Daniel sat behind the counter of the electronics store, his eyes drifting from the half-empty shelves to the few customers who wandered in with little more than idle curiosity. The days blurred together in a haze of monotony. Fewer and fewer people came in now. Shopping habits had shifted to online stores, and electronics shop had been left in the dust.

He barely remembered his father. His mother had died in a car crash three years ago, and the loss had sent him spiraling into a life that had veered off course. College had seemed pointless after her death. The pressure of supporting himself, and the responsibilities that came with it, led him to drop out and take the first job he could get. A steady paycheck, at least.

His younger brother, Jason, had been sent abroad to study. It was one of the few things Daniel had been able to offer him in the wake of their mother’s passing. He sent money when he could, trying to keep him away from the chaos of their life and hoping that atleast one of them would be able to build a better life.

Daniel glanced at the clock. It was noon. The sun hung high outside, but the store felt dim, empty. His mind wandered, wondering if things might’ve been different if he had stuck with school, if he’d been able to keep his life on track. Maybe things would be normal if he hadn’t been so distracted by loss, so eager to escape his grief.

A sharp crash broke his thoughts. The sound of metal twisting, followed by a scream.

He looked up, confused, then pushed himself off the counter. Without thinking, he stepped outside to check on what was going on. As he rounded the corner of the store, his eyes widened. A grotesque figure, twisted and unnatural, was crouched over a woman lying in the street. The person—no, the thing—was biting into her neck, its movements jerky and erratic. Its skin was pale, slick with some kind of blood. The eyes that turned toward him were empty, unseeing.

Daniel’s breath caught in his throat. His legs froze, his mind screaming at him to run, to do something. He opened his mouth to shout, but no sound came. The creature, its mouth smeared with blood, turned toward him. The moment stretched, as if the entire world had paused to let him take it in.

It didn’t take long before fear took over. Daniel’s heart hammered as he stumbled back, his body turning on autopilot, running back into the store as the creature lunged forward. He slammed the door shut and locked it, panic rising in his chest.

“God, what the hell?” he muttered, his back pressed against the door. He slid down to the floor, unable to process what he’d seen. The world outside had changed in an instant. He wasn’t sure when the woman had died, but the thing that had been feeding on her wasn’t human. It wasn’t even close.

Daniel stared at the door, his mind racing. What the hell was happening? What was that thing? He closed the blinds, making sure not a single crack of light could slip through. The store felt even smaller now, like it was closing in on him.

Hours passed in a haze of uncertainty. He stayed hidden behind the counter, his ears straining for any sounds—footsteps, screams, anything. As the sun dipped lower in the sky, he felt the oppressive weight of the darkness creeping in. He couldn’t sit here forever. He had to know what was happening outside.

Finally, he rose from the floor and crept toward the window. Peeking out, his heart sank. Cars were abandoned, some crashed into buildings, some piled up in the middle of the street. The bodies were scattered, some in unnatural poses, others half-buried beneath wreckage. It was chaos.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Daniel grabbed his phone from the counter and checked for any signs of life. The screen blinked a message he couldn’t ignore:

Emergency Alert: A highly contagious virus is spreading rapidly. Seek shelter immediately. Stay indoors until further notice.

He felt a chill seep through him as the weight of the message hit him. This was no accident. The virus that had been slowly making its way across the country, the one the news stations had called C30, was here now—and it was worse than they had let on. He tried calling Jason, hoping his brother was somewhere safe, but the call wouldn’t go through.

Next, he tried calling everyone else—his friends, his landlady, the store owner—but nothing connected. He finally got through to a few, but all they could do was express the same confusion, the same fear. The emergency broadcast had terrified everyone, and no one knew what to do.

Daniel sat back down on the floor, his mind racing. His phone was down to a quarter charge, and his only food was a half-empty bottle of water. There was a vending machine outside the store, so he grabbed his last few dollars, stepped out cautiously, and bought what he could. It wasn’t much. Just a few snacks and drinks. He went back inside and locked the door, counting the minutes until the world outside felt safe enough to confront.

Days passed. The store became his prison. The supplies from the vending machine kept him alive, but the hunger gnawed at him. He rationed what he could, but it wasn’t enough. The streets were quiet now. Too quiet.

One week after the outbreak, Daniel couldn’t take it anymore. His stomach clenched with hunger. He had to find food. He spotted a zombie wandering down the street in the direction of the supermarket. It was slow, dragging its feet, unaware of him.

He thought quickly. He had an idea. If he could distract it, maybe he could get to the supermarket and grab some supplies. He connected a few speakers he found in the back of the store, wired them to his phone, and set the timer. He planned to play loud music. It should draw the zombie away from the path he needed to take.

He made his move, stepping outside and heading toward an alley. As the music blared from the speakers, the zombie turned, moving toward the noise. Daniel held his breath and waited, praying that the distraction would work.

It did… for a moment.

Then, he heard shuffling. More zombies were coming. A mistake. His phone was still connected to the speakers, and the noise had attracted more than he anticipated.

His heart raced as he bolted down the alley, sprinting toward the supermarket, but the thought of the undead closing in on him made his legs turn to jelly. He heard a gunshot—a sharp crack through the air.

Gunshot? His eyes widened, and a spark of hope flared in his chest. Someone was alive. Someone was fighting back.

Without thinking, he ran toward the sound of the shot, his desperation overriding his common sense. The danger of encountering more zombies didn’t register. He needed the protection. He needed the safety.

He entered the supermarket and as he rounded the corner, he saw a man standing there, a gun in hand, surrounded by dead bodies. Daniel froze for a moment, unsure of what to do. The man, who had clearly been dealing with the same hell as him, was older, maybe by a few years. He had the look of someone who had been through this nightmare before.

Before the man mistook him for an undead, he hailed, “Don’t shoot! I’m alive!”

The man eyed him for a moment, then lowered his gun slightly, his expression unreadable.

“Please”.

“I’m just trying to survive, same as you.” He said with as much warmth as he could bring in his voice.

Daniel’s heart pounded in his chest. His mind raced with a thousand questions. Was this guy truly just another survivor, or was he someone more dangerous? He couldn't think of anyone being this calm in the midst of all this chaos. There was something unsettling about this man’s composure. Could a person still be sane after witnessing everything that had happened? Daniel’s mind churned, wondering if the guy in front of him was hiding something—whether the man had turned ruthless or lost touch with reality entirely.