17th June 2028. Early summer.

In the New York State University.

An unforeseen disaster would shortly cause chaos to descend on the university.

At this moment, in a classroom, a professor was teaching as usual. However, all of a sudden, something strange happened. The professor suddenly stiffened before his body began to shake violently. His eyes rolled up until only the whites could be seen, and a gurgling noise could be heard from his throat.

Needless to say, everyone in the classroom was shocked. Some screamed and ran out frantically when they regained their senses while some rushed forward to help.

Those who rushed forward to help tried to hold the professor down to perform first aid. Unfortunately, there was not much they could do. Even seven to eight strong male students were not able to hold him down.

The professor continued to convulse violently as everyone who remained in the classroom watched helplessly as they waited for the medical staff to arrive.

All of a sudden, the professor stopped convulsing. It was incredibly abrupt just like a sudden power outage.

Upon seeing this, everyone could not help but sigh in relief. They were all university students, inexperienced and mostly sheltered, so they did not sense the danger in the air nor did they think much about the strangeness of the situation 

The students had just calmed down when a scream rang from outside the classroom.

One of the students was about to rise to his feet to have a look when the professor who had abruptly stopped convulsing earlier suddenly sat up. His eyes were white, and he was salivating from his mouth. A fierce beast-like expression could be seen on his face as he snarled and snapped, spittle flying everywhere.

While the students had yet to regain their senses from the shock, the professor lunged and bit a male student on the neck.

The boy cried out in anguish from the sharp pain in his neck.

At this time, the students in the classroom finally regained their senses. They rushed forward to help the bitten boy. Despite their good intentions, it would have been better if they did not recklessly rush forward to help.

With so many people surrounding the professor, trying to get the bitten boy away, the professor suddenly turned his attention to a boy who was pulling on his arm, directly biting the boy.

Pandemonium descended on the classroom immediately.

At the same time, people from outside were swarming into the classroom. This provided the professor, who had clearly undergone some kind of mutation, with more victims.

In just a short time, seven to eight students had all been bitten by the professor.

By the time those who were unaffected reacted, it was already too late!

At this moment, the students who were bitten by the professor rose to their feet lifelessly and rushed toward the students who were not bitten.

"Oh my gosh, they're zombies!" someone shouted, shocking everyone.

Although the United States of America was a relatively young country, the country's technology was incredibly advanced. The country had always looked toward the future. This could be seen in the movies they produced.

For this reason, zombies were not something unknown. Almost everyone had seen zombies on the television or in cinemas, or read about them in books. Zombies were almost an entire genre of its own.

It was just that no one expected the scenes they had seen on the screen and read in books would one day be their reality.

Who would expect the zombies would appear in such an abrupt and violent manner in their lives?

...

Rhodes was a sophomore at the New York State University.

He had been there when the professor began to convulse. At that time, he had a vague feeling that something was amiss. However, he dismissed that feeling and tried to help. When the professor sprang back to life, he narrowly avoided the attack. With that, he no longer stuck around and frantically ran out of the classroom.

Rhodes was incredibly lucky to escape when he did. After all, the students who were bitten rose back to life as the first wave of zombies too quickly.

It was rather unfortunate for those who were in the classroom. The first wave of zombies lunged, tore, and bit everything that moved.

Rhodes managed to make it to the ground floor and was just a step away from the gates. He would have successfully escaped if he had just walked out of the gates. However, he hesitated when he was right in front of the gates.

He had just remembered something, or rather, someone: his girlfriend, Julie. He still had not heard from her or seen her.

Rhodes and Julie had a good relationship, and the two were very close. They became neighbors when they were in high school and even up until now.

Julie was incredibly beautiful, and most people thought they would make a good match. They had feelings for each other as well even though neither of them admitted it. It was not until an accident happened in the second year of high school that they confessed their feelings to each other.

Due to how long both of them had been suppressing their feelings, once they realized their feelings were mutual, their relationship progressed quickly. In just a short month, the two were inseparable. If it were not for their parents, they would have taken that last step in their relationship.

However, in the early throes of love where feelings ran high, it was, naturally, difficult to endure or put out the burning flames of passion. In the end, both of them decided to rent a hotel room to take the last step in their relationship. In fact, today was the day they were supposed to check into the hotel room in the afternoon.

Who knew something like this would happen?

After a beat, Rhodes no longer hesitated and dashed toward Julie's classroom.

There were people around everywhere, running, stumbling, falling. It was utter chaos.

It took him a long time and a lot of effort navigating around the university hall and the people before he finally found Julie hiding in a corner of her classroom.

When he saw how frightened she was, he felt an involuntary pang of pain in his heart. At this moment, he did not care about anything else and directly pulled her into his arms to gently comfort her.

After Rhodes managed to calm Julie down, he said, "The university is in chaos now. It's not safe here. We have to hurry home."

Fear still lingered on Julie's face as she nodded and asked, "What happened? It was fine earlier… Why did it suddenly become like this?"

Rhodes remained silent. However, he had many theories in his mind. For example, a biochemical leak, a poison gas attack, and natural human mutation. However, these were only things he learned from movies he had watched. No matter how realistic a movie was, it was ultimately just a movie. Moreover, a movie could not truly convey reality. For example, the gruesome scenes in the movie could not compare to the things happening in front of them. It could not even describe or convey how frightened they were at this moment.

Knowing they did not have much time for an explanation, Rhode pulled Julie along as he ran out frantically.

Currently, the originally stately, beautiful, and bustling campus was drenched in blood. Severed limbs were strewn everywhere on the ground. It was as though the university had turned into a slaughterhouse.

Many people were running frantically. The lucky ones managed to escape while the unlucky ones became the zombies' food. Not only that, but after becoming zombies' food, the virus from the zombies would enter their bodies, turning them into zombies as well.

As Rhodes made his way to the gates with Julie in tow, he saw many students who were bitten. Many of them were also begging him for help. However, he did not dare to stay any longer than necessary. After all, based on the movies he had watched and his short experience earlier, he knew the longer they stayed, the more zombies there would be.

The couple ran until the gate finally appeared before their eyes.

However, at this moment, a student who was lying on the ground lifelessly suddenly sat up and grabbed Julie's foot. It happened so abruptly that none of them could react in time.

After a beat, Julie cried out in fear, and Rhodes held Julie firmly in his grip as he kicked the zombie's head. However, the zombie seemed immune to pain as it ignored Rhode's kick and bit Julie's leg.

Upon seeing this, Rhodes seemed to have gone berserk; he began to kick and punch the zombie in a frenzy.

Unfortunately, the zombie did not let go. Moreover, it had tightened its claws around Julie's leg, leaving five vivid bloody scratches on her delicate skin.

When Julie saw the wound on her leg, despair and desperation overwhelmed her. She knew once a person was bitten or scratched, they would be infected. It was only a matter of time before she mutated. She looked at Rhodes who was desperately trying to save her and held back her tears as she cried out urgently, "Rhodes! Go! Leave me! I've been scratched. It's only a matter of time before I turn into one of them!"

"No!" Rhodes said vehemently despite being terrified when he saw the wounds on Julie's leg.

Leave Julie behind and give up on her? No, this thought did not even cross his mind. Otherwise, he would not have turned back when he was so close to escaping earlier.

Julie's injury seemed to burn away the last of Rhodes' sanity. He continued his frenzied attacks until he broke the zombie's neck. With that, the zombie's grip on Julie's leg finally loosened.

However, no one expected that the zombie whose neck had been broken by Rhodes was still… undead. When Rhodes let his guard down, the zombie opened its mouth and chomped down on Rhodes' leg.

At that moment, Rhodes felt a pain he had never felt before. He could only describe it as soul-wrenching.