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Chapter 2 - Chapter Two: The City in Ruins

Max took a few steadying breaths, his heart still pounding in his chest from the encounter. His hands gripped the metal pipe tightly as if the weight of the weapon grounded him in this nightmare. He couldn't afford to let the panic overtake him—not yet, not now. He needed to think.

His gaze swept across the subway station, trying to absorb everything. The dim lights above flickered, casting long, stretching shadows that danced across the concrete walls. The familiar sounds of a subway station were gone—the low hum of trains, the rushing of commuters. The eerie silence pressed down on him, suffocating in its intensity. Abandoned backpacks and discarded items littered the ground, remnants of a world that had been and was no more.

His eyes caught a cracked sign on the wall, barely legible now. *Downtown*—a distant memory of a city that had once been full of life. But now, it was just an empty space, a forgotten relic of the past. Max's eyes narrowed. *How long have I been out?*

Shaking his head, he pushed the question aside for now. There were more immediate concerns. The subway station had no signs of life. No footsteps, no voices—just the occasional echo of the flickering lights above. The thick, pungent smell of decay lingered in the air, seeping into his clothes, into his lungs.

Max turned, scanning his surroundings for a way out. The exit. He needed to get outside. He wasn't sure what awaited him, but staying in the dark, lifeless station wasn't an option. His instincts screamed at him to move, to find the next step.

To his left, he noticed a set of stairs leading upward, a thin sliver of light peeking through the cracks of the doorway at the top. His eyes locked onto it. That was the way out.

Without hesitation, he made his way toward the stairs, his footfalls muted on the cold, worn floor. He passed the occasional pile of refuse—papers, broken glass, pieces of shattered dreams. He didn't dare pause to examine them. It was the stairs that mattered. The way out. The way to whatever lay beyond this cursed station.

With each step, the air seemed to change. The oppressive darkness lightened, the silence thinning as he neared the top. The shadows faded, replaced by the soft glow of daylight leaking through the doorway. Max's heart beat a little faster.

As he reached the top, the door creaked open with a soft groan. The sunlight poured in, blinding him for a moment. His vision was flooded with bright white light, and he squinted, shielding his eyes with his hand. The sharp contrast between the darkness of the subway and the daylight above made it hard to see, like walking into a blinding dream.

For a moment, Max froze in place, blinking rapidly, trying to adjust. His mind whirled, still grasping at the reality of what was happening. His head throbbed again, but this time, it was a dull, persistent ache, a reminder that this wasn't a dream. This was real.

Gradually, his eyes adjusted. The world around him came into focus, and what he saw made his stomach churn.

A city. Once full of life, but now... broken. Destroyed.

The streets were empty, eerily so, like a scene from a forgotten world. Buildings stood half-destroyed, their windows shattered, the steel frames of broken structures jutting out at unnatural angles. Cars were abandoned, scattered across the streets like forgotten toys, their doors ajar, some on their sides. The silence was deafening. There was no hum of life, no sound of distant conversations, no street vendors calling out to pedestrians.

Max stood at the top of the stairs, taking in the devastation. The city before him was a wasteland—a world that had once bustled with people, but now was only a hushed graveyard of the past.

A chill crept up his spine, but Max forced himself to take a step forward. He wasn't sure what had happened or how it all fell apart, but it was undeniable. The decay, the wreckage, the emptiness—it was all real. And the walkers... the creatures he'd just encountered in the subway station were only the beginning.

Max's boots hit the pavement as he stepped out into the open, the weight of the destruction pressing down on him. The bright sun above made the world seem too sharp, too real. His gaze was drawn to the horizon, where the once familiar skyline of the city now seemed like an alien world, twisted and broken.

He wasn't sure what the next step was. But one thing was clear—he had to keep moving. There was no going back now.

The wind picked up, carrying with it a faint, unpleasant scent that made Max's stomach turn. A reminder that the world he had once known was gone, replaced by something far darker. The dead were walking, the living were scattered, and Max was here—alone, with no plan, no clue what came next.

His eyes flicked to the horizon again, the vast emptiness of the city stretching before him. It was overwhelming, but it was also a challenge. A challenge he wasn't going to face standing still.

Max took a deep breath and began walking forward, his pace steady. He needed to find other survivors, find out what had happened, and most importantly, survive. He had no choice.

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**To Be Continued...**....soon like in a day..or few hours I my college classes rn

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