Jason retold the story of how he survived the two nights in the nightmarish city of New York. From picking up his cousin to attending his uncle’s birthday party and in the end, facing against a three hundred and ninety feet monster. He told these three men everything except leaving a few details out.

 

The three men were shocked listening to the story of this bedridden man. They were other survivors from New York City but they were unlike Jason who survived from the center point of every dangerous thing.

 

They knew about the existence of the kaiju size UC but they didn’t know what it could do. Jason retelling about its capabilities of shooting high-density laser beam and blocking airstrike with its scaly wings was enough to make them speechless.

 

Their high power video camera could only get an image from afar and it wasn’t helpful except for describing its physical structures. Drones, on the other hand, were useful until it turned into a pile of junk. Jason told them of how the Scarlet Rex shot down aircraft with the spike end of its tail, like a slingshot. They had a hard time believing but considering this man who went through hell and survived, at least they had to trust him even for a little bit.

 

Jason didn’t spare the details of meeting other monsters from the Silver Raptor to the Ebony Pterodactyl. Yet these three men couldn’t help but question him. How did he survive through all of this?

 

“Don’t you think surviving all of this, is a bit too weird? From the way you tell me, these UC you met are all dangerous creatures that can easily kill you.”

 

“People,” he replied.

 

“I don’t understand Mr.Park, what do you mean people?”

 

“People died, while I ran. Damn lucky I guess,” said Jason as he spread his arm wide with a melancholic smile on his face.

 

Agent Bond knew what Jason meant. All those people dead and the only one left was him. Still, it was an impossible tale from this man. He survived being blasted from a hotel roof. A tall hotel building nonetheless and Agent Bond did his homework. The coast guard that saved him, found him drifting in the water on top of a remnant of the hotel building, floating across Lower Bay drifting further into the Atlantic ocean. When Jason said it was luck, he couldn’t help but acknowledge it. Bond knew the distance between the river and the hotel, it was close but it didn't mean any sense seeing how a man was able to survive being flung in the air before dropping into the water.

 

“One last thing, Mr.Park.” Agent Bond paused for a while staring at Jason’s face. “During your ordeal, had you met any people that can do strange things?”

 

A rather vague question but Jason knew what he meant.

 

“Strange things? People do a lot of strange things in tense situations. I saw my own relative fleeing away leaving his own family behind. If that wasn’t strange enough, I saw a man fleeing naked before being eaten alive by small dinosaurs. Strange things happened Agent Bond,” he said his piece.

 

Yet Agent Bond wasn’t at the point of giving up.

 

“What I meant is something like throwing a fireball from an empty hand, things like that.”

 

“I know those monsters can but I don’t think a human can. Unless a humanoid came out from that crack, then it might be possible,” Jason gave his opinion feigning ignorance to what he knew.

 

“You’re right Mr.Park. Just forget about it, I’m just blabbering some nonsense. Things get a little bit crazy over the past week and I hadn’t get a good night's sleep for the last couple of days.”

 

Agent Bond got up from his seat as he was about to leave.

 

It only had been a week and they already knew about the game like status. I should have expected that much considering they’re an intelligence agency. Meaning…

 

An idea flashed by prompting him to call out to the agent.

 

“Agent Bond can I ask you a favor?” it came out of the blues but he had to. Who knows what might happen, him alone couldn’t find her.

 

Agent Bond turned around hesitating a bit.

 

“You have helped us a lot, Mr.Park. But, doing a favor is breaching protocol, I can’t-”

 

Jason cut him off.

 

“If you have the time, please look out for Maria Lopez. She’s a cop. No, she’s a detective in New York City.”

 

Jason’s gaze was like a hollow empty void. Agent Bond could saw the gloom within those eyes. This is why he felt more comfortable dealing with criminals than disaster victims, he wasn’t the type that soothes other people’s hearts. He sighed as he said.

 

“I’ll look it up.”

 

Jason couldn’t hide his smile.

 

“But I’m not promising you anything,” said Agent Bond. He has no obligation of doing this favor thus he reminded the patient on the bed.

 

“Thank you, Agent Bond,” the three men excused themselves and left the room. The smile on Jason’s face returned back to his stoic appearance. Him asking that favor was a long shot, but it was better than nothing. Yet a troublesome matter crossed his mind.

 

Should I stay in the hospital?

 

The only way for him to get news about Maria was by staying at the same exact spot and only if the agent plays his part. But something worried him.

 

The city is too close. Those damn monsters can easily come here if they want to and that Scarlet Rex…

 

Jason didn’t even want to think about it. The worst-case scenario, the Scarlet Rex blasting beam of yellow laser at the surrounding of the city. He had no doubt that the laser can travel across the body of water and landed at his place.

 

His gut was telling him to further the distance between them but was it worth it? Shouldn’t he find a way to search for Maria? He didn’t want to tell himself that Maria died after that incident. He was lucky and considering his status, it might play a part in his survival. But Maria? She only raised his level up to level three and he doubted it would help in surviving from falling from a tall building.

 

Probably just for another day.

 

He decided to stay with little hope that Agent Bond will get back at him. Turning on the TV, every channel was about the invasion of monsters. No soap operas or reruns of Jimmy Falcon’s show. He changed channels every few seconds while seeing news about people across the world. Most were in mourning as the death toll exceeded far above any natural disaster type of incident. The thought of his parents came by.

 

I don’t remember their numbers.

 

In this age, memorizing telephone numbers was things of the past. He lost his phone and it probably sunk at the bottom of Lower Bay. Cutting him off from any known contacts. Like they always said, in times of disaster people will always go back to their roots.

 

Should I go back to Toronto?

 

He himself couldn’t say the answer to that question. Even if he did want to, without a passport he doubted it would be possible. To get a new one, if he wasn’t mistaken, he needs to go to the Canadian embassy in Boston. It’s the nearest one compared to the NYC embassy which was probably out of service at the moment.

 

“Huh, why bother.”

 

Tired of thinking, he lay his head on the comfy pillow while his eyes shifted to the screen. It was still the news but it showed something else. Jason saw various images caught on video from a far distance, showing different invaded cities across the world. His eyes couldn’t leave the screen as he saw a vague silhouette depicting their sizes similar to the Scarlet Rex.

 

One was worst enough and now, we got more of them. Can humans even survive through this?

 

At first, he thought they had a chance fighting back considering they have game-like status on their side. But with that kind of monstrous beings on standby, he wasn’t sure they could grow stronger unless those kaiju like existence let them be. Either way, he could only rest for now.

 

--

 

The wall clock showed it was half-past ten p.m. The door to his room opened up. It was the junior resident from this morning. She came inside the room with a yawn carrying a medical log along. Her shift was going to be over soon and Jason was her last patient. The doctor cast a few glanced at the monitor, jotting down the current vital signs.

 

“Mr.Park?” she called out to him.

 

Jason who had been comatose for a week turned into a light sleeper. He woke up by the simple call. He saw the red-headed woman with a white lab coat on. He propped his body with much difficulty. His whole body was aching and he wasn’t a guy who likes feeling the pain. If it was up to him, he would have use heal a long time ago. But seeing the bewildered look of the modern doctors wasn’t in his list of agenda.

 

“I need to check your lungs for a little while,” the doctor puts on her stethoscope and place it around Jason’s chest and on his back. She leaned forward not to make Jason feel uncomfortable.

 

She was close to him and he couldn’t help but smelled the strong fruity lavender fragrance she put on.

 

“All done,” the doctor leaned back with a smile on her face. Her job was almost over and a comfy bed was waiting at home. Then she remembered something.

 

“Oh, yes. Mr.Park,”

 

“Yup, you can just call me Jason,” Jason tried to be friendly.

 

“There’s a chance that you might be transferring to a military hospital later at midnight,” that news caught him off guard.

 

“Why a transfer? I thought I’m all okay?”

 

Okay wasn’t the best description of his current situation. With a few broken bones and harsh bruises on his body, he was far from an okay.

 

“I’m not quite sure about that. But I do know that the military had paid your medical fees, they probably felt it was better for you to be in their care,” said the doctor. She was seeing the military in a different light.

 

Even paying my medical bills? What’s going on here? I know the relationship between our countries are pal and all but why the military wants me to transfer to their facility? I’m a nobody.

 

Him mentioning himself as a nobody made him recalled about those three agents that visited him.

 

Further interrogation? Or the states have the technology to extract my memories for their own use?

 

Jason’s imagination was going wild and he wasn't pleased by this sudden news. Who knows whether he will be sent to a proper hospital or the military secret lab.

 

Unless they knew I’m not like them. They knew I had awakened with the game like system?

 

His paranoia was getting him further away from the truth. The vital sign monitor recorded his elevating hear beat and the beeping sound wasn’t miss by the doctor. She noticed something was wrong with Jason.

 

“Mr.Park? Are you okay? I see your heart rate is increasing, is there something wrong?”

 

Jason glanced at her and with a smile, he said.

 

“No, it’s fine. I’m okay,” said Jason.

 

“Okay then. If there’s something wrong, you can press the red button above your bed. Someone will come and check up on you. Good night, Mr.Park,” she left the room leaving Jason on his own.

 

Jason opened up his status and witnessed the growth that he had obtained.

 

Jason Park

Job : None

Level 16

EP : 111/111

E.Guard : 30/30 (Inactive)

Strength : 46

Agility : 71

Dexterity : 5

Stamina : 4

Energy : 37

E.Resist : 1

Points : 0

Unique Trait : Rapid Growth

Skills : Intermediate Swordsmanship Lv.4, Minor Heal+ Lv.4, Energy Guard Lv.2, Wind Cutter Lv.2, Shadow Hide Lv.1

 

His eyes traced down on the skill, Shadow Hide.

 

His one-way ticket of getting out of here.