For killing 378 unassimilated members of your own species:

Blood Lust: (Tier II) 298/1000

Souls: 378

Black Market Points: 378

Experience has been cut for killing unassimilated beings:

3780 XP

Congratulations, you are now level 11

Access to classes has been opened

Warning, taking a class severely increases experience costs required to level up.

Access Status to assign stat points

As I try and comprehend why only now I could have a class, a series of loud bangs fill the empty cafeteria.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

….

…

…..

My exhausted mind takes a moment to process what happened, and upon realizing, screams in further agony. I drop to my knees after confirming my body had three additional holes gracing its torso.

Managing to twist my stiffening neck towards the entrance, the sight of a frighteningly pale officer barely capable of holding his gun steady greats me. He honestly looks like he's looking at a monster or something…..

….

….

…..

Oh shit. He isn’t putting his gun down. THIS IS REALLY BAD! How could I be so stupid! I got cocky after I scared my classmates and found how easy they were to kill. There's a good reason why murderers only last so long and why I had restrained myself from becoming one until now.

Guns are a serious issue, why the hell did I ignore the problem of adults. My stupid subconscious has even registered, multiple times, how their disappearance was important. Why had I written off such a huge complication thinking they would stay hidden for as long as I needed them to.

This always happens to me. I get confident, I get burned. End of story, or at least it should be, this time the end of the story may just be my life.

That guy had terrible timing. After all the effort I put into feeding Aiyla, I’m running on empty.

Seeing that i’m still breathing, the officer shakes even more and once again levels his sights to end my life.

WARNING! YOUR HEALTH IS AT A CRITICAL LEVEL- ANY FURTHER LOSES MAY LEAD TO DEATH!

Yep that confirms it, i’m gonna die if I don’t do something.

As I reach towards Aiyla, lying to my right, I begin coughing up blood. This seems to spook the officer as he begins to empty his clip into my general direction.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

I lift her up over my shoulder, barely able to keep my body upright.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

Something tells my I should use more Blood Aura, but this time instead of an extending blade, try coating all of Aiyla in it.

*BANG* *BANG*

With all the strength I had left in my body, I throw her, and watch her as a blood red fog coats her, tip to base.

….

….

…

My pain addled brain can barely perceive her form as she cuts through the air as fast as a bullet, launching the officer off his feet and into the wall around 20 feet back.

The last thing I see is his limp form crucified against the grey concrete blocks on the other side of the hallway.

Everything is red.

Blood fills everything.

Screams are natural, silence is hell.

Everything feels like fire, yet there is no light, only red.

Something is speaking.

I can’t hear it.

Its warbled and tainted enough that it barely registers as speach to me in this infernal place.

It’s telling me to do something.

To take something.

T̵̼͓̒͒̐̒̀o̷͓̊̅ ̷͍̖̦̰̭̳̯͔͌̋̌͐̀̔b̸̨̪̟̼̏̐̋e̵̡̛̞̠̹̬̹̼̼̰͗͒́̿̀̽͑̕ ̸̮͚̌̑̊̑̾͠s̴̡̮̟͇͎͖͍̳̓͐̓͑͐͝ͅo̴͍̯̻̙̍͐̌̀̄́̆̚m̸̻̣̱͈͈͔̋͛e̵̛̠͓͒͋̈́͌͊̊͂̾͝t̶̛͖͆́̔̈́̈́͂̎h̶̢̛̦̺̥̭̪͍̫̠̭̑͐̽̎̓̓̾̏̕ï̸̠̊̆̈́͜ǹ̸̦̖̝̣̣̬̎̓͐͑́́g̴͈̙̻̝͕̈́̌͐͌̈́̉̕͠!̵̰͖̺̊̾̿̇

I need to become SOMETHING.

I.

I.

I.

Who am I?

Everything began to dim.

I am… Mark….

The darkness surrounds me.

I am…. I need….. Help me.

It took me.

Barely registering my consciousness returning to my body, I sit still while the flood of messages wash over me.

Congratulations! You have survived N̴̰̮̝̋͌̔͗̍i̴̧͕̺̝͍̖̒͌̓͒̅͛͘ġ̸̛̛̻͗͌̈́̃̋̚h̴̞̺͖̬͇̗̘͙̮̩͊̓̀̑̚t̷̫̳̉̌̄͂̈́̈́̆̕m̸̱̞͎͖͈̖̫̻͉̋̏̌͝a̸̯̟̘͔̗͎̿̇̃̈́̏̓͂̾r̸͕̍͐͂͐͆͠͝e̶̖̅̽̉

Congratulations! Through sheer luck you have survived! For having your total health lower than 1% for more than 4 hours you have been granted The Risk Taker title.

The Risk Taker: (Tier I) +4 Fate

Feat of strength performed! You have temporarily increased your health in order to survive and consequently have been granted the Willful title

Willful: (Tier I) +2 Will

Congratulations Earth! The God has granted you The Gift!

Integration: 100%

There are those among you who have integrated before the rest of you. Those will be your leaders, your champions, and your greatest enemies for now. Grow stronger before you gain access to higher Zones.

Shops will be opened shortly, standby.

Know that God is always watching.

Shutting my eyes to the onslaught of messages, I try and remember what I did to end up like this….. Oh…. Yeah it's coming back- I got cocky then got shot. Thanks memory for not losing an ounce of shame over that.

Luckily it looks like i’ve stopped bleeding…. Wait, it looks like the holes in my torso are also gone…. Thats fucking awesome! This whole Gift thing is pretty much handing out super powers like candy- fast regeneration is awesome!

--Little did Mark realize, he had been unconscious for more than a day already. --

God the smell in here is terrible. It's like a combination of roadkill and piss. I need to get out of here before I add to the worsening smell.

Squirming around for a few seconds to get all the congealed blood off me, I get up to retreive Aiyla. When I finally get to the spot I threw her, I find a huge problem. She's gone.

It's just one fucking thing after another nowadays isn’t it…. It definitely wasn’t the cop, his corpse proves that. He must’ve had an accomplice. Someone probably tried to get him down and touched Aiyla in the process, but that's not right. When the others touched her, they all fell unconscious. So is this person a pioneer as well or what?

Knowing I can’t wander around unarmed I pick up the dead cop’s Glock 26 as well as some extra magazines. Chucking the now empty mag into my backpack with Scott and Jessy, I quickly insert the magazine before cocking the slide and removing the magazine. After that I take the remaining bullet from the old officer’s mag and reinsert it to top off the new mag. Guess those gun safety courses actually come in handy. One of the few privileges of living in bum fuck nowhere- you get taught some of the most brilliant but also redneck things ever.

Either way, now that my Glock is loaded and primed to fire 16 bullets in quick succession, I feel a lot more confident in retrieving my Aiya from her kidnappers.

I won’t make the same mistakes as the officer… At Least I hope I won’t.

He should have kept firing instead of checking if I was alive. If your enemy still stands they can take a few more rounds.

And with that mindset I set off to rescue my Aiyla.

Ah of course. What is it with people in post apocalyptic movies and congregating in wide open rooms? I always thought that was the dumbest possible choice and that no one would actually do that in a real life scenario….. Either way, it looks like in the time I was unconscious, all the students and faculty had congregated in the gymnasium. Some even look like they’re heavily injured.

Claw, and teeth marks litter the assembly as well as blood. Lots and lots of blood.

Weird I could’ve sworn I had only attacked the Cafeteria but oh well. I'll take this as a blessing in disguise, hopefully they won’t freak out when they see me now that everyone looks like shit.

Before I enter, I make a point to carefully hide my party members as well as my glock in the belt of my pants. Nothing says psycho like some dismembered arms and a gun.

Hoping I won’t regret this, I confidently walk into the gymnasium only to stop as everyone’s fearful gazes turn to look at me…… SHIT! Do they know? Oh fuck, I’m really regretting not being more stealthy. Why the fuck had I done all of that work if it was gonna bite me this hard down the line.

Luckily, before my mind could further berate itself for lacking foresight, one of the teachers- in fact the principle walks up to me.

“How are you alive?”

….

….

…

That catches me off guard. So was he the officer’s accomplice? Or could they be referring to something else…. Time to put my years of acting to good use.

“Sir what do you mean? I just woke up, I’m sorry I probably look terrible. Some crazy kid with a huge spear suddenly attacked us during lunch, and…. And…” I break down in tears. Well not really but they all see them as real so that's all that matters.

Looking awkward, he quickly tries to change the topic, “Oh my, I’m sorry for bringing that up. I was just curious as most of us here were attacked by some sort of rat-wolf hybrid. We saw what happened there and believed they had also been assaulted. So you say it was an actual person?” His face pales by several degrees after mentioning the cafeteria.

I gently nod my head, making sure to slump and look as tired and traumatized as possible.

“By gods, what kind of sick, depraved monster would do such a thing…. How did you manage to survive?” He asked incredulously, his expression of pure shock was so amusing I had to restrain myself from laughing. Don’t want to break my cover just yet.

“I just got lucky.” I hiccup before doing that grating sound that all people who try and talk while crying at the same time do, “My friend Scott got stabbed then fell on me. I was in too much shock to move. It was… There was so much blood. I couldn’t move, he… he just smiled and laughed. The guy with the spear was insane.” At this point i’ve managed to get the whole water works flowing. Each poisonous word I spew from my mouth further convinces the gathered people of my innocence. Too easy.

“Ok enough, no need to continue. I saw for myself the….. Horrific scene that the cafeteria had turned into, there is no need to relieve those moments. You are safe now.” On the inside a hideous smile forms, but I still had to keep up pretenses so I continue my sobbing for another minute before ‘calming down’.

Quite curious I ask, “So what happened to you guys. Could big rats really do so much damage?”

He takes a moment to stop shivering before he begins their story.

Apparently it was a Really big rat. He actually showed me one of them they had managed to kill, and its size alone was definitely wolf proportioned. It could easily stand at least 3 feet tall on all fours and accompanying the cartoonishly large incisors rats normally had, were a mouthful of what I would almost call, shark teeth. There were rows upon rows inside their mouths, to the point where I began to think they would be more of a hindrance rather than actually help break down food. Their claws stretched out to form one inch blades while their fur was so thick, it felt like even my Aiyla might struggle to pierce its hide. It also had a tail as long as its entire body combined with what seemed to be thousands of tiny…. Knives? Maybe bone shards are better description. If someone was caught by that tail, they would be lucky to not be flayed alive.

The principle then went on to explain how they had assaulted the entrance first, but luckily this school used to be a bunker built to relieve some of the residents stress in the cold war. This meant that everything was built to withstand impact, so the principle had time to use the intercom and gather most students to the gymnasium before they broke in.

That must’ve during the time I was in the cafeteria. That's convenient timing, but also matches up with when I started getting messages from Mr. Blue. No doubt they are connected in some way.

He then goes on to explain how after realizing over half the students were missing, they formed groups and set off and try to rescue them before the wolf-rats got them. In the end, one of the groups found the cafeteria- from stench alone apparently, and proceeded to hurl multiple times before retrieving an oddly evil spear. They didn’t have time to drag the corpse of officer shitty aim back before the wolf-rats found and started chasing them. That in the end, is how they got the prime specimen before us. Closing the doors they were barely able to shut out the rest of the pack, while only letting a single one in.

By this part I was on the edge of my seat, they really did have Aiyla…. WHERE DID THEY PUT HER THOUGH? GOTTA FIND HER.

HE said something about how one of the students holding the spear had stabbed the rat, but my mind had already focused on the fact that Aiyla was here. Someone used her. They TOUCHED HER WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

In the nicest tone I could muster I asked, “And where is that spear right now?”

Taken aback by my sudden interruption of their story, “They should be in the equipment storage room why do you-” All I needed to hear was storage room before I had taken off towards the other side of the gym.

Behind me I could hear people yelling at me to be ‘careful’ and ‘watch it’ but my mind was solely focused on the location of my spear.

Don’t worry Aiyla, I’m coming.