ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ 𝓣𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 ་༘࿐

~ 1 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓫𝓮𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮  ~

The world ended a long time ago, though most people still hadn’t realized it.

I knew. Of course I did. I’d seen the fires, the smoke, the way the sky turned a sickly, dark orange at dawn. But that was only half of the wreck.

The grocery store was a ghost of its original self, yet it was still standing. It had been one of the few places spared from looting when the apocalypse began. Its doors were rusted, the windows half smashed and drenched in grime, but it was my only chance at getting supplies, even if it was only a handful of scraps.

I crouched low behind a broken down truck parked near the entrance. Scanning the ruined street, I saw nothing but abandoned cars, boarded up storefronts, and a few desperate souls wandering aimlessly.

My parents had made sure I understood clearly:

- don't trust anyone.

Greed, fear, and desperation had consumed our once kind neighbors and friends beyond recognition, then there was the infection. It was my absolute paralyzing worst fear.

The world was full of monsters, yet all I wanted was to be happy. I just wanted to feel safe for a single day.

My breath caught in my throat as loud, heavy footsteps echoed nearby. My heart hammered against my ribs. An elderly man came into view, dragging a squeaking cart behind him. I froze, holding my breath as he passed, his eyes staring blindly at the ruined pavement. I didn't dare move until the scrape of his boots faded into the distance. Only then did I allow myself to exhale.

My stomach growled a hollow, painful ache. It had been days since I had last eaten but this store... I knew it had to hold something. Even a few dented cans of soup would give us a few more days, even if I had to skip my share entirely.

I eyed the entrance. No security guards. It felt too quiet, too easy. That’s what made it perfect. I adjusted the grey, torn backpack slung over my shoulder and slipped inside, staying low.

I’ve done this a hundred times, sneaking into abandoned houses, tearing through drawers for scraps. But this felt different. The air was heavier. People had become entirely unpredictable.

The interior was cloaked in shadows, lit only by flickering, dying fluorescent lights. I stepped carefully, trying not to make any noise. The aisles were mostly bare, the freezer section completely gutted, pools of stagnant dirty water breeding mold in the corners but the shelves still held a few tins of vegetables, fruits and soup.

I wasn't picky. I grabbed everything I could, shoving it frantically into my bag. I had known from the moment society collapsed that things would never go back. The old world was dead. Yet, every time I managed to steal something, a flash of desperate triumph sparked in my chest.

I had to survive. It was all I had left. I needed  to protect my family.

CRASH

A loud noise echoed from the back of the store. My heart leapt into my throat, my entire body turning to stone. Someone else was here. I ducked behind a towering shelf, sucking in short, ragged gasps to keep quiet. Peering around the corner, my blood ran cold.

A figure emerged from the storage room doorway. Tall, broad shouldered, moving with a sluggish, unnatural pace, a knife, clutched in his hand.

My pulse skyrocketed. What if they're infected? I needed to move, and fast. I zipped my bag shut, grabbed the straps, and bolted low and fast toward the exit. I didn't look back.

The evening air hit me like a wall as the door creaked shut behind me. Heavy thunder rumbled across the bruised sky, threatening rain. I didn't care. I had food. I had what I needed. I just needed to get home.

As I hurried down the dark, twisting streets, a choked sound drifted from a narrow alley.

"Hello?"

"H-help me... h-help me... h-help!"

A figure stumbled out of the shadows, collapsing forward. He was covered in dark, glistening blood that soaked his side.

"Hezekiah?!" My breath hitched. I dropped my bag and sprinted forward, catching him as he fell into my arms. "W-what... what the fuck happened?!"

Hezekiah’s body felt terrifyingly limp, his blood sickeningly warm against my skin. His eyes fluttered weakly, his fingers clutching my arm with a desperate, crushing grip.

"They... took everything... didn't leave me... any-" He gasped for air, his face twisting in agony. "M-my... M-my family..."

"Come on, let's get you home. Hold on, fuck... don't die on me, Kiah. Don't do this to me." Panic clawed at my throat as I hoisted him over my shoulder, dragging him through the front door. I dumped my bag in the kitchen and hauled him straight to my room, gently laying him on the bed. My hands shook as I grabbed bandages, trying desperately to stop the bleeding without hurting him.

"Hey... c'mon, say something."

"H-hm..." he mumbled, his skin pale as paper.

"You're going to be okay. Of course you will. I know you're strong. You'll get through this."

Tears spilled over his lashes. "N-no... I-I'm n-not... I'm going to d-die... I don't want to... die..."

"Hezekiah, you are not going to die, bloody hell, don't..." I let out a shaky, broken sigh, pressing a hand to my chest. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you, you hear me?"

He stared up at me, his eyes vacant. "Kiah...?"

"You mean the world to me Lorie, just know that." A weak, watery smile touched his lips.

"And you mean the world to me, you idiot."

He winced, groaning as he tried to shift.

"Oi, stay down. Just relax, okay?"

"M-mh."

I pulled a soft, fluffy blanket over his shivering frame. "Who did this to you?"

He took a deep breath. "I... it was... a m-monster. Tall... with long limbs... l-like a spider. Its joints were bent at all different angles. They chased a-after me... they were s-so fast..." He shook violently, the memory clearly traumatising him.

"Hey, don't think about it. Just relax. I'm here. You're safe." I stroked his black hair, trying to soothe the terror radiating off him.

"It was h-horrifying," he wept. "My f-family...!"

"Hezekiah..."

"My little s-sister..." Tears poured down his cheeks. I froze, completely shattered by his grief.

"Hey, it's going to be okay..."

"NO IT'S NOT!" he snapped, his voice suddenly sharp enough to cut glass. "It's n-not going to be okay, Lorie. You don't understand. You need to understand... t-this world isn't safe. We're all g-going to d-die."

I blinked rapidly, stunned by the venom in his tone.

"Y-you haven't s-seen what I've seen... and f-fucking hell, I d-don't want you to. But this is our life..." His eyes flickered strangely.

"Hezekiah, you're scaring me."

A dark, chilling chuckle rattled in his throat. "I'm sorry... but Lorie, you're not safe." His eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious.

I stood there in the stifling silence, my mind racing. Then, a sharp shout from downstairs shattered the quiet.

"LORIE!! GET DOWN HERE NOW!"

My head spun as I ran downstairs. "M-mother...?"

"We need to go. It's not safe here. Tomorrow, we are leaving."

"Mother?"

"Do what I say. Pack your bags, pack your brother's stuff, and tomorrow we leave," she commanded, her voice frantic, laced with a terror I had never heard before.

"W-where are we going?"

She paused, exhaling a shuddering breath. "Somewhere that isn't here."

"Mother, we can't just leave!"

"No, we are not staying here. If we stay here, it's over for us. Your father..." She cut herself off, her jaw clenching.

"What?"

"Your father is gone, Lorie. And if we don't leave, we will be too."

Tears welled in my eyes. In the living room, Milo was crying his eyes out. Mum rushed over, scooping him up and cradling him tightly against her chest. She looked straight into my eyes. "Lorie..."

"Yes...?"

She hesitated, swallowing hard. "Ah... put your brother to sleep for me, yeah?" She managed a tight, fragile smile and handed him over to me.

"Of course." I forced a smile back and carried him upstairs, sitting beside his small bed as I stroked his soft dark hair. He blinked his heavy, dark green eyes sleepily.

"No matter what happens, your big sister will always be here for you, yeah, little man?"

He let out a tiny yawn, melting my heart. "Love you."

I kissed his forehead, whispering it back, before heading down the hall to my room where Hezekiah lay. I curled up in the corner of the floor. This was it. We were running tomorrow into the unknown. But anything was better than this rotting town, right?

ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ ♡ ་༘࿐

I bolted awake, my heart slamming against my ribs. It wasn't morning yet. The digital clock on the bedside table glowed harshly, 3:00 AM.

Panic spiked through my veins. The space beside me was empty. Hezekiah was gone.

"H-Hezekiah...?" I called out, my voice trembling in the dark. Silence.

I scrambled out of bed, my bare feet cold against the freezing floorboards. I rushed downstairs, the air pressing in around me, thick and suffocating with dread. The house was dead quiet.

Until I reached the living room.

From the kitchen came a low, sickeningly rhythmic, wet sound. I crept forward, peering around the kitchen doorframe. My breath caught, and the world violently tilted off its axis.

"W-what... the f-fuck..."

There, in the center of the kitchen floor, was Hezekiah. His hands were coated in dark, glistening crimson. My mother’s lifeless body lay sprawled beneath him, her eyes wide, frozen in a silent, eternal scream. Hezekiah was tearing into her flesh, his teeth ripping through skin and bone like a wild animal. My legs turned to lead.

"K-Kiah...?" I choked out, a hand flying over my mouth as sick surged up my throat.

Hezekiah’s head turned with an agonizing, slow creak. When he looked at me, I thought I was going to throw up. His eyes were dark, hollowed out pits of absolute nothingness, glistening with demonic hunger. Blood smeared his face, dripping down his chin.

"I told you... you're not safe," he muttered.

It wasn't his voice anymore. It was a low, guttural rasp that scraped against my soul.

It was him, yet it was a total stranger. The boy I had protected, my best friend of a lifetime... gone. Replaced by a waking nightmare.

Tears blinded me as I stumbled backward, my heart shattering into dust. "W-w-why...?"

"HEZEKIAH WHY?!" I finally screamed.

He tilted his head like a curious insect, a bloodstained smile stretching unnaturally wide across his face. He rose, his movements jerky and wrong. His fingers twitched, ending in sharp, black claws that dripped onto the floorboards.

"I had no choice..." he choked out.

The real Hezekiah flickered for a split second, begging through the monster's eyes.

"I had to... I couldn't stop myself..."

I backed up until my spine slammed against the kitchen wall. The stench of copper and decay filled my lungs. "Hezekiah, please... you have to stop this," I sobbed, shaking uncontrollably, paralyzed between deep grief and primal terror.

"I don't want to do this," he murmured, his voice breaking into a pathetic whine before snapping back. "But I have to. I can't go back. The hunger... the power... I don't need you to protect me. I don't need anyone..."

He lunged.

I tried to fight, throwing my hands up, but his strength was terrifyingly inhuman. His fingers dug like iron talons into my arms.

"I can save you!" I cried out desperately, clawing at his wrists. "You're still in there, I know you are! Please don't do this, please don't.... Please..."

He laughed. "You should've never helped me..."

Snap.

An agonizing jolt ripped through my arm as his teeth sank deep into my flesh. I screamed, thrashing wildly as pain shit through me, but he only bit down harder, I was going to turn into a monster... Like him. Or so I thought.

"Now look at what you've done," he whispered against my bleeding skin. "If you hadn't played the hero... if you'd just left me to die in that alleyway, we wouldn't be like this. You'd still have your family, and I'd be dead with mine."

"H-hez.." Before I could pass out from the pain, there was a deafening roar of heavy engines. Headlights flashed blindingly through the kitchen windows, painting the walls in frantic white streaks.

Hezekiah jerked his head toward the light, snarling with a furious hiss. "Shit."

The front door blew inward with a deafening crash. Men in heavy tactical combat gear flooded the house, weapons raised.

"Step away from her!" a soldier bellowed, leveling a rifle right at Hezekiah's chest.

Hezekiah didn't blink. With a terrifying screech, his claws tore into the floorboards as he launched himself sideways. In a blur of motion too fast for the human eye, he shattered the living room window, spraying jagged glass everywhere as he vanished into the rainy night.

"No!" I shrieked, lunging forward after him. "HEZEKIAH!!"

Strong hands grabbed me instantly, yanking me back from the broken glass. Soldiers swarmed around me, their voices a blur of sharp orders.

"You're safe now, kid," one of them murmured.

Safe?  My family was dead. My best friend was a monster. My entire world was reduced to ash.

"HEZEKIAH, NO! GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, thrashing violently. I clawed, kicked, and fought against the soldiers with every ounce of strength left in my body, desperate to break past them. "Let go of me! Let me go!"

"Restrain the girl!" a commander snapped.

Before I could land a hit, heavy arms pinned my wrists behind my back, forcing me to my knees as another soldier stepped in front of me.

"He's not your friend anymore!" the soldier yelled over my hysterical crying, holding me firmly by the shoulders. "Whatever he was, he's gone! That thing is a monster!"

"No! You don't understand!" I sobbed, tears blurring my vision as I fought like a trapped animal against their grip. "He's still in there! I talked to him! He's not just some...!"

"We don't have time for this," the soldier interrupted grimly, signaling the others to clear the rest of the house.

"We need to move out.."

My breath hitched. "B-but... my little brother... Upstairs. I have to get Milo..."

The soldier froze, exchanging a heavy, devastating look with the medic beside him. He looked back down at me, his expression softening into profound, crushing pity.

"The boy upstairs, kid..." The soldier’s voice dropped low, breaking the last remaining piece of my heart. "He's gone."

The world stopped spinning.

"No..." I breathed, the fight instantly draining from my bones, leaving behind a hollow, rotting shell. "No, you're lying... you're lying!"

I stopped fighting. I let them drag me out of the house, past the ruins of my life, shoving me into the cold metal back of a military transport vehicle. The doors slammed shut, plunging me into pitch blackness, punctuated only by the low rumble of the engine and the crushing weight of absolute silence.

I closed my eyes, wishing the darkness would swallow me whole.

When I finally opened my eyes, the harsh glare of fluorescent light burned my retinas. I wasn't in a hospital. I was in a cage. A heavy, reinforced prison cell.

Heavy chains bound my wrists to the concrete wall.

A woman stood outside the barred door, watching me with cold, calculating eyes.

"You're not as good as I thought you would be, kiddo."

"W-what... what the fuck?" I choked out, rattling the chains against the wall with all my might. "THE SOLDIERS SAID I WAS BEING TAKEN TO SAFETY!"

"Not when you've been..."

She started, but I cut her off, screaming through my tears. "THEY TOLD ME IT WAS SAFE! YOU LIED!"

Helen smirked, entirely unfazed. "Safe? Kid, you aren't here because of some evacuation. You're caught up in something you can't even fathom."

"What is going on? Who the hell are you? Where am I?!"

"My name's Helen."

"WHERE AM I?!"

"You're in containment," she said smoothly.

"When I get out of these chains, you're going to pay for this!" I snarled.

Helen just rolled her eyes. She walked up to the bars, reached through, and roughly grabbed my arm, shoving my sleeve up.

My breath caught. There, glowing faintly against my skin, was the deep, jagged bite mark Hezekiah had left. The blood had dried, but the edges of the wound looked wrong, unhealed, yet entirely free of infection.

"You see that, kiddo?" Helen whispered.

I tried to yank my arm away, shivering. "D-don't touch me."

Helen's expression hardened into stone. "You were bitten by one of them.."

"One of what?!" I demanded, my voice cracking. "Hezekiah, he was..."

Helen cut me off with a short, bitter laugh. "You think you're special? That you can save him?"

The coldness in my chest spread, turning my blood to ice. I strained against the heavy iron chains, the metal biting raw into my wrists. "...I'll get out of here. I'll find him. I'll—"

Helen turned on her heel, offering a dismissive wave over her shoulder. "Good luck with that, kid. They all think they're different until it's too late."

"I'm not like them!" I screamed fiercely to the empty corridor. "And I'll never be!"

Helen didn't even look back as the heavy steel security door slammed shut and locked with a final, echoing *clank*. The click of her heels faded away into the suffocating quiet, leaving me alone in the dark.

I stared down at the jagged, uninfected bite mark on my arm.

What have I done...?