1 New world
*Rustle rustle*
The soft sound of shaving slowly leaked out from inside the bathroom.
A tall man is standing in front of the bathroom mirror, shaving his head. His wild black hair is slowly being tamed by the razor in his right hand.
'Longer hair might get pulled.'
He thought as he continued to shave his head. The razor in his right hand cut through his long dark hair cleanly and professionally. The once wavy over-the-shoulder hair of the tall man is slowly but surely being cut short.
Clearly, he was used to this.
The mirror in front of him has rarely been cleaned, but his reflection can still be clearly seen by the shining eyes found just beside his knees.
"Woof woof."
Its golden fur has been dirtied by the black strands of hair accumulating in its back. Its rough paws are gently patting the tiles of the bathroom, yet its claws are slightly extended out. It wasn't just a house dog.
It was a friend from war.
"Woof."
As if it was a cat purring, the golden retriever softly barked. It circled around the tall man's legs slowly and softly with its eyes staring at the tall man standing nearly six feet tall.
The tall man's originally lean body has already gained some belly fat over the six months of peace time the world had gone through after the war. But the little fat on his tummy could not hide the clear muscles full of strength found in everyone that was once part of the army.
The war. The tall man used to be one of the infantry, fighting in the front line continually until the war ended. He has killed many human beings like him in order to fulfill his promise to his motherland. He has spilled blood on his hands using the guns he had carried in order to save his life. Every confrontation could lead to his death, and although he was lucky to survive, most of his comrades weren't. His eyes occasionally shake each time he remembers his companions get hit by a bullet and breathe their last.
If looks can kill, then his shaking eyes definitely can.
*Rustle rustle*
The tall man continued shaving his head until his wild beast of a hair was now tamed and caged. The once drooping rough hair that reached over his shoulder is gone and has now become as soft as the fur of his dog. His face that originally looked like someone in his 40s has changed significantly, especially now that his facial hair has also been shaved.
He doesn't look particularly handsome in his new haircut, in fact, he looked just like fat Thor from the Avengers:Endgame if Thor cut his hair. But if he learned anything at all from his captain during the time that he served as a foot soldier, it would be that practicality is what'll make him survive.
The tall man turned on the tap and splashed his head with water as he thought about what could happen today. He washed his head after for a while to get rid of the strands of hair still on top of his scalp before drying his head with a towel, before putting on a shirt.
He reached for his sunglasses that he placed on top of the now wet sink. The dark lenses have already been sprinkled with water and a few strands of hair are sticking all over from when he was still shaving his head.
'I should have put it somewhere else, now it's all dirty and stuff.'
The tall man promised himself to always think about what could happen when doing anything. He wiped his sunglasses for a bit with the towel and then put them on the collar of his shirt.
The sun was blazing outside, he figured he'd need it.
The tall man put the still foaming soap back on top of a small plastic soap dish near the shower, which was beside a few more boxes of soap. If it was in the past, people would say that he has way too many boxes of soap. But during the last few weeks, soap has become incredibly more important than anything else. In order to be safe from the disease, one must always disinfect themselves as much as they can.
The disease. No one knew of its origin. Or maybe some do, but it was already too late when they realized it. More than half of the entire population of the whole world has become corpses after the war, yet another round of killing began when the disease slowly spread without anybody knowing.
Perhaps, if the war hadn't started, maybe humanity could have done something about it earlier. But alas, regrets happen when realizations occur too late.
The tall man looked in the mirror one last time before heading out of the bathroom. He took the jacket that he hung earlier by the bathroom door and wore it.
Surely bites won't pierce thick cloth, right?'
He then took the motor gloves that were sitting on top of the living room table and wore it in his hands before standing in front of a large mirror.
Black denim jeans, white running shoes, and a brown leather jacket.
'The only thing left would be a cap and the ladies would fall for me lol---
---well, if they were alive, that is.'
Only a third of humanity survived the war, and most were males. And as much as he wanted to adapt to the current world, the tall man was as straight as the fire axe that was leaning against his front door, which he bought from the hardware nearby after the war ended.
'Just in case I'd want to cut anything.'
He also went to grab a butcher's knife from his kitchen.
'Just in case I lose my axe.'
It was never bad to over prepare, the tall man learned that from his captain back when he was in the army.
"There might not always be a medic on your back, you might not notice your bullet usage, you might get stuck in the middle of the woods. Either way, it is never bad to over prepare."
The tall man shivered as he remembered the words of his strict and stern captain. But such are the kind of words you'd never know when you'd need.
Nervous, the tall man slowly reached out to the door of his apartment. He quietly opened the doors and took a peek towards the dark hallway in front of him. After a few unaccounted seconds, the tall man finally decided to step out from his room that caged him.
Or perhaps, it was the room itself that shielded him like an eggshell from what was and is beyond.
The tall man gently closed his door, afraid to wake up anyone.
'And anything, just in case.'
He grew a habit of listening to the radio when he was still in the army, and this habit gave him a pretty clear idea of what was going on outside his room during the past few weeks.
"-be clear, the virus is very deadly. If you are infected, it is very likely that you'll
*static*
a few months. During th-
*static*
-e request everyone to stay in their houses in order to avoid-
*static*
-be safe."
These words were the first warning given by the government and the media. The tall man's radio was a bit broken so it couldn't pick up everything clearly. But what he heard was enough to tell him that he should probably buy supplies that will last him for a while.
The tall man looked around the dark hallway with his eyes wandering around, trying to focus his eyes so he could see a bit better.
The indoor plants have long since died, some pots are even broken to pieces with the dirt spread across the floor. The hallway looked like a storm passed by inside because of all the broken things on the floor.
'Come to think of it, I haven't heard from any of my neighbors since then.'
He walked towards the only flight of stairs in the entire building quietly as he wondered what could have happened to the other people in the building when he was indoors. The lights of the second floor seemed to be switched on but the hallway was as dark as the night.
'Something might have happened to the power plant in the city, or is it the generator?'
It was the only decent and also fully-intact building remaining within the immediate area of his activity. It was also the place where he spent most of his time in, it was his house after all, and he almost never went out since the war ended.
Seconds later and the tall man is finally standing in the dark hallway of the first floor as he approaches the big metal gate at the end of the hallway. An eerie feeling slowly made his hair stand up. So far, he hasn't seen anyone else other than himself yet.
*Creak creak*
The sound of a metal grinding against metal softly rang out. It wasn't too loud that even if a person were standing a few steps behind him, they still wouldn't hear it.
He looked back at the dark hallway and quietly walked outside.
He stood straight, glanced at the sun, and glared at his shadow.
Around 8am...
Should be enough time.
He held tightly to his fire axe and slowly walked on the empty streets.
Desolation and destruction is what Rando could see all around him, the war certainly left its traces on humanity. Dilapidated buildings that are almost falling apart filled his immediate vision as he stared from outside the apartment gate.
But this isn't some sort of a zombie virus outbreak. No, World War Three just ended, and radiation filled certain parts of the Earth, transforming the existences that survived the initial explosion into something more hideous than a blown-up corpse.
Formed with bloated arms, mingling legs, a hole in it's chest, no matter which one of those it may have, they are all the same. An ugly creature born from the blood of the dead and the radiation caused by a war, which influenced the birth of a virus that infected all of the dead---
---the existences.
Compared to zombies, they are much much more dangerous. They could kill you with a bite, their flesh is poisonous, and any corpse could become another existence as long as a single drop of blood landed on them.
Slow, quiet, and deadly.
But of course, the man with a fire axe doesn't know about them yet. This was the first time he went outside after 5 days from the last radio broadcast.
"-has been reported throughout Davao City about the appearances of the strange zombie-like existences that likes to-
*static*
-confirmed that a bite will slowly kill a-
*static*
-within two days of infection, the infected will show the following sig-
*static*
-is the last transmission, I hope you survive."
Those were the last words he heard from the broken radio, which barely even picked up the transmission and which cut all the other words off, back at his apartment.
He had watched a lot of zombie films before and has read numerous web novels with plots like his current situation, so he was more or less calm after the initial shock.
He knows what he has to do. As the saying goes,
'3 months without shelter, 3 weeks without food, and 3 days without water'
His supplies won't last long, he needs to go out and get more.
He looked at the leather jacket that covered his arms once again.
'Surely bites won't pierce thick clothes, right?'
Oh, how wrong he was that day.
