They slowly and quietly made their way to the room furthest from the door and hallway, which turned out to be the bathroom. Pulling a chair into the room with them, they used it to prop the door closed in addition to the lock.

  They each checked their cell phones, finding none had power. They stared at their phones despondently for a time until one of them spoke in a hushed tone.

  “My name is Rashon. I am… Was a 5th-quarter medical student.” He was a handsome, stocky young Black-American man, about 5’ 8”, with a clean-shaven face and short dreadlocks, in his mid-twenties.

  The others quietly looked at him for a few seconds before also introducing themselves.

  “Maya, not sure where we are, but I’m not in college if that is what you are referring to,” said the woman. She was a beautiful Dominican woman with a caramel complexion and the body of a model in her early thirties, about 5’ 5”, with long silky black hair.

  “Jose, way beyond college age and also unsure of where we are or how I got here… I hate to say this, but I think those things are some type of zombies.” Said the older man, he was Puerto Rican with mid-tanned skin, a five o’clock shadow of a beard, 5’ 10”, and forty years old with a tire in his midsection.

  “This can’t be real. What are we going to do with that thing sitting in front of the door?..” Said Maya, as desperation began creeping back into her voice.

  “The police station isn’t too far from here, if we can get back outside we might be able to make it there. This might be an isolated incident or some sort of virus or something,” Rashon offered up while opening the shades and curtain to look outside and point out the direction of the station. What they saw froze them in place for maybe the third time that day.

  The scene outside was quiet and desolate. They could see many cars along the road and several frozen people on the streets. All of the buildings had some type of damage, in fact, the windows to Rashon’s apartment were blown out. The area was very much in line with how one would imagine the apocalypse. As if a cataclysmic event had happened not too long ago, and all of the people either fled in a hurry or were no longer alive.

  Aside from the cackling of the monster outside the apartment and their heavy breathing, there was a pervasive silence to the world around them. There were gigantic trees in the distance, and large vines covered several smaller buildings to the right. At the same time, other buildings seemed as if they’d been abandoned to nature some time ago.

  Gunshots to the left pulled their attention, and they saw smoke rising in the distance from that same direction. “Shit, the police station is in that direction, isn't it?” Asked Jose with a resigned voice as he leaned against the wall and felt his heart sink to his feet.

  Rashon took a step back, nodding, and sat on the toilet wrapping his head in his hands. The world had gone mad overnight, and now they were trapped in his apartment in an apocalyptic scenario.

  Maya stumbled into the tub and asked for a moment to cry quietly to herself. She had only recently found peace and quiet, and now it had all vanished in the blink of an eye.

  ***

  “Do either of you remember what happened? How things got this way, or when? Or even what you were doing before this… This blackout?” Asked Jose, breaking the silence that had enveloped them.

  The others shook their heads in quiet contemplation of those questions and more. What had they been doing before waking up here? How had the world gotten like this overnight? How could they forget an event that would bring the world to such a state?

  They were all so desperately lost and confused. They’d woken up to a completely different world than the one they knew. Not one of them could make sense of the madness happening around them. People were seemingly frozen in time, others had turned into monsters and were eating each other, and others were turning to ash from the smallest touch.

  Worst yet, some of them were far from home. What kind of a nightmare scenario had they found themselves in?

  After a few minutes of quiet contemplation, they heard gunshots from across the street in the direction they had come from. They quickly ducked to the floor before realizing the gunshots weren’t aimed in their direction. Afterward, they crawled back over to the window to see what was happening.

  A police officer ran out the building's front door, he was trailing blood from a gash on one of his arms. He ran for the parking lot in front and took cover between some cars. A few seconds behind him was a group of zombies; the ones from earlier seemed to have picked up friends.

  The officer stopped to empty his clip into the group chasing him. He managed to hit one in the head, dropping it on the spot. He’d also hit others, but just like zombies in movies and popular literature, they seemed to be immune to anything but their brains being destroyed.

  These zombies, however, were not exactly like the ones seen in shows and movies. They showed some signs of intelligence and were fast and agile. Not only did they zig-zag to minimize the possibility of getting hit in the head, but they also split into teams to flank the officer and trap him between cars. Once they had him trapped, they wasted no time jumping him.

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  Meanwhile, more zombies were attracted by the sound and blood; some jumped out of the second and third-floor windows of the building, bringing the total to thirteen. The first group of zombies lifted the officer, once subdued, and tore off his limbs, claiming one each for themselves before the newcomers arrived to fall over the torso.

  “What is that thing?” Maya whispered in horror as she pointed down and to the left.

  They turned to find a large, monstrous dog making its way across the street to the zombies. It was a Doberman the size of a horse, with bulging muscles all over and a long reptilian-like tail. The tail had a razor-sharp bone sticking out of the end sharpened into a pike.

  It approached the zombies in a slow trot and began snarling and slobbering as it closed in on them. The zombies hadn’t noticed it till it was too late. It reached them and let out a vicious, mind-numbing bark right on top of the zombies, releasing a sonic wave. Several of their heads burst from the sonic wave, while others were sent tumbling several feet from the force.

  The six zombies that remained quickly recovered and jumped the beast. But they were just no match for it. Even with their superhuman strength the beast barely moved as it was tackled. The beast stabbed several of them straight through the temple with its tail, bit one's head off, and shredded the others with its menacing claws.

  The beast grabbed the largest parts of the officer's remains and trotted off in the same direction it had come from after obliterating the zombies.

  For a few seconds, they all stood there, just staring at the horribly bloody scene across the street. “What? What was that? What did we just witness?” They all stammered, utterly confused at what they’d just witnessed.

  “Was that magic?”Asked Maya. Zombies were one thing, but magic or superpowers of some kind? That was leagues beyond what they knew reality to be.

  “I don’t know what that was. But zombies were scary enough, and now we have giant beastial dog monsters with - some type of breath attack to worry about too. Whatever is happening, surviving it just got a lot harder,” interjected Jose, hysteria leaking into his words.

  “I don’t know about you two, but I need to get high,” stated Rashon as if he’d already resigned himself to this new world. He walked out of the bathroom to do just that. He reached for a jar on top of the fridge. When he opened it, it seemed like mold had grown over the buds and even melded with them somehow. “What the fuck?”

  “What happened?” Both Jose and Maya asked in tandem, quickly walking out of the bathroom.

  Rashon handed the jar to the others for a good look, as Jose grabbed the jar and brought it closer to inspect, the dammed thing opened a mouth and tried to jump out at him. Fear and adrenaline coursing through him, he slammed the jar on the floor, stomped, and ground all of it until it was dust.

  “Fuck me!” He half-yelled, half-whispered - catching himself halfway through - exasperated and unnerved. Things just kept getting crazier and crazier. First, they woke up, who knows where. Then, they witness a zombie apocalypse. Then, some kind of hellhound makes short work of said zombies. And now, weed had become some kind of sludge monster and tried to bite him.

  Sweat poured down the forehead of the others as they glanced at the front door, hoping the monster outside had been drawn to the gunshots and could no longer hear them. Otherwise, it would likely come crashing through the door and devour them soon.

  Jose heard a chime, and a blinding pain struck, dropping him to his knees. It was as if something had burst inside his body, causing intense momentary pain and blindness. His entire body felt like it was being crushed for a heartbeat, then he convulsed and vomited black sludge as he hit the floor and steam rolled off his body. When he opened his eyes a voice rang in his head.

  User Interface Protocol initiated…

  You have defeated a Slime Variant.

  Galvanization Protocol initiated.

  Then, a screen appeared before his eyes.

  [Health: 200/200 Ether: 20/20

  Level: 1

  Soul: Ancient

  Race: Sapient

  Genus: None

  Species: None

  Strength: 5

  Constitution: 6

  Endurance: 8

  Agility: 8

  Dexterity: 8

  Awareness: 10

  Wisdom: 7

  Capacity: 12

  Free Points: 4

  Skills: Strike]

  “What the hell just happened?” He asked disoriented.

  “Are you okay?” Asked Rashon while helping him to his feet. “What are you trying to grab? There’s nothing there.”

  “Yeah, what happened? You suddenly screamed and fell to your knees vomiting - whatever that disgusting stuff is.” Added Maya with concern in her voice.

  “You guys didn’t see that?” He asked them.

  “What, the monster?” Asked Rashon.

  “There was some type of hologram in front of my face. It was like a status page or something.”

  “You mean like in video games or anime?” Asked Maya.

  “I - guess so?” Answered Jose, vaguely familiar with the anime reference. He was a fan of fantasy stories, anime, and games but had not had the time to read a book, watch cartoons, or play a game for a long time.

  “Damn, maybe we’ve been isekaied or something.” Rashon blurted out with a nervous chuckle.

  The atmosphere quickly turned somber afterward as realization set in that something beyond all comprehension had happened to them and, perhaps, the world, if they were even still on Earth, that is.

  Jose’s mind swirled as he looked around the room. He was clearly the oldest person there, and as such, he felt compelled to be a leader and protector for the others. The responsibility he felt for others around him had always been his greatest weakness. It often resulted in him taking on burdens that were not his to bear.

  That thought brought him to his family, as long as he could remember, he’d tried his very best to be a good example for all in his family. But at the end of the day, not only had he always felt that he had failed in that endeavor, but it also alienated him from them and, eventually, from others as well. He was often seen as too responsible, too straight-laced, often people would refer to him as an old man in a young man's body when he was younger.

  This, among other things, had forced him apart from his siblings as he got older. The only family members still in his life were his nieces and nephews, who were all adults now. But if the world had changed and they were in danger, then he had to do everything in his power to get to them and help.

  “I’m sorry,” Jose said somberly, realizing this. “I have to go; there are people I need to get to. — Do you have any weapons in the apartment Rashon?”

  “I think we all do… Have people we need to get to, that is. And I do have some swords, but they are meant to be decorations at best. The campus police office is at the back of that building though. If we can manage to get back there safely, we should find plenty of guns… Hopefully,” answered Rashon.