『When the world is on the edge of extinction, the first thing that dies is not humanity but morality.』
--Volume 1--
[CURSE OF THE UNDEAD]
Chapter - 1: A carrier crow
Ding~
"The take-out is ready."
A staff member in a bustling food chain, placed the large packed order on the counter.
A young man, around 18, stepped forward and picked up the parcel, ready to deliver it to its designated location.
He had an unremarkable appearance, with average looks, abyss-like black eyes that were darkened by dark circles formed below them, a consequence of his sleepless nights.
Neither was he tall, with a scrawny build and a height of 175 cm, and a look of tiredness plastered on his face.
He was someone that will never stand out in a crowd, in fact, no one would ever remember him after one glance.
Ironically, if this world were a world inside a novel... he would be someone who would be called a... forgettable side character.
And the name of this unremarkable side character was... Raven.
An orphan and a college student, recently enrolled, but more than studying, he spends his time leaping from one job to another, just to survive.
A fitting trait for someone like him.
A life of endless struggle with no way out.
He got on his motorcycle and throttled towards his delivery location.
Throughout the way, there was not a single ripple of emotion on his face.
'This sucks...'
He cursed, lamenting the pitiful thing called life he was surviving.
At the age where he should be spending his time, enjoying his youth... here he was, struggling to survive for even a day.
Reaching his location, he stared at the tall building before him. For some reason, he had a gut feeling that something bad was about to happen to him.
Still, he took out the order and headed inside the building, and when he was about to call for the elevator... There it was, his gut feeling.
[The elevator is under maintenance. Kindly take the stairs.]
'This fucking sucks...'
Even without coming in, he already sensed this long before. An expertise he had after facing countless of these things.
He was kind of used to this already, today, he had to take this order to the 30th floor.
But he wasn't going to quit, he never did in fact.
Amidst everything he had, which was all useless for him... he had one thing that helped him go through anything.
Even when he had to run away from his orphanage at the age of 12, he survived because of this.
Adaptability.
No matter what, he will survive.
He always has. He had to.
He did not wait for long, he had to finish his delivery, so he climbed the stairs.
Before he even reached the halfway point, his legs were starting to burn. But he had no privilege of stopping in between.
Exhaustion had become a part of his life for a long time.
He struggled, heaved, gasping for air. Sweating all over his body, he still reached the 30th floor after almost 10 minutes.
He inhaled deeply, trying to calm his breathing, and was about to press the bell, when suddenly his eyes wandered to his side.
He was at the corner side of the building and before him was a window, from where he could see how big the city he lived in was.
Compared to the small room he lived in, where even breathing was suffocating for him... this place was like a heaven.
As his mind began to compare his life and the lives of people here, his ears caught something.
Laughs, giggles and the loud noise of the music coming from inside.
Those voices felt oddly familiar. Voices of the young, living their youth to the fullest.
It was sudden, but not the first time, that feeling of being at the bottom of this world hit him once again.
A duality of life... on one side, there was he, a worthless lowlife and on the other side of the door, there was a completely new world which he could never step into.
Same world, same youth but different circumstances.
In that moment, he hesitated to even press the bell. A pang of envy hits him.
Why couldn't it be me?
He wanted to ask that, but he didn't, there was no point in that.
He knew at least that much. There won't come a miracle where he will get the opportunity to live the other side.
If there ever comes a miracle like that once, he won't let it go ever.
'Like hell it will.'
He spat inside his head. He never believed in miracles, and neither did he believe that good things would happen to him.
He was a hardcore pessimist. And he was never wrong.
Throwing away his dream of turning things around so easily, he pressed the bell.
Soon, the door slowly opened followed by the loud music beating inside the room.
A tall guy, handsome, with golden hair greeted him with a soft and easy smile, that could make even newborn babies smile.
"Wait, let me get the order first."
He said to the people inside not breaking the smile on his face.
Seeing that man, Raven felt as if he had seen this guy somewhere. Before he could figure out where, the guy before him said with excitement,
"Hey, I know you. We go to the same college, right? What was your name again? I never got to ask you before~"
When he mentioned that did Raven instantly remembered where he had seen this guy.
How does he not remember? He was the polar opposite of what Raven is.
Eric, the star player of the football team at his college. A first year like him, but that was all.
They had nothing in common, if you ignore that they were both male. Besides that, absolutely nothing.
Everyone loved and adored him. Girls were crazy for him and boys... some might be jealous, but everyone was friends with him.
Raven could see an example of his popularity inside the room. It was filled with his classmates. Obviously, Raven knew almost none of them.
'Hmph, it's laughable.'
He shook his head, and bluntly denied his words, "No, you got the wrong guy."
Just as he said that, someone else peeked through the side and came beside Eric.
"What's taking you so long? Hmm? Oh, look who's here? Isn't this our carrier crow? Let me snap your picture. The chat group will love it."
Raven did not even have to think hard to know who this guy was. Among his classmates, this particular person or to say his bully, was the only one Raven knew of.
He had picked Raven as his bullying object, marking him as an easy target.
Well... it actually did not go as he had hoped though. Raven beat the shit out of him.
Since his physical bullying did not work, he resorted to some underhanded means, spreading rumours about Raven among others.
As an outcast, Raven knew no one, so it did not bother him, but after that, he never had a chance to even make a single friend.
Eric shot an angry glare at him, when he took his phone out to take Raven's picture.
"Quit that, will you?"
That alone was enough to make him put his phone back into his pocket.
"I was just kidding, dude."
Well, he wasn't.
Eric then looked at Raven and spoke, "I apologise on his behalf." He sounded genuine. "But would you like to come inside? It's my birthday today. I would love it if I could have one more friend with me, Raven."
Even his words were sweet. So sweet that Raven felt like puking.
'Is he just pretending or is he just that kind?'
They were worlds apart. Two people who shouldn't even stand together.
Friends?
That was a long shot. They could never become friends.
"My job was to deliver your order and I am done here. I have more places to go."
He simply handed the order to him and left the place without saying goodbye.
Any more talk felt like a waste.
He headed down, his mind remembering what he saw inside that room again and again.
The more he recalled that, the more he felt it was right for him to leave as quickly as he did.
He rode his bike, heading towards his rented place. This was his last delivery for today.
He sighed as he slowly went towards his place.
'Friends? Don't make me laugh. I am just gonna go and sleep like a log today. Tomorrow will be a brand new day of slavery.'
He was ready to follow his NPC-like day once again, however, little did he know, from this moment on, nothing in his life or in the life of people living on this planet would be the same.
Suddenly, 5 colossal waves spread throughout the Earth.
A shock wave, visible to the naked eyes passed through him.
As soon as it did, his bike began to act weird and he went crashing down on the road.
The lights around him flickered and stopped. It did not just happen to him, but to everything that was on this planet.
In a matter of seconds, the entire planet had its signal cut off, and every satellite network and tech-based device was paralysed.
The apocalypse had come to this world and the one who started all this, came out tearing through the void.