The city smelled like exhaust fumes, fried food, and rain-soaked asphalt. Ethan Cross shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie and trudged down Maple Street, trying to keep up with Leo, who was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Dude, you're too slow," Leo teased, flicking his backpack strap. "We're gonna miss the first bus if you keep lagging."
"I'm not slow," Ethan said, squinting at the gray sky. "I'm… strategic. Tactical pacing."
Leo snorted. "Yeah, tactical. Let's hope your tactics save your butt in the apocalypse someday."
Ethan rolled his eyes, but he smiled. They had been best friends since grade school — partners in mischief, homework sabotage, and all kinds of stupid dares. Leo had a way of making even the dullest mornings feel like an adventure.
They reached the bus stop just as Lila leaned against the railing, scrolling on her phone, one eyebrow raised. "Late again, genius?" she said. Her grin was sharp but friendly.
"Strategically late," Ethan corrected, shrugging.
Marcus, taller and more solid than the rest, gave a curt nod. "We should move. Bus waits for no one."
Sammy, the youngest of their little group, was fiddling with his earbuds, looking nervous as usual. "Do you think it's going to rain today?" he asked.
"Does it matter?" Leo said. "We're getting wet either way, little man."
The four of them — Ethan, Leo, Lila, Marcus — laughed, and Sammy smiled despite himself. Their group had a rhythm, like pieces of a puzzle: Leo brought the chaos, Lila the wit, Marcus the muscle, Ethan the brain, and Sammy the heart.
For now, their biggest worry was school assignments, upcoming exams, and who owed who lunch money. The city felt alive but ordinary — the noise of cars, the chatter of pedestrians, the occasional wail of a siren somewhere far off.
Ethan's eyes scanned the street like always. Something made him twitch — a feeling he'd learned to trust.
A man across the street was coughing violently, clutching his chest, stumbling into the sidewalk. People avoided him like he had a permanent stench, but Ethan's gaze lingered longer than normal. There was something… off about the way he moved, uneven and jerky, almost unnatural.
"Hey," Ethan said, nudging Leo. "See that guy?"
Leo glanced. "Yeah, probably just sick."
"No," Ethan muttered. "Watch him."
The man coughed again, this time spitting something dark onto the sidewalk. He looked around, panicked, then bolted down an alley. No one followed.
"Whatever," Leo said, dragging Ethan toward the bus. "If he's some zombie or something, we'll deal with him later."
Ethan didn't respond. He couldn't shake the feeling that the city was… subtly wrong. A tiny itch at the back of his mind that he couldn't ignore.
---
The bus rolled through the streets, filled with students, office workers, and a few early commuters. Ethan stared out the window, watching people move in patterns that suddenly felt unnatural: a man pacing in the middle of the sidewalk, a woman frozen mid-step with her grocery bag swinging uselessly, a group of teens laughing too loudly as they shoved each other.
"It's just morning chaos," Leo said, leaning back in his seat. "Don't start your apocalypse paranoia already."
"I'm not paranoid," Ethan muttered. "Something's off."
"You think everything is off," Leo said, grinning. "Remember last week when you swore the pizza guy was a secret agent?"
Ethan groaned. "That was tactical observation, thank you very much."
Lila rolled her eyes. "Your tactics scare normal people."
Sammy piped up, tugging at Ethan's sleeve. "Why do I feel weird today? Like… uneasy?"
"Probably because you're walking around with a bunch of idiots," Leo teased.
"Shut up, Leo," Ethan said, though his attention drifted back to the street. The uneasy feeling gnawed at him.
---
By the time they got off the bus, the city felt heavier. The usual noise — horns, chatter, distant sirens — seemed sharper, almost louder, like it was pressing in on them. The newsstand by the corner displayed a headline that Ethan almost missed:
"Mysterious Flu Cases Rising Across the City"
He squinted. "Look at this…"
Lila leaned over. "Flu? Big deal. People get sick all the time."
"Not like this," Ethan muttered. The article mentioned strange symptoms — aggression, delirium, high fevers. Nothing serious yet, but… it sounded odd.
Marcus frowned. "We shouldn't panic. Probably just a few cases."
"Maybe," Ethan said, but his gut twisted. Something told him that this was just the beginning.
---
The day continued normally — school, casual lunch at a corner café, playful banter. Leo convinced Ethan to try a new sandwich he claimed "would blow his mind," and Lila teased Marcus about his overly serious posture as they walked through the park. Sammy chased pigeons, laughing, unaware of the unease creeping into the city.
But the small signs kept appearing: a man coughing violently on a bench, a stray dog acting strangely, people hurriedly wiping down their hands on anything they could find.
Ethan noticed them all, quietly.
By the time they were heading home, the unease was palpable. Streetlights flickered, traffic slowed inexplicably, and a low murmur of panic seemed to rise from the crowd.
Ethan caught Leo's eye. "Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?" Leo asked, oblivious.
"That… wrongness," Ethan said. "Something's coming."
They didn't know it yet, but the ordinary city they had taken for granted was about to vanish. By tomorrow, the streets would belong to something else entirely — something hungry, violent, and unstoppable.
And for Ethan and his friends, life as they knew it was over.