It’s Not Easy Making Money In The Apocalypse

My eyes snapped open. A sudden bright light had blinded me for a moment, but it was short-lived. I lowered my hand from the mirror.

“Huh?”

Just as I turned my eyes, I realized I was no longer in my room. Instead, I appeared to be in some old building. I was in some kind of storage closet. Two large shelving units were on either side of me, and they were both rusty and bare. Other than the mirror and shelves, there was nothing else in the room. I glanced down to see a dirty white sheet. That might have been on the mirror? But the only way it’d be on the floor now is if I had somehow come through the mirror.

The room had a very old feel to it. It was dusty and the floor and walls had various pockmarks on them. I turned to see a door that should let me out of the room. Carefully, I walked over to the door and clicked the latch, opening the door slowly. It didn’t open easily. There was a rusty creaking sound, and I had to shove it just to get it open.

As soon as the door was open, there was a wafting smell of decay, mold, and dust. This was not a sanitary area, I could say that much. Covering my nose and letting out a cough, I stepped out of the room with interest. I knew I should probably test the mirror to make sure that I could return, but I had always enjoyed old abandoned places. I used to watch urban explorers on youtube, so an old abandoned office building was very interesting to me. As to how I got here, I figured that finding out where here was first would help answer that question.

The halls were even more decayed than the storage room. There was broken furniture, rotting wood, and debris everywhere. At one place, it looked like someone had started a fire. That wasn’t to say they had tried to burn down the building. Rather, they created a fire pit to cook something or stay warm for the night. The one thing I didn’t see was anything of any particular value. This building had been thoroughly stripped of everything. That mirror was about the most interesting thing left behind.

The world wasn’t completely lifeless though. I could hear the chittering of some kind of animal in the walls. Whatever it was, it was quite noisy. The sounds seemed to be getting closer too. Just as I stopped to listen to it, I heard a sudden creak.

“Shit!”

I let out a cry as the floor under me gave out. I suddenly found myself collapsing down to the floor below. I landed on a concrete floor hard. Landing on my shoulder and only just keeping my head from taking a blow. With the fall, dust rose into the air to a suffocating degree. I covered my face and coughed for a solid minute before I was finally able to recover. With teary eyes, I looked around the room I had found myself in. Sitting next to me was the body of a person I had landed near. I let out a cry and backed up a bit until my back hit a wall.

“What the hell?”

As my eyes focused, I realized that the person wasn’t moving. Pulling out my cellphone, I used the light to illuminate the man. He was sitting in a chair, slumped over. It wasn’t until the light struck him that I realized he wasn’t alive. He wasn’t just dead, but he was a skeleton. He had decayed completely, and even the clothing on him looked like it was starting to decay. Just how long had this guy been down here? It looked like it had to be decades.

As my eyes wandered across the dead body, they landed on a present at his feet. It was wrapped in paper and had a bow. It was covered in dust as much as everything, so the box was grey and colorless with age. I picked it up and ripped off the paper. Inside the box was a smaller box, and also a letter. Using my cellphone, I unfolded and read the letter.

Dear Sister,

Happy Birthday. It wasn’t easy, but I got it! You have been saying for years you wanted a Perco. It took a lot of finagling, but I finally got you one. It’s the newest model too! Don’t ask how I got it though, I’d have to kill you. The Perco 9000 will help you get a better grip on your 6S. Plus, I’m sure you can do other cool things with it too.

Sincerely,

D-s—–

The name was undecipherable. Well, this guy’s sister probably didn’t need the Perco now, and it sounded expensive. Taking one last look at the guy who had been dead for a very long time, and then I opened up the box. Don’t judge me! The guy was dead. I’d make an anonymous call to the police and tip them off, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to take something as compensation. This body was bringing me a lot of trouble. The least he could do was give me something I could sell on eBay.

“What is this… a watch?”

As I pulled the Perco out, I realized it was simply a wristwatch. However, the watch face was very large. It looked like it’d barely fit on my wrist, let alone with comfort. I guess old crap was big and bulky in the past, although I didn’t seem to recall wristwatches ever being this big. Even the wristwatch with the calculator built-in wasn’t this cumbersome.

As soon as I snapped it on my wrist, a light shined on. I made a noise of surprise. I had expected the watch to be a complete dud at this point. I was very impressed that it still had power.

“Personal Computer… booting.”

“Perco… ah… I get it.” I rolled my eyes at the bad naming.

“Nuclear core, stable. 999,999,999,999,999,999 hours of life remaining.”

“Nuclear? It must be a gag gift.”

“Locking to the owner. Taking a DNA sample.”

“Ow!” I let out a noise as I felt a quick pinch.

“Owner identity, locked. Beginning full body scan.”

“This thing…” I tried to take it off, but I realized quickly that it wouldn’t come off as the latch seemed stuck.

“Body scan complete. Displaying your 6-Status now.

“Six status?”

I didn’t have to wait long. The watch face glowed and I suddenly could see a screen. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. I thought this was some old day watch, but this was holographic technology. I didn’t even know something like this was in development. It must have been pure good luck that I was able to land such an awesome little gizmo. I’d already be looking it up online but my phone didn’t appear to have any signal in this building. Suppressing my excitement, I read the screen.

Name: Daniel Miller

Strength – 2

Stamina – 1

Speed – 3

Smarts – 3

Sense – 2

Sorcery – 1

“I-is that good?” Although I asked the question, I had a feeling I already knew the answer.

Ones and twos were definitely at the bottom. Even if it went to ten, that still meant I was a pathetically weak human being! Wait… rather, weren’t these stats like in a video game? Wait, how did it know my name?

“I wish I knew what the status means,” I muttered.

“What is the 6-status-” My watch suddenly spoke.

The screen changed, and it started playing what appeared to be a slideshow movie.

“Developed by Allco, the six statuses are six criteria to rate the abilities of a human being. After careful study at Allco labs, hundreds of criteria were considered when deciding how to rate human beings. Things with no real-world application, like Luck, were discarded. Abilities that couldn’t be quantified, like Charm or attractiveness, were also discarded.

“Eventually, six key traits were selected that could define a human being. With 3 being roughly the average adult male, see how you can compare.”

“…” I didn’t know how to respond, but it already told me everything I needed to know.

I was three or under in every category. Average, no, below average. The video wasn’t over yet though. It went on to explain each criterion. It was pretty self-explanatory, but strength was how much force your muscles could produce. Stamina was how long you could exude energy. Speed measured how fast you were. Smarts was a measure of your IQ. I wondered if it was more accurate. I didn’t take any tests. Well, it was my highest attribute so I didn’t want to curse it.

Sense was essentially perception. It was how aware you were of your surroundings. Sorcery had to be a joke. It claimed magic could be used. Magic was powered by something called fusion crystals.

“This version of the Perco is the first with full magic capability. Just download the spells of your choice from any kiosk, insert fusion crystals, and the Perco 9000 will do the rest. This concludes the Perco Status Tutorial. Thank you for your purchase. Allco, we own everything so we can give you everything.”

Well, that’s how it ended. I fiddled around with the Perco for a few more minutes. I eventually found a flashlight that, despite the size of the watch, was a bit stronger than my current flashlight. Holding out my arm, I navigated my way out of the room I had fallen into. Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as I had feared. This wasn’t some sealed off room. If that was the case, then why was that body left there for so long? I realized I was approaching an area with natural light. That was outdoors, wasn’t it?

I ended up coming up to a window. With a single look, I realized a few things. First, that I was still on the third story of a five-story high rise. Second, I appeared to be in a large city. Third, that entire city was destroyed. The cars were all completely rusted out. Most of the glass windows were shattered, and the walls looked like they hadn’t been painted in countless years. The entire place looked like it had been abandoned. I wasn’t just in some abandoned building; I was in an abandoned city! That’s when the thought came to me for the first time.

Am I in another world?