Silent Echoes of the Hive

Consciousness slowly returns to me. The usual disorientation of waking slowly fades away and I wonder why I'm lying on the floor. 

Pushing my upper body from the floor, I notice that I'm surrounded by the still unconscious members of my team. Suddenly, it all comes flooding back. 

A mass evacuation order had been issued. Thinking it was just another drill, we'd all started heading out with the usual complaints. That was when the doors were sealed and the fire suppression system activated. We all tried tell the system to stop, but nothing we did helped. The doors were too strong to breakdown. The halon just kept coming and coming and it wasn't long before we'd all passed out. 

"Ha, I guess someone managed to override the system. Thank God; that was close." 

Wearing a smile reserved for those that narrowly avoid death, I moved to my nearest co-worker to wake him. I shake his shoulder, but he doesn't respond. I'm not surprised; Rob had always been an incredibly deep sleeper. I shook my head ruefully; I'd probably need to dump a glass of water on him before I made any headway. "Rob, get your lazy ass up." Rolling my eyes, I started to pat his face. 

I froze. That didn't feel right. I let my fingers rest on his cheek; his flesh was cold. 

"No, no, no. Rob, you fucker, you can't be dead. This is just one of your annoying jokes, right? Yeah, of course it is. Though, it's in pretty bad taste considering what just happened." 

No response. 

"Damn it, Rob. The joke's over." Fine, I'll just prove he's alive and then he'll stop this game. I place my fingers on his neck searching for his pulse, carefully ignoring how cold he is since that doesn't mean anything. People get cold sometimes, right? No big deal. 

… 

… 

I couldn't find a pulse. Rob was dead. 

My breath started to quicken. I turned to my other team members. I checked each of them. All dead. 

Susan, Tiffany, Rich, Marvin, and Rob; all dead. Why? Why? Why? 

Why did I survive? 

As if in answer to that very questions a light blue window appeared before my eyes. 

Welcome Gamer! Your system has activated and is now available for use. 

Tutorial begins. 

No sooner had I finished reading the message did it vanish only to promptly be replaced by another. 

You have been infected with the T-Virus. Normally, this would result in your death and reanimation; however, you have been able to adapt the T-Virus to your own biology. This had manifested as a Gamer system. 

That window was replaced by yet another. 

This is your Status page. You can summon this page by thinking "Status." As you can see, there are five stats which are: Strength, Perception, Endurance, Intelligence, Agility. 

Another window popped up over the Status page explaining each stat. 

Health Points (HP) 

This is a measure of your lifeforce. If this is reduced to zero, you will die. HP is a derived stat using the following formula: 10(STR + END) 

Mental Points (MP) 

This is a measure of mental ability. If this is reduced to zero, you will fall unconscious. MP is a derived stat using the following formula: 10(PER + INT)

Strength (STR) 

Affects melee damage, carry weight, and is used for checks requiring certain levels of muscular ability. 

--Do you even lift, bruh? You want to carry a bunch of weapons and kick down doors like a badass? Then you better not skip on the strength training. 

Perception (PER) 

Affects the keenness of one's senses and threat identification. Details will go unnoticed when Perception checks fail. 

--The world has gone to shit. You think the good stuff is going to be stored out in the open? If you want to find it, then you need to work on your situational awareness. 

Endurance (END) 

Governs your physical condition, recovery rate, and resistance to poisons/diseases. 

--You may have adapted to the T-Virus, but there are plenty of other threats out there and you'll need to stay alive long enough if you want to adapt. 

Intelligence (INT) 

Makes you a better planner and inventor. You'll be able to figure out more things for yourself without explicit instructions. 

--Sometimes an explosion is just what the doctor ordered, but you won't always have a Chemistry book on hand. With a little brain power, you'll be able to muddle your way through without the hand-holding; better study up. 

Agility (AGI) 

Responsible for your accuracy, speed, reflexes, and flexibility. 

--You're living in a survival-horror movie now so you should expect jump scares. If you don't want those scares to end with teeth in your throat, you should really work on that muscle memory. 

Queue window change. 

This is the Quest window. All objectives are documented here. Progress and hints about each objective are listed here. Rewards are dependent on objectives met and the difficulty of said objective. Here's your first quest: 

NEW QUEST – Arm Yourself! 

The entire Hive has been infected by the T-Virus. It's only a matter of time until the personnel are reanimated. You should probably find a weapon if you want to continue living. 

Objective 1: Equip a weapon 

Hidden Objective: ??? 

Success: Weapon, 10 EP 

Putting aside the question of why me, I started looking for a weapon. A result of insanity of not, the system was right. If the T-Virus really had been released, then the Hive would soon be host to a horde of cannibalistic walking corpses. 

He hadn't been involved in the T-Virus project, but it was an open secret and everyone knew what it could do. The biohazard procedures in place were so incredibly robust that the odds of the T-Virus being released due to an accident or malfunctions were next to impossible. No, this had been done on purpose. The only question was who had done it. 

It probably comes as no surprise, but your typical office does not contain a plethora of weapons, particularly in a hyper secure facility; however, we DO have a paper guillotine. With a name like that, how could I not choose it. Walking over, I brace my foot against it and tear the arm off. It came off with surprising ease. 

QUEST UPDATE – Arm Yourself! 

Weapon "Guillotine Arm" obtained. 

Auto-equipped. 

QUEST COMPLETED - Arm Yourself! 

The entire Hive has been infected by the T-Virus. It's only a matter of time until the personnel are reanimated. You should probably find a weapon if you want to continue living. 

Reward: Guillotine Arm, 10 EP 

Hidden Objective: Arm yourself before your former colleagues reanimate. 

Hidden Reward: 10 EP 

"What is EP?" 

EP stands for Evolution Points. Evolution Points are used by the T-Virus to increase the host's abilities in a variety of ways. The Gamer can use the system to control how this evolution occurs. Evolution Points are slowly gained passively; however, generation will be greatly increased by engaging in activities that stress the host's body and/or mind. 

Oh, I guess that's cool. As long as I don't turn into some kind of eldritch abomination. My concerns about being horribly mutated are interrupted by the sound of rustling. 

NEW QUEST - Rest in Peace. 

Your friends have passed on and the T-Virus is in control of the remaining vessels. 

Objective 1: Kill the zombified remains of your friends. 

Hidden Objective: ??? 

Success: 100EP, Skill