Neo-Horizon City pulsed with life under the perpetual glow of holographic billboards and floating transit drones. Skyscrapers of gleaming alloy and reinforced glass pierced the clouds, home to millions who believed technology and human ingenuity had conquered every threat. In this world of 2047, "Awakened" individuals with minor bio-enhancements or neural implants walked among the ordinary, training in elite academies for the rumored conflicts on the fringes of colonized space.
Ted Harlan was not one of them.
At eighteen, Ted was painfully average in every measurable way. Average height, average build, average grades at Horizon Central Academy. No flashy implants, no awakened talent for energy manipulation or enhanced reflexes. He was just... Ted. The kind of guy who blended into the crowd until someone needed a punching bag.
"Watch it, Harlan!" A sharp shove sent him stumbling into the corridor wall. Laughter echoed from behind.
Marcus Kane and his crew, all Awakened third-years with gleaming academy badges,smirked as they passed. Marcus, tall and broad with reinforced muscles from his strength enhancement, cracked his knuckles. "Try not to trip over your own feet and die before the semester even starts properly. We need cannon fodder for the survival drills, not corpses on day one."
Ted bit back any reply, adjusting his worn backpack strap. Arguing only made it worse. His parents had died in a shuttle accident years ago, leaving him with a modest trust fund and a small apartment in the lower levels. No connections. No power. Just survival through keeping his head down.
He kept walking toward the cafeteria, the pendant around his neck, a strange black obsidian piece inherited from his grandfather, feeling oddly warm against his chest today. He'd found it in an old storage box last week, along with some cryptic notes about "ancient anomalies." Probably just junk, but it was the only thing he had left of family.
The academy buzzed with the usual energy. Students chatted about upcoming ability assessments, drone racing bets, and the latest neural games. Ted grabbed a tray of synth-protein paste and nutrient cubes, finding a quiet corner table near the emergency exit. He poked at his food, mind drifting. Another year of this. Graduate with mediocre scores, get a dead-end job in maintenance or data entry, and fade into the megacity's underbelly.
A low rumble shook the building. At first, everyone ignored it, construction, maybe, or a test drill. Then the alarms blared.
"Containment breach in Sector 7! Unknown biological agent detected. All personnel, proceed to designated shelters. This is not a drill!"
Screams erupted almost instantly. The cafeteria doors slammed open as panicked students flooded in from the hallways. Ted jumped up, tray clattering to the floor.
Through the chaos, he caught glimpses outside the wide windows: people running, security drones swarming, and... something wrong. A faculty member staggered into view, skin turning an unnatural gray, eyes milky white. He lunged at a student, jaws snapping with impossible force.
Bites. Blood. More screams.
"It's a virus! They're turning..."
Ted didn't wait. He bolted for the emergency exit with a small group of others, heart hammering. The pendant burned hot against his skin now, but there was no time to think about it.
The hallways had descended into pandemonium. Infected, shambling figures with tearing flesh and guttural moans, poured from side corridors. One grabbed a girl ahead of Ted, teeth sinking into her shoulder. She screamed as blood sprayed.
Ted shoved past, adrenaline surging. He made it to a side stairwell, but the door jammed. Footsteps, no, dragging steps, closed in behind him.
"Get off!" He grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and swung wildly as an infected student lunged. The metal connected with a sickening crunch, caving in the thing's skull. It dropped, twitching.
But another was already on him. Pain exploded in his forearm as teeth tore through his sleeve and into flesh.
Ted yelled, smashing the extinguisher down again and again until the creature stopped moving. Blood, his blood dripped from the wound. It burned like fire, spreading numbness up his arm.
He collapsed against the wall, breathing hard. The sounds of the outbreak raged outside the stairwell: distant gunshots from security, more screams, the wet sounds of feeding.
*This is it,* he thought. *I'm going to die here. Turn into one of those things.*
Then a cold, mechanical voice echoed directly inside his skull.
*[Necro System Initializing...]*
Blue holographic text materialized in his vision, visible only to him. It hovered like augmented reality overlays, crisp and undeniable.
*[Anomaly detected. Host infected with Necro-Virus strain Alpha. Standard zombification protocol overridden. You are not turning. You are the First Necrotic Host.]*
*[Welcome to the Necro System. Objective: Survive. Evolve. Dominate the Dead.]*
Ted blinked rapidly, convinced the pain was causing hallucinations. "What... what the hell?"
The text refreshed.
*[Status Window Unlocked]*
**Host: Ted Harlan**
**Level: 0 (Necrotic Host - Latent)**
**Strength: 7**
**Agility: 9**
**Vitality: 11** (Warning: Infection spreading)
**Necro Essence: 0**
**Skills: None**
**Passive: Hunger Sense (Latent)**
*[Initial Quest Received: First Feeding]*
*Consume the life essence of one Infected (by devouring brain matter or absorbing residual necro-energy). Time limit: 30 minutes.*
*Reward: Level 1 Unlock, Basic Undead Regeneration (Passive), +5 to all stats.*
*Failure: Full Decay initiates. Permanent HP drain. Host will become a mindless shambler.*
A new hunger stirred in Ted's gut, not ordinary starvation, but something deeper, primal. His bite wound itched fiercely. He looked at the dead infected on the floor, its skull cracked open from his blows. Gray matter glistened.
"No way," he whispered, stomach churning. "This can't be real. I'm hallucinating from blood loss."
But the System didn't care.
*[Quest timer started. 29:47 remaining. Host is advised: Hesitation leads to decay. The dead do not wait.]*
The pendant around his neck pulsed once, glowing faintly black under his shirt. Ted's arm was already turning pale, veins darkening.
Outside the stairwell door, more moans echoed. The outbreak was spreading fast. Neo-Horizon City, the shining beacon of progress, was falling.
Ted stared at the corpse. His hands shook. Part of him wanted to run, to find help, to pretend this was all a nightmare.
But another part, the new, cold part awakening inside whispered that survival had new rules now.
He swallowed hard, the metallic scent of blood and decay filling the air.
"Damn it..."