2025-07-29 00:04:22The city at night was a different beast. Lights flickered where they once glowed steady. Horns blared without rhythm. People moved faster, talked louder, and trusted less. Jared walked with his hands in his pockets and his eyes sharp.
The system’s mission hovered silently in his mind like a loaded threat.
[Mission 002: Acquire one firearm (pistol or shotgun) within 48 hours.]
Simple. But not easy.
He wasn’t military. He didn’t have criminal contacts—at least not yet. And legal permits? Out of reach. So that left one option: the black market.
In his last life, he’d learned where the cracks in the city ran deepest. There was a spot near the riverfront, where shipping containers were stacked like building blocks and nobody asked questions. He remembered the name of a man who dealt in silence: Koro.
It took two commercial buses and a fifteen-minute walk to get there. The road narrowed the deeper he went, buildings giving way to silence. By the time Jared stepped into the makeshift lot, the air smelled like oil and cold metal.
A skinny teenager with dreadlocks and a split lip stood near the entrance, arms folded. He looked Jared up and down with zero interest.
“You lost?”
“I’m looking for Koro.”
“No one by that name here.”
Jared reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the only thing he knew would open doors—₦10,000 in crumpled bills.
The boy didn’t smile, but he stepped aside.
“Straight ahead. Don’t touch anything.”
Inside the container, the light was dim and yellow. The walls were lined with knives, crowbars, machetes, and—on the far wall—a wooden crate of pistols, all wrapped in black cloth.
Koro was seated behind a rusted desk, counting cash. Bald. Stocky. Dead-eyed.
“You don’t look like my usual buyers,” Koro said without looking up.
“I’m not.”
“Then why are you here?”
Jared didn’t hesitate. “I need a gun.”
“Why?”
“Because something’s coming,” Jared said. “And I won’t survive it without one.”
Koro finally looked up. Something flickered in his eyes. Not belief, but the familiarity of hearing crazy people talk.
“₦120,000 for a pistol,” he said flatly. “Cash.”
“I only have sixty.”
“Then you can buy a knife.”
Jared’s jaw tightened. “What about a trade?”
“I don’t do trades.”
“Information?”
Koro chuckled. “You think I need information? In this city?”
“You will,” Jared said quietly. “In less than a month, nothing in this city will matter. Phones won’t work. Power will fail. People will eat each other alive. You’ll be wishing you had someone like me to warn you earlier.”
Silence stretched.
Koro leaned forward, elbows on the table.
“You on something?”
“No,” Jared said. “But I’ve seen what’s coming. And if you give me one pistol, I’ll pay you triple in two weeks. You won’t need to chase me. I’ll come back to you.”
Koro studied him for a long moment. Then, slowly, he got up, walked to the back shelf, and pulled something out of a drawer. He came back with a matte black pistol wrapped in a cloth and placed it on the table between them.
“₦70,000. Final offer. You get bullets next time.”
Jared hesitated only a second, then pulled out the last of what he had. The money he’d saved for emergencies. What Elena’s father would say if he knew… Jared didn’t care.
The deal was done.
[Mission complete.]
[+1,500 points earned.]
[Combat Tab unlocked.]
In his mind, a new panel opened.
[Combat Tab: Skill Slot 1 – Empty | Weapon Slot 1 – Loaded (Pistol)]
[Locked: Tactical Reflex, Endurance Boost, Precision Mode]
Koro wrapped the gun tight in cloth and handed it over.
“If you’re wrong,” he said, “you’ll be broke, stupid, and alone.”
Jared looked him dead in the eyes.
“If I’m wrong, none of that will matter.”
Back at the Bai residence, it was almost midnight. Jared stepped through the door as quietly as possible, but someone was already waiting in the living room.
Elena.
Still dressed, eyes tired, fingers wrapped around a half-empty cup of tea. Her gaze flicked to him, then to the cloth in his hand.
“You were gone again.”
He nodded. “Had something to take care of.”
“What is it this time?” she asked, voice low. “More dignity?”
He almost smiled. Almost. But the truth weighed too much.
“No. Just protection.”
“From what?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked past her, heading up the stairs.
Behind him, her voice followed, quieter now. “Jared…”
He stopped.
She didn’t say anything else.
He didn’t turn around.
“I won’t always be useless,” he said. “You’ll see.”
She didn’t respond.
But she didn’t deny it either.
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Episode 12: Storm Roads
The rain started two hours after they left the bunker. It wasn’t gentle or forgiving—it came down in sheets, pounding against the broken asphalt of the highway like the sky itself was trying to scrub the world clean.Jared gripped the handlebars of the old military bike they’d found in an abandoned checkpoint shed. It roared down the cracked road, tires skimming puddles, engine groaning from years of disuse. Mei sat behind him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist, face pressed to his back to shield against the cold wind.They hadn’t said much since escaping the bunker. There was nothing to say. Every second counted now.“We’ll need fuel in the next twenty miles,” Jared shouted over the storm.Mei nodded, wiping water from her eyes. “How do you even know this bike will make it?”“I don’t,” he replied flatly. “But it’s faster than walking.”The sky above them flashed—lightning streaked jagged through the clouds, illuminating the skeletal remains of a once-bustling town. The buildings
Episode 11: Beneath the Surface
The entrance to the uplink bunker was buried beneath layers of moss, rotting leaves, and a collapsed thicket of tree limbs. No one would have known it was there unless they were looking. And even then, it took Jared nearly twenty minutes to uncover the old steel hatch hidden beneath a camouflaged tarp coated in decades of forest debris.Mei knelt beside him, shivering from the cold sweat that came with fear. She held the rifle tightly, even though she hadn’t fired it once yet. Her hands trembled, but her stance didn’t break.“This is it?” she asked quietly.Jared gave a slight nod. “Used to be a failsafe command post. Remote systems control. It was taken offline before the Collapse.”“Why would they hide it way out here?”“Because it wasn’t meant to be found. Not by the public.”The badge Finn gave him still felt warm in his hand. Like it carried the weight of all the ghosts it had passed through before reaching him. He slid it into the scanner beside the hatch. There was a long silen
Episode 10: The Ones Who Wait in the Fog
The fog hadn’t lifted by sunrise. If anything, it had grown thicker—so dense Jared could barely see past the tree line without straining. Nature didn’t move like this unless something unnatural had disturbed it.He was already dressed in full tactical gear, rifle strapped tight across his chest, boots laced up to the shin. His breath was slow, even, but everything about his body was alert. Primed.Mei stood on the porch in his old hoodie and jeans that didn’t quite fit, trying to shake the cold out of her limbs. She looked at the treeline and then at him.“You’re going out there, aren’t you?”Jared nodded once. “North Ridge sector. Something pinged the motion sensors.”“Could it be an animal?”He strapped on his knife. “Not unless it knew how to disable the backup camera first.”Her mouth parted slightly. “Someone’s watching us.”“They’ve probably been watching for days.”She took a breath, trying not to panic. “Let me come with you.”“No.”“I’m not staying behind while you walk into
Episode 9: Shadows in Echo Ridge
They reached Echo Ridge just before sunset. The cabin sat at the top of a narrow gravel road, shrouded by thick pine trees and jagged cliffs on either side. To Mei, it looked like something out of a forgotten survival manual—modest, solid, a little crooked with age, but hidden well.Jared cut the engine and sat still for a second. His eyes swept the treeline like they always had before he approached any shelter—measured, alert. You didn’t survive as long as he had by assuming any place was truly empty.Mei leaned forward. “This is yours?”He nodded. “I built it after I left the service. Never brought anyone here.”“Why not?”“Because this was the only place in the world that was mine.”The wind picked up. It carried the faint scent of pine needles and distant smoke. Mei wrapped her arms around herself as they stepped out of the SUV. The air felt colder here—sharper.Jared led the way to the front door, keys already in hand. He paused as he reached for the knob.The door was slightly a
Episode 8: Fire on the Horizon
Jared didn’t waste time watching Mei pack. He knew the moment she walked back into that house, she’d feel the pull of comfort again. The luxury. The lie. If he gave her too long, she might stay.He loaded the SUV with what little gear he had—his old rucksack, a folded camp stove, a water filter he hadn’t touched in months. There was a sidearm buried in a lockbox under the driver’s seat. He checked it now, loading each bullet with mechanical precision.[Time Remaining: 66 hrs 03 mins][Objective: Evacuate Safe Zone]The system’s calm tone was beginning to unnerve him. Like a god whispering in a burning temple—offering guidance just moments before everything crumbled.Mei came back out fifteen minutes later, wearing a dark hoodie and jeans, a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She looked different. Smaller. Like the world had finally reached her skin.“I didn’t bring much,” she murmured.“Good,” Jared said. “We’ll need room for supplies.”She climbed into the passenger seat without ano
Episode 7: The Tipping Point
The SUV’s engine rumbled low and steady like a warning growl. Jared stood beside it for a moment, listening, testing—every gear, every turn, every tremor in the machine. It wasn’t perfect. It wouldn’t outrun an explosion. But it would move, and in the days ahead, that was enough.He wiped his hands clean, though the grease clung to his fingers like guilt. The garage lights flickered. Another surge. The city’s power grid was failing in waves now, and no one was fixing it.[Time Remaining: 68 hrs 42 mins][Objective Update: Gather Med Supplies – In Progress]The system had gone quiet after that, no new prompts. No help. Just a countdown.He turned back toward the house.A sharp voice echoed through the halls upstairs—Mrs. Bai, again, her shrill tone cutting through silence like shattered glass.“You’re saying we can’t get through to the warehouse? What do you mean gone dark? Are you telling me the entire eastern district shut down and no one knows why?”Jared climbed the steps slowly, e
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