Apocalypse Harem System: Infinite Rebate

The first scream came at 8:17 a.m.

Ethan Kane barely looked up from his phone.

Morning traffic crawled outside the warehouse office window. Workers moved pallets across the loading yard. Everything appeared normal.

Then another scream echoed through the building.

And another.

Followed by a crash.

"What the hell?" Ethan muttered.

The warehouse manager rushed past his office.

"Ethan! Lock the doors!"

Ethan stood up.

"What happened?"

"I don't know! Someone attacked Greg in Receiving!"

The manager's face was pale.

"Ethan, lock the damn doors!"

Before Ethan could ask another question, a horrifying shriek erupted from the warehouse floor.

Then came the sounds of people running.

Screaming.

Crying.

Something heavy slammed into metal shelving.

The manager bolted down the hallway.

Ethan followed.

The moment he stepped onto the warehouse floor, his blood turned cold.

Greg.

The warehouse receiver.

A man Ethan had worked with for nearly three years.

He was on the ground.

Or what remained of him.

Blood covered the concrete floor.

Chunks of flesh littered the area.

Several workers stood frozen in horror.

A woman vomited beside a forklift.

"What happened?" Ethan whispered.

Then Greg moved.

A collective gasp swept through the warehouse.

Greg's body twitched.

His head lifted.

His eyes were completely white.

A horrifying growl escaped his throat.

"Oh my God..."

Someone backed away.

Greg lunged.

His teeth sank into a worker's neck.

Blood sprayed across the floor.

The victim screamed.

The entire warehouse exploded into chaos.

People ran in every direction.

Forklifts crashed into shelves.

Boxes tumbled from high racks.

Someone pulled a fire alarm.

Ethan's instincts finally kicked in.

Run.

He sprinted toward the employee exit.

Behind him came endless screams.

The sounds of flesh tearing.

Bones crunching.

The horrible growls of something that was no longer human.

By the time Ethan burst through the emergency doors, the parking lot was already descending into madness.

Cars crashed into one another.

People sprinted through the streets.

Some were covered in blood.

Others chased them.

No.

Not people.

Monsters.

A woman stumbled beside a sedan.

A blood-soaked man tackled her.

He bit into her shoulder.

She screamed.

A second attacker joined him.

Then a third.

Ethan staggered backward.

His mind refused to process what he was seeing.

"This can't be real..."

A loud emergency alert suddenly blared from every phone nearby.

His own phone vibrated violently.

The screen lit up.

EMERGENCY NATIONAL ALERT

Unknown infectious outbreak detected.

Avoid physical contact.

Remain indoors immediately.

Do not approach infected individuals.

Military response underway.

The message ended abruptly.

Seconds later, the signal disappeared.

No internet.

No service.

Nothing.

A nearby police cruiser sped through an intersection.

The officer inside never saw the infected man who staggered into the road.

The cruiser struck him.

The infected rolled across the pavement.

Then stood back up.

The officer's face turned white.

The creature charged.

The cruiser crashed into a storefront.

Gunshots echoed.

Then silence.

Ethan felt his stomach twist.

The world was ending.

Right in front of him.

A violent explosion erupted several blocks away.

Smoke rose into the sky.

People screamed.

Car alarms wailed.

The city had become a nightmare.

And it had happened in less than ten minutes.

"Ethan!"

He turned.

A young woman in a warehouse uniform ran toward him.

Sophia Hart.

One of the company's medical staff.

Blood stained her sleeve.

"Ethan!"

She grabbed his arm.

"We need to get out of here!"

"What happened to your arm?"

"It's not mine."

Relief flashed through Ethan.

For a moment.

Then he noticed the terror in her eyes.

"Those things..." she whispered.

"They don't stop."

A roar echoed behind them.

Both turned.

Three infected workers stumbled out of the warehouse entrance.

Their movements were jerky.

Unnatural.

Hungry.

One of them was Greg.

Blood dripped from his mouth.

His dead white eyes locked onto Ethan and Sophia.

The infected charged.

"Run!"

Sophia screamed.

The pair sprinted across the parking lot.

The creatures followed.

Cars blocked every exit.

People shoved one another trying to escape.

Several were dragged to the ground.

The infected swarmed them instantly.

Ethan's lungs burned.

His heart pounded.

The sounds of death echoed everywhere.

Then Sophia tripped.

"Ethan!"

She crashed onto the pavement.

One of the infected reached her first.

Its jaws opened.

Its bloody fingers stretched toward her face.

Time seemed to slow.

Ethan could run.

Leave her.

Save himself.

Most people already were.

But something inside him refused.

"Move!"

He grabbed a fallen tire iron from beside a wrecked vehicle.

The infected turned.

Ethan swung with every ounce of strength he had.

CRACK!

The metal slammed into the creature's skull.

It collapsed instantly.

The other infected kept coming.

"Get up!"

He yanked Sophia to her feet.

Together they ran toward a nearby supermarket.

The automatic doors were already shattered.

Dozens of terrified people flooded inside.

A temporary refuge.

Or perhaps a trap.

Either way, it was better than dying outside.

Ethan and Sophia slipped through the entrance moments before several survivors pushed a display shelf against the doors.

The infected slammed against the glass.

Growling.

Scratching.

Hungry.

The survivors stood trembling behind the barricade.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody knew what to say.

Outside, civilization was collapsing.

Inside, fear ruled.

Ethan leaned against a shelf, struggling to catch his breath.

Sophia sat on the floor beside him.

For a few moments, neither spoke.

Then every light inside the supermarket flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The building plunged into darkness.

A collective cry rose from the crowd.

Then a strange mechanical voice echoed inside Ethan's mind.

[Detecting suitable host...]

Ethan froze.

His eyes widened.

"What?"

The voice continued.

[Host compatibility: 100%]

[Infinite Rebate System initializing...]

[1%... 5%... 12%...]

A glowing blue screen suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Invisible to everyone else.

Ethan stared at it in disbelief.

The apocalypse had only just begun.

And something impossible had awakened inside him.

[Infinite Rebate System Activation: 20%...]