An almost perfect semi-circle of warm light waned down on the horizon, painting the sky with a violet hue. The sun rays gently bounced off the concrete walls of the city, tenderly illuminating the many faces on the street. Their silhouettes swayed slowly in the cool breeze like dozens of old couples dancing their own slow waltz. It looked almost peaceful.
CRASH!
The sound of glass shattering pierced the quiet early evening as a figure landed on a car from above. The undead twitched and turned to the source of the sound, screeching as if they were truly angry at her for disturbing their peace. She leapt off the crumpled car roof and kicked it towards the charging zombies with incredible force. The car crushed them instantly.
More zombies sprinted towards her.
The air temperature shot up by several thousand degrees as white hot flames shot out from her hands, incinerating the zombies in her path within seconds. Lines of zombies jumped towards her relentlessly, only to get caught up in the hellfire. She began to walk forward-
SCREECH!
A van shrieked to a stop, running over a row of zombies and narrowly missing her from the side. “Marianne! Get in, let’s go!” a voice called out from inside the vehicle.
“What?! This was not the plan!” Marianne yelled, stopping her spray of flames.
“What plan?! You just jumped three floors out of a window!” William yelled back from the driver’s seat.
“I can’t believe you’re driving a van! I thought all the vehicles would’ve run out of power by now!” Marianne exclaimed, hurriedly climbing into the vehicle. “How’d you even get out of the apartment if you didn’t jump out with me?”
“Like normal people; through the front gates.”
“Go, go, go! I can’t power this thing forever!” Masako shouted from the backseat, electricity crackling between her fingertips and the battery compartment. The van lurched forward as William stamped on the accelerator.
“ARGHH!” he growled, struggling to hold the wheel steady against the impact of the zombies hurling themselves against the vehicle. Masako groaned with effort as the van accelerated until it gradually outpaced the zombies. The electric van came to a smooth halt in front of William’s house, its engine humming contently.
“Turn off manual drive mode. Turn on defensive driving mode,” William commanded. The steering wheel retracted back into the dashboard and various signals started to light up in response.
“Turn off engine.” William turned back. “Masako, ya alright there?”
“I could use a nap…” Masako slumped onto the seat, breathing heavily.
“Well, you deserve it. I’m going up to pack my things; I’ll be back,” William jumped out of the van.
“Good to see you’ve made the right decision.” Marianne followed him, her combat boots crunching the ground as she landed from the van.
William walked leisurely along the empty corridors to his apartment, ignoring the broken windows and bloody handprints that decorated the walls. Some doors to the other apartments were hanging off their hinges, seemingly broken by a strong force from inside the house. He unbolted his metal grilles and opened the doors to his apartment.
Marianne followed close behind, surveying the surroundings as he began packing. Her eyes drifted to the photo frame sitting on his desk.
“I’ve got a wife.” William picked it up, putting it into his bag as well. “She’s onboard one of the rescue cruises right now.”
“Why didn’t you go too?”
“There was only space for one, so I traded my place with her. Apparently, there are limits to the privileges of an Internet celebrity.” William sat on his bed. “That’s why I’m doing research to find a way to end this apocalypse. It’s the only way we can be reunited safely again.”
“I’ll give you as much support as I can.” Marianne gave him a warm smile. “We enhanced mutates should help each other, right?”
“I have a feeling you won’t be needing much of my help, considering how powerful your ability is.” William chuckled slightly. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“T- thanks.” Marianne blushed at the compliment and nodded. “It’s strange, suddenly being so much stronger and having an ability on top of things. But I’m glad to know that we’re not alone. Masako just wants to find a settlement to live the rest of her days though, but I think we should seek out more people like us. Don’t worry, I’ll convince her in due time somehow.”
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“Since our goals kinda line up, consider me part of your group,” William said. “So, where to next?”
“Sector 161 East Naval Base.”
“Planning to go to Sector 162 via sea eh? That’s about a two hour drive from here. We’re gonna need to charge our van overnight or Masako will be completely drained from powering it.” William opened up his electrical distribution box. “My apartment is currently running on solar energy so I’ll just re-route my backup electrical supply to the vehicle charging port downstairs.”
“I’ll go check up on Masako in the meantime and connect the cable to our vehicle when you’re ready,” Marianne said. “Let’s get some rest for the night.”
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“William, honey are you alright?! What’s going on?!”
“Arghhh… my body… on… fire…” William screamed, curled up in agony. White hot pain ravaged his body as he thrashed about in the car. The vehicle rocked violently, adding to the pandemonium that ensued in the streets.
The horrible sensation left his body as suddenly as it came. William breathed heavily and turned over to his wife staring wide-eyed at him, shivering in fear. “Amber, are you okay? What’s happening?” He pulled her into an embrace.
“Collision detected. Vehicle has been stopped for your safety,” a soothing robotic voice repeated from the car’s stereo system. William looked out at the streets through the car windows. It was pure chaos. People were running; some away, and some at each other. William’s eyes widened in shock as he watched one of them chase down a pedestrian within seconds and tackle him to the ground.
Blood spurted out as he bit him in the neck.
“Holy shit!” William tried to open the car door but felt a pair of hands pull him back.
“Don’t! It’s safer to stay inside!” Amber exclaimed. William turned back to his wife and began to protest, “But-”
THUD!
The couple screamed in shock simultaneously. The bitten pedestrian chattered its teeth at them from outside the window, bluish veins popping out of his face. A huge chunk of flesh was missing from his neck, though it did not seem to bother him.
His eyes, now turned milky white, stared blankly at them as he spasmed and let out another inhuman screech. Cracks began to form on the reinforced glass as the zombie repeatedly smashed its head against the car window.
“Ah! Get away from us!” William closed his eyes and put his hands in front of him protectively. He felt a reaction force against his hands and the banging stopped. William looked out of the cracked window and spotted the zombie sprawled on the floor a few metres away from the car.
“Nngh…”
His head was spinning as his senses overwhelmed him. Willim shook his head, trying to clear it. There was an unfamiliar feeling which could only be described vaguely as a new kind of awareness. William’s senses slowly focused back at the sound of rapid footsteps; the zombie was charging towards their vehicle again.
The terrified man scrambled and instinctively pushed his leg out, but accidentally kicked the car door clean off instead. The zombie was knocked together with it several metres away into a sharp exposed metal edge of a broken window, decapitating it instantly.
“Whoa…” William breathed. He stared at the blood flowing out of its motionless body and felt a strange connection, almost as if he could touch it. William lifted his hand slowly and began to feel a response-
“Honey, look out!”
A set of bloodied teeth was bared inches away from greeting his neck, caught at the last moment by a leather handbag.
Amber’s face scrunched up as she struggled to hold her handbag against another zombie, and William kicked it away with full force. He watched it tumble away like a styrofoam box, but this was no time to postulate about his sudden newfound strength. William grabbed his wife’s hand and ran out of the car before the monster could recover.
“A- are they zombies?” Amber asked, breathing heavily as the couple ran through the streets.
“I don’t know, but we gotta get to somewhere safe. Stay close to me.”
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A loud knock on the door woke William up abruptly.
“Hey, our ride’s fully charged. Let’s go before the zombies reach.” Masako’s voice echoed from behind his door. William opened the door to a wide yawn in his face.
“Yikes. At least cover your mouth, dude.” He looked away in disgust.
“Eh, who cares. The world has gone to shit,” Masako said nonchalantly.
.
.
.
“Hey, are you ready to leave?”
“Y- yeah.” William snapped back from his daze, not realising he had just spaced out. “It’s just… it’s just that I’ve kinda gotten used to this place. I… ” His voice trailed away.
“I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”