A Zombie Story

Chapter 1: Ravaged

VOLUME 1: Decay

August 5th, Saturday, 9:32 p.m., Eldorado City.

Finn paced back and forth inside a tiny studio apartment, his stomach growling with hunger and his head pounding from the lack of sleep.

He sneaked a peek through the window blinds, muttering irritably, “Can’t you guys just leave already?” Different types of zombies filled the streets. Fat, thin, tall, and short. They wandered about, attacking anyone they came across.

Then he went to the bathroom and turned on the faucet but when nothing flowed out, he couldn’t resist the urge to kick it over and over again until it broke. “And no water too!”

He curled himself in the bathtub and bit his nails until they bled. “I’m gonna die,” he muttered, his voice trembling. “I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die.”

After some time, he pulled out his phone from his hoodie pocket. Only 3% battery left. He couldn’t charge it anymore either because the power went down three days ago. The last message he got was from his brother, Sam: “I’m in Lucena. Safe in a bunker. Stay safe, Finnegan. Where are you? You’re safe, right?”

The message was from last year right before the signal went down. He tried to get to Lucena the fastest that he possibly could. He was stuck in the remote corner of the country when the apocalypse started, he was backpacking. No more trains and other forms of transportation so he had to either walk or steal abandoned vehicles that still had fuels in them.

The furthest that he got was Eldorado City, still a ten-hour, non-stop drive from Lucena but his hunger and constantly deteriorating mental health finally got the better of him.

“F*ck it! I can’t die here.” He convinced himself.

He stood up and gathered all the cardboard boxes, papers, and any cloth he could find in the apartment. He still had three unopened rolls of duct tapes and using it, he covered his vulnerable parts like his neck and limbs. The rabies spread through biting, that's why.

He searched the place for any possible weapon, preferably a gun, but all he could find was the dull knife in the kitchenette drawer.

“Ha! Better do something than die miserably of hunger. Still gotta see Sam.”

He gave himself a quick look in the bathroom mirror with the help of the few streaks of moonlight that managed to slip through the gaps. “I look like sh*t.” He criticized himself.

Picture this: A 23-year-old male with sunken cheeks and bloody, chapped lips. Layers of bags under his bloodshot eyes. Smelly with long dark hair that looked like it was smothered with lard. Yellow teeth with plaque and tartar build up from not brushing for over a year. Plus the cardboard cutouts he duct taped into his neck and limbs. Yeah! He definitely looked like sh*t. If not, worse.

When he felt like he was ready, he took a deep breath and went out. His goal was the abandoned mall one block away.

The moment he stepped outside, the zombies instantly became restless. A fat zombie that was nearest the door approached him so he paused and held his breath. A fat female zombie with a literal non-existent neck as flesh and skin were ripped off, only the bone and some few remaining skin at her nape held her head up.

It looked at him in the eyes, seemingly confused so he did what was best in that situation. He let out a low, guttural moan and staggered forwards with an uncoordinated gait. Sometimes dragging his feet or purposely stumbling.

Zombies are dumb. They will mistake you as one of their kind if you sound and move like them. But of course, you also have to look and smell like them. That was why Finn completely abandoned hygiene. He had to smell like them, like decay.

A few got in his way to “examine” him but they eventually gave him a pass. He continued like that until he arrived at his destination.

The once bright and inviting exterior has now faded. He closed the door immediately the moment he got in, as silent as possible.

The floor, once polished, was now marked with mysterious stains. Shelves that used to be full of products were now empty and broken, making the mall a ghostly reminder of what it once was.

He slowly walked to look for any food remaining. He would be grateful even with expired chips but there was none. Even a piece of candy would have sufficed but the place was ransacked clean.

“Should I check the second floor?” He internally debated. “Nah! How could any food be in there?”

But he still went anyway. However, this was when things got hairy. He was already on the fifth step when he heard moans from below him. He froze, and he slowly looked back. He met eye to eye with a one-eyed, muscular zombie and to make matters worse, it realized he wasn’t one of them.

It growled, its bubbling saliva oozed out from the corner of its mouth. Breathing faster and faster by the moment and after three seconds, it lunged towards him.

Instinct took over him and he sprinted upwards, faster than he ever did for the last month, as if he hadn’t been starving for days. 

“Ah, sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!” He cursed under his breath as he ran for his life. But in less than just a minute, it caught onto him and sunk its teeth into the layers of cardboard in his neck. He raised his hand holding the knife, swung it into an arc, and stabbed it into its maggot-infested eye socket. 

But it was futile. It ripped the cardboard off and sunk its teeth into his neck again, for real this time.

The world slowly spun around him followed by the indescribable pain all over his body. And when he didn’t move anymore, the zombie left him. Just like that.