OUTBREAK

Somewhere dark and foggy with the smell of dust and mold, a person enters a mansion in order to take shelter from the rain. A normal person hiking from a mountain trip. That person looked for the owner of the house but instead met abominations that craves for their flesh.

"Stay away!" they shouted as they point their survival knife towards the monster. It's belly opens up like a mouth, ready to devour the hiker. The monster pounces the hiker. The hiker tries to dodge but hits the door on their back.

Their heart tightens, their breaths go quicker, their muscles stiffens. Their eyes are locked on the belly jaws of the monster. Only they can do is scream in horror.

"Noooooooooooo!!!"

"Don't!" they shouted. Their hand is up on the air with the knife. They sweat in buckets and their teeth are chattering. They calmed down after a while. They hide their face with their hands. "Not again." they mumbled. There is only the muffled sounds of traffic that they can hear in a small apartment room. There is no clock to tell time but the sun outside tells it is daytime. "I should get ready." they said.

The hiker wears a set of clothes. A black tank top, a black bra, a grey and white striped down jacket, a long blue denim pants, a black panties, a brown hiker shoes, white socks, and her white cap. She only applied lipsticks on her lip and moisturizer on her skin. She checks her wallet if she has money. There is a driver's license with a name and a portrait of her face. The name is "Sara".

Sara said, "I should be cautious out there. The riots have gotten out of hand." Outside her apartment room are doors that are boarded up with planks and nails. The people are nervous and afraid because of the riots that are happening. Crime rate has increased since ten months ago. Rioters are getting more violent to the point the Police had no choice but to resort to brutality to quell this rage. Blood painted the whole city red, and the cries of terror silenced the whole mass. Sara has a survival knife hidden in her pocket. It is an old worn-off blade that remained sharp even after three years of use.

Police sirens and shouts can be heard in the distance when Sara reaches the ground floor. The police are reinforcing the streets. Rioters were attacking from the 14th street and the 16th street, throwing molotovs to the Swat Teams. Loud bangs from the M16s echoes in the air. Sara continues to walk and sees the casualties that are scattered all around the floor. Other people may panic at this gruesome scenery, but to Sara, this kind of death is normal compared to the horrors she had faced before. "I should keep going." said she.

Walking like a normal citizen, Sara is able to pass through the police who are wary to the Rioters. She has to act normal. She knows what happens if someone is suspected to be a Rioter. The police is obligated to shoot on site if necessary. People all around in the city are anxious and afraid as days go by. This had been a terror they had never faced before. And there will be more to come. Only they can do is to pray to the god above the heaven for salvation and the path to paradise.

Sara reaches a bar called "Payree Bar". It is a local bar that serves vintage alcohol. It is a good place to forget the outside world. She finds an empty seat by the counter and prompts to call for the bartender.

"How can I serve you miss?" asked the bartender politely while using the mixer to mix the beverages.

"One shot of tequila please." replied Sara.

The bartender nods and prepares her a shot of tequila.

Tequila is Sara's second favorite alcohol to drink. She won't order that one drink that will remind her what she wants to forget. She takes a shot of the tequila and pays the bartender for it. "Thank you for your patronage." said the bartender with a approving nod.

Sara listens to the rumor amongst the customers in the bar. News about how the Rioters are becoming feral and the police are getting overwhelmed by them. There is even the rumor about how the government simply not finding the solution of the problem, creating negative comments to their governship in the city. All they wish is that this riot will end.

Sara is thinking about ordering more tequila when a strange man sits beside her. At first there is nothing going on. But when the strange man begins to speak, Sara's eyes shrink and she takes one good look at the stranger. A hooded man with bandages wrapped around his body. They talk with whispers yet Sara can understand they said.

"It has begun."

Something suddenly exploded which caused people to panic. The explosion came from outside nearby. The Rioters are here. Guns are now active and silenced the whole neighborhood. Sara ducks down to avoid the stray bullets. The bartender loudly shouts an order to the terrified customers to stay down and keep their cool. With sound commanding voice, everyone hides under their tables. Car are exploding and a large number of people are running away from terror.

"What the hell is going on here?!" shouted Sara. The bartender shouted, "I don't f***ing know! Just f***ing stay down!" There is a loud banging on the glass door to the bar's door. There they can see a terrified woman begging to be let in. There is a nasty wound on her neck. "Monica?! Monica hold on!" shouted by one of the customers who quickly ran to the door to open it. Everyone tried to stop it but it was too late, the woman is already in. The bartender quickly blocks the door with tables and prompted others to do the same.

Sara takes a good look on the woman. Her neck is bleeding. "I need bandages!" shouted by the man who saved let her in. Sara nods and asks the bartender for medical supplies. "It's behind the counter!" answered by the bartender who brings more tables to block the door.

Sara vaults over the counter and searches the cabinet for a medical kit. There is a red bag with white cross in the middle in the right cupboard. Inside is what the wounded woman needs. Sara grabs the medical kit and rush towards the wounded woman. The man snatches the medical kit and obtains the alcohol and the bandage. "I got this. Help them out." said the man as he begins tending the wounds.

Sara quickly helps blocking the doors and windows. A stray bullet pierced through the window and hits one guy from the leg. "S***!! They're up that f***ing building!!!" shouted by a woman who apparently witnessed where the bullet came from. Gun fire is raining down from the buildings, hitting everyone down on the streets.

It is a terrible day. There are lots of dead people on the streets. The Rioters indeed get feral and the police had gotten overwhelmed. The bar which is supposed to give comfort to customers now has tension. The world has gone crazy. Despite this, Sara remains calm. "This is just the beginning..." said she as she observes her surrounding. Her survival instincts tells her that something sinister will happen in this bar.

The chaos is now over. The customers are still terrified from what happened. The bartender is very stressed out and the unconscious woman is resting by the corner with the man who saved her.

The bartender is giving away alcohol for free to calm everyone's nerves. Sara declines and says that someone needs to be alert when something bad happens. A distressed business woman is voicing her frustrations towards the current adversary. She talks about the chaos going on in the city. The man with tattoos argues with the business woman. A highschool girl tries to break the ice.

A highschool girl in a bar? She should not be in here during the morning. But it seems she knows what happened outside. Her hair is a mess and her uniform was torn from the shoulder. "Can you tell me about the outside?" asked Sara to the highschool girl.

The highschool girl sighs and tells what happened. In the morning, the girl rode a taxi to her school when a riot attacked happened. People were panicking which forced a traffic jam to happen. The taxi driver ditched out of his car without unlocking the locks of the door. The highschool girl had to manually open the lock to leave. People were bumping into each other as the shooting grew violent. Explosions happened everywhere and people kept running for their lives. The highschool girl just happened to get in the bar the same time the wounded woman entered. A piece of brown fabric is visible on the barricade which matches the color of her uniform.

The bartender scratches his head. Normally he would kick the girl out of his bar. But due to circumstances, he is willing to let her stay for her safety. "Thank you mister. I'm Lea from Blue Butterfly Academy." said the highschool girl with a smile. Suddenly the door at the back opened, which caused everyone to be alerted. A man and a woman wearing white clothes and red vests. "Nolan! What happened?!" shouted by the man to the bartender.

"Bloody Riot happened smart***!" replied Nolan aggressively. His usual polite attitude is gone. The two are shocked to hear it and their face darken. "Should we let people to our storage? We can hide down there without getting shot at." suggested by the woman. "Good idea." said Sara. Nolan nods in agreement. He asks everyone to follow his lead down to the storage for cover. The man who saves the wounded woman is carrying her on his back.

Sara is the only one staying on the ground floor near the door of the storage. She is very insistent of being watchful to the outside. She has a lethal weapon in her pocket, her old-worn survival knife. A few moments later, the shooting have stopped. Screams can still be heard. The grim scenery reminds of Sara of the past. The suffocating air from the mansion she barely escaped from, her eyes darts to the outside. Lots of dead people are lying on the floor, bleeding out from gunshot wounds. But there is one strange thing on the other corpses. The wounds they sustained are not from gunshots, but with something else. Sara couldn't point it out due to the distance from her to the corpses.

After a while, she can hear shuffling sounds. She looks outside once again and sees someone in the distance slowly walking down the streets. Their movement is slow, as they are dragging their feet rather than walking. Their arms are down. Sara doesn't call them out, fearing the possibility of rioters being there in the area. She silently observes the person until something shocking happened. That person kneels down on one of the supposed corpses. That corpse is alive as they started screaming from horror. Sara can hear their desparate shouts, until the person looking down in the injured person lowers their head. After lowering their head, a piercing scream of agony happens. The injured person struggles to break free, even kicking the air in attempts to get away. Sara watches the struggle, until it is over. Blood slowly pours out of the dead person's neck. At this point, Sara figures out what is really happening in the city. There is indeed a riot, but not the kind of riot from a terror attack. The police were not fighting againt fellow humans. But the people that went manic.

The killer turns around for Sara to see their face. Sara's face darkens as old memories resurface in her mind. The killer is a monster risen from the dead. An abomination called Mutants.

As soon as Sara figured it out, screams on the basement happened. Sara quickly dashes and opens the door. There she sees Nolan struggling to not get bitten by the wounded woman who turned into a monster. The man who was taking care of her is now dead from the bite wound on the neck. Almost everyone is staying on the corner except for the man with tattoos looking for a weapon to use.

Acting quickly, Sara holds her survival knife and lunges towards the monster. She pierces the weakspot common to all monsters, their brains. The knife sinks deep to the head. Sara jerks the knife to further damage the brain until it completely stops moving. Nolan breathes in relief. Everyone is terrified of what happened. After that happened, Sara goes to the dead man. Then she stomps the head so hard it is squashed like watermelon. Nolan's eyes shrink in anger and shouts at Sara.

"What the f*** is wrong with you b****?!" shouted Nolan with his tight fist ready to throw a punch. To protect herself, Sara points her bloodied survival knife to Nolan and intimidates him. "You sit on the corner and cool down or I shall shank your head." ordered Sara with cold tone. Nolan backs off. Everyone is terrified at Sara. The business woman shouted, "You monster! You rioters brought enough trouble as it is! I will have the authorities arrest you and let you rot in jail!"

The situation is worse than it seems. Everyone's trust on Sara dropped significantly since she stomps an innocent dead man cold-heartedly. Sara gives one piece of advice before leaving. "Don't trust the dead. They are now monsters." said Sara as she left the storage. Sara begins checking the bar. The barricade on the front will only slow the dead. There are scattered debris everywhere, especially bottles of alcohol. There is Gin in the shelves. Sara remembers that one drink she was forced to drink in order to stay sane. Perhaps in this situation, Sara opens one bottle of Gin and takes one gulp. It is quite fruity and tangy. One gulp is enough to clear Sara's head to calm her nerves.

Sara's got one goal. And that is to escape the city. Vehicles are out of the question because the streets are cluttered with the dead and traffic jam. She doesn't know where to find a helicopter. She also don't know how to control it. The only way to get out is to walk down the dead streets. For safety, Sara needs to have a reliable weapon. Luckily, the police already provided her needs. There bounds to be scattered checkpoints and police cars in the street which may have guns in them. "I need to get upstairs." said Sara.

The most safest place to move are the rooftops. To access the rooftops, she needs to get outside and find the emergency stairs. She already checked the backdoors and they were blocked from outside. There is no other exits other than the front door that is barricaded with tables. Should she risk the safety of the people in the bar? She would. Sara had been through this kind of disaster.

Sara grabs a table leg on the floor. She holds it to weigh its weight and tries to bend it. She said, "Sturdier than I thought. I can whack a few with this." She then checks the alcohols that has 50% alcohol content. She finds Vodka and Whiskey have them. She picks Vodka as her emergency antiseptic. She tears the fabric from chairs and tables into long sheets which she will use as bandage in case of cuts. There aren't any food she can bring along with because this is a bar. The snacks are chips and nuts, which will go bad. "Canned goods, snack bars, anything preserved are good." said Sara.

The dead are slowly rising up, hungry for flesh of the living. Sara removes the barricade and barges out of the bar. The monsters' attentions are locked on Sara who runs down the streets. The risens are slow at moving but they have no need for stamina. They will be persistent at chasing anything that moves in their line of sight.

Sara stays near the building and swats the risen in front of her way with the table leg. She is able to get in the alleyway but found no emergency stairs in site. Just a alleyway blocked by cars and a wall made with steel wires. There are monsters on the otherside of the wall. There is however a path to the left. Sara runs to that path and encountered the monsters blocking the emergency stairs.

Sara drops the table leg on the car hood and holds her survival knife. "The brain is the weakness... Need to aim at the temple." whispered Sara under her breath. The monsters stumble towards Sara to grab her. But with their slow movement, Sara is able to pick them off one by one, making sure she knocks them down to their knees and stab their head deeply with her knife. The blood on her knife is evaporating.

After clearing the alleyway, Sara needs to figure out how to get to the emergency stairs. The ladder is stuck at the top. "I need to find something to stand on." said Sara. The cars are heavy but it is possible for Sara to push it with all her might. Sara attempts to move the car. But suddenly it makes a loud sound when Sara pushes it. The sound alerts all monsters in the area. Sara's clicks her tongue and begins to push even harder.

The monsters slowly approach Sara from behind. Sara begins to struggle. She decides to push the car by using the strength of her legs. The car is almost near the emergency stairs. "C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" shouted Sara in desperation. With one more push, the car is finally set in place. The monsters are already surrounding her. Sara climbs to the car roof and makes a jump to reach the ledge of the emergency stairs. The monsters do not know how to climb so they are struggling to reach Sara.

Sara takes a breather after climbing the ledge. The monsters gathered in one spot, meaning the other areas are bound to be deserted. After a short rest, Sara climbs the stairs to the roof of the building.

Sara is able to get to the roof. She encountered a risen trying to break the door with their body. Sara could only wish for ending it's suffering. She quietly sneaks behind the monster and grabs them by the hair. She repeatedly smashes its head against the door until the face sticks to the door, revealing the inside of the head. To make sure it doesn't come back, Sara smashes the brain with her foot.

The door is not locked, but blocked from the inside. Try as she might, the door does not budge. "Ok, this door is a no go." said Sara. She looks around her. She spots the disaster happening in the city. Buildings are burning with inferno and the explosions keep happening. She heard a scream from above. Sara looks up and get surprised. A body of a woman drops to the ground from a high place. There is no way she survived that fall. The arms and legs are twisted and contorted and her lifeless eyes tell that she had met horrors that scarred her for life. A visible bite mark is on her neck. Soon, she will turn into a living dead. Sara stomps the corpse's head to ensure she won't come back to life.

She needs to find the way out of there. The building to the right is where the corpse came from. It is a bit taller and it is possible for Sara to reach the ledge. But the fact that the corpse came from there means there could be monsters up there. The building on the left is connected to the building she stands on. She could easily move and use the other door to access that building. The building to the south is also connected but not to the building she stands on top on. She has to cross the left building and go straight from south then east. She can spot smoke coming out of the vents. That means there are people inside that building.

Sara could get someone as a companion there, but she chose not to. She knows how normal people react towards her killing monsters that were once humans like her. Add the fact that people are paranoid now this outbreak happened. There aren't anyone whom Sara can trust for now. All she can trust is her own survival instinct she had long developed since her previous crisis. "Bruno..." she mumbled with worry in her eyes.

She looks down to the streets. There are alots of monsters that are recently resurrected from death. They are the fresh Risens. "These Risens are very slow and easy to kill. What makes them dangerous are their lack of sensation and their instinct to bunch up together. If I have access to explosives, I can wipe them all out in one go. I should kill them one by one before they get the chance to group together." said Sara.

She spots survivors who are fighting for their lives using various household items against the dead. Some actually successfully driving them back. Others were not so lucky. And they are people who happens to have access to firearms. "The Risen although lacks the sense of touch, they still have other senses. Their focus are like predators hunting their preys. A gun should only be used as the last resort." said Sara.

A suppresor is a must. But right now, Sara does not have tools that will help her craft a suppresor. She doesn't even have a gun to begin with. Sara fixes her cap into place and decides where to go next. "I have to check the west building." said she as she begins to walk to her destination.

Sara stands in front of the door that she can access. The dead could be inside but can be easily manageable thanks to the narrow corridors and stairs. Sara could use her survival knife as it is both short and easy to wield. "Aim at the head, gouge their brain, don't let them group together." said Sara as if she is reciting an instruction.

The building she is on has four floors. The fourth floor is currently the safest place she can walk around while the first floor is the most dangerous. She may encounter frightened people who are ready to defend themselves. Even so, Sara has to get supplies in order to walk further. She said, "Whatever happens."

She begins her exploration. She opens the door. Her eyes are locked on the stairs. "Gladly they aren't here." said she with a sigh of relief. She descends the stairs to the fourth floor. There, there isn't anything moving around the corridors. But she can certainly hear mumurs and arguments in the walls. There are survivors in the rooms. Sara said, "I should ignore the occupied rooms."

Sara checks all the rooms one by one. One third of them are occupied and most doors are locked. "Could there be something in these plant pots?" asked Sara as she examines a suspiciously placed plant pot. When she lifts one of the stones decorated in the plant pot, she finds a spare key for the door in front of her. That room should be occupied by the sounds of someone shuffling. That distinct shuffling sounds is what Sara fears. Wishing for luck, Sara bravely opens the door. The door reveals the sad scenery of a dead man together with a young girl with a large portion of her neck torn off from a big bite. Sara feels disgusted. "I will send you two to the other side." said Sara as she prepares to engage.

The dead man stumbles towards Sara. It is crying with blood. Sara feels the sadness and regret of the dead man. As soon as she was about to be grabbed, Sara pushes him down with a strong kick. The dead man loses his balance and hits its head, temporarily stunning him. The dead girl also stumbles towards Sara. Her eyes speaks of the betrayal and terror. Due to her small frame, Sara is able to overpower the dead girl. She pins her down and with a single stab to the face with her knife, Sara successfully kills the dead girl for good. The dead man was about to stand up but gets kicked down again by Sara. "I'm sorry." said Sara as she stomps his head multiple times until his brain completely crushed into pieces. "They won't hurt others now." said Sara coldheartedly.

The room is now cleared. She is now free to get loot in this place. Normally a person will find it unmoral to take anything that does not belong to you, especially from the people you had murdered. As far as Sara's concern, this is necessary for survival. She said, "I need to find something to pack my stuff in. Preferably a bag and a Fanny pack.". A bag that may be smaller than a normal bag and cannot take in alot of stuff, it should be easy to move with on her shoulder and it is a perfect size when she needs to climb a ledge or crawl a hole. She will use a Fanny Pack to store medical supplies such as bandages and alcohol.

She knows where to find them. They are in the cabinets near the beds. She found a Schoolbag that belongs to the dead girl. "I will make use for it." she said as she opens the bag, finding it empty. This particular Schoolbag was stored inside an opened giftbox. The girl must have looking forward to a new day in school. She didn't find a single Fanny pack but instead found a proper medical kit complete with medical supplies. She stores it inside the bag. "Better keep looking." said Sara.

In the kitchen, she finds various cooking knives. A meat cleaver is what took her interest. This cleaver cannot stab but it can certainly cut better than her survival knife. Between a golf club and a frying pan, a frying pan is a better option as a weapon as a golf club will break easily upon hard impact. She finds screwdrivers and a hammer in one of the cabinets. They are useful tools for crafting. She also picks up at least four canned foods in one of the cabinets. It must be because of the news about riots that the dead man hoarded a food stock. Sara essentially got she needed. There are many things she could take. "I must not get encumbered." said Sara as she leaves the room.

Sara peers through a window to find out the current situation. The monsters are getting faster on their feet. They are getting used to movements which make them dangerous. Sara is determined to get out of the city. Her next stop will be the Police Station. The place where a gun is guranteed to be found. She will have to move downstairs to leave the building.

When Sara reaches the stairs, she heard screams and frantic footsteps. That is a bad news. She goes down to the third floor and finds out what happened. The monsters have reached the third floor and they are pummeling the doors, terrifying the people inside. Sara needs to do something.

Sara brings out the meat cleaver and the frying pan. She sneaks behind one of the monsters that pound the door where the survivors are hiding. She raises her knife hand as high as she can, then she chops a head with perfect alignment. The cleaver sinks deep to the brain, instantly killing it. With that, she got the other's attention.

The monsters are now trying to catch her. Sara swings her pan as hard as she can to their head in order to smash it. The clang indicates a good hit. Though Sara requires to swing twice to kill them for good. One swing to expose their brain, and another to smash their brain. Sara grunts as she swings her weapon. One, two, three... She got five monsters until she gets exhausted. Sara slowly retreats in order to catch her breath. Thankfully they are still the Risen. Their imbalance gave Sara the advantage.

This made some survivors who were hiding noticed something amiss. One curious survivor opened the door and sees that Sara is fighting alone in the hall against ten monsters. They gulp. They take a deep breath to calm themselves. Then, with strong will, they opened the door widely and wave at the monsters. Five monsters are looking at them with lifeless eyes, eyes that are locked on to prey. Before the monsters had the chance to get them, the brave survivor closed the door. This helped Sara to focus on five monsters. They bang using their hand to the front door to keep the monsters attention towards them.

Sara has recovered her stamina. She swings her pan to push the monsters away from her. She will chop their brain if they land on their knees. If they get proned, Sara steps away, not risking stomping their heads. She takes out two of them and is about to make another swing until she realized that the head of the pan have disappeared. The head has fallen on the floor and it is beyond saving. Against three dead monsters, Sara will be cornered. The thought of dying makes her hesitant to make a risky move.

Just then there is suddenly a shout. "F*** you George!" shouted by an angry woman. That woman smacks one of the monsters using her rolling pin. A monster grabs her at the back and attempts to bite her. Sara takes an immediate action and holds the monster's neck with a chokehold. "Ma'am! Stomp the head!" shouted Sara while struggling to hold the dead. Hearing that and looking at the dead on the floor, she stomps the head with no hesitation with a smile on her face. "That's what you deserve! You sick motherf***er!" shouted again by the angry woman. Sara swings the monster she was holding to the approaching monster. She successfully topples them on top of each other. "We have to stomp them now!" shouted Sara.

Both the woman and Sara stomp the dead at the same time, not giving them chance to recover. Now there is only five left. "Ma'am you have to get inside!" asked Sara loudly to the woman. That woman replied with a spit to the floor and pointing her rolling pin to Sara. She said, "F*** you b****! I know what you did on Nolan's bar!" The woman is talking about the Payree Bar Sara had been before. Apparently she somehow knew what transpired in the storage. Sara looks at the woman and noticed a rectangular buldge in her pants. The woman had contact with the owner of the bar.

The woman goes back to her room and slam the door shut. That noise gets the attention of the other three monsters. Their attention are now on Sara. "S***. It was much easier with a pistol." mumbled Sara with a grit of her teeth. The three monsters are bunched together, making it impossible to be pushed down with one quick thrust. Sara's frying pan already broke. She needs another blunt weapon or a long weapon to fight the dead. Just then someone slides something behind her feet. "Use it." whispered the person who is peeking out from a door next to the woman's room. Sara looks down and smiles.

She kneels down and grabs the walking cane. The end of the walking cane has four leg. It's a quad walking cane. With this, Sara is able to separate the monsters by pushing them off from each other using the end of the cane. Sara also pulls them down to the floor and keeps them down with pressure so she can safely stomp the dead's brain. After dispatching the three dead, Sara is able to get the remaining two monsters with one good swing of the cleaver to the head and a powerful stomp to the face. The noise dies down in the hallway.

Eventually, residents that are holed up in the rooms come out one by one. The person who keeps the monster's attention stands in front of Sara and gives her a heartwarming thank you. Sara nods and welcomes their thanks. The angry woman remained in her own room. The person introduces themselves. "I'm Gwendolyn." said she with a bright but tired smile. Sara replied, "I am Sara." The next person introduces themselves. They are the one who gave Sara the walking cane. "My name is Steven. And that walking cane used to belong to him." said he while pointing one of the dead that Sara killed.

Though Gwendolyn and Steven gave their names, the other people were wary of Sara. Sara is currently covered with blood and has a dangerous weapon in her hand. Sara said, "Thank you. I will leave now." As she is about to leave, four people block her path. "Murderer!" one shouted. "You sick f***er!" another shouted. One after another, people are cursing at Sara. Gwendolyn shouts at the people to stop cursing. Steven stays silent.

Perhaps this is because some of them didn't know what happened. To their eyes, Sara is a serial killer. "Someone call the police!" shouted one person. The person with a phone makes a call but they get nothing. "The police aren't responding." said that person with worry. Of course there won't be anyone taking the line. The police are far too busy taking care of the "riots" outside of the building. Sara sighs and intimidates the people blocking her way. Threathening to kill them if they don't. With how menancing she was, the people eventually gave way.

Sara looks at Steven and said, "I'll be borrowing this cane." Steven nods and goes back to his room. The third floor is now safe. But soon, the dead will come up here and devour their flesh. Sara speaks to Gwendolyn to prepare something to block the stairs and gather as much supplies as she can. That way, the odds of survival increase. Gwendolyn nods and speaks with the other people. Gwendolyn has the charisma of a born leader as everyone listened to her without question.

"Alright. You Bert, get the tables and chairs in the rooms. Kylie, grab your jumping rope and cables so we can tie those furnitures. Zack, get as many tools as you can. Farrah and Riley, come with me to gather some food. Orton, Barren, and Will, guard the stairs as soon as Sara leaves. Carter, call Simon and Aubrey upstairs. They might be alive up there. Grab a weapon first before you go. Don't come near to people who look sick. We have to act fast." ordered Gwendolyn to everyone. Such calm and confidence makes everyone trusts her to follow her commands.

Sara begins descending to second floor. This time it is actually worse. She sweats and hesitates to move further. The dead are now here and they already destroyed the room doors, infecting the occupants. Sara sees a group pounding one door. The occupant is pleasing to be left alone. As much as Sara wants to help, there are too many monsters in the hallway. The door eventually breaks and the dead go inside like a flushing toilet. There is a bloody scream. Sara looks away and goes back upstairs. The scream goes on until it is silent. A new infected has been risen.

"Without a noisemaker, I cannot go downstairs." said Sara. A noisemaker is a makeshift tool to attract the attention of the monsters towards it. For it, she needs a functioning alarm clock or a phone for the noisemaker. Sara meets up with the three people guarding the hallway of the third floor. "You aren't allowed here you murderer." said one guy acting tough. Sara sighs and asks them if she can have an alarm clock. They shook their head. Sara sighs in disappointment. She could get an alarm clock upstairs so she goes up.

There she meets a man who is pinned down by a monster. He is using a clothing rack to prevent the monster from biting him. There is a woman who is hesitant to smack him with a hammer. "F***ing help me Aubrey! Agh!" shouted the man while struggling. "B-but Simon..." whimpered Aubrey as her body is shaking from fear. Wasting no time, Sara shouts at Aubrey to move and push kicks the monster into the wall. The kick sends the monster crashing to the wall. Sara frantically stomps the head before it gets up. Both the man and Aubrey flinched at Sara.

"W-why did you kill Simon?!" yelled Aubrey to Sara. The man blocks Aubrey from approaching Sara. He said, "What do you want? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you left a while ago." asked the man with a stare to Sara's eyes. Sara replied, "The second floor has been overrun. I cannot leave downstairs."

The man slumps down on the floor and touches his forehead. He is sweating. At least he wasn't injured. "So we can't go downstairs? F***." said the man. Aubrey looks at the two, confused. She asks, "What in the world is happening Carter? Why is Simon became like that?" Carter shakes his head and points to Sara. "She knew better than us." said Carter.

Sara looks at Aubrey and answered, "They are infected with a virus that mutates them into abominations. They move after they are dead." Aubrey is in disbelief. Sara's words are indication that an apocalypse is now happening. A zombie apocalypse. Aubrey begins to breathe faster and her face shows a gloomy expression. "Mom... Dad..." mumbled Aubrey. She is in the verge of panicking.

Sara tries to calm Aubrey down but Aubrey releases an outburst and runs towards the stairs. Carter stands up immediately and shouts at Aubrey. Sara gives chase to the panicking woman and before long, witnessed something troubling.

There are three men blocking the stairs to the 2nd floor with barricades. Gwendolyn managed to create a way to stop the dead from coming up. Knowing the capabilities of the dead, Sara knows it is a matter of time before the monsters break through the barricades. She sees Aubrey trying to go past the barricade. "Stop!" she shouted. Aubrey stops from going further when she witnessed a horrific sight below the stairs. Tons of monsters are incoming, ready to pounce their prey.

"You? Help us out!" shouted the man at the barricade to Sara. Sara nods and holds her survival knife and her cleaver. The monsters are banging the barricade. Sara climbs up to the barricade and slashes the ones who are climbing up. One of the guards is helping Sara by using a baseball bat to smash the monster's skulls. Another one holds the barricade while the last one went to get help from Gwendolyn and the others.

Carter had just arrived and sees Aubrey shivering in the corner. "Aubrey! Are you ok?!" asked Carter with a worried look in his face. Aubrey is out of herself and is convinced that they are all gonna die. The word "die" makes Carter lose his morale. But in this dire situation, he needs to be strong. "Stay here. I will go get help." said Carter before running towards the barricade to help Sara and the others.

"You! What do we need to do?!" asked Carter to Sara hopefully. Sara answered, "We need long stakes! Something to pierce their skulls safely!" Carter nods and goes to the hallway to tell Gwendolyn. "F*** F*** F***! What the f***!" shouted the man swinging his baseball bat. He got tired from swinging it. The situation is getting worse as more waves of dead are coming upstairs. Sara is now desperately swinging her cleaver until her arm gets grabbed by one of the monsters. "S***! YOU DON'T!!!" screamed Sara as she shanks the monster's arm with her survival knife until it gets torn off. Sara falls down to the barricade and hits her back. She winced from pain.

Gwendolyn and the others have arrived. "Sara!" Gwendolyn shouted. "Don't let them in!" shouted Sara, pointing to the top of the barricade. Gwendolyn, Steven, Carter, and the others climb up to the barricade to spear the dead with improvised stakes created from furnitures. "Aim for the head!" shouted Sara. Everyone nod and replied, "Got it!"

One at a time, the monsters are killed with one thrust of the spear to the head. Sara recovers and grabs one of the improvised spear to help. She is very accurate to her piercing strikes, killing monsters more than the others. Gwendolyn orders the group to come down to rest while she and Sara attacks the dead. After the resting pair recovers, they get up as the other pair comes down to rest. The three guards are holding the barricade with their bodies in order for it to not collapse.

After a while, another three people arrived. They are holding more stakes. One of them apparently made a slingshot created from sticks and rubber hose taped together. The ammunation is apparently the small marbles. "Coming through!" said the guy holding the slingshot as he shoots some marbles towards the dead. Only few shots hit the monsters' weak spot. He thought the monster will wince from pain and go down. After realizing that, he is now focusing to the monster's legs to trip them. Them tripping down on the stairs caused them to roll down and hit the other monsters, giving enough time for everyone to catch their breath.

The wave has gotten smaller. Sara sees this chance and climbs over the barricade, shocking everyone in the safe side. "What the f*** are you doing you crazy?!" shouted Gwendolyn. Sara replied, "I will kill the remaining dead! Stay there!"

Sara skillfully weaves out of the monster's reach and strike their heads with a great poke using the improvised spears. The man holding the slingshot supports from above as they subdue the dead that almost reaches Sara from the side and behind. The man with the bat climbs over and smashes every monsters he can reach.

"Last one!" shouted Sara as she strikes the monster in front of her directly to the head with the improvised spear. The shaft breaks. Fortunately, the monster is knocked down so Sara stomps the embedded head of the broken spear deeper through the skull, crushing it's brains. All survivors survived the last stand, with Sara getting the most kills of them all and Gwendolyn able to direct others calmly and logically.

Instead of celebration, the nauseating air makes everyone feel drained. Some of the monsters are people they knew before. And their coated red hands weigh their consciousness down. The sensation of killing... It is a nightmare. Sara does not feel guilty for what she did. She looks at everyone and said, "There will be more to come. The dead will keep coming until they take one bite out of you. Killing them for good is at least we can do for them to rest in peace."

Sara wipes off the blood from her jacket. The stench from the rotting corpses did not faze her. She throws the dead away from the safe zone with her strength.

The survivors take the time to recover from their fatigue and regain their sanity back. They couldn't believe what they just did. And they are shocked to see Sara being the only one that knows what must be done.

They reorganized and reinforced the barricade that blocks the stairs. While the others are collecting supplies, Gwendolyn approaches Sara. She asks, "What do we do next? Wait for the army to come?" Sara shakes her head. She answered, "I have to leave."

Gwendolyn is quite disappointed. She calls Sara selfish. "Selfish huh, you are right. I am selfish." said Sara with a small grin. Gwendolyn looks at Sara. Her expression turns grim as she sees Sara's dead eyes.

"Don't they scare you at least?" asked Gwendolyn with her hands shaking. Sara nods in silence. She is either serious or fooling around but in this situation, Gwendolyn has to believe it is true. "What should we do then? Do we have to keep killing them in order to survive?" asked Gwendolyn with a concerned look of her face.

Sara replied, "You will have to eventually. You need to make use with the head of yours and plan your next course. My advice is for you to leave this country and go away as fast as you can." Those words made Gwendolyn aware of the gravity of the situation. She understands that an apocalypse is now happening. What she didn't understand is how Sara knew this beforehand. Until then...

Sara leaves the building through the window from the west where she access the scaffolding. This scaffolding is only connected from second floor to fourth floor. And since they eliminated all the dead in the building in the final stand, there should be a few dozen of monsters roaming around the area. They will be attracted to the sounds of screams and gunshots. With new weapons and supplies, Sara attempts to make it to the police station.