ACE

There was a blinding flash of light, and the apartment surrounding Zac disappeared, and he found himself falling through the air.

Terrified screams filled the air all around him, whenever a Transition Zone appeared, everyone was affected, with no exceptions, and so an apartment building full of people found themselves plummeting through the air.

It was only a moment before Zac slammed into an enormous tree branch, knocking the breath out of him, leaving him wheezing, lying face first on the branch.

"S***. That was lucky." Zac exclaimed, as he slowly sat up, his bruised ribs aching with even the slightest of motions.

Apartments and other high-rise buildings had quickly become the least popular choice for living in when the Transition Zones had begun to appear, owing to the fact that those living inside had the highest death rate during Transition.

New buildings in the transitioned areas of Earth were now only constructed with a maximum of two levels, with no underground floors, for obvious reasons.

Only the most desperate lived in buildings with more than two floors anymore, they had become the slums of the world, with minimal rent prices and their occupation by the dregs of society.

Of course, with a failed Augmentation and no career prospects in the new world as a result, Zac found himself amongst the dregs.

He came to his feet and looked around, he was in the lower branches of an enormous tree, with a pale white trunk and enormous fan shaped leaves, each leaf almost twenty meters across.

He had a decent view from above, and he could see a few other lucky individuals on other branches or in other trees, but the majority of those who had transitioned lay in the tall grass below, limbs twisted and broken, blood pooling around them.

"F****** h***!" Zac swore again, and he began to feel sick, he fell to his knees and started to heave, the sight of the bodies below carved into his mind, the shock of the situation setting in.

Kneeling on the branch, Zac vomited over the side, completely emptying the contents of his stomach, a few cheap cans of beer and the cheap takeout noodles he had last night.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Zac remembered the ACE acronym, or what the International Transition Council called the 3-Step Guide.

"Step 1: Assess immediate threats.

Step 2: Check cellular reception.

Step 3: Everyone together."

"Guess I missed out on the immediate threat, falling to death." Zac muttered darkly, digging around in his pocket for his phone.

He pulled it out, switching the screen on, but all he saw was a tiny 'x' in the corner. The gravity of the situation began to weigh down on him, no cell reception meant the Transition ZOne was at least a hundred kilometers across.

It was just his luck, Zac shook his head, the size of the Transition Zone was directly connected to the strength of the Magical Beasts that would be found within, and additionally, the larger the transition zone, the longer it would take for the rescue teams to arrive.

Unfortunately, as much as the ITC pushed the acronym, step 3 often became "Every man for himself." THose with the slightest ability would band together, using those weaker as bait

And by the time the rescue team arrived, the majority of those who remained would be those who used the others, and even though those weak Augmentationless individuals that remained would complain, their testimony wouldn't be believed over those that outnumbered them.

Zac knew that without an Augmentation, he would be easy prey for the others who had survived. On top of not having an augmentation, he was still the same height and build he had been for years now, and he knew he had no chance in a scuffle with anyone else.

"Hey son! Looks like you lucked out also! I'm going to climb down and see if I can help those below, come and join me! You know what they say, everyone together!" A middle aged man, with a balding head and stocky build, yelled to Zac from a neighboring branch.

Zac recognized him, he often came by the gas station in the early mornings, in a hard hat and vest, always trying to have a friendly chat.

"Sure thing!" Zac yelled back, laughing inside, why in the world would he leave this safe branch to try and help those below. Surely carnivorous Magical beasts would already be rushing here, catching the scent of blood from the wounded and dead below.

Zac hunched down where the trunk met the branch, watching as the construction worker took off his belt, and shirt, tying them together to form a large loop, which he wrapped around the trunk.

Then, pulling the loop he had formed tight, he began to walk down the trunk, holding himself to the trunk with the loop.

"What the h***?? Does he think he's Bear Grylls or something? What's he even going to do when he gets down there?" Zac shook his head at the man as he made his way down the trunk, calling out to other survivors and encouraging them to join him.

Some even copied him and began to climb down, but Zac just laughed and shook his head as he watched them leave the safe haven that the branches were, to throw themselves into danger.

Zac felt a very slight impact on his shoulder, he looked down and saw a flake of the white bark from the tree sitting on his yellow shirt.

"Huh?" Zac muttered, then he looked up to see where the bark had fallen from, and found himself face to face with an enormous snake.

His heart sunk, he knew from his studies as a child that this was the Noxious Viper, only a Tier 1 Magical Beast, but with a corrosive venom that ate you away from the inside.

Zac backed away along the branch, being sure not to make any sudden movements, for the snake would strike as soon as he did.

'Dammnit, why didn't I listen to the baldie!' Zac thought to himself, realizing he was running out of space.