Ariciah Blackmoon woke up to the sound of her alarm blaring, its shrill tones cutting through the quiet morning like a knife. She groaned, fumbling for the snooze button as she squinted at the clock. It was 6:00 AM, just like every other day.
The sun barely peeked through the curtains, casting a grayish light across her small apartment, highlighting the stacks of books and manuscripts strewn across her desk. Another day of writing, managing her small business, and trying to live up to her mother's impossible standards. Loneliness loomed over her.
She went through the motions, brushing her teeth, making breakfast, and checking emails from clients who never seemed satisfied with her work. Her mother's voice echoed in her mind, reminding her of all the things she should have accomplished by now, and all the goals she was supposed to achieve.
There was always something she wasn't doing right, and she had learned to accept the burden of that judgment, even as it chipped away at her sense of self. She dressed in her usual attire, something comfortable yet presentable, and sat at her desk to begin writing.
But today, something felt off. There was an unnatural silence outside, the kind that prickled the skin and raised an uncomfortable chill in the air.
She glanced out of her window, expecting to see the usual scene, children playing on the street, neighbors walking their dogs, and cars honking as they sped through the narrow roads. Instead, the street was eerily empty, a stillness that made her stomach twist.
Ariciah shook off the unease and tried to focus on her work, but a nagging sense of dread settled in her chest, refusing to be ignored.
A loud thud against her front door startled her, followed by frantic knocking. She nearly fell out of her chair as she rushed to open it, finding her younger brother, Ellis, wide-eyed and breathless. Sweat glistened on his face, and his hands trembled as he clutched the doorframe.
"Ariciah, we have to go," he panted, glancing over his shoulder as if something might leap out of the shadows at any moment. "Something's happening out there. People... people are attacking each other."
"What are you talking about?" Ariciah asked, irritation edging her voice. Ellis was always overreacting, always jumping at shadows. But the terror in his eyes made her pause.
"There's no time to explain, just come with me!" he pleaded, grabbing her arm with a desperation she had never seen in him before.
Against her better judgment, she allowed him to drag her down the stairs of their building and into the streets. The scene that awaited her outside shattered any hope that this was just one of Ellis's paranoid fantasies.
How did this happen? Wasn't there only silence before?
Chaos had erupted. People ran in every direction, their faces twisted in terror as screams echoed through the air. Ariciah's mouth went dry as she saw neighbors and strangers alike turning on each other, biting and clawing as if they had lost their minds.
Blood splattered the pavement, and the acrid stench of smoke and decay hung in the air. In the distance, a car crashed into a lamppost, its horn blaring in an unending wail.
"Ellis, what is happening?" Ariciah's voice broke as she stumbled to keep up with him. He glanced back at her, his face pale with fear.
"I don't know! Mom and Dad are at home. They told me to get you before it's too late. Please, we have to move faster!"
Ariciah's mind reeled, struggling to process the nightmare unfolding around them. Her parents' house was only a few blocks away, but the path there seemed to stretch endlessly as they weaved through the panicked crowd.
Ariciah had never been athletic, and never had a reason to push herself beyond the comfortable life her mother had laid out for her. But now, every breath burned in her chest as she tried to keep up with Ellis, her legs screaming in protest.
As they turned a corner, Ariciah caught a glimpse of what had caused the chaos.
A woman, her skin pallid and eyes vacant, lunged at a man on the sidewalk, tearing into his flesh with a feral hunger. Blood stained her lips as she gnawed at his arm, and the man's screams cut through the air like glass rubbed under pressure. Ariciah froze, bile rising in her throat.
It was like something out of a horror movie, something that couldn't possibly be real. But the sight, the smell, the sounds, and all of it seared into her mind with brutal clarity. Ellis yanked her forward, and they kept running until they reached their parents' house. The door was already ajar, swinging in the wind.
Oh no!
Ariciah's heart sank as she stepped inside, calling out for their mother and father. The house was in disarray, furniture overturned, and glass shattered on the floor.
"Mom? Dad?" Her voice echoed through the silence, but there was no response. She turned to Ellis, her hands shaking. "Where are they?"
Before he could answer, a low growl came from the hallway. Ariciah turned just in time to see their father stumble into view, his clothes drenched in blood, his eyes clouded over with a sickly yellow hue. He moved toward them with a jerky, unnatural gait, his lips curling back to reveal bloodstained teeth.
"Dad?" Ariciah's voice broke, but there was no recognition in his eyes, and no humanity left in his expression. Her father lunged at them with a guttural snarl, and Ellis barely managed to pull her back before the thing that had once been their father crashed into the doorframe.
"Run, Ariciah!" Ellis screamed, his voice cracking with desperation.
He shoved her toward the door, and Ariciah stumbled out into the street, her mind numb with horror. She heard the sound of struggle behind her, the wet crunch of bones breaking, but she couldn't bring herself to look back. All she could do was run, her vision blurred by tears.
The world she had known, its routines, its mundanity, its predictability, had crumbled in a matter of hours. And as she ran, she realized how unprepared she was for any of it. Her mother's lessons about propriety, about living a safe and controlled life, meant nothing in a world that had lost all sense of order.
She was just a writer, a scrap dealer, someone who had never learned how to fight or survive. The apocalypse had no place for someone like her. She ran until her legs gave out, collapsing against the wall of an abandoned building.
She gasped for breath, pressing a hand to her chest as panic clawed at her insides. Ellis's screams, her father's twisted face, they replayed in her mind, an endless loop of horror. She pressed her hands to her ears, trying to block out the memories, but there was no escaping them.
For the first time in her life, she was utterly alone. No family to turn to, no guidance, no rules to follow. Just the deafening silence of a world that had turned on itself.
Ariciah curled up on the cold pavement, her tears mingling with the rain that began to fall. She didn't know what to do, didn't know how to survive in a world that had stripped her of everything she once held dear.
As the rain soaked through her clothes, she clung to the last vestiges of hope that maybe, somehow, she could find a way to endure. But deep down, she knew that this was just the beginning of the nightmare, and that she was woefully unprepared for what lay ahead.