first mission: survive

While Arjun was staring at the floating translucent screen, he got distracted by a now familiar ringing sound of the system alert. But the things he heard later were what grabbed his attention.

[! Ding, mission log updated, primary mission released] 'Huh, a primary mission?'

[Mission - prove that you are a survivor.

Requirement- survive the onslaught that shall come.

Time limit- 24 hours.

Reward - initiation to the 'new world'.

Fail - you die.]

As soon as he finished hearing the message, he rushed back to the restaurant kitchen and locked the doors, not caring about the people who may die or who he could have saved, after which he locked all windows, shut all lights but a single bulb, turned off all noise making devices and began preparing for what may come. Similar to the *Rumble-rumble* that had happened ten minutes ago, the earth shook and *panicked screaming* ensued. Although Arjun could hear the people screaming and begging for their lives, he resolved his will and ignored them. After all dared not go help them for he was but a weak human who valued his own life above others.

Deciding to ready some trap that to increase his chances of survival, he placed a wok on the burner, filled it with water, and while it was being heated dumped in whatever harmful substances, he could find such as rat poison, insecticides, his cleaning solutions and bleach hoping to make a harmful concoction such that even if whatever broke in killed him, it too would die by poisoning. After which, using the tools from the toolkit the restaurant had, he dismantled the old furniture and, taking the rusted nails, dumped them into the wok. Then, putting on some gloves, he took out the nails and hammered them into some chair's legs such that the points would stick out from the other side, then placed these near the windows to injure anyone breaking in from them. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he put the tools and knives into the toolkit, picking it up in his right hand while arming his left with a broomstick on which he taped a knife to use as a makeshift spear.

Now that the place was safer, and he himself armed, he turned off the only light bulb, opting to use a small torch he held in his mouth to navigate to the secret underground compartment now used as a storage room, where he would spend the rest of the 24 hours alone.

<Meanwhile, somewhere in Russia's snow-covered regions, are tents protected by military personnel.>

Inside one tent stands a man with grey hair looking out of the window, not wanting his subordinates to see the tears that surround his eyes, expressing a mix of emotions from regret and sadness to rage and determination. But he was not alone. All around the room, men and women in military uniform were down cast. The only voice in the room, the culprit of everyone's behaviour, a radio that blared the same message in a loop {Moscow has fallen... The capital has fallen...}. Suddenly the man turned around, silencing the radio, after which he banged his hand on the table.

This sudden outburst on his end took everyone by surprise, and as everyone was paying attention to him, he spoke "We all heard what happened, the capital has fallen, the nation is collapsing... *sigh* the motherland is no longer ours". He observed everyone's reactions when a young woman spoke up. "Captain, what should we do now? ", looking at her, he spoke slowly, "We will regroup with others. Someone go tell the techy guys to stop sitting on their asses and contact whoever's still alive to get names of the regions attacked, the intensity of the attacks and the population of the regions attacked" "Yes, sir" shouted the man nearest to the exit as he rushed off to follow the commands.

As the man left, vice-captain Pugachyov Nil Valeryevich, intrigued by the captain, asked, "Sir, is it possible that they target the attacked areas based on the population?" "Yes, I believe so, after all the guy in the sky said 'they' wished not only to purge us but watch us for entertainment, so considering that the best tactic would be to destroy the enemy country's capital which is likely to house its leaders, crippling the country and leaving it in a state of chaos... where humans are most likely succumb to their darkest desires." "If that's the case, they must also have a minimum population which should be higher than 186, considering that's how many we are." "It might be, but we should not be reckless. Double the number of soldiers patrolling and create 6 squads of 6 scouts each armed to the teeth, and tell them to scout the within a 20 km parameter for any of them monsters. Also, prepare to leave the base any time, I say." "Sir, yes sir." said everyone collectively.

Nodding his head to the youths ahead of him he dismissed them and once he was alone, he opened a drawer and picked up an old photo of his younger self and his family, looking at the woman in the photo and the two twins she held, his entire demeanour changed, his respectful posture that excluded authority was now slumped up, his cold face now carried a tired and defeated look, the calm and unfaltering look in his eyes he gained from the experience of spending 27 years in the special forces was now full of grief and tears. He put a hand on his heart as he felt his heartbeat rising. In a soft voice full of grief and guilt, he whispered, not wanting his anyone to hear, "Yulia, my dear Yulia...". Staring at the photo, he found that he lacked words, so he decided to just keep staring at the photo for a while longer before he put it back and smoked as he waited in the silence for the reports.