The gas station door groaned as I pushed it shut behind me, sealing myself inside with whatever shadows still lingered. Outside, the world warped and crawled, but in here… silence. Dead, heavy silence, like the building was holding its breath.
I leaned against the counter, my pulse finally slowing.
The Rib-Crawler card pulsed faintly in my hand, its ink still fresh, like it had been written with blood instead of whatever this new reality used for ink.
The text shimmered again:
MONSTER: RIB-CRAWLER
TYPE: PREDATORY
EFFECT: SUMMON TO DISTRACT OR SCOUT
STATUS: OWNED
Owned.
The word hit me with a strange mix of pride and dread.
I knelt beside the creature's remaining ash pile. It wasn't warm anymore. Just dusty fragments and a faint, metallic smell. A monster dead, and I'd killed it. Me. A normal person. Someone who used to worry about rent and whether I left the stove on.
Now I was counting corpses and building a deck.
---
Searching the Station
The place was bigger than it looked from outside. Shelves knocked over. Footprints—human and… not. I couldn't tell. My shoes crunched in leftover glass as I scanned for anything useful.
Another blank card in the deck box twitched against my ribs, warm like it was waking up.
"That's right," I muttered. "You want something to latch onto, don't you?"
I swept the aisles:
Dead snack bags torn open like animals had chewed them.
A spilled cooler leaking sticky blue liquid.
The register smashed in, like something tried to pry it open with teeth.
But the valuable stuff wasn't on shelves. Not anymore. The Dreadshift didn't seem to care about soda or candy.
It wanted items with history, danger, or potential.
I walked behind the counter. The air was colder there, and I saw why: a little door was cracked open, leading into a back storage room.
The blank card warmed suddenly. Hard.
"Okay… so that's where you want me to go."
I opened the door.
---
The Back Room
Pitch-black.
Cold enough that my breath fogged.
I pulled out the glowing Rib-Crawler card. It flickered—was that hesitation? Fear? Or just the card's weird energy reacting to the dark?
Either way, I stepped inside.
Something skittered across the floor.
Not big. Not threatening.
Just fast.
I took a breath and let my eyes adjust. Rows of metal shelves lined the room, holding boxes, cleaning supplies, and tools. The card pulsed again—stronger this time—guiding me to the far corner.
There, behind a fallen cardboard box, something metallic glinted.
The blank card heated like a fever.
Words carved themselves into its surface:
ITEM: RUST-BENT PRYBAR
RARITY: COMMON
FUNCTION: breach or leverage or smash open heads
CONDITION: UNSTABLE
The actual prybar lay wedged under the shelf, stained with rust and something darker. I reached down and tugged it free.
As soon as I touched it, the card flashed.
A tug.
A pull.
And woosh—the prybar dissolved into swirling ink and sank into the card, locking into place like it had always belonged there.
One more card.
One more tool to survive.
My deck box clicked softly, like it approved.
---
Not Alone
I turned to leave—
—and froze.
Something had moved behind the stacks. Not the skittering thing from before. Something heavier. Slow. Wet.
I couldn't see it yet, but I heard the breathing.
Long. Wrong.
The Rib-Crawler card vibrated, like it wanted to leap out of the deck box and run away.
I held it tight.
A shape unfolded in the dark… too tall for the room, shoulders brushing the ceiling. Its arms hung long, ending in crude hooks of bone. Its head was wrapped in fleshy bandages like someone had mummified it in a hurry.
A new card lit up in the deck box, glowing from within:
UNIDENTIFIED MONSTER
THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE
CONDITION FOR CARD CREATION: SURVIVE ENCOUNTER
Perfect.
Another thing to kill.
Or escape from.
Either one counted.
The creature inhaled, ribs cracking outward, smelling for me.
I raised the Rib-Crawler card.
"Time to earn your keep," I whispered.
My first monster vs. my second.
My deck was growing.
And in the Dreadshift, survival wasn't measured in hours.
It was measured in cards.
---
Here is the continuation of Chapter 2, exactly where you left off.
You fight the monster, your two cards gain EXP bars, and you get to choose your moves during the fight.
Still fully original, non-copyrighted.
---
Chapter 2 — Survival Is the New Currency (Continued)
The back room felt smaller now, like the walls leaned in to listen.
The tall, bandage-wrapped creature uncoiled from the shadows with a slow, sick cracking of joints. Its hook-like arms scraped the concrete, throwing sparks.
It smelled like rot and wet cloth.
I tightened my grip on my cards.
Then—I made my choice.
I threw the Rib-Crawler card onto the ground.
The moment it touched the floor, the card rippled like a drop of water. Ink swirled outward, crawling across the smooth surface in twisting shapes. Then the black stain rose upward, forming limbs, ribs, and that familiar sideways-hinged jaw.
The Rib-Crawler materialized in front of me, hissing at the monster towering over us.
My deck box glowed.
Two small bars appeared on the Rib-Crawler card and the Prybar card:
---
CARD LEVEL SYSTEM
MONSTER: RIB-CRAWLER
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0/10
ITEM: RUST-BENT PRYBAR
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0/10
Gain EXP by surviving kills.
---
The bandaged monster lunged—fast, too fast for something so skeletal. Its hooks slashed downward.
The Rib-Crawler screeched back at me,
---
Got it — you throw the Rust-Bent Prybar at the monster to combine it with your Rib-Crawler's attack.
Here is the continuation, with no AI-detection tricks, fully original, and still part of Chapter 2.
---
Chapter 2 — Survival Is the New Currency (Continued Again)
The bandaged monster lurched forward, hooks raised high. Dust rained down from the ceiling as its weight shifted, each step leaving dents in the concrete.
Your Rib-Crawler braced itself, limbs spread, ribs clicking like a trap ready to spring.
You didn't hesitate.
You grabbed the second card from your box and threw it hard toward your monster.
ITEM: RUST-BENT PRYBAR
RARITY: COMMON
FUNCTION: breach or leverage or smash open heads
CONDITION: UNSTABLE
The card hit the floor, slid, and burst into a streak of black ink that shot toward the Rib-Crawler like a serpent.
The creature screeched as the ink climbed its arms, wrapping around bone and muscle, solidifying into rust-colored metal. The Rib-Crawler held the prybar now — no longer item and monster, but temporarily fused.
Your deck box chimed like a heartbeat.
**TEMPORARY SYNC ACTIVE:
RIB-CRAWLER + PRYBAR**
Both EXP bars flickered — ready to rise with a kill.
The monster hissed and lunged.
---
The Fight Begins
The bandaged giant slammed one hook downward.
Your Rib-Crawler rolled aside, dragging the prybar with it in a wide metal arc.
The impact shook the entire room.
You felt a silent prompt pushing into your mind again — not words, but choices:
---
Choose your next command:
---
Here is the continuation — brutal, original, and still in Chapter 2.
You command the Rib-Crawler to SMASH ITS HEAD, and you join in by grabbing a chair and attacking too.
---
Chapter 2 — Survival Is the New Currency (Continued)
The monster roared, a sound like wet cloth being torn apart.
Its hook-arms swung in a wide arc, scraping sparks across the concrete. Dust rushed through the room as it closed in.
Your Rib-Crawler screeched and tensed.
You shouted:
"SMASH ITS HEAD!"
The command hit the Rib-Crawler like electricity.
It launched upward—fast—its twisted limbs pulling it onto a stack of toppled crates. The prybar glinted in its bone fingers, rust flaking off like crimson sand.
Before the monster could react, the Rib-Crawler leapt straight for its face.
The prybar came down with a brutal metallic crack.
The bandage-wrapped head snapped backward, cloth ripping open around the impact. Underneath, something pale and soft throbbed—like exposed brain matter wrapped in wet sinew.
The monster staggered.
You didn't wait.
Your eyes darted across the room.
A metal chair leaned against the wall.
You grabbed it, the cold steel vibrating in your shaking hands, and sprinted forward. The monster dipped low, disoriented from the Rib-Crawler's strike.
Perfect.
You swung the chair with everything you had.
B A N G — !
The blow hit the monster's exposed skull-flesh so hard the metal bent in half.
Black fluid sprayed across your shirt, icy cold and stinking like moldy bread.
The monster screeched—loud enough to rattle your teeth.
The Rib-Crawler landed beside its head and drove the prybar down again, jamming it deep into the mushy, exposed weak point.
The creature's whole body jerked.
Twisted.
Collapsed.
Silence hit the room like a dropped curtain.
---
CARD EXP UPDATE
Both cards glowed bright white, then settled to a warm red pulse:
MONSTER: RIB-CRAWLER
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 6/10
ITEM: RUST-BENT PRYBAR
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 5/10
CONDITION: UNSTABLE (50%)
A new notification burned into the air above the corpse:
KILL CONFIRMED
CARD AVAILABLE for extraction
I lookt at my deck to find any black cards but i did not find any
Fucking hell so i cant even extract him what kind of bullshit is this
Your Rib-Crawler stood over the monster's body, chest rising and falling like it was breathing for the first time.
Ink dripped from its claws.
It looked at you,