“Please tell me this is an old recording.”

I turned my attention back to Jack, but he stood still, eyes fixed on the tv. I grabbed and shook him, turning his attention back to me.

“Hey, what year is it?”

“What?” Jack still seemed out of it.

“Year, damnit!”

“2020?”

I let him go and slumped down in my chair.

“Hey, we gotta get out of here!” He grabbed my shoulder and started to pull.

Hahahaha, you gotta be kidding me! I lived through this fucking hell, died at the end and now you’re telling me to live through it once again? “Hahahahahaha!”

Jack took a step back, seemingly disturbed by the sudden change in my mood.

“Let me tell you something Jack, if you try to get through this by taking shelter you’re not gonna survive.” I grabbed him and pulled him down onto his seat. “Stay there and finish your food.”

“Now is not the time to be eating!” He tried to stand up again, looking over the other people that started to walk out the restaurant, but I just pulled him down again.

“Eat.” The sudden change in my tone made him stop. Meanwhile I started to grab my fries and stuff them inside my mouth. It was necessary to eat well if you wanted to have the energy to get through this. This didn’t mean that one always had the time to do so and made me develop the habit to eat quickly.

Beside my Jack shook his head before eating the rest of his food, though at a slower pace than me. However we both finished at the same time because I still had much more food on my plate while he was nearly finished.

I stood up and walked to the goblin corpse, kicking the nearby tables away.

“What are you…” Jack started to ask but stopped when he saw the dagger appearing beneath a table.

“For now, we hunt.”

With the dagger in hand I walked over to the exit. As I stepped outside I saw the streets of New York. People were screaming, running all over the place in search for the next shelter. Meanwhile some stood their ground as they were attacked by goblins. A few struck back at them, using everything within reach, but most just stumbled away, rolling over the floor after feeble attempts of dodging.

Although it wasn’t this sight that stunned me. It was the blinding light of the streets, the high sky-scrapers still fully intact. But then something changed. The lights flickered out of existence and the deafening sound of the masses disappeared. The buildings started to crumble down, cracking all over before crashing into the ground. In stead of the humans monster started to appear, running at me.

I locked onto them, ready to burn them into cinders. As I reached out I noticed that my flames started to grow back along my arm, stretching their sinister light around me. Then I closed my eyes, trying to let my senses take over my flames, but I didn’t feel them.

As I opened my eyes again I return to the human sea. The ear-splitting noise returned, making me frown. Too much noise around here.

Jack came up next to me, getting me out of my stupor. “So, you said we shouldn’t search for shelter but hunt instead. You seriously want us to hunt this things?”

“If you want to survive.” I started to run towards the nearest goblin. In my mind I called out for my status to sort out the initial setups.

Okay, that’s new. Let’s just kill these things first.

Two goblins were in the midst of stabbing towards an old man. I slashed the dagger towards the first one, slitting its neck open before I crashed into the other, smashing it into the ground. I pressed my foot down on its arm, immobilizing his weapon, before calling over to Jack.

“Hey, get your ass over here.”

He looked at me stunned. Damn, I forgot how these guys still aren’t used to killing. I looked at him, giving him my nicest smile I could muster while beckoning him over with my hand.

“Get. Over. Here.”

Slowly he stepped towards me. Ahh, I don’t have time for this. When he was within reach I grabbed his arm, pulling him over. He looked at me, unsure, fearful of what I would do next.

“I won’t kill you, idiot. Here, take this.” I held the dagger to him but he just looked at it. “Haaah.” I grabbed his hand, laying the handle on top of it before closing his finger around it. “Now, use this dagger and stab it. I don’t care if it’s in the chest, the neck or the head.”

He looked down at the dagger before staggering backwards, letting it fall to the ground.

“Listen here, noob, I’m giving you the chance to survive.” My voice turned darker as I started to frown. “Now pick this knife back up, get over here, and STAB THE HELL OUT OF IT!!!”

Finally he came over. He grabbed the knife of the floor, quivering from fear, most likely afraid of me instead of becoming a murderer, but if I learned one lesson in all these years than it’s that it’s not the methods that are important it’s the result.

He kneeled down beside the goblin, holding the dagger above its chest. His hands trembled, unsure if he should really hear to what I said. But before he could change his mind I lifted my feet and stepped down on his arm, pushing the dagger inside the goblin.

He shrieked back as the blood spluttered out of the goblin. At least he held the dagger above its heart. It would have taken a while if he stabbed it into the stomach.

I flinched back, feeling the blood flow over my hand, before looking at the man in front of me. No, this isn’t a man. It’s a monster in disguise.

He looked at me. Fear took over as I felt his gaze over me. He looked… disappointed?

“You should get a message every moment now. When it comes call your status. A simpleton like you should just take the warrior class. After that,” he stopped and turned around, “at least try to save some others and help them awaken.”

He disappeared into the crowd, leaving my alone beside two corpses, the bloody dagger still in hand.

Before I could even react to the sudden appearance of whatever the hell this notice is a scream turned my attention to the side as crimson blood scattered around me.