Doom system survivor 2 a.., p.2
Doom System Survivor 2: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 2
Hire Hunters? Hiro thought as the horror of what he had been challenged to do came at him in waves. “When does the gate open?”
“That makes it worse,” Hiro said.
“What does?” Bianca asked.
“There’s no timer until the last day.”
More text from his Companion appeared: The avatar morphed into a highly stylized anime woman with excessive cleavage and big round eyes. More text took shape over her breasts.
“No, that’s distracting,” Hiro said hurriedly, already feeling the pressure from what the system had just revealed to him about the changes for the Second Interim.
Hiro’s heart skipped at that last part. “Just… just a black screen with text,” Hiro said. “I don’t want an avatar.”
Roulette Skill: {Terminal Lucidity}
Grade: A
Description: Bill Bryson once said, “We have become so attached to the idea of convenience that we will put up with almost any inconvenience to achieve it.”
Yet Bryson, clever as he was, never met Alexis Carrel, a French surgeon at the Rockefeller Center known for growing the world’s first immortal gremlin heart, which later destroyed much of Central Park after mutating into a semi-cognizant blob that took the National Guard to put it down.
Carrel’s confidence in creating an immortal gremlin heart stemmed from a side effect of an undiagnosed case of the infamous Turkey Flu. Kept secret for years by the US Government, Turkey Flu was later weaponized during the Cold War against Belarusian forces through Operation Plaguesgiving—locally known as the Feathered Pestilence, or Зараза з пёрам, which was known to produce bouts of extreme Terminal Lucidity.
Now, Survivor, you have it.
You will both love to hate and hate to love this Roulette Skill, which will grant you extreme moments of clarity, but only for a short window. It could triple your speed and strength. It may even give you flashes of the immediate future. You could be granted a sudden cognitive surge, amplifying your problem-solving skills, get smart enough and you might even be able to warp reality itself.
But probably not.
More likely, by using this Roulette Skill, you could also experience extreme fatigue and false positives, including misleading visions, illusions of success, and intense migraines with aura. There is even a chance for stat degeneration. The effects last up to sixty seconds, and the cooldown time is one hour.
Care to roll the neural dice? It could turn the tide of a fight—or leave you convulsing on the ground as what’s left of your world crashes down…
“What a fucking shitty Roulette Skill,” Hiro said, another thought striking him: The Doom System will absolutely force me to use this. He let out a deep breath. “Fine.”
His single word contained a multitude of emotions—trauma mixed with sheer determination. I will get through this; I will make it to the end.
Hiro’s eyes drifted to his family tree. Was he doing this for them? No, not just them. For everyone—from Monica to the other Survivors who had died. For hope itself. For humanity.
“I’m not the main character,” he said aloud. Or am I? he wondered. Are we all main characters?
Hiro scanned his stats and focused on the important part.
Hiro Johnson
Level Nine
Current Title: Backseat Philosopher
STR: 1.4 [+0.5 Roulette Boost]
STA: 1.8 [+1 Roulette Boost]
DEX: 2.8 [+2 Roulette Boost]
REG: 3.3 [+2.5 Roulette Boost]
MIND: 4.1 [+3.5 Roulette Boost]
Soul Cash: 1,300
Followers: 12,943
Marks: Butcher’s Mark
“Backseat Philosopher?” Hiro asked, noticing that data for City, World Survivors, Monster, and Hunter Counts was now missing. He also didn’t see any information on how many times he would need to use skills like {Blade Whirlwind} to trigger an upgrade. “I have the title because of my Roulette Skill, {Terminal Lucidity}, right?” He felt what he would later describe as a surge of brainpower. He couldn’t quite sense the synapses firing and connecting, but it certainly seemed like it. Hiro’s eyes bulged. “The Doom System has made me smarter.”
“Do what?” Bianca asked.
“At the expense of my Strength and Stamina. Yet my Dexterity is higher this time around. My Regeneration, too.”
“What are you saying?”
“My stats. I’m smarter now. Wait. There’s something else.”
“What?” she asked.
“Trucks Volta. My One Hit Wonder. It’s… gone.”
“Which one was that again?”
Hiro recalled the important part of One Hit Wonder’s explanation almost instantly:
Use this skill to summon Truck-kun’s mystical eighteen-wheeler to completely flatten your opponent.
The Doom System took it from me? What the hell? In that case I better start using things like this before they’re taken. Hiro sighed just as his phone buzzed.
< Check your box of supplies.>
Hiro popped open the wooden box to find glowing Survivor Tenders. There was also a metal water bottle.
“I don’t remember those normally being bright,” Bianca said. “The jug of water is bright, too.”
Hiro’s stomach grumbled. He ate one of the Survivor Tenders, tossed another to Hachi, and returned his focus to his Companion.
Hiro glanced at Bianca’s shield, which rested against the box of supplies, her tentacles idly twitching. “What?” she asked.
“If not you, then…” He removed the teddy bear from his backpack and saw its updated description.
Legendary Item: {Chronokuma}
Grade: S
Description: Buying a camouflage Cybertruck for celibacy maintenance was all the rage until it triggered a tainted version of Lumiere’s Law, leading to bouts of toxic nostalgia and manic chest-beating in the lower forty-eight after a bear that was supposed to be aborted clawed his way out of an early grave on the heels of a Shadow President Executive Order—a Teddy Ruxpin horror no chibi aficionado could embrace.
Now, that baby is yours.
Chronokuma’s time-traveling capabilities have been enhanced during the Second Interim, allowing you to save the time you don’t use in the past, but you must feed and care for your new “child” to utilize its powers. The more Chronokuma likes you, the better your chances of survival. I don’t know, I think that’s how child rearing works. A baby sling might help keep it comfy, and you should probably name the little guy, but you could also just stuff the bear into your backpack. That’s entirely up to you.
Welcome to parenthood, Survivor!
“Oh no,” Hiro groaned as the teddy bear moved. “You’ve got to be—”
The bear’s black eyes fixed on him and began to sniffle before bursting into tears.
“It’s alive?” Bianca asked. “Awwww! It’s like a living Labubu. So freaking adorable. Rock it or something. Fine, I’ll help.” She grabbed the bear and reached for a Survivor Tender with one of her fuzzy tentacles. She fed the bear, placating the crying toy. “Ha! Little baby was just hungry. Also, why am I feeding a teddy bear again?”
Hiro let out a deep breath and explained the situation, including his new ability.
“So you’re super smart and your new power could be based or it could leave you shit-faced?”
“Yes, something like that.”
“And the bear. We have to take care of it. Taking care of it could help us.”
“It could.”
“It could also cry, alerting enemies.”
“Also that. There’s more. I have to eat more this Interim, and our food will slowly be poisoned unless we spend Soul Cash.” The smirk on Hiro’s face was new—one of understanding. What point is the Doom System trying to make?
“So it’s like a tutorial all over again,” Hiro said as Bianca rocked the teddy bear.
2
PHARMACISTS WOULD HATE YOU
The last time Hiro had left his fallout shelter, he had done so through an entrance to the subway system, where he encountered a Spectator.
Which reminds me, he thought as he looked at the ladder leading up to the hatch of his fallout shelter. Fewer Spectators were supposed to mean fewer followers get sacrificed when we purchase things, but everything’s Soul Cash-based now, and there’s a multiplier. The Doom System lied to us. Or maybe it hasn’t. Or it’s all a lie. All of it. I will need to visit a merchant to see for myself.
A memory came to him of the merchant that had asked for cash. Her name had been Penny, and she was dressed like a Beauty Queen from what Hiro could recall. I’m going to assume her request for cash meant Soul Cash…
He glanced at Hachi. “We’re taking the ladder. Bianca will help you.”
The dog snorted a response.
“I’ll take that as an affirmative.”
“What about the bear? We can’t just stuff her in the backpack,” Bianca said as Hiro moved toward Chronokuma.
“The Doom System suggested I get a sling for it, but I don’t have anything like that right now. If we’re being honest, it also said I could just stuff it in the backpack.”
“Her. She’s a her. I haven’t named her yet, but I’m thinking of going with one of the Disney princess names. We’ll see.” Bianca, who was still propped against the box of supplies, continued rocking the teddy bear in her tentacles.
“She’s going in the backpack for now,” Hiro said. “She’s asleep, isn’t she?”
Bianca brought the teddy bear closer to her shield’s face. “Seems like so.”
“Good.” Hiro carefully took the bear from her and placed it in the backpack. As he did, he noticed it was warm—and felt like it was breathing. He left the top of the bag slightly open. I could zip it up around her neck, but that might hurt her…
He started to try anyway.
“She’s not going to like that.”
“We’ll try to get a sling for her if we can,” he assured Bianca as she climbed onto his back, wrapping her tentacles securely around his arm. “I don’t know how much time we have to deal with this Sentry, but I think it’s important we do it.” He explained how the title upgrade would benefit them. “Plus, it’ll give us other things. I’m low on skills after what happened when the gate opened.”
Hiro remembered being instructed to pick two Roulette Skills or Accessories for the Second Interim. He had chosen Hachi and Bianca. Looking back, he realized it had been a good strategy.
Bianca watches my back and keeps me company. Hachi doesn’t provide company, but he’s aggressive—and probably useful when Survivors start hiring Hunters.
The problem was that most of his Roulette-based skills and items had been stripped away. He didn’t have much beyond his One-Hit Wonders like {GoFundMerc}, {Scania the Piss Disc Mimic}, or {North Korean Feces Balloons}.
There were also his phantom demon cats and the {Stan} power, which allowed him to control lower-ranked opponents. And of course, there were weapons: his {Kiri Yōso Vape Pen}, katana, and the enormous odachi he could summon at will.
As Hiro found his duct tape, he felt the prayer beads shift under his shirt. {Thoughts and Prayers} too. What a useless power.
“Are you sure you have everything?” Bianca asked.
He quickly finished wrapping his arms and legs in armored duct tape, adding a layer around the toes of his shoes. “Steel-toed. Or something like it.” He checked his vape pen cartridges: Anti-Fear and Poison. After filling his water bottle, he gently put the teddy bear in his backpack, and placed the Survivor Tenders in an old Tupperware container so she couldn’t eat them when she woke up. He added two energy drinks—Smoke Zero and Smellicious—and the medical supplies he still had.
Bianca helped Hachi up the ladder, and soon, they reached the parking garage’s entry floor. Hiro turned toward the gate that hovered in the air, currently closed.
“I don’t see anyone,” Bianca said. “I thought Val and Samuel might come back here, but why would they? What’s-her-name’s body is gone.”
“Rena.”
“Yeah, her. I’m bad at names.”
Hiro scanned the buildings until he spotted a beacon radiating through the structures. “There it is. Let’s go.”
He bounded to the nearest rooftop where a new realization struck him as he looked out over the city—it was filled with advertisements.
Everywhere.
“Are you seeing this?” Bianca asked.
“It’s not at all what I would have expected,” Hiro told her. The city was darker than in the First Interim, which had been defined by the Solar Eclipse gloom. Now it was bathed in a permanent twilight, the streets lit by glowing ads: Coca-Cola, CVS Health, M&Ms, Lockheed Martin, Netflix, Prime Day deals—just about everything imaginable. There were ironic offerings too like classified document locators, thief guilds, and other nefarious options.
“This is going to suck,” Hiro told Bianca.
“That’s what makes it fun, right?”
“There’s nothing fun about this.”
“I’m just trying to stay optimistic, Big Bro. What the hell else am I supposed to do as a shield?”
“I guess…” He thought through the options. “We handle Double Check and move toward Samuel and Val, if that’s viable.”
“Double Check?”
“The tutorial part I mentioned. The Doom System has a challenge set for me for a title upgrade.”
“Might as well, right?”
“Exactly.” He scanned the streets again. “Actually, let’s move through buildings instead of bouncing around, at least for now. Low profile. Come on.” Hiro jumped onward toward the green beacon in Zuccotti Park, where he landed on a fire escape and used his duct-taped elbow to break through a window.
“You’re going to wake Mishka.”
“Who?” He stepped into what looked like a design studio. Overhead, a rope dangled from a beam, its purpose unmistakable. Below, a dark pool of bodily fluids remained—but the body itself was gone. The Doom System must have removed all the bodies, including ones that had been around for a while.
“Mishka,” Bianca said as they moved down a hallway.
“You keep saying that like I should know what it is.
“They didn’t have that in Japan?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“My mom was Ukrainian. She used to show me Masha and the Bear on YouTube. Mishka was the big bear’s name, but I think it’s also a Russian man’s name. Or something. Fuck it. Doesn’t matter. The bear’s name is Mishka, and she’s sleeping. Breaking windows—”
“I’ll have to break windows to get through some buildings.”
“Okay, but if you wake Mishka, you’ll be sorry.”
Hiro opened the next window and stepped out, spotting a Survivor on the street below. The woman examined Hachi curiously, who sat there watching her. When she reached out, Hiro’s dog snarled and snapped his teeth, making her jump back. The woman took off running—faster than anyone he’d seen yet. She ran so fast she left a mark on the sidewalk. Crazy.
He jumped higher and reached another balcony. “The door’s open,” he told Bianca.
“Isn’t that convenient.”
“It happens at this height.” Hiro entered the apartment, the darkness broken only by the glare of ads outside. He checked the bathroom after clicking on his carabiner light. A toothpaste-stained mirror reflected his stubble, messy hair, and glowing eyes. For a moment, he thought he looked like a demon.
Maybe I am.
Rummaging through the drawers, Hiro found an unopened bottle of Zyrtec and read the warning label. “May cause drowsiness. Avoid alcoholic beverages while using this product. I’ll find something else to add to it.” He popped open the mirror. “Bingo. Hydrocodone. No explanation needed.”
“Pharmacists would hate you.”
He smirked at Bianca’s comment, added some over-the-counter Tylenol, and mixed the two medicines together. “This should do it. It’ll mostly be the hydrocodone doing the heavy lifting, but the others are going to make it nice and spicy. Chaotic.”
“See? Pharmacists would hate you.”
“Post-apocalyptic Shkreli,” Hiro said.
“Not following…”
“Don’t worry about it. Let’s keep moving.” Hiro raided a few more apartments, where he found everything from Zoloft and Metformin to Omeprazole and Alprazolam. “Bingo again,” he said as he mixed more of the medicines.
“Your Mimic Bottles go hard.”
“They do. And they work.” Once he was ready, Hiro took the fire escape to a building overlooking Zuccotti Park. The green beacon led to a bronze sculpture of a man sitting on a bench, his briefcase open.
“How’s Mishka?” Bianca asked as he scanned the park below.
