A short preface.

Dear readers. I would like to warn you. This book contains detailed scenes of a sexual nature and cruelty. If such things are unacceptable for you, I advise you not to begin the reading of this work.

I wish everyone else a good time.

Chapter 1.

I was sitting in the holding cell, and on the other side of the bars there was a damned cop growling and trying to get at me. But I felt safe. Despite the fact that gunshots and screams of terror could be heard all over the station.

"Fuck, Captain, I warned you," I said in a shaky voice, looking up into the zombie's face.

I'd never been a coward but seeing that disfigured face with its cheek torn off was scary enough. I had to do some thinking about what to do. Even if I could get the keys off his belt, I didn't know how to get out of here. These creatures were fast and barely tired, and I didn't have any weapons. Although I could use the baton hanging from his belt.

But it wasn't a good idea to stay behind bars. Maybe, while there were still people alive in the station, I should try to call for help.

"SOMEONE!!!! HELP!!!! I'M IN THE HOLDING CELL!!!!!!" - I shouted in the hope that people would hear.

And they did, unfortunately. Four more zombies rushed into the interrogation room and with all their speed they crashed into the bars I was behind.

"Well, Matthew, looks like you're fucked," - I said, assessing my situation.

Four hours before.....

"So, who can tell me what mistakes Tony has made?" - I asked the boys gathered around me.

"When he decided that he was basically capable of getting a girl!" - replied to a student who seemed to be the leader of the company.

The crowd laughed at the joke, and Tony, who was standing next to me, squeezed harder.

"Why are you laughing, guys" - I said with steel in my voice, - "I'd like to remind you that he was the first to want to pass this test. And I suppose you didn't have the balls to do it? What are we here for? To laugh or to solve problems?"

The guys just got quiet.

"Well, now that everyone is getting serious, can someone answer the question?"

"Tony came up to the girl from behind. And he shouldn't. Her first reaction would be one of caution and slight fear." - A white-haired, bespectacled man supposed. His name I couldn't still remember.

"That's right. Anything else?"

"During the conversation, he did a lot of gestures with his hands, which could also be the cause of a negative reaction from the girl." - Here came the cheerful student's voice again. And his name was Oscar.

"That's right too. What else? I'm not going to ask you to analyze what he said, because it wasn't really a conversation. What exactly did he do wrong when he came up to the girl?"

The crowd began to speculate more actively, but there was still no right answer in all this flood of information.

"There were many ...." - Tony suddenly whispered.

"What? Say it louder. Let everyone hear."

"There were a lot of girls!"

"That’s right. Tony, why did you choose the girls who were standing in a group?"

"Well, I really liked one of them." - he whispered again.

"It didn't matter whether you liked the girl or not. The goal was to just walk up and meet a random girl. Guys, you have to understand, it's just a beginning. That's too early for you to came up to two or three girls."

"Why?" - asked one of the group.

"Well. Imagine a girl talking to her friends about something. Then suddenly a guy walks up to her. There are a few problems that could immediately occur. Firstly, the girl may simply be embarrassed to meet someone in front of her friends. Secondly, you don't know yet how to hold the attention of several girls. There are a lot of different nuances, but this is enough for you now. So now you'll just go to singles. Who's next?"

"Well, let me try." - Oscar said.

"That's good. Let's get started!"

Perhaps I should introduce myself. I'm Matthew Harris, twenty-eight years old. I am married and have a daughter. I'm from Saint Louis, but I live in New York, and I give seduction courses for guys who have some difficulties in the dating and relationship stages. Though, to be honest, for the vast majority of my clients the main goal is still sex. The paradox is that I would never need such a course myself. My tall stature, brutal looks, silver tongue and eighteen years of boxing have done all for me.

Most people's main problem was fear and laziness. If they did sport, dressed properly and didn't lose the power of their speech when trying to talk to a pretty girl, the problem wouldn't exist at all.

That time we were doing one of the first exercises, which was just to get the boys used to the idea of talking to a pretty girl.

It was a hot summer's day, so we chose the shopping center as our training ground. There were lots of scantily clad girls running around. Also, the air conditioning was running, which was an important factor.

Now I was looking at Oscar seducing a young student who was quite responsive to his advances. I don't understand why he came to my course. As far as I could see, he was doing quite well without my guidance. But if he wanted to spend his money so much, I was not going to stop him in his noble zeal.

As I was about to praise Oscar for a job well done, our attention was distracted by a junkie who jumped out of the toilets and chased the frightened boy. Unable to catch up with him, he turned his attention to the student my pupil had just met. Most of the people around were shocked, not by seeing the inadequate, but by seeing him literally gnawing at the girl's hand. The student cried out in pain and tried to push the addict away, but she couldn't.

"Do something! He's gonna kill the girl!" - shouted a woman who was coming out of the boutique on the other side of the street.

Oscar, a few other men from the crowd and I rushed to help. The scene was really horrifying. There was a pool of blood all around, and the inadequate man was clinging to the girl like a bulldog, with no reaction at all to our blows. Finally, someone from the crowd grabbed the junkie's hair and tried to pull his head away.

Several people vomited at the ensuing scene. The attacker was pulled away, of course, but he did not unclench his teeth and ripped the piece of flesh from the girl's hand. The women rushed to help the student while we tried to restrain the junkie. He was growling, flailing and wouldn't calm down. And as soon as Oscar loosened his grip for a second, he immediately bit him in the neck.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" - my student screamed, falling to the floor.

That time we had to pull the psycho away from Oscar. But he screamed for a moment and then fell silent, his body completely relaxed, and his head fell to the side.

Fucking hell... he's dead...

I shook my head, trying to come to my senses, and the junkie stood up and turned in my direction, finally giving me a full look. He had once been a quite young guy, dressed in decent clothes. Now he looked at me like a zombie. His eyes were blurred, his face was bloody, and a piece of flesh that had been torn from Oscar's neck was still sticking out of his teeth.

A second, and he was lunging in my direction. But my body worked faster than I, and this madman, had received a powerful blow to the temple, was falling to the ground, then hit his head hard against the bench, and never got up again. I used to try to hold back in street fights, but in this situation, I didn't do anything stupid. The adrenaline and fear wouldn't let me.

I was breathing heavily and trying to control myself. It was an ugly picture. Not only had my own student been eaten during class, but I had apparently killed a human. I didn't think anyone would believe it was a real zombie. Although there were plenty of cameras around, so it should had been self-defense.

On automatic, I called my wife Alice. We'd been separated for two years, but we hadn't made the divorce official yet. But now I just had to hear her voice. And after a few rings, she answered.

"Harris! I told you not to call! If you want to talk to our daughter, call me at the weekend!"

"Alice ..." - I said in a murdered voice - "I think I killed a man."

"What?" - her voice changed immediately. - "Matt, if you're joking, it's not funny at all..."

"Do you remember that I don't drink alcohol, and I have a very cold attitude towards drugs? Can you trust me now?"

"You're scaring me..."

"I was just leading a group...."

As soon as I said this, I heard an exasperated sigh. Alice had never liked this way of making money. She told me it was a common scam, but I think she was just afraid I would cheat. Which never happened, by the way. Yes, I had used to change girls quite a lot, but when my daughter was born, it stopped.

"Let's not talk about that now. Anyway, we were studying in the mall and one of my students was attacked by a zombie. A real one."

"Matt, what the fuck! I almost believed you!"

"Alice, you don't have to believe me! Just promise me that you will take Keira with you, and you will go to my parents' house in the village. It should be safer there!"

"Fuck you and your advice!" - Alice yelled and hung up. Shit!

I was standing there with the phone in my hand for about five minutes before the police finally showed up and took me away.

Half an hour later we were sitting in the police station, where I was being questioned in detail.

"Matthew Harris, are you aware of the situation you have got yourself into?" - the officer said slowly, writing something in his diary.

"Can you hear me?" - I was freaking out. - "This guy was eating people! First a young girl, then my student. Then he attacked me, so I had to use force. How's Oscar, by the way?"

"Dead." - Short answer.

I pounded my fist on the table in frustration, and the officer glared at me.

"If this happens again, we will talk to you in a completely different way. Do you even know who has been killed"

"How should I know? He was covered in blood and didn't seem to want to communicate." - I replied ironically.

"Matthew Harris, you have killed the son of a very respected man in the city."

"And what does this change?"

"Do you want my advice?It is better to write a full confession and hide in prison. You can't live on the outside."

"Is that how the law works nowadays? I told you it was self-defense!"

"They won't give you much. Just don't tell your zombie bullshit in court. If you want to play crazy, it won't help you."

"It's not bullshit! If a man looks like a zombie, moves like a zombie and eats people, he's probably a zombie."

"Or a stoned teenager." - suggested the officer.

"What kind of drug makes people eat their own kind?"

He just shrugged.

"Did you find out what happened to the girl who was bitten?"

"She was taken to the hospital. I don't know anything else."

We were sitting in complete silence for the last few minutes. The captain was surfing the phone and waiting for something. All I could think about was that it looked like I would dead. If the policeman didn't joke and I really had killed the son of a powerful man, it would be better to go to prison. On the other hand, maybe the officer just tried to get me to tell the truth. So, what should I do now?

I was distracted from my thoughts by gunshots coming from the street.

"What the fuck?!" - Officer's up. - "Go into the holding cell. You must sit here."

"Damn, Office. Do you often have a shooting on the street? It's like the zombie apocalypse! At least take a gun. I don't know whether you have one or not."

"I'm not gonna ask you. Shut up and go inside."

That's how I ended up in this cage. Ten minutes later a frightened captain appeared with a bandaged palm.

"Let me guess... bitten"

"Shut up!"

He desperately tried to dial a number, but all he got was blood on the screen.

"Give me the fucking phone! I'll call an ambulance and notify your family!" - I began to realize that there was no way I could stay behind bars if everything fell apart. - "Or let me out!"

"I can't let you out... I can't. Just wait, I'll sit down for a while and come to my senses."

He sank into a chair and closed his eyes. And in about twenty minutes the officer began to turn very pale and to cough blood.

"You're going to turn, and I'm going to stay here, trapped! If you were human, you help!" - I tried to say calmly.

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

"OK. Just call an ambulance, because I don't feel so good." - He tried to get up, then fell, hit his head on the corner of the table and passed out.

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

An hour passed. I was sitting behind the bars and the officer who had turned around and other policemen were trying to break in. If I had a knife, I could have grabbed each of them by the hair and have solved the problem. Although my hands were unprotected, they would bite again.

After a few hours something distracted them, and they rushed towards the sounds. I managed to grab the officer's arm so he wouldn't go anywhere and took the keys to the cage with him. The most important thing was that I did not let him get a hold of me.

What I saw next made me slap my forehead. As well as the keys, the captain had a police baton hanging from his belt. Now I have to find out how to use it more efficiently.

"I don't want to come out," - I said, looking into the lawman's dead face, - "but I have to do something".

I let go of his hand and let him catch me, then I grabbed his hair. So, I pressed his head against the bars and began to fumble for his belt, first for his keys and then for his baton. Then I transferred my grip to the belt and quickly stuck him several times on his head, making a mess of it.

"Damn." - I swore, wiping the blood from my face. I hope his blood doesn't turn me into.

Now the question was what to do next. It was dangerous to leave the cage. I could probably fight one new zombie, but I couldn't fight several. The confined space was against me, I'd miss a bite. So, after punching the bars a few times, I waited for the escaped creatures to come running.

Only two zombies responded to the sound, and I dealt with them in the same way as the officer. But I had to be careful not to get clawed in any way. And I also realized that in the future, I should not let them grab me, because their grip was iron. I wouldn't get free unless would kill them.

No one reacted to the next time I banged on the bars, so it was time to get out of there. I unlocked the door carefully, listening to what was going on in the corridor. There didn't seem to be any other sounds. Well, good.

As soon as I was out of the cage, I made a quick run to the door and slammed it shut, just in case. Then, after a quick look at every shelf in the desk, I found my phone and immediately dialed Alice.

"Matt, I called you fifty times!" - There was a panic in her voice - "I've already started to think badly!"

"I was a bit busy. I'm sorry," - I didn't go into details. - "Is everything OK?"

"I don't know what's going on in town. Some crazy men and women are attacking people. Dad is on his way to pick us up."

"Alice, they aren't mad, they're zombies! I've seen them face to face. And tell your dad to hit them on the head. But you better run away. As soon as I can get to my car, I'll come to you. I don't know exactly how long the connection will be, but keep your phone on, OK? But only call yourself in an emergency. I'll be driving around city, and a ringing tone could get me into a lot of trouble."

"I got it." - she said quietly. - "We are waiting for you, Matt. Come back soon, please."

After switching off, I put the phone in my pocket and started thinking about how to get to my family....