Chapter 3: Going outside

Carter had decided he would leave the apartment, from what he saw on the balcony, staying here was not a good choice.

Buildings were collapsing, beasts were roaming the streets, even the ground was cracked and had eerie chasms that lead god knowns where.

Moreover...

Carter felt a shiver ran down his spine just from remembering the scene.

In fact, it seemed like no place in the city was safe, for sure the outside world was much more dangerous than staying in his apartment.

But Carter was looking at the bigger picture, aside from the fact that he couldn't stay here for long anyway and would have to get outside eventually, the building was also prone to a possible collapse just like the other buildings outside.

This complex he was staying at had 99 floors, if it collapsed then it was guaranteed he would die.

He was on the 43rd floor, so he would have to climb down quite a few dozen floors to reach groundfloor.

The problem was, would he have to take the stairs?

He didn't know if the elevator was working, moreover, even if it did, would it be safer than going down the stairs?

He just had to go and find out.

It was risky indeed, maybe it would be better to stay in his apartment right now, but Carter knew that either option was dangerous.

Carter choose to leave at the end though, he had to. It was either dying here as the building eventually collapses or dying of hunger as his foods eventually run out, or leave the building and stack up on food and materials or find other survivors.

To him, the second option sounded the best, even though it could also be the most dangerous.

There was no need to overthink too much he had just to act it out and go along with the result.

With a twist on the knob, the door opened, so did the dangers of the world.

Carter stepped outside and looked around the hallways. Just as he turned to look, his face darkened, a putrid smell invaded his nose, corpses of people were littered in the hallways.

Blood could be seen on the floor and even on the walls, aside from those, scratch marks could also be found, a mark left by the culprit of the murder.

Shit!

Carter held himself from puking, doubt rose from his heart, was it really the best option to leave his apartment right now?

He could very well die.

But then again, he would also die staying locked in his apartment.

He resolved himself.

"Fck it!" He looked around some more and it looked clear aside from the corposesittered on the floor.

It had been half a year since he had left his apartment, he could barely remember the last out of the building, but thankfully there were signs that showed the way to the elevator, the pool, the cafeteria and more.

Carter would have loved to jump into a cool pool but he wanted to survive more.

Walking down the hallway and ignoring the corpses the best he could, he couldn't help but tremble in fear, the beast that had killed these people were for sure deadly. Some had missing heads, some had their organs dug out.

Carter could barely hold himself back from puking, it was too gore. But he also noticed that the blood seemed to have dried up meaning that they had died hours ago, it was a good choice for him to rest up and wait for a few hours.

If he had indeed left earlier, he would have encountered the beast that had devoured these poor souls and would have died himself.

He gulped as he saw the sign that lead to the elevator, the elevator and stairs were just beside each other so if he did indeed deemed that the elevator was dangerous, then he would take the stairs.

But he hoped it was fine taking the elevator, he couldn't imagine going down the stairs of 43 floors, if it was even possible.

Carter held the knife in his hand, even though he didn't feel confident if he faced a beast right now even with the knife as a weapon, as even that mutant rat or beast that almost scared him to death took a lot out of him to kill, what more if he faced a much more bigger, faster, stronger beast, it did however help him move confidently.

He was just hoping he wouldn't come across the beast that killed all these people.

Carter gripped the knife tight, it was scary walking down this large and long hallways with corpses littered on the ground, it was even scarier cause he was alone.

He felt even the smallest sound of his could cause him his death.

"Fck this, come all and this knife shall cut through your flesh." He made some motivating words for himself, so he wouldn't get more scared more than he already is.

Just then however, as if his luck cursed him, he saw a corpse move, almost making him scream.

How cowardly he was.

His movements abruptly stopped as he took a step back, he held his knife tight as his expression turned to one of struggle.

Just then, a maggot the length of his forearm and the girth of a woman's thigh jumped out from the corpse towards Carter with great elasticity.

It's countless sharp teeth oozing with a disgusting green liquid.

Carter's eyes widened, if he got bit by that thing for sure his flesh would get shredded.

How the hell could it jump so high!

Carter side stepped barely avoiding the maggots teeth, thankfully, he was able to quickly get a grip of himself.

His eyes shone as the maggot was suspended in the air, not taking this chance go to waste, he slashed his knife at the maggot cutting it in half.

The maggot fell to the floor now separated into two.

However it still started convulsing and was thrashing around, Carter didn't allow it to though for long.