Chapter 1

*beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep*

I roll over in my bed, the harsh noises of my alarm cutting through the comforting darkness of sleep and forcing me out of its comforting grasp, a familiar sense of malaise filling my mind as I force my protesting body to move, opening my tired eyes as my hand moves in a practiced fashion to grab my phone off of my bedside table. The time reading 5:30 am, too early. But I force myself out of the comfort of my bed nonetheless.

My body complains as I move to get dressed, pulling up my blinds to see the still dark world outside, the beginnings of daylight crawling its way up and over the horizon, as I flick on my lamp and rummage through my drawers for a comfortable pair of clothes. And drag my feet through the door as my metabolism begins to kick into gear.

Stumbling into the bathroom I flick on the lights and stare at my reflection through half lidded eyes, sighing I turn on the tap and splash the Ice cold water onto my face, the temperature shock making me slightly more lucid, although it does nothing to reduce my exhaustion.

I then wash my face more thoroughly, brush the knots out of my hair, pull it back into a ponytail, quickly use the toilet, grab the backpack I never bothered to unpack last night, not bothering with breakfast. And leave my room, drudging through the halls of the dorms, I step out into the cold winter air of Massachusetts. I don't bother with a jacket, my shirt is warm and I've never cared much for the cold, it's only a 15 minute walk to the gym anyway. And then I have 1:30 of exercise, followed by a quick shower, then I have to head to my first class. A lecture on computer mechanics.

I arrive at the gym at 6:01, and change into my sports clothes, before hopping on the treadmill, deciding I was too tired to do anything more than run for a while. I managed to get in 18.5 kilometers before I decided to end my routine early, deciding I would take the extra time to grab a bite at the cafe before heading to class. I quickly shower in the boys locker room, change back into my more comfortable clothes, and fold my sports clothes back into my locker. And leave the gym, trudging through the ankle high snow as I walk towards the cafeteria. Stepping inside and walking towards the counter I order a black coffee and tuna melt, and as I pick up my order I take a quick glance around the room, looking for any empty tables to sit at. Spotting one at the far end of the cafeteria near the windows, I sit down to enjoy my meal when a soft crack in the distance peaks my attention.

As someone who grew up in one of the poorer areas of california, and when I moved I spent most of my life living near forests, I'm not a stranger to the sound of distant gunshots. But it is strange to hear one on campus, and so I stand up from my table, pulling my glasses out of my bag to see better. My close range vision has always been perfect but things get blurry a few meters out, and as my vision clears I'm greeted to a scene I hoped to never experience in my life.

The way the cafeteria is laid out there are three main entrances, facing north, east, and west respectively, with the southern side of the building being the kitchens. And standing in each entrance is a person, dressed in tactical gear, and each holding a gun. In the north entrance the person, a tall muscular man, holds an ar of some kind.

In the eastern entrance the person, a smaller but still bulky man, holds a shotgun of some kind, as the entrance farthest from me can't Identify its type, but that's not important right now. My table is set on the second floor of the food court, 5 meters above the main floor, with my closest exit requiring me to run towards the center of the food court for a bit, then down the stairs, then west. The person in the west also seems to be the most ill equipped for a horde situation, holding a bolt action rifle, likely designed for hunting. Its stopping power would be good, but it won't be good for dealing with many people at once, and the only reason they have yet to be overrun is that they have yet to fire any shots, and no one wants to be the first to run.

Their tactical gear makes it hard to discern much about them, but they seem to be quite scrawny, and from the way they hold the gun, inexperienced, good for me and the others because they likely won't be able to aim their gun well, the problem being that in such a large crowd their guaranteed to hit someone. And as I think about what to do, the one in the northern entrance, likely the leader due to them being the best equipped and standing in the biggest choke point, pulls an object from one of the pockets on their tactical rig, before tossing it into the crowd.

And silence fills the cafeteria again as all who witnessed the action become slightly confused, the confusion and terror of the situation making it hard to think straight, otherwise most people would likely already realize it was likely a grenade. No matter how knowledgeable you are, unless you have genuine experience in a situation like this it's almost impossible to keep your head straight, the only exception being people like me, who don't fear the concept of death.

Now I must specify, I am not a trained soldier, nor am I experienced in situations like this, nor am I some sort of special protagonist, my lack of fear stems from my mind, I have been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses, but to dumb things down, my mind does not work like a normal persons, I lack many of the mental faculties required to feel emotions like fear, empathy, sadness, happiness, and the like.

But for now what's important is getting out of this situation alive. As I continue to think, adrenaline beginning to fill my system as a large blast fills the air, and in the center of the cafeteria bodies fall as shrapnel tears through flesh and bone. And still no one moves, everyone's minds still struggling to comprehend the situation, but finally the first person recovers, and a shrill scream fills the building, and then the dam bursts.

Bodies begin to move as the fearful minds of those present force themselves to do the only thing they can think of in the situation, flee. And the gunshots finally begin, the people in the doors shooting anyone who comes close. And temporarily the horde stops, fearful of getting shot. A temporary reprieve as when they realize the gunshots will continue they will run no matter the cost. And as I expected the mob once again begins to surge towards the exits, people tripping and falling or falling to gunshots. Only to be trampled by the desperate crowd.

The worst is in the center, the shooter with the ar mowing into the crowd in bursts of lead. A large modified drum on the gun allowing for much more death per reload. and I consider my options. Waiting for the gunman in the center to reload before making a break for the stairs. My muscles pulsing with strength as the adrenaline in my system temporarily prevents any feelings of exhaustion or pain, and I sprint towards the stairs, leaping over downed chairs and cowering students. Carefully avoiding anything that may trip me. And as I make it most of the way down the stairs, now followed by other desperate students. I notice the gunman with the ar finishing his reload. Now only two meters above the floor I vault over the rails.

I land with a sickening thud, the unplanned drop landing my arm at an odd angle to a table, and it bends unnaturally, most certainly broken, but my pain is dulled by adrenaline as I pick myself up, luckily only suffering superficial scrapes to my legs. As I dash west. Cracks filling the air as the man with the ar once again begins his slaughter.

I dash through downed bodies and chairs, thankful that the cafeteria was relatively empty compared to normal, allowing for much greater movement, not that there arent alot of people, just not as much as usual. And I wonder why the shooters didn't choose a more busy time, but I quickly suppress that thought. Focusing on escaping for now. And as I approach the exit I dodge more bodies on the floor, most still alive, but not for much longer.

As I pass by I notice the resident weapons freak lying in a pool of his own blood, evidently unable to use the skills and knives he was so proud of to fight his way out like he had always boasted about. And a quick decision leads me to adjusting my course towards him, nearly slipping at my sudden change in direction. As I stop by his body, and he stares at me in fear, blood gurgling from a large bullet hole in his abdomen, through which he struggles to push his intestines back in, tearing apart the organ in the process. He reaches out to me weakly, likely hoping for me to save him, but there is nothing I can do.

So I simply reach into his coat. Remembering all the spots he boasted about hiding knives in, ruins the point of hidden blades in my opinion, but it works out in my favor now. Pulling out a large switchblade. I move to leave. Ignoring the betrayed look I receive from the dying man. As I again sprint towards the western exit. Ignoring the fallen. I approach the crowd by the entrance, now having successfully pushed the gunman back to the doors. I notice many at the edges of the group begin to escape into the snow outside.

And I redouble my efforts. Sticking to the edges of the group when an arm wraps around my leg, pulling me to the ground. I notice a girl with a crazed look in her eyes, as she tries to say something. Likely begging for help. But the large chunk of her throat missing makes the only sound escaping a gurgle. Or I assumed. My ears long since defend by the cacophony of noise.

I kick her arm off, struggling to my feet, when a stray leg hits me in the side of the head. And I fall to the ground disoriented, but I force myself up again, unwilling to die here. But the horde continues to trample me, and I'm forced to defend my vitals and stay still, covering my neck and head with my broken arm. And finally a lull allows me to pull myself to my feet. Now unsteady, disoriented, and bleeding from most of my body. I notice to my dismay that my left right eye is blind. And as I feel it with my fingers, they come away bloody.

But I force my swimming mind to focus on escaping, now there are few standing people left at this exit. And I stumble my way forwards, as I notice the now downed gunman lying on the floor through the gaps in the fleeing horde, but my heart nearly stops As I notice them reaching towards a trigger shaped object on their vest. How I could notice such a small detail despite my now missing glasses. Blind eye. And likely concussion I had no clue. I could only attribute it to a sharpening of the senses due to my near death situation or something like that. The world does seem to be moving slower than normal.

All the while I think this, my bruised and battered muscles pull with all my might to gain distance, as I throw myself to the floor, a shockwave passing over me, and I feel my organs disform with the pressure. All the air forced from my lungs. As I gasp for breath. Pulling my damaged body from the floor, I try to stand, till a sharp sensation in my neck causes me to pull my hand up instinctively to investigate.

My fingers discover a large shard of glass lodged in my neck, as blood pours from the jagged flesh, likely having pierced one of the arteries in my neck, as I fall back on my face. Struggling to force myself over to face the sky, I noticed that I had been thrown through the window, only now noticing that I lay in a pile of snow. And as I lay there dying. I can't help but regret the sandwich now laying wasted of the floor. Since I was going to die anyway, it would have been nice to have one last meal, and as my organs shut down, I slowly lose control of my body, a strange feeling of powerlessness creeping into my mind as I no longer have control over my body, and I stare at the sky, the sun just beginning to rise in the distance, creating what would have been a beautiful scene if not for all the dead bodies and screaming, I take in the view for the last time, as my mind fades into darkness.

(an, how you guys like this chapter? I'm quite proud of it myself, and I think it turned out great, so I hope you all did to. I tried really hard to make the main character seem unique while still human, they are not perfect, they are not good at fighting, or parkour, they are not immortal, nor is everything going there way, and what makes them unique is their mind. And that really is going to be the focus of the story, up until the new world of course, but I do not intend for the main character to be perfect, they will make mistakes, they will suffer, they will be lonely, they will be sad, but they will survive.)