Awakening Part 2

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'This hallucination is getting out of hand,' Zayn muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.

He reached out, attempting to swipe the floating window away.

CLICK!

Suddenly, a silver box materialized in his hand.

He froze for a moment.

'Wait, what?' 

His fingers tightened around the box as he stared at it.

He held it up, inspecting it. The surface was smooth, metallic, almost too perfect. 

"Could this be real?" he asked aloud.

The idea was ridiculous. He had to be dreaming—or at the very least, hallucinating.

Despite his better judgment, he pressed the red button on top of the box.

It hissed open, releasing a blast of cold air.

Before he could pull his hand back, a burst of gas shot directly into his nose.

He recoiled, but it was too late. A burning sensation spread through his sinuses, followed by a sudden wave of dizziness

'Shit! Don't tell me… those fucking doctors are still experimenting on me.'

The familiar distortion of his perspective began to drown him.

When he looked at the ground, it shifted and bent like water, forcing him to lie down. Even the dark sky now looked strange from his view.

The sensation lasted for a good couple of minutes before he returned to normal.

[DING!]

[Skill Unlock]

He blinked at the screen, his mind struggling to keep up.

[This ability allows the host to tap into the effects of a drug for exactly one minute]

[Once the time has passed, all effects of the drug are instantly canceled, along with any adverse side effects]

He snorted. This had to be a sick joke.

Next, his eyes drifted to the second skill description.

[This ability allows the host to memorize the unique chemical makeup of any drug that was previously consumed.]

[The host can buy that specific drug again from the system store for future use.]

"Are you fucking messing with me?!" he roared, his anger reaching its peak. 

It was a cruel joke. He hated drugs more than anything in this world, and yet here he was, stuck with a system that rewarded him for using them?

And what about the skill name? It was a direct mockery of everything he stood for.

'Fuck, I don't have time for this... That's right, all of this is just a hallucination, nothing's real,' he muttered, looking around.

The box was gone, confirming his suspicion.

'See, nothing,' he laughed it off, shaking his head, and refocused on more pressing matters.

All he could see now was a vast pit for dead bodies, surrounded by mountains.

To the far right, a two-story building stood, with trucks parked nearby.

He decided to check the building first with caution. He wasn't about to take any chances. He walked along the mountain side, staying close to the tress, using them as cover. 

The last thing he wanted was to be seen, not in a place like this.

Wherever he was, it was safe to assume that everything—every person, every object—could kill him without hesitation.

With each step, his senses were on high alert.

His eyes darted to the trucks parked by the building, trying to gauge if anyone was inside or if there were signs of life.

Then, out of the silence, he heard a roar. His heart skipped a beat as a truck rumbled into view, its headlights cutting through the dim light.

People dressed in white hazmat suits hopped out.

Without a word, they began tossing the bodies into the pit.

The sight of it made his stomach churn. The bodies were discarded with no more care than trash.

He stayed pressed against the rock, barely breathing, afraid to make a sound.

When they were finally done, the people inside the building began to exit, stepping out one by one.

They talked among themselves, laughing and stretching as if the task they'd just finished was nothing more than another day at work.

"Shift's finally over," one of them said, clapping another on the back.

The others nodded in agreement, all looking relieved.

They climbed into the back of the truck, the engine rumbling to life as they prepared to leave. 

VROOOOM!

The truck slowly began to pull away, and the area became quite again. 

Now was his chance. He had to move fast.

'I need to know where I am and get a better understanding of this place' he pondered.

A thought hit him almost instinctively—find someone and torture them for information.

He was not sure why that was the first thing to come to his mind.

Maybe it was the desperation, or maybe he was just too on edge.

He couldn't deny the truth, though. It was the most efficient way to get what he wanted.

And it wasn't like the people here were completely innocent. They were criminals—each one of them deserved to die.

'That's right,' a huge grin spread across his face. 'I'm doing the world a huge favor by killing these animals.'