Shattered glass, the clamor of banging and hissing against my apartment wall- the noise growing decidedly imperceptible as the seconds pass by; Sitting up from the couch I was reposing myself on, I sling my legs over and down to the ground, quickly standing to my feet; The sounds from next door were completely inaudible now- nonexistent...
...from next door at least- Pandemonium from beyond the apartment complex is all I can presently hear. I could perceive numerous varieties of the commotion beyond: the inexhaustible din of humans screaming, their intonations unabridged with panic and terror... there were also deep and grave guttural groans of what sounds like a huge pack of wild animals encompassing my location, police sirens reverberating throughout the city... Ominous and sinister, the echoes were uncanny, grim and horrendously foreboding.
Endeavoring to be as feasibly hushed that I am currently able to, I make my way to the dining table of which I had deposited my phone upon the charger the previous night, before I fell asleep. Grasping my phone tightly in apprehension of dropping it and making a loud sound, I turn the screen on- my eyes widening to the immense bulk of missed calls and numerous messages that I had received from my family and friends; it may have been a good thing that I had put it on silent beforehand...
Briefly reading some of the messages along with some newsfeeds, I unravel a relative understanding on what is currently occurring- not simply just around myself, but around the entire world! The news and messages- the surrounding howling of what appeared to be wild animals... the screams that were, even now, being cut off mid-way, the scratching on my door... it all led to one dreadful conclusion: the undead have arisen, people are being killed and turned into the walking dead... today was the beginning of the apocalypse: zombies!
Wait- scratching at my door? Hurriedly, yet with soft footsteps, I make my way toward the front door and peer through the peephole, keeping my breathing as shallow and quiet as possible- from here, I see him- or it...
His face was disastrous, the skin a ghostly grey- peeling off and falling, one eyeball dropping from its' socket, the guts swaying outwards and swinging side-to-side... I could even see the brain on exhibit from the undead man's skull!
'Ugh...' I stumble backwards frantically, one hand clamping my mouth shut and the other holding my stomach to prevent the bile from rising and influencing me to vomit, I force the bile back down, 'What the hell is happening- well, I know... but how? Why? What should I do...' my thoughts spinning in perturbation, my mind and will were not prepared in the slightest for any of this.
Creeping away from the door, though my living room and past my kitchen, I enter my bedroom silently, I make my way to my closet and pull it open slowly, grabbing my black hiking backpack, stuffing a few pairs of similarly dark clothes inside. I then go to my bedside table and intake one pill of my anxiety medicine before stuffing the container full of a cotton ball so that it doesn't rattle. I subsequently place the container within the backpack's top pocket, along with a small notepad and some pencils... I zip the pocket closed after ensuring that my portable charger-box and cord are in there too, in addition to a map of the city that I received when I first moved here a few months ago... 'If I knew this was going to happen, I'd just have stayed with my family...' I groan inaudibly.
I sit on my bed for a brief moment and browse through the internet while I can, attempting to discover all that I can about what is happening around the world, the weaknesses and strengths of the undead- anything that I can use against them to protect myself: I learn that the undead are indeed attracted to noise of any sort, they are able to see but only from up close as their vision has degraded...
From what I gathered however, some survivors seemed to have witnessed different types of the undead... their mobility and capabilities appear to be based on what their physiology was like when human... For example, one post spoke of a zombie that was slow moving, only walking- it seemed to have reduced mobility in its' joints, possibly due to arthritis or joint degeneration... the same post told of another zombie that could only crawl, possibly due to a problem with its spinal cord.
Hell, some of these forum threads even spoke of differing creatures like reptiles and animals turning into the undead... cats, dogs... snakes, bears... oh god, imagine a Komodo-dragon undead...
Flinching at the image of that as it arises in mind, I shake the thought off and continue to put in more useful items into my backpack. In the main portion of the pack, I put can-goods that will last a while, ensuring they are wrapped in my clothing so that they don't clatter together as I move... I put in some water bottles and juice, a can opener, a bit of nylon rope and the first-aid kit from my bathroom. I zip the bag up and then on the side pouches I insert an eight-pack of AA batteries, a metal container I can use to boil water, and a hand-radio that requires lithium batteries- I'll need to search for those elsewhere as I didn't have any here... besides the ones already inside of the radio.
Ensuring that my backpack isn't overly heavy and won't slow me down if I need to run, I find myself satisfied with its weight. Placing the hiking backpack on the couch for a moment, I go back into my bedroom and quickly undress. Throwing on a full black outfit and boots, and afterwards putting on an, also black, hoodie along with a dark utility vest over it.
Crouching next to my bed, I reach and grab my toolbox from underneath, taking out some of the tools I may need later: a Swiss Army multi-tool, flint & steel lighter, a multi-bit screwdriver, duct tape, a flashlight requiring AA batteries, a hand mirror I would usually use to fix cars- I can check my corners with this... and finally, the combat knife that I had received from my father for my twenty-third birthdays two years ago- I strap it to my right leg.
'Alright, this should be good for now, I can always scavenge the stores and houses later.' I think to myself, strapping the tools into their secure locations on my utility vest before heading back into the living room and putting my backpack on... 'And lastly...' I go to the corner beside my front door and seize my metal baseball bat, 'I suppose I'm as ready that I can be now.'
Pulling out my phone from my front pocket, I shoot some texts to my family to ensure whether or not they are alive and safe, 'hopefully they are fine, but I can't worry about that right now- I must ensure my own survival first'.
Sliding my device back into my pants pocket and zipping it inside, I utilize a brief moment of time to listen, taking note that the scratching on my door is now gone. Shifting my way to the peephole, I look through and see nothing there... but just to be sure, I also peel back my curtains just enough for me to look through, checking the corners around my door: all clear.
'Okay... my apartment is on the third floor of the building... there are ten rooms per floor with a total of five floors, hmmm... its' mid-day so a majority of the building should be out and about at their work or in school when the outbreak spread- God bless their souls', I ruminate as I steel myself, my hand reaching out and grasping the door handle, unlocking it quietly and slowly opening the metal door that separated me from the hell outside of my temporarily safe apartment.
Gripping my bat and composing myself for an encounter, I survey the hallway outside: no corpses in sight yet, neither moving nor still, however there was a large abundance of blood staining the ground, walls, and railings... the door on my right- my neighbor's apartment of which the hissing and banging were coming from earlier is lying on the floor in fragments.
Slipping out of my apartment room quietly, I make sure that my door is left open a crack just in case I need to sprint back inside and escape a chase from the undead. I move toward the next-door neighbor's apartment, taking a glance inside and becoming witness to its' gruesome conditions- blood was all over the room, splattered to the surface of the shelves and couches, the television... it was everywhere, yet there was no sign of the people that were drained of such gore.
I step into the apartment, mindful of the shattered glass from the window be, especially with the door permanently unable to be closed, I scour the apartment of anything I can take and use for my own survival; I also keep an ear out for any noise that is too close for comfort.
Shifting through the cabinets, I take some extra can-foods and wrap them around in a towel that I find nearby before stuffing them into the main pouch of my backpack with the rest... I then search through the refrigerator and take the last water bottle they had, deciding to unscrew it now and take a couple of sips before sliding it into a thigh-pocket on the left side of my cargo pants.
'Hm...' I realize that the door to the bedroom is shut tightly and there are barely audible scratching sounds coming from the bottom of it, 'A crawler? Or maybe an undead animal... I'd rather not deal with either right now.' I decide to exit the apartment right then and there, no use risking anything, especially my life of which I very much so wish to keep... however before I do...
"Meowwww~" light and gentle, coming from behind the bedroom door- a sound unlike any of the groans or grumbles that one would expect from an undead, 'I don't know if a cat would still be able to make such a noise if they were dead... right?'
Hesitating, heart pounding frantically in my chest- as it had been since before I left my room- I take a deep breath and 'gird up my loins'. Step by step, I make my way back to the door, my metal baseball bat still clenched in my right hand, I twist the doorknob and open it just a bit before stepping back and preparing myself... both my hands now gripping the bat and ready to swing downwards with all my might.
Time seems to be at a standstill as the seconds tick by with me waiting in that posture, my gaze settling upon the ground ready to beat an undead to a pulp... twenty seconds... thirty... finally the door creaks open, louder than I could possibly imagine in this quiet apartment complex.
Stepping out of the room is... a cat... a normal black cat with green eyes just like my own- it looks upwards at me in awe of the stranger in its' home.
"Hahhh..." I exhale the breath that I didn't even know I had built up, 'It was just a damn cat... a living cat, not undead...'
Releasing my double-handed grip on my bat, I release the tension in my shoulders and crouch down gently to pet the cat on its head and whisper to it, "You're in for it now kitty, there's nobody to take care of you here anymore..."
"GRAAAHHH!!" a deep groan suddenly sounds from behind me.
"Shit!" I curse, pushing the cat back into the room and entering along with it, shutting the door closed with a slam and locking it, "Shit, shit, shit!" Internally panicking, I move the nearby dresser in front of the door. "Shit!"
Seconds later there is a multitude of banging against the door, 'It won't last long... I need to find another way out- ah! The balcony, of course...' every apartment besides the bottom floor's rooms a had a balcony in the bedroom- 'I could use it to get away from here...'
Hastily moving towards the sliding glass door that leads to the balcony, I open it and look around, my eyes damn-near bulging out of my sockets at the complete and utter mayhem that I could currently see happening across the city: Fires were breaking out everywhere, cars were crashed into each other- some even flipped over completely... screams of help and of death could be heard, gunshots... 'People' chasing one another, bodies strewn across the ground everywhere... it was hell.
Shaking my thoughts clear for the second time today, I pay attention to what I actually need to do- survive. Looking towards the balcony to my left, not too far away, I calculate the distance and strength required to make the jump... 'I can definitely make that, but not with this pack on me...'
The pounding on the door behind me was getting louder moment by moment, the frames of the door beginning to come apart, 'I need to hurry!' I quickly take my backpack off and sling it over to the next balcony- it lands with a loud thump, and I prepare to make the jump myself... but then I involuntarily think about the cat stuck here with me... 'Fuck!'
Re-entering the bedroom, I scour the room for the animal, finding it hiding beneath the bed in fear... Not even taking the time to appease the animal, I scoop it under my shoulder like a football and then grab some of the cat-food cans that I see on the scattered on the ground, stuffing them into my cargo pants and zipping it shut inside.
"If I didn't love cats..." I murmur, reaching the balcony once more and tossing the cat unceremoniously to the next balcony, which of course it lands on its feet, hissing at me for the uncourteous behavior I had been showing it.
The door hinges finally giving in, the dresser was starting to be pushed away from the door, no longer truly blocking the zombies' entry, 'There's no time...' I wanted to prepare myself to make the jump, but I'll have to just go for it!
I climb over the railings, my feet resting on the outskirts of the balcony, and then I make the jump- my feet slipping as I do!
"Ah!" I exclaim, almost falling to the pavement from three stories up... thankfully, I am relatively built if I must say so myself: my left-hand grips on the railings of the balcony I jumped to- I hurriedly slide my baseball bat onto the balcony surface before using both hands to pull myself up from the dangling position I was precariously in.
Feet touching the ground, I pick my baseball bat back up, sliding my backpack on also with smooth movements before I look through the balcony's sliding glass door, almost wishing that I hadn't... but well- if I didn't, then I wouldn't be able to react.
'Well, I might not make it out of this one alive...'