Chapter One

On the West Coast of Australia, a group of British youths, in their early twenties, were celebrating their first taste of freedom as university graduates.

Electro-pop blasted through a Bluetooth speaker as the youths danced, drank, and roasted food over a fire on the beach. Though it was the summer holidays for them, Australia was cold in winter.

Thankfully, the temperature was around nineteen degrees allowing them to finally have their beach bonfire.

Free from their parents, they were able to let loose on a private section of the beach owned by the hotel resort, being overlooked by bodyguards.

Most of the youths came from prominent families. As such, they were used to being under watch and partied freely.

Floating in the ocean, a slight distance away, a young woman in a black wetsuit, stared up at the night sky. Faint stars twinkled, struggling to shine against the vibrant city's artificial glow.

Despite the location being a hotspot for both tourists and locals, it was quieter than usual.

A pandemic had broken out these last few months, resembling the flu. Since the government policies had shut down all commercial/entertainment buildings two days ago, they took their celebrations outside.

Faye, the young woman drifting lazily in the sea, had a connection through her local grandparents to the owner of the hotel they were staying at. This section of the city was nicknamed West Coast's Huang Dao (Golden Beach), where the facilities and architecture were heavily influenced by China.

Due to this, the youths had special treatment and were thoroughly enjoying each of the hotel resorts' entertainment facilities despite the ongoing pandemic.

Whilst lost in thoughts of the past, bony fingers clutched Faye's thin ankle, pulling her into the salty ocean's depths.

Reemerging, Faye splashed her 'attacker', Claire.

Claire spluttered the water from her mouth. "You dragged us to Australia to celebrate, yet you're still being such a bore," then playfully splashed back whilst pitifully pursing her lips.

Faye glanced over to the other youths, noticing her ex, Leo Rhodes, flirting with another girl from their friend's group, like he hadn't just 'broken her heart' over a month ago.

"Don't look," Claire came behind her covering Faye's blue-green eyes with her wet hands. "Laura's a slut anyway, I'm sure by tomorrow he'll have at least three S.T.I."

Pulling her friend's hands down to force an embrace from behind, Faye leaned against her, digging her feet into the sand below to ground herself.

"At least your S.T.I. check came back clear," Claire teased in her ear.

Faye recalled the memory of drunkenly shoving that text result in Leo's face, whilst loudly thanking him for always using a condom, with mortification. That had occurred the last time they celebrated at home, a week ago, and was the very reason she was spending this night stone-cold sober in her beloved ocean, even though it was cold.

"Everybody's first love ends, it's why it's called a first. Soon you'll have a second, a third, a fourth-"

Faye pinched Claire's waist under the water to shut her up.

"Fine, fine, be a prude, stay here and be miserable whilst he racks his numbers up and shoves it in your face…" Claire dramatically went on, "You're only twenty-one, there are several billion people out there, find one and shove it right back in his face."

Since Faye was bi-sexual, Claire was confident that her bestie could grab any hottie if she just put herself out there.

"Petty," Faye tutted, pulling Claire to squeeze her tighter, "maybe I should just date you since you love me so much."

Claire, her very straight bestie, pulled away, splashing Faye in the face.

"No thank you, those things on your chest are a total turn-off."

Faye chuckled, then submerged under the cool water to clear her thoughts.

Claire dragged her arm, forcing her to return to the land of the living, above water.

"Faye, somethings going on," Claire, for once, spoke in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

"What?" Faye followed Claire's line of sight to see the overly-enthusiastic couple, Alex and Sophie making out on a beach towel. Jessica was standing pointing and screaming something, but they were too far away to hear her words over the music.

Alex was a prankster, who just last Halloween had traumatized the group by staging a zombie prank in the nightclub his family ran.

So when they saw Alex lift off Sophie, staggering and bloody, both girls rolled their eyes.

"Isn't he tired of playing these childish tricks? The dude is twenty-three already. Mark my words, Sophie will dump his ass if he doesn't grow up," Claire cursed.

Seeing Alex stagger and attack Jessica, Faye's eyes narrowed, pushing her drenched auburn hair out of her face to see clearly.

"No, something's not right, that looks…" Real.

Faye staggered back, seeing Jessica torn to shreds as Sophie awkwardly clambered from the towel, her face and neck horrifically torn apart.

"Fuck!" Claire gasped, raising her hands to her mouth to block a scream.

The screams of their friends, however, swiftly drowned out the music as men wearing black suits ran forward, their guns raised and aimed at their friends.

Gunfire echoed in the crisp night air, tearing the two girls from their shocked stupor.

"What do we do?" Claire asked, her voice barely audible over the cacophony of hyper music beats, gunfire, and desperate, pleading screams.

"Inside," Faye glanced back at the tall, beige, stone hotel, "we need to find a safe place inside."

Neither of the girls had anything but the wetsuits they wore. Both girls weren't that tall, with only small frames, looking pitifully weak compared to most. However, they'd been raised as children of elites, forced to learn at least one athletic skill and basic self-defense.

As they moved closer to the hotel, they noticed the screams and gunfire weren't restricted to just their friends on the beach, but came from inside the hotel as well.

"Stop," Faye clutched at Claire's arm, forcing her still, "it's the same over there."

"So where do we go?" Claire panicked, gripping Faye's hand as if her life depended on it.

A little further North on the beach was the pier, which was also part of the hotel resort. It had amusement rides, stalls, etc. Due to the pandemic, it was also as empty as the North Wing.

"Swim to the pier," Faye ordered Claire, then turned to her friends scrambling behind the bodyguards on the sand.

"EVERYONE," she shrieked as loud as she could, feeling her throat tense in pain, "GO TO THE PIER."

A few of her friends glanced over, managing to hear her shrill voice, "GO TO THE PIER," she repeated. Her friends began shouting something to each other and the guards, then began running awkwardly North along the golden, sandy beach.

"Come on," Claire tried to drag Faye along in the waist-height ocean, but it was only when she was certain the others had heard her message and weren't going towards the hotel, did Faye follow Claire.

Both girls were on the university's swim team, so there was a tact understanding they would swim instead of running there. By the time they reached the only ladders on the South side of the wooden pier, their limbs were as numb as their hearts.

"Climb up the ladder and check it's empty up there," Faye instructed, looking back at the shoreline, where some of their friends had thankfully followed at a slower pace. Even if they were mostly athletic, drunkenly running on the sand was not an easy fete.

"OVER HERE," Faye shouted, to get their attention, "INTO THE WATER!"

Once they began entering the water, Faye climbed up to join Claire. The pier amusements were fenced in from the North Wing. Unlike the fence on land, the pier's fence was smaller, so they could climb it if needed.

They were quite deep into the ocean, using the emergency ladders normally used as a fire escape, or if a guest falls into the ocean by mistake.

"Only the little lamposts are lit. It looks dark and eerie, but it is empty," Claire sat at the edge, on the outside of the fence with her feet dangling.

Faye planted herself on the pier's edge, next to Claire, gripping her hand so tight that her already fair knuckles turned white.

Below, around six people were swimming closer. Behind them, swaying figures tried to follow, but once the water was waist height, the gentle waves were enough to knock them over. None of those who fell into the water seemed able to get back up.

Faye let out a heavy sigh of relief, then scanned along the coast for signs of those neither dead, crazy or... whatever they were. Since the new laws caused by the pandemic just two days ago had restricted people, it had luckily only been themselves and the guards on the beach.

So many people had complained, some even rioted, over these strict new legislations that impacted their 'freedom'. Faye found it funny how those same legislations may be the very thing that saved their lives as they remained safely tucked in bed at home tonight.

Not everybody was an essential worker or a rich brat abusing the law, like them.

One by one, the seven people climbed the ladders to sit on the edge beside them.

Much to Claire's disdain, Leo and Laura were among those seven, as well as David, Emir, and Poppy, from their friend group. Luckily the two guards, Daichi and Haofeng, were the ones assigned to Faye, so they were comfortable with them.

"You kids all okay?" The older and bulkier one of the guards, Daichi, asked whilst anxiously taking out his radio.

"Leo got bitten because of me," Laura pouted whilst lifting Leo's tan, muscular arm to show Daichi.

"Fang Ge, see to the kid," Daichi instructed, then continued to speak in Mandarin on the radio. When he received a response his stern eyes widened in shock, then he spoke back fervently.

Faye could only clearly understand the English word 'zombies', alongside picking up on the Mandarin words 'dead' and 'attacked me'. She spoke very little Mandarin despite having a grandmother from China.

As she was raised in a different country from these grandparents, there was little time and interest for her to explore this heritage of hers.

Her small family only came to her Paternal family on the West Coast of A Country in the summer and winter holidays, between school terms, every year without fail.

This year she had convinced her friends to come with her to stay for a fortnight at the hotel owned by her grandmother's friend.

Just last month she decided to agree to her grandparents' begging. They wanted her to study for her Ph.D. at a local Uni here. It wasn't just a graduation celebration for her, it was also a goodbye.

This reason was also why her family had allowed them to continue their holiday, despite the pandemic and then the legislation coming into place mere days ago.

"Daichi, what did they say?" Faye asked, knowing the others couldn't even speak a little Mandarin as she did.

"The hotel guard told us to remain on the pier until things calm down," Daichi climbed up and inputted a code on the gate that he was given over the radio. "The pier is empty, minus a few guards, so don't be scared and get in," Daichi walked in, holding the gate as he motioned his hands.