I stepped onto the rooftop and let the heavy metal door slam shut behind me.
No one was here.
Perfect. I needed a little peace.
I walked over to the rusty railing and looked down at the city.
It never stopped.
Cars filled the roads. People hurried along the sidewalks. Somewhere in the distance, a siren echoed between the buildings. Everyone had somewhere to be. Everyone was busy.
The city never stopped. It was a machine that was always moving, always shouting. It was alive, but in a cold, artificial way that made my skin crawl.
I let out a long sigh.
I was just another gear in that machine, wasn't I?
Right after graduation, I had stepped into this cycle. It had been three years of the same grey rhythm.
I woke up, forced down breakfast, and ran. I'd grab something for lunch on the way, arrive at this glass-and-steel cage, and work until my eyes burned. I spent my afternoons listening to the nonsense yelling by a mannerless beast I was forced to call a "boss." Then, I'd return to my apartment, eat something unmemorable, and sleep.
And for today's special, I managed to lose my apartment key this morning. Probably dropped it somewhere in the apartment building while rushing to work.
I let out a tired sigh.
Guess I'll have to deal with that when I get home. I just hope I don't open the door and find someone waiting inside my apartment with a big knife.
My colorless life continued, day after day, in this artificial city.
I reached into the paper bag beside me and pulled out a burger.
"Sorry, buddy," I said, looking at it. "Looks like you're my lunch today. I know someone made you with love and care, but I need to consume you now. Your sacrifice will give me enough energy to survive until dinner. Rest in peace....in my stomach."
Just as I opened my mouth to take a bite, another thought popped into my head.
Wait....
Is it really a sacrifice?
Mr. Burger never agreed to be my lunch. He had no choice. He was forced into this fate. This wasn't a noble sacrifice at all. It was murder, cold-blooded murder. Poor guy.
He was a victim, created solely to be eaten alive.
My extremely important philosophical debate came to an abrupt end when loud screams rose from the street below.
I frowned.
Another traffic accident?
I leaned farther over the railing.
A man lay in the middle of the road. Another man was on top of him. At first, I thought they were fighting. Then I saw blood.
The man on top wasn't punching him. He was biting him with a terrifying, animalistic rage. People rushed over, trying to pull the attacker away.
Cars stopped in the middle of the road. Drivers leaned out of their windows, shouting. Pedestrians gathered around, unsure whether to help or run.
The attacker suddenly turned and lunged at a woman who had grabbed his shoulder. She screamed.
The man lying on the road began shaking violently. His entire body twisted in ways that made my stomach tighten.
"What the..."
His movements suddenly stopped. He lay perfectly still.
Suddenly, He rolled over and bit the nearest person. Silence lasted less than a heartbeat. Then the entire street exploded into chaos.
People screamed and ran in every direction.
Those who were bitten collapsed within seconds. Their bodies shook violently before going still. Then they got back up.
Something was horribly wrong.
They didn't run like people. They dropped onto all fours. Their movements were fast... almost animal-like.
No. Not animals. Insects.
They rushed across the road with terrifying speed, chasing anything that moved.
"What the hell is..."
Two of those things suddenly broke away from the crowd and charged straight toward my office building. They crashed through the glass entrance.
The sound finally snapped me out of my shock.
The door!
I threw the burger back into the paper bag and sprinted across the rooftop.
My heart pounded against my chest as I grabbed the heavy metal door and slammed it shut.
A second later....Screaming echoed from the stairwell below.
I shoved the bolt into place as quietly as possible. Then I stood there, breathing hard.
A zombie apocalypse? Now?
The screams inside the building started loudly. People shouted for help. Furniture crashed. Glass shattered. Then, one by one, the voices disappeared.
The silence that followed was even worse.
Only the dry clicking sounds of those creatures echoed through the building.
I slowly stood up and looked over the rooftop railing again.
The city wasn't moving anymore. It was being hunted.
Those things crawled across the streets on all fours, their heads twitching as they searched for anything still alive. Blood stained the roads in dark streaks. Cars sat abandoned in the middle of intersections. Smoke rose from somewhere in the distance.
Everything I knew was gone.
I pulled out my phone and immediately switched it to silent mode. If those things were sensitive to sound, I wasn't taking any chances.
The news was still broadcasting.
The reporters looked terrified. They spoke about an unknown virus spreading through saliva. Anyone who was bitten transformed within seconds.
In summary, Those newly converted Red-Eyed Devils could admit you to their "No Vegan Cult" with just one bite.
I sat down against the rooftop wall and quietly finished half of my burger. It tasted like cardboard. but I needed the fuel.
My phone suddenly vibrated in my hand.
I jumped so hard I nearly threw it off the rooftop. In the dead silence around me, even the vibration sounded frighteningly loud.
I held my breath and listened.
Nothing.
I let out a slow sigh of relief. Thank God I switched it to silent mode. If that ringtone had gone off, it would've been the dinner bell for those meat-loving citizens downstairs.
I looked at the screen.
It was a video call from my parents. They were overseas, thousands of kilometers away from this nightmare.
I answered the call, keeping my voice barely above a whisper. "Hey, Mom, Dad."
"Aryan!" Mom almost shouted. "Why are you whispering? Are you alright?"
I smiled. "I'm fine."
Dad frowned. "You don't look fine."
"I've just survived another day at the office." I replied.
That wasn't exactly a lie.
The office really had tried to kill me today.
They kept asking questions. I kept smiling. A fake smile. They were safe there, the news hadn't reached them yet. There was no point making them panic while they couldn't do anything to help.
"I'm okay," I said quietly. "Really. Mom, I have to go now."
Mom looked like she wanted to say more.
Instead she smiled. "We love you."
I replied trying not to cry. "I love you too."
I ended the call before they noticed my hands shaking. Battery had suddenly become more valuable than money.
As darkness swallowed the city, I finished the rest of my burger in complete silence.
Morning arrived with cold air, smoke, and a strange sweet smell drifting through the city.
I gathered my courage. I couldn't stay on this roof forever.
I looked at the rooftop door.
I didn't have the luxury to use the stairs when my meat loving coworkers in downstairs were waiting eagerly to greet me. I'd love to convince them to become vegetarians. But they wouldn't listen to me, would they?
So....I chose the harder route.
The climb down wasn't heroic. It wasn't graceful. It was terrifying exercise in gravity management.
Back in college, parkour had been fun. Jumping over benches. Climbing walls. Showing off to friends. Now every movement meant the difference between living and becoming someone's breakfast.
I grabbed the rain pipe and slowly climbed down the side of the building.
The metal groaned beneath my weight. Every sound made my heart race. By the time I reached the fourth-floor window ledge, my arms were already burning.
I had to stop on the narrow window ledge.
Below me, three Crawlers were feeding on a body. From here, I finally got a proper look at them.
They weren't like movie zombies. They looked... broken.
The virus had completely destroyed their ability to walk upright. Their backs were permanently bent, and they moved on all fours with disturbing speed. Their arms looked longer than they should have, their knuckles scraping across the pavement as they crawled like oversized, hairless predators.
One of them suddenly looked up.
My heart nearly stopped. I almost let go of the ledge.
The news had called them Red-Eyed Devils, but there was nothing supernatural about those eyes.
The whites had completely filled with blood. Every tiny blood vessel had burst, turning the entire eye into a deep, horrifying crimson. They weren't glowing. They were bleeding from the inside.
The creature opened its mouth.
Instead of growling, it produced a wet clicking sound deep in its throat.
Thick yellow foam and saliva constantly dripped from its lips, hanging in sticky strands before falling onto the road below. It swallowed awkwardly, almost choking on the chunk of flesh in its mouth before forcing it down.
The virus hadn't taken away its ability to swallow. It had simply made every swallow look painful. As they fed, they left behind long trails of saliva mixed with blood.
I realized they weren't searching for brains. They were attacking anything that moved.
The virus had erased everything human inside them and replaced it with one overwhelming instinct.
Bite. Infect. Feed.
Even from that much above, the smell reached me.
Blood. Rot. Sweat.
And a strange, sickly-sweet odor that made my stomach churn.
Then I noticed something else.
Little bit of water had collected in several puddles across the road. One Crawler reached the edge of a puddle. It stopped. Its head twitched violently. Instead of stepping into the water, it slowly walked around it before continuing toward the body.
I frowned. Weird. Maybe it just didn't like getting its feet wet.
I pushed the thought aside.
Right now, staying alive was far more important than solving strange zombie habits.
I stayed perfectly still until they finished feeding and disappeared into the ruined streets.
Only then did I continue climbing toward my apartment.
Every broken piece of glass beneath my shoes sounded far louder than it should have. Every movement made my heart race.
One mistake. And there won't be another chance to make another mistake.
Almost an hour later, I reached the second-floor balcony of my apartment building.
I grabbed the railing and pulled myself up, my arms burning from the climb.
Putting aside the fact that I don't have my apartment key with me. The front entrance was out of the question. If there were Crawlers inside, that narrow hallway would become my grave.
So I followed the outside of the building instead.
Keeping my back pressed against the wall, I carefully shuffled along the narrow concrete ledge beneath the windows. The drop below was enough to kill me. I chose not to think about it.
As I passed each apartment, I glanced inside. Some looked untouched. Others were a complete mess. A television was still on in one living room, quietly showing static.
Another apartment had its front door hanging open, the hallway beyond stained with dark, dried blood. Not a single voice. Not a single sign of life. Only silence.
Finally, I reached my apartment.
Yesterday morning, before leaving for work, I'd left my kitchen window slightly open to let some fresh air in.
For the first time since this nightmare began. My bad habit actually saved my life.
I slowly pushed the window upward.
Screeeech...
The sound felt painfully loud. I froze. My heart stopped. I waited.
Five seconds. Ten.
Nothing. No clicking. No footsteps. No Crawlers.
I climbed inside as quietly as I could and landed on the kitchen floor.
The moment both feet touched the ground, I gently closed the window and locked it.
A long breath escaped my lungs.
I was home. I was safe.
Or so I thought....
The wooden floor creaked behind me.
My body went completely still. Someone else was here. The air carried a faint floral scent. It definitely wasn't mine.
Slowly, I turned around, fearing the worst.
But my heart stopped in a completely different way.
A young woman stood in the middle of my kitchen.
She wore a bright yellow top, almost glowing against the dull colors of the apartment. Her auburn hair was messy, as if she'd been running for hours. Her face was pale with exhaustion. She didn't look relieved to see me.
She pointed a kitchen knife at me, her hand steady despite the fear in her eyes.
"You...." she said, her voice sharp despite how tired she looked. "Are you bitten?"