Player Zero:No Exit

2

Player Zero

Jack's point of View

I learned early that the world doesn’t care if you disappear.

If you sleep under a bridge long enough, you start to notice things. Like how people look past you, not at you.

Like how your name stops meaning anything when no one ever says it. Like how being alive feels optional, as long as you don’t get in the way.

My name is Jack. I’m eighteen years old. I don’t have parents.

I don’t have a home. And if you asked the city where I went yesterday, it wouldn’t know how to answer.

That’s probably why they chose me.

That night started like every other night.

Cold concrete. Damp cardboard. The sound of cars rushing overhead like they were all late for something important.

I lay curled under the bridge, my backpack pulled tight to my chest. Everything I owned fit inside it. Two shirts. One pair of socks with a hole in the heel. A plastic bottle half-filled with water. And a cracked phone that hadn’t turned on in months.

My stomach hurt. It always did. Hunger doesn’t scream after a while. It just sits there, quiet and heavy, like a stone.

I stared at the dark space above me and counted my breaths. That was my trick when things felt too big. In. Out. In. Out. It helped me forget where I was.

I was halfway to sleep when I heard footsteps.

At first, I ignored them. People walked over the bridge all the time. Some drunk. Some angry. Some just loud. None of them ever stopped for me.

But these steps were different.

Slow. Even. Too calm.

I opened my eyes.

Three shadows stood at the edge of the light. Men. All dressed in black. Clean shoes. Not the kind of people who wandered around under bridges.

My heart started to pound.

“Hey,” one of them said.

His voice was smooth. Too smooth.

I didn’t answer. Talking first was how you got into trouble.

“That him?” another asked.

I felt a hand grab my arm.

I reacted without thinking. Kicked. Twisted. Tried to pull free. I wasn’t strong, but I knew how to fight dirty. Elbows. Knees. Teeth if I had to.

It didn’t matter.

Something sharp pressed into my neck.

Pain flared for half a second, then—

Nothing.

I woke up choking.

Cold air burned my lungs. My head throbbed. My body felt heavy, like I was filled with sand.

I was strapped to a chair.

White lights glared down at me. The room smelled clean. Too clean. Like metal and chemicals.

My hands were tied. My legs too.

I tried to move. The straps didn’t budge.

Panic hit me hard and fast.

“Hello, Jack.”

I froze.

A man stood behind a glass wall, watching me like I was an animal in a cage. He wore a white coat. Thin smile. Calm eyes.

“How do you know my name?” I demanded.

He smiled wider.

“We know a lot about you,” he said. “Age. No registered parents. No fixed address. No school enrollment. No medical records in the last five years.”

He tapped something on a tablet.

“You don’t exist.”

My throat went dry.

“That makes you perfect.”

I didn’t like the way he said that.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“To test a system,” he replied. “And you were cheap.”

That word hit harder than anything else.

Cheap.

I struggled again, anger giving me strength. “Let me go.”

He shook his head. “We can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because no one will look for you.”

The lights flickered.

The room shook.

A sharp sound filled the air, like glass breaking underwater.

The man stepped back.

“Good luck, Player Zero,” he said.

“What?” I shouted.

The floor disappeared.

I fell.

Not down. Not up. Just… away.

Colors exploded around me. Blue. Green. Red. Lines and numbers flashing past my eyes too fast to read.

My body felt like it was being pulled apart and put back together over and over.

I screamed, but I couldn’t hear my own voice.

Then everything stopped.

I slammed onto hard ground.

Pain shot through my back. I gasped and rolled onto my side, coughing dirt out of my mouth.

The sky above me wasn’t a sky.

It was black, filled with floating shapes and glowing symbols that drifted like broken stars.

The air hummed.

I pushed myself up slowly. My hands were shaking. My knees felt weak.

“Where am I?” I whispered.

A sound answered me.

DING.

A blue screen flashed into existence in front of my face.

I flinched and fell back.

The screen followed me.

Words appeared.

WELCOME, PLAYER.

INITIALIZING SYSTEM…

SCANNING BODY…

SCANNING MENTAL STATE…

SCANNING LIFE VALUE…

I stared, frozen.

“This isn’t real,” I muttered. “I hit my head. I’m dreaming.”

SCAN COMPLETE.

ERROR DETECTED.

The screen glitched. Lines flickered.

PLAYER STATUS: UNREGISTERED

ASSIGNING TEMPORARY ID…

ID CONFIRMED: PLAYER ZERO

My chest tightened.

Player?

Game?

My hands passed through the screen when I reached out. It wasn’t solid, but it was there.

Another line appeared.

LOGOUT OPTION: DISABLED

I laughed. A short, broken sound.

“Of course it is.”

A new window opened.

PLAYER PROFILE

Name: Jack

Level: 0

Class: None

HP: 50/50

Stamina: 30/30

Strength: 1

Agility: 1

Endurance: 1

Intelligence: 1

Status Effects:

• Malnourished

• Fatigued

• Minor Hypothermia

I didn’t know much about games, but even I knew this was bad.

Level zero.

No class.

Stats at one.

I looked around.

The land stretched out in every direction. Dead trees. Broken ground. Ruins in the distance. The air smelled like dust and rust.

A sound echoed.

A growl.

Low. Close.

The screen flashed again.

WARNING: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED

I turned just in time to see it.

A creature crawled out from behind a fallen wall.

It looked like a dog, but wrong. Too big. Too many teeth. Its skin was gray and cracked, like dried mud.

Red text appeared above its head.

RUIN HOUND – LEVEL 3

My heart dropped.

“I’m level zero,” I whispered.

The thing snarled and charged.

I ran.

My feet slipped on loose dirt. My lungs burned.

I could hear it behind me, claws scraping stone.

I tripped.

Pain exploded as I hit the ground.

The hound leapt.

I rolled at the last second. Its teeth snapped inches from my face.

I grabbed a broken piece of metal from the ground and swung wildly.

It bounced off its skull.

The hound slammed into me.

I felt teeth sink into my shoulder.

I screamed.

Pain flooded my body. Hot. Sharp. Real.

This wasn’t a game.

This was death.

My vision blurred.

A red warning flashed.

HP CRITICAL

The hound reared back for another bite.

I raised my arm without thinking.

The screen flickered.

CONDITION MET

UNREGISTERED PLAYER RESPONSE ACTIVATED

“What?” I gasped.

Light burst from my chest.

The hound froze.

A new message appeared.

UNIQUE STATE UNLOCKED

DESPERATION (PASSIVE)

When HP falls below 10%, all physical actions are amplified.

I didn’t understand it, but my body moved.

I slammed the metal shard into the hound’s eye.

It shrieked.

I didn’t stop.

Again.

Again.

Again.

The creature collapsed, twitching.

Blood soaked the ground.

I lay there, shaking, breathing hard.

The screen chimed softly.

ENEMY DEFEATED

EXP GAINED: +15

LEVEL UP… FAILED

I stared at the word.

Failed.

“Why?” I whispered.

Another line appeared.

REASON: PLAYER ZERO CANNOT LEVEL NORMALLY

My hands curled into fists.

Of course.

Of course even here, I wasn’t allowed to grow like everyone else.

The hound’s body dissolved into light, leaving behind a small glowing shard.

The screen highlighted it.

ITEM ACQUIRED: BROKEN CORE (COMMON)

I picked it up with trembling fingers.

It was warm.

I didn’t know why, but something inside me settled.

I wasn’t dead.

Not yet.

I pushed myself to my feet.

My shoulder throbbed. Blood soaked my shirt. But the HP bar stopped flashing.

I looked at the ruins ahead.

“If this is a game,” I said quietly, “then I’ll play it.”

The screen blinked.

MAIN QUEST UPDATED

SURVIVE

I laughed again. This time, it didn’t sound broken.

It sounded angry.

And for the first time in my life, I felt something new.

Not hope.

Not strength.

But purpose.

Because if the world had turned me into Player Zero…

Then I would become something it never planned for.

Even if it killed me first.