1 Waking Up in a Death Game (Prologue)

First, my eyes sprung open, rocketing me out of the dark and into the light. Second, my mouth opened and my lungs opened to suck in all the oxygen possible. But thirdly, something seemed to be blocking my throat.

I didn't panic. My training had taken away such an action.

Springing up from my lying down position, I curled my hand into a fist before slamming it into my diaphragm. I felt the air push against the thing lodged in my throat, so I pulled my fist back and repeated the action. The pain was little to nothing, so I didn't mind it.

The second hit seemed to have done the trick as I could finally cough up whatever was lodged in there.

What came out would have no doubt left most people heaving or vomiting, but when I looked at the bloody, puss-filled sludge that I'd coughed up, my mood didn't change in the slightest. All that changed was my thought process:

What's happening?

As if to answer that question, something that looked like a holographic screen appeared in front of me.

[Congratulations! You didn't die!]

"..." I looked at the screen, my training kicking in full-time to make sure I didn't lose my shit. I'd killed people, I'd been in death-defying situations...yet I'd never seen a holographic screen appear out of no where. I looked around the room I was in, it was unfamiliar, but I could also see there was no way for the screen in front of me to be projected from.

...This screen was just here, existing without a projector. Like in a game or some shit.

The screen vanished, only to be replaced by a bigger one. This time it was red with black writing.

[Erik Kuroda, you have been picked among many other types of scum from Earth to be in a death game! The first test was to get out of a certain-death situation, and only...23 of the contestants could do that! 77 of the original 100 have died, so good job getting into the top 25, Erik!]

This...this is like one of those goddamn trope-filled novels, right?

[If you're thinking it's like one of those goddamn trope-filled novels, then you're kinda correct - this place is just a lot darker and filled with more death of contestants! You may be asking why we picked you to be part of the 'privileged' 100 to join this game, and that's because we want you to do what you do best, Erik - Hunt! We want you to kill other contestants! Now, show us why you were the best Assassin back on Earth, okay?!]

Hmm, so they want me to fight against other people like me...?

"Good..." I spoke, my voice hoarse and much different to how I remember it, but the mania was still there, same with the vicious smile spreading across my face, "I'll do it...so, if you're listening, can you explain some more stuff?" I listened to my voice and found that it was much more pubescent than before. Looking down at my body, I saw an average physique stretched across a 6'1" frame. But there was a kind of youthfulness that gave away the age of this body - it wasn't mine.

[Good! Otherwise we'd have had to kill you, Erik! We didn't want that! You were our best Hunter Candidate! You have one other teammate who's like you, so keep a look out for them! Now, onto the explanation...

You've been sent to an amalgam world of anime, game, and manga...with the focus around the Zombie Apocalypse! Though, the main ones are Highschool of the Dead, Resident Evil, and Moshi Fanren. You have 8 Months to prepare for the inevitable apocalypse. You're also one of the few contestants in your local area, so feel lucky for the opportunities we've given you!

We're gifted you with a body that is perfect for your talents and your training. You will experience no bottlenecks, nor will you find any of your assassin training hard. Your genetics could be seen as the genetics of the perfect killer, so train hard before the apocalypse hits!]

I didn't panic. Again, my brain didn't really know how to panic anymore.

All I felt...was excitement.

I wasn't the typical 'Cold' or 'Emotionless' type of assassin. I was raised differently to them. I wasn't technically trained to be an assassin but rather, as a soldier. I was orphaned at a young age, don't know how, just know that I was found by a nice Russian man who took me in and treated me like his own. He named me Erik.

That nice Russian man also happened to be an Ex-KGB agent and he had me trained in all sorts of ways to make sure I wouldn't be hurt. It was this way that he found that I had the talent to go all the way. So, his fatherly side was overpowered by the KGB agent still inside him and he had me trained by all sorts of people. SAS, Spetsnaz, Navy Seals, etc, etc. I was trained in the art of killing and surviving.

And when the old man died, well, I had nothing else in my skill set other than killing and surviving. So I did that. I hired myself out to those who needed people dead, and I did the job. As time went by I slowly delved deeper and deeper into that world, killing countless amounts of people. So, no wonder I was considered the best Hunter candidate or whatever that screen called it.

With the skills of the best soldier, I became the best assassin.

But getting trained like that, since you could walk...well, it has some side-effects.

One of them being how my brain chemistry works differently. While most people feel excited and happy while watching a fun movie, or playing with toys, or riding a roller coaster...I, on the other hand, can't feel excitement outside of a fight. Unless it's excitement about a fight that's incoming.

I can feel normal emotions, sure, but nothing can compare to the thrill I get when I'm in a life and death situation.

Maybe sex, but even then, it'd have to be some pretty fantastic sex.

So, right now, where most people should be screaming, panicking, and going hysterical, I was just smiling, my eyes beaming with excitement.

[In 6 months, you will also be required to go to school. This is so you can befriend the main cast of HOTD. Why would you do that? So you can use them like a moth light trap. Other contestants will go toward them for various reasons, but that doesn't matter. You just need to stay there to kill the ones that come.]

Nodding my head, my excitement didn't die down for even a second. The screen was right - I was already thinking of doing it myself before it even told me to do it.

Standing up, I stretched my body out before I started some training.

I had 6 months until school and another 2 months after that to get ready for the apocalypse.

With the addition of Resident Evil and Moshi Fanren...There's going to be plenty of good fights, isn't there?