Hell

Hi!

This is the first story I've released since my name change. Some of you would have known me as Average Joe, others would be seeing me for the first time. Either way, welcome!

This is my first dabble into a LitRPG. It has violence, gore, a sprig of romance and some Harem fun!

If you'd like to see more of this, don't forget to like and comment!

One final thing. I'd like to thank Francois101 for doing my editing. You're the unsung hero of this story and I wouldn't be hitting the publish button today without you!

Thanks so much!

Monty

***

Chapter One

I couldn't open my eyes. I was covered in something dry and hard. Not only was I covered, but it was in my nose and mouth. -Cough cough- I spat the dirt and dust from my mouth as I sat up in a hurry. I was covered in it and quickly scrubbed it from my skin as I cleared my airways.

"Holy shit," I grouched, rubbing my eyes.

I was covered in a slight layer of black, rocky dirt. I could already tell I was completely naked, feeling dirt in uncomfortable places.

"Hello?" a woman called to my left.

Turning, I could just make out the shape of her. She was sitting partially buried in the dirt, same as me.

"Hey, can you hear me?" a man called from even further.

"Where are we?" another called.

And while a chorus of voices rang out, I stared in horror at my surroundings. The world was in ruins. Great skyscrapers, little more than tattered husks. Burned out shells of cars littered the landscape. The sky was red and filled with dark storm clouds that rolled and flashed with lightning without rain. We seemed to be sitting in a slight indentation. Outside of this, there seemed to be a strong breeze blowing over. The hum of the wind was the only constant sound. No animals, no insects, just the wind and the cries of others like me. Getting to my hands and knees I paid no mind to my nakedness.

"What the fuck?" A voice said beside me.

Turning, a young man was busy brushing the dirt away from his face beside me.

"You okay?" I asked.

The young man rubbed the dirt from his eyes, "Man I don't remember shit. What happened?"

"What do you remember?"

The man opened his eyes and looked at me, before frowning. "Shit."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we're all naked, what do you remember?"

He frowned and shook his head, "I dunno man. I think my name is Jason. I think I used to play football or something."

I frowned and nodded my head. I couldn't remember much either. Brief flashes of memory playing video games. A woman's face that... Made me nervous for some reason. And...

"I'm Ryan."

Jason nodded, "I'd say nice to meet you. But I somehow get the feeling you're an asshole." I just glared at him until he shrugged and got up. "Whatever dude, I just calls'em as I sees'em."

I just shook my head as he staggered towards the edge of the indentation and walked out of view. Turning around, I could see dozens of people staggering to their feet. Men and women, young and old alike. Thankfully there were no children, at least. It was one thing seeing my hairy ball-sack, it was another seeing EVERYONE's hairy ball-sack... Or... Well... Vaginas and stuff...

"SHIT!"

Turning back, I caught a glimpse of Jason running back towards me. He had a terrified expression on his face. He'd barely made it into view before a large, bipedal bird-like creature appeared behind him. It let out a loud shriek, before leaping onto his back, slamming him into the pavement with a heavy thud.

"AHHH! Oh god please-"

His voice was cut off as the creature gripped his head in its beak. Inside the mouth of the creature, was a series of sharp protrusions like teeth. It clamped down on the man's head, and I stared in horror as he thrashed about beneath it. The creature opened its wings, showing a pair of barbs on the first joint of each wing and it quickly stabbed him. Almost immediately his body went limp. The bird creature dropped Jason on the ground and cocked its head up into the air, before making a series of loud strangled chirps. Which were answered by a chorus of similar shrieks...

"Everybody RUN!" I yelled at the top of my voice.

All at once, people started staggering out of the... Well, I'm just going to call it a large ditch. Rushing in the opposite direction to the creature eating Jason, I could see the horror around me. There were hundreds of them. They were coming from every direction. More than that, there were thousands of us, as far as the eye could see, fleeing in every direction. As the bird creatures rushed in, people would run away, causing chaos as groups got hemmed in together.

"Oh my god..."

A shriek behind me forced me to start moving. I didn't pay attention to where I was going, I just moved. Darting and weaving around scrapped cars and bollards, I was joined by half a dozen other people. I had no idea where they were going, but I was heading for a nearby building. As we ran around a series of burned-out cars, one of the bird-like creatures jumped out, snatched the woman to my right. She shrieked in fear and pain as it bit down, severing her arm. The others with me scrambled away in different directions. And as the creature pinned her down to finish the job, I turned and continued towards the building.

Rushing in amongst the collapsed walls, I could tell this was some sort of office block. There were the decrepit remains of old desks and computers strewn about the room. There were several people already inside, hiding amongst the debris. But I paid them no mind as I headed for the stairs. They creaked ominously but held firm as I made my way up to the second level. When I got there, a man rushed out and threw a punch. I ducked as he tumbled past and continued up the next flight to the third level. This whole world was chaos.

On the third level, it seemed to be clear so I headed for one of the windows. As I approached, I heard a small commotion coming from a side room. With a sigh, I changed direction and moved towards the sound. Inside the room, was a man, holding a woman by the face as he forced her onto the floor.

"HEY!"

His eyes snapped up, a look of shock on his face as I rushed towards him. Dropping my shoulder, I slammed my weight into his, knocking him back into the far wall. Unfortunately for him, it was paper-thin and I listened as his terrified screams cut out when he impacted the ground below.

"Thank you!" The woman cried, throwing herself into my arms.

"Hey now, you okay?"

She nodded, "He said he would look after me. Promised he'd keep me safe, then- then he brought me up here," she sobbed in my arms.

"It's okay," I rubbed her shoulders awkwardly. "He can't hurt you now."

"Thank you so much!" she cried.

It took me a few minutes, but I finally managed to pry her off me. She was young, maybe early twenties at the latest. She was a little shorter than me, with dark hair and brown eyes. Her breasts were a nice handful and quite perky. I hated thinking about her like this after what I just walked in on, but... It was hard seeing as we were all naked.

"Look,"- I rubbed the back of my head- "I'm going to try and figure out what's going on. You're welcome to stick around with me if you want."

She stared at me and nodded, "okay."

With a firm nod, I turned and headed back into the main room with the stairs. There was an old man, leaning on the wall by the stairs, holding a large gash on his arm.

"Fuck," I sighed.

"Please don't hurt me," he held out a bloodstained hand as if to ward me off.

I shook my head, "keep pressure on that so you don't bleed out."

Turning to look out the window, it was bad. Real bad. From three stories up, I could see much further than the ditch where we'd started. In fact, I was pretty sure I could see where Jason was being eaten by one of those bird monsters. The entire landscape was ruined. It held vague similarities to something I could remember, though I drew blanks about what exactly I was looking at. But that was just the landscape; the details I could see were far worse.

Thousands of people, running in every direction. Some further into the ruined city. Others into the distance. The whole while, many of them were being chased down, torn to shreds, and eaten by these horrible creatures. As well as these birdlike monsters, were these strange flying worms. They swooped down on the remains of... of people... Without limbs, they either swallowed bones and scraps of flesh whole. Or when they found something too large, they contorted and twisted over themselves, ripping off bite-sized pieces. With their scales, they resembled small, limbless, dragons, about the size of a cat.

And that was the most confusing thing about this entire situation. I had memories of things. Memories of experiences. I knew this was a city. I knew what a burned-out car looked like. I knew what a dog was. I even knew my name. But I had no idea who I was before I woke up in the ditch. Did I have a family? Friends? Relatives? Were the people I woke up with family? Was Jason my annoying little brother, and I just watched him die before me?

"Don't think about it," the old man said behind me. I turned to face him as he stared at me with a strange expression. But he continued before I could speak. "I've seen things. Memories, of horrors I don't understand. But... I can remember that dwelling on it, makes it worse."

"Do you actually remember anything?"

The old man shook his head. "Flashes, here and there. Nothing important other than the sound of explosions and the smell of blood."

I glanced around, ignoring the horror outside. "I'm going to look around, see if I can find something to wrap your arm in."

The old man nodded and gave me a thin smile, "thanks, lad."

"You're coming back, right?" The woman stuck her head out of the room.

"Yeah, I'm going to look upstairs, see if I can find anything useful."

She cocked her head, looking around, "like what?"

I just shrugged, "clothes, something to wrap around..." I glanced at the older man.

"Henry,"

"Henry's arm. He needs a bandage or something."

The woman nodded, "Claire."

I gave her a quick smile, "I'm Ryan. Wait here. Maybe help him keep pressure on the cut."

She nodded and swallowed firmly, before moving over to the old man. I gave them a last glance and headed up the stairs. I really needed to know what was going on. Hiding in this building wasn't a long-term option. I didn't see any source of water, food, or any supplies other than scrap timber that could burn. But that wasn't the worst thing. That man, who was attacking Claire, and the one on the second floor who took a swing at me. People were irrational at the best of times. With all this horror going on, some people would be more monstrous than these horrible birds. Our own kind was responsible for killing our own kind, hand over foot, back in... Whatever world we all came from. We were our own worst enemies. Having other enemies would only make these same people worse.

So I climbed. If I got higher up, I might be able to see something that could help us. Maybe a water source. Or somewhere that looked like a good defensive position. Maybe there were people holing up somewhere safe. But that was unlikely, all things considered. These birds and the flying snake things were probably a good sign that nowhere nearby was safe. At least it looked like it was going to rain soon. That would help us at least get the dirt off. And maybe give us a quick source of water.

I scoured over the fourth floor, looking for anything of value. There were dust, dirt, and piles of rubble everywhere. In fact, it looked almost like the city had been bombed and partially burned before left to ruin. Surely, we weren't all the survivors of some strange attack. That wouldn't even make sense seeing as we had bird monsters running around in the hundreds. I had no memories of those kinds of creatures being alive until I woke up here.

Shaking my head, I headed for the stairs and went up another level. Here I stopped. There was a young woman. Younger than I, but not by a lot. She was sitting in a pool of her own blood. In her loose hand, was a small, but sharp looking piece of metal. Both her wrists had been gashed open. I moved over and gently closed her eyes. She was still warm to the touch.

"How many more will be like this?" I shook my head.

Heading through the few rooms that were accessible, I found a room more intact than the others. This one still had all its walls completely intact. The only real damage seemed to be from water through the broken window. But the far side of the room was still whole. Other than dust and scraps of what used to be paper and plastic, the room looked pretty normal. Light fittings were still whole. Computers were on desks. A swiveling office chair still rolled when I pushed it aside. And that's when something caught my eye. I shook my head, thinking about the idiocy of even trying. But... If there were a snowball's chance in hell it worked... I reached over to the desk phone, willing it to have a dial tone, and placed it to my ear.

"Hello, congratulations on being the first contact with Hell!" A cheery woman said the moment I placed the phone to my ear. "Now, before we begin, I'd like to apologize for your recent transition. We at Hell, try to disperse our clients in a safe orderly fashion. The inclusion of a large swarm of shriekers was not intended and for any pain or discomfort caused, we'd like to supply you with a basic survival pack. It will be delivered at the end of this call should you choose to continue."

"What?" I gaped.

"Oh, where are my manners," the woman giggled. "Mr. Ryan, my name is Edith. You may put the phone down if you wish, it isn't necessary."

"What?" I asked again."

She giggled softly again, "Mr. Ryan, I'm not speaking to you through the phone. This world is conceptual, not literal. You wished to communicate; therefore you are communicating. The phone is unnecessary."

As she spoke, I took the phone away and her voice remained at the same volume. "How is this possible?"

"I cannot say, Mr. Ryan. What I can say, is that you are the first to contact Hell. Congratulations, we have added one thousand points into your account."

"Is this some kind of game?"

"In a sense, Mr. Ryan," she said in that bright cheery tone.

"Then... I want to get out, how do I do that?"

"Oh!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Just hit the big green button."

"What big green..." I stopped as said button appeared in the air before me. There was only one problem. "Why does it say, 'die?'"

"That's how you leave," Edith said in that gratingly cheerful tone. "It's how anyone really leaves."

"But... Do I wake up? How does it work?"

"Mr. Ryan," she broke her cheerful tone for just a moment. "Mr Ryan, the only ones who understand what happens after death, are those who are dead. I'm not sure how to answer you any better than that."

I stared at the button and remembered her thoughts about things being conceptual. I concentrated on the button going away and it vanished without a trace. "Alright, can you tell me about this place?"

"Certainly!" She brightened immediately. "Currently, you are located in Hell. Your purpose is to survive. There are dangers around every corner and nowhere is truly safe. Between the weather, wildlife, and other players, only the strong shall remain."

"So it is a game?"

"I never said it wasn't, Mr. Ryan." She laughed. "Now, the aim of the game is to survive. You may find many avenues to success. Though I do recommend you unlock your class."

"Class?"

"Class. Acrobat, warrior, sleuth et cetera. Class."

"What's my class?" I asked quickly.

"I'm sorry Mr. Ryan. That information is not available at this time. Once you unlock your class, I can give you more information regarding it. But I can't just give you all the answers. There'd be no sport."

I sighed, "Right. So other than being able to talk, what do you actually do?"

"I am your representative. I can give you access to the store. I can give advice in the form of reminders. I can even give you a courtesy call at specific times of the day. Most importantly, I can store information and your belongings that you do not wish to access in a hurry."

"Alright, can I get some more info about storage?"

"Certainly," she practically chirped. "When you find information that is important, you can flag it along with any physical items you no longer wish to carry. When you contact me next, I can hold onto these items and information until you require them next."

"That... That sounds like it's easy to exploit. What if I got you to carry a bunch of rocks and then got you to summon them on top of a cliff and cause an avalanche."

"Two things, Mr. Ryan. Firstly, the space I have to utilize is limited until you spend points to upgrade. Secondly, it takes three times longer for me to answer your call, than it would for potential danger to arrive at your destination."

"Ummm."

"Mr. Ryan, if a shrieker will take three seconds to chase you down and eviscerate you to eat your liver, it will take me nine to answer your call. This goes up to a maximum of two minutes. It is also linear in nature. So if the shrieker was within one second of you, but you were hiding and it was unaware of your presence, it would still only take three seconds for me to answer. However at that range, I am allowed to warn you, it would most definitely hear your voice."

I sighed and leaned against the desk and rubbed my temples. "Alright, so long story short. This is some sick, survival, horror game filled with monsters and people. You're the shop and journal and we just keep going until we die? Is that about it?"

"More or less," she giggled. Fuck, that giggle was starting to piss me off. "There is one small difference I should mention. Only death, by the big green button, or by the direct hand, or weapon of another player, is permanent. Any other form of death, natural causes, or even being pushed through a wall to fall to one's death, will result in a respawn in a nearby position, taking into account the level of danger."

"You mean-"

"Yes, Mr. Ryan. The gentleman who was attacking Ms, Claire, the gentleman who attempted to punch you on the stairs, Jason you met in the ditch, and the poor woman outside this room, have since respawned in another location. All of them and the others who were eaten by shriekers have all since respawned, more or less."

"Fuck. Where?"

"I cannot give you that information Mr. Ryan, I do apologize."

I just sighed and rubbed my temples in frustration. "Alright, alright. What's in this survival pack you're giving me, and what's in the store?"

I jumped as a window appeared in front of my view. It blocked out everything but my peripherals. Inside it was my name, a box with my one thousand points. Another box showed me nude with several boxes that seemed to have lines drawn to various parts of my body. "Is that damage or equipment?" I asked.

"Both, Mr. Ryan. This screen is available at any point you contact me. What you are seeing is information about yourself. Your class, skills, damage to your body, the equipment you are wearing, and their various effects."

"It's all blank except my points and name," I said without inflection.

"Correct, Mr. Ryan. Information will begin to fill this screen as you discover it. Until then, I cannot speculate."

"Right," I mumbled thinking about turning pages. Sure enough, it changed, showing a mostly blank screen... Big surprise... On one side, was a checkered rectangle, with what looked like a backpack in the first small square. On the other, was a written list of the things Edith and I had discussed. "Is that the survival pack in there?"

"Correct, Mr. Ryan. The survival pack contains, a backpack, bedroll, winter blanket, waterskin, and a healing spray. The backpack will hold up to ten individual items. Some items such as waterskins, potions, and ammunition are stackable in various quantities."