Chapter 1: Where It All Started

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

"Wha...what the fuck is that noise?!" Xander said in annoyance.

He had fallen asleep on the sofa with the TV still turned on again and just like all the other times he fell asleep with the TV still on, he had been rudely awakened by some random show playing on whatever channel he'd been watching before he dozed off.

Xander got up and pulled out his phone which was beeping too and curiously both his phone and TV had the same message playing over and over again on it. It seemed kind of serious, so he decided to listen carefully to whatever was being broadcasted.

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

"This is an emergency broadcast alert! To every citizen listening to this message, the U.S. is initiating a state of national emergency! This is not a drill, please stay in your homes and do not leave until instructed. This is an emergency broadcast alert...

His TV and cell phone kept repeating the same message for over five minutes now which was getting on Xander's nerves. He glared at the TV screen recognizing the alert as the well-known Emergency Broadcast System.

The Emergency Alert System is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, radio, satellite, or broadcast television.

It was a regularly tested system that every American would recognize as soon as they saw it, but it was one of those things that were never used for its intended purpose. The only time it ever showed up on TV was when there was really bad weather or they were doing some systems check.

It was for this reason that Xander didn't take the alert to heart and decided to ignore it like every American did whenever the system broadcasted.

*Beep!* *Beep!* *Beep!*

"Jesus Christ! That thing is fucking loud! Why is it still even going it's been almost twenty minutes?!" Xander shouted his hands on his ears.

He got up and shut off his TV and powered down his phone, so he didn't have to listen to the beeping. He then groaned before lumbering off into his bedroom to get dressed after all, he was only wearing boxers and it was almost five o'clock in the morning and today he had to go to work at his crappy part-time job.

"God... I'm not looking forward to work today." Xander said in an irritated tone.

He thought about what he was going to wear today, but deciding not to overthink things he just threw on what he usually wore that being black sweatpants, a white T-shirt, his sandals, and one of his signature hoodies.

After putting on his sweatpants, sandals, and T-shirt Xander lazily opened his closet to pick out a hoodie, stroking his goatee as he looked around, but it was empty except for one thing laying on the corner of the closet floor.

He then grunted in annoyance when he realized he forgot to do laundry and all that he had left in the closet was his manga Ahegao hoodie. The one hoodie his friend bought him and also the one he would never dare wear out in public.

"God damnit! Sigh... whatever it's just a part-time job at a dollar store anyway. Who cares what I wear?" Xander said.

He put his Ahegao hoodie on and walked to the door. He had just unlocked the door and was about to open it when he suddenly heard gunshots and explosions coming from outside.

*Pow!* *Pow!* *Pow!*

*Kaboom!*

Xander although surprised by the sudden loud noises, quickly locked the door again before jumping away from the door and running to his room to grab the gun he kept under his bed in a lockbox.

"Shit! What the fuck is going on?!" Xander shouted while pulling out his lockbox.

He wasted no time in unlocking it and loading his titanium gold Desert Eagle. 50 AE with tiger stripes which he bought after watching a movie. He doesn't remember which movie it was.

"It must have something to do with the broadcast alert! Son of a bitch I shouldn't have just brushed it off as nothing! It's like a war zone out there!" Xander shouted when he looked out the living room window.

He saw jets and other military vehicles and personnel zoom past his apartment building their weapons locked and loaded, ready to shoot anything on sight.

Xander notice all the surrounding buildings were on fire and the people were running around crazily in the streets. Gunshots, explosions, screaming, and people attacking each other in the street. It could only be described as pure chaos!

*Pow!*

Xander leaped back from the window when he saw a bullet hit the window next to him and shattered it, spraying glass everywhere. He then hit the deck and crawled back to his room where he tried to formulate an exit strategy that didn't lead to him being shot.

'Okay I gotta pack bags full of food and other necessities, I can load them into my truck, and I have to get out of the city. Maybe head to the hills or other secluded location.'

While Xander lay on his back on the bedroom floor thinking about what he was going to do and what was causing all the madness. His otaku brain couldn't help to think about some of the manga he had read and without thinking about it he jokingly said.

"What's next... is a status screen gonna pop up now hahaha," Xander chuckled nervously.

*Ding*

"Huh?... What in the actual hell," Xander said as he stared at the screen which just appeared right in front of his face.