With the occurrence of the earthquake and the emergence of the tower that pierced the clouds as it ascended to touch the sky, humanity finally started to believe that the gigantic notifications which were projected to them earlier were indeed true to their content. However, it was too late. It was settled the moment that tower rose into the sky and there was nothing else they could do about it.
Zony accorded them one final message before the floating windows in the sky disappeared for good. What this meant was that any other thing they wanted to know about what was happening, they would have to figure it out by themselves through whatever means necessary for those who would have the guts and grit to do so.
[Time up!]
[The apocalypse begins]
[Survive]
A blonde girl was looking out through the window as the timer ran down to zero before the last set of messages appeared, lingered for a short while and disappeared for good. Like all of humanity, she could also not fathom the origin of this occurrence or what the purpose was.
Today was no different from every other day. She had woken up early as usual to make breakfast for her and her brother, Dave. After that, she had dressed up and done her hair before heading out for school. The only different thing she expected today was Dave updating her that he had finally overcome his 145 kg obstacle, and even with that update, this blonde girl, Cassie, missed it because of what was happening.
She had forgotten about her phone in the meantime and like the rest of the world, she was engrossed in what was happening. No one knew anything and so no one's input was useful to her at this moment. She was panicking as her fingers quivered before she refused to let it eat up her mind because she needed to be prepared for what was to come, that was what her senseis did teach her in martial classes. She learned to be adaptable to any situation and also maintain a sound mind, not one devoid of fear as that was impossible, but one that embraces fear and makes it an ally to make sound judgments.
The world was in danger and it only meant that humans were in danger as well. Cassie did not know what the stakes of survival were and what it would require. However, she had already thought of two very simple approaches to address this. The first was to move alone for now and the second was to find her big brother where he was. United, they will stand, and divided, they will fall. If the world was truly ending, Dave was the only person that has proven countless times that he had her back.
Cassie clenched her fists tightly to numb the trembling in her hands as she watched the windows vanish from the sky for good.
'I hope you are okay, Dave…' she thought, deeply worried for her brother's safety as well.
******
Now that the timers had gone to zero, nothing happened for the first few seconds, and this threw people into more confusion. Regardless, people were still fleeing for their lives just in case another earthquake was bound to happen. The atmosphere was chaotic and rowdy without any sign of order happening anytime soon.
A few minutes passed and then something strange started to happen. Multiple large circles of energy started to appear at random spots throughout the entire world. There were several across the seven continents of the world and they also appeared in every country, in every city. These circles showed golden light and gave off tiny sparks as they formed. From within its belly, beings of different species started to manifest at different spots.
These strange circles were portals — pathways for the outsiders, whom Zony had warned about, to enter their world. It was clearly an ongoing invasion of Earth #210797 and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Governments were all taken unawares and before they would deploy their militaries, cities in weaker countries were already falling into chaos as massacres ensued.
Cries filled the air and blood soiled the ground. Both humans and these outsiders killed each other, tearing at one another for survival. Old and young alike fought for their lives. Males and females finally achieved perfect equality as these species didn't care for one's gender role or sex. The only set of people who couldn't fight were babies and little children, but that didn't make these species discriminate against them; they killed everything that lived and breathed, animals included.
Just as everyone else across the globe was fighting for their lives against species of creatures that until now existed only in fantasy books and movies, so also did Dave and his gym gang get their own fair share.
Some of these portals brought in a specific type of race and some others were jumbled up with different species emerging from them. Right now, Dave went back a few steps as one of the portals opened right inside the gym where they were working out. It was the type that brought in one race of creatures, and as they emerged, the entire gym started to smell of decaying flesh.
Rotting flesh that was peeling off their skin, revealing muscles and bones and stenches that could kill if one inhaled it for too long. Their mouths drooled with saliva, and their eyes gaped as they dragged their bodies with only one purpose — to find anything except their kind, at least that was their intention, born from natural instinct, but they were not intelligent enough to be flexible with that. They didn't care who stood in their way as they would crush whoever, be foe or one of theirs.
A glance at these creatures, Dave could already tell what they were and he hoped for the sake of their survival that the rest of the people here knew what these things were.
"A-Are… those…" Phil mouthed with a shaking voice as he pointed at the group of creatures emerging towards them. "Are those zombies?!"
He was right.
They were zombies!
Dave looked at them and fired an order like high military personnel instructed his underlings.
"Quick! Grab anything you can fight with!"