Beside the Attributes tab, another caught my eye – labeled plainly Skills. There wasn't any mouse pointer to select it, but as my attention shifted to the tab, it expanded seamlessly without requiring any conscious effort from me.

  Inside, though, was a big fat nothing.

  I frowned at the obvious lack of skills, but it was the truth. Apparently, the passenger didn't consider breathing, walking, running, or any other basic human functions as skills worth cataloging, which I suppose was right. These would likely be abilities I'd have to earn over time.

  Next, I skimmed over to the Achievements tab. It wasn’t much better. There was exactly one achievement sitting there, a tiny golden icon next to the words: Injured First Mob. Looking at this digital pat on the back didn't make me feel any better about nearly becoming a skeleton-less skin sack. Next, the Spells tab was equally barren. Not that I really expected to be hurling fireballs. It probably had something to do with magic, but at this point, honestly? Giant bug-eyed fairies that ripped bones out of people didn’t exactly make magic seem far-fetched anymore.

  Finally, my eyes flicked to a little red ‘X’ glowing in the top corner. As soon as my focus shifted to it, the entire menu system collapsed with a strange haptic ping right inside my brain. It was bizarre, like feeling a tiny rubber band snap against my mind. The main page of the Neural Overlay System (NOS) came back into view, but this time it had updated with some new stats and bars that hadn’t been there before. Level 1, Class: None, and Talent: None.

  As for the three simple bars floating faintly below were: Health, Stamina, and something called Soul Juice – whatever that was supposed to be.

  My health bar displayed as completely full and glowing green. The stamina meter was gradually climbing from an alarming red back toward yellow, probably recovering from my desperate sprint away from the tooth fairy. As for Soul Juice, the bar remained completely empty.

  But that appeared to be the extent of this NOS interface for now.

  The real question was how to make it disappear altogether. The ethereal blue screen was increasingly irritating. While it didn't actually block my vision, somehow existing in a layer separate from normal sight, it felt like having a persistent eyelash or gnat stuck in my eye that my brain desperately wanted to blink away.

  Meanwhile, the passenger was acting like some yandere asshole who clearly had no interest in helping whatsoever. Silent when I needed it most. It surely had made me realize that it wasn’t my friend who was here to help, but a parasite brought by the apocalypse attaching itself to my head. I needed to be cautious of it.

  "Menu."

  "Hide."

  "Disappear."

  I tried various commands, hoping something would banish this interface that seemed superglued to my retinas. Nothing worked. In frustration, I rubbed my eyes, and as my eyelids closed, the blue display vanished instantly. When I opened them again, to my surprise, the NOS remained gone. It seemed I just needed to close my eyes to make it disappear, a simple solution.

  A slow breath escaped my lungs, shaky but relieved. Okay, I thought. At least now I know one thing that works around here.

  Still, this tutorial felt like a sham…

  Finally, I focused all my attention back on the tooth fairy. It was still stuck against the wall, a white gooey substance leaking out from its back like a popped blister. Over its head, a health bar had appeared, floating just like mine, and it was slowly crawling back up from red into yellow. My eyes widened in panic. I couldn’t let it go any higher, if I did, this thing might recover enough to jump right back at my face. Broken wing or not, it was still level 3. Who knows what other crap it could pull.

  Then, it twitched. Its black eyes snapped open, and for a second, it looked like it was about to either attack or scurry away. It was like one of those disgusting moments when a cockroach you think is dead suddenly flips over and starts sprinting straight at you. I jumped in place, heart hammering. I had always hated bugs, but killing them was something else altogether. Still, fear does weird things to people. Before I even realized what I was doing, something just snapped inside me. My body moved on its own, I lifted my foot and stomped down on the fairy as hard as I could.

  There was a sickly crunch, the sound of brittle bones snapping and something wet spurting out from under my shoe. My black sneakers got splattered in slimy goo and tiny shattered bones. It was revolting.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Whoa, easy there, Rambo! It’s already dead!"

  the Passenger’s voice buzzed into my head like a late reaction.

  New Achievement Unlocked: Ruthless Killer

  Congratulations! You have murdered your first adorable woodland creature. Gold star!

  Reward: You’ve gained enough XP to stumble into Level 2. Two Radicals Extracted, (you may invest them to increase your attributes.) No special prize, though. It’s not like you invented violence. Don’t get cocky, you’re only at the beginning of the trial.

  New Achievement Unlocked: Mark of Vengeance

  Turns out fairies, in their final death spasms, squirt out a chemical love letter to their killer. It smells like betrayal and wet socks. Congratulations! Every fairy you meet from now on will hunt you with single-minded, foaming rage.

  Reward: 10% speed boost when running away from fairies, screaming like a rational person.

  By the time I actually came to my senses, I was breathing hard, doubled over like I’d just finished a marathon. My stamina bar, which had barely climbed up, had fallen straight back into the red again. The Passenger, for once, had stopped his sarcastic commentary. I glanced down at the mashed paste of bone and skin on the floor. The thing didn’t even look like a creature anymore. Just a mess.

  A lump formed in my throat. I knew it was a monster. I knew it would've killed me if it could. But looking at what I had done, I felt sick. I felt guilty.

  There is seriously something wrong with me, I thought, not ignoring the achievement of vengeance, I haven’t even started the journey, but had already made an enemy. Well, Fuck! SOMEONE SAVE ME.

  As I lifted my foot from the grisly remains, three golden lights suddenly erupted from the fairy's pulverized corpse. They hovered tantalizingly just a foot above the ground, pulsing with a golden glow.

  Is it the loot? My eyes widened, heart thumping like crazy. Instinctively, I reached down and brushed my fingers against one of the lights. It instantly disappeared at the touch, leaving behind three solid objects in my hands – three golden coins, a faded-looking ticket, and what looked like a piece of clothing.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to wrack my brain wondering what they were, because the Passenger screamed directly into my skull like he had been waiting to pounce.

  Loot Acquired!

  Fortune Coins (x3)

  Transfer Ticket (x1)

  Tooth Fairy Dress (x2)

  That’s it? I blinked at the items, a little disappointed. I guess I was hoping for a sword or a shield or, hell, even a baseball bat. But no, just some coins, a creepy ticket, and what looked like doll clothes.

  The Tooth Fairy Dress looked like someone had mugged a dollar-store Barbie and left her to die in a gutter. It was limp, gray, and about as cheerful as a funeral in a rainstorm. I stuffed it deep into my backpack without a second thought. No way anyone could wear that, except, of course, a desperate fairy or a depressed barbie doll. Maybe I could sell it them, if I survived first… The Fortune Coins were easier to figure out. I’d played enough games to know a glittery, obviously named currency when I saw one. Probably the local version of money, or maybe wish tokens, or maybe they just jingled nicely while you bled out. Either way, I pocketed them carefully, along with the Transfer Ticket, which felt suspiciously important.

  Opening the NOS display wasn’t difficult either. It was like thinking about it was enough – and voila – it appeared, again covering half my vision in that faint blue glow. My eyes flicked to the status page and sure enough, my level had risen to 2. Two small free radicals glowed beside it, waiting for me to allocate them.

  Honestly, I had no freaking clue where to put them. But at the moment, Strength seemed like a pretty safe bet for now. Being able to hit harder or shove monsters off me sounded way more useful than anything else. I focused on the sensation of selecting the numbers, visualizing them flowing into the strength attribute. Immediately, they vanished from the free section and added to my strength stat, which ticked up from 5 to 7.

  A wave of warmth washed through my entire body, as though I'd suddenly plunged into a hot bath. The sensation penetrated to my bones, radiating outward from my core to my fingertips. Though it clearly meant something fundamental had changed in my body's biology to create such a reaction, I couldn't pinpoint exactly what. It did, however, further convince me that I wasn't dreaming. Unless I counted the warm feeling as peeing myself inside the closet... Just thinking about that sent a cringe down my spine.

  Pushing that horrible thought away, I peered down into the darkness. A faint light was leaking up from below. The stairs seemed to end at some platform down there, and from what I could tell, it wasn’t empty.

  I took a slow, hesitant step forward, wondering what monster might be waiting in the shadows ahead. I really, really wished I had a stick or a bat or something to defend myself with. But the concrete stairway was as barren as a prison cell. Nothing useful anywhere.

  While descending, I couldn't help but question what I was doing, what I was hoping to accomplish. If Earth and civilization were truly gone, if these monsters lurked at every corner hunting survivors, what chance did I actually have? I wasn't a hero – I was barely surviving in the normal world, cowering in closets to escape bullies. What possible chance did I have now? Sure, killing monsters and leveling up sounded cool, like something out of a teenager’s wildest power fantasy wet dreams. But honestly? If I had a choice, I would have rather been crushed when the buildings fell. At least it would’ve been quick. No monsters clawing at me, no starving to death in some weird dungeon world.

  The stairway opened onto a vast train platform, and unlike the eerie emptiness of the upper station, this area was teeming with life.

  There were hundreds of people crowding the place, some sitting, some lying on the filthy floor. They all looked like hell: faces pale, bodies slumped, some bleeding through torn clothes. Everyone had that same glassy, half-dead look. Like whatever fights they had gone through before reaching here had stripped them down to the bone.

  Some were better off than others like me who had it easy. Some were barely hanging on.

  It appeared, they were all waiting for the next train.