Summer, this is time of a season that comes once in every year as it is when countless cases of heatstroke went skyrocket up through unimaginable margins along with the temperature.
In the City F, a central hub of technology where groups of tech companies and pharmaceutical companies, small and large, invested their interest to this city.
10 years back as this just a backwater city, a certain group was form as they want expand their goals further into horizon as it went fruitful which within a decade of success and setbacks produce of each of the skyscrapers has a solar panel build on top of it and many eco-friendly and disaster prepared houses and schools.
Today as this is most prosperity city than it's neighboring cities it is also one of the most busiest city of them all.
Traffic jams in every corner of the street with many electric cars line up and some drivers may went mad just like the heat of the sun.
Countless people walking on both sides of this busy street in the middle of scorching sun that they going each of their own destination like for example, going to school, going to work either in office or government, and even more likely so as going to the mall to avoid the scorching heat of the never ending summer.
Each and every repeating action in each passing day, in every 12 months of a year becomes a routine, turns into habit, and begins its conclusion of becoming a norm of every aspect of people living in this city.
How you ever thought that one day, all your actions went downhill.
Growl~
A sound of something in the zombie film would mostly heard in cinema.
"Help!!! Save me!!!", a certain female voice was screaming nearby.
"Ah just give me a lucky fucking break", muttering myself as I curse my goddamn luck and hid myself in a alley to my right.
Yep you guess it right as this is already end of the world.
My name is Ark Blaze, a college student, freshman.
And this is now my new normal.
Today is the perfect day to do my quick supply run in a nearby convience store that take a few minutes reach which means few blocks away from my apartment complex and as I went back to my usual path, you can see that my luck went dried.
"PLEASE HELP ME!!! SOMEONE PLEASE!!!", that certain female voice probably young same age as me still screaming as I saw her pass down this alleyway below where I stand.
GROWL~ GROWL~ GROWL!!!~
Multiple howls of infected can be heard nearby from where the girl went as many infected creatures passes by from there as I peek myself in the corner has it now become frenzied following the sound.
(Shit shit shit)
My mouth is dried and my body is already drenched with sweat from the goddamn sun but my nerves is also went up in the high noon.
Seriously this girl did not know that screaming is like catnip to these infected creatures.
Now that usual path way home has been compromised thanks to this girl force me to take a little detour back which gonna long time for me to reach based on the situation I'm in.
With little option left given as I grab my box of supplies and take this alleyway that I hid as I searching for alternate route back.
(Sorry I can't help you please forgive me)
Praying for forgiveness to the girl from before in hopes for my sanity to please my offer as I swear that the next time I get to sleep, this image of that girl screaming will bring my nightmares more painful.
If you think that in the world of apocalypse would be like something in a movie that a hero must save the day is already considered a false security.
Every action can be fatal as you made one wrong step and you already straight into game over scene like a evil resident game.
Survival of the fittest is the main theme in this rotten world and any morality left is already down the pipedream.
(This is the new normal, just sake of survival)
Convincing myself as walk away from the chaos as the sound of screaming girl and infected has lessen.
—————————————
Noon. Its already noon that I arrived in my apartment complex where usually today is the day of my first college life.
But that life is already another pipedream of mine as I climb the stairs.
This apartment complex is given to me by the landlord as he said to me before the collapse that he leaves this place along the keys in my care tending his plants while he's working overseas.
Now this is what I called my safe heaven.
Room no.109 is where Mrs. Buff an elder woman who is kind to me giving biscuits during my first time to live this place and also the first person to left the apartment before the collapse.
Room no. 106 is where my classmate Kenchi back in City G during high school days following me in City F to study Criminology and also the second person that I know left the place in a hurry during the lockdown as many people wanting to left the F city.
He is also convincing me to follow him but I turn him down which breaks down six years of friendship into smear of memories and now this is the place where I put all my reserved supplies.
Room no. 102 is where my neighbor, Mr. Henderson who's work in a famous tech company here in City F that give me many welcome gifts even though we met the first time and the only replied he given to me is that normal for a person being content can be shared to others which is weird when I think about it.
After that the next day, he left the apartment the next day which now becomes another storage rooms of mine.
As I drop and left my supplies in room 102, I'm in front of my room 101
"I'm home", muttering myself as open the door and went inside.
I know that you think this is very lonely living yourself in a cold apartment complex but I very like in very quiet and solemn places since I'm kind of a person not quite standing out like others.
The room is very convenient when I first live in the last year before the collapse.
It has two bedrooms with one king sized bed on it, a shower and a bathtub with hot and cold water, living room that you can self decorate along with a functional kitchen and small dining area.
Overall is perfect room that I pick on.
———————————
Night. After I after change clothes and finished my dinner as I'm in the balcony, relieved myself from all the stress by drinking a 30 year old whiskey which was adulthood gift to me from my father when I left City G to City F.
The cold temperature sensing it's final stretch of summer and start of fall season gives my body releasing it's stress from heat of the summer as the sound of silence is echoed throughout the empty neighborhood which can heard from miles away.
As reminisce myself of my past actions.
You would know why I always mention [The Collapse] many times as I will tell you 2 years ago.
It was during my 2nd year in high school is very good defining part of my life to be perfect
Always go to school, hangout with my friends and after class we went straight arcade inside the mall during the weekend is always perfect time of youth, and I was also thought about confess love to my only crush which was a School's Madonna but just like a npc in every dating sim games as being rejected completely.
When I saw a news channel on Television reporting that there's an lockdown of a virus outbreak in certain country went blackout with no information.
Though at that time, I never pay attention to it, thinking it was just business as usual for people working in media industry.
In a fews months after, another news reported that a similar outbreak went viral from a faraway City.
That's when my mentality changes as I prepare myself for the worst case scenario for the society's downfall.
I went to my room and open my computer and search through the internet for news articles or rumors regarding the infection.
Many articles that I read saying there's a zombie outbreak or something like that as many would describe from leaking police spot reports and medical reports all the same quoting [fellow humans eating human flesh] went viral in the internet.
As I search deeper and only a handful of truthful or fakes were mixing in because they like to exaggerating it's information probably for gaining fame or profit.
In the end, I only collected those are very useful for my survival and print it in paper.
Convincing my parents to move to a far away countyside just in case for the outbreak went landfall here where in vain as nagging to me that do not believe what people saying.
I know that they don't want to live their work just for unnecessary safety in fear of outbreak but still it hurts my feeling that they didn't believe me.
Combat skills were not actually my specialty which I immediately remedy by joining many self-defense training especially those using knives.
During those times, I managed to gather like solar lamps, flashlight along with stock of batteries, food mostly non perishable and mineral water which I moved to a Large Container that I rent from the Landlord of apartment complex in City F during my first trip there until I lived here today.
In the First days living here in City F, my first priority is to get myself to defend as I search weapons.
Many Hardware Store in downtown and Weapon and Ammunition Stores in Suburbs we're completely sold out probably many people know the rumors which turning into panic buying.
I only managed bought a Bolo knife, combat knife, S1911 9mm pistol and Pr20 9mm pistol with 5 boxes of ammo each, and the B4 12-gauge pump action shotgun along 5 boxes of ammo as well which basically a starter gear for home defense in every survival games.
The first real effect of Collapse spreading the City F is when first line of communication went offline as communication tower went out for a month.
Without news coming in from other surrounding cities, Many people relying on rumors or hearsay from unknown sources that exaggerates it's information about infection spreading making a mass panic among people living in City F.
Shortly it was returned to normal when the communication tower was fixed which making many people lose their guard off as would believe that everything went under control and starting to unpack their things without knowing it was just a beginning of madness.
As the Collapse happened as the countless news reported a mass migration of people going out of the city probably taking refuge to other cities thinking is like a storm that might passed away.
As the spread of infection rapidly approaching and any forms of contingency that laid by the health department went blackout.
The central government declare the state of emergency following calling the shots from national and state guards to mandate martial law and blocking any path of infection which rapidly isolate nearby cities from the benefit of protection.
Without protection, crimes went high in all time high as many convicts escaped from prison and jails were crawling to the streets causing chaos.
Looting, killing, and rioting were all over the City F as I witness them all from the safety of my apartment complex.
As the thugs went wild, people running away, police officer doing their mandate and the infected clashing in the middle of the street.
"Ugh my head", mutters myself contemplate about my headache kicking in as I massage myself.
It seems for me to finished this story and slept this hangover.
I poured out my drink on to side and went inside.
————— Meanwhile —————
A unknown entity was wandering mysterious around the recreation area below the balcony where Ark resides.