Apocalypse: Trapped In The Game

[WELCOME BACK, PLAYERS!]

The first notification appeared at the center of the sky. Ten players stood about in a ruined city, surrounded by crumbling skyscrapers, abandoned vehicles, and streets covered in strange black vines. They were all looking at the message in the sky.

“Finally!” A young man in a black combat suit stretched his arms. “I waited three days for this update!”

“Three days?” A girl wearing a pink virtual hoodie snorted. “More like three hours! You literally messaged me this morning asking when the game servers would be back.”

“Same thing.”

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Do you even know what a day is?”

“Twenty-four hours,” the young man replied with a wide grin.

The girl rolled her eyes again and looked away.

Nearby, a tall man with blonde hair checked his inventory on a hologram shown on his wristwatch. A woman with a pair of daggers strapped to her thighs leaned against a broken streetlight. Two other players were arguing about their equipment, while a bald-headed young man repeatedly opened and closed his player status window.

For the while, everything seemed normal.

The game they were there to play was called World’s End, one of the most popular virtual reality survival games in the world. Players could explore abandoned cities, fight monsters, complete quests, and compete for rare equipment.

Its newest update had been highly anticipated. The game developers had promised a mysterious dungeon filled with five unexplored layers. Exclusive legendary rewards. And a leaderboard that promised to change everything. The moment the update came, these ten players had logged in.

“Has anyone received the dungeon invitation?” The blonde guy asked, checking the player status.

“I got nothing.” The bald player adjusted his glasses and gave others a confused look. “It’s weird, though. There’s no event announcement. No countdown. No quest description. And yet, we are all here.”

“Maybe it’s because we are the first players to discover it,” the woman with the daggers suggested.

“Then where is everybody else?”

They looked around and were met with stillness. Aside from them, the streets were empty. And that confused them further. World’s End was always filled with nonplayers in the game world. Yet the ruined city stretched for miles and no one was in sight. No monsters. No merchants. There wasn’t even the usual background music.

Only the wind howling in the distance.

And the sound of something heavy dragging itself across the pavement.

The girl in the pink hoodie slowly turned toward the noise. “Please tell me that’s part of the game soundtrack.”

Nobody answered. They all turned in its direction and caught something moving between two buildings. Then the shadow disappeared around the corner.

The young man in the black combat suit immediately drew his sword, his face splitting into a broad smile.

“Finally!” He cried out in excitement. “A boss encounter!”

“Are you stupid?” the girl snapped.

“Maybe.” He grinned and ran toward the alley where the noise came from. “HEY! GET BACK HERE!”

She groaned and chased after him.

The others exchanged glances.

“Should we follow them?” The petite woman wearing a white coat asked.

“Nah.” The woman with daggers sighed. “If he dies, we can collect his equipment.”

The petite woman grimaced. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s gaming.”

“At least, let’s check what the boss looks like.”

She shook her head, moved away from the streetlight she was leaning on, and followed the others towards the alley. They found the young man standing in the alley. His sword was still drawn, but he wasn’t grinning anymore. Something lay on the ground in front of him.

A human hand.

Not a monster’s claw. Not a severed limb belonging to some grotesque creature.

A human hand.

Blood dripped from the fingertips.

The young man swallowed. “Okay,” he muttered. “That’s new.”

The blonde man crouched beside the hand. “It’s definitely a scripted event. There’s no need to freak out. It’s part of the game.”

He reached toward it.

Immediately, a system notification flashed across his vision.

[WARNING: DO NOT TOUCH THE REMAINS.]

He froze, his hand just an inch from the severed human hand.

“What’s wrong?” the player asked, leaning forward.

The blonde man quickly withdrew his hand. “There’s a warning not to touch it.”

“Let me see.”

He opened his system interface and searched for the message. Nothing showed up. No warning. No event notification. No record of what had just happened.

The blonde man stared at his empty status window. “That’s impossible.”

Suddenly, the hand moved. Its fingers curled against the pavement as it trembled.

The entire group jumped backward, their eyes widening as they looked at it. Before they could make sense of what was happening, a scream tore through the night. Something dragged itself out from behind a dumpster.

It had the shape of a human being, but its body was twisted at unnatural angles. Its skin was gray, its mouth stretched almost to its ears, and a cluster of red symbols pulsed beneath its broad forehead.

The creature lifted its head and its red eyes landed on them.

[UNREGISTERED ENTITY DETECTED.]

For the first time, the system displayed a notification everyone could see. One of them checked for more information about the creature but got a semantic error message.

[ERROR: ENTITY DATA UNAVAILABLE.]

[ERROR: ENTITY DATA UNAVAILABLE.]

[ERROR: ENTITY DATA UNAVAILABLE.]

The creature opened its long mouth, blood splitting like webs as it spoke

“Help me.”

Its voice sounded hoarse and deep.

The petite woman covered her mouth, her whole body shaking.

The creature dragged itself forward, its claws digging into the ground. “Please… help me.”