Kill a human? How could they ask us to kill a human? How would anyone be able to take a life of a human being just like that?

This was something straight out of a fantasy novel and what was up with the task windows and stuff? I was losing control of myself and my thoughts and was freefalling into an endless spiral of confusion and madness. I tightly gripped the railing on Maria's balcony to balance myself. It was crazy, perhaps all of this was just some sort of epic prank but the dead bodies on the ground seemed to say otherwise. I had to go down and check out the situation

I turned and came face to face with Maria, an awkward moment passed, then I spoke, " Maria I am going down ", she looked startled and looked down at herself.

" Not down there ", I corrected myself and she looked up at me, her faced tinged red with slight embarrassment.

" Yeah, alright I'll come as well ", she said and grabbed her coat from the rack besides her door.

I started to move towards the elevator but realized it was broken before I reached it. Maria was still in her room, it seemed she was looking for sometime.

" Are there any stairs here? " I asked Maria as she emerged from her room, I saw her slip something silver into her pocket but chose to ignore it. She pointed towards an exit door just besides her room.

" There's only the maintenance staircase ", she said.

" It will have to do ", I said and started moving towards the door but Maria grabbed me by my arm and said, " Axel, will.... will Max and Dad be okay? ", her face was twisted in a pleading glance, she wanted my reassurance above anything else but I just couldn't bring myself to give her false hope. The way things seemed I was not able to promise her about anything so I just nodded at her and turned once again towards the door. I opened it and was greeted by floors and floors of stairs, I started rushing down them Maria following me close behind.

We soon reached the ground floor and rushed out of the building but what welcomed us was a scene straight out of a horror movie. The red light was still prevalent around the neighbourhood. People were still in a daze but most of them had regained their composure and were trying to figure out a way out this hellish problem but no one was resorting to obeying the task window which was continuously pinging alerts.

Dusk was still a couple of hours away. I knew things could get much worse.

" Hey Maria ", I turned to her, "Let's get out of the city, I don't think the situation is going to remain stable for much longer", even as I said this words I could see the look of horror which was dawning upon her face and the piercing scream behind me confirmed my worst fears.

TASK COMPLETED

CONGRATULATIONS CONTENDER NUMBER 1 : KYLE ANDERSON

YOU HAVE OBTAINED THE FOLLOWING SKILL : QUICK LEARNER

ADDITIONAL REWARDS INCLUDE 50 ATTRIBUTE POINTS FOR THE FIRST IN ACTION AND YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP!

I looked behind me and saw a man about my age with a bloodied knife in his hands looking at the old lady he had just murdered, he glanced around with a look that said his resolve was going to remain stagnant, besides me I heard Maria whimper and saw her knees buckle. People all around me stared in shock at the appalling act they just witnessed but then a shadow clouded their face which suggested the aftermath of a single person's action. All around me people started to go mad as they struck down those around them and I heard the task window getting updated again and again.

I grabbed Maria's hand and we started running towards the alley just behind her street. She barely protested as we clambered to that cold and damp place, from there we cut across to the other side of the street, I ran, desperately trying to find a deserted place but everywhere I looked people were indulging in murder as they were playing a video game.

TASK COMPLTED

TASK COMPLTED

TASK COMPLTED

All around me the alerts were going off at an even greater rate

CONGRATULATIONS CONTENDER NUMBER 575

575?! It had already reached 575? I could not believe what was happening, a simple warning with no basis whatsoever other than a hooded maniac, had driven people to brutally murder each other. Maria had turned a pale shade of green. I guessed it was an even greater shock to her than it was to me.

We ran some more and eventually reached an empty convenience store. I grabbed a bottle of water for us both. Maria had collapsed to the floor, staring straight ahead, shell shocked at what she had just seen and felt.

" Hey drink this you will feel better ", I handed her a bottle of water, she opened it and placed it to her lips. I just watched as she drank her entire bottle.

"Feel better?", I asked her after she was finished. She just nodded and turned to the side. I sat down besides her and looked on ahead. Dusk was approaching fast. There was less than an hour.

" What are we going to do Axel?" she started sobbing and pressed her face against my chest.

I gently caressed her head and tried to speak in a comforting tone, "We'll figure something out". She looked up at me.

"Axel", she began, "Will you do me a favour?"

"Anything babe", I said ready to oblige.

"Will you please die for me", she whispered as she pulled out a knife from her pocket and stabbed in my heart. I could not believe what had just happened. I looked down at a spot of red that was starting to form around my chest. It had not grazed deep, but I knew I did not have much time left

" PLEASE DIE YOU BASTARD! DIE!! " She was almost near tears but I had wrestled the knife out of her hands. Even though the wound was not deep I was losing a lot of blood and was already feeling dizzy. I could have easily finished her off then, but something held me back, that lingering shred of emotion I had for her did not permit me to do so.

That moment of hesitation was all she needed, she pushed me against the rows of supplies as I started to slip into darkness.

TASK COMPLETED

CONGRATULATIONS CONTENDER NUMBER 786: MARIA LEWIS

My mind blacked out and the cold embraced me as I fell into the depths that no living man could ever hope to reach.