After a time, Jose came to a stop, taking in his surroundings. He’d lived in Philadelphia before the blackout but had visited his family enough times throughout the years to be familiar with the states and cities most of them lived in. And he was sure that he was not in the city he should have reached by now. In fact, he was sure that he wasn’t even in the same state anymore, or maybe even the same country.

  Emotionally unstable as he had been, he hadn’t noticed when his surroundings had changed, but he was now standing in a tropical area. He was still in the middle of a highway, but the flora was all wrong, and the homes he could see were all cement, some with tin roofs even.

  The eerie silence from earlier still pervaded the world, making it even more disorienting. What's more, the sun was low in the sky. With no electricity to be seen, there was no ambient light, and the shadows cast a pervasive darkness over everything.

  One thing Jose had learned in his life was that predators, both human and non, were most comfortable in the darkness. If he was going to survive and make it through to his family, he needed to get off the streets before darkness fell in full.

  He made his way off the highway and knocked on several doors, even trying them all before finding an open one. He needed a defensible position for the night, and breaking in a door or window would hardly afford him any security.

  Quickly checking the small one-floor house, he found no one. He did, however, find plenty of ashes eluding to the inhabitants having been stuck in that weird frozen state till they turned to ash. Jose locked all the doors and windows before lying down on the couch in the living room.

  ***

  He awoke to the sound of gunshots the next morning. The gunshots were not far, maybe at the end of the street. ‘Someone must be fighting some monsters out there, or each other.’ It was clear that more than one person was shooting from the sounds.

  There was a storm brewing within as he contemplated if going out to help was the right decision. He didn’t believe himself to be some kind of hero or champion of the just and weak, but he also couldn’t just turn his back on people in need, not if he had the means to help them. The events from the day before still sharp and painful in his mind, kept him cemented as he worked through the internal struggle.

  Chances were good that it was several groups of humans fighting each other, meaning he might have to kill or at least hurt other people again. He wasn’t sure he’d come to terms with the happenings of the day before just yet or that he was fully committed to the promise he made himself in anger.

  That wasn’t like him; he’d been called many things in his life: a fool, mentor, stubborn, smart, stupid, but never indecisive. There was also a chance that it was people banded together fighting monsters. If so, he’d never forgive himself for not helping, of that he was sure.

  Having come to a conclusion, Jose stepped outside, ready for what may come. He could see a group of at least twenty people fighting off some monsters, this gave him great relief. Not that monsters were the cause of the commotion, but that, currently, at least, he wouldn’t need to stain his hands with human blood again.

  The people were under attack by several large rat monsters and a small horde of Tainted. They had split themselves well with a group behind a vehicle on either side of the street. They had already killed most of the Tainted, with only five of them remaining, and they were keeping the three giant rats at bay with interconnecting lines of fire.

  This group must’ve had someone with combat experience with them, seeing as they were firing in a wedge pattern keeping the monsters in front and center while moving down the street as they fired. They were also keeping it so the fire lines intersected without putting each other in danger. Finally, they had two people in both groups working on ammo while the others engaged.

  Sadly, however, it didn’t seem they had enough ammo to take out the rat monsters. The rats were the size of small cars, covered with hard scales on their backs from head to tail. The scales also covered the sides of their heads, and many of the bullets didn’t seem to be getting through or causing enough harm, more like causing distractions, keeping them from concentrating on any one person. There were two dead rats behind the monsters, so given enough time and ammo, the people would likely come out on top. Although, the fight had been raging for some time, and the bags of ammo they were dragging with them seemed very light.

  Not long after Jose noticed this, one of the ammo groups lifted their bag, waving it around, signaling to the fire line that it was empty. All of their faces went pale with the realization that they would not have the ammo needed to finish these monsters.

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  Anger began welling up inside of Jose. Would he have to stand there and watch these people die? He doubted he had enough power to kill all the monsters arrayed against them. What if his family were there facing a group of monsters? Would he be powerless to help them too?

  A realization came over him as he desperately searched for a way to help them out of this situation. He had access to a game-like system after all, and he had stat points to spend. Before he knew what he was doing, he quickly opened his status and moved half his free points into strength and agility with a mental push.

  [Health: 255/255 Ether: 30/30

  Level: 3

  Soul: Ancient

  Race: Sapient

  Genus: None

  Species: None

  Strength: 11

  Constitution: 8

  Endurance: 11

  Agility: 13

  Dexterity: 10

  Awareness: 12

  Wisdom: 9

  Capacity: 14

  Free Points: 6

  Skills: Strike, Orb]

  Before the monsters could move in on the vulnerable group he yelled at the top of his lungs as he pointed his sword at them.

  “HEEEYYYY!!!”

  Everyone turned to look in his direction, including the monsters. The first rat in line took the challenge and began charging at him. Jose dashed forward with a maddening speed, he had to be moving at least thirty miles per hour.

  The rat reared back bringing up its front legs for a strike as they reached each other. Its claws were giving off a sickly brown smoke, probably poison of some kind.

  Before it could descend on him with those knife-like poisoned claws, he reached it and stabbed forward with his sword aimed at its head. On instinct, he yelled “Strike!” and hit with such devastation that the monster's head exploded on impact.

  [You have received nourishment for defeating an Armored Rat.]

  Not waiting to see how the other Rats would behave Jose resumed his charge and stabbed the next one through the eye. “Strike!” Having spent most of his momentum on the first Rat, this next one only slid back as the sword drove into its brain delivering its red lightining and killing the monster instantly.

  He left the sword stuck in its face and lunged forward again for the last Rat, baton in hand. “Strike!” This one was ready for him and turned sideways as he tried to go for its eye with his baton. He clipped the scales on the side of its head, leaving a burn mark. As his strike was deflected, he dropped the baton, forced to abandon the attack lest he break his wrist.

  He jumped backward just in time to evade a slash that came out of nowhere; he could feel the heat and smell the rot coming from its claws as it barely missed his face. Definitely some type of poison or acid, one swipe and he’d likely die a long and painful death.

  Jose jumped back several times and used the body of the second Rat as a barrier while the third slashed at him several more times. The monster screamed in anger and frustration as he evaded each attack. He pulled the sword from the second Rat’s eye and stabbed it into the throat of the third Rat several times. It fell gasping for breath and, for a few more seconds, continued trying to rise till it finally died.

  These were probably the weakest of monsters that he’d been facing, and growing strong was the only answer to staying alive in this new world, he reasoned. Remembering that monster cores were used as materials for building better weapons or gaining more power in games and fantasy stories he’d read, he’d resolved to find out if these monsters had any.

  Without a word to the other people around, he kneeled and began cutting the rats open, searching for a core. The others seemed to want to talk but gave him a wide birth until he finished his gruesome task.

  Making an incision straight down the middle from the gullet to the tailbone, he reached in and forced the chest bones and ribs apart, breaking some of them cleanly off with his new absurd strength. Reaching into its body he began ripping out any organ that looked like it could be considered, or hide, the core. The heart, or near it, were the most common locations in most fantasy stories he’d read, so that is where he started.

  After noticing there was no obvious core he began cutting open the organs he had removed. Alas, he was unable to find a core. He reasoned these monsters may be too low-leveled to have cores.

  Noticing he was done with his search, a man approached from the crowd, “I’m Juan, thanks for your help. But who are you? And where did you come from?” He asked with no small measure of apprehension in his words.

  “Jose, and you are welcome,” he answered noticing that the group had finished off the Tained but still hadn’t put down their weapons. “Where am I?” He asked pointing to the surrounding area with his head. The man had spoken in Spanish, a language that Jose also spoke, considering his Puerto Rican heritage.

  “You’re in Panama. Or at least what is left of it. The world has gone mad and has apparently taken some of the land with it,” answered Juan.

  “I see, so it is what Rashon had feared. The land was somehow shuffled around like dominoes on a board during the blackout. I started in a US city called Rhode Island, and somehow, after a day of hard travel, I ended up here.” Jose said to himself more than anyone else.

  “Not sure about you, but I, and some others I met after waking up, are having problems accessing any memories about how this came to be and what we were doing prior to waking up to this new world.”

  “You know, now that you mention it. None of us have any memories of that either. Also, we couldn’t help but notice you using some type of magic. Mind telling us how you did it? Some of us have awoken… ah, something… after defeating monsters. But we have yet to figure out how to use this new power.”

  Jose spent some time explaining how he and the others had figured out how to pull up the status information and use his skills. After he ate some food, he began his journey anew.