I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse
I will not die. Not for someone else.
For as long as Kairos could remember, he experienced things twice. Originally, Kairos believed that was completely normal. However, as he grew up, he realized that it was not nearly that simple.
Kairos would experience things one second before they happened. At first, he used it to avoid stubbing his toe or having a plate fall on his head. But as he got older, he realized that being too different from other people was essentially a sin.
And so, Kairos quickly covered his ability up and pretended to be a loner. He let himself get shoved around even when he knew he could avoid it, just to blend in with the crowd.
However, things weren't just left at that.
Along with his strange ability, Kairos always had dreams.
Dreams of a rising red sun.
At first, they were infrequent and more confusing than anything else. But as time went on, he had this same dream more frequently.
And it also became more terrifying.
Kairos would wake up in a cold sweat, not truly understanding why he was so afraid. That is, until one day.
When the red sun rose.
And the apocalypse descended.
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Kairos was adjusting his glasses when out of nowhere, he was shoved.
"Loser!"
Then one second later, the exact thing happened again.
"Loser!"
Kairos did not say anything and kept a tight hold onto his glasses, which fell off of his face. A fairly burly guy walked on ahead, but not before flashing him a cocky smile.
Then doing it again.
Well, that wasn't the most accurate way to describe what actually happened. But that was pretty accurate in terms of what Kairos saw.
For as long as he could remember, he experienced things twice. There would be the first time, then the second time one second later. When he was still a little kid, he thought that it was normal.
That everybody experienced things twice.
It was especially annoying since it made him not only have to eat his spinach once, but a second time afterwards.
After recovering from that shove, Kairos continued to walk down the street with his hands in his pockets and his head down.
One time, when he was a little kid, Kairos went through a rather traumatizing experience. He walked over to the bookshelf in his house and pulled out one of his favorite books.
However, there was also a pair of scissors higher up on the shelf which he did not know about. The small force he used to pull out the book was enough to make the scissors fall down as well.
Kairos felt the scissors pierce his skull, causing him unimaginable amounts of pain. He immediately lifted his book upwards. He braced himself for the second wave of pain, but for some reason…
It never came.
In fact, the pain from before disappeared as well. That is, other than the phantom pain that was left behind.
Kairos slowly looked up to see one of the blades of the scissors pierce straight through his favorite book, while the tip was just a few centimeters away from his forehead.
He immediately tossed the book away and began crying, rushing towards his parents' embrace.
"Mom, Dad, my head, my head!"
His parents hurriedly rushed over, trying their best to console him.
"What happened honey?"
"Don't be afraid! We are here for you."
Kairos pointed to his head.
"The scissors! It hurt my head!"
At first, his parents seemed concerned. His mother gently brushed his short black hair back to reveal a bare forehead. His father let out a sigh of relief.
"Thankfully, you weren't injured."
Kairos shook his head.
"I was injured! Look, look!"
He continued to point at his forehead, where he still felt the pain. His father had another look before standing up and walking towards where he came from.
"Oh no. The scissors have torn up your favorite book!"
His mother quickly stood up.
"What? How did that happen? I put them on the top shelf."
Kairos' father frowned.
"…They must've fallen off the top shelf. It seems this book saved him. No more putting scissors in high places, they must be locked away safely."
His mother nodded hurriedly.
"Oh dear, I am sorry, that was even your favorite book! I will buy you a new book, ok?"
Kairos simply stood there. Confusion had completely overtaken his previous sadness. He gently brushed his forehead with the tips of his fingers.
And sure enough, he was fine.
Then, he looked at the book on the floor.
This was when Kairos first realized that he wasn't exactly experiencing things twice. After a little bit of experimentation, Kairos found that what he first saw, wasn't actually what happened.
It was a vision of the future, albeit only one second ahead.
When he first realized this, he excitedly shared this discovery with his parents. They played along and pretended to believe him, thinking it was just a kid fantasizing.
Kairos then went on to share it with his other friends.
The moment he proclaimed it so, a little girl with short black hair giggled.
"I have a superpower too! I can become invisible!"
Kairos let out a gasp, completely believing her.
"Show me, show me!"
The little girl then proceeded to cover her eyes with her hands.
"See? I'm invisible now!"
Kairos blinked a few times, visibly confused.
"But I can still see you."
The little girl giggled.
"What do you mean? I'm completely invisible!"
A little boy with fairly long blonde hair on the side put his hands on his hips confidently.
"My power is shooting a laser beam from my hands!"
Kairos soon got over his initial disappointment and smiled excitedly.
"Oh, show me, show me!"
The little boy pulled back with both hands, clasping them together. He closed his eyes and had a serious expression on his face.
"This is my strongest move."
Kairos couldn't help but anticipate the devastation of this, 'strongest move'.
"Yeah, go!"
Suddenly, the little boy's eyes flew open. Both hands shot forward and parted.
"EEEEYYYYAAAHHHHHHHH."
…But nothing happened, other than the strange scream.
The little girl jumped up and down on the spot.
"Wow, so cool!"
As for Kairos, he was completely flabbergasted.
"What?"
It was only until a while later did he find out that his friends thought they were roleplaying, as though they had powers. This was when he found out his powers weren't normal.
Kairos had almost made it back to his house.
That was when a girl with long black hair essentially body slammed against his side before wrapping an arm around his shoulders.
"Hey, Kairos!"
Kairos saw it coming, but other than tensing up, he did not try to dodge. Instead, he let out a soft sigh.
"Do you really have to tackle me each time, Nicole?"
Nicole frowned playfully and pointed towards the fairly burly guy walking on ahead.
"Why are you bothered so much more by a sweet innocent little flower greeting you, but you completely ignore it when that jerk, Chad, shoves you?"
Kairos pushed up his glasses with a finger.
"Well, I think you have the roles reversed. If anything, Chad is the gentle flower."
Nicole pushed him hard as a gleam flashed by her hazelnut irises.
"What! How could you say that?"
Kairos rolled his eyes as he recovered his footing.
"Because he only pushes me lightly. Whereas you are essentially trying to topple me over, like just now."
Nicole lifted her arm up and flexed her bicep.
"That's just because I'm really strong!"
Kairos scoffed.
"Stronger than Chad?"
Nicole coughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
"Anyway, do you want to come over to my house? You can try to teach me math and I will help you out with some Chinese!"
Kairos waved his hand dismissively.
"No thanks."
Nicole let out an exasperated sigh.
"But I'm fluent in Chinese!"
Kairos shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe, but the level of Chinese we learn in highschool is easy enough. On the other hand, it would take a few hours for me to tutor you in math until you understood."
Nicole clicked her tongue.
"Stingy!"
The corner of Kairos' lip turned up.
"You know me."
Nicole sighed.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
Kairos nodded.
"See you."
With that, the two of them separated, going to their respective houses which just so happened to be on opposite sides of the street.
Right after Kairos pushed open the door, he set down his bag and went over to the kitchen to get a knife.
The reason for this is because he made it a habit to always increase his pain endurance whenever he got home. Not that he was planning on actually stabbing himself, but 'seeing' himself get stabbed.
Since there was only an hour or so before his parents came home after he did, Kairos could only do this during that time. After all, letting out cries of pain while other people were in the house would probably cause some concern.
The reason he wished to do this, is because he wanted to use this ability to save his life. Although Kairos couldn't say this was an ideal life, he still enjoyed living for what it was.
The very first time it saved his life, it was mostly based on luck. The pain heavily messed up his senses, throwing him off balance completely. Frankly, this ability wouldn't help much if the pain was so bad it made his brain stop.
At first, Kairos didn't think too much about it. However, as he got a stronger understanding of what death was, it made him afraid. Any random incident could get him killed, which most humans have to come to accept. There was only so much they could do.
However, he could do far more to prevent it, thus he wanted to take full advantage of it.
And so, every day, Kairos would plunge the knife towards himself, but right when he felt pain, he would pull away. That way he wouldn't actually get injured. Though Kairos needed some practice to actually do it properly, he got it in the end.
At first, Kairos only did small cuts on his arm. But as time went on, he stabbed through his gut, making tears uncontrollably gush out of his eyes.
At his peak, Kairos even plunged it straight through his eye, which was not the most pleasant experience, to say the least.
He walked up to his room, pushing it open before shutting the door. It was a pretty bland place, without any of the posters that most teenagers his age would have.
There were only the bare essentials. A laptop on a table, a chair, and a bed.
Kairos took a deep breath as he mentally prepared himself for another painful session. But suddenly, he froze.
A frown formed on his face.
That was because for just a second, he saw a pale orange light come from his window.
After a few moments, the orange light returned once more. Kairos grit his teeth as a fairly strong signal of pain entered his brain. He instinctively felt that this was a vision of the future.
The light began to flash in and out of reality before becoming a deeper and deeper red.
It reminded Kairos of something.
His dream.
Ever since he was a child, he would have visions of a red sun coming up from the horizon. At first, they were really infrequent and confused him more than anything.
But as he grew older, they continued to come back and even gave a strong sense of fear. At this point in his life, he would experience them every time he fell asleep and woke up in a cold sweat.
Once, Kairos tried to stay up so that he wouldn't have to deal with it, but he blacked out in the middle of the night and had it anyway.
Kairos even went to therapy to talk about this strange recurring dream. However, the only answer he got back was that he had too much stress and an improper sleep schedule.
As the red light continued to flash from the window, Kairos ended up dropping the knife entirely, letting it clang against the floor. The pain he was experiencing was simply too much. It was even greater than the time the scissors pierced his skull or when he plunged a knife into his eye.
Kairos began foaming at the mouth. He desperately ran towards the windows and pulled the curtains, sending the room into darkness.
The pain immediately disappeared.
Kairos fell onto the ground, panting heavily. For a few moments, he just laid there, trying to regain his bearings.
"…The fuck was that?"
Kairos' glasses fell off while he himself had his eyes closed. Kairos reached around blindly before finding and putting them back on.
After a few minutes, Kairos suddenly felt that the room was getting hot, as in unbearably hot. He stood up and walked over to the window, intending to get some fresh air in. However, before Kairos' hand even got close to the curtains, he saw a bright flashing red light that sent strong signals of pain to his brain.
Kairos hurriedly recoiled from the window, landing on his bed.
He furrowed his brows.
"What is happening?"
As for the answer to that question, it was something that Kairos never could've expected.
The red sun from within his dreams began rising above the horizon. However, this was not the end of his nightmares.
But rather, only the beginning.
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Kairos took several deep breaths one after another. Although they were shaky, they were done with composure. This was something he had learned to do after each session of pain endurance.
The stress built up in his mind gradually left, allowing his thoughts to flow more freely.
Kairos began sweating because of the heat that had built up in the room. Considering it was the middle of fall, there should've been cold air outside. However, after being painfully warned several times, he knew better than to try that.
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.
"The sunlight is unbelievably scary to me… Either I've developed a strange phobia, or my ability is somehow warning me about the threat of it."
Suddenly, he narrowed his eyes.
"…My parents should be driving home soon."
Kairos quickly pulled out his phone and went into the contacts section. He only had four people available. These four had the labels, 'Mom', 'Dad', 'Nicole', and 'Edward'. He tapped on Mom first, quickly sending a text message.
'AVOID THE SUNLIGHT'
Then, he went to Dad and typed the same thing. Immediately afterwards, he called his dad. Several rings rang out and the wait made him anxious. And eventually, he heard the start of his dad's voicemail.
Kairos furrowed his brows and decisively ended the call.
After cursing under his breath, he called his mother. However, she also did not pick up. Although Kairos had an urge to try again, he figured that it probably wouldn't work out.
Instead, he sent a text message to Nicole.
'Stay away from the windows and the outside.'
The reason this was more formal was because he knew Nicole might've thought it was a joke if he put it in all caps. Using a period and proper capitalization should make her realize it was more serious.
Kairos then exited out and tapped onto 'Edward'. However, he clearly had less enthusiasm compared to last time. Upon opening this section up, there were a series of friendly texts. However, it suddenly stopped at a message Kairos sent.
'Don't worry about it'
And that message was sent over four years ago.
Kairos visibly hesitated on whether he should warn him. After a few seconds, he decided to type a message.
Yet, seconds before he could, his phone began to vibrate and let out the default ringtone. For a moment, Kairos hoped it might be one of his parents, but the caller was Nicole.
Nonetheless, he wasted no time in picking up.
"Hey."
A teasing voice came from the phone.
"What are you doing, creeping around my house? If you regret declining my offer to come over you can just tell me!"
Kairos shut his eyes.
"No."
Nicole paused. After a few seconds, she spoke in a very soft voice.
"Is there some sketchy person moving around my house?"
Kairos took a deep breath.
"No. Just stay away from the windows and anywhere else that sunlight can peek through."
Nicole let out an exasperated sigh.
"This isn't some strange joke, right?"
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
"No. Just know that it's dangerous outside right now."
Nicole seemed to be getting a little anxious.
"What is the danger? Wait, my parents are home, should I get them away as well?"
Kairos pressed his lips together.
"I'm not entirely sure. You should definitely get your parents to get away from the sun as well, just tell them that a person with a gun is outside. They probably won't listen to you otherwise."
Nicole let out a soft sigh.
"Ok, I'm trusting you on this."
Kairos stood up from the bed and rolled his eyes.
"You don't have to trust me."
With that, he hung up.
Remembering that he dropped the knife earlier, he picked that up and headed over to the kitchen. It was for the simple reason that the heat was quickly ramping up.
Upon reaching the sink, he set down the knife and turned on the tap all the way, as cold as it could get.
Kairos put his hands in the water, immediately feeling a strong sense of relief. He splashed some on his face, but instead of the cold feeling, he had visions.
Several scenes flashed by one after another.
People writhing in pain.
Humanoid monsters with bright red skin and overly large teeth.
And even himself, standing under the light of the red sun…
Transforming into a monster.
Kairos abruptly snapped back to reality and let out a loud gasp. His breathing was heavy, but gradually calmed down. A few drops of water fell down from his face, falling onto the floor.
A feeling of dread came over him. Those visions told him that the heat wasn't going to be his greatest concern.
Kairos felt that this sudden shift from normal life was far too sudden, but he had no plans of dawdling around. Countless thoughts flashed by his mind at once.
His first priority for survival should be food and water that is easy to carry. He had his school bag, which should be pretty useful for that sake. There was plenty of food he could carry in his bag.
The second priority was a weapon. Though Kairos didn't know what those monsters were, it didn't take a genius to realize they were hostile.
He looked at the kitchen knife next to him, then frowned.
"Damn. Why don't I have something like a baseball bat? If only I was a sports kid."
His biggest concern was the lack of reach. Although a knife was sharp, to actually stab one's foe, they would have to get very close. On the other hand, a baseball bat not only had reach, but could be used by a novice easily.
Kairos narrowed his eyes.
"Wait… I know a sports kid."
Kairos pulled out his phone once more and instantly dialed Nicole. He began rushing over to the living room, where he left his backpack. The curtains weren't fully covered on a faraway window and let a sliver of blood red light in.
Not only did it look scary, but his body seemed to have an instinctual fear of it from the way his skin crawled.
Kairos grit his teeth and grabbed his bag despite the discomfort that light brought. At that moment, Nicole picked up.
"What's wrong?"
Kairos was panting and running with his backpack in tow.
"If you can avoid the sunlight, get your bag and fill it with food and water that will last for at least a few days. Preferably things like bread, rice, or any other high calorie food."
Nicole seemed concerned.
"Is something wrong? You sound like you're running for your life."
Kairos clicked his tongue.
"Never mind that! Just do what I said and make sure you have every single one of your baseball bats, especially the metal ones!"
Nicole was silent, but for only a second.
"Ok."
With that, Kairos hung up. He opened up the zippers of his backpack and poured out the contents, letting his textbook and binders crash down onto the floor. After getting rid of his school supplies, he opened up the fridge and started to stuff things inside it.
Luckily, there were two full bags of bread, which he promptly stuffed inside. They should be enough to last him a few days. All the other stuff were things like vegetables and eggs. Unfortunately, he didn't have anything like beef jerky or canned foods. After clicking his tongue, he tore open the plastic covering a large set of water bottles.
Though Kairos thought that the concept of water bottles was stupid, as it was just filtered tap water that was laced with a tiny bit of plastic. However, he could only thank his parents for not listening to him now, given the situation.
Kairos was able to fit ten whole water bottles inside by stuffing his bag to the very brim. Although he wanted more food, he just counted on Nicole to do that.
As he began thinking about his next steps, a muffled scream came from outside. It was a bloodcurdling scream, one of a person in immense pain. From what Kairos could tell, it shouldn't be too far from his house.
He inferred that the person screaming was transforming into a monster from his visions, thus didn't even entertain the thought of helping them. After picking up the knife and slinging the backpack on his shoulder, he then wanted to go to his room.
The second floor should be at least relatively safer in Kairos' mind.
On his way there, he was forced to pass by the entrance corridor of his home.
And right as Kairos did so, his phone began to vibrate madly, letting out blaring alarm sounds. Since he saw it happen one second before, he was able to cover the phone by placing his arm on his leg.
Unfortunately, it was still extremely loud.
A loud screech came from outside of his house along with a series of thumping footsteps. Kairos saw the door burst open, revealing the monster and the strong red light. On top of that, he saw his body immediately begin mutating once the red light touched it.
However, that was what he saw with his future vision.
Kairos threw himself to the side, getting out of the way from the corridor. In less than a breath's time, a loud bang resounded. The door to his house broke down completely and the shrill cry of the monster filled the air.
Kairos held his breath and began walking to his room, trying to stay as quiet as possible. His eyes were trained on the corridor behind him. He was watching out for when it would come around the corner.
Kairos saw the monster abruptly grab onto the corner, showing its creepy fingers, and peek its head out. Cold sweat immediately formed on his back as shot ducked into a different corridor, hoping that it wouldn't seem him.
Unfortunately, his backpack let out a few jingles from the metal straps it had on. The monster immediately let out a cry before charging in Kairos' direction.
In response, Kairos began running down this corridor, not caring about the sound he made. However, it was a dead end. After all, his house wasn't a maze he could just run through.
Knowing that this would come down to a fight, he took his backpack off and tossed it to the side, not wanting it to weigh him down.
Kairos then turned around and raised his knife. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he got a better look at the monster.
The immediate thing that jumped out to him was the bright red bulging veins across their skin. They seemed like they could burst at any moment. As for the skin color itself, it had a fairly red pigment, as though the monster got sunburned.
The eyes had glazed over to just become a pale yellow eye without any pupils. As for the mouth, it looked like it was forcefully stretched larger along with sharper and longer teeth sticking out. It was not too different from a wolf's, other than being bigger.
The monster had hands, but they were tensed up into the shape of claws. Long black nails extended from the fingertips, each essentially a small knife of their own.
But what was most disconcerting for Kairos was not any of that.
Instead, it was the ripped shirt and pants.
Although they were ruined now, it wasn't hard to tell that they were a cute light pink shirt and soft blue jeans.
The reason why it bothered Kairos so much is because it showed that this monster in front of him used to be a human. And was human only a few moments ago.
However, he was still going to kill it.
The tears in the monster's clothes showed that it had grown quite a bit from its original size. It was just barely taller than Kairos himself.
That was why the monster was quite intimidating as it charged towards him.
Kairos slowly breathed out.
And took off his glasses.
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Kairos set his glasses down next to the bag. The reason why he took them off in the first place was that he never actually needed them to see.
However, there was a reason why they were still precious to him.
Long ago, when he was a child, he found a fairly large clear stone. Though it looked like glass, it was far tougher. And when he looked through it, he found that any visions of the future through that stone would be blurred.
The reason why this was so significant to him was because he frequently had headaches. His only method of stopping such headaches was to close his eyes, greatly limiting the amount of information his brain was receiving.
However, closing his eyes all the time was obviously inconvenient. And so, when he was a child, he begged his parents to make him a custom set of glasses without magnification using that very stone.
Kairos' parents were very reluctant, but after making a deal of no Christmas presents or birthday presents for that year, they agreed. It was especially expensive and troublesome because that rock wasn't easy to cut, like normal glass.
As such, they had to go through a lot of trouble just to get someone willing to take care of it.
It was damn expensive and Kairos knew that. Considering that they weren't the most well-off family, he was thankful his parents listened to his request, even though it sounded like the whims of a child that would get bored of it later.
These glasses helped Kairos function like a normal being with far less stress and were a hassle to get his hands on, thus he treasured it very much. Considering the disasters that should happen soon, he figured that this was the last pair he would ever get.
However, they also limited his ability. And right now, a little bit of stress was not worth anything compared to his life.
Taking off his glasses immediately made his head hurt just a tad, but that stress paired along with the adrenaline snapped him to focus.
Kairos took slow steps forward despite the rushing monster in front of him. He kept his eyes wide open, not daring to blink for a moment.
Then, he saw it clearly.
The monster swung its left claw at him.
Kairos ducked to the right, underneath the monster's other arm before it even attacked. By the time the monster was even halfway through its strike, its target was already gone.
Kairos slipped past, but not without cutting into the waist of the monster. He made a small wound into the side of the monster
Without hesitation, he began running, but furrowed his brows along the way.
In actuality, Kairos didn't want to do such a shallow cut, especially when he was given such a good opportunity while he was close.
However, with his vision of the future, Kairos saw that his blade would get stuck into the monster. Given that this was his only weapon, there was no way he was giving it up now.
Thus, he decisively went for a smaller cut instead, though its effects probably wouldn't be as good.
After missing, The monster immediately turned around and roared. Kairos frowned from the excessive volume, but thanked it for being stupid enough to waste a second roaring instead of chasing.
In the back of his mind, Kairos was concerned about the monster ruining his glasses and supplies, but that was an unnecessary worry. It couldn't care less about those things as it fully intended on charging towards him, leaving a small trail of blood behind.
Although Kairos had a head start, the monster closed the gap in a matter of seconds. Realizing that he didn't have enough time to run into some room, he preemptively turned around and decided to try the same thing again.
The monster rapidly closed in and swung with his right arm. Kairos ducked towards the left, but as he was trying to pass the monster, he felt a sharp pain coming from his shoulder, like it was being torn apart.
Kairos was already shot with lots of adrenaline, but that fresh pain kicked it into high gear. He immediately stopped himself from moving forward.
A moment later, the monster's jaws snapped right in front of his face.
Kairos could feel the uncomfortable heat from that monster's breath as he looked into its eyes.
Although nobody ever looked at him longingly in the eyes like this before, this was not the kind of affection Kairos was looking for.
He saw the monster take a step forward and lunge with its jaws again. Knowing that the monster was much faster than him, Kairos did not have confidence in running away. The immediate solution that came to his mind was impairing the movements of the monster.
All of these thoughts flashed by in less than a second, meaning the monster had yet to move forward in reality.
Kairos grit his teeth, bent his body back, and sent his knife towards the monster's kneecap.
The monster lunged forth and snapped with its massive jaws, but found that its target was just barely out of reach. On top of that, as it tried to step, a knife lodged itself into its knee.
Kairos used the monster's own momentum against it and was able to stick the knife in between its bones, causing it to pierce deep.
Although Kairos had little knowledge in the medical field, he had a pretty damn good understanding of the human body.
After all, he got very familiar with where the bones were placed within the body and how to get into the gaps with a knife. As Kairos backed off, he thanked himself for going through all those pain endurance sessions, as hard as they were to get through.
The monster roared loudly and tried to move forward. For a moment, it really seemed like Kairos was doomed considering how quick it was. However, the monster also completely neglected the knife that was lodged inside of it.
As it took a step forward, the muscles and ligaments within its knee pressed hard against the knife, until they were cut altogether. The monster's calf directly split off with an uncomfortable sounding squelch, causing it to collapse onto the ground
One might say that it used to be an adventurer, until it took a knife to the knee.
Kairos let out a sigh of relief as it landed right at his feet, but still hurriedly backed off. The monster may have lost one of its legs, but it would still crawl with all it could towards him. While Kairos did give up his weapon, at least now he was a little bit faster than the monster.
Kairos ran into the kitchen instead of his room, as that would only corner him. Along the way, he had to pass by the entrance to the house, but for whatever reason, the red light did not go that far, so he was unaffected by it.
Kairos didn't remember seeing more than one knife in the kitchen, but did a brief scan anyway. From the entire kitchen, he saw the fridge and a nearby dining table. The only somewhat feasible thing that could be used as a weapon was the chair.
Left with little choice, Kairos picked up the chair and turned around to face the monster that frantically crawled towards him.
As he still had some time, he lifted the chair up all the way up by its back. The monster made some strange guttural sounds as it approached.
Kairos didn't plan on slamming the chair down just yet, but he saw the monster pounce with his future vision. His hands tensed up considerably and he flung the chair down a bit earlier than planned.
As it traveled downwards, the monster pounced forth.
Two crisp bangs rang out one after another.
The monster essentially slammed its own head against the chair, before slamming onto the ground itself. As for the chair itself, a large crack formed on the seat as it was flung towards the ceiling.
Kairos knew he could not keep his hold on it, thus did not try.
The force behind the monster's pounce forced him a few steps backward, but he had no intention of slowing how fast he was backtracking.
After all, the bloody monster was still alive.
There was a fairly bad wound on its head that began to spew out blood, but that didn't stop it from moving.
The monster let out aggressive and disorganized groans as it twisted its head around uncomfortably. It almost sounded like a baby that didn't get a toy, but just far more deep and disgusting.
Kairos picked up another chair and raised it once more, expecting it to pounce like before. However, the monster seemed to be disabled to a certain extent. It crawled over, but at a much slower pace than before, almost like it couldn't piolet its own body properly.
This made Kairos feel a little relief. With how this battle had been going, it was clear that this thing was tenacious. However, it wasn't unkillable.
He could bet that many more people had transformed into these weird things so knowing that they were mortal made them far less scary.
Despite all this, Kairos decided to keep his guard up and wait for the monster to approach. He intently focused on his future vision, trying to look out for anything unexpected to happen.
However, he was just overthinking it.
Kairos slammed the chair down on the monster's head once it was in range, letting out a rather brutal fleshy sound and making it let out a cry of pain. He continued to repeat this several times, scattering blood and flesh around.
Until eventually, a frightening crack resounded.
The monster's skull cracked open and the contents were crushed.
[System booting up…]
Kairos raised an eyebrow as he saw a strange blue panel appear in front of his eyes. However, it disappeared soon after. He was extremely confused, but decided to chalk it up to hallucinations from the heat.
If it really was something else, then he could deal with it when it came to it.
Kairos' breathing was terribly ragged. Though at some point, the creature stopped moving, he just really wouldn't feel reassured until its head caved in. And so, he continued pounding until he could confirm that it was dead.
By now, his hands were trembling violently, sore from the strain he put on it. While Kairos did exercise to a certain extent, it was basically the bare minimum. His actual physical strength was probably less than the average male his age.
Sweat poured down from his head like a waterfall, drenching him and the top of his clothes. Doing such strenuous movements when the temperature only continued to climb wasn't the easiest in the world.
Kairos let the bloody chair fall to the floor and sat down on the table to catch his breath. After about thirty seconds, he got back up because it was best not to waste time and the bloody smell from the corpse was disturbing him.
Once again, he passed by the entrance to the house and took a peek outside. The red light made everything seem like it was coated in a thin layer of blood. However, except for that, it all seemed normal outside.
Though Kairos didn't feel safe just the place this opened, he also didn't dare approach the door. There was a consideration to make a fortification at this point, but the sound it may make in the process could attract more monsters, which he was not ready for right now.
This was both in part because the last fight took quite a bit of Kairos' stamina and his head hurt from overusing his future vision. He went back to retrieve his knife that was now bloody along with his backpack and glasses.
After comfortably putting it back on, Kairos went up to his room.
His first course of action upon getting there was checking his phone to see why it suddenly started to ring. He never set any alarms of his own before and the one that did occur was far louder than any alarm he had heard before.
Upon looking, Kairos let out a helpless sigh.
That alarm was actually an alert sent out to every device that had reception.
'Please avoid any and all contact with sunlight until further notice. Currently, a strange phenomenon is occurring in which the sunlight may be lethal to those exposed to it.'
Although it was something that surely saved many people's lives, it was quite inconvenient timing for him.
Right as Kairos was about to shut his eyes, the blue status panel appeared once more.
[System activation complete].
Kairos furrowed his brows as he looked at the blue panel displayed before him.
[Global Announcement: Evolve.]
[Ok.]
He had been sitting here for a while now, but it still didn't go away. Kairos was a naturally suspicious person, thus didn't want to click the button that said ok that easily. However, he figured that whatever was responsible could do much worse things than this.
As such, he reached out with his finger and tapped it.
With a clear ringing sound awfully reminiscent of a game, the panel disappeared before reappearing into a set of notifications.
[Killed Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded]
[First Ten To Challenge Kill (Tenth – by ID: 345315364923) – 5 points awarded]
[Early Kill – First Red Sun – 0.2 points awarded]
Kairos furrowed his brows.
It appeared that this wasn't exactly a hallucination, unless he was really going through it. However, he was also pretty sure he was sane. Although seeing real life turn into game-like elements was a little surreal for him, he already had experience with a similar bizarre thing.
His ability to see one second into the future.
As such, it did not take too long for him to accept it. As he read through the notifications, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Although there wasn't too much to work off of, he could already glean some information from what was given.
[Killed Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded]
He got points for killing a creature, with the notification explicitly stating that the creature was a rank superior to him.
Kairos came to the conclusion that one could gather points by killing things and the rank within implied that killing things at a higher 'rank' than oneself would give more points.
[First Ten Challenge Kills (Tenth – by ID: 345315364923) – 5 points awarded]
As for the second notification, stating that he had done the tenth global 'challenge kill'. He could surmise that meant killing a creature of a higher rank from the previous notification. Honestly, it surprised him a little bit that he was the tenth person to do such an act.
After all, he essentially did it only a few moments after these transformations happened. He was essentially speedrunning, but he still only just barely squeezed himself into the top ten.
Kairos rubbed his chin, wondering who those other people could be. As for the strange ID attached to it, he ignored that.
Nonetheless, he quickly moved on to the third notification.
[Early Kill – First Red Sun – 0.2 points awarded]
There seemed to be an award for killing these things earlier on, while the red sun was still up. However, what was most concerning to Kairos was the fact it said 'First'.
In other words, it implied that there was more than just one of these coming, like a recurring natural disaster. Before he could ruminate on it any further, they disappeared. Then, a new panel showed up.
[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: F]
[Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.5]
[Stats –
Strength – 0.6
Endurance – 0.4
Agility – 0.7
Willpower – 1.5
Mana Capacity – 0.0
Magic Affinity – 0.0]
[Special Abilities: N/A]
[Hide]
What immediately came out as strange to Kairos was the ID portion of the status panel. After all, what was the point of the essentially random string of numbers?
Though, he did recall that this ID was displayed earlier.
However, as there wasn't much to think about, he moved on. When he took a glance at his rank, Kairos didn't really care as he had no idea what exactly it measured and what an 'F' even meant, thus skipped over it.
[Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]
This made him furrow his brows with concern and distrust. After all, he knew very well that this red sunlight would cause him to turn into a monster. It appeared that the system wished for him to do this.
Whatever the reason was, it definitely meant that the system wasn't exactly on his side.
As for his stats, he was quite surprised at how paltry they looked. Although he could admit his endurance wasn't the best, he didn't think it was that bad.
Then again, he had no idea what these numbers were based on.
What surprised Kairos quite a bit was the combination of two things.
The fact he did not have any magical capability or special abilities.
After all, he literally had an ability that let him see a second into the future. If that wasn't a magical or special ability, then what was?
Nonetheless, Kairos moved on.
After a bit of hesitation, he clicked on hide, making the panel disappear. There was no longer any trace of it. Upon thinking about opening the status panel, it reappeared.
"…Hm, handy I suppose."
Kairos also saw the option to add points to all of the stats except for mana capacity and magic affinity. However, while it sounded exciting to buff up his stats, he was extremely suspicious.
He did not like this system.
After all, its so called objective was essentially for him to kill himself. Thus, he decided not to press any more buttons and hid the panel.
After that, Kairos sighed, hoping that this might all just be some weird fever dream. With things coming to this point, he essentially lost all hope for that but still kept that tiny false hope within him.
He then began to think about his parents once more.
Were they okay?
Thinking about the encounter he just had, he quickly whipped out his phone and sent a text message to both his mother and father.
'Stay silent. There are bad things outside right now.'
Then, Kairos sent it to Nicole as well.
A few moments later, he got a text back.
'Got it.'
He then laid his head against the wall, trying to rest a little. The temperature continued climbing to the point that it was very hard to bear.
Kairos would've taken his clothes off, but they were also drenched in sweat, making it a bit cooler instead.
Time continued to pass.
The heat did not climb terribly fast, but the steady pace was like torture. By checking his phone occasionally, Kairos was able to determine that a few hours passed, though it felt like days.
He began to think of the cool air of the fridge, and couldn't help but nearly be driven crazy by it. After a few more moments, he couldn't help but stand up and make his way to the door, intending on getting to the fridge.
However, as his hand wrapped around the doorknob, his ears picked up on footsteps.
From all the way up here, they were unbelievably faint, but they were very much there. Though they sounded rather chaotic as he heard them twice, Kairos was able to sift through the sounds as he had been dealing with it his whole life.
His guess was that three monsters were down on the first floor.
Kairos did not have the confidence to take on three, even if he used all his points to improve his stats. Even if he had double the points, he still wouldn't be too sure. Granted, Kairos had no experience in what the points would actually do for him, but the point still stood.
As such, he slowly let go of the doorknob before sitting back down on the ground, feeling a little aggrieved. His breathing was a little heavy, courtesy of the heat.
But suddenly, he suppressed it.
Because there was the faint sound of something coming up the stairs.
Kairos knew killing creatures now should give him extra points which would also give him an advantage. However, he didn't think it was worth the risk. Although one could not be timid if they wished to survive, they also could not be reckless.
There was only one creature here now, but the other two would rush over like hyenas right afterwards. They weren't exactly slow, either.
As such, Kairos simply did his best to stay quiet. He did not hold his breath, but took each one very slowly and very deliberately, making it as silent as possible.
An eerie guttural sound came from just behind his door.
Kairos' heartbeat sped up slightly, but it wasn't enough to disrupt his breathing. The footsteps continued to pace around, almost like it was surveying the area.
As this was all happening, the heat simply continued to climb. It had almost reached midnight, which was supposed to be the coldest time of day, but instead was only getting hotter.
Experiencing such devastating heat nearly made Kairos delirious. Not to mention the fact that he had to do so twice because of his ability.
There were still footsteps outside his door, so he had to keep his breathing calm. Unfortunately, it was getting harder not to freak out under this pressure.
However, right when he was about to give up, Kairos decided he would endure this.
He had been enduring pain for all of his life.
Staying secretive about his ability even at the cost of becoming a loser, or an outcast in highschool.
Training his pain tolerance every day and fighting the urge to just give up each and every time.
And…
Other things as well.
Kairos knew he could deal with this. If anything, it was too easy.
His breathing that had begun to act up, calmed down.
The heat continued to rise, but he just ignored it.
…Until eventually, the footsteps left, going back downstairs.
Kairos did not let out a sigh of relief. In fact, he didn't even stop breathing as quietly as possible. Almost like he wanted to prove something to himself.
In fact, Kairos even dared the heat to go even higher.
…Though, it did not listen.
The temperature peaked at exactly midnight, before slowly dropping. Eventually, he felt a strong sense of sleepiness overtake him. It was pretty late, after all.
However, it obviously wasn't the safest thing to sleep right now.
Kairos knew that, but…
His eyes slowly closed anyway.
[Survived First Red Sun – 0.1 points]
Startled by the notification, Kairos woke up.
By the time he woke up, he found himself drenched in a pool of sweat. The temperature was still above average, but nothing like how it was moments ago.
After silently chastising himself for falling asleep so easily, he slowly stood up and looked towards the curtain. It didn't give him that same strong sense of fear from before.
After a bit of hesitation, Kairos slowly lifted up the corner of the curtain.
And was greeted with the early rays of dawn.
Normal ones, not red ones.
Kairos sighed.
"…It appears that we at least get some reprieve."
He walked up to the door to his room and laid his ear on it. After confirming there were no sounds, he slowly opened it up.
What he immediately saw was messy footprints in a trail of blood. Kairos remembered that he brought the bloody knife up here, explaining its origin. He traveled down the stairs further and saw that all the bloody parts of the house had been trampled on.
As for the corpse of the monster he killed before, it was gone, save for some messy blood scattered around.
Like something ate it, bones and everything.
From the sight he saw, Kairos quickly came to the conclusion that these monsters were attracted to blood, then looked at the bloody knife in his hand. He cursed under his breath before setting it on the ground quietly.
After confirming that there was nothing here once more, he went into his parent's bedroom and called Nicole.
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After a few moments, the call went through. A voice had come out, but it was filled with static. It was as though they were talking on a walkie-talkie.
"Hel… you there?"
Kairos furrowed his brows.
"I am here. Can you hear me?"
Nicole responded.
"Kind… but lots of static…"
Kairos sighed.
"Nevermind, I will try to make my way over to your house. Did you get that?"
After a few moments, he got a response.
"Yeah… door…"
Kairos blinked a few times.
"I didn't get that. Can you repeat it?"
The sound of Nicole clearing her throat came over.
"…Open."
Kairos clicked his tongue.
"Nevermind, this isn't going to work."
Then, he shut the phone off.
After shaking off the lingering sleepiness he still felt, Kairos got up and pulled the curtains just a tad, so that he could see outside. The windows here let him see into his front yard.
Though Kairos was hoping it was empty, that was not the case. In fact, the sights made him a little afraid.
The first thing that came out to him were two monsters slowly approaching each other, getting ready for a fight. However, what was more relevant to him was the amount of blood across the floor.
After paying closer attention, he found that most seemed to be from monsters, or rather people that had become monsters. It was not easy to tell because very little of what remained consisted of bones or flesh. The thing that made him believe so was the stretched clothes that littered the ground, probably from people growing to sizes that were not supported.
What he noticed about the two monsters approaching each other, was that they were both bloody, especially so for around their mouths. It was pretty clear that they had consumed something.
After getting within a few meters of each other, they suddenly lunged, plunging both of their claws deep into the other. One thing Kairos was able to notice was that they were faster than the one he encountered before.
The degree of this difference was very small, but it was still there nonetheless.
Perhaps he could just brush this off, but he was not the type of person to do such a thing. A rather frightening hypothesis formed in his mind.
That these creatures would always be getting stronger.
In other words, they were evolving.
A bold idea began forming in Kairos' mind. What if he took advantage of when those two were fighting each other and killed them?
…Then he should be able to get some points.
Normally, Kairos would never think in this type of fashion, but his realization of the monsters getting stronger put some pressure on him. He couldn't help but think back to the 'Global Announcement' from the system earlier.
All it said was evolve.
That probably meant everything was going to get stronger as time went on. So if he remained weak, that meant he was also very likely going to die.
For a few seconds, Kairos' mentality shifted from passive to proactive.
He furrowed his brows, trying to think of a realistic way he could kill them. From what he experienced before, Kairos knew that they were tough things that would chase even after they lost a leg.
However, they would die if their skull was crushed.
At first, he was contemplating bringing the knife, but that wouldn't deal with the blunt force trauma he wanted.
Kairos' eyes drifted towards a tall lamp in his room. He remembered from adjusting it before that those lamps had really heavy bases, mostly so that they didn't topple over.
…It wouldn't be the most convenient, but it was probably the best he was going to get.
Kairos unplugged the lamp and wrapped the cord around the base, tying it just so that it wouldn't get out of the way. Then, he manually removed the top part of the lamp off to make it a little easier to hold.
He tried to pull it up, but came to a realization.
The base was too heavy.
With his current strength, he could pick it up, but not swing in any reasonable capacity. Kairos furrowed his brows, then thought about his status.
[Status]
[ID: 345315364923]
[Rank: F]
[Objective: Touch Red Sunlight]
[Proof Of Perfection Points: 5.6]
[Stats –
Strength – 0.6
Endurance – 0.4
Agility – 0.7
Willpower – 1.5
Mana Capacity – 0.0
Magic Affinity – 0.0]
[Special Abilities: N/A]
[Hide]
There were small plus signs next to each stat, giving the option to increase them. However, the magic related options were greyed out. He clearly hesitated as his eyes locked onto his 0.6 strength and the option to increase it. Kairos didn't trust this thing, that was for sure. However, it seemed that whether or not he trusted it, assuming that he could indeed boost his stats, this panel would be necessary.
There was little time to hesitate as the fight between the monsters would probably end soon, thus ending the opportunity to kill steal.
Kairos grit his teeth and decided to just do it.
[Strength – 0.6 – 0.7 Points 5.6 – 5.5]
He felt his body get a little warm as a feeling of his muscles getting just a bit sturdier came about. There didn't appear to be any side effects.
At least not now.
Kairos still couldn't lift up the lamp comfortably and decided to put a little more into his strength.
[Strength – 0.7 – 1.2 Points 5.5 – 5.0]
He immediately felt a surge of strength come to him and much more than he was expecting. His body let out discomforting amounts of heat, but it worked out in the end.
Kairos tried lifting the lamp once more. Now, while he felt the weight, he could easily twirl it around even with just one hand. From what Kairos could tell, though there was no change to his visual appearance, he now had similar strength to a professional athlete.
And would probably be stronger than the average professional athlete too.
This shocked him greatly, how easy it was to become stronger.
It made him even more determined to kill those monsters as it meant every second was part of a race to get stronger, so that one wouldn't be left behind.
After putting on his backpack, Kairos made his way to the entrance and could see the two monsters in the middle of a bloody fight, both with various gashes and bite marks across their bodies.
They were so caught up in their battle, that they didn't even seem to notice him.
Kairos slowly walked up to the entrance, then looked to the left and right, almost like he was getting ready to cross the street. Though in this case, he was just looking for more monsters, not wanting to bite off more than he could chew.
At this point, one of the monsters shoved the other down before pinning them on the ground. Soon after, it reached for its neck with its jaws. The other monster let out a desperate roar and pierced the other's chest.
Kairos immediately realized it was now or never.
He rushed out recklessly, making very clear stepping sounds as he did so. Kairos ended up going faster than he was expecting, but was able to adapt to it easily.
He raised up the lamp as he went forth, with the base high up in the air.
Before the monsters even had time to react, Kairos whipped the lamp down on the top monster's head.
A dull bang rang out along with a frightening crack.
The top monster's skull shattered completely and a notification appeared in front of him.
[Killed Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded]
Compared to last time, it lacked both the fact it was the first ten kills and the fact it was an early kill. Before he had any time to lament on that, the monster below pushed off the corpse resting on top of it.
Kairos pulled back the lamp, but couldn't do it that fast. He saw the monster swipe and pierce through his legs with his future vision. Before that happened in reality, he stepped back, letting the claw harmlessly pass by.
Then, he slammed the base of the lamp onto that monster's head.
Another scary bang and crack rang out.
[Killed Creature (Challenge Kill – One Rank Superior to Killer) – 0.3 points awarded]
Kairos was slightly winded, taking a few steady deep breaths. However, he felt that he could go for much longer. After taking another survey of the surrounding area and seeing nothing, he bolted over to Nicole's house.
He gave a few light knocks, but not without surveying his surroundings. Kairos immediately heard various whispering and scampering sounds coming from behind the door.
There was a hushed cry.
"No!"
But a set of footsteps gradually made its way to the door. After a few seconds, it opened up just a crack, revealing Nicole.
"I thought you said to avoid the sunlight! What are you doing?"
Kairos sighed and pushed the door open a little more so that he could get inside. Right after, he shut the door and locked it rather rudely.
"Right now, the sunlight isn't harmful. However, that shouldn't be the last we see of it."
Nicole nodded at first, but suddenly widened her eyes.
"Woah! That's a lot of blood, are you ok?"
This was pretty fair given Kairos had blood over his clothes and on the base of his lamp
He set the lamp down and sighed.
"I'm fine. It's not my blood."
Nicole froze up.
"Did you… kill someone?"
Kairos did think that though what he killed were monsters, it still counted as killing a person. However, he didn't have a moral compass that made him feel bad about taking another's life, especially for the sake of self-defense.
However… it wasn't always the best to be honest.
"No, who do you think I am? My body is all lanky so how would I kill anything? The streets are just covered in lots of blood and guts. In order to make my way over here without being seen, I got myself dirty in the process."
Nicole's eyes widened significantly.
"…Y-You're adapting to this rather fast."
Kairos shook his head.
"We don't have a choice."
He then looked over Nicole's shoulder to see her parents, both huddled next to each other and clearly a little spooked out. However, after Kairos gave a reason as to where the blood came from, they seemed to calm down a little.
He took a deep breath.
"Alright. Is there anybody here who still thinks that this is a dream?"
Nicole's mother, Sydney, shook her head.
"No, we tested that already."
As the father, Harold, a bitter smile formed on his face.
"Well yes, but that was on me."
Sydney rolled her eyes.
"What? Was I supposed to slap myself?"
The corner of Harold's lip twitched.
"No, your highness."
Nicole couldn't help but chuckle, as did Kairos. Sydney smiled playfully, obviously meaning it as a joke.
However, while they were trying to keep the mood joyous, it was clear from how the three could hardly keep their eyes open that they were tired.
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
"Did none of you get some sleep?"
Nicole bit her lip.
"The sounds coming from outside… were too scary."
Kairos shook his head.
"But two of you could've slept while the last one kept watch, no? Perhaps even two people to keep watch."
Sydney furrowed her eyes a little.
"But… it's simply too hard to fall asleep in a setting like this."
Kairos pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course. However, our normal lives are already completely gone. If we want to live, we have to get used to many new things. And sleeping while trusting someone to watch will be one of the basics."
Harold held his wife a little closer and sighed.
"…I suppose you are right."
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his finger.
"Let's go upstairs. You three sleep and I'll keep watch. We will talk about our plan after your minds are at least a little rested."
Nicole nodded.
"Ok."
Nicole along with her parents were all laying down in a room with a blanket covering themselves as suggested by Kairos. He simply said that they were going to have to get used to having no beds and also needed to sleep in the same room so he could keep watch on everyone.
There weren't any complaints about that logic, so here they were.
Both of Nicole's parents were absolutely exhausted. And so, they were fast asleep before they even knew it. As for Nicole, despite also being tired, she was having some trouble.
She looked up to Kairos.
"I got all the bags filled with rice and brought refillable containers filled with water like you said."
Kairos nodded in response.
"That's good."
Nicole smiled slightly.
"I also got the bats. I got two metal ones and a wooden bat, just like you said."
Kairos nodded again.
"Yes, I can see them in the room. Go to sleep now."
Nicole shut her eyes, but she was still awake.
"Hey, Kairos. Me and my parents got this strange status panel thingy. It's almost like we are all in a game! Do you have it too?"
Kairos cracked his neck.
"Yes, yes."
Nicole softly giggled.
"This must be a dream, right? How could any of this happen in reality?"
Kairos let out a soft sigh.
"…Just go to sleep, Nicole."
She was silent for a moment, but responded in the end.
"Ok."
With that, several quiet snoring sounds filled the room. Kairos didn't feel comfortable even wasting this amount of time, but he knew that having companions he could trust were necessary. After all, Kairos couldn't just hope that no monsters would sneak up to him while he was sleeping.
There had to be someone to keep watch.
As for his parents… their condition was unknown. For now, he could only rely on Nicole and her parents.
Kairos opened his status panel up once again.
But soon after, he furrowed his brows.
He continued to open and hide it several times, before confirming something.
Kairos was unable to see the future version of his status panel. He didn't notice this until now, but it seemed his ability was ineffective for this sake.
Though that fact by itself hardly mattered, it also meant his ability wasn't exactly all encompassing. There were some things he could not see the future of.
Kairos internally sighed, realizing he couldn't depend on his ability too much. But at the very least, he realized it sooner than later.
Kairos decided to use this time to think a little more.
How should he tackle things moving forward?
Maybe being in an area with so many people wasn't the smartest idea, as monsters should be lurking everywhere.
Not to mention, there wouldn't be an easy way to make a sustainable food source with concrete. As such, moving to the plains seemed to be a good option for now.
Kairos stood up and began checking the three backpacks they had with them. There was a metal container filled with water on each side and within the backpacks themselves, was plenty of rice. They would be quite heavy, but also be a good source of food assuming they could cook it.
Although they didn't have much water, his backpack was full of it, so there at least was that.
"Hmm… we probably need to bring things like pots. Plates might be too much, but utensils are also important for hygienic reasons."
As he continued to ponder, he realized that Nicole's mother, Sydney, was squirming around in her sleep. She was sweating slightly with her brows furrowed. At first, Kairos didn't see anything wrong with that.
It was pretty normal to have nightmares after an event like this.
However, what set off alarm bells in his head was when she began fervently scratching the side of her arm.
It wasn't so much a scratch one did when they were itchy. This was like Sydney wanted to tear off her skin entirely.
Kairos raised an eyebrow and walked around so that he could see what exactly she was scratching.
It was the part just below her arm. By now, her sleeve had been pulled back. It revealed bright red skin with bulging veins.
Just like how the monsters looked.
Though Sydney was scratching it with all her might, it was simply too tough. Her fingernails couldn't dig in at all. They would probably break before that portion of her skin got damaged.
Kairos sucked in a sharp breath.
Was she… infected? Was that even the right term?
It was definitely plausible to think that Sydney was going to transform into a monster as that is what happens in all those zombie movies. However, the monsters did not seem to transform because of some infection, but rather exposure to the sun.
There was a chance that Sydney was fine.
However, it would also be a big risk when they didn't know anything.
Kairos slowly raised his lamp, right above her head.
He began to contemplate the consequences of such an action. Killing her would definitely piss the other two off tremendously. But that was the only thing to do if he wanted to play it safe.
Kairos took a deep breath.
Then…
Slowly lowered the lamp to the floor.
He would see if Sydney talked about it later. Then, that would determine the decision he makes.
With that, Kairos kept watch. Mostly on Sydney. He used this time to come up with plans and decide on several courses of action.
After an hour or so passed, the adrenaline in his body disappeared. With that, came a strong sense of fatigue. He didn't realize it before, but his arms had been strained badly.
Even though he just swung the lamp twice.
Kairos' eyebrow couldn't help but twitch when he thought of his pitifully low endurance. It seemed that his body wouldn't be able to handle the pressure if he didn't increase that. He hesitated only for a second before adding to it.
[Endurance: 0.4 – 1.0 Points 5.6 – 5.0]
Kairos immediately felt relief spread through him along with strong currents of warmth. He took a deep breath and got up as it was getting a little hot. After a few moments, it settled down.
Kairos was right in thinking that endurance was closely linked to his stamina. Though he still didn't feel good about getting stronger this way, Kairos decided to continue using these points until some sign told him not to.
After a total of three hours passed, Kairos began shaking the people that were asleep awake. He used a bit of caution For Sydney.
The three of them were able to wake up, but they were clearly still sleepy. Nicole rubbed her eyelids and let out a long yawn.
"Let me sleep some more…"
She covered her eyes with her arm, which Kairos promptly removed. He sighed.
"No more sleeping. Now is a pretty sensitive time. We can catch up on sleep later."
Sydney was the first to get up. She held onto the side of her head.
"How long were we asleep for?"
Kairos responded quickly.
"Three hours."
Harold grumbled.
"Gah… that's not healthy."
Kairos rolled his eyes.
"The apocalypse is not healthy either. Nothing happened while you all were asleep, but the sooner we get out of this highly populated town, the better."
Nicole mumbled.
"…So it's all real."
Kairos closed his eyes.
"Yes, it is very real. Quickly wake up. There are some things we have to discuss."
Several groans and eye rubbing occurred before everyone sat up, pushing the covers off of themselves.
Kairos cleared his throat.
"First things first, we are in an apocalypse where most of the population has become some sort of monster. Obviously, our main goal is to survive. That means we have to go somewhere that doesn't have many people and somewhere we can grow food. In other words, a place in the wilderness."
Uncomfortable expressions appeared. Especially so for Nicole.
Harold pressed his lips together.
"So that's what all those… screams were."
Kairos simply continued.
He raised a finger.
"I've thought about using a car to get there, but it is simply too loud. The monsters appear to be attracted to both sound and the smell of blood. From what I've seen, they are also strong enough to have a high likelihood of surviving a car crash, thus allowing them to further damage the car."
Kairos sighed.
"Basically, the car is essentially a giant iron death trap."
He raised another finger.
"The other most important thing is immediate food and water. Water is definitely the most important, but it will be hard to get too far while extremely hungry. We will only be able to cook while safe, thus the rice you all have can be used for later, which we should bring a pot for. As for the bread I have in my backpack can be what we eat for now."
Kairos cleared his throat.
"And the final thing is related to the monsters themselves. We shouldn't fight them unless it is relatively safe to do so. As I said before, they are strong. In addition, how exactly people become these monsters is not fully understood. If there are any signs of that whatsoever, then you should talk about it."
His eyes drifted over to Sydney as he said that, but naturally continued on towards the others.
Kairos took a deep breath.
"Anyway, I hope you three will go get a pot and enough utensils for each of us. On top of that, if you have a med-kit, please bring that. Try to cook something with lots of the nutrients we will be missing, as we can't be picky eaters later on."
He paused.
"If you can think of anything else helpful that isn't too heavy or hard to carry, bring that too. Also, change into a new pair of clothes. We will probably be in these for a long time, so might as well get something without the sweat."
He stood up.
"As for me, I will be taking a shower as I still have blood on my clothes. I don't want to attract any monsters, after all."
Nicole perked up.
"Alright! I will go get the med-kit from the basement!"
Harold stood up.
"I will prepare the other things. Also, I'm going to get my stash of disinfectant wipes. That should be useful."
Kairos nodded.
"Nice."
As for Sydney, she laughed.
"I guess I will cook something for us. I've had a pretty good understanding of all the essentials one needs in their diet, so that would be good."
Kairos intently stared at her.
She didn't seem to notice.
While Nicole and Harold left, Sydney furrowed her brows. She began to scratch her arm once with a bit of frustration.
"…What?"
Kairos remained dead silent.
Sydney slowly pulled up her sleeve, before gasping as she saw the bright red skin and bulging veins.
"W-What is happening to me?"
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Kairos looked at Sydney who was on the verge of losing it.
"Calm down."
This might've been a bad thing to say to an immature teenager, but Sydney was an adult woman. As such, she listened and took a few deep breaths.
"O-Ok."
Kairos spoke very slowly, enunciating each word clearly.
"From what I have seen, that patch on your arm right now is the same skin that those monsters have."
Sydney's eyes widened. Her breaths got a little heavy.
"Am I going to become a monster?"
Kairos sighed.
"I am not sure. However, you seem to be relatively sane for now."
Sydney looked quite depressed. She began taking deep breaths once more.
"Maybe I should not go with you."
She closed her eyes.
"Perhaps I should be killed."
Kairos fell silent. In all honesty, he did somewhat agree with her logic. It was a big risk. However, Kairos was always one to understand things as best he could, down to their basic components.
And it seemed that Sydney was his best opportunity to do so.
"Saying that you should be killed is an overstatement. Now, if you showed signs of freaking out unnaturally or losing your sanity, that is different. However, you are not much different from me or Nicole."
Sydney slowly looked up to Kairos.
"R-Really?"
He sighed.
"I'm just saying it is too fast to conclude that you are done for."
Sydney slowly nodded.
"I see."
Kairos looked at the red patch intently.
"May I know what you believed to have caused this?"
Sydney held onto the side of her head and rubbed with a bit of frustration.
"I remember Nicole anxiously telling me to follow her and get away from the windows. Though I didn't really understand why, I complied. As I went past, however, I remember the side of my arm feeling uncomfortably hot for some reason."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Thinking back to the emergency alert from our phones, I think the curtains to my windows were just slightly open and a bit of sunlight landed on my arm."
Sydney furrowed her brows.
"…If this was only the effect of a tiny bit of light for a short duration, then-"
"You can probably imagine how bad it was for anyone that just so happened to be wandering outside. Now they are mindless monsters."
Kairos adjusted his glasses.
As for Sydney, she simply sighed sympathetically.
"It is simply too unfortunate."
Kairos paused.
"Are you going to share this fact with the others?"
The corner of Sydney's lip twitched.
"I don't want to worry them. There are already so many things to worry about. Even more might hurt them too much."
Kairos took a deep breath.
"However, transforming into a monster next to them can also lead to them hurting too much."
Sydney pressed her eyelids tightly together.
"Oh dear…"
Kairos made a decision. He would do his best to keep Nicole's mother as one of their companions. This was for several reasons.
She didn't really think about things. Although this could be considered a demerit, to Kairos, it was the opposite. People that didn't think too much tended to be bad at lying or didn't even try in the first place.
In other words, they were rather trustworthy.
On the other hand, this partial transformation was beginning to intrigue Kairos. The entire time, Sydney had been subconsciously scratching that same patch on her arm. The sounds were very loud and even her fingernails were being ground up.
However, the skin was fine.
It appeared that the red sun increased one's physical capabilities at the expense of their intelligence and rationality.
As for the limitations and caveats, he now had someone as an example to find out, like a test dummy.
Sydney swallowed uncomfortably.
"I… I will tell them about it."
Kairos nodded.
"Well first, get to cooking. As for me, I need to get this blood off."
Sydney let out a soft breath.
"Alright."
Kairos came down the steps and into the dining room with his hair still slightly wet. Nicole was holding onto a white medical kit with a green cross on top. As for Harold, he handed Kairos a pack of disinfectant wipes as he came down.
Kairos took it casually.
"Thanks."
Harold nodded.
"No problem. I couldn't help but think of these considering our next shower is probably going to be far away… Not to mention all the other hygiene issues."
There was a faint smell of roasted vegetables in the air, courtesy of Sydney.
She eventually set the plates down to reveal many greens, along with fruits, especially so for oranges. After setting them down, she sat with a slightly solemn expression.
Nicole pouted slightly.
"Aw… so many vegetables."
Kairos rolled his eyes.
"You should eat as much as you can. At some point you may miss them dearly."
Once we all got seated, Sydney cleared her throat.
"Sorry, but before we begin, I want to tell you something."
Harold had picked up a set of chopsticks, but put it back down.
"Ah, what is it, honey?"
Sydney smiled bitterly.
"I… seem to have been infected."
She slowly lifted up her arm and pulled back the sleeve. Kairos raised both eyebrows, surprised at how fast she got to the point.
He began to think that Sydney might be even nicer to have given her decisiveness. Though, she still closed her eyes and faintly trembled.
Harold immediately spoke up.
"Oh, no!"
Sydney tensed up, but he quickly continued.
"Are you ok? Maybe we can use something from the medical kit?"
Nicole got up out of her seat and rushed over to her mother.
"Wah! Does it hurt? I can rub it if it hurts!"
Sydney seemed a little shocked.
"Y-You guys aren't afraid?"
Harold seemed surprised.
"Of course we're afraid! What if this infection gets worse?"
Nicole raised both hands in the air.
"You have to be careful!"
Sydney looked down.
"But… I might be becoming a monster."
Harold smiled.
"So what? It's rude not to include monsters. That's discriminatory!"
Nicole giggled.
"Plus, mom is too strong! She will never become a monster."
A soft smile formed on Sydney's face.
"T-Thank you."
Kairos rested his elbows on the table with his hands in front of his face. He was a little perplexed as to how these people were taking the apocalypse so easily.
Perhaps it may have been the power of a cohesive family that would never abandon each other.
Kairos shut his eyes and began thinking about his own parents.
As though reading his mind, Nicole gasped.
"Ah, what about your parents, Kairos?"
Sydney and Harold also gave concerned glances.
Kairos took a deep breath.
"I've tried to call and text them, but they didn't pick up."
Sydney smiled reassuringly.
"We can go to their workplace to see if they are still alive!"
Kairos shook his head.
"No."
The expressions of the other three seemed confused and a little scared. Nicole pouted slightly.
"But… they are your family."
Kairos rolled his eyes.
"I plan on seeing them, alright? However, you also have to think about this logically. If my parents survived, then they have very likely escaped the high population density of the city and made it to the wilderness."
He pushed up the glasses on his face.
"In other words, we have to make it to the closest place in the wilderness to find them, which will be our target destination if we want to live anyway."
Nicole gasped.
"Wow, you're so smart!"
Kairos scoffed.
"It's called common sense."
Sydney laughed.
"Anyways, we should eat."
With that, they began having their meal. They were a little louder than they should've been, but they didn't seem to care too much about that now. Kairos couldn't help but think that this was probably the last nice meal he was going to have for a long time.
Though it didn't taste the best as it mostly contained various vegetables, it was still quite nice.
It did not take too long for them to finish.
Kairos sighed.
"Alright. I will use this lamp as my weapon for anything we come across, and you all should divide the bats between yourselves. I recommend the one wooden bat goes to Sydney."
Sydney didn't seem that against it, but was still curious.
"Why is that?"
Kairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.
"It is considered the most fragile weapon we have. Considering that you are partially infected, I believe your strength is the highest, thus you are also the least likely to need a better weapon in a pinch."
Harold seemed slightly against it, but nodded anyway.
"I suppose that will be best."
Sydney sighed.
"Alright, now let me take care of the dishes."
She picked them up and turned on the sink, prompting Kairos to furrow his brows.
"There's no need to wash them. We won't be coming back here, after all."
Sydney visibly shook.
"Ah… right."
Kairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.
It appeared that they still hadn't fully accepted the situation…
That might be bad.
Kairos sighed and walked towards the front door, but that was when several loud roars echoed on the streets. He slowly and calmly backed up, but could still discern the fact that there were footsteps coming along his way.
The inner corner of Kairos' eyebrows dug down deep.
"Quickly! Get to the backdoor!"
Harold clenched his fist anxiously.
"That thing is jammed! We won't be able to get it open!"
Kairos cursed under his breath.
"Then upstairs!"
The three of them hurriedly rushed up the steps while Kairos followed close behind. Suddenly, a thundering bang resounded within the house. The door directly burst off, the hinges completely broken.
Kairos furrowed his brows, realizing that they should've kept their voices down.
However, it was too late now.
Fear was readily apparent on Nicole and her parent's faces, but they did not pause and kept running. The monster heard them rush up the steps, thus did the same.
Upon reaching the top, Nicole panicked.
"W-What do we do now?"
Kairos frowned.
"Either fight it or jump out a window."
Nicole didn't even hesitate to answer back.
"My room has a big openable window!"
She rushed over to it, leading the group there. Nicole hurriedly pushed aside the curtains, then began spinning this small handle that very slowly opened the window.
Sydney panicked.
"There's no time!"
Kairos clicked his tongue.
Honestly, with his previous experience fighting them, he was also fairly confident in taking on just one of these monsters. However, he didn't want to show that capability straight away.
Unfortunately, Nicole's lack of judgment meant that wasn't going to happen. The monster rushed over to the doorway, its footsteps both heavy and intimidating.
Kairos got next to the side of the door and raised his lamp, holding the base up high.
The door was only halfway closed, so the monster directly slammed against the door and appeared. Screams immediately came from Nicole and her parents, while Harold's was somehow the most high-pitched.
But that was when Kairos acted, knowing the exact position of the monster's head before it even burst in because of his future vision.
The lamp whipped through the air.
A dull, but loud bang resounded along with frightening cracks.
Kairos put some good strength behind that swing, directly denting the creature's head. It slammed into the nearby wall, before falling to one knee. However, it was still alive.
Kairos wanted to quickly follow up, but found that he just didn't have that kind of flexibility, probably because of his low agility stat.
At that moment, Sydney let out a loud scream, raising her wooden bat in the air before slamming it down.
The creature's head collapsed in on itself, before falling to the ground lifeless.
Sydney was breathing very heavily, still getting used to the sudden rush of adrenaline.
However, while the immediate threat was over, Kairos furrowed his brows.
"Don't stop, we have to run."
