SYSTEM MESSAGE: General System Announcement. System Time is 12:00 GMT, Sunday, April 9, 2017.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: Hello, Earth! If you’re reading this, congratulations. You’re one of the just over fifty percent of humans who survived Day One after System Start. Well done.
I heard several wordless exclamations of horror. One of them might have come from me.
Half of us. Half of all humanity. Dead.
In a single day.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: This is the largest proportion of survivors of an equivalent period after System Start on any planet, ever. We literally did not see this coming. Because there are so many more survivors than anticipated, additional Trade Center infrastructure will be added to help inhabitants of Earth capitalize on the rich resources which are becoming available. Please inquire at the nearest center of population having at least 1,000 inhabitants as of now. Ring Centers will be set up around larger population centers to distribute the load.
“Trade Centers?” Danielle had walked over to me and was trying to ask questions. I put my arms around her, but kept watching my invisible screen.
SYSTEM MESSAGE: Due to the need for additional infrastructure, immigration to Earth will be postponed for an additional day. An announcement will be made when immigration begins. Good luck!
SYSTEM MESSAGE: General System Announcement Ends. System Time is 12:01 GMT, Sunday, April 9, 2017.
“Immigration?!” shouted Anthony. “ALIENS? ALIENS ARE COMING?”
“Everybody calm down,” I yelled. “Get dressed. Living room. Sit. Talk.” I could feel everyone trying to fly apart. I pulled on every bit of my overpowered Charisma and projected calm and purpose.
It worked.
Well, mostly. There was some grumbling. But the bedroom doors closed and I heard fumbling around with clothes and bags.
Letting go of Danielle, who I was still holding in my arms, I said, “I’m sorrier than ever that I missed yesterday’s message, because maybe then the one we just read would make some kind of sense.”
I took a deep breath and grabbed her hand, leading her down the hall to the living room. I threw a little wood on the fire, thinking some hot food might help, then grabbed a bottle of water and reclaimed my spot on the comfy couch. Danielle looked like she was going to sit next to me for a second, but instead gave me a frustrated look and started pacing around the room.
“How can you be so calm?” she said. Her voice was breaking. “Half the world is dead. Probably my parents. Billions of people, James! Billions!”
I stood up and caught her in an embrace. “I know, Danielle. I’m freaking out somewhere inside. But right now, right here, all I can do is try to keep us safe. That’s what I did yesterday and it’s what I’m going to do today.” My arms tightened around her. “We’re alive and we’re going to stay that way.”
She initially resisted, but that last bit made her almost collapse into my arms. “I’m so scared,” she said, sobbing. “The messages are treating this like a joke. Like it’s funny that they killed four billion people. And now aliens are coming? Are they going to colonize us? Or maybe just eat us?”
“Danielle, listen to me,” I said in my firmest voice. “Like I said yesterday, if the System wanted us dead, we’d be dead. And now we know it wants something from us. Dead people can’t trade.”
“Maybe they’re going to trade us,” she said. “Slave raids. Like Europeans in Africa.”
“The Europeans didn’t give the Africans magic powers before they tried to enslave them,” I said. “And they didn’t warn them first. There’s something more to this. I don’t know what it is, but there has to be more.”
She looked up at me. Somebody with a 24 Charisma couldn’t be unattractive, but she was working at it. Her face was mottled and it looked like a little snot might be running down her lip. Like any real man would, I pretended I didn’t see it.
“Are you sure?” she said. Her voice was heartbreaking.
“No,” I said. “I can’t promise anything. But I really, really think I’m right. That’ll have to be enough.” I squeezed her and gave her a kiss. She kissed me back, then pushed away, blushing.
“Don’t kiss me. I’m a mess,” she said.
“A hot mess,” I said. That got me one of those addictive giggles.
Danielle walked toward the little kitchen, presumably to find something to wipe her face. (The bathroom was of course occupied.) I reclaimed my seat and drank more of my water. My mind was racing, but it had nowhere to race to. It was an awful feeling.
She returned a few minutes later, followed by Samantha.
“Mike is waiting for the bathroom,” she said. “He’ll be right out.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “There wasn’t a time limit or anything. I just wanted everybody to get moving forward.” I chuckled. “Besides, I’m not in charge, remember?”
“Something about you makes us want to listen,” she said. “You seem to be the most comfortable with what’s happening.”
I pointed at my face and did a cheesy smile. “Charisma. Bags of it.” After she smiled, I said, “And yeah, I’m not saying I was one of those people who sat around waiting for the zombie apocalypse, but I do love a good end-of-the-world story. I have mental maps ready, is maybe a good way to put it.”
“I don’t care why,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’d all be dead if it weren’t for you. Everybody’s pulling their weight so far, or trying. But if you hadn’t gotten us organized, made us choose our Classes and pick our perks, at best we’d still be hiding in that house and at worst we’d have tried to stroll into town without a care in the world and been eaten. So you lead, we’ll follow. At least Mike and I.”
My mouth dropped open. I didn’t know what to say to that. Danielle plopped onto the couch next to me and gave me an enormous hug.
“She’s right. Our hero. My hero,” she said.
If calling me a hero made her feel safer, I wasn’t going to argue. So I just said, “Thanks. I’ll do my best.”
Danielle sat up. “What about Susan?” she said suddenly. “She didn’t pick her Class. She doesn’t know about the monsters. If she wasn’t awake, she didn’t even see the Announcement.”
“She’s not going to make it,” said Samantha, using a very mom-like, ‘I-have-bad-news-and-you’re-not-going-to-like-it’ voice. “She’ll run out of food or water, go outside, and something’s going to eat her.”
“Should we go back for her?” said Danielle. She sounded horrified.
“No,” I said. “We tried. It’s nearly as far to the cabin as it is to town. It’d be another day, if we have more fights. Maybe two. And she may already be dead. Something like that bear we heard could have busted into that cabin like it wasn’t even there.”
“Bear?” said Samantha in a much more emotional voice. “What bear?”
Mandy, Joe and Anthony walked out of the hall just as Samantha said “Bear” for the second time. Joe hurried to the living room window, scanning the area.