“This game is making my head hurt, dammit!” Enzo shut down his computer in a fury. He leaned back on his chair and started scrolling through his phone. His pinky finger seemed to naturally gravitate towards picking his nose.

“Real men DO THIS exercise!” A short video popped up for a second before he scrolled past it. A few of the videos got a chuckle from Enzo, but he continuously scrolled to distract himself from feeling annoyed. He stopped at the sight of a man getting interviewed.

“The meteor of a century, we’ve been saying it for a long time, but 2028 is here and there is a slight chance our Earth will get smashed to pieces.” An old scientist with messy gray hair and glasses said nervously.

“Now Dr. Lorenzo, what are the chances of this actually happening again?” A smug interviewer asked as he slicked back his hair and got closer.

“There is around a point four percent chance; we’ll find out by tonight anyway. I’m going to have to cut the interview short here. I’ll spend the next few hours with my family on the off chance it happens. Hope you all have a good night.” The old scientist got off his seat and the video replayed itself from the beginning. Enzo looked down and saw the video was posted a few hours ago.

“I almost forgot about this. They said we’d be able to see it if we looked outside.” He put on a jacket and ran downstairs with a beer in hand. Enzo figured he might as well stargaze tonight. One step outside and he could already feel something different. The world was quiet, almost as if it was waiting in suspense for something. The starry sky was absurdly clear, the atmosphere of the planet was non-existent. It allowed him and anyone else to easily see the moving object nearing their planet. Enzo wasn’t alone as he gazed upwards, many people stood outside looking at the scene. Some were recording on their phones and others too shocked to make any movement. Traffic on the road was completely frozen – instead, people were getting out of their vehicles to look upwards. Some vehicles were just viciously honking as they didn’t care to look and tried to get home. Enzo nervously grinned as he realized the chances of this meteor hitting earth weren’t as low as he thought.

“Point four percent chance? No matter what you say, that meteor is getting way too close.” Enzo took a swig of his beer. He looked around for a comfortable patch of grass and sat down, ignoring the ants climbing on him. Luckily or unluckily, he had no one to message in this moment of possible doom. No family or lover, no close friends or people that he cared about. It allowed him to sit back and enjoy the moment for what it is, a beautiful and deadly stroke of art by the universe.

“Ah damn, this would be such a boring way to go out though.” He took another swig while he looked at the ants crawling on his fingers.

“I think the universe would leave us a way out.” A tired-looking mother stood outside with her daughter in hand. She gently bobbed side to side as the toddler lay comfortably asleep within her arms.

“Let’s stop talking like it's actually going to hit us. I’d hate to die on a Monday if I’m being honest.” Enzo said as he closed his eyes, a feeling of drowsiness overwhelming him. The meteor was right above the earth at this point, and a blinding light covered the planet, but the feeling of catastrophic impact never came.

“Still here?” Enzo woke up with the feeling of something foreign within him and a tingling sensation on his skin. He rubbed his eyes and turned around to the sound of someone chewing something behind him. He backed away in shock as he saw what was being eaten. Behind him the young toddler from before was chewing on her mother’s neck, making a bloody mess everywhere. The toddler turned around as it noticed Enzo move around. She looked at Enzo with bloodshot eyes and bared her teeth. He noticed how the child was now pale white and had veins protruding on her face and body. She lunged at him with speed unbefitting a toddler, but Enzo quickly reacted and rolled to the side. The sickly toddler was unable to slow down as she rolled down the grass hill. Enzo quickly got up as he heard the mother groaning beside him. Looking closer, one could see her veins wriggling underneath her skin. Enzo felt a wave of impending danger within him as he distanced himself from the mother. The sound of screams and violence in the background drove him to quickly leave the area.

“Ma’am, I'll be right back with help.” Enzo nervously said while running inside the apartment. It was quiet inside, but Enzo immediately knew something was wrong after he saw bloodstains on the floor and the missing front desk employee. He made a beeline straight for the elevator while it was still quiet. Fortunately, the elevator opened as soon as he pressed the button. He entered and selected his floor, followed by furiously mashing the close-door button. Once the doors closed, he released the air he was holding in. The elevator dinged and he noticed he wasn’t on his floor.

“Someones trying to get in,” he thought. He heard muffled shouts behind the doors. As soon as they opened a man fell inside with a woman grasping onto him. To his horror, the pale woman's nails were digging into the man's face as he struggled to hold her off.

“Help me! Help me dammit! Get this crazy bitch off me!” The man yelled at Enzo for help. Enzo looked around for any weapons but couldn't find anything useful. “It’s too high risk,” Enzo thought as he turned around to leave.

“Yes! Hold her off, I’ll go get some help!” Enzo pressed the closed-door button as he stepped out of the elevator. The doors shut behind him and he swore he could feel his heart trying to escape while he looked around.

“It’s clear for now.” Enzo took the stairs beside the elevator this time, making his way up two more flights of stairs. He carefully opened the door to his floor and listened. The silence was exactly what he hoped to hear. Enzo entered the hallways and carefully made his way to his room. Alas, the silence did not last long.

“DING!” It was the sound of the elevator reaching his door.

“Fuck!” He forgot it was stopping at his floor next! The elevator door opened and the bloody couple clumsily walked out. They turned their heads unnaturally and paused before running straight for Enzo. He stepped back and fumbled around for his keys, but he knew he wouldn’t make it to his room. RUN! His instincts told him, and he did not hesitate.

“Fuck!” He turned a tight corner and yelled as the couple missed their turn and crashed into the wall. They were seemingly unable to control their strength. Enzo ran faster than he thought possible while fueled by adrenaline and his will to live. But despite the head start, they were already gaining on him.

“Come here dimwit!” Up ahead a short figure opened the door to her room, and Enzo ran towards it headfirst. He dashed inside and the person violently closed the door and locked it. Two thumps followed after and the door began rattling as it was hit. Enzo looked up at his savior as he grasped for air. It was a gloomy-looking girl. She had dark black hair with her bangs covering much of her face. Through the hair he could see her eyes had a generous amount of mascara around them. She wore a black long sleeve with a skull design that was a few sizes too big for her and ripped jeans with black shiny boots.

“You almost died there.” She lightly spoke as she chewed gum. After checking him out, she walked past him and started moving furniture toward the door.

“What are you doing?” Enzo asked while trying to regain his breath. She kept pushing the furniture till it reached the door, which was still shaking from being rapidly hit.

“This door is shaking pretty hard, It might not hold on its own.” She continued pushing more things towards the door. He got up and quickly started helping her. Once they moved over everything they could, Enzo took a seat on the floor and caught a glance at a picture on the wall. It was a photo of a mother and child, clearly the pair he saw outside. He clenched his fist as he stayed quiet.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“What? Are you scared or something mister?” She questioned while she sat on the couch and crossed her legs.

“The lady and child in the picture, they were outside, they-” Enzo paused before looking at the girl. He scratched the back of his head as he thought of what to say next.

“My aunt and cousin? My aunt went outside to get some fresh air. I guess they’re not around anymore huh?” She stared ahead thoughtfully for a moment before turning on the tv.

“No, I’m not sure what ended up happening to them.” Enzo wished he hadn’t said anything at all. The girl took a minute to reply as she scrolled through a couple of panic-filled news channels before turning it off.

“You don’t have to sugarcoat things. To be honest, I wasn’t really close to my Aunt. I barely knew them and they only planned on letting me live here till next week.” Enzo was grateful he didn't have to listen to someone grieve.

“There shouldn’t be any useful news today, we’d probably have better luck combing through local social media.” The girl said before taking out her phone. Enzo didn’t hesitate to change the topic.

“I’m Enzo, what’s your name? I assume you’re a highschooler.” He also made himself comfortable and took out his phone.

“My name is Irene, and no, I dropped out of highschool years ago. I’m 20 and a nomad now.” She said as she scrolled through social media. Even in a desperate and catastrophic event people are still posting videos and comments. Humanity was truly interesting in that aspect. She stopped at a certain video. The caption read “Today I woke up with a super power!”

“As you can see everyone, I can release fire from my hand, look!” The man in the video opened his closed hand and in the center of it was a small fire. It didn't seem to be burning his hand or looked edited. The comments were either claiming it's a hoax or changed the topic to the deadly situation outside. Irene saw that the man who posted was currently Live. To their surprise, they joined in to see the man burning things with his power. It looked far too real to be fake, and the audience asked him to burn several things to prove it wasn’t pre-recorded.

“Could this be related to our situation somehow?” Irene asked aloud. Enzo paused while he thought carefully.

“Ask him how he started using his power!” He impatiently scooted closer to Irene in anticipation. The man saw the message and smugly replied.

“Hah, how did I unlock my super powers huh? Well, I fell asleep for about a whole day and woke up starving. I had raw beef in the fridge and wished it was already cooked so I could eat it quicker. As I held it in my hands, I felt energy coursing through my body and I focused it on the meat. Before I knew it, the bag of meat caught on fire and I had to quickly put it out! But I think I’m special since no one has been able to replicate it. Haha!” The man struck a victorious pose as he started burning more things for donations.

“Perhaps he’s not the only one. Can I borrow some meat?” Irene nodded and Enzo ran over to the fridge. He grabbed a slab of meat and focused on it, but there was no fire. He began to feel embarrassed until he felt a strange tingling sensation. He stopped paying attention to the meat and instead concentrated on the feeling. Irene began to hype herself up as she took the meat from Enzo. She made some strange movements before starting to caress the meat herself. Without much reaction, Enzo sat down and closed his eyes. He felt like he wasn't meant to burn things down, but instead take control of something.

“Enzo! You're letting out some kind of liquid!” Irene's shout caused Enzo to open his eyes. In Front of Enzo was a silver, metallic, blob that seemed to ignore gravity. Enzo stared in shock as he realized he could move around with his thoughts, and was even able to expand it. With a thought he expanded it to surround himself and Irene, but felt strained trying to expand it further. He then shrunk it down to form a sphere, then a rod, then a rod with a spiked tip. The live stream of the man able to control fire continued playing in the background and they could hear him speak;

“Yeah I have a hard time controlling or moving the fire. It takes all my focus to make it leave my palm at all, but I feel like I got slightly better today. Using it so much does make me tired-” There was a loud scream in the background of the video, and the fire-man quickly got up.

“Something happened guys; I gotta go! Remember to follow me.” The man ended his live stream, leaving the chat to go crazy with speculation.

“Either he sucks, or your power is easier to control.” Irene said while squeezing the death out of her slab of meat. There were a few veins protruding from her head.

“Or I’m just very talented.” Irene twitched at the comment, too annoyed to admit it might be true.

“I’m doing something wrong.” Irene put down the meat and grabbed her phone. She jumped onto the bed and held the phone up.

“You should feel some kind of energy running through you, it could also be that you don't have an ability.” Irene continued scrolling through her phone, while Enzo practiced what he could do with his ability. The two eventually got used to the door banging, and like this a few hours passed by. Irene fell asleep with her phone still playing videos, Enzo also decided to take a break from using his power since he felt like it was getting harder to use. He decided to see what his limit was when he reached somewhere safe.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I made myself at home.” He went inside the closet and closed the door. Hopefully, he’d at least have some time to react if the bastards did get inside somehow. It made no sense, but he was still tired after sleeping for an entire day. When he woke up the banging had already stopped.

“Perhaps they found another prey to hunt instead.” He thought. Enzo slowly opened the door and looked around. Irene was still asleep and the sun was up. He checked the time and was surprised to see that it was 10 am.

“Irene, wake up.” Enzo shook her around and she turned over, covering her head with a pillow.

“If we’re not about to die, I’m going to sleep for another five minutes, fuck off.” Enzo shook his head and entered the bathroom, he looked at himself in the mirror. “Perhaps a shower would do me good.” He took off his shirt and flexed in the mirror. Enzo was about to be 25 this coming december. His short service in the military got him into the habit of working out and he’s kept it up for the last couple of years. He was 6’2 with a very good amount of muscle. He wore large old-fashioned glasses and had medium length black hair that he either tied up or slicked back. He ran his hands across his beard stubble and nodded in approval. His hard effort and style had raised him from looking average in the past, to easily scoring phone numbers when he tried. Yet, he still sucked at maintaining a relationship.

“They don't know what they’re missing.” Enzo winked at himself in the mirror and got in the shower. He walked out with a towel around his waist and his hair slicked back with water.

Upon exiting he saw Irene sitting up on the bed rubbing her eyes.

“My uncle's clothes are in the bottom right of the closet. He used to be a biker, so you should have a badass selection.” Enzo looked around and didn't hesitate to put on the specially thick, brown biker pants along with an old pair of boots. For his top-side he put on a long sleeve with a skull design in the center and wore a vintage leather jacket.

“Hope you enjoyed the show.” Enzo said as he turned around and fixed the jacket. He hoped the thick material would slow down or stop a zombie bite. He also noticed there was a pair of knee pads and decided to wrap them around his forearms. Perhaps they could somehow serve as bracers.

“I did. Also, now we’re matching.” Irene said with a grin. She pulled out another shirt with a skull design on it and started undressing.

“You don't want to change in the bathroom?” Enzo said while not looking away. She had a decent figure underneath her baggy clothes, and it was covered with tattoos. The color of the black ink contrasted well against how pale her skin was. He was surprised to see that she was also quite toned.

“I had to return the favor right?” She smiled as she completed her fit. She now wore black leather pants and a pair of high-top boots that were easier to move around in. Irene also sported a black crop top with a skull design and a fishnet suit over it. To finish it off, she also put on a leather jacket. She looked over at Enzo and seemed to get a little kick out of perfectly matching her outfit with him.

“Now we can travel and survive in style.” Irene said while sitting back down. Enzo sat on the couch opposite to her and crossed one leg over.

“We’re traveling together?” He raised his left eyebrow.

“You and I both know you wouldn't pass up on having a hot girl travel with you.” She replied smugly.

“You’re damn right, at least until my life is at risk.” Enzo smiled back as he thought of what to do next. “Perhaps I should go to work.” He currently worked as a janitor for the building the US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Rebecca Smith, works in.

“If anyone could survive and get information, it’s definitely that stubborn hag.” Enzo made up his mind.