The world ended on a Tuesday.
No one expected it. No warheads. No alien invasions. Just screams, then silence, then the slow, dragging shuffle of the dead.
Jaden Knightley sat in his apartment, headphones on, the glow of his monitor casting long shadows across the walls. He was halfway through a raid in Skyfall Online when the power cut out.
"Are you serious?" he muttered, ripping off his headset.
Darkness.
Then came the first scream.
Not from the game. From the hallway outside.
He paused, every muscle in his body going still. Another scream followed—closer, desperate. Then a wet, crunching sound. A thud. Silence.
He reached for his phone. No signal. No bars. No Wi-Fi. Just the emergency alert that blinked across the screen:
⚠️ NATIONAL EMERGENCY: LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT. STAY INDOORS. AVOID CONTACT WITH INFECTED. ⚠️
"Infected?" Jaden muttered. He laughed nervously. "What is this, a movie?"
A crash shattered his sarcasm. It came from the stairwell just outside his door. He rushed to the peephole—then froze.
A man—no, a thing—was slamming its head into his neighbor's door. Its face was wrong. Sunken eyes. Skin pale and stretched. Blood dripped from a jaw unhinged too wide.
Zombie.
It couldn't be anything else.
Jaden stumbled back. His mind raced.
He didn't have weapons. No training. No plan. Just panic.
Then the air shimmered. A strange digital ping echoed in his mind like a notification from nowhere.
[System Initialization: LOCK SYSTEM ACTIVATED]Welcome, Jaden Knightley.Objective: Survive.Unlock potential.Kill the Infected. Earn Locks.
"What the hell?" he whispered.
Starter Pack Acquired: Rusted Pocket Knife (Common).Skill Installed: Lock Interface (Lv. 1).
A rusty blade appeared on the floor before him in a flicker of blue light. Real. Cold. Heavy.
The door burst open.
The zombie staggered in, eyes rolling, teeth gnashing.
Jaden didn't think—he just moved. The knife plunged into its skull with more force than he knew he had.
The body collapsed. The room was still.
Then, another ping:
[You have killed: Infected Civilian - Lv. 1]+1 Lock Acquired: [#001 - Basic Lock]Do you wish to unlock? Y/N
He stared as a small glowing padlock hovered in the air in front of him, inscribed with the number 001.
Trembling, he whispered: "Yes."
The lock clicked. Light poured out. A message appeared before his eyes:
+2 StrengthLoot: Energy Bar (x1), Water Bottle (x1)
At his feet, the items materialized.
Jaden dropped to the floor, shaking, breath ragged.
The dead were real.
The system was real.
And somehow… he just got stronger.
He looked at the knife in his hand, then at the corpse. Then at the shimmering lock still burning in his mind—more would come.
Outside, the world groaned under the weight of the apocalypse.
Inside, Jaden Knightley had just taken his first step toward surviving it.
And with each zombie he killed, he'd become more than a survivor.
He'd become something… locked and loaded.