Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

After finishing his quota for the day in programming, the idea of sitting around in his apartment didn't seem right. As he laid in bed, staring up at the ceiling, he couldn't stop thinking about all of it–the apocalypse, the monsters he fought, the people he met.

Most of all–he thought of her.

'Fate, huh? Coming out of all of that, somehow, it would feel ignorant to outright deny it exists,' he pondered.

Turning over, he glanced at the clock on his bedside stand–[8:08 P.M]. Getting any sleep felt like an unreasonable task as he slid out of bed. He couldn't get her out of his head, nor the words of the reborn Creator–

'...If a thing like fate exists, then going out there–it's the right choice,' he thought.

Grabbing his coat, wallet, and phone, he headed out into the cold night. Each breath left as fog as he practically ran his way to the subway as rain pattered against the outside surface. He raced down to the tracks, finding the stationary train ringing as the doors began to shut–

"--!"

Forcing himself to sprint, he burst past the citizens waiting, practically tossing himself through the train doors before they shut. He earned himself odd looks, though he didn't pay them any mind before sitting himself down.

Catching his breath, he sat there, looking outside of the windows as the cityscape passed swiftly.

["If there's even a chance you remember, I have to take the plunge. I can't think twice about it–I'll drop everything I have, and run right to you."]

He nodded off a few times, finding himself accidentally leaning his head on the old man beside him. It was a bit embarrassing, though there weren't many passengers to notice his snooze session.

"Sorry," he apologized, sitting up.

The small, elderly man laughed as though it hurt to do so, holding his cane with his quivering hands, "Oh, it's alright. If you don't mind my intrusion…Are you going towards a girl? A love?"

"How'd you figure that out?" Finn asked, looking over at the senior with a hint of suspicion.

"Oh! I was right," the old man in the beige, cardigan sweater laughed before coughing. "You came in such a desperate rush. Ahh…There was a time I did the same, so I know."

"Well, you hit the mark," Finn admitted.

"It's a nice thing to be young. You have many good years ahead of you, so don't waste time sitting by idly. Though it doesn't seem like I have to tell you that, ha-ha," the old man advised him with a small laugh, shuffling a bit in his seat.

"If you don't mind me asking, what're you here for? It's pretty late, I mean," Finn asked curiously.

The elder fellow had a small smile, simply watching outside of the window as the reaches of the bustling city were gone, leaving the scenery of vast, green fields of the country, "Oh, I just enjoy train rides, is all. When you're as old as I am, you learn to enjoy the simple things."

"I see," Finn said with a smile of his own.

It was a validating feeling, speaking and meeting the man who was no more than a stranger just moments before. Even if it was small, it wasn't meaningless; it made him appreciate what he endured to restore it all.

As the hours passed through the night on the train, it was the old man who fell to slumber once more. He took off his jacket, placing it gently on the senior as the sun began through the horizon.

It wasn't until the morning that the train finally reached the stop he sought–

["Current stop: Bend, OR"]

Getting off the train, the brisk, early morning greeted him with the sight of the cityscape; it was a cross between country and city, with the outskirts made of green fields and hills.

["She spoke about spending years of her life at the hospital in Bend…St. Charles, if I remember. I can't remember what I did when I held the Authority of Creation, but I would've changed her condition, I know that. Still, she should be somewhere in Bend."]

The place he was left was "Hawkthorne Station", right in the middle of the unfamiliar city. Though it was occupied by establishments, it had a feel like a small, quiet town, despite being a large city itself.

He tapped the screen of his phone, though all he got was a screen showing his battery was dead.

"Crap–I forgot to charge it," he mumbled to himself.

If fate was a concept, the feeling he got from the black screen of his phone was to turn around. The train was still there–it wasn't too late to get back on. He stood there at the crossways, far from home and little to go off of.

As he took a step back towards the opened doors of the train–

"Hey! You alright? Looking a little lost, if you don't mind me saying."

The voice of a man called out to him, turning around to find himself greeted by a dark-haired man in a baseball cap of similar height and age to himself. There was something familiar about the stranger, as though he'd seen his face at a glance before, though he couldn't quite place it.

"Yeah, sorta…Though it's not like I know where I'm trying to go, either," Finn admitted.

"Kinda odd to come out here with no clue where to even go," the stranger in the cap remarked with a raised eyebrow before laughing.

The young man with calloused hands and a dirty t-shirt of the Oregon Ducks was holding a bag of groceries, seeming to have somewhere to be himself.

"I know, odd. Actually, I was looking for the hospital around here…Saint Charles, I think," Finn admitted.

"Oh, yeah? I can give you a lift–the name's Jonathan, by the way," the stranger introduced himself, holding out his hand.

–A sign, though in the opposing direction of the one he believed he'd gotten. The kind gesture was a much stronger case to him, a bigger push in the direction he came with.

Finn was surprised by the generous offer, accepting the firm handshake, "I'm Finn. If it's not too much of a bother, then thank you."

"You bet, man!" Jonathan smiled.

The man's truck was parked only a few feet away against the curb, right between the station and a quiet grocery store. As he got into the truck, he looked outside the window as it pulled into the street, feeling the morning air brushing against his hair.

["Everything that brought me here, that pushed me into the life I'm living now, I can't say I regret it. The way I'm choosing to live, I can't reject it."]

The truck pulled up to the parking lot of the large hospital, as quiet as it was in the morning. As he hopped out of the truck, he reached for the wallet in his pocket–

"Hey, no charge," Jonathan declined with a wave of his hand.

"Are you sure?--" Finn asked, looking through the passenger window.

Jonathan smiled, "'Course, man. Have yourself a goodnight."

"Thanks. You too," Finn said, watching the truck pull away as he stood on the curb of the hospital parking lot.

It was only when seeing the kind stranger drive off did it click for him. Though he wasn't somebody he knew personally, he'd seen him–already dead, a fellow assassin like him during the apocalypse; a victim of Raven.

["I don't believe I changed the world all that much. The kindness I'm experiencing–this is the way it's always been. I spent so much time cooped up in my room during my life, believing the world was more bad than good because of what I would see online.

The thing is, when you go outside your comfort zone, interact with strangers…You learn something. People are inclined to be kind."]

He approached the front of the hospital, surprised to find the parking lot rather empty, though it was a good thing. Through the doors, he walked into the pristine corridor, walking up to the receptionist as he took in a breath.

"How may I help you sir?" The receptionist behind the desk asked.

"I was looking if there was a patient admitted here–her name is Charlotte Everhart," he asked, placing his hands on the pale desk.

The receptionist typed on her keyboard, "Are you a family member of the patient, sir?"

"No, I'm—" he began to answer.

"We can't disclose any information about our patients unless you're her family," the receptionist promptly said.

Though he was rejected, the way the worker spoke confirmed one thing to him—Charlotte had been there. It didn't leave him much more to go off of, only that she was in the city.

"Is there anything else you need, sir?"

"No, thanks."

—

'If she doesn't remember anything from before, then I'm just going to seem like a stalker,' He thought as he walked away from the hospital lot.

There wasn't much else he could think of, finding himself leisurely exploring the quiet city. Compared to the heart of Seattle, there weren't many cars that filled the streets, and only a steady number of people along the sidewalks.

Enough walking aimlessly made his stomach growl as he sighed, looking around. What caught his eye was a restarting with an outside dining area—"River's Place."

'Haven't had anything since lunch yesterday. Guess I can grab a bite,' he decided.

It was a refreshing feeling to try new things, going outside the comfort of his own home. Though it was due to unusual circumstances, he used the opportunity.

He sat at the outside dining area, though it was loomed over by wooden beams.

"A jalapeno burger and fries?"

The server came up to his table with the tray, setting it down as he gestured that it was the correct order.

While he looked after his health more, a bit of a treat every now and a then didn't hurt. After all, visiting a city he'd never been to felt like one such occasion.

'I don't even know where to begin looking, really. If I don't at least see her, it will feel like I broke my promise. I'll never get it out of my head,' he thought.

Sitting there alone, eating the burger as he held it in his hands, it only surfaced memories lost to the world. Even if it was spam or canned pineapples, the meals he shared with them weren't unpleasant experiences.

Though he got full halfway through, he finished the meal, not being one way to waste any food.

["Even if I'm the only one that remembers it, I'll cherish those memories—the good and the bad. If I just buried those moments, it would make everything we went through meaningless."]

Just thinking of those times made him feel some kind of way; his eyes watered and fingers trembled.

"Are you enjoying your meal, sir?"

—His time in silent thought was washed away as he looked up at the waiter of the restaurant, nodding his head.

"Yeah," he answered.

As he stood up, there was nowhere he could think to go. There was no sense of direction; an aimless goal ahead. A part of him disparaged himself for the stupid, unplanned thought of coming here, though there was relief found in the fact he tried.

He turned to leave whichever way was back home–

"Finn?"

–The soft, almost hesitant voice called out to him as if unsure that name belonged to him. It came so suddenly, so abruptly that he glanced around, believing perhaps another sharing his name was there.

No, that wasn't the case; the feminine voice called to him.

As he turned, it felt as though the world had slowed down, processing everything in that split-second; the pigeon that trotted across the concrete for crumbs; a soft breeze passing through the short tree that loomed by the benches; how the air felt somewhat cold, yet refreshing–

What he transfixed on was that sky-blue hair, natural yet of ethereal beauty, tugged on gently by the quiet winds of spring.

"Charlotte."

She was dressed in a gray, yarn sweater, light for the middling temperatures, wearing a small purse that hung loosely over her brown skirt. In that single moment, he took in every detail of her appearance, entranced by her very presence.

It all came flooding in, the memories he spent with the young woman; their chance encounter as she stumbled in front of him, half-dead; sitting together in that quiet library amidst hell; descending on the Moon itself as it crashed into Earth.

All he could do was step closer, as she did the same, everything else being drowned out.

"You…remember?" Finn asked hesitantly.

He was ready for his heart to be broken with a simple answer, to somehow having heard his name by nothing more than a mistake.

The young woman slowly nodded her head, wearing a smile softened by tears, "I waited, Finn–this whole time–I waited."

As his hopes were not rejected, but embraced, he finally felt the tears welling in his eyes pour out without restraint, reaching a hand out–

The gesture he extended was met instead with the girl tackling him down, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his chest.

"Ah–Charlotte?" He gasped, looking around at the sudden display brought some curious gazes from passing people.

Though briefly caught off guard, he returned the embrace, running his fingers through her soft hair. It was a gift he couldn't be more thankful for; whether it was fate or not, having somebody else drowned out all other pain.

"--You did it, didn't you? I remember it…on the Moon–then next thing I know, I woke up in the hospital," Charlotte said, muffled as she kept her head against him. "I thought maybe…I somehow dreamed it all up–I thought you…"

"Yeah, I did it, somehow. Charlotte…It's over. We don't have to fight anymore. Isn't that great?" He said, looking towards the cloudy, azure sky.

"Mhm," Charlotte nodded.

It could be nothing more than a faraway dream; the apocalypse that was washed away.

["If fate exists, then this is what it led to. This is where I belong, in this moment—I wouldn't ask for anything different."]