Day: 1 - of the ongoing apocalypse.
Luke groggily woke up on the couch, his body twisted into an uncomfortable position that left his muscles stiff and sore.
He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes, which were red and puffy from the tears he had shed the night before. The room was dim, the curtains drawn tight against the morning light.
Glancing around, he took in the sight of the empty whiskey bottle and the scattered disarray of his belongings. With a sigh, he forced himself to his feet, shuffling to the bathroom to splash cold water on his face.
"Ugh, what a mess..." His reflection in the mirror was a stark reminder of his misery- unshaven, dark circles under his eyes, and a haunted expression that hadn't left him for weeks.
Luke then followed his usual routine with mechanical precision. He brewed a pot of coffee, the aroma filling the small apartment, and then reached for his phone, which buzzed incessantly with notifications. His screen was lit up with dozens of messages and missed calls, the sheer volume of them shocking him momentarily.
He glanced at the first few lines-news alerts, concerned friends, urgent updates- but he swiped them away without reading any further.
Ignoring the digital clamor, he focused on preparing for work. He bathe and dressed in his worn, yet clean, work clothes, and grabbed his bag and other personal items.
Just as he was about to head out the door, a sudden thunderous explosion rocked the building, making the walls tremble and windows rattle.
Luke froze, heart pounding, his hand on the doorknob as the echoes of the blast faded. He listened intently as he slowly calmed down, trying to comprehend what had just happened, his mind racing through different possibilities.
"What the hell was that?" he muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. "Was it a gas explosion? Or maybe a car accident?"
He cautiously approached the window, slightly peeking through the curtains. "Could it be construction work gone wrong? No, it sounded too powerful for that..."
His phone buzzed again, more insistent this time. Glancing at it, he saw another flood of notifications, but he still didn't bother reading them. "Maybe it's something in the news," he speculated. "A terrorist attack? No, not here... surely?"
Another explosion, closer this time, made him jump. "Jesus, what's going on out there?" he exclaimed, his voice trembling. "Is it some sort of military exercise?"
Backing away from the window, his mind grappling with the unknown. "Should I go check it out? Or just stay put?" Rubbing the back of his neck, the tension inside of him was slowly building. "This can't be happening... not today..."
Luke stood in the center of his apartment, frozen in indecision, as chaos outside seemed to unfold outside his door.
He slowly turned the doorknob, the creaking sound echoing in the unnerving silence. He cracked the door open just enough to peek outside.
Peering into the hallway, everything initially appeared normal– the dimly lit corridor, sunlight filtering through the small windows at the end of the corridor, casting familiar patterns on the worn carpet.
But something was amiss. The usual morning bustle was absent. No neighbors heading out for work, no children playing, no distant hum of conversation. The eerie quiet sent a shiver down Luke's spine.
"Where is everyone?" he whispered to himself, stepping into the hallway. Glancing left and right, expecting to see some movement, he found the corridor was empty, other apartment doors closed and silent.
"This is weird," he muttered, trying to shake off the growing unease. "Maybe they're all inside because of the explosions."
Proceeding cautiously down the hall, his eyes darting around. Unexpectedly, his foot nudged something soft at the next moment, looking down, he saw a teddy bear with blood stains on its fur, lying askew on the floor, one of it's eye was missing and its fur matted with dark, sticky stains.
"What the...?" The sight sent a cold chill through him, but he dismissed it a moment later, chalking it up to some kid's rough play, or so he hoped.
Approaching the stairwell, each step echoed in the stillness. Reaching the landing, he noticed smeared, dark red handprints on the walls, as if someone had struggled to maintain balance. His breath quickened with every print, but he pressed on, focusing on the task at hand.
As he descended, another faint explosion sounded in the distance. He hesitated at the banister, straining to discern other sounds- voices, sirens-but there was only an unsettling silence.
"Focus on the explosions," he reminded himself, despite his trembling. "First, figure out what's going on out there."
Reaching the lobby, the absence of people added to the unsettling quietness of the building. Peering through the glass doors, the street outside seemed deceptively normal-cars parked neatly, trash bins in place-but the eerie emptiness was disturbing.
Pushing open the door, stepping outside, Luke felt the cool morning air and the long shadows cast by the sun. He scanned the street, finding no signs of life.
"Hello?" he called out softly, the silence was thick; oppressive even.
Determined to uncover the source of the explosions, he focused on the direction of the sounds. Another distant boom echoed, and he began to walk, his mind racing with questions and fears.
"What's causing this?" he muttered aloud, footsteps echoing along the empty sidewalk. "...And where is everyone?"
Walking past parked cars, he overlooked the subtle signs of disarray that suggested something was terribly wrong- slightly opened car doors with smears of dark stains on it's handle, an abandoned child's bike on the sidewalk with one of it's wheel spinning lazily, and the occasional piece of clothing-torn and bloodied-lying in the gutter.
Approaching a nearby park adjacent to the complex, typically bustling with children and the chatter of parents, now still. Today, the swings swayed gently, it's chains creaking ominously. A lone sneaker lay discarded in the grass, its owner nowhere to be seen. Luke's mind was still fixated on the explosions, oblivious to unsettling details around him.
As he neared the edge of the complex, he glanced back at the building. The windows of the apartments were like dark, unblinking eyes, watching him as he ventured further away. He quickly shook off the creeping feeling of being observed and focused on the task at hand.
"Something's not adding up," he muttered, trying to shake off the growing unease. "Maybe there's a gas leak or something." Quickening his pace, heart racing with such a possibility, he followed the sound of explosions as the unease tightening its grip on his mind.
"Did people evacuate while I was asleep?" he wondered aloud.
The usually vibrant morning street was deserted-no schoolchildren waiting for buses, no joggers, no elderly residents on their customary walks. Silence pervaded, interrupted only by distant booms.
Unaware of figures lurking in shadows, undeads with bitten faces and vacant eyes shuffled purposefully, they moved slowly, with a relentless purpose of their own. One dragged a severed arm behind it, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. Another gnawed on a limb, its teeth tearing through flesh and sinew.
Stepping over a mangled body lying behind a wall, half it's face in the sidewalk, the victim's face frozen in a rictus of terror. But Luke's gaze remained fixed ahead, engrossed in the explosions, his mind to occupied to notice the carnage at his feet.
Further along, he passed by a storefront with covered windows, the interior ransacked. Inside, more bodies lay strewn about, some partially devoured. An undead, dressed in a torn business suit, hunched over one of the corpses, its head jerking up at the sound of Luke's footsteps before resuming its gruesome feast.
Luke's mind wrestled with the inexplicable. "Should I retreat to my apartment for now?" he pondered aloud. "Or maybe I should continue and scout out, 'before' I retreat...?"
Rubbing his neck, tension mounting, he decided to walk on, the once-familiar neighborhood now a surreal, foreboding landscape. He still failed to notice the splatters of blood on the pavement in his focus of the explosions, the occasional twisted limb sticking out from behind parked cars, and the eerie stillness of animals huddled in unnatural silence.
(A/N: This reflects how we often get lost in our own thoughts, focusing only on the main matter and overlooking details in our surroundings.)
Each explosion drew him deeper into an uncertain and potentially terrifying reality, as Luke remained unaware of the harrowing details hinting at a catastrophe unfolding before his eyes.
...
Word count: 1429