I stopped at the busy intersection and looked nervously at the clock, then at my sister. Cascadia had her headphones in, probably doing a guided visualization or something. That was good. Hopefully she would be too focused to notice that I had detoured from the road to the gymnasium. Cascadia takes her training schedule very seriously and if she thought I was going to make her late…well, things could go badly for me.

  It was ten minutes till midday, which gave just five minutes until the collapse. At least according to my sources. I had spent the last one and a half years completely obsessed with “the crawl.” I had discovered the file pack while exploring some less well trodden sectors of the network. Even though I had spent every free minute with the files, I’d only been able to get through a small part of the huge collection. I had, however, studied how the crawl would start extensively and it was very clear what I needed to do right now.

  The files had contained introductory material concerning the nature of the crawl, information about this season's showrunners and timelines, complete recordings of thousands of syndicate approved crawl related productions, and a full recording of a single crawl.

  I was convinced it was real, but “impending alien apocalypse will render all your current aspirations meaningless” was not an attractive position and I wasn’t interested in being dumped into the looney bin. So I focused on me and Cascadia. As far as I can tell, my actions were meaningless on the large scale anyway. Nothing would have changed.

  I took a circling path towards the city center, trying to avoid alerting Cascadia. The open top land speeder hummed energetically as I surreptitiously steered us towards the most densely populated area of the city. Cascadia's training center was in a more rural area, with plenty of space for throwing, running, fighting, zero-grav training and whatever else elite enneathletes did.

  Cascadia opened her eyes just as the clock reached five minutes before midday. I grimaced as she took stock of her surroundings. She turned and fixed me with a stare. Cascadia’s stares were particularly intense.

  “Gel. What is going on? My training session starts in five minutes, and, best I can tell, we are at city center.”

  I cursed under my breath as I scanned the city scape. What was going on? The collapse was supposed to happen right now!

  “Gel. My monthly training schedule is planned to the half minute. You know this. You also know that my success is the only chance you and I will ever have to become anything other than tier seven citizens. You ALSO know that my sense of identity and self worth are, at this point, completely based on my status in the colosseum; so I hope that I am about to hear a FUCKING FANTASTIC reason that-“

  SLAM

  My relief at the interruption was tempered by the visceral shock of every building in sight vanishing into the ground. Despite knowing what was going to happen, I was momentarily stunned. Cascadia was not and had somehow deactivated her restraint system, leaped to her feet on her seat, and retrieved a throwing stick from her pack before I recovered. When she realized there was nothing to fight she spoke.

  “What is going on?”

  The masses who had been outside started to panic.

  Cascadia slowly turned, staring down at me.

  “Gel. What is this?”

  Before I could reply the voice spoke into our minds.

  Surviving humans take note

  Again, my foreknowledge failed to adequately prepare me for the experience. The somehow intelligible alien language piped directly into my brain very nearly caused me to lose focus on the plan.

  I shook my head as the voice droned on, explaining the tragic fate of our world and the choices facing the survivors. Regaining focus, I scanned the landscape, looking for likely stairwell spawn locations. Cascadia remained standing, transfixed by the voice. I gently pressed the controls to reactivate her safety restraint system, and, thankfully, Cascadia crouched down to accommodate. Doubly thankfully she remained focused on the voice, so I didn’t have to deal with her for a few more seconds. I primed the turbo and rested a hand on the throttle.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “If you have any additional questions, or you wish to file an appeal, such requests must be submitted in writing directly to the closest Syndicate office.

  Thank you for being a part of the Syndicate. Have a great day.”

  Eighteen seconds. My palms were slick with sweat and my breaths came fast and shallow. Those eighteen seconds passed excruciatingly slowly. My eyes rapidly scanned the horizon, devastatingly clear after the collapse.

  “Come on, come on,” I muttered to myself, hands tight on the controls. I was so focused and so tense that I did not register what Cascadia said to me as she remained crouched on her seat. A horn finally sounded in the air and I intensified my scanning efforts.

  There!

  I slammed the throttle forward, launching the speeder ahead and slamming us back into our seats. I weaved frantically to avoid the dazed city folk as I bore down on the stairwell a few hundred meters away. I stole a glance at Cascadia, who had righted herself and was bracing against the headrest with one hand while still clutching her throwing staff in the other.

  Good, I thought to myself as we crashed down the stairwell, that ought to be worth an achievement too.

  We smashed through the large, engraved, double doors and into a wide hallway lined with corrugated steel.

  Welcome to the first floor, Crawler.

  The words sounded in my mind while text simultaneously appeared in my vision, HUD like. The voice was slightly robotic and extremely sardonic. I put the speeder into coast mode and let it drift down the hallway. I checked behind us and noted that no one had followed us in yet. I glanced over at Cascadia as a five day countdown timer appeared at the edge of my vision. The visual field changes were similar to some of the augmented technology commonly used on our planet and were much less jarring than the voices speaking in my mind. Cascadia remained crouched on her seat, ignoring me for the moment, as she processed the flow of information.

  You have been designated Crawler #6. You have been assigned the Crawler name “Gellen.” You are assigned the race of Human. You are currently level 1. You may choose a new race and class as soon as you descend to the third floor. Your stat points have been assigned based on your current physical and mental profile. See the stat menu for more details.”

  I grumbled under my breath. Crawler #6! My frustration at not making it in the first 5 was interrupted by a deluge of achievements.

  Congratulations! You’ve earned your first achievement: Gearhead! You have entered the world dungeon driving a vehicle. Let’s see how long you can hold onto it.

  Reward: You’ve received a bronze Gearhead box

  New Achievement! Trailblazing Gearhead

  You are the first crawler to enter the dungeon operating a vehicle. Your dedication to not using your own two legs will surely not get you into any trouble later.

  Reward: You’ve received a legendary Gearhead box!

  New Achievement! Need for speed. You entered the dungeon traveling over 60 km/h. Either you are a very distracted operator or you just couldn’t wait to get in here.

  Reward: You’ve received a silver speedster box.

  New Achievement! Extreme early adopter.

  You are one of the first 10 crawlers to enter a new world dungeon. In fact, you entered the dungeon within 20 seconds of it opening!

  Reward: You’ve received a gold early bird gets the worm box

  New achievement! Taxi driver.

  You entered the dungeon in a vehicle with a passenger. Good thinking. There is safety in numbers. Just watch your back at night.

  Reward: You’ve received a bronze chauffeur’s box

  New achievement! Family man.

  You entered the dungeon with a family member. So precious. Go ahead and get your hopes up for their survival.

  Reward: You’ve received a bronze companion box

  New achievement! Prepper.

  You entered the world dungeon with supplies of food and clothing. Those are important things for survival. Now you just have to keep the rifraff away.

  Reward: You’ve received a bronze economic inequality box

  New achievement! Extreme prepper.

  You have entered the dungeon with a vehicle, an armed companion, non-perishable food stores, various electronics supplies, a change of socks, 10 packs of tobacco rolls, and an extensive collection of local media, both digital and print….and you entered the dungeon in under a minute….hmmmm

  Reward: You’ve gotten too many rewards already. I’ve got my eye on you boy.