Chapter 1 — My Only Wish Finally Came True
I woke that day like I did every other. The first thing I noticed when I woke was the stench. The stink of rot, mold and a faint familiar hint of a vanilla. I faintly smiled and opened my eyes. My room was… organized.
While I tried my best keeping things cleaned and put away, it was very obvious that this, small, dirty studio apartment was not up code.
Hell even ignoring the leaky sink, the mold on the ceiling, and the faint stain on the floors in the kitchen that seems like blood, the main issue was that besides a mattress, a folding chair, and a cardboard box I didn't have any other furniture.
Sure there was room for a couch or a T.V. or even some decor… but I couldn't afford any of that. I didn't even have a fridge. After all the only I eat is when I'm at work and I sneak some snacks.
I get up and check my older phone. Now I didn't buy this, my best friend, my ride-or-die, she gave this to me a few years back so that he would stay in touch.
As my thoughts flash to my only friend, the one person I trust in this world and how… eccentric she can be, I can't help but smile. Sadly I don't have time. My phone shows not only 3 missed texts from Meso, and 1 missed call from the bank, but that it. It's already 1pm and my shift is set to start at 2pm so I get up and get ready.
The humid, stagnant air feels dry against my skin but I don't mind as I rush to shower and change. The water was lukewarm almost cold, but I didn't care. I learned not care in this shitty world…
…
I stepped outside, inhaling the afternoon air. It smelled faintly of burning trash and wet asphalt. A stray dog scurried across the lot, sniffing at a tree. Somewhere, someone shouted. I didn't care to turn to look, I simply started walking to my old bike, unchaining it, swinging my leg over my bike. While it had more duct tape than metal at this point, but it still rolled. That was enough.
The streets weren't too busy this late, but I noticed the news trucks moving slower than usual, a few emergency sirens wailing somewhere off in the distance—probably a car crash or accident. People weren't panicking yet, there was no sense of urgency. It was just the usual noise of a world slowly rotting. Just last week another politician was shot by a support of a different political camp.
Last month there was the whole government shut down thing that lasted weeks, and I even remember when it came out that the president was best friends with a perv, but we still kept him in office since he claimed 'he never knew'.
Shaking may head as I let out an long exhale I refocus on riding. Who care about politics or the top 1%. If it was up to be I'd just burn this whole down. I thought back to what Meso said once. Once during one of our 7 hour long calls she said that if she could, she hit a big red button that would destroy the world all while laughing. I had asked her what she planned on doing after, but she only said that: 'I'm not sure, I never wanted to be alive in the first place so id be happy dying with the rest of the world.'
I rember it well because then I played devils advocate and asked: "what if you were the only one to survive, like because you destroyed the world you were then cursed to live for eternity?"
She was silent for a while and after a few minutes when I thought she had fallen asleep she whispered, 'Elion… I'm gonna guess your next question would be something along the lines of you dying while I live forever… I- I wouldn't want that. If it was between hitting the button and letting you die as well, leaving me alone… well I won't be touching any end of the buttons anytime soon then…'
It felt like there was a lot to unpack, after all I knew about Meso past and I was surprised that she wound't hit the button. I mean theres no much button in the first place, but yea… It felt weird hearing someone say that they don't want me to die. But it was a good weird.
I finally was done zoning out as I almost rode past the gas station where I worked part-time— Nation's FuelStop, a stupid, corporate name that meant nothing. I didn't care that I was a unnamed cog in the machine. It paid the bills, and the job was easy.
I clocked in and as the morning guy left I did my normal shit that usually do; Fridges restocked, snacks shelved and organized, a bathroom clean, and counters wiped. I was all done within the hour, now its just waiting and my least favorite part, the customers.
…
Inside, the station smelled like gasoline and stale coffee, a combination that should have made me gag, but after months of it during my nose hairs. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead, flickering lazily, casting harsh shadows over aisles lined with chips, soda, and cigarettes. The doors beeped when customers came through, and the register rang with each purchase, a monotony I went through without thought.
My mind wandered, drifting back to my "home", to the day soon ahead, the day when I would finally feel free... Freedom had a price, and I wasn't sure I was ready to pay it... not yet so I needed to work and save up more.
I knew Meso said she wanted to help, but this… I need to be the one who eventually kills him…
It was then— at 5:28 pm in the evening on a Tuesday— that everything changed. I was just sitting behind the counter waiting for the next customer that bought condoms or needed 20 on pump #7 since the card reader was broken. As I was doomscrolling watching a stand-up comedy roast a drunk heckler—
And then it hit me.
Something… different. A sharp pain ran through my veins. It felt almost like a burning, I stood and stagger back only to collapse onto the floor as the pain increased. My head felt like it split in two, it was like someone shoved a knife directly into my skull, into my brain. I lay curled on the ground, my vision blurred and everything seemed white. Pain unlike anything I'd ever known, like my body itself was rebelling and rejecting my very soul.
I couldn't breath, I forgot how to. I could't think. My thoughts were slipping, it was hard to think straight. Then right before I lost consciousness I heard something.
Ding.
I heard it clearly, a singular note in the chaos and pain, like someone calling my name. And then nothing. Darkness swallowed me whole as I blacked out.
…
When I woke, the station was… quieter. Too quiet. My head pounded like the worst hangover ever, my ears rang and my vision swam, but I sat up slowly, tasting blood from my bitten tongue. Everything in my body felt different- sharper, heavier, yet faster at the same time. My senses were… heightened? I could hear the hum of the lights as if they were loud fans, I could see sharper like the colors were brighter, deeper almost, and I could smell… blood? My vision flicked to the window, and I froze.
Outside, the streets weren't normal. Smoke curled lazily from a burning car a block away, and that wasn't the only smoke, it seemed like half the city was engulfed in flames and chaos.
People screamed, running in all directions, some jumped out of cars, others lay sprawled in the middle of the street there condition unknown. Others staggered, wrong almost jerking, like puppets on invisible strings.
My stomach clenched, but not with fear… with anticipation.
The radio that connect to the PA system behind the counter flickered. An Emergency broadcast?
"ALL CITIZENS MUST REMAIN INDOORS UNTIL MILITARY POLICE ARRIVE. DO NOT ENGAGE WITH—"
Static cut the message short, as the power went out, I'm not sure if the battery died or the connection was cut off or hell even the whole city could be in a power outage from the looks of the chaos outside.
And then the banging began. Heavy, frantic, desperate.
I spun around. A man, bloodied, head bleeding, eyes wide and unseeing, pounded on the glass door. "Arhghrhahghhhhhhhhh!" he half-screamed and half-yelled.
I stepped forward, shouting as I opened the door like the naive idiot I was, "Hey! Are you okay? What the hell is going on—"
"ARG. ARG. ARG." No response. His mouth opened, and only a guttural, animalistic sound came out.
He lunged.
I barely had time to jump aside, stumbling back into a display of snacks. Chips and candy cascaded to the floor. I shouted again, trying to reason with him. "Hey! Stop! Tell me! What's going on?"
ARG. He lunged faster.
Instinct took over. I ran to the back, grabbing the baseball bat that was kept behind the counter. My managers words echoing in my head from the first day I started. "This is were we keep the baseball bat."
"Baseball bat? Why?"
"Self protection of course!" She has said so proudly, continuing with "If you ever need to use it just swing at the body, as long as you don't aim for the head then I promise I'll support your defense in the courts if its ever needed."
My hands shook, but my grip was firm. I didn't even think as I got into position to swing with all my might. Yeah sorry Miss Lisa, I'm aiming for the head
"Back off!" I yelled, louder than I intended. "I won't hold back!"
He didn't care. He came at me like a predator, teeth bared, eyes wide and unseeing. I swung. The bat connected with his skull. He fell, tiles cracking under his weight, blood spraying like some horrific waterfall. My heart pounded, adrenaline flooding me, but something unnerving washed over me.
It was almost like an out of body experience. Like I was still myself but I didn't feel any fear, not for my life nor for about to end someone else's.
He rose again, staggering, lurching toward me, still making that guttural noise.
I swung again. Harder, like I ment it. This time it came down like an axe into wood. He collapsed and did not move.
I stared at him, with my chest heaving. While I was breathing heavily I didn't feel anything. No guilt. No relief. No satisfaction. Nothing. Just… calm. A strange hollow emptiness where something should have been. I knew I was always a it different from others, or as my mother like to say 'special'. But I didn't think I was some emotionless psychopath… I wasn't like Meso.
But I did feel a certainty, one that I would do it again. Kill again. I held no regret besides the fact that I lost a source of information but I had an theory already of what was going on.
Ding.
The system—or whatever this was—pinged me, but I mentally flicked off the system. I wanted to see things for myself first—with my own eyes, trying to comprehend it. My hands dripped blood from contact; my bat was sticky. My mind… was clearer than it had been in years.
I looked outside. The streets had erupted into chaos. People screamed, cars burned, bodies littered the asphalt. Somewhere, a man was dragged down by… whatever that creature was now.
And then I smiled.
A broken, desperate, strained smile. But a real smile, a happy one.
A strange, hollow happiness that surged through me. My heart raced—not from fear, but anticipation, excitement. This was it. My freedom, the chaos. Nothing but pure survival. Nothing but relying on my own strength.
I whispered to myself, almost reverent:
"A zombie apocalypse… my only wish… finally came true."
I stood there, bat in hand, watching the world burn, the chaos unfolding. Every fantasy I'd ever had, every daydream of power and freedom, every single time I cried myself to sleep praying to a god or the devil to hear my voice... and a world was finally giving me what I asked for... no it's giving me what I deserved… and this was real.
"...heh... eheh... ehehe..."
"Hhh—ha... haha... hahahAHAHA—"
"AHAHehehahewhw"
And for the first time in my life, as I stood there with the world burning around me I laughed, a cruel, manic, joyous, laugh. One from the bottom of my soul. Because I finally got my wish.
A/N: hey guys heres a new book I've been working on. If you like it or hate pls leave a review or comment.