Chapter 3 - A Different Reality
The next morning came, Zach's eyelashes fluttered before he opened them completely. The first thing he saw was the innocent face of his twin sister Zoey. He smiled unknowingly as he caressed her cheeks but not long after that, his eyes then widened from shock from realizing something.
Slowly getting out of bed, he immediately walked towards the bathroom as he couldn't believe what was happening. He tried to open the faucet, but no water could be found flowing and so left him staring at the mirror.
"I-It was not a dream. I really came back to the past." Zach said before excitement started showing on his face. For the years that he lived alone, it was the first time he had felt so much excitement from waking up in the morning.
However, not long after that, a worried and serious expression then replaced his joy. Knowing the current situation and world he was in, he realized that he seemed to have come back from an alternative world instead of the ones that he knew of and that's the problem.
"Right. I have the system." Zach said before summoning up his status window and immediately looked at his inventory. Since everything that happened so far was real then there was only one way for him to survive in this world and that was to make good use of the system.
"Open Survival Gift Pack." Zach said thinking what kind of surprise this thing would give him after forgetting about it last night due to Zoey's interference. After waiting for a while, the system then shows a series of notifications.
[Opening Survival Gift Pack.]
[Survival Gift Pack opened.]
[10 packs of biscuits have been received.]
[10 pieces of bread have been received.]
[10 1-liter bottles of water have been received.]
[10 canned goods have been received.]
[1 sack of rice has been received.]
[1 Family Tent has been received.]
[1 Portable Butane Stove has been received.]
[1 Solar Lamp has been received.]
[1 Battery Radio has been received.]
[......…. has been received.]
[......…. has been received.]
[....]
[....]
More or less fifty notifications were received after opening the Survival Gift Pack, but Zach wasn't feeling happy but was frowning instead as he couldn't believe what was going on. He has thought of getting some kind of powers and such and yet to his disappointment, essential emergency and survival supplies have been presented to him.
"Sigh. It's better than nothing." Zach could only sigh since he could not do anything about it. He knew for a fact that they weren't that useless since there was nothing more important that he needed right now but supplies to survive in this unknown and peculiar world he was in.
[Ding!!!]
[Daily Mission: Getting ready to survive in the upcoming calamities.]
Objectives:
1. Push up (0/100)
2. Curl-up (0/100)
3. Squat (0/100)
4. Run (0/10km)
Rewards:
1. 1 Free Attributable Stat Points
2. Status Recovery
3. Random Survival Item]
"Hmmm." Zach was surprised by the sudden mission as it was something very familiar but before he could thoroughly look at it, a sound of a glass shattering could be heard outside and so he got out of the bathroom to see what it was.
Looking out of the window, Zach saw a group of men breaking into the small jewelry store not that far from them which made him frown thinking how fast things had escalated. He had long expected such a thing to happen since there would be no way for the government to respond immediately thinking that the calamity must have happened all over the planet and from the truth that in just another week, another calamity probably of the same level as before would happen again.
Furthermore, it was safe to say that the destruction the meteors caused yesterday must have completely cut off most of the necessary needs of people given the fact that there is still no electricity and water even after a night had passed.
Looking around, Zach could still see dead bodies which made his mood sour before he closed the windows and thought of making a plan when suddenly he heard and saw Zoey come out of his room and run towards his direction.
"What happened.?" Zach immediately asked upon seeing her crying.
"I-I thought you were gone." Zoey replied with tears coming out of her eyes. She felt afraid upon waking up and did not see Zach on the bed which made her think that he was gone. Due to panic, she immediately ran out of the room to find him and felt relieved upon seeing him in the living room.
Hearing Zoey, Zach then just caressed her back and calmed her down before guiding her to the sofa as they remained silent while embracing each other. It was only after a couple of minutes did Zoey finally settled down and was now acting embarrassed after realizing what she was doing.
"Given the last message from yesterday, another calamity will again happen next week so until then, let's just wait and see if things will become better." Zach didn't think much about what was running in Zoey's mind as their survival was more important to him right now.
Zoey, on the other hand, just remained silent and just listened to Zach. She also knew about the message and she could still not believe how it was possible. Thinking about next week, her body started shaking again from the trauma and bloody scenes that she witnessed with her own eyes.
"Don't worry. I will protect you and I bet mom and dad are also fine." Zach then just reassured upon seeing Zoey's body shaking while hoping that their mom and dad were safe somewhere. With that, he then just told Zoey to help him prepare breakfast wanting to shift the mood.
Soon, night came once again. Zoey stayed inside all day as per Zach's arrangements all the while cleaning and organizing their apartment. Zach, on the other hand, took some time to go outside not only to see the situation but also because he had to run for 10 km for his mission.
With Zach's orders, all the windows of their apartment were completely blocked off as they were now covered with paper and doubled with sheets of fabric. Zoey didn't have any clue as to why Zach ordered her to do it but she still heeded and did the job professionally.
In the living room, Zach and Zoey could now be found eating dinner after cooking a simple meal by using a Portable Butane Stove. There is also a solar lamp in the area that serves as the light as they eat silently without talking. Not much is known to Zoey, but all these things came from Zach's Survival Gift Pack.
On the other hand, Zach never thought that the things he had gotten from the Survival Gift Pack would be of use immediately and of course, he didn't forget to duplicate them so they could remain inside without worrying about anything. He was just contemplating whether to tell Zoey about it but in the end, he chose to remain silent. He knew that he could come up with excuses but sooner or later, she would take notice that something was not right since she was not an idiot so, until then, he would keep it a secret.
After eating dinner, Zach and Zoey continued to linger in the living room as they talked from time to time before finally parting ways as they headed to their respective rooms. Not much was known about what Zoey was up to in her room, but Zach already had something in mind.
Zach could now be found in his room doing the last objectives for his daily mission seeing him doing push-ups as beads of sweat could be found all over his topless body. Even if he was an athletic person, doing these things was still strenuous for him but, somehow, it became bearable which made him think that it must be due to the free attributable stat points that he distributed last night.
"98"
"99"
"100"
After doing 100 push-ups, Zach then stood up while breathing heavily before a faint smile appeared on his face when a blue screen floated in front of him after finally completing the daily mission.
[Daily Mission completed.]
"Status Recovery." Without further ado, Zach immediately said from which his body shone up for a second and miraculously, all the fatigues and cramps he was feeling had disappeared. It was one of the rewards of completing the daily mission - Status Recovery. It was a magical reward granting him an immediate return to his peak condition.
Following that, Zach hesitated whether to distribute his earned 1 free attributable stat point, and in the end, he chose to add it to Strength before looking forward to the last reward, the Random Survival Item, which surprisingly is a gun, more specifically a Glock 17 handgun coupled with a customized silencer.
It was his first time holding a real gun even in his past life, so he felt excited just by looking at it. Though it was his first time having one, he, however, knew how to use it since he did some research for novel purposes back then.
"Survival Item indeed." Zach muttered with a cold glint in his eyes. Knowing that chaos would soon fill the planet, having a gun for self-defense is a must-have weapon. Though he doesn't know to what extent a human can change in the following days, he feels like it's better to be more prepared than do nothing at all.
Locking the door of his room, Zach then put his gun on the Survival Inventory and started duplicating it. He had come to know this morning one limitation of the system and survival inventory and that is, he could not put just anything inside even if it was a non-living thing.
For example, he could not put a car inside but when he took just a part of it then it was possible. He felt like there was a limitation to its size or something that he felt needed to be investigated. After some time, he finally decided to rest as he jumped on the bed wanting to sleep and hoping tomorrow would be fine.
The next morning, Zach woke up from his slumber. The very first thing that he did was to check on Zoey and see if she was fine. Seeing that she was still asleep, he immediately took out some resources from his inventory, especially water as they still hadn't taken a bath since yesterday. He also didn't forget about some food as he prepared a light breakfast for himself and his sister.
Not long after that, Zoey woke up and then joined Zach as they ate breakfast on the dining table while listening to the radio wanting to hear some news. It was also an item that Zach got from the Survival Gift Pack but only took it out now instead of yesterday to avoid suspicion since they never had such a thing in their apartment.
It did not betray their expectation as the radio kept on calling out to survivors and urged them to come and go to the nearest emergency sites for medical and food assistance. They have also expressed their delayed response, giving reasons like the road was completely blocked and could not easily reach out to the masses.
Meanwhile, the government never once mentioned the CREATOR and any other information about that matter. It was probably because they didn't know anything and to not cause more panic to the public.
"What do we do, Zach?" Zoey asked upon hearing the news over and over again. It was probably the most wonderful news she had heard after the calamity but despite that, she still wanted to see and know Zach's thoughts about it.
"No. We don't know the situation out there. I bet our current situation right now is far better. Also, we need to find mom and dad." Zach replied with certainty. Though it was good news knowing that the government was already coming, he didn't much have any reaction to it since everything would once again return to zero after the next calamity. Also, if it was before, then he would not hesitate to evacuate but with the system in hand, he felt like moving and living on his own was far safer.
Hearing Zach, Zoey's eyes also lit up. Just like him, she was also very worried about their parents. Since the internet and any kind of communication were cut off after that incident, they didn't have any news about them and were clueless about whether they survived or not.
Following Zach's words, the two of them continued to eat breakfast before Zach told Zoey to get ready and wait for him to come back saying that he wanted to get out and search for something they could ride on.
Just like how it was the first day the calamity descended, Zach stared at the apocalyptic-theme surroundings. No matter how he looked at it, things have changed and for the worse, in just another five more days, another calamity will come once again.
"Sigh." Zach sighed deeply before going out not minding the bloody smell and dead bodies of people in his sight. What he needed to find right now was a ride that would help them get out of the place so they could get back to where their parents were working.