Chapter 1: The Awakening
My lungs seized. I sucked in a sharp breath, the metallic air burning my throat. My heartbeat slammed against my ribs so violently I thought I might vomit, followed by the dull throb behind my eyes. I tried to open them, but the lids felt glued shut, heavy with a sleep that hadn't been restful.
Something vibrated through the floor beneath me, a mechanical pulse that was alien and strange. “Ugh Where am I?.”
The last thing I remembered was reaching for my apartment door… then static. Like someone had taken scissors to my memories and cut the film apart.
With a grunt, I forced my eyes open. The world swam into focus, I was lying on a hard, surface that smelled faintly of new polished wood and presevative. Above me, massively huge, curved ceiling of reinforced concrete stretched into the gloom, crisscrossed by thick circuits. This was no hospital room. And it for sure as hell isn’t home.
Panic, and cold began to began to seep through the edges of my consciousness. I pushed myself up, my muscles denying me, I stiff to the core, which meant one thing I had been in this state for hours. My head ached, and I pressed a hand to my temple, trying to steady the world.
I was tired and distressed My name, Lena Ashford, echoed in my mind, a fragile anchor in a sea of disorientation.
Around me, dozens, no, hundreds of other figures lay sprawled on similar coffin like thingy. Around me, the chamber filled with groans and frantic voices.
“Where am I?”
“What is this place?”
“Who brought us here?”
“I don’t remember anything…”
“Can somebody tell me what’s going on?”
Mirroring my own confusion. Others remained eerily still, their faces pale and slack. A wave of nausea washed over me. Instinct took over. My eyes swept over the nearest unconscious body, searching for the rise and fall of a chest, the color of skin, the signs of shock. Years of medical training refused to stay silent, even while every survival instinct screamed at me to run.
The vibration increased, and a section of the curved wall ahead of me began to glow, outlining a massive, door. It hissed open with a sound like a giant sigh, revealing a cavelike space beyond. The air was thick with dust. It looked like the interior of some, abandoned factory, stretching further than the eye could see. Dilapidated structures, rusted machinery, and broken walkways formed a labyrinth of urban decay.
Then I saw them. Figures in dark, armored suits, their faces obscured by visors, moving with an unnerving efficiency. They carried long, sleek weapons that didn't look like anything I'd ever seen. My breath hitched. This wasn't an accident. This wasn't a mistake. This was… deliberate.
A voice, amplified and distorted, boomed through hidden speakers, it sent a shiver down my spine.
"Congratulations, participants.”
A pause.
“Out of billions of people… one hundred of you were selected.”
“This city has no police. No laws. No mercy.”
“Survive… or become part of its foundation.”
The words hung in the air, a chilling pronouncement. My gaze darted to the faces of the other awakening people. Fear, confusion, and dawning horror mirrored my own. A few started to cry out, their voices quickly swallowed by the size of the space. My medical training, my compassion, all of it felt utterly useless here. My only thought was a primal, desperate urge to escape. But escape to where? And from what? The game or whatever this was had begun, and I was already a player, whether I wanted to be or not. Somewhere inside the Mega City, ninety-nine strangers had just become my greatest threat.
