'Every day's the same nightmare dressed up like reality. We're trapped in chains we can't see, slaves to a world that doesn't give a damn.'
Xender slouched at the back row, headphones dangling from his neck, staring at nothing in particular. Around him, students sat like obedient drones, eyes fixed on the lecturer scribbling formulas and babbling on about engineering mechanics.
"And so," the lecturer concluded, tapping his laser pointer at the projection, "that is how you solve the problem. I hope you all got that because it will be in your exams."
The lecture room was a theater of pretense. The air smelled of tension and boredom. Every scratch, every nod, screamed: 'I'm here… but my soul isn't.
Xender's lips curled into a smirk. 'Exams, huh? Cute. Like any of this crap matters once the world outside chews us up.'
"Damn," he muttered under his breath, "why's this engineering course so hard and full of so much theory bullshit? Can't we just make some noise in the workshop? At least I wouldn't be falling asleep."
He checked his phone. The time glared back at him. "Fuck. It's like time stopped."
The whisper slipped out louder than intended. A pair of girls at the corner giggled. The lecturer snapped, eyes darting toward the back.
"At the back, if you don't care about your futures, you can leave my class."
The girls froze, their smiles wiped off. Xender, though, grinned wider. "Perfect," he said, stretching as he stood up.
"I was falling asleep anyway."
A few gasps. Someone laughed. The lecturer hesitated, opened his mouth, then just… kept teaching, pretending Xender wasn't even there.
"How the hell did that bastard even make it to year two?" a student whispered to his friend.
Xender shoved his hands in his pockets, strolling toward the door without a care. "I love Varsity life," he muttered with a lazy grin. "Freedom tastes like skipping class to nap."
The heavy door clicked shut behind him.
His phone buzzed. A message from his girlfriend.
Lili
He thumbed the screen open, it was a video link.
He tapped it.
Grainy footage lit up his phone: a man in the middle of a crowded mall. Screaming. People scattering. The guy wasn't fighting. He was biting. Tearing into flesh like an animal.
"What the fuck, Lili?" Xender whispered, his grin fading.
He typed back fast:
>The fuck is this?
Immediately she replied.
Lili
>Can't you see what's happening in the video? What's wrong with that guy?
Xender shot back:
>I don't know. Check the comments, I'm off to take a nap…
"That idiot," Lili muttered under her breath. "Leaving class early again."
She shoved her phone halfway under the desk as the lecturer's droning voice filled the room.
"…and that is why viruses are deadly," he said, pacing slowly. "Some spread rapidly like COVID-19, measles, you can see the list here. Now imagine if there was no cure. No management at all."
"Well, we'd be screwed for sure," a student called out.
"Yeah," another laughed, "dead as fuck. Good thing we have science, right?"
Lili tuned them out, her eyes back on the glowing screen. The video she sent to Xender had already gone viral. The comments were pouring in:
>WTF, he just bit a woman...
>Holy shit, the woman's attacking people too!
>This can't be real. Some say this is staged.
>Lmao!...
Her stomach twisted.
"Ooooh," her friend whispered, leaning over, "you're reading love messages from Xender, huh?"
"What? No!" Lili hissed, quickly lowering the phone. "It's just… comments on a weird video."
"Let me see it."
"Fine, look..."
"Phones away, now." The lecturer's sharp voice cut them off. His glare pinned Lili like a nail. She clicked the screen off instantly.
Outside, Xender strolled across campus, hands in his pockets. Freedom felt sweet, until a car screamed around the corner.
"Shit!" He leapt back as the vehicle swerved, slammed head-on into a tree, and crumpled in a thunder of metal and glass. The windshield spiderwebbed. The car hissed and groaned.
"What the fuck…" Xender muttered, adrenaline spiking.
Security guards bolted from the gatehouse, sprinting toward the wreck. Xender followed a few cautious steps. The driver slumped over the wheel, a woman. Neck bent at an impossible angle. Blood painting the dashboard. Limbs broken and twisted like sticks.
"She's finished," Xender murmured, stepping back. "Holy fuck… a real scene, unfiltered chaos. Something alive… then gone, just like that."
The guards yanked the door open. "Damn, she's gone." One of them glanced at Xender. "Hey, kid, call an ambulance. And the police. Fast!"
"Kid?" Xender sneered under his breath. 'Do I look like a damn kid?'
He pulled out his phone anyway. Dialed 997.
A cold, automated voice: All lines are currently busy.
"The fuck?"
He tried 999. Same result.
"What the hell…?" he muttered.
"This is new."
"Kid!" one guard barked. "What the hell's wrong? Call the ambulance already!"
Xender opened his mouth to answer, then froze. The woman's corpse twitched. Her hand spasmed against the broken glass. Her head jerked upright with a sickening crack. And her dead eyes rolled open.
'Did I imagine that? No way. She moved.'
Xender's pulse was hammered.
"Hey! Did you call—?" one guard began, but then froze at the sound of bones twitching.
The woman convulsed, her head lolling unnaturally.
"Holy shit… she's moving. Lady, don't... don't move, stay calm," the other guard stammered, kneeling beside her. He pressed her shoulders, leaned close to check for breathing.
Her eyes snapped open, milky white, veined with blood. In one motion, her teeth sank into his throat. Blood sprayed across the wreck, hot and violent.
"Fuck! What the hell, lady?!" the second guard screamed, grabbing his partner's arm, trying to pull him away. The woman jerked again, lunging, sinking her teeth deep into his hand.
Both men howled. Xender stumbled back, the world spinning, bile rising in his throat. 'Holy shit… this isn't real.'
The woman staggered upright, bones cracking with each twitch, her body jerking like a broken puppet. Her head tilted toward the guards, eyes empty, hunger locked on them. She rushed. The bitten guard shoved back, screaming, barely holding her off.
Xender edged closer to the one with his throat torn out. The man was slumped against the car, blood pooling fast.
"Hey... hey, you okay?" Xender asked, voice low, almost knowing the answer already.
The man gave one wet gurgle. Then nothing. His chest stilled.
"Shit… he's gone," Xender whispered.
The second guard screamed at him, voice breaking. "Kid! Call the police! How the fuck is she even alive?!"
Before Xender could respond, the corpse at his feet twitched. A rattling growl tore from its chest. His head snapped up, eyes glowing dead white.
Then... he stood. As if death meant nothing.
"What the hell?" the surviving guard shouted, but too late. His partner lunged, tearing into him with gnashing teeth. Blood poured. Screams cut short.
The woman and the freshly turned man fed for only seconds... then stopped. Both heads jerked toward Xender, ignoring their half-dead meal, hunger locking onto him instead. Their gazes pinned him. Xender's body decided before his brain did.
"I ain't waiting for this shit!" he yelled, spinning on his heel.
He sprinted, lungs burning, sneakers hammering pavement. Behind him, the wet crunch of bones and animal snarls echoed.
'An accident… a woman… biting… they changed… just like that.' His thoughts spun with every step. 'If they eat me, I'm done. Period.'
Ahead, a cluster of students was walking toward the scene, drawn by the crash.
"Yo! What happened?" one laughed.
"Wait, I know that car. Haha—wasn't that our lecturer's?"
A couple of others laughed, phones already out for TikTok content, already live streaming.
"Run, you idiots!" Xender shouted, his voice raw. "Get the fuck away!"
But they didn't move. They didn't hear him. They were still laughing. And behind them, death was already coming. Xender's mind raced as his feet pounded the pavement. He had to get to the health block.
Behind him, the screams grew louder. Sirens howled in the distance. Smoke curled black against the sky. Cars collided, horns blaring.
He risked one glance back.
The student who'd laughed about hating the lecturer seconds ago—was now pinned under her. The professor's face buried in his chest, tearing flesh like raw meat. The security guards were no longer men, just animals ripping into anyone dumb enough to run close.
More students rushed in, trying to "help," but their screams turned to gurgles as teeth sank into skin. Some stumbled away clutching bitten arms, already doomed.
"Fuck this, I'm not dying here," Xender hissed, running harder than he ever had in his lazy-ass life. 'No way… this is like—Zombies. Is this a fucking Z outbreak?'