LEVEL 0: PATIENT ZERO

Level 0

The darkness in the hospital lobby wasn’t empty. It was crowded.

Kade stood frozen as the world-tearing portal above him hummed with the sound of a thousand bees. The massive, calcified hand of the Crown Zombie gripped the edge of reality, and for a heartbeat, Kade felt a gaze cold, ancient, and possessive lock onto the back of his skull.

[WARNING: HIVE-SYNCHRONIZATION ATTEMPT]

[CORRUPTION LEVEL: 0.01%... 0.05%...]

“Nope. No, thank you. I’m not home,” Kade hissed.

He didn’t wait for the bone-giant to climb through. He turned and bolted toward the triage hallway, his feet barely touching the black ichor that was beginning to coat the floor. Behind him, Dave the Disruptor was screaming, but it wasn’t a heroic battle cry anymore. It was the sound of a man realizing his “Level 2 Warrior” status was the equivalent of a wet paper towel against a hurricane.

Kade dove through a set of swinging mahogany doors and into the darkness of the East Wing. He slammed his back against the wall, his chest perfectly still, his lungs inactive, yet his mind racing at speeds that should have triggered a stroke.

“System,” he whispered, his voice a dry rattle. “Status. Now. Before I start growing extra limbs.”

A holographic pane bloomed in front of his face, casting a sickly violet light over the darkened hallway.

PLAYER PROFILE: KADE MILLER

Title: Patient Zero (Unique / Cursed)

Level: 0 (EXP: 0/100)

Condition: Deceased (Active)

Humanity: 99.9%

Corruption: 0.07%

[DUAL-TREE EVOLUTION UNLOCKED]

You are the bridge between the Living and the Dead. Choose your growth, but beware the harvest.

Kade stared at the “Humanity” stat. It was flickering. “99.9 percent? That’s an A-minus in any other context, but here it feels like a countdown.”

He swiped his hand, and the screen split. On the left, a blue-tinted tree glowed with icons of shields, hearts, and speech bubbles. [THE HUMAN PATH: Preservation]. On the right, a jagged, pulsing vein of purple light bled across the interface, icons of claws, fangs, and brain-matter glowing with an unsettling heat. [THE ZOMBIE PATH: Mutation].

“Classic,” Kade muttered, a frantic edge of humor bubbling up. “The ‘Be a Good Boy’ tree versus the ‘Eat Your Neighbors’ tree. Decisions, decisions.”

A sudden, wet slurping sound echoed from the end of the hallway. Kade looked up, and his vision shifted. It was like a thermal overlay, but instead of heat, he saw intent.

A “Mindless Drone” was hunched over a discarded vending machine, clawing at the glass. But Kade didn’t just see the zombie. He saw a hazy, grey cloud of static hanging around its head. And within that static, images flickered raw, primal, and terrifyingly loud.

CRUNCH. COLD. SALT. NEED. WARM. TEAR.

“Whoa,” Kade gasped, clutching his head. The thoughts weren’t his, but they were *in* him. It was like a radio station playing at full volume in a language he shouldn’t understand, yet instinctively translated.

The zombie turned. Its jaw was missing, its tongue lolling like a piece of raw liver. When its eyes met Kade’s, the “static” intensified.

SAME. SAME. BROTHER? NO. ALPHA. LEAD. FEED.

The urge hit Kade like a physical blow to the stomach. It wasn’t hunger, not exactly. It was a vacuum. A yawning, bottomless pit in his soul that demanded to be filled with the “warmth” the drone was thinking about. He looked at his own hand, noticing for the first time how sharp his fingernails had become.

Just a nibble, a voice that wasn’t his whispered in the back of his mind. The meat is still warm in the cafeteria. You can smell it, can’t you? The iron in the blood. The salt in the skin.

“Shut up,” Kade growled, his teeth bared. “I’m a vegan. Mostly. I had a burger once in 2024, but I felt bad about it!”

He backed away, but the “Static” followed him. It wasn’t just the one zombie. He could feel dozens of them through the walls. The hospital was a hive, and he was the central node. Every time a survivor screamed three floors up, a spike of shared predatory joy rippled through the network, vibrating in Kade’s marrow.

[SKILL ALERT: HIVE-SIGHT (PASSIVE)]

You can perceive the collective consciousness of the Infected. Warning: Prolonged exposure may lead to Ego-Dissolution.

“Ego-dissolution? Is that the fancy way of saying I’ll start wearing people’s skin as a fashion statement?” Kade scrambled into an empty patient's room, locking the door behind him.

He slumped into a plastic chair, his head thumping against the wall. The room smelled of antiseptic and old flowers, the smells of his old life. He tried to focus on his own name. Kade Miller. 19. Likes vintage synthesizers. Hates hospitals. Currently dead. Currently... very, very hungry.

His stomach didn’t growl. It didn’t have to. The hunger was in his brain.

He looked at the bed. There was a discarded tray with a half-eaten chicken salad sandwich. He reached for it, his movements jerky. He took a bite.

He immediately spat it out. It tasted like wet cardboard and ash. His body rejected it with a violent, dry heave.

“Okay,” he wheezed, wiping his mouth with the back of a grey hand. “So the Human Tree doesn’t cover catering. Fantastic.”

A notification popped up, blinking urgently in his peripheral vision.

[QUEST INITIATED: THE FIRST STEP]

Goal: Reach Level 1.

Method: Absorb Bio-Mass or Complete a System Task.

Reward: Unlock Class Specialization.

Penalty for Failure: Regression to Mindless State.

“Regression?” Kade’s eyes widened. “You’re telling me if I don’t ‘level up’ like a good little monster, I become one of those jawless idiots in the hallway?”

The System didn’t answer. It just sat there, cold and indifferent, its violet light reflecting in his dead eyes.

Kade stood up and walked to the room’s sink. He stared into the mirror. He looked like a corpse, yes, but he also looked stronger. The frailty of the cancer was gone, replaced by a dense, unnatural muscle tone. He gripped the edge of the porcelain sink.

Shatter.

The porcelain crumbled under his grip like dry crackers.

“Oops,” he whispered. The strength was intoxicating. For nineteen years, his body had been a prison of weakness. Now, it was a weapon.

The “Static” surged again. Someone was close. Someone living.

Kade’s ears perked up. He could hear a heartbeat. It wasn’t a sound; it was a drum. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. It was coming from the ventilation shaft above him.

WARM. SOFT. THE BEAT. STOP THE BEAT. TAKE THE WARMTH.

Kade felt his upper lip curl back, exposing teeth that felt longer, sharper. A low, vibrating growl started in his chest a sound he didn’t even know he could make. His vision tunneled. The violet veins in his arms began to glow, pulsing in time with the heartbeat above.

“No,” he gasped, grabbing his own throat. “Stop it. Kade, stop it. That’s a person. That’s a person with a life and probably a Netflix subscription.”

He threw himself toward the window, desperate to get away from the sound of the heart. But the “Static” was a tide, pulling him toward the ceiling. He felt his fingers elongate into claws, ready to tear through the metal duct work.

Just one taste. The System demands it. Level up. Survive.

“I... said... NO!”

Kade punched the wall. His fist went straight through the drywall, burying itself in the metal studs. The pain, a dull, distant throb, snapped him back to reality. The “Static” receded, leaving him gasping for air he didn’t need.

[HUMANITY: 99.8%]

“I’m losing it,” he whispered, staring at his buried fist. “I haven’t even been dead for an hour, and I’m already eyeing people like they’re McNuggets.”

He pulled his hand off the wall. He needed to get out of this hospital. It was a pressure cooker for his new instincts. He needed open air. He needed a plan that didn’t involve the Zombie Skill Tree.

He opened the Human Tree again. Most of the skills were greyed out, locked behind “Level 1” or “Charisma” requirements. But one caught his eye.

[SKILL: POKER FACE (RANK F)]

Description: Suppress physical tells of your condition. For a short duration, your skin regains color and your eyes clear. Cost: 10 MP/sec.

“It’s a start,” Kade said. “If I can look human, maybe I can find someone who hasn’t turned into a ‘Warrior’ lunatic and get some help.”

He activated the skill. A warm, tingling sensation washed over his skin. He looked back in the mirror. For a moment, he saw himself again. The grey skin flushed with a pale pink. The milky fog in his eyes vanished.

“I look... okay. I look like I just stayed up too late playing GTA VI.”

The ventilation grate above hissed. A small, soot-covered face peered through the slats. It was a girl, no older than twelve, her eyes wide with terror.

“Are you... are you a Player?” she whispered, her voice trembling.

Kade forced a smile. It felt heavy on his face. “Yeah. I’m a Player. Name’s Kade. You okay, kid?”

“I’m Lucy,” she said, her voice small. “My dad... he told me to hide in here. He went to find a doctor, but the doctors started biting people.”

The “Static” flared. VULNERABLE. LONE PREY. THE HEART IS SMALL. THE HEART IS SWEET.

Kade bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted copper. “Come on down, Lucy. I’ll get you out of here. I’m... I’m a high-level bodyguard. Rare class.”

Lucy unlatched the grate and dropped it down. She landed lightly on the hospital bed. She looked at Kade with a desperate, heartbreaking trust.

“You don’t have a weapon,” she noticed.

Kade looked at his bare, scarred hands. “I’m a... monk. I use my fists. Very spiritual.”

“Oh.” She looked unconvinced but stepped closer. As she did, the smell of her reached him. Not perfume or soap, but the scent of *life*. It was the smell of oxygenated blood, of sweat, of fear.

It was the most delicious thing he had ever smelled.

Kade’s “Poker Face” flickered. A vein in his temple throbbed violet.

“Kade? Your eyes are doing a weird thing,” Lucy said, backing away slightly.

“It’s... it’s a buff,” Kade wheezed, his hands shaking. “Listen, Lucy, you need to stay five feet behind me at all times. Social distancing. It’s for your safety.”

“Why?”

“Because my spiritual energy is... very volatile,” he lied, his voice straining.

He led her toward the door. He had a mission now. Protect the kid. If he could save one person, maybe his Humanity stat would stop dropping. Maybe he could prove the System wrong.

They stepped out into the hallway. The “Mindless Drone” from before was still there, but it wasn’t alone. Three more had joined it. They were standing in a circle, staring at the floor.

When they smelled Lucy, they all snapped their heads toward her in unison.

WARMTH. FRESH. GIVE US THE WARMTH, ALPHA.

“Stay back,” Kade warned the zombies, his voice dropping into that predatory rumble.

The drones paused, confused. Their Alpha was protecting the meat?

“Go!” Kade shouted at Lucy. “Run toward the exit! Don’t look back!”

Lucy didn’t need to be told twice. She bolted down the hallway.

The zombies lunged, but not at her. They lunged at Kade, their “Static” screaming with betrayal. TRAITOR. WE ARE THE SAME. WHY DO YOU STARVE US?

Kade caught the first one by the throat. He felt the snap of its windpipe under his fingers. He threw it into the second, his strength surging. But as he fought them, the “Static” began to change. It wasn’t just noise anymore. It was a command.

A new voice entered the hive. It wasn’t the Crown Zombie, and it wasn’t the drones. It was a sharp, piercing signal coming from the floor above.

ALL UNITS. TARGET THE ANOMALY. CAPTURE THE PATIENT ZERO. CONSUME THE GIRL.

Kade’s head exploded with pain. He fell to his knees, clutching his skull. The command was so strong it felt like a physical weight pressing on his brain.

“No... get out... of my head!”

He looked up and saw Lucy at the end of the hallway. She had stopped. She was staring at the ceiling.

A shadow was descending from the light fixtures. It was long, spindly, and covered in pale, translucent skin. It looked like a human stretched on a rack, its fingers ending in three-foot-long needles.

[THREAT DETECTED: THE STITCHER (LVL 10 ELITE)]

The creature landed silently between Kade and Lucy. It turned its faceless head toward Kade and hissed.

“Patient... Zero...” it whispered, its voice a wet echo of the System’s own tone. “The Crown... wants... your... eyes...”

The Stitcher lunged, its needle-fingers blurring through the air. Kade tried to move, but his “Human” body was too slow. The needles pierced his shoulder, pinning him to the wall like an insect in a display case.

“KADE!” Lucy screamed.

The Stitcher ignored her for a moment, leaning close to Kade’s face. It smelled like old blood and ozone.

“Don’t... fight it,” the creature hissed. “Join... the... choir.”

Kade looked at his HP. It was plummeting. The needles were draining something more than blood. They were siphoning his XP.

[HP: 40/100]

[WARNING: LEVEL DRAIN IN PROGRESS]

“I’m already... Level 0...” Kade wheezed, a bloody grin stretching across his face. “You can’t... drain... nothing.”

He looked at the Zombie Skill Tree. There was one skill he had been avoiding. A skill that required him to sacrifice 10% of his Humanity.

[SKILL: BONE-SPIKE BURST (RANK E)]

*Description: Eject your own skeletal fragments as high-velocity projectiles.

“Sorry, Mom,” Kade whispered.

He slammed his mental fist into the Zombie Tree.

The transformation was agonizing. He felt his ribs c***k and sharpen, his skin tearing as white, jagged shards of bone erupted from his chest and shoulders. The Stitcher shrieked as a dozen bone-shards buried themselves in its pale flesh.

The creature was thrown backward, its grip on Kade breaking.

Kade fell to the floor, his chest a bloody mess of protruding bone. He looked up at Lucy, his eyes now glowing a terrifying, solid violet.

[HUMANITY: 88.5%]

[LEVEL 1 REACHED]

[CLASS SELECTION REQUIRED: GHOUL OR SPECTRE?]

Before he could answer, the Stitcher scrambled up the wall, its body twitching with unnatural speed. It didn’t attack Kade this time. It lunged at Lucy, its needle-fingers poised to strike.

“LUCY! JUMP!” Kade roared.

But Lucy didn’t jump. She just stood there, her eyes rolling back in her head. A red System screen appeared above her.

[COMPATIBLE HOST DETECTED]

[INITIATING EMERGENCY ASCENSION...]

The girl’s body began to glow with a blinding, golden light the exact opposite of Kade’s violet rot.

Kade shielded his eyes. “What... what is she?”

The Stitcher froze in mid-air, its body beginning to smoke as the golden light touched its skin.

A new notification flashed across Kade’s vision, one that made his dead heart almost beat with pure terror.

[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FIRST HERO HAS AWAKENED]

[TARGET: PATIENT ZERO]

Lucy or whatever was now inside her turned to look at Kade. The gold in her eyes was colder than any zombie’s stare.

“Abomination,” she said, her voice sounding like a choir of a thousand judgmental voices.

She raised a hand, and a bolt of pure, holy fire gathered in her palm.

Kade scrambled backward, his bone-spikes still dripping with his own black blood. “Wait! Lucy! It’s me! It’s Kade!”

“Kade is dead,” she replied. “There is only the Plague.”

She threw the fire.