"Let's go inside first." Will said, pulling out his phone and powering it on. "I need to check up on everyone."

All of a sudden, a loud blaring noise resounded as the air-raid sirens went off.

"Aren't they a little late?" Donny asked.

The alarms on their phones began screeching at just a little after and they received an emergency alert.

⚠️Emergency Alert

EMERGENCY ALERT / ALERTE D'URGENCE

EXTREME ONGOING DISASTER. DO NOT APPROACH ANYONE UNRESPONSIVE. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

...

Broski had joined in with the sirens and was loudly howling.

"Alright, that's enough Broski, come on, let's get inside." Will retrieved the cooler and went into the house. He made a beeline straight into the basement and transferred the blood bags into a specialized blood bank refrigerator he had ordered.

Returning to the first floor, Will found Donny, his grandpa and Broski in the living room. The TV was on and showed a reporter in regular clothes in a lobby with the police and medics scrambling behind her.

<...as the horrific turns of events are unfolding. We've receive confirmations of similar circumstances developing around the world.

The authorities have called for a state of emergency as the fatalities continue to be reported. Power grids and mobiles services have fallen in several regions, so for those that are tuning in, spread the word; citizens are being instructed to barricade themselves indoors or evacuate to the nearest shelter until the government can regain control of the situation. First responders and the Canadian Armed Forces are coordinating a disaster response and are in preparation for a large scale mobilization for rescue and evacuation operations. People are also being warned to not make any assumptions on the nature of this inexplicable condition->

"Are they scared people will think it's a terrorist attack or something?" Donny asked.

"They're scared people will act like in the zombie movies."

<...to not take matters into their own hands unless absolutely necessary before experts can figure out the cause of this condition. If anyone near you is showing symptoms of a fever->

The feed on the channel cut off, switching to a screen full of static instead.

"..."

"Talk about really bad timing." Donny picked up the remote and flipped the channels to find anything else but there were only static or color bars.

"And now some people will act as if it's a zombie movie." Will shook his head.

Donny pulled out the laptop and searched online for news.

"The satellite internet is still working." He commented. "But a lot of websites are down right now."

There was mention of much of the same they had heard on the TV around the world and some people had found the time to post live videos.

There were many videos of people being attacked out of no where and the surrounding people coming in to help, only to get bit themselves. One video even had someone recording a large rat but the rat assault him when he moved in to get a closer look.

"I saw something similar happen earlier. Some of us really don't have any survival instincts, huh?" Donny asked. "Those people bit are going to turn, right?"

"If enough saliva gets into their bloodstream, yes."

One video showed a plane crashing into the ground.

"Jesus..." Donny breathed before he quickly recovered and began reading the comments.

hardwareman11: holy shit! its like a scene straight out of a zombie flick out there

 ↪suitcaseproducer03: wheres leon kennedy when you need him?

  ↪retirementplan: I'd prefer Shuan.

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

   ↪Firebatt: Tallahassee.

flockchas3: Does anyone have any information on whether this is some kind of terrorist attack or lab accident gone wrong?

 ↪strangebored: There's a research institution in Switzerland experimenting on immortality and evolution.

 ↪cookspill: area 51 lol

 ↪RandomUsername666: it's gotta be the russians

  ↪bigboi420: definitely china

   ↪asafmksjd21: The four of you are all idiots. There's news and video coming out from those countries that show they are under attack just like the rest of the world, and this happened at exactly the same time. There's no way anyone can organize such a massive attack like that.

    ↪GeorgeK9: @asafmksjd21 you might be on to something. everything starting occurring right after that comet split up and scattered all over the place

   ↪orangedam: i'm in suzhou right now and it's crazy outside. some brave madmen are luring those zombies into the canals and now they are filled with bodies because many of them cant swim out

    ↪diemz: I think it's a bit premature to be treating them as "zombies". What if there is a way to change them back?

PatrickGD: Everyone make sure to stay indoors and stay safe. I'm praying for you all. 🙏

debutrunner: A reminder to everyone: You only need to outrun the other guy.

40shadesofblue: SOS. Stuck messeturm top washroom.

 ↪XxdEmOnHuNtEr69xX: I'm in Frankfurt and quite close to your location. I can take a look.

Donny continued to read the comments as Will pulled out the satellite phone. He dialed up his dad in Hong Kong but all he got was an automated response.

"Who are you calling?" Grandpa asked.

"HK." Will tried Uncle Jackie and Edison's number next.

"No one is picking up over there." Will sighed.

He could only hope that they would be better prepared this time around. With a 12 hour difference between Hong Kong and Toronto, it would have been the middle of the night when the outbreak began over there. The family would have been in the safety of their own home.

He called his sister's place next and the call was finally answered.

"Will?! Are you okay? We've been trying to reach you!" A frantic sounding Vivian answered the call.

"Is that William?" Will heard his mom on the other side.

"I'm fine. I'm with Donny and grandpa. Broski is here too."

"Woof."

"We found shelter in a safe place. How are things over there?"

"We're fine too, but I'm worried about dad and the others."

"They'll be fine. Dad can be very resourceful when he needs to be."

"I hope so. Mom wants to talk to you."

"William?"

After going through pretty much the same conversation with his mother and assuring her they were fine, Will passed the phone over to his grandpa. The phone returned to him shortly after with James on the other end.

"Will, why were you keeping that thing in our garage?" He whispered.

Will already had an excuse prepared. "Sorry about that. I was holding it for a friend, but I couldn't really keep it at home, right?"

"You...I can't believe you were involved in shady stuff like that..."

"Just keep it around. Hopefully you won't need it but I saw some zombie animals and insects attacking people. Watch out for those. Especially rats and fliers."

"Zombies? Are you serious?"

"Didn't you see the news? I saw it in person too."

"Yeah, we saw it but...I dunno man..." James sighed.

"What is the military doing over there?"

"They've started setting up a perimeter around us."

"That's good. I'll call again to check up on you guys tomorrow if the service doesn't die."

"Alright, Viv says to take care of your grandpa."

"I will. Stay safe."

"You too."

Click.

Will looked around to see Donny on call with his own family. His grandpa sat on the sofa waiting for him to finish the call.

"Well? Are you going to explain this to me?" Grandpa requested in Cantonese.

"Alright, but it's a long story."

"Speak slower, you kids speak English too fast. Especially, Little Donny over there." He gestured in Donny's direction. "It makes it hard for this old man to understand."

"Okay, so it's like this..."

Will told grandpa basically everything he had told Donny. The technical aspects of the virus was glossed over, since it was a little tougher for his grandpa to understand, but he grasped the gist of it. All in all, Will found that his grandpa took it much better than he expected.

"You're from the future..." Grandpa muttered as he stroked Broski who came by and settled down on his lap. "Did I live?"

"No. I couldn't find you after they cleared everything."

"Hehe, I was probably having tea with my friends. Not a bad way to go." Grandpa chuckled. "They invited me earlier, but I told them my adorable grandson wanted to see me." He let out a sigh. "I hope they're doing well."

"Sorry..."

"I meant in the underworld. I don't blame you, something like that would be hard for anyone to believe." Grandpa waved nonchalantly. "We're all old anyways. Everyone has to go eventually, I suspect I'll be joining them soon."

Not if I have something to do about it. Will thought to himself.

Donny finished his call and joined them on the sofa at that moment.

"What are your plans now?" Grandpa asked.

"We need to get some more dog food for Broski. He doesn't have enough." The dog in question perked up and looked in his direction. "And we need to evolve to Category 0 as soon as possible, or we'll need to fully cover up every time we need to step outside."

"Ghouls." Donny coughed into his hand.

"It will be safer not having to worry about getting bit by mosquitos or something."

"You never mentioned mosquitos?!" Donny said in alarm.

"It's just an example. You'll only turn if you live in a swamp or something and get swarmed by dozens of them. If the concentration of the virus in our bodies reach a level it can't handle and forces a premature evolution."

"I don't understand any of what you just said." Grandpa said.

"In short, we need information so we can find something that will help us grow stronger." Will clarified for his grandpa.

"How we doing that?" Donny asked.

"We'll be running another heist."

"A heist." Donny rubbed his hands together excitedly. "What are we stealing this time?"

Grandpa shook his head and Will pointed up at the sky.

"A satellite."