《The Rapture》 The dead Boy Hi, my name is Cain. I guess now I should say something stupid and cheesy like ''and this is my story''. Or if I wanted to be egotistical ''this is my legend''. But I won''t, because this isn''t a story. Or I guess, for you it would be. But for me, for me it''s a lifeline. Amongst all this insanity, I''m writing in my diary. I mean journal. Diary sounds too pansy for this. So I''ll write down my entire life during the Fall, My hopes are that this will stop me from going insane. Unless I''m already insane. Do insane people know that their insane? That sounds like something an insane person would say. Well I''m not talking to any inanimate objects yet, right diary? Whatever, enough of this crap. Im Cain, and this is my diary-journal. Chapter 1 : Deeper than rock bottom I sat in my usual spot of the classroom, right in the back corner. I know I looked like a loner, but I was fine with that. Probably because I was one. I stared at the rest of my classmates, chatting and flirting with each other. Like normal teenagers. I wouldn''t say I wasn''t jealous of them, talking to one another like it was easy. For people like me, talking to others is harder than brain surgery. Of course, there were a few others loners strewn about the class. People often ask why we didn''t just band together to form a little loner group. But then we wouldn''t be loners anymore, would we? I rested my head on my desk, covering the exposed side part of my face with my arms. The sound in the room was almost deafening. Sixty something kids all trying to talk over one another, the sound just kept on climbing. Dear god, the classes here in China are huge! Back in Australia it''d be rare to find a class over the size of thirty. But I guess that''s China for you. ------------------------------- I slept through the rest of the school day, pretty much what I every day. Sadly my mum and dad were forcing me to walk home, I think it was because they didn''t want to drive through the traffic. Though I wouldn''t blame them, have you ever seen Chinese traffic? I trudged along a crowded street, making my way over to a little alleyway that led to a small tunnel. This was my shortcut through the streets. I don''t know why the tunnel was put there, but it looks shady as shit and claustrophobic people would probably have a stroke in the thing. So it was almost always empty. I entered the tunnel and kept my eyes to the floor as I walked, it was a habit that I''d always had, eyes are apparently the windows to the soul, well my windows are closed. Little did I know that that was my first mistake in a symphony of fuck ups. I was roughly halfway through the tunnel when I heard a loud groaning to my immediate side. Using my less than stellar reflexes I spun around, only to see a hideous monstrosity of the likes I''d never seen before. It''s skin was loose and bloodied, barely covered by some form of clothing, I think it was a tunic. It''s eyes, rotted and decaying stared into nothingness. I didn''t even have time to scream as the thing lunged at me, it used its height advantage to tackle me to the ground. I was too scared to scream, limbs felt like wood as they stood as the lone barriers between me and it. But it seemed I needed to workout more as it used a clawed hand to force itself on me, then opening its desiccated mouth, it bit down and tore a chunk from my shoulder. By this time, I had started screaming. I floundered around as the thing snapped at me, letting out an inhuman shriek that made me scream even louder. By chance I grabbed the pen in my breast pocket, using my good arm I tried to stab the thing in the face. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. For once, my luck held out though, the pen pierced through its eye socket and into the mushy brain behind. Black blood squirted out onto my face, dirtying my mouth and getting in my eyes. The thing immediately slumped down, I pushed the dead weight off me and scrambled away. I heaved and started crying as my back hit the wall, the tears just gushed out. I spat the blood in my mouth out and wiped my eyes. But my relief was short lived, as a little blue box suddenly filled my blurry vision, by this point I was already having a breakdown and couldn''t even, so I just read the stupid thing. Congratulations! You are the first person to witness the rapture You are the first person to be affected by the rapture You are the first person to kill a monster of the rapture (That''s all the rewards ya know!) I just stared at the small hovering screen, no words could describe how I felt at that moment. But the another one of the stupid things showed up sadly. Rewards: Race change - Undead Ability (unique) - Evolve Title gained - Primordial Of The Rapture I ignored the screens now, my focus was now on my arm, which was rapidly being soaked in blood. I was beginning to feel faint. Was.... Was this the end? Welcome to the Rapture! Congrats mortals, your lives are now pretty much over, Unless you can survive this. This is a test for you puny existences. Good luck. My vision is going blurry, I''m feeling..... Faint. Why wouldn''t the screens leave me alone. Alone..... I don''t want to be alone. I don''t want to die. I, I''m not ready for this. My, my family. I must See them. I must, see them. I MUST SEE THEM! Where, where am I? Something smells like iron, something tastes like iron? Why do my hands feel wet? I looked around me. Oh how I wish I hadn''t. "AAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" An inhuman scream left my mouth, my family. My loving caring mother, I always thought she was too strict, but I knew it was because she loved me, cared for me beyond what words could describe. My father, so stoic yet loving. He would do anything for me, there was no limit to his love for me. It was a fatherly love that most don''t realise exist. They were..... Were in pieces around me. On the floor. On the walls. On my.... Hands. In my...... Mouth. The Monster I stared out our apartment building window, I don''t know for how long. Only that it wasn''t long enough. Impassively I gazed at the carnage below, rotting corpses wandered the streets, strange creatures prowled around the animated dead. I even saw a few survivors running around. But it was like I was seeing everything in grey. I wonder if they felt pain as they died, did I kill them quickly or slowly? I wonder if they hate me. What were they thinking? Did they have any last words? What would they think of me? I don''t know anything. Nothing at all. My parents were dead, all because of me. I killed them. I MURDERED THEM! I slammed my fist against the window, shattering the thin glass. The shards fell down the building and clattered against the pavement below. A few undead wandered lifelessly over. I broke down. I cried, I screamed, I let out inhuman shrieks of terror and grief. Then I stopped. What.... What if it isn''t my fault? What, what if it''s this fucking apocalypse fault? Am I letting it win? Will I let this thing beat me into submission? Fuck no. My.... My dad once told me, the reason we fall down, is to learn how to get back up. I will never seek redemption for what I''ve done to my parents, I won''t seek forgiveness. Because I shouldn''t have any. I don''t deserve it. I killed them, nothing will ever come close to repairing that. My aim now is to survive, by any means necessary. I looked around the room I was in, the kitchen. I rustled through one of the drawers until I found my bounty, a butchers knife. The undead fuckers ain''t getting me, this time the hunter shall become the hunter! Wait. My slow brain finally caught on the something I didn''t want it to catch. Those blue windows earlier? Could it be.... "S-Status" STATUS: Name: Cain Neart Race: Undead (Biter Class) Title: Primordial of the Rapture Level: 1/25 HP: 100/100 MP: 30/30 Strength: 12 Agility: 5 Dexterity: 5 Vitality: 10 Intelligence: 3 Skills: N/A Abilities: Evolve (Unique) I knew it. Race, undead. I''m a fucking zombie. But why aren''t I wandering around like a mindless beast? Is it only a matter of time, or is it something to do with my ability, evolve? I guess only time will tell. My strength seems to be my specialty at the moment, my vitality comes at a close second. My dexterity, Agility and intelligence are pretty crappy though. Well, assuming I''m not hallucinating, and if this is all real, then I would assume that to level up and get stronger I would have to kill things. But first, I need more information, maybe if I be more specific in my words the system will give me more info. "Status extra information!" Nope. "Status, More information?" .... "Status, Race?" Race: Undead (Biter class) Racial skills: Dead body: Eating, sleeping and drinking are unnecessary Infection: Can make others mindless undead with a single direct bite Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. There we go, that''s pretty disturbing and makes me feel kinda sick though. Not eating, sleeping and drinking are going is going to be a life saver in this mess, but that infection ability does not bode well with me. I would be giving the victim a fate worse than death by using it, it''d be like..... Like what happened to me. I can''t ever use that ability, ever. But this whole game status thing is pretty darn cool. I wonder if it''s only me with this ability or is it everyone? Well, for now I should become stronger. If my predictions come true than the monstrosities out there will only become stronger as time goes on. Wait. Aren''t I one of those monstrosities too? I rushed to our bathroom, scrambled over to the mirror and willed myself to look. What I saw wasn''t quite as bad as I thought it''d be, but still pretty bad. My hair had turned white, my eyes a deep crimson red and when I bared my teeth, I saw that my canines had tripled in size. Luckily they slipped comfortably behind my teeth like a snake. But that was a small comfort. I was a monster. My legs felt very weak all of a sudden, I fell to the floor, my eyes glazed over. What was the point? I was already dead, I had lost everything, even my humanity! No. NO! To fall down and die now would be pathetic, my parents didn''t die for this! I didn''t die for this! Time to get my shit together. I went to my bedroom and grabbed a small backpack, one of the ones you see cyclists often use. Then I put any knives that came with sheaves in the travel pack. I wouldn''t want to get stabbed in the back now would I? There was no need to take food or water luckily so I still had plenty of space. Next I grabbed a small pillow and blanket and crammed them in there too, I might not need sleep but a little bit of comfort never hurt anybody. Next a took off my school clothes and put on a black shirt and black hoodie, along with some black cargo pants and runners to complement my burglar look, now all I needed was a beanie. Well, we didn''t have any first aid equipment or firearms sadly, so this was pretty much all I could see that I needed. I took two of the knives and attached them to my belt using some clips. I then went back downstairs, I tried to inch my way too the door without opening my eyes, but in the end I still had too. I felt tears prick my eyes, but I furiously wiped them away and made my way to the door. Leaving the remains of my parents behind. Once I reached the door I placed my ear to the wood and listened, I could hear some muffled shuffling. I took out one of my knives and shakily held it in my hand, whilst opening the mahogany door. Once open I nervously stuck my head out and looked up and down the corridor, I saw one zombie about 20m down the corridor. I quickly stepped out the door and quietly closed it behind me, honestly I wanted to get out of that room as soon as possible. Unfortunately we must have really needed to oil the thing because it made a loud creaking noise as I closed it, I clenched my teeth and turned to the zombie, which was shuffling towards at a pace slightly faster than walking. I glared at the thing with intense hatred, raising my knife and stepping towards one of my brethren to the impossibly loud beat of my dead heart. Once about 6m away I broke into a dead sprint and wildly planted a solid kick on the thing''s rotting abdomen, it was swept off its feet and landing on its back with a loud thud. I dropped down onto it, using my knees as a brace against it. It wildly tried to claw me, but before it could land too solid of a hit, I had already sunk my knife through its eye. It''s movements were stopped rather suddenly as it went limp, and to my pleasure I was awarded with a small ding. Level gained Well that confirmed my suspicions of the stats, I can level up by killing. After checking my stats briefly a saw that I had gained 5 status points to allocate. I immediately added 3 to strength and 2 to agility. Right now strength would be what would save me, in this apartment building with small enclosed spacing strength is going to be key, and I still needed to go down to ground floor, as right now I was on the top floor. I gripped my bloody knife and started walking towards the stairwell, however as I rounded the corner I was met with 8 zombies, all turning to face me as one. I grinned and gripped the knife until my knuckles turned white, cracking my neck and staring the zombies in the their cold lifeless eyes, I said to myself. "If Death can''t keep me down, neither can you."