turned critical. “At what cost?”

“My life.”

“To what? Warning me?”

Because that sounded totally plausible, wasn’t it?

“As much as that’s hard to believe, it’s all I got to say. The sooner you act, the more chance of survival rate we have.”

“We?”

Victor shrugged, something he seldom do in the classroom. He was always so certain, knowing so much of things to be doing that useless motion. “The invasion surely pushed us together in the same room. Except, it’s not my class and end of term test is the least of your problem.”

“Never know you to be the sacrificing type.”

“I’m a dead meat anyway,” his professor said, as a crack appeared on his skin, right on the center of his forehead. “Oh, I almost forgot.”

“What?”

“Save your little sister too. She’s important.”

and–

SPLAT!

Everything turned red as Victor’s body exploded. Raining him with blood and intestines.

“Aaaaaah! Argh! Help–“

The plump girl wearing eyeglasses who sat nearest to him screamed right before she passed out, stone-cold on the floor from the shock of it.

Seth couldn’t care less about her. Looking down, he was entirely covered in–

Fuck.

He just want to pet a cat, not dying in the so called first wave invasion.