"Hey, it's been a week since the food portions kept decreasing, and now they're even late for breakfast? Are those annoying prison wardens still alive?"
"I don't know, mate. Maybe they won a lottery and mass retired to enjoy their lives?"
"Yeah, it's too boring here, after all. They want some fun and life."
"If there weren't any more prison wardens and police on duty... would you try to escape? The walls of this prison are only slightly higher than five meters, and the fences are easy to trick."
"Hmm, that's risky, but count me in. We'll only starve if they no longer provide us with food."
The inmates mumbled to one another in their cells. It was morning and time to have breakfast before the workout routine. However, no prison warden came to open their cell.
Apart from those on guard at the guard post, the ones on duty were nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Jimmy! Where did your fellow warden go? We finished our morning prayer long ago, and you're still lazing around with donuts and coffee?" Alex shouted loudly, enough to reach the guardhouse at the end of the corridor.
"How would I know? Shut up and wait. They might just be late. Damn, why did I get the morning shift today? I haven't even had breakfast yet." Jimmy grumbled in his guard post.
"Well, we'd better wait a little longer. What do you think, Zayn?" Alex sat cross-legged. He called Zayn the given name without the title anymore because they had become so close, and Zayn asked him for it.
"Let's wait until eight o'clock." Zayn answered curtly, but he didn't open his eyes. He was still sitting cross-legged as if in deep meditation.
He actually tried to listen to what was happening outside the prison walls.
In the past few days, his heart became restless, and several events came into his dreams. It was like a small apocalypse where many people were no longer human. They were like monsters that attacked the living humans and preyed on their victims like mindless beasts.
Chaos and destruction were everywhere. Various signs of the arrival of the small apocalypse have occurred in the world. The day when the era of the small apocalypse has finally come as written in the holy book.
Zayn brought his hand to his ear. He seemed to be able to hear the desperate screams of many people.
When the flashback of the nightmare he had in the last few days arrived in his mind, a prison warden came to open the cell.
"Go have breakfast and start your morning workout." A prison warden stood aside from the cell entrance.
"Hey, my friend. Do you know what's going on out there? Things haven't been good lately." Frankie asked in surprise.
"How would I know? I don't know. We lost contact with the guards outside. The food stocks have also stopped coming three days ago." The prison warden sighed.
"Hou, so we just rely on the existing food supplies? We might have been neglected because the government budget was cut. Hehe, we might end up rotting in this prison." Alex rubbed his head while muttering nonsense.
"If that's the case, I'd better resign, haha!" The prison warden laughed dryly.
After breakfast, Zayn and everyone went to the training ground to do their morning workout. However, Zayn went straight to the concrete wall of the prison and stuck his hand there with his eyes closed.
Alex and Frankie just waited beside Zayn in silence. They had heard the story from Zayn, but they felt it had to be confirmed first. It was sad if the apocalypse really happened when they had not yet enjoyed their life as whole human beings.
"..." Zayn concentrated on seeing the world behind the thick wall using his mind's eye. Ordinary eyes did have limitations, but humans also possessed the mind's eye if they could use it.
"Argh, zombies!"
"Help me!"
"I'm starving!"
"The world is over!"
*Bam!* *Bang!*
*Pew* *Pew* *Pew*
The voices and noises were faint, but Zayn could hear the despair of many people more clearly than what he could listen to from the cell. Several gunshots and explosions could also be heard. It was as if they were returning to an era of war.
"Zombie? What kind of creature is that?" Zayn opened his eyes and muttered questioningly.
"You don't know? Well, you come from the interior of Persia with no television or anything like that. Let me give you a short description. Zombies are human-like creatures that are actually mutated, dead humans. They look like undead with great strength and love to prey on other living things.
Broadly speaking, they are frightening creatures. The dead person who has been brought back to life, but without human qualities." Alex explained, using his knowledge with pleasure.
However, his face turned pale as he realized the answer to Zayn's previous nightmare story.
"Zayn, my friend, that's impossible, right? What do you get out there?" Alex gulped his saliva, afraid to believe it.
"Chaos, destruction, despair, and gun fighting. It seems a small doomsday is coming soon. This may be God's warning to humanity. The end times are not supposed to happen yet." Zayn spoke in a whisper-like voice.
"Then this is bad. We may not have experienced the dire situation because of this fortress-like prison. Heck, these walls are even so high and double-layered. Not to mention the high fences. However, we can't last forever here, can we?" Alex sighed. He felt somewhat relieved that Zayn still looked so calm.
"Was it because of the explosion of the secret Laboratory that was reported the other day? So, it's a zombie virus? Their superhuman experiment failed and caused this disaster?" Frankie clenched his fists. He blamed the higher-ups who were hungry for strength and power.
Zayn tells Alex and Frankie to keep this information a secret first. However, they went to see a high-ranking prison warden and conveyed their intentions. They asked about the situation that was happening out there.
"I don't know. What do you want to do knowing the situation outside the prison? Do you want to try to escape? And again, the zombie virus outbreak? Are you still a kid who is afraid of the fictional story happening in the real world?" The high-ranking prison warden snorted indifferently.
*Thud*
A person fell from a height and landed in the middle of the training ground, making a loud thud.
It caught everyone's attention, but it was just a long man in shabby clothes. The question that popped up in everyone's mind at that time was... why did that person fall from the sky and land there?
Unfortunately, the question didn't need to be answered because the homeless man suddenly tried to rise from the ground like a marionette doll with a broken bone.
Everyone was instantly shocked when they realized it wasn't a tramp, but a terrifying undead!
"Zombs!?"
"Get away from that zombie! Don't get bitten by that creature, or you'll be one of them!"
Panic soon occurred among the inmates. They tried their best to stay away, but someone wasn't so lucky because the zombie suddenly jumped up and caught someone.
"Help me!" The scared man tried to escape by kicking the zombie away from him. However, his arm was tightly gripped.
Just as he was about to be bitten, a prison warden fired a shot into the zombie's head.
*Bang!*
The hot lead penetrated the zombie's head and damaged its brain. It then slumped to the ground like a broken doll.
"Gasp, gasp..." The high-ranking prison warden panted in a cold sweat. He had just fired into the zombie's head, killing it instantly.
Who would have thought he would see the real zombie in the real world? He just said that these creatures were just fiction!
He then glanced at the three nearby inmates. They asked about the situation out there before... So, they probably already knew about the actual event and just wanted to confirm something?
"Hieek!" The scared man immediately removed the zombie's hand from his arm. He rushed off, but some people dropped the man to check his wound.
Due to abrasions from the zombie's firm grip on that scared man's arm, they had to isolate the man in a separate cell for the safety of the others.