Chapter 1: Awakening

⊂Third Person's POV⊃

 

As sunlight pierced through the window, it illuminated the dark room. Clothes were hastily packed into a suitcase, the bed was in ruins, and the door was blocked with a chair against the knob. However, the most eye-catching thing in the room was a woman, lay sprawled on the floor. Face down on the floor, her facial features were hidden, but it was still quite noticeable that she was athletic...and a large bite mark right behind her neck, which would have been normally hidden by her long, mused up hair. It was also something to note that her top was quite teared up, as if someone were clawing at it, and, if you looked closer, scratch marks were somewhat visible, but fading, on her back.

 

Hours passed, and the woman was still unconscious, that is, until the sun reached it's zenith. Groaning, the woman pushed herself off the floor, weak and still exhausted. "*Cough, cough* Fu-fuck...why does my everything hu-hurt?...." Voice hoarse, it was clear that the woman was in need of water. Standing up, despite her body's protests. she uneasily made her way towards the door. At first, she was confused as to why she had her chair against the door, but her muddy mind was far too troubled to provide her with information, so she simply believed it was a stupid thing she had done, just as she believed her throbbing headache was a cause of a massive hungover.

 

Exiting her room, she shouted, "Hailey? El-Elly?" The woman called out, hoping one of her dormmates were there to help her out. However, after hearing no one come out of the rooms and seeing the time, the woman believed they went out to the mall. With no one to help her, the woman forced herself to move towards the kitchen. Eventually, she reached the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water before proceeding to drink. It was during this time, however, she noticed something...peculiar. There, right on the window, was a mark. A hand mark, to be precise...and that looked strangely be made with blood.

 

"Ku-..." Body suddenly being overcome with a feeling of shock and her headache practically doubling in pain, flashes of memories began flooding into her brain.

 

"What are those!!!", "Run!!", "Gak- Sa-save me!!!", "It's bitin- gah!!!", "Die already!!!", "Fuckin' zombies!!!"

 

Multiple shattered memories began to rise, of which they began to piece themselves into a cohesive story....

 

---

⊂???'s POV⊃

 

It was going to be another boring day. With it being a Wednesday, my classes were, once again, filled with General Education classes. Seriously though, why did we have to have fucking stupid GSelf!!! The only silver-lining here was that our professor was young-ish. expressive, and energetic. Hiding myself behind my classmates, I took out my phone and proceeded to look through anything good to read as our professor droned on and on about Socrates. The active participants were there to keep the class going, but our professor would sometimes still call students from the attendance sheet, and I was lucky enough to not be called whenever that happened.

 

*BOOOMM* "KYYYAAAAHH!!!" 

 

Raising my head, I immediately went to look at the source of the explosion and was immediately shocked to see a cloud of smoke coming out from the outskirts of the city. It didn't look to be that close to the city, but it still seemed dangerous and may have damaged something. Though, as a few minutes passed, some of my classmates quickly went to record the scene, while some thought to check in with their parents or whoever. I was the same as the latter. 

 

"Mom? Are you alright?" I immediately asked, somewhat winded with the sight of a legitimate explosion. 

 

[Jazmine... Ye-yeah, I'm fine. Are you fine?] My mom asked, knowing how easily I get scared and paranoid. 

 

I eased her worries with a hum, finding some relief by the distance of the explosion from us and keeping my paranoia at bay by focusing on my mother's voice. Now knowing that I was fine, mom had to leave the call since she had to deal with her own co-workers' worries. With a quick goodbye, I clutched my phone finding other things to ease my paranoia. That, however, was answered with something completely opposite to what I expected. 

 

*DIIIINNGGG* 

 

The P.A. system pinged, pulling people out of their stupor, and our dean's voice came right after. 

 

[Hello, everyone. I'm sure that you've heard and seen the explosion, and as much as I want to reassure that everything was fine, we received an automated message from the President to keep you all in lockdown. Effective immediately, classes are classes, you are to either go to your dorms, or if you don't have a dorm room, we unfortunately have to ask of you to ask to stay with any of your friends' or classmates' dorm, because no one, even the staff, are allowed the premise for the time being. I'm sorry to inform you all about this, but I'll do my best to find out more about the situation.]

 

*DIIIINNNGGGG*

 

It took a while for the announcement to sink in, but once it did, chaos ensued. Most of my classmates were quick to call their parents or friends, while some began to protest, and from the sound of it outside, so did many of my schoolmates. I, however, stared unblinkingly at the explosion, watching as the smoke remained, heart uneasy. 

 

---

 

A day. It only took a day for us to find out what the explosion was for. Or, at least, learn a little bit about it. The cause of the explosion was unknown, and so was if it was caused by someone or something, but that wasn't the important part. The important thing was that, in the crater the explosion caused and the surrounding area were covered in a blue slime-like substance of unknown origin, and it seemed that animals that had consumed it had become...aggressive, to say the least. 

 

[Due to some sensitive images, we are to censor the following images.]

 

The newscast began, a mortified look showing the severity of the images mentioned. Then, beside the newscast, heavily censored images appeared, making the newscast cringe. 

You are reading story I Walk With Death at novel35.com

 

[We-we have received reports that the substance from the explosion, which is still unknown to us, have caused the animals which have consumed the substance have become very violent and seemingly set on, *gulp* ki-killing every living being they set their sights on. From other animals, to humans, they do not discriminate, and the kind of animal does not matter.] As the newscast continued with their report, though blurred, one can image what the images were supposed to show. 

 

---

 

Two days later, things got worse. The military had tried to suppress the aggressive animals, which was initially going well, but then, some humans had suddenly showed signs of animalistic aggression, implying they have consumed the goop, and the most unexpected thing happened. These aggressive, contaminated, people had shown more aggression towards humans and had attacked them indiscriminately...and had cannibalized them. It was a shocking thing to discover, its effects to people, but it was no more shocking than the discovery that it spread through physical contact, to be more specific, biting. 

 

---

 

'The signs are obvious, it's the beginning of a zombie apocalypse.' My paranoid mind supplied, and a day after the first report, things had gone to chaos. People were screaming, running away. Cars were either stuck in traffic, in odd places, or had crashed into something....or someone. As for me, I was helping in fortifying the campus. Although my heart was internally panicking, my mind was more focused on my safety and the safety of others. Though many students and staff had left the campus, the more rational, and scared, had remained. It was obvious that going out there would just be more trouble than it was worth, most people cared about themselves, not caring about hurting others to get what they want. 

 

Some zombie enthusiasts and those who had watched a zombie movie, like me, had taken upon themselves to be proactive. We grouped ourselves, from taking stock of our food, gathering others, securing valuables and weapons, and fortifying the place. If this is what we feared it is to be, it's best that we stick together and work together, and if it weren't for the severity of the situation I would have been surprised with how well we were with teamwork. 

 

---

 

Like in every zombie media, there just had to be those kind of people. The retards, antagonists, and thugs. What we had, were retards. Two days in, the news outlets were cut off, and the internet died in a sense that no one was there to keep the communication going. We did get some information before information from the outside world cut off. 

 

The zombies, or Infected, by the big named scientists, unoriginal, really, had found out that when the goop, an unknown organism, was transferred by biting and the like, will take only an hour, at most, and only a few minutes, in the least, to change a living, normal person, to a somewhat still-alive, mind-controlled being bent on killing anything that is living. Appearance wise, they look no different from humans, looking quite different from zombies portrayed in media, that is, of course, if they hadn't had anything bitten off or lost a limb. The way to kill them, was, of course, destroying the brain, and burning the remains, lest the goop would spread by means of eating the corpse and turning into a larger puddle. The silver-lining there is that it wasn't an actual slime creature. 

 

And then, back to the retards. These particular people were delusional, afraid of accepting reality. It was a mortifying discussion, but for the safety of the people, most of us had voted to kick them off the campus, with me being very adamant about it. However, it was too late. They, in their delusional mind, had brought a zombie in, this one looking no different from a normal human, save for the bite mark on her jaw, and we were too late in killing the zombie and stopping it from biting one of the people. 

 

We weren't enough to stop the zombies, and it didn't help that the gate remained open, allowing the zombies outside to enter, enticed by the screams. And like their appearances, their movements were no different from a normal human, allowing them to run and eat and infect others. Seeing that we were being overwhelmed and had no hope of escaping, I made the decision of running away, covering my ears to block out the sound of my schoolmates shouts and pleas.

 

It was...a mistake. A stupid, stupid, mistake. As I desperately tried to block everything out, I also blocked out the sounds of a zombie's shuffling towards me. It was too late for me to notice, and I paid the price. 

 

"Gaah! Ge-get o-off me!!" It was clawing at my back, and I could feel it trying to get on top of me. I tried fighting back, kicking and elbowing, hoping to get it off me. 

 

I was too late, however, as I felt it bite my neck. For a split second, I believed I was dead, but before I could feel the bite deepen, to take out a chunk of my neck, "AAAHHHH!!", a shout came and the weight, the zombie, on my back, disappeared. 

 

"To the dorms! Run!" The voice was feminine, familiar, and if I was in a calmer state, I would have stayed and helped, like I should have, but the pain reminded me, reminded me that all the help was in vein. And, if I were in a calmer state, instead of following her order, I would have found a far away place to turn. 

 

---

 

I wrote a letter, left it outside, and locked myself in my room. With the internet out and being out of load, I left my phone in my room, far to preoccupied with trying to survive. I hoped against hope that I could make one more call, but everything was hurting, vision blurring, and the last thing I saw was a message from my mom hoping I was safe and something else I couldn't read due to the tears. 

 

---

 

As my memories fixed themselves, I was throwing up on the sink. My neck stung a bit, but I was more focused on emptying out whatever my stomach had. Eventually, I had nothing left to throw up, so I weakly got myself another glass of water to clean my mouth with, and another to drink. Slowly, I took stock of my situation. 

 

After the apocalypse we promptly tried to set up a fortified base. Days after, communication with the outside world was cut off and the streets were riddled with zombies, and a day later, we were overrun with zombies. And...I was sure I was bit during all that. 

 

Quickly, I went to check the back of my neck, and just as I have believed, there was a bite mark there, though it was scabbed. Instantly, I fell to my knees, a mixture of dread and fear overcoming me. Tears began to well up and I hugged my knees in despair. It wasn't until later did I notice something. 

 

"I-I'm sure more than an hour had passed already!" Clinging onto that one string of hope, I hurried to check the time, and seeing the clock, I fell to the floor in relief. 

 

"5:21.... I was sure that it was nearing lunch when it all happened..." I reveled in relief, ignoring my cynicism and focusing on the more positive outcomes. Sadly, the world wasn't so kind as I was, once, hit with a realization, this one more pressing and morbid. 

 

"I-I have to make sure someone ma-made it out okay!" Though weak, I now had a goal. To at least find someone was safe after all that...and find some food. 

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