CHAPTER 2: WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO THE WORLD?

(15 years ago)(Alex's journal)

28th January 2085

Our world has faced an apocalypse. Everyone has either died or transformed into zombies or mutants with fungal growth on their bodies. The fungi covered their eyes too, which made them blind. But they had exceptionally good senses of hearing. Only a handful of survivors in different parts of the world have survived. We(I, Leo and Emily) are one of them. It has become too dangerous to go outside without wearing a mask as the spores released by the decaying zombies have mixed up with the environment. The cheerful and packed roads of Texas are now deserted and lonely. The hustle and bustle of the city, the noise of car horns, street music…, everything was gone.

There is a fallout shelter in Texas, in which I live with Emily, Leo, and other survivors. We barely have any resources left, we all are struggling for our lives. The government had promised to give us food supplies...but you know the government. they are now using all of their money to colonize mars and leave everybody(like us ), struggling to our death.

This apocalypse had taken place due to a bio-weapon "CAKE-32" that was intentionally launched by the "Hexagon Private Limited" whose leader was a psychopath.

CAKE-32 stands for "Callan Anderson Kills Everybody-32".

( 32 meant that killed 32 million people while researching and experimenting on them)

Callan Anderson was his name. He aimed to kill everyone who had insulted or offended him. He wanted to bring a revolution and start a whole new world. He sure was very brutal. Rumors say that he was a cannibal!! (Ewww!). People who had LUCKILY survived his experiments told our shelter leader the truth.

they said that he amputated people's body parts to see how much suffering can they bear

Survivors of survivor told us that one day for fun he locked people into gas chambers and released Nitrous Oxide (aka the laughing gas)in it.

"I JUST WANT TO ENTERTAIN YOU GUYSS, HA HA HA HA HA!!!!" were his words to the people there as he watched them laugh to their death. His tone was very devilish.

Survivors of survivors said that they Callan Anderson made other prisoners watch all that, to make them sure about their inevitable destiny. As soon as, the death count reached 32 million, he released everybody saying

"32 IS MY LUCKY NUMBER!!"

(32 Ways To Die was a song on Sum41's album Half Hour of Power)

(He actually practiced all those methods )

People say that he loved medieval torture methods.

Now, the bioweapon has taken over the whole world.

There was a huge scarcity of food and medical resources but there were some places,(like the mall), that had stores of food.

These stores of food were hidden and were established by the government before they ran off to Mars. It was created by the government to prepare for the worst conditions. (was their words)

But we knew the truth...

"Stop writing Alex," Emily said.

" WE have other lobs, you know."

As our food supplies were running out, I asked Emily and Leo to come with me to visit the mall which was crawling with zombies and mutants. The mall also had spores in it but there was a big room in it which is sterile.

Emily said," I am ready but is it safe to go without the elders?"

"Yes, no worries!!"I said. (I was also scared)( my feet were kind of trembling)

Leo already started preparing for our adventure. He had quite a big bag. It was soo big that I could fit in it. I wonder what he carries inside it. He is truly a very mysterious boy. He wore a mask and packed few pistols with silencer (As he knew that they had a good sense of hearing). We did the same but instead of firearms, we carried health supplies, glucose bars, etc. We also carried airtight boxes to store the food.

I always THINK that our interests, habits are pretty the same AND I read in a news article that people with the same interests like each other.

It is a known fact that any boy would fall in love with that beautiful face, blonde hair, and attractive eyes. She has that perfect face that every girl desires. Emily also has a scar on her forehead which was "awarded" to her when she defended herself from a zombie. It truly compliments her beauty. I don't know what "she" feels about me. Let's leave that topic there only!!

She kissed her parent's photo with great emotions. She had a very good bond with them when they were 'alive'. She had tears in her eyes. When I asked her to forget it and to move on, she said: "Alex, you will never feel the pain of losing a beloved one."Saying that she left the room, banging the doors.

Leo seemed to be angry at me for making her sad.

After an hour, we assembled at my room to plan for departure. I opened the door and there lied our shelter.

Our shelter was a very big one. It was like a dome but underground only a very small part was above. Imagine you are walking on a road and you saw a stone-like thing, you would probably be tempted to kick it. NO NO NO, you might end up hurting yourself as below it IS OUR SHELTER. Just like an iceberg.

Many interconnected hallways lead to various rooms and lobbies. It's just like a maze. If anybody is unknown to this shelter, then he will end up getting lost in it. Most of the walls are painted in yellow color, which, over time, are now very dull.

There is also the main hallway, where all survivors(including me, Emily and Leo) often assemble for dinner. For me, my favorite part of the day is dinner time. During the dinner, our elders often tell us their stories of bravery. There is a very scarce number of children in our shelter. The people here are 'nice' but not very nice. One day, Uncle Smith nearly let me get killed by a wolf as he wanted me to get self-reliable.

So, when all three of us were walking down the hallway, Emily said to me "I am sorry Alex, I didn't mean to hurt you back then. I couldn't just control my emotions."

I replied" Don't worry. I have already forgotten about it. I am also sorry for the things I said to you. I am just an idiot."

Leo is like our big brother. He smiled at me and said," LEO IS HAPPY."

We kept this 'adventure' surreptitious, as it would not be approved by the elders. But unfortunately, our rooms were very far from the exit, so our escape plan had many difficulties. Our main aim was to not be noticed by the elders.

Then, with great stealth, we escaped from the shelter.