Apocalypse System: Zero-Day

The Error System

Silver’s POV

I was going to die in a pool of my own blood, twenty feet from a subway entrance.

The Stalker I had barely killed was nothing but a pile of digital dust, but it had done its job. My side was torn open, my ribs were likely broken, and every breath felt like inhaling shattered glass.

I dragged myself behind a rusted dumpster, clutching the wound.

[WARNING: HOST VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL.]

[BLEEDING: SEVERE.]

"System," I gasped, coughing up blood. "Explain. What is this?"

The holographic interface flickered to life in front of me, glowing a violent, glitching red against the dark alley.

[SYSTEM DESIGNATION: ERROR SYSTEM.]

[HOST: SILVER. STATUS: ANOMALY.]

[EXPLANATION: THE WORLD RUNS ON RIGID CODE. YOU ARE AN ERROR THE SYSTEM CANNOT CALCULATE. YOU CANNOT LEVEL UP NORMALLY. YOU MUST CONSUME CORRUPTED DATA TO EVOLVE.]

I stared at the text, my mind racing. A glitch. I was a glitch in the apocalypse.

[SKILL: ERROR STRIKE.]

[FUNCTION: INJECTS CORRUPTED CODE DIRECTLY INTO A TARGET. BYPASSES PHYSICAL ARMOR. IGNORES SYSTEM PROTOCOLS.]

So, I didn't need to break a monster's skin. I just had to corrupt its internal code. That was how I killed the Stalker.

But the skill had a massive drawback. It cost stamina. And right now, my stamina was at zero.

I pushed myself to my feet, using the wall for support. I needed shelter. I needed to find the underground camp before the next monster caught my scent.

I made it half a block before the shadows moved.

Three figures stepped out of the ruined lobby of a convenience store. They were survivors, but not the desperate kind. They were scavengers. Thugs. The kind of people who didn't fight monsters; they preyed on the weak.

"Look what we got here," the leader sneered. He was a massive man with a rusted fire axe. "A little bird, bleeding out."

I tried to raise my hands, but my body wouldn't cooperate. "I have nothing worth taking."

"We'll be the judge of that," the leader laughed. He nodded to the other two.

A skinny thug rushed forward and kicked my legs out from under me. I crashed onto the concrete, the impact sending a shockwave of white-hot agony through my broken ribs.

"Check his pockets," the leader ordered.

The skinny thug ripped my jacket open. He found the Viper Dagger I had looted earlier.

"Hey, Boss! Look at this. A high-tier weapon."

The leader whistled, taking the blade. "Nice. But he's got no points. No rations. Just this piece of junk." He looked down at me, his eyes dead. "Kill him. We don't leave witnesses."

The skinny thug pulled a rusted pipe from his belt, raising it high above my head.

I couldn't move. I had no stamina. The System flashed red in my vision: [INSUFFICIENT ENERGY FOR ERROR STRIKE.]

No. I couldn't die like this. Not after Ayana left me. Not after I awakened.

I forced my hand to move. I reached out, grabbing the skinny thug's ankle.

[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL INITIATED.]

[HOST WILLPOWER EXCEEDS THRESHOLD.]

[FORCED LEVEL UP: LEVEL 2.]

A tiny sliver of energy flooded my system. It wasn't enough to heal me, but it was enough for one attack.

The thug brought the pipe down. I rolled, the metal striking the concrete inches from my skull. I channeled every drop of that forced level-up into my palm.

[ERROR STRIKE: ACTIVATED.]

My hand clamped onto the thug's ankle. The red code flared, but it was weak—barely a spark. It didn't dissolve him. It just corrupted the muscles in his leg.

The thug screamed as his leg suddenly went limp, the nerves and code malfunctioning. He fell sideways, dropping the pipe.

"Get him!" the leader roared.

The second thug lunged at me. I grabbed the dropped pipe and swung it with the last of my strength. The metal connected with his jaw. He staggered, but didn't fall.

I was spent. My vision blurred. The world tilted.

The leader cursed, raising his fire axe. He stepped over his fallen men and loomed above me.

"I'm going to cut you into pieces," he growled.

I couldn't lift my arms. I couldn't breathe. I was at the absolute end.

But before the axe could fall, a heavy, echoing footstep sounded from the mouth of the alley.

"Boss!" the leader yelled, suddenly snapping to attention.

A massive figure stepped out of the shadows. He was built like a tank, wearing heavy, customized leather armor. Behind him, a dozen more armed thugs waited in the street.

This was it, I thought. The leader's boss. A bigger, deadlier monster in human skin.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the blade to drop.

"Who did this?" the newcomer's voice rumbled. It was deep, carrying a strange authority.

"This little rat," the leader sneered, pointing the axe at me. "Tried to fight back. Corrupted Jimmy's leg."

I heard the heavy footsteps approach. The Boss crouched down in front of me. I forced my eyes open, looking up at him.

He looked at my torn jacket, the pool of blood, the weak red static still clinging to my fingertips.

Then, he stood up.

The Boss drew a heavy, serrated blade from his back. The leader smiled, thinking it was my execution.

Instead, the Boss spun and drove the blade straight through the leader's throat.

The leader’s eyes bulged. He gurgled, dropping his axe, and collapsed to the ground, dead.

The other thug stopped screaming, his face paralyzed with terror.

The Boss wiped his blade on the dead leader's shirt, then sheathed it. He turned back to me.

"I've been looking for you," the Boss said, his voice surprisingly calm.

I stared at him, my vision fading to black. "W... what?"

The Boss reached down and hauled me to my feet. He slung my arm over his massive shoulder.

"The System calls you an anomaly," the Boss said, pulling me toward the street. "I call you valuable. You're coming with me."

[WARNING: SYSTEM ERROR DETECTED. UNKNOWN FACTION ENGAGED.]

My head lolled back, the world going dark. I wasn't dead. But I was no longer in control.