Glitched Instructions
393 Words
đChapter 2: Glitched Instructions
The apartment was exactly as she rememberedâflickering lights, peeling wallpaper, the faint scent of rust and rain leaking through the window frame.
Everything was normal.
Too normal.
Nova paced the floor, the glowing system panel hovering just a few inches from her eyes like a ghost she couldnât shake.
[Optional Objective Failed: Calm Heart Rate Within 60 Seconds]
[Penalty: -5 Stamina]
She scoffed. âSeriously?â
The system beeped.
[Reminder: Emotional instability may impair mission performance.]
[Suggestion: Breathe. Think. Execute.]
She closed the panel with a swipe of her hand. The last time she saw this interface, it had only appeared during the final ten minutes of her lifeâoffering her salvation when there was nothing left to save.
And now it wanted her to breathe?
No.
She needed answers.
Nova moved to her desk and yanked open the top drawer, retrieving a battered notebook filled with pre-collapse notes. Sheâd written it during the last few days of the apocalypseâdetailing anomalies, explosions, government blackouts, strange disappearances, and one repeating pattern:
All disasters had started in District 6.
She flipped to the page marked in red: âProject Zero â Timeline Unknown.â
That was where it began.
And where it had to end.
[New Location Unlocked: District 6 â Access Route: Subway Line 4]
[Quest Updated: Reach Collapse Origin within 5 hours]
Her eyes narrowed. The system wasnât just reactiveâit was feeding her data she never had before.
Was it helping her?
Or guiding her to her next death?
âž»
Nova stepped outside. The city was still aliveâcars passed, people laughed on balconies, children ran along the sidewalks like the world wasnât already dead.
Because it wasnât.
Not yet.
But she could already feel the shiftâlike time was out of joint, like this world didnât quite belong to her anymore.
Suddenly, her system pinged again. A flicker of blue lit the edge of her vision.
[Urgent: Host Proximity Breach Detected]
[Warning: Unknown hostile entity nearby.]
She froze.
Across the street, a man in a black hoodie stood facing her. Still. Too still.
She didnât recognize himâbut he was watching her like he did.
Then came the final message:
[Side Quest: Survive First Encounter â Difficulty: Unknown]
Novaâs heart pounded.
âLetâs get this over with.â
- Writer
