Ricardo looked around and saw oversized bugs and mutated rats filling the streets. An army of them.

From the river below, a mutated fish jumped over the bridge and fell on the other side. It was huge, bigger than Ricardo, with small tentacles coming from its body and a sharp tail that looked like metal.

After the first came a few others, then tens of fish. They all had some differences from each other, like spikes instead of tentacles, or more eyes, but seemed to have evolved from the same species. He had no clue why the hell they were jumping above his bridge. Was it fun for them? Whatever the reason, he made sure the wrench was nearby and started pilling up the rocks faster to build his shelter.

There was a sudden bird caw, and a huge black bird dived from the skies and its claws caught one fish. It was already flying away when the fish did something Ricardo couldn't see, and the bird let out a painful cry and fell on the river. From that moment on, all the fish stopped jumping over the bridge and he could see lots of them fighting to eat the bird's meat.

'Holy shit,' he thought. The fish had been baiting a predator to eat them! He just hoped they had already eaten their fill. After that scene, he didn't doubt they would eat him if given the opportunity.

But it wasn't over. With another bird call, another bird came, but this time, it was followed by many others. They went straight for the group of fish on the water, their beaks drawing blood and meat, their claws cutting the fish into small pieces. A few of them took big fish with them and the others followed. Only a few bodies remained on the water, and submarine animals Ricardo couldn't see quickly carried them away.

Nature had been forcibly changed, and it was now adapting. The first few days or even months of that world would be chaotic as the food chain rearranged itself and the monsters set up new territories.

And he was supposed to survive that.

As if mocking him, at that exact moment, he saw hundreds of butterflies coming in his direction. They were all shades of blue and the size of his head. They had all evolved the same way, their wings glowing slightly, releasing a cloud of shining dust that he didn't want any close to him. Their bodies had changed a lot though, and all along its length, there was a big mouth with sharp teeth so big it could barely fit their mouths.

All of them were bloody already.

"Shit. Oh, shit," he said and looked for his long metal stick. He grabbed it and started waving it madly in the butterfly direction.

It worked. They changed direction, probably still not used to their new size and threat when compared to a human. Or so he hoped; he didn't want them to be as smart as the fish and only be giving him a false sense of security for now, then come for him when he least expected.

He stopped building, suddenly realizing he didn't want to be in a closed space with any monsters. Then he cursed himself for his stupidity; he was building because he wanted to be bunked and protected from the monsters.

The situation was messing with him already, and he hadn't even faced any monster yet. That worried him more than anything.

Time passed slowly, each second more tense than the one before, while at the same time he didn't feel the passing of time. It was as if he was in limbo, watching the threatening birds in the skies, the big monsters in the water, and the animals on the streets roaming about and fighting each other.

His shelter took shape. The walls needed to be relatively thick for stability and he ended up making it wider than he would've liked due to all the food he had savaged, enough for two weeks without rationing. It was square-ish, with an opening that would be closed by using a relatively large metal board he had brought with him.

The food stash occupied half the space, with extra walls around it as thick as the shelter proper for extra security against any monsters who might stumble on his bridge somehow. Due to how important the food and water were, the stash was the first thing he finished building.

Only the ceiling of his shelter was missing when he noticed movement on the streets. The city had many capybaras living on the river and one of them was standing just on the edge of the broken bridge, smelling the ground and pacing around.

Capybaras were basically long-legged guinea pigs the size of large dogs, but this one had shrunk a bit and its body looked rock-gray instead of beige or maroon. In fact, its hide looked positively rocky, while its head had developed a third eye on the front and the nose had doubled in width, now spotting four holes instead of two. Its claws were scratching the concrete fiercely.

Soon, another one appeared. This one had pink feathers instead and the face of an eagle, beak and everything. Mercifully, it didn't have any wings to fly.

Then came a third aberration, and a fourth, and soon, there were tens of the things on the other side of the gap between his bridge and the street. Ricardo didn't know why they were there, what they wanted, but he didn't like it one bit. He liked even less that his shelter didn't look like it could withstand a charge from those large animals. He had to make it sturdier, but it would take some time and more materials.

The great numbers of capybaras became a problem for them. The ones behind pushed the ones in the front and the first one fell on down the slope, going to the river with a pig-like squeal. Another one followed, but suddenly, they stopped and parted ways.

On the very back of the group, he saw a blue capybara with glowing yellow eyes appear. It was the smallest of the lot, not much bigger than a large pug, but the way it moved reminded him more of a leopard than a capybara. It also had long claws and its pointy teeth were visible through an opening on its upper lip.

It looked straight at Ricardo's eyes, then at his shelter under construction, then back to him. And then it ran to the edge of the road.

Its acceleration speed was impressive. It jumped and shot from the edge like a damn arrow, going over the three-foot-tall barricade at the edge and landing on the bridge fast enough that it slid a little to come to a stop, its claws leaving marks on the asphalt.

Once there, it stopped, bared its fangs to Ricardo, then nodded to the other edge of the bridge. Ricardo understood well enough that it was ordering him to leave and it freaked him out. An intelligent monster was one of the worst things that could happen to him. Shouldn't it be sapient enough for the system to take it away?

What should he do? Could he even leave safely? It seemed willing enough to allow him to escape, but moving the heavy metal plate took effort and he would be vulnerable while dragging it into position. What if the capybara took the chance to attack? It was fast enough that it would be his end.

Even worse, he took a glance at the other side, and he could see an enormous swarm of mutated rats on the street. Which one was better to fight, the intelligent monster or hundreds of rats?

He obviously chose the former. Even if he survived the rats, then what? He would've given up the relative safety of the bridge, his shelter, and all his food and water for a chaotic city. No, this was something he had to fight for.

More intelligent than normal or not, it was only an animal. He was a human, the only sapient species on the planet. Millions of years of evolution had made him smarter than animals, and this proved he was the fittest species. A random system coming by wouldn't make him give up on that.

And it wasn't like he was a nerd who had never fought before. He could hold his own in a bar brawl, and he had enough muscles that he didn't fear a big pug with sharp teeth. He also had done his fair share of physical intimidation in his professional career — most people didn't realize how much it was part of the business world, one of the reasons he hit the gym.

Ricardo took his pipe wrench and clutched it, staring the damn monster straight in the eyes, and taking a step towards it, making his position obvious. He also purposefully made his shoulders as large as possible to look threatening.

The capybara stared back at him for a while, then it lowered its head in submission. He made the same gesture with his head that it had done towards him, ordering it to leave his bridge. He didn't want an intelligent monster close to him while he slept. It further lowered its head, touching the ground, showing it wanted to stay and would submit to him.

He wasn't sure about what he should do. While he didn't think he would lose in a fight, he also didn't believe he would survive unscratched, and he didn't have medical supplies. If he got a deep wound, he would need stitches and antibiotics, none of which he had available. He would fight if he needed to, but should he needlessly provoke a fight?

Yet again, the answer was obvious. No, he shouldn't. He nodded but pointed at the capybara, then at the ground, meaning he wanted it to stay there. He was firm about it. It nodded and made a tentative step forward, so he stepped hard on the ground and grunted.

It stepped back, startled. He pointed at the ground again. It nodded and smelled the ground around it as if it would lie down, but suddenly, it rushed at him with bared teeth.

The submissive act might've made him drop his guard a notch in any other situation, but this shitty situation had been called a crucible of valor. He didn't believe for a second that the system that froze humankind and sold two corpses to the highest bidders would send him a puppy for him to command at will. No, he had seen much worse backstabbing in the corporate ladder and he was on edge already from all the shit going around.

The capybara was fast, but he already had the weapon in his hands and he did a proper swing with all his strength and a stable footing. The monster might have big teeth, but it wasn't used to hunting, not yet. It B-lined at him and the wrench hit it straight on the head.

It left out a painful whimper and it should be the end of it, but there was something wrong with the animal. It was way heavier than it should've been, and its weight pushed his wrench out of the way. He wasn't expecting that, so despite his proper positioning, it still pinned him to the ground when it hit his body.

He fell to the ground in pure disbelief. How had a thing that small pushed him, a guy weighing over two hundred pounds, to the ground? He felt lucky he had broken no ribs from the impacts. The loud painful whimpers from the capybara filled the air, and he dismissed the question for now. It tried to stand up and get away from him but was too dazed to do it right. Part of him felt pity for the thing, but instinct and adrenaline had taken control already. That was a monster that had tried to take his life. It was him or it.

He rolled pushed it out of him with some effort, rolled to the side, stood up, and kicked it on the head, instantly regretting him. His shoes were not made to dampen impact and its head was too hard. He felt his toes break as pain assaulted his mind.

Even more adrenaline overtook him and he let out a primal yell of pain, rage, and fear, and swung his wrench again.

It whimpered. He repeated the attack. And again. And again. He kept hitting the thing long after it stopped moving, long after its head opened and its brain matter covered the ground. Then, panting, he let go of the wrench and allowed his body to hit the ground. He sat there and looked at the dead thing with his mind empty of any thought.

Waves of pain from his foot shook him awake from the daze, and he realized he was the dumbest guy he had ever known. With so many dangerous flying monsters around, he had left brain matter in the open for them to smell? He quickly dragged the capybara's body to the edge of the bridge and threw it over the edge on the river below. Next, he used a couple of plastic bags to take as much of the brain matter as he could from the ground and also throw it on the river — and damn the environment; it wanted to kill him. Lastly, he used two bottles of water with a heavy heart to cleanse the remains as best as he could.

By that time, his foot was killing him, but he didn't dare take his shoe away to have a look. He wasn't sure if it was the smart thing to do, but he didn't feel confident in putting the shoe back after looking, and he couldn't allow himself to be barefooted when he might need to run among broken concrete, metal, and glass to save his life.

He looked around and the capybaras had bailed out, now replaced by a group of big scorpions moving around that didn't look interested in his shelter. Maybe that's why the capybara wanted to take his bridge, for their own safety? The rats were still on the other side of the street, and it looked like even more of them had joined the swarm, which roamed through fallen buildings like crazy in search of food.

He cursed when, at that very moment, a group separated from the swarm and came his way. His heart sank when he remembered rats could swim and climb well enough. Soon, he would've to fight for his life.

At that very moment, the system made a comeback with a single line of white text appearing in the middle of his vision.

Initializing overlay... Done.