Nighttime had fallen and Mikeal was sleeping all by himself in his room, actually sleeping is the wrong term used in his state he was busy tossing and turning, not sure how to get a full good night sleep. He even changed sleeping positions just trying to find the right one.
The room was completely dark the only thing that was on but wasn't that bright was the clock next to him, the time it displaced was three am in the middle of the night.
Something was really bothering him and he was so unfortunate enough that he was able to remember it all, hence busy tormenting his own mind.
It was still the first day at the academy and when the sunrise it was going to be the first of him going to classes and doing the training required for his new role in the military being the first liner.
Usually things like being given a role in the academy were things that would take time and be processed thoroughly, but when it came to him and the others they were automatically handed the position just like that. They were simply the first liners and starting from morning they are going to be training for their first mission that was unclear when would that be.
Not only those thoughts ran through his mind, indeed they did but they weren't really the thoughts that had him tossing and turning and having insomnia, something else did something that bothered him so much he just couldn't bare the thought of it.
Already his day had started off badly, he had lost his family picture and his best friend was now being suspicious of him about being different and keeping a secret from her, a secret that he himself doesn't even know what it was.
Then to make things even worse and suffocating he just discovered that his rival is going to be his teammate who by the way is hell bent on taking revenge on him for what happened on their last day in school.
So in short it was all getting too much for him, after all who could blame him he was just one simple guy.
Mikeal kicked the sheets and faced the ceiling looking at the abyss then the real reason keeping him up popped up in his mind.
Mikeal started to recall the conversation he had earlier with Hector during their lunch time in the cafeteria.
'Hey, Hector what do you know about systems?' Mikeal trying to pick Hector's brain.
'Systems?' Hector confused.
'Yeah.' Mikeal responded.
'Oh you mean, game systems?' Hector assumed.
'Sure let's say game systems, are you familiar with them?' Mikeal looking at his food with disgust.
'Well it depends on what kind of game system we are talking about. It's either the board system found inside video games, or the game and it's system itself. So which one are you referring too?' Hector busy chowing down his meal.
'I don't know a system that is a system guide.' Mikeal trying to elaborate.
Hector might have been one of the smartest people that Mikeal knew if not the only one, but his questions were so unclear that they even confused him.
Mikeal took a deep breath and tried to understand to Hector who was lost as hell.
'Man I don't know much about systems, but let's say it's a gaming system and it tells you what to do and gives you rewards after that, do you understand me?' Mikeal explained.
Hector took quite an interest in what Mikeal was on about, Hector started to get comfortable and stopped eating for a little bit.
His face lit up with excitement, Hector may have been smart but deep down in his heart he was still a complete nerd and him to find out that there's another guy in the academy who likes video games. Is something he'd wish before.
'Okay now if we are talking about systems we are talking about a player's pov it usually grants him the ability to live by the system's rules and guidance, making them the main character in the whole game, let's talk a zombie infested game.' Hector really getting to it.
Hector explained the whole process just to make him understand better, he explained that like the player who gets to be the one who fends off against the zombie there's always going to be a system guiding him and telling him how many zombies he should kill and how to kill them that kind of stuff.
After Hector explained everything to Mikeal who seemed to have understood what was he talking about felt a bit ease because after Hector's explanation he felt like he now understood his system and the way everything aligned with what happens to him, it just made perfect sense.
Mikeal's face expression was something that Hector had never seen before.
'Okay, I know I don't know you that well but what's with the smile?' Hector freaked out.
'Don't worry it's nothing it's just that I understand more a little bit better now than I did before.' Mikeal had forgotten how his pizza tasted so he ate it.
He just spit it out faster than a race car in track the taste in his mouth was so disgusting, he picked the soda then remembered how awful it tasted too, and he took the water from Hector who was now finished with every that he ordered.
'Are you going to finish that?' Hector eyeing Mikeal's food.
Mikeal saw his look and decided to hand it to him, 'Here, help yourself.'
Hector just dived in and forgot that he was in a public place, what he found weird and funny is that to him the food tasted fine, to simply put in in his terms.
'It was the best food he'd ever tasted before.'
So Hector decided to ask Mikeal.
'Why do you say your food tastes so awful?'
'Well, maybe you might not taste it the way you are eating but to me it just tastes like nothing.' Mikeal answered.
'Okay, since you say that it tastes awful then what exactly tastes like food to you?' Hector now intrigued.
Mikeal thought about it then he remembered the first time the food was tasteless, so it gave him the order to eat raw meat, 'Now that I think about I like raw meat.'
'Raw meat, yuck what are you a cannibal?' Hector joked.
Both of them had a blast earlier today to be honest that was the most fun that Mikeal has had in like forever, but the comment about him being a cannibal did bother him a little.
So before he and Hector went to their rooms Mikeal once asked him.
'Uhm, hey Hec since we are going to face cannibals where can I find more knowledge about them?'
'Eh, I think the best place to find something about them is in the archives room.' Hector replied.
Mikeal woke up from his insomnia and went to the archives room in the middle of the night, there he went through every archive until he found one file name 'The Truth About Cannibals'.
Mikeal decided to play the file and lowered the volume and watched.
The archive video explained everything about the cannibals about how they became to be the monsters that they are, literally Mikeal was a bit relieved to discover that he didn't have most common symptoms of the virus. But one thing he did have in common with them was that food tasted tasteless, the frequent unexplainable memory blackouts but it wasn't like those weren't common sicknesses. So he didn't give it much thought.
But while watching the video clip displayed in pictures Mikeal began to have a sudden headache, and it was one he'd never felt before.
There was a ring in his ears and his head would feel like it was throbbing, if that was the right term Mikeal fell down and a flood of memories washed over him.
He remembered what actually happened to him during the test and what the system had told him to do, and what he did that he wasn't proud of.
Then he also remembered the day he was running away from Griffin and a low grade cannibal, but his memory got scrambled when it came to him remembering that he was actually attacked and bitten by a cannibal.
After some time his headache stopped and he was back to normal, he got up and sat down where he sat when he was watching the video. Already the video was completed when he suffered a headache.
As much as he didn't want to remember or it to be true Mikeal felt a sting on his shoulder where he was bitten.
Then he remembered.
"Oh no, no way it's possible. I don't have the symptoms. Which means..."
A familiar sound interrupted him as he came to realization.
[Ding]
[You have gained more knowledge about the system]
[10 exp received]
[15/100 exp]
"I couldn't possibly be.."
"I was turned."