Apocalypse System: Zero-Day

Silver's POV

"Step forward. Wrist out."

The Security Inspector’s voice was muffled behind a thick bio-hazard mask, but the command was clear. I shifted the heavy supply bag on my shoulder and stepped toward the scanner.

Behind me, the wasteland howled. A toxic storm was rolling in, turning the sky a sickly, bruised purple. The line to enter Sector One—the last Safe Fortress on Earth—stretched for miles. People were crying, coughing, and begging.

I held out my wrist, but the scanner shrieked. A harsh red light bathed my face.

NAME: SILVER.

COMBAT RATING: 0.

CONTRIBUTION POINTS: 15.

STATUS: INELIGIBLE.

I stared at the red holographic text. "There's a mistake," I said, my voice steady despite the sudden drop in my stomach. "I have a dependent slot. My wife has the points to cover me."

The Inspector turned his head toward the woman standing just past the turnstile. "Ma'am. Ayana, correct? Do you authorize this man as your dependent?"

I looked at Ayana. We had survived the end of the world together for two years. While she fought on the frontlines, I stayed behind. I cooked the rations, sterilized the water, and maintained our shelter. I sacrificed my physical conditioning so she could survive.

She looked at me, and her eyes were cold. Not with fear, but with calculation.

"I can't do that, Silver," she said quietly.

The world seemed to tilt. "What do you mean you can't?"

"I need the slot," she replied, her voice perfectly level. "For Cassian."

I blinked, sure I had misheard her. Cassian. The son of a former corporate mayor. A young master who had never held a weapon in his life. He had been hiding in our camp for the last week, eating our food and complaining about the cold.

"Cassian?" My voice rose, cracking. "Ayana, I am your husband. He is a stranger!"

Cassian stepped out from behind her, his expensive coat somehow still immaculate despite the apocalypse. He avoided my eyes, staring down at his polished boots.

"Ayana, please," I begged, the reality of the wasteland behind me suddenly pressing down on my shoulders. "You know I don't have the combat skills to survive out here alone."

Ayana sighed, as if my desperation was merely an inconvenience. "He's just a young master who has never weathered any storms, Silver. He won't last a day on the surface." She looked me dead in the eye. "You're strong. You'll figure something out."

I felt the blood drain from my face.

"Please," I said, reaching for her arm. "Don't do this."

She pulled her arm away and turned her back to me. "Use my dependent slot for Cassian."

The Inspector scanned Cassian’s wrist. A bright green light flashed. The heavy steel gates of the Safe Fortress hummed, and Cassian stepped through smoothly. Ayana followed without a backward glance.

The gates slammed shut, leaving me stranded in the freezing rain.

I walked for hours, heading toward the harsh, underground shelters on the outskirts of the city. My boots were soaked with toxic sludge. The supply bag Ayana had left me with contained nothing but a few empty water bottles.

She had taken the rations. She had taken everything.

The screech came from the darkness of a collapsed overpass.

I didn't even have time to run. A mutated Stalker—all jagged bone and dripping fangs—lunged from the shadows and slammed into my chest.

I hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of my lungs. The Stalker’s claws tore through my jacket, slicing deep into my ribs. I screamed in agony, trying to push the monster off, but it was too heavy.

I was going to die in the dirt. Abandoned by my wife, killed by a monster.

The Stalker opened its jaws, aiming for my throat.

But then, the air around me shattered like glass.

The creature froze. The rain stopped falling. The world turned gray and silent.

A holographic screen, glowing with a harsh, glitching blue light, appeared directly in front of my eyes.

[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION DETECTED.]

[HOST: SILVER.]

[THREAT LEVEL: LETHAL.]

I stared at the text, coughing up blood, my vision swimming.

[EXCLUSIVE SYSTEM AWAKENING.]

[DO YOU WANT TO SURVIVE?]

I looked past the screen at the frozen monster, its jaws inches from my face. I thought of Ayana walking through those gates with Cassian.

"Yes," I choked out, the words tasting like blood and ash. "YES."

[SYSTEM ACCEPTED. CLASS ASSIGNED: ERROR HUNTER.]

[FIRST MISSION WILL BEGIN SHORTLY.]

The world snapped back into motion.

And for the first time, I smiled.

End of Chapter 1