Player Zero:No Exit

2

Player Zero

Jack's point of View

That is probably why they chose me. I think that is the reason they picked me. They must have thought I was the person, for this so that is probably why they chose me.

That night started like every night. It was really quiet and dark outside. The night felt much like all the other nights that had come before it the night.

The ground under me was concrete. There was cardboard all around. I could hear the sound of cars going fast overhead. It sounded like they were all in a hurry to get somewhere.

I was lying under the bridge with my backpack held tight to my chest. This backpack had everything I owned in it. I had two shirts that I wore all the time. I also had one pair of socks with a hole, in the heel. Then there was a bottle that was half filled with water.. I had a phone that was cracked and had not worked in months. The bridge was my home now. My backpack was all my stuff.

My stomach hurt. This was nothing, for me. The feeling of hunger does not really bother you after some time. Hunger just stays inside you it is quiet. It feels heavy like a big stone is sitting in my stomach.

I looked up at the space above me and started counting my breaths. That is what I do when things feel really big and scary. I breathe in. Then I breathe out. I do it again and again. In. Out. In. Out. It helps me forget where the dark space is and what it feels like to be, in it.

I was halfway to sleep when I heard the footsteps of someone walking around. The footsteps were really loud. They woke me up. I was trying to sleep. The footsteps were not helping me to fall asleep. The footsteps were coming from the hallway. They were getting closer, to my room. I could hear the footsteps clearly. I knew that someone was walking around my house.

At first I ignored the people. The people walked over the bridge all the time. Some of the people were drunk. Some of the people were angry. Some of the people were just loud. None of the people 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. These were men. All of the men were dressed in black. They had shoes on their feet. The men did not look like the kind of people who wandered around under bridges.

My heart started to pound. I felt my heart beating fast. The heart was pounding in my chest.

One of them said hey.

His voice was smooth. Too smooth.

I did not answer. You got into trouble because you talked first.

Is that the man they were talking about someone else asked.

I felt a hand grab my arm. Someones hand was wrapped around my arm. It was holding on tight. The hand that was grabbing my arm was really strong. My arm was being held by this hand.

I did something without thinking about it. I kicked the person. I twisted my body to get away. I tried to pull my arms and legs. I am not very strong. I know how to fight in a dirty way. I used my elbows to hit the person. I used my knees to kick them. I would even use my teeth to bite them if I had to do that to fight back.

It does not matter.

Something sharp pressed into my neck.

Pain flared for half a second then it stopped. The pain was really bad for that moment. It was like a sting that came out of nowhere and then it was gone. The pain, from that half a second still felt weird.

Nothing.

I woke up. I was choking. It was a scary feeling. My throat was closing up. I was choking. I had to try and catch my breath because I was choking.

The cold air really hurt my lungs when I breathed in. My head was throbbing with pain. My body felt so heavy it was like my body was filled with sand. The cold air and the pain, in my head made my body feel like it was weighted down with sand.

I was strapped to a chair.

The white lights were shining brightly over my head. The room had a smell. It was too clean actually. It smelled like the hospital you know like metal and those strong chemicals they use to clean everything.

My hands were tied up. My legs were tied up too. I could not move my hands or my legs because they were tied up. The ropes were really tight, around my hands and my legs. My hands and my legs were completely tied up.

I tried to move. The straps did not budge.

Panic hit me hard and it happened so fast. I felt panic. It was a very strong feeling that came over me quickly. The panic hit me. It was very scary.

“Hello, Jack.”

I just stopped moving I was so shocked that I froze.

A man was standing behind a glass wall. He was watching me like I was some kind of animal trapped in a cage. This man had on a coat. He was smiling,. It was a really thin smile. His eyes were very calm.

I asked him how do you know my name? I wanted to know the answer, to this question. I was really surprised that he knew my name. I did not tell him my name. I was wondering how he found out what my name is. My name is something that I do not tell to everyone so I was curious to know how he knew my name.

He smiled wider now.

He told me that they know a lot, about me. They know my age. I do not have any parents that they know of. I do not have a place that I call home. I am not going to school. The people who take care of me when I am sick do not have any records of me for the five years.

The man tapped something on the tablet. He was using the tablet. He tapped on it. The tablet was, in his hands. He tapped on the screen.

You do not exist.

My throat just went really dry.

That makes you the perfect person. You are perfect, for this because that makes you perfect.

I did not like the way he said that. The way he said that really bothered me. His words were very upsetting, to me.

I said to the person what do you want?

He said that the reason was to test a system. The other reason was that the person was not expensive. He thought the person was a choice because the person was cheap.

That word really hit me harder than anything that has been said. The word had an impact, on me. That word is something that I will remember for a time.

Cheap.

I was struggling again. The anger, inside me was giving me the strength I needed. "Let me go" I said.

The man shook his head. He said "We cannot do that with the plan."

“Why?”

No one is going to look for you because no one will look for you.

The lights in the room started to flicker. It was really weird when the lights did that. The lights flickered on and, off a times.

The room really shook. It was like the whole room was shaking. It was very scary. The room shook a lot.

A loud noise filled the air. It was, like the sound of a glass breaking. It was muffled, like it was happening underwater. The sound of the glass breaking was really sharp.

The man stepped back. He looked at the man who was standing in front of the man. The man was really surprised to see the man, like that. The man did not know what to do.

The man said to Player Zero "I wish you luck Player Zero."

I shouted what is going on here what is happening I really want to know what.

The floor just disappeared. I mean the floor was there. Then it was gone. The floor I was standing on vanished into air.

I fell down.

Not down. Not up. Just… away.

I was surrounded by a bunch of colors. There was blue and green and red everywhere. I also saw lines and numbers flying by my eyes fast that I could not read them. The colors and lines and numbers were really moving fast. Colors like blue and green and red were, around me.

My body felt like it was being pulled apart. Then it was put back together again and again. This kept happening to my body. My body was pulled apart. Put back together so many times. It was a strange feeling, for my body.

I screamed loud but my own voice was completely silent, to me.

Then everything just stopped.

I fell down hard onto the hard ground. The ground was very hard when I slammed onto it.

A sharp pain went through my back. I took a breath and rolled over onto my side. Then I started coughing and dirt came out of my mouth. My back was hurting really bad from the pain. The pain, in my back was what made me roll onto my side in the place.

The sky above me wasn’t a sky.

The thing was black. It was filled with shapes that floated around. There were also symbols that glowed. These symbols drifted slowly like stars that were broken. The black thing had a lot of these floating shapes and glowing symbols.

The air was humming. It was like you could feel the sound of the air humming around you. The humming of the air was really loud.

I pushed myself up slowly. My hands were shaking badly. I felt like I could fall down at any moment because my knees felt so weak.

I was really scared. I whispered to myself where am I?

I heard a sound that answered me. The sound answered me.

DING.

A blue screen suddenly appeared in front of my face. The blue screen was really bright. It caught my attention. I was looking at the screen and I wondered what it was doing there. The blue screen was of scary because it just showed up out of nowhere.

I flinched hard and I fell back.

The screen was always there, in front of me. I mean the screen followed me everywhere I went. The screen was like it was watching me or something. I did not like it when the screen followed me.

Some words showed up.

WELCOME, PLAYER.

INITIALIZING SYSTEM…

SCANNING BODY…

SCANNING MENTAL STATE…

SCANNING LIFE VALUE…

I just sat there I was completely still I. I was frozen.

"This is not real " I said to myself. I hit my head. I am dreaming. I thought about the accident. I am probably dreaming about all of this because I hit my head. I am just dreaming I told myself this is all a dream because I hit my head.

SCAN COMPLETE.

ERROR DETECTED.

The screen glitched. It was really weird. The lines, on the screen flickered a lot. This was the screen glitched that I saw.

PLAYER STATUS: UNREGISTERED

ASSIGNING TEMPORARY ID…

ID CONFIRMED: PLAYER ZERO

My chest felt tight all of a sudden. The tightness, in my chest was very uncomfortable. My chest was tight.

Player?

Game?

My hands went through the screen when I reached out to touch it. The screen was not solid all but I could still see the screen and it was definitely there the screen was right, in front of me.

Then I saw another line. It appeared.

LOGOUT OPTION: DISABLED

I laughed. It was a sound that did not sound right.

“Of course it is.”

A new window opened up in front of me. The new window was really big. It had a lot of things on it. I saw the window. I thought it was pretty cool. The new window was something that I had not seen before.

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 did not know a lot, about games. Even I knew that this game was really bad. The game was bad. I was not a fan of games but I knew that this one was not good.

Level zero.

No class.

Stats at one.

I looked around my surroundings to see what was there. The room was pretty empty. I looked around some more.

The land went on and on in every direction. There were trees everywhere. The ground was all broken up. You could see ruins way off in the distance. The air smelled bad like dust and rust all mixed together.

I heard a sound. It echoed. The sound. It was really loud. The sound that echoed was very clear.

A growl.

Low. Close.

The screen flashed again.

WARNING: HOSTILE ENTITY DETECTED

I turned around in time to see the thing. It was really something. I am talking about the thing that I saw. The thing was very surprising, to me.

A creature came out from, behind a wall that had fallen down. This thing looked like a dog. It was not right. It was too big. It had too many teeth. The skin of the creature was gray. It was all cracked, like the mud that dries up when it is not wet anymore. The creature was really scary because it looked like a dog. It was not a dog at all.

The red text showed up above the persons head.

RUIN HOUND – LEVEL 3

My heart just dropped down. I felt like something hit me hard. My heart dropped. It was a scary feeling.

I whispered that I am, at level zero.

The thing. Then it charged at me. The thing was really scary when it did that. The thing just kept on coming.

I went for a run.

My feet slipped on dirt. That was really scary. My lungs were burning much. I could hear the thing behind me. It was making a lot of noise, with its claws scraping against the stone.

I was walking along. Then I tripped. It was a silly thing to do. I mean I just tripped over my feet. The thing that happened was I tripped.

Pain exploded as I hit the ground. It was a bad feeling when the pain from the fall started. The ground was hard. It hurt my body when I landed on it. The pain, from hitting the ground was terrible.

The dog jumped fast. The hound leapt over something.

I rolled over at the last second. The animals teeth snapped shut inches from my face.

I picked up a piece of metal that was lying on the ground and I swung it around really wildly. The metal was. It felt heavy in my hand as I swung it. I was swinging the broken metal piece wildly.

The ball bounced off the skull of the person. The skull was hard. The ball bounced right off it. The ball really bounced off the skull.

The dog ran into me hard. The hound slammed into me. It was very scary. I did not see the hound coming. The hound was big. It slammed into me.

I felt teeth sink into my shoulder. It was a scary feeling when the teeth dug into my skin. The teeth were biting down on my shoulder. It hurt a lot. My shoulder was throbbing with pain because of the teeth that were sunk into it.

I screamed loud.

Pain flooded my body. It was hot and sharp. It felt very real. The pain was hot. The pain was sharp. The pain was real.

This wasn’t a game.

This was death.

My vision became blurry. I could not see things clearly. My vision was really blurry.

A red warning flashed on the screen in front of me. It was really bright. Caught my attention right away. The red warning was very noticeable.

HP CRITICAL

The hound reared back for another bite of the dog food. The dog food was what the hound was after. The hound wanted to eat all of the dog food. The hound was very hungry. The dog food smelled really good, to the hound.

I raised my arm without thinking about it. My arm just went up. That is all. I did not think before I raised my arm.

The screen flickered. It was really annoying when the screen did that. The screen would just flicker for a second. Then it would be fine again.. It was still pretty weird that the screen was doing this.

CONDITION MET

UNREGISTERED PLAYER RESPONSE ACTIVATED

I was really surprised. I said what.

A lot of light came bursting out of my chest.

The dog just stopped moving. The hound was really still.

Someone sent me a message. It just showed up.

UNIQUE STATE UNLOCKED

DESPERATION (PASSIVE)

When the health points of something I mean the HP falls below ten percent all the physical things that a person does are made a lot stronger. The physical actions are really amplified when the HP is very low like, below ten percent.

I did not understand what was happening. My body moved anyway. My body just started moving. I was not really, in control of it. I was confused because I did not know what was going on. My body kept on moving.

I slammed the metal shard into the hounds eye. No I mean I really slammed that metal shard, into the hounds eye. The hound was huge and scary but I was not going to back so I took that metal shard and I slammed it into the hounds eye.

The thing let out a scream. It shrieked. The sound was really scary.

I did not stop.

Again.

Again.

Again.

The creature fell down. Its body started shaking all over. The creature was really struggling. The creature collapsed, twitching.

The ground was covered in blood. There was a lot of blood everywhere. The blood had soaked into the ground.

I was lying there my body shaking over and I was breathing really hard.

The screen made a noise.

The enemy is defeated.

EXP GAINED: +15

LEVEL UP… FAILED

I looked at the word. The word was just sitting there. I kept looking at the word.

Failed.

I said quietly why?

Another line showed up.

REASON: PLAYER ZERO CANNOT LEVEL NORMALLY

My hands curled into fists. I can feel my fingers tightening up. My hands are all clenched. My hands are really curled into fists now.

Of course.

I was not able to grow like people even in this place. It is just not fair that I was treated differently. The fact is, I was not allowed to grow like everyone and that is something that really bothers me about this place.

The hounds body just disappeared into air and turned into light. This left behind a piece of the hound that was still glowing it was, like a small shard. The shard was glowing.

The screen actually highlighted the thing that I was looking at. The screen made it very clear that this was the part. The screen highlighted it.

ITEM ACQUIRED: BROKEN CORE (COMMON)

I picked the book up with fingers that were shaking bad. The book felt heavy in my hands. My fingers were trembling.

It was warm.

I do not know why. Something, inside of me just felt right. The thing that was bothering me it just stopped. Something inside of me settled.

I wasn’t dead.

Not yet.

I got up from the ground. Stood on my feet. I was standing on my two feet now.

My shoulder was really hurting. I had blood over my shirt.. The good thing was that the HP bar had stopped flashing. This meant that my health was not going down anymore. My shoulder still throbbed,. At least the HP bar was steady now.

I looked at the ruins that were, in front of me. The ruins were really something to see. They were old. Broken down. I stood there. Looked at the ruins ahead of me.

I said this in a voice "If this is a game then I will play the game."

The screen just blinked.

MAIN QUEST UPDATED

SURVIVE

I laughed again. This time my laugh did not sound broken.

The thing sounded really angry.

For the first time in my life I felt something new. This feeling was really different, from anything I had felt before. The thing that I felt was something that I had never experienced. It was the feeling that I was talking about this feeling that I had.

Not hope.

Not strength.

But purpose.

Because if the world had turned me into Player Zero, that would be really something. I mean think about it the world had actually turned me into Player Zero. This is a deal, to me Player Zero. The fact that the world had turned me into Player Zero is still hard for me to understand.

Then I would become something that it never planned for me to be something that the plan did not include. That is becoming something it never planned for.

Even if it killed me first.