Day 1, Year of the Catastrophe – Saturday, 2nd of May, 2020.

11:32 am – outside the Kings House –

Immediately after leaving the house Daniel encountered his worst enemy: sunlight. Oh, how he hated going outside, it was warm, he started to sweat immediately and the staring neighbors that hardly ever saw him did not make it any better. When he left for his mother’s grave on Sundays he usually did so at nightfall. It was much more comfortable then. But he knew there was no time to waste, so he got in his far too hot car, a grey Skoda Fabia, and started driving. He hadn’t done much of that, ever since his mother died, so it was a bit lackluster. But driving carefully was better anyway, especially since he didn’t know when the undead would finally appear in front of him.

By the time he arrived at one of the three local supermarkets his shirt showed quite a large sweat stain. But nevermind that, this was for survival! He hurried his way to the shopping carts, then hurried back to the car for the wallet and went for the market. It was less crowded than he had expected. Everyone was apparently still unaware. Should I tell them? Save them? The thought came up again and again while he was walking through the shop, greedily dropping all pasta products he could find into his cart. Rice, risotto and spices as well as countless packs of stock cubes were also taken. Be it noodle soup, spaghetti or pasta, we would not run out for quite some time.

With the cart full, he went to pay, all under suspicious gazes. Oh how much he hated drawing attention to himself. Daniel was much more comfortable in a corner, watching stuff. He also felt like they were judging him for the amount of food he was buying, since he was so fat. Sighing he hurriedly payed and left only to repeat the same process in the other markets of the city.

The costs didn’t matter. Money was about to be worth the paper it was printed on, while food would be much more valuable. As he was loading the shopping cart into his car, he noticed something strange in the car next to him. A teenage girl, fifteen maybe sixteen years old, was breathing heavily while lying back in her seat. Her gaze was sorrowful, dark lines showed on her skin. Apparently she also had scratch marks on her left lower arm. Was she turning? Daniel paid close attention to his surroundings while shoving all the food he bought into his trunk.

Everything else seemed normal, a couple was flirting with each other, an old lady laughed with another woman in the parking lot, while some women were talking about some weirdo buying insane amounts of noodles in another store. It was peaceful, birds chirping, sun shining. A beautiful summer day. Only Daniel was sweating and panicking over the zombie that was slowly turning next to his car.

Then the car owner returned. He had a hurried expression, some antibiotics from the apothecary and water in his arms. The father? Daniel couldn’t just ignore this, right? He should tell the father that she was turning. If she bit him then… Wait. Was this really his problem? Why should he care about that guy? Millions of people were dying right this second. As the father opened the door Daniel knocked on the car roof and got his attention. God he hated to talk to strangers.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Can I help you?”

“Uh… Ähm, yea. Sorry but I noticed your daughter. She is infected right?”

The face of the man went very dark. “You are also going to tell me to kill my own daughter? You piece of-“

Daniel shook his head and denied vehemently. “No! Of course not!” Even though he was just about to suggest just that. Apparently the guy was a lost cause, helping him would not work. “I just wanted to tell you that you get infected as well if someone bites you or scratches you deeply. All I am saying is that you should be careful, even if it’s your relative.”

The man’s anger subsided. He seemed tired. “People were running around killing everyone that caught that disease, thinking they are zombies. How insane is that even?!?” He exclaimed hysterically.

Then he got into his car and handed his daughter water. The girl was barely able to hold the water bottle. She seemed weak.

“Good luck then.” Daniel sighed. He watched the car drive away, father as doomed as his daughter.

Then he got into his own car and started it. But when he did he noticed something at the other end of the parking lot. The flirting couple from before had now also grey veins and they were currently walking towards a group of elderly shoppers. It had started! They didn’t quiet look like the zombies in the video yet, but Daniel was sure that would come all too soon. Hurriedly he turned his car around and wanted to drive into the intersection, where a car suddenly drove up the walkway and into a streetlight. Inside a woman was apparently chewing on a man’s arm.

Oh fuck. Quickly Daniel stepped on the gas, ignored about six to ten driving rules and hurried home where he parked his car provisionally in front of his house door, mowing down a couple bushes while doing so. But it saved a lot of time unloading all the food and throwing it more or less into his hallway.

No way was he going to stay outside while everyone turned! Hell no. That seemed quite suicidal, no thank you. Then he locked the door properly, and went to check all the windows before he stored all his new food into the cellar and documented it on his list. Seems like the first day had gone pretty well. His stomach kind of rebelled though.

Daniel put on some music and hacked his cabbage to pieces. Adding some oil and vinegar and some hard bacon with some caraway he created some nice salad. He liked it with a lot of vinegar and sour. Just delicious!

He went upstairs and on his balcony and watched the neighborhood. It did not take very long before the quiet summer evening turned to one with screaming and a few police sirens in the distance were heard. When Daniel took out his phone to check for Discord messages, he noticed that the server was apparently down. Damn. Way too quickly. A sad moment for humanity. The fall of civilization in only a few days...

Oh, nevermind. Apparently not the server was the issue, but the network in his area. No reception either. Bad moment for that to happen. Daniel sighed.

He was really going to miss the internet.

Then he continued chewing on his salad, while keeping watch for the undead that would surely roam his streets eventually….