System Awakening! (Part 1)

Silence hung in this half-empty room.

"What?"

"What is he talking about? Does anyone know?"

"Is she going to… die?"

No one knew what he was talking about. Only the fat man looked frightened as several men struggled to restrain the scrawny girl.

He staggered backward and dragged his bewildered friends into the depths of the store, away from the windows, the doors, and this girl.

At this time. The rest of the men tried to ignore the girl, who was clearly in pain.

Everyone was trying to figure out what the phenomenon was, this red fog.

"Damn, no cell phone reception! Check yours, and see if anyone has Internet access."

"Did. I can't get through to the police."

"I got the same thing."

"Me neither. I can't get anything."

Everyone's been trying to get a connection by lighting up the room with their phone flashlights.

"Landlady, do you have any candles?" The elderly man shook the dust off his clothes, walked over to the counter, and smiled kindly at the perpetually silent woman.

"Yes… of course." She did not take her eyes off the poor girl and went through one of the many boxes lying on the floor. She could tell from them that the store had only recently been furnished.

By placing candles all around the room, the faces of everyone present were clearly visible to all.

At that moment, a strange commotion began in the group of young people.

"I think I need an ambulance… Kha!"

"Kayra, what's wrong with you?!"

"Kha! Damn it!"

The girl and the guy who came in last. All soiled in the red liquid, they started spitting blood one by one. But it didn't end there. They were followed by the other three.

When one newcomer after another started coughing up blood, the crowd frightened scattered to different corners. They'd had enough of the weirdness, and one by one, people started spitting blood.

It wasn't a pretty picture. There was a squirming girl to one side, and strange people spitting blood to the other.

Looking at them closely, Gray couldn't remember the first few days when people had suffered so much from the red mist.

It wasn't until the twenty-sixth week, another day of the red mist's arrival, that he remembered. The density of its particles increased manifold, which led to an abundant increase in the level of contamination that day.

Which was repeated every six months, with a subsequent increase in the impact of the fog on the survivors.

'But why now? It wasn't supposed to be like this at all…' Looking at the guys drenched to the skin in red liquid, he squinted slightly, then walked up to the window tightly.

'Rain?! Has the future changed again?' Gray looked out the window through the curtain. Dark silhouettes slipped through the red mist. The constant thumping, muffled sound of falling drops kept Gray awake.

'In the past… there was no rain. What's the matter?' Gray didn't understand the logic of what was happening, but subconsciously he was already preparing himself.

He might have to make some changes to his plans.

"Try not to make too much noise…"

"Khaa!!!"

No sooner had Gray warned everyone than one of the police officers squealed with all his might and backed up.

Dark and thick blood was pouring from his hand. Covering the floor with blood along the way, he crawled toward the crowd of people.

"Somebody… help me! Help me!" The terrified crowd jumped back. No one dared approach the bloodied man. Only frightened screams could be heard around him.

It was only his partner who dropped the twitching girl and rushed to his aid.

"Uncle Richard! Are you all right? We need to stop the bleeding, now!" When the young policeman turned around, the first thing he saw was the open first aid kit. Taking a couple of steps back toward the couple, he suddenly stopped.

"Stop! Stay away from… "

"Aaah!"

As soon as Gray saw the man walk toward the sick girl. He immediately tried to stop him in a hurry, but it was too late…

The man's surprised face read shock and disbelief.

He simply could not believe it. His own wife had clamped her teeth into his neck.

A fountain of scarlet blood stained the floor of the room. And the young policeman vomited on the spot.

*Bam.*

Panicked screams filled the entire room and almost started chaos when a man in a police uniform rose from the floor and fired a shot into the ceiling of the store.

In an instant, there was silence in the room. A lone figure in the crowd frowned slightly, and Gray looked at the man with the gun in his hands with surprise.

'He's got good stamina since he managed to get up with an infected hand…' Gray had seen people like that. Who has fallen under the force of contamination.

The terrifying pain clouded the mind and prevented rational thought.

So, even many evolved Stage 3 were unable to withstand the pain and shock of the simplest wound the virus had infected.

Many even hacked off their limbs to avoid feeling the corrosive effects of the infection.

'Tzch, too bad… if he could have lived to the third stage of evolution…' Shaking his head, Grey quickly let go of his inner regret.

He looked at the breathless man and his girlfriend, greedily devouring the tender flesh of his neck.

In the candlelight, it looked even creepier.

"Please remain calm! There's no need to panic… kha!" As he lightly pistol-whipped his hand, he finally noticed the spot of the recent bite peeking out from under his shirt.

The bloody bite marks had faded, and the surrounding area was beginning to darken and turn green.

"What the…" Not understanding what was going on. The policeman stared at his wound, where small teeth marks had already begun to scar.

Until his vision began to blur slightly, and his head began to buzz and spin.

"Mr. Policeman, can I help you?"

"Stop! Don't go near him! Just look at his eyes!"

The fat man shouted frightened, warning everyone.

"Oh, my God!"

"He has a gun in his hand! Be careful!"

"Stay away from him! He might go crazy, too!"

Everyone turned their attention to the senior policeman.

Frightened, everyone began to move away, not even getting to the bottom of the problem. No one wanted to take any chances.

The senior policeman, Richard, looked up, first, at the crowd. And then at the girl greedily shredding her husband's flesh.

'I… I don't want to become like that…' Then he looked at the terrified boy, who could never come away from what he saw.

At that moment, the flesh-chewing creature suddenly looked in the direction of the older policeman.

Instantly, it lunged in his direction and tossed the younger cop off the floor.

"No! Joshua, look out!" The senior policeman, with his blurred vision, was well aware of the danger posed by this distraught woman.

"Stop right now! Or I'll shoot!"

'Shit, I won't make it in time!' The moment the woman lunged toward the two policemen, Gray could not react properly.

All he could see was a shadow tearing away from the man's corpse and into the back of the store.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. From the moment the girl clawed at her husband to the moment she ran at the older policeman, it was only a couple of minutes.

Even the crowd of frightened people didn't have time to understand anything.

He had no choice but to fling one of the knives hanging from his belt toward the swift shadow with a sharp movement.

But visibility was already poor in the dark room. The knife, Gray's, flew a centimeter from the ruffled head of the girl.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Three shots in a row were heard, and the girl's body fell dead right in front of the senior policeman.

One of the bullets struck the head, ripping off a piece of her skull, another in the shoulder, and another flew toward the store window, penetrating it.

The panicked crowd began to scatter in different directions. No one understood what was happening.

No one was holding them back any longer. Everyone wanted to get away.

In their panic, they broke several windows, through which a dense, thick, red mist burst forth.

"Holy crap!"