《Bunker [Base building, post apocalypse]》


 01

    01


    Jade snapped into consciousness, an odd sensation considering her normal function would have her awareness come to her over the course of a few seconds. She tried to open her eyes, but nothing happened. There were multiple possibilities for this. Her eyelids could be malfunctioning and simply not opening, she could be blind, or her pod could be completely out of power. All three options were extremely unlikely, but the refusal of the all consuming darkness to abate proved something was wrong.


    Not for the first time, she wished she had been given the military-grade optical sensors of the Archangel androids instead of the more realistic biomimicry eyes she herself had helped create. With no visual input, she attempted instead to open a direct link to one of the laboratory cameras via the data cable inserted into her arm. Again, nothing happened. This lent more credence to the lack-of-power theory.


    She felt a twinge of concern rush through her as she queried her own power reserve. 25%. The twinge of concern suddenly leapt into stomach-churning minor panic. Twenty-five percent was emergency power. She had gone to bed with far more than that. To be at such a low level while sleeping, she would have had to essentially be in hibernation for nearly half a decade. Something else must have happened, as that line of thinking was utterly ridiculous. It was the kind of thing that needed a direct meteor strike or geothermal nuclear war to leave her stuck in her unpowered maintenance pod for any length of time.


    Jade pulled the data cable out of her arm and reached behind her back to pull the power cord. Once free of her direct connections, she felt around for the mechanical release lever, slammed it to the side, and pushed the heavy metal door open. Again, she was greeted with utter darkness.


    "Hello?" she called out to the empty room, her voice echoing slightly in the otherwise dead quiet. "Dad?" She could hear her voice. She could hear the faint echo of it. She could hear the sound of her bare feet patting across the cold, hard tiles of the lab floor. The whole place seemed utterly absent of life, but that didn¡¯t stop her from continuing to call out. "Lilith? Dejah?"


    The lab had been her home for pretty much her entire existence, so while she moved cautiously on the off chance that something had been misplaced and was in one of the walking paths, she otherwise knew exactly where she was going. She made her way to a maintenance closet, felt around for the generator, and patted around until she could locate the pull start. A couple of pulls produced an odd cranking sound that didn¡¯t seem quite right. She acknowledged the futility of trying to start a generator without knowing if the gas lines were even turned on. Jade spent some time feeling around for the lines and trying to locate the little switch that either impeded or allowed the generator¡¯s fuel flow to the cylinders. She found the gas cap and, upon opening it, gave it a quick sniff. Jade gritted her teeth and scrunched her nose. It wasn¡¯t a smell she was familiar with and unfamiliar smell is not something one wanted to come from a tank that should hold diesel. It was a concerning thought. The diesel sitting in the tank of the generator should have been good for at least a year. As far as she was aware, Dejah had run her scheduled maintenance on the machine less than a month ago.


    Unsure what was going on, she put her hands on her hips and stared down at the generator with a disapproving look. At least, she assumed she was staring at it. With the all-consuming darkness, she couldn¡¯t even tell if her eyes were actually open.


    With a long sigh, she left the maintenance closet and headed to the armory. Her thumb jabbed one of the rubber buttons on the armory door lock and she was rewarded with a faint yellowish glow. Apparently, the little battery inside the door''s keypad hadn''t gone bad, proving once and for all that her eyes were open and functioning. She punched in the code and entered the armory. The faint glow from the keypad illuminated nothing, but somewhere in front of her was a wall of weapons. Some of those weapons had flashlights. Jade felt around for a few moments before pulling off a carbine and clicking on its attached light. Somehow, the pure white beam of photons was a relief. It showed that everything in this room, at least, was fully intact. She used it to find a smaller sidearm with a light, as well as an actual flashlight before placing the carbine back in its home location.


    Now armed with a reliable LED flashlight and a 10-millimeter semiautomatic pistol, Jade began an honest search of the laboratory. Which started with raiding her dresser and putting on some clothes. A quick tour of the facility revealed that everything was where it should be, down to the book she had left on the rec room table before going to bed. The only misstep in her search was the mistake of opening the refrigerator. She immediately slammed it shut as a nauseating wave of rotten odors escaped with a hiss. She stopped breathing until she left the rec room and made her way to the laboratory''s elevator. She rolled her eyes and sighed at her own stupidity after pressing the call button. Obviously, the elevator wasn¡¯t going to work without power, but the action was so ingrained in her routine that it was habit. An action that, ironically, made her more human than any other machine.


    She climbed up to the first level of the house via the laboratory''s emergency ladder. After unlatching the heavy metal door that separated the laboratory from the rest of the house, she pushed open the back end of the bookshelf. This was where things were very much not in order. The house looked as though it had been ransacked. Books and papers were scattered all over the floor, several chairs were knocked over, and the windows were shattered. Though they remained in place, preventing any air from coming in, a spider web of cracks covered every single window in the room.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Jade made her way through the house, noting that this was the state of every single room. The kitchen looked especially bad. The cupboards had been completely emptied, and the fridge and freezer stood open, their contents long since rotted and off-gassed. On the other side of the house, the windows had been blown inward, not just shattered. Again, the entire area had been ransacked. She found Lilith¡¯s and her father¡¯s room mostly intact. The end tables were knocked over, and someone had made off with the gun her father kept in the secret compartment beneath his side table.


    Dejah¡¯s room had been thoroughly searched for some reason. Then Jade paused outside Jill¡¯s room, hesitant to enter. There was no logical reason why whoever had raided the house would have left Jill¡¯s room untouched. That said, it was the only room with the door still shut. Slowly, Jade opened the door. Dim light filtered through the dirty, shattered window. The room appeared untouched. The bookshelves still held volumes of children¡¯s books and stuffed animals. The air was still as a grave, and the entire space felt like a cross between the inner sanctum of a church and a mausoleum.


    Jade took two soft steps into the room. Her gaze locked on the coffin-like cryo chamber in the center, anticipation gnawing at her. A foreboding sense that nothing good awaited. Jade¡¯s father had built her with his own two hands. He had crafted a mechanical brain, complete with base programming to learn and the ability to feel emotion. A brilliant human, capable of creating an AI machine and fleshing it out to be nearly indistinguishable from any other human. He had been powerless to stop his normal daughter¡¯s neurological degenerative disease. Jade¡¯s little sister had been locked in stasis at the age of four, waiting for the day their father, or his colleagues, could find a way to restore her. Whether that solution came from mechanical engineering, biological science, or even dark magic. If her own pod had been without power long enough for her reserves to drop to 25%, the cryo chamber would have been without power just as long. Jill would have died within minutes.


    The apprehension Jade felt as she leaned over the pod, trying to peer through the window, pounded into her psyche like a sledgehammer. The realization that the thick, sludgy material blocking the viewport was on the inside sent a nauseating wave of sickness crashing over her. Sweeping her out into an ocean of emotional instability the likes of which she had never experienced before. Quickly, and with rapid breathing unnecessary for a machine, Jade stumbled out of the room and shut the door. She hunched over, hands on her knees, and initiated the mental process of overriding her emotional switches. Slowly, the overwhelming sense of loss faded behind the veil of machine logic, and her mechanical heart returned to its base rhythm.


    It took quite a while to methodically work through her emotions, one switch at a time. Normal humans didn¡¯t have the advantage of throwing off their reactions and dealing with them piecemeal. A fact she could only count as a silver lining of her machine intelligence. The process might have taken longer, but in many respects, Jill had died years ago. This was merely the body following the mind. Jade had to figure out what had happened. She needed to determine when the power went out, why the safety mechanisms hadn¡¯t kicked her out of the pod, and where her father, Lilith, and Dejah were. And more importantly, if they were even still alive.


    It seemed inconceivable that any significant length of time had passed without her family¡¯s return, but she wasn¡¯t ready to write off people she remembered speaking to yesterday. Last she recalled, Dejah had gone into town to run errands, while her father and Jill had been summoned to a meeting at the military facility on the far side of the city. The only unusual detail was the urgency of the summons. Jade herself had stayed behind, spending the afternoon in the rec room and reading a couple chapters of her current book before plugging into the pod and powering down for the night. A power failure should have woken her up. That realization struck her as one of the most disturbing thoughts of all. For her to sleep past her charge time, the facility¡¯s electronics would have needed to suffer extensive damage. Of course, it was also possible she hadn¡¯t charged at all, and whatever event took place occurred shortly after she had shut down. Still, she should have woken up within a day. A sufficiently large EMP could cause such a failure. A massive solar flare might also explain the situation, but without power in the house, the reasons behind her extended sleep remained a mystery, at least until she stepped outside. Once again, Jade found herself deactivating emotional switches to dampen her reactions. Even so, her human-like, but still very mechanical mind seemed to stutter at the visual input before her. Her mouth dropped open at the scene arrayed before her.


    The city before her lay in ruins. Skeletal skyscrapers reached into the air like the dead boney spines of some colossal monster. Their mirror-like glass was missing or shattered. Multi story roadways stood cracked or missing chunks, the concrete having fallen to the lower levels. Their rebar reinforcement dangling like cut tendons. Cars littered the streets, discarded trash that lay among the cracked and neglected roads. And all of it covered in vegetation. Trees grew out of roads, cars, and buildings, decades worth of growth. The clear poly dome that covered the city was mostly absent, its panels shattered on the ground or embedded in buildings. What was left had collected bits of dirt and started growing its own layer of vegetation, shrouding part of the city in green tinted light.


    Slowly, Jade returned down the ladder into the dark laboratory. With nothing but a single candle for light, she sat at the table and watched as it burned down. The tiny, flickering flame went out long before she could process the emotional distress of waking into what appeared to be a post-apocalyptic future.


    Notes:


    The original ¡°Bunker¡± was a fairly well liked start. The problem was the main character. Yari¡¯s mindset had her building a hidey hole and sitting in it like some broody video game boss monster. I lost interest. Jade is an old character that has lived in my head for over a decade. She¡¯s always been a side character.


    I started playing Fallout 4 again, ignoring the main plot. That coupled with a new book were the MC is a human consciousness downloaded into an android had me thinking of Jade walking through an Irradiated city looking for survivors. Then I remembered ¡°Bunker.¡± If Jade was the main character, it would be less about hiding, and more about growing. It would be playing Fallout 4 with an emphasis on base building and ignoring the main storyline.


    Something I¡¯ve got to figure out first. Setting¡­ The original ¡°Bunker¡± was set in my fantasy world pretty much concurrent with ¡°Fantasy Farmstead: Modern Benton Cove.¡± Jade is from a ¡°Black Halo¡± setting, but should fit in just fine. I¡¯ll run a poll I think.

 LitRPG Alt Chapter 1

    Jade lowered the kickstand on her motorcycle, dismounted, and entered the house after punching her code into the lock. Kicking off her shoes, she made her way through the kitchen and continued on, poking her head into each room as she went to see if anyone was home. Eventually, she arrived at the library, where she found Dejah sitting at her desk.


    ¡°Hey, Jade. How were classes?" Dejah asked, not even bothering to look up from her screen as she continued typing.


    "Kind of redundant, honestly."


    At this reply, Dejah glanced up from her screens for a moment with the barest ghost of a smile.


    "Anyone home?"


    "Lil¡¯s in the basement. She got her hands on some software, and I think she¡¯s trying to get it set up before you get home."


    "Okay. Thanks."


    Dejah made a non-committal grunt of acknowledgement as Jade backtracked out of the library and made her way to the elevator just down the hall. Stepping into the small square space, she ignored the buttons for one and two. Instead she opened up the emergency phone panel. She entered her code and placed her eye against the scanner. Once authorized, she pressed the down key, and the elevator began its descent to the basement.


    Jade found her sister sitting at one of the consoles in the lab.


    "Hey," she said as she set her backpack down on her own desk.


    "Hey," Lilith said without removing her eyes from the screen, much like Dejah had earlier. ¡°How was class?"


    "Redundant," Jade repeated for the second time.


    Lilith snorted.


    "What are you working on?"


    "One minute."


    Jade continued pulling books out of her bag and organizing her desk while she waited. It wasn¡¯t long before Lilith tapped a key with a quiet "Done." She spun in her chair, steepled her fingers, and gave an exaggerated evil grin, doing her best impression of a villain.


    "What?" Jade asked.


    "I came across some software," Lilith stated, her grin growing wider. "State-of-the-art stuff. This is the future of gaming. The book you¡¯re currently reading; it¡¯s post-apocalyptic fiction, correct?"


    "Um, yes."


    "Great. I should have everything set up correctly, then. You wanna play?"


    Jade approached the console, but didn¡¯t see anything that looked like a game. "Sure?"


    "Great. Normally this would require some complicated proprietary equipment. However, due to the nature of our..." Lilith glanced around the lab, "...occupations, we get to bypass the very expensive bits. And you get to skip almost all of it."


    "Okay, you¡¯ve got me intrigued."


    Lilith grinned again. She pointed to Jade¡¯s charging pod and said, "Plug in."


    For a moment, Jade just stared at her little sister, but eventually, she acquiesced. She took off her shirt before stepping into the coffin-like upright platform. Reaching behind her, she lifted the flap of skin that hid the charging port in the small of her back. Once the charging cable was connected, she plugged the data cable into her left forearm and leaned back. She gave Lilith a cocked-eyebrow look.


    "Okay, just sit back and I''ll start running things," Lilith said.


    Jade laid her head back as Lilith disappeared, focusing on the data coming in through her cable. She paused when the flow suddenly escalated.


    "Um, I think you''re gonna have to go into recharge mode for this."


    Jade glared toward where her sister would be, despite the fact that she couldn¡¯t actually see her. "You better not break my brain."


    "It¡¯s fine," came Lilith¡¯s voice.


    Jade sighed, shutting down most of her cognitive functions and entering her rest mode.


    Jade opened her eyes to black. It was so dark she wasn¡¯t certain if her eyes were actually open. A few possibilities raced through her mind. One, her eyelids might not be working. Two, her ocular sensors/cameras were malfunctioning. Or three, her charging pod was completely out of power, and all lights were off. She couldn¡¯t hear the whine of electrical fan motors in the background, lending credence to the third theory. Suddenly, white letters appeared in her vision, introducing a fourth option: Lilith¡¯s game.


    Initializing¡­ Please wait¡­


    In some ways, it was a massive relief to find out that none of the first three options were the issue. Neither would have been good.


    Generating world... Please wait¡­


    Jade watched as the white letters merged together and formed a bluish-white circle that appeared to be spinning. The circle moved to the upper left of her vision, and a text box appeared.


    "Hello, I am Neuro. Without turning your head, please focus on the circle on the upper left of your HUD (Heads-Up Display)."


    Jade did as instructed, realizing at that moment she couldn¡¯t move her head. Focusing on the circle caused the text box to change.


    "Very good. To interact with me specifically, simply focus on the small circle on the upper left of your HUD or ask for me directly. I am Neuro."


    Once Jade finished reading, the text box disappeared. A moment later, a green bar replaced it. The bar flashed briefly before starting to drop. A white-transparent bar remained where the green receded. As the green portion shrank, it turned yellow at the halfway mark, then red when it was only a quarter full. The bar flashed again and repositioned itself to the lower left of her HUD. The text box returned.


    "Please focus on the bar on the lower left of your HUD."


    Jade complied, bringing up another text box.


    "This is your charge level. You currently have a 25% charge."


    A small spike of panic tore through Jade. Twenty-five percent was emergency power. "Uh, Neuro? Can I view what my real-life charge rate is?"


    There was a brief delay as the circle in the upper left pulsed. A new text box appeared: "One moment, please¡­ I require authorization to access this function. Do I have authorization to access your charge levels and display them?"


    "Um... yes?" Jade replied, feeling a bit unsettled. This game was meant for humans, not sentient machines that didn¡¯t technically exist. Yet, it was asking if it could view her charge level, implying it knew she wasn¡¯t human. Maybe Lilith had programmed this into the game, but the thought left her uneasy.


    "Thank you. One moment¡­ Please wait..."


    The text box was replaced with a number followed by the percent sign and a small charging icon. Shortly after it appeared, the "87%" changed to "88%." After the number pulsed, it moved up to the upper left to sit next to the blue circle. A ¡°Charging¡± icon sitting next to the number.


    "Your current charge percentage is 88%. Would you like me to leave a visual indicator of your real-life charge on your HUD (Heads-Up Display)?"


    "Yes, please."


    There was a long pause, and then all the lights she was used to seeing inside her charging pod came on. They blinked twice, and half of them powered down, leaving only a couple of dull red lights. On one of the the small screens, text appeared that simply read: "Error."


    At this point, Jade found that she could move again. She reached out, grabbed the manual release for her pod, and pulled it up, pushing the door open. She paused for a moment to unplug herself before stepping into the laboratory. The room looked just as dead as the pod. The overheads and computers were off, the only illumination came from a few strips of phosphorescent blue light on the ceiling. Something that, in the real world, didn¡¯t exist. The glow provided just enough light to make out the shapes of furniture. A few more steps into the room revealed a canister-shaped object emitting the same phosphorescent blue light sitting on one of the tables. Approaching it, she found a scrawled note next to a pack. The writing on the note was utterly illegible in the dim bioluminescent glow, so she chose to rummage through the pack instead. Familiarity with its design allowed her to reach into the side pocket and pull out a flashlight.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Now that she could see, the laboratory was entirely different. Everything was missing. The computers weren¡¯t just turned off; they were gone. She took a quick tour, and apart from the basic furniture, everything that could be packed up was completely missing.


    There was no food in the cupboards, no books on the bookshelf, no supplies in any of the storage lockers, and no firearms either. The only exception was a couple of cases of ammunition: two small boxes each of 10mm, 7.62x39, 7.62x54, .308, and .45. It seemed like an odd selection to leave behind when everything else was missing.


    With her tour of the facility complete, Jade returned her attention to the pack and the note. The pack was her basic go-bag, complete with a 10mm pistol, a rechargeable battery, a foldable solar panel, and a change of clothes. She put her shirt back on, strapped the pack to her back, and plugged herself into the battery.


    A new green bar flashed in her vision and then minimized to sit above the other green bar. A charging symbol appeared next to the larger bar and pulsed. The red in the larger bar slowly turned yellow as it began climbing. The smaller green bar, no doubt representing the battery pack she had just connected to herself, started draining. That was a positive. She strapped the 10mm pistol to her thigh and then examined the note.


    -Jade, there''s been an attack on North Federation soil. Due to the sustained EMP, I¡¯ve decided to keep you in stasis. It¡¯s been 10 years. I packed up everything, and we¡¯re heading to the backup base. Sorry to keep you in the dark like this, but for security reasons, I can¡¯t list out everything that has happened here. You will wake up when the power goes out in the pod. I don¡¯t honestly know when that¡¯ll be. At the bottom of the page will be the coordinates. I don''t know how long it''ll be before the pod runs out of power or you wake up. Take care of yourself. Be safe. I love you. Yes, Lilith loves you too.-


    Jade twisted her lips. ¡°Neuro? Can we not have this in my game?¡±


    The blue and white circle pulsed once before a text box appeared. ¡°Do you wish to disregard personalized quest chains?¡±


    ¡°Ummm, yeah.¡±


    ¡°Altering¡­ Please wait¡­¡±


    The text on the note faded. Replaced with a more system-like message that read, ¡°To assign a class, concentrate on opening your character sheet.¡±


    Jade nodded, satisfied with the more game-like mechanic over the mind trip of having her family in her entertainment media.


    Jade found herself in a mostly white room. Mostly, because it was slightly transparent. The laboratory was faintly visible through the hazy walls. In this room were five figures, not including herself. Technically, each figure was a completely motionless statue of herself. Each figure had a different outfit and a title floating above their head. The little blue ring in the upper left of her HUD pulsed, and text appeared:


    "Every five levels, you will be given the option of choosing from up to five classes. Classes are based on your actions and play style. At each level, you will gain a Perk Point to spend in any of your class Perk Trees. Please choose a class."


    After a moment, the box disappeared from Jade''s vision, and she looked over her options:


    Commoner


    The Commoner is the most basic of basic classes. Their skill trees focus on quality-of-life improvements.


    The Commoner version of Jade stared back at her with a slightly worn expression. She wore tattered clothes, had a backpack slung over one shoulder, and her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The Commoner was a disheveled version of herself, and Jade got the impression that it was the post-apocalyptic version of a nine-to-fiver. She turned her attention to the next figure, assuming the best options would be later.


    Warrior


    The Warrior is another basic class, this one focusing on combat. The skill tree emphasizes weapon skills and improvements to combat-based abilities.


    This version didn¡¯t look much different from the Commoner beyond the gear. In addition to the worn clothing, the Warrior wore a faded duster, had an axe strapped to the waist, and carried a rifle with a sawed-off stock. The expression was less worn and more determined. Decent for a starting combat class in a role-playing game.


    While the Commoner and Warrior seemed utterly generic, the next three statues felt unnervingly personal.


    Amateur Technician


    The Amateur Technician is a base class that focuses on mechanical creations Whether upgrading equipment, building structures, or cobbling together computer systems. The skill tree emphasizes resource collection and creation disciplines.


    This version of Jade wasn¡¯t much better dressed than the Commoner, but was holding a tablet and had a flexible solar panel slung over one shoulder. It was also the only mannequin not looking at her, instead staring down at whatever it was working on.


    Amateur Operative


    The Amateur Operative is a base class focusing on stealth, infiltration, and planned executions. The skill tree highlights stealth, weapons, and tactical advantages.


    This version of Jade stared back at her as though evaluating her. She wore tight-fitting dark clothing, had a tablet strapped to her left thigh, a pistol holstered on her right, a combat knife on her chest, and carried a rifle that appeared to be some AR variant.


    It certainly made Jade uncomfortable. It would have been a cool class to play in any other role-playing game. However, the Amateur Technician was a little too much like who she was, essentially an amateur mechanical engineer, and the Amateur Operative was a little too close to reality. She didn''t have any formal training, but her real-world experience was a bit of an oddity, as if to prove that the computer program creating this "game" for her knew a little too much. The final option stared back at her with red, inhuman eyes.


    Android


    The Android is a unique base class focusing on enhancing the physical and mental capabilities of the individual''s body. Class skills improve physical and mental abilities to bring the Android above standard human functioning.


    Jade logged out.


    When Jade opened her eyes, she noticed her pod door was still open.


    "Lilith."


    Her sister poked her head out of the kitchen, a sandwich in one hand. "Hrmm?" came the muffled question from her mouth, busy chewing. She swallowed and continued, "That was quick?"


    "This thing knows too much," Jade replied.


    Lilith nodded as she came out of the kitchen, holding a plastic container lid in her other hand to catch any crumbs from her sandwich.


    "Yeah, that''s why this stuff''s not on the market yet. A lot of privacy issues. It literally pulls information out of your head to help customize things for you. Though I spent like a whole hour trying to get it to pull stuff out of your long-term memory. You''d think that''d be easier to configure."


    "So this isn¡¯t a problem?" Jade asked, concerned that the software was reading her mind. It could potentially access everything. From her security codes to the sensitive information she was privy to. Not to mention the fact that she was an Android, the civilian base model for the military Archangel prototypes. Though that particular project had been shut down. Human-like sentient machines turned out to be terrible soldiers. Mostly because they were too human.


    "OK," Jade said, settling back into her pod.


    "What tipped you off that it knew you were an Android?" Lilith asked, taking another bite of her sandwich.


    "The first thing it did was give me a power bar. Then, when I got to class selection, which I think is supposed to be based on my experiences, Android was one of the options."


    "What were the other options?" Lilith asked around a mouthful.


    Jade frowned at her sister, who returned the glare with a smirk. "Commoner, Warrior, Amateur Technician, Amateur Operative, and Android."


    "Cool. Though, if you¡¯ve only got Amateur Operative, you need to focus more on training, I think."


    Jade frowned again. "I¡¯m thinking of going with the Amateur Technician."


    Lilith shook her head. "Nah, go for the Android. You¡¯re basically playing as an Android anyway if you¡¯ve got a power bar. The Android class probably gives you a bunch of super robot stuff. And with the way this game is supposed to work, it doesn¡¯t actually stop you from doing all your Technician stuff. Which I think is weird that you¡¯d want to do that anyway, considering you literally just got back from school."


    Jade considered the advice. The Technician did seem a bit too much like real work. "I¡¯ll consider it," she said.


    "Okay, good night," Lilith said while leaning against the lab table and shoving an extra-large chunk of sandwich into her mouth.


    Jade glared at her. Lilith smirked. Leaning back, Jade closed her eyes and entered rest mode, which curiously brought her back to her menu.


    ¡°Do you wish to continue?"


    Standing in the white room in front of the other five figures, Jade found herself looking back and forth between the Android and the Amateur Technician. In many ways, she was already an Amateur Technician. Likely, the class gave her some bonuses to game mechanics. According to Lilith, it wouldn¡¯t prevent her from being the mechanical engineer that she technically was. The Android, however, would give her some type of robotic abilities that she didn¡¯t actually have in real life. In the end, she chose the Android. The other four figures faded from view, followed by the room itself. Jade felt no immediate changes. In some ways, she was mildly disappointed, though she assumed she wouldn¡¯t gain anything until she leveled up. Deciding instead to head to the main floor, she caught herself waiting for the elevator to arrive, a very human habit that made zero sense in the context of a building without power. Sighing, she moved over to the emergency ladder and climbed her way up to the heavy, sealed door hidden behind one of the library¡¯s bookshelves.


    The library looked as though it had been ransacked. Papers and books were scattered across the floor, desks were overturned, and windows were shattered, but still intact. Moving through the rest of the building revealed a similar scene. On one side of the house, the windows had been blown fully in, scattering glass across the floor and exposing the walls to the outdoor elements. To be fair, the damage wasn¡¯t as severe as she would have expected. Only slightly rotted, with a faint mildew scent permeating the air. Upstairs, her father¡¯s and Lilith¡¯s bedrooms seemed fine, though Dejah¡¯s room had been thoroughly ransacked. She stopped outside the closed door to Jill¡¯s bedroom, nervous anticipation coursing through her artificial veins. It was the only door that remained shut.


    Inside, the books were still on their shelves, and the toys were still in their places. However, the coffin-like cryo chamber that held Jade¡¯s little sister in perpetual stasis, until her father or his colleagues could find a cure for her neurodegenerative disease, was absent. It was a relief. Perhaps her earlier request to take her family out of this had also removed the emotionally stressful situation with her father¡¯s middle child. Silently, Jade shut the door. Despite the post-apocalyptic feel, nothing in the house seemed too far out of place. The amount of time it had spent abandoned didn¡¯t show. The note from earlier had suggested a minimum of ten years had passed. Even in a decade, the house should have shown more wear and tear, more degradation. She stepped into the garage, displeased to find her motorcycle missing. Stepping out of the garage changed everything.


    The grass in the yard was rather tall, full of rambling bushes, and exactly what one would expect from a post-apocalyptic future where nobody had tended the house for years. The issue, however, was that this wasn¡¯t her city. In some ways, that was better. It lent credibility to the idea that this was a game instead of reality. Across the street, the house resembled her neighbor¡¯s, but the background revealed the skeletal remains of large buildings. Decrepit and falling apart. Glass and concrete were missing in sections, leaving only the bony spines of some great beast stretching toward an oddly unnatural-looking sky. A droplet of water landed on her shoulder, causing her to look up.


    Jade¡¯s mouth hung open in amazement and fascination. Above her was a dome. Its clear polycarbonate sheets tinted the sunlight a darker hue, likely covered in a thin layer of dust with small bits of plant matter growing in the geodesic framework that held the structure together. Suddenly, the strange sky made sense. Some of the sheets had collapsed, leaving an almost honeycombed framework covering the city like a useless net. As if the game wished to welcome her to this new, unfriendly world, a gunshot rang out across the open air.


    "Oh."

 Ch 1: Rewritten original with modified character

    She opened her eyes and tried in vain to remember her dream, or even if there had been a dream. There was slight panic as she tried to remember where she was. There was mild panic as she failed in that task. There was full blown panic as she realized she was in a confined space very much the size and shape of a coffin. She beat at the dimly lit convex surface above her until her head cleared enough to recognize that she was panicking. With a deep inward breath and a momentous effort of will, she stopped moving and actually looked.


    The space was indeed coffin shaped, but it wasn¡¯t devoid of things. Several indicator lights flashed in rhythmic patterns. There were electrodes on her arms with wires that disappeared into clusters to either side. Most importantly of all, there was a red level labeled ¡°Pull.¡± She pulled it.


    She let out her held breath as the top of the convex lid slid away revealing utter darkness, but it was a wide open utter darkness. So it was a thousand times better than dimly lit claustrophobia. She sat up and was presented with a new sensation as the panic receded, she felt like shit. So much so that the motion of sitting up made her head spin and her stomach lurch. She leaned over the edge of the coffin thing and hurled. She choked and coughed until the slimy end of her stomach contents separated from her mouth to fall to the floor. She didn¡¯t move until the room stopped spinning.


    She winced as she pulled off the electrodes. Each making a quiet ¡®POP¡¯ that seemed to echo in the eerie stillness around her. She shivered as she clutched the sides of the coffin thing. Her joints creaked as she positioned herself to take a slow and somewhat painful step out. She tried to swallow, but the dry sandpaper of her throat refused to function. It was like all her tactile functions were coming online and none of them were reporting anything remotely pleasant. An unclad foot made contact with the cold tile floor and she managed to steady herself on shaky legs. She looked around still fighting a bout of nausea.


    Nothing was truly visible. The dim glow from the coffin thing was the only source of light. If she squinted hard enough, she could barely make out the outline of a desk. Carefully and with shaky steps, she made her way slowly to the dark rectangle. Her hands found what indeed felt like a desk, complete with computer, notebooks, and judging by the size and sound of the thing she bumped into, an office chair. Relief surged through her cold aching muscles as she slumped down into the chair, her tail instinctively moving to the side as she sat. She wrapped her fingers around the appendage and ran her hand across the smooth surface to the tapered point. She didn¡¯t remember having a tail. She didn¡¯t remember anything come to think of it.


    ¡°Who am I?¡± She tried to say, mostly just to hear her own voice, but the sound that came out was a hoarse crackle that hurt her throat. She ran her fingers over her tail again before reaching up and grabbing her horns. Tel¡¯ani. That was the word that came to mind. A race with purple skin, a long black tail, and black horns. The odd part was the utter lack of context. She had the information, but no memories to go with it. She clearly was Tel¡¯ani, but she couldn¡¯t remember being Tel¡¯ani. It was a disturbing feeling that survival needs were more than willing to push away.


    She lifted herself out of the chair and fumbled blindly for the wall. Looking primarily for a light switch. What she found was confusing. As if part of the wall had collapsed inward. She returned to the desk and by feel alone started searching that. The computer didn¡¯t turn on when the button was pushed and nothing in any of the drawers felt like a flashlight. She started pulling out the drawers and bringing them to the dim light of the coffin-like thing. The top drawers were meticulously organised. Mostly pens, empty notebooks, and pads of sticky notes. The bottom drawer contained an off brand cola. How she knew it was ¡°off brand¡± she wasn¡¯t sure. Again there was no context. It tasted off, but how was she supposed to know if it was bad, her sense of taste was off, or if it was just because it was off brand? It burned going down and didn¡¯t settle right in her stomach, but it helped with the dryness in her throat. She wasn''t getting far with the search for a flashlight and so decided an attempt at cobbling something together would be the next task.


    The coffin had several access panels. All of which required a screwdriver. The computer on the other hand was another matter. Pressing the wires of the red indicator LED for the power button to the sides of a coin battery produced a light that was next to nothing. In the pitch black of the room, it was practically a beacon. Best yet, it was portable. She briefly wondered how she knew there was a coin battery attached to the computer¡¯s motherboard, but again survival was a higher priority. Making her way to the collapsed wall, she found that her guess had been right. The wall had indeed collapsed inward and the presence of dirt suggested she was underground.


    The makeshift night light helped her locate an elevator, a staircase blocked by the previously discovered collapse, a breakroom of some sort, and a bathroom. The last of which she was eager to use even though the water in the toilet was gone. The breakroom fridge continued a putrid odor and two bottles of fizzy water. She clearly didn¡¯t have a taste for the stuff, but wasn¡¯t going to complain. The breakroom also contained a vending machine, openable by chair to the plexiglass over. Plexiglass might not shatter, but it can be knocked loose of its mounting.


    Judging from the state of the stairwell, it looked like the first floor had partially collapsed downward. Something catastrophic had happened¡ªan earthquake, perhaps. Whatever the cause, it had left her trapped in what seemed to be an underground level. She forced herself to stay calm and push away the growing dread. It was too soon to panic; first, she needed to confirm whether there was a way out.


    Her spirits lifted when she discovered a half-buried locker in the collapsed rubble. After some effort, she managed to pry it open, revealing a small cache of tools and an oversized button-up shirt. She gave a satisfied nod as she pulled out a crowbar. None of the battery-powered devices worked, but the crowbar was exactly what she needed to force open the elevator doors.


    She slipped the shirt over her bare shoulders, grateful for even the minimal protection against the chill. It wasn¡¯t much, but it was better than wandering around naked. As she approached the elevator, her makeshift LED light flickered weakly, unable to illuminate much beyond the immediate area. Peering into the dark shaft, she confirmed the elevator car wasn¡¯t at her level. Instead, it was stuck below, leaving the shaft open above her.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    The cold bit into her skin, and she briefly wondered where she might find more clothing, particularly pants, before shifting focus back to her immediate task. With the crowbar in hand, she returned to the coffin-like pod she had awoken in. After some experimentation, she managed to pry off several access panels. That¡¯s when she hit the jackpot: the pod was powered by several standard energy cells.


    She hesitated for a moment before pulling out one of the cells, unsure if removing it would cause the pod¡¯s light to die entirely. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t. The cell continued to emit a faint glow, and she examined it closely. It was about the size of a 20 ounce soda bottle, with a flat side for handling and another side covered in output nodes. From what she could recall, each node delivered about twenty-four volts, and the whole unit could discharge up to 240 volts. She didn¡¯t know how she knew what to do, but there was enough information in her head to work out how to line up five nodes to power a standard 120-volt appliance.


    A grin crossed her face as she improvised a solution. Using the crowbar and some careful maneuvering, she dismantled a ceiling fixture and rigged it to the power cell. After a few nerve-wracking minutes of trying not to electrocute herself, she succeeded. The result was a portable ceiling light, though it wasn¡¯t entirely practical¡ªshe had to hold the power cell steady while moving.


    The light from her new lamp illuminated something she had previously missed. A nameplate stuck to her coffin-thing. ¡°Corp. S. Yari.¡± She said, reading the bold letters. It was probably her name, but beyond the displaced feeling that Yari was a common first name, she felt nothing.


    Returning to the elevator shaft, she assessed the situation again. The elevator car was below her, so she had access to the upper doors. She couldn¡¯t shake the feeling that there should have been a ladder. Again, there was no context.  Still, the network of pipes and beams might offer a way up if she could manage the climb without slipping.


    She realized she couldn¡¯t carry both the light and the crowbar while climbing. The crowbar was essential for prying open the doors above, so she needed a solution for lighting the way. Another quick sweep of the area turned up nothing useful¡ªjust plates, paper towels, and discarded cups. Then, inspiration struck: the vending machine in the breakroom.


    At first, she considered cutting off the power cord from the machine, but then her eyes flicked upward, catching sight of the ceiling. A grin formed as she spotted the tangle of ethernet cables running between the computer equipment and the faux ceiling panels. With some effort and a bit of ingenuity, she could fashion a makeshift rope out of the cables, giving herself a fighting chance to climb the shaft with both hands free.


    ***


    Darkness greeted her as she pushed the elevator door open. Standing on the beams was taking its toll on her already cold and sore feet. Carefully leaning back over the ledge, she pulled up the makeshift light. Halfway up, it flickered off, plunging her into an oppressive darkness that seemed to close in from all sides. She fought down the panic rising in her chest and focused on the task. Once the light was safely over the ledge, she pulled out her small LED. Handling the exposed power cell in the dark was dangerous¡ªone wrong move and she might electrocute herself. Relief flooded her as the corridor lit up again, pushing back the shadows.


    On one side of the hallway, she saw the blocked-off stairwell. The other direction led into a series of offices filled with empty cubicles, a breakroom, a bathroom, and a barred checkpoint. Sliding the gate open, she froze in place. ¡°Um, hello?¡± she called hesitantly. Something moved just beyond the edge of her light. There was no response, only the sound of shuffling footsteps growing closer.


    The figure came into view, and something about it felt profoundly wrong. It looked hornless, or at least it had been once. Now its skin was ashen and dry, stretched tight over its frame. Its hair was mostly gone, and its tattered clothes hung off its emaciated body like rags. Worst of all were the cuts and wounds covering its body¡ªthey weren¡¯t bleeding. They had long since dried. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but she stood there, frozen in place, her mind struggling to process the sight.


    The creature stopped a few feet away, studying her with lifeless eyes. Then, without warning, its face split open from forehead to chin, emitting an ear-piercing scream before charging at her. Her heart leapt into her throat, and she let out an involuntary scream of her own. Acting on instinct, she slammed the gate shut just as the creature reached it. She fell back onto the floor, breathing heavily as the creature crashed into the bars, gnashing its teeth and clawing at the metal in a frenzy.


    It was like something out of a nightmare. The creature¡¯s head was grotesquely split, revealing rows of jagged teeth where there shouldn¡¯t have been any. It was dead, or at least it should have been, yet here it was, thrashing violently. Her hands tightened around the crowbar as she tried to figure out what to do. She took a few swings at it, but hesitated to get too close. The creature didn¡¯t seem intelligent, but it was dangerous.


    Watching it thrash gave her a stupid, desperate idea. She clicked the latch open and bolted down the hallway. Against her better judgment, she glanced over her shoulder just in time to see the creature still stuck in the gate. She slowed to a stop, contemplating whether to go back and push the door open further, when the creature abruptly figured out how to squeeze through. Her heart sank as it resumed its charge, faster than before.


    Without thinking, she launched herself into the elevator shaft, swinging to the other side of the door. The creature pursued her into the open shaft with reckless abandon, but quickly scrambled to grab hold of a horizontal bar. It wasn¡¯t falling. She scrambled back into the hallway, grabbed the crowbar, and tried to think. How could she get it to fall? Before she could act, the creature¡¯s head swiveled toward her, and it lunged at the doorway, catching hold with one hand.


    She let out another involuntary scream and swung the crowbar at its bony fingers. The creature didn¡¯t react to pain, but the force of her blows cracked its bones. It managed to grab the ledge with its other hand and lift its head, she swung in a blind panic, landing hit after hit until it finally lost its grip and fell. The sound of it hitting the elevator car below reverberated through the shaft.


    Collapsing onto the floor, she sat there panting, her hands trembling. Those few minutes had been terrifying. What the hell was that? Moving the light to illuminate the shaft, she saw the creature below, still alive and scrambling weakly, though its hands appeared broken. She glanced at the open gate and wondered if there were more of those things lurking nearby.


    Past the gate, the stairwell was clear of debris, though it was muddy and littered with chunks of rubble. She climbed the two flights carefully, her bare feet slipping occasionally on the damp steps. Daylight filtered through small holes in the collapsed building above, offering a faint promise of escape. She poked at one of the holes, loosening the debris until it widened enough for her to crawl through.


    Pulling herself out into the open, she inhaled deeply, savoring her first breath of fresh air since waking up in the pod. She lay there for a while, panting and staring at the sky. Eventually, she stood and took in the view around her. The city lay in ruins, a hauntingly beautiful landscape of skeletal skyscrapers and overgrown streets. Towering buildings stood hollowed out, their glass shattered, with vines and trees growing through the cracks. Multi-level roadways hung precariously, chunks of concrete missing, their exposed rebar dangling like severed tendons.


    Cars were scattered like discarded toys, rusted and overgrown with vegetation. The remnants of a clear poly dome that once covered the city were shattered, pieces of it embedded in buildings or lying broken on the ground. What few intact panels remained above had gathered dirt and sprouted patches of greenery, casting a strange, green-tinted light over parts of the city.


    The sight was both awe-inspiring and deeply unsettling, as though the world itself was trying to decide whether to welcome her or warn her. Her moment of reflection was shattered by a distant gunshot echoing across the ruins, a stark reminder that she was not alone in this desolate world.