The Beginning of the End I

Location: Iverumsakerum University Dormitory Room 404, Fort Worth, Indus, United States of Merica.

Date: June 22, 12:06 PM, 2022, Day 0 of the Apocalypse Calendar.

Topic: 13 days after patient zero escapes the containment of military experimental facility 42 in Flo Rida.

I stretch my arms as I rub the crust from my eyes and yawn, before getting out of my room and heading into the bathroom across from my room. Turning on the shower, I'm blasted with cold water which quickly wakes me up, as I shout, "Fucking shitty water heater!"

My roommate John calls out through the door, "Meant to tell you, maintenance stopped by earlier and said hot water and the AC would be down for a few days since they're so understaffed and backlogged."

"Thanks for the warning!" I shout back hurrying to scrub myself clean before I freeze to death, hopping out of the shower after about 5 minutes and going into the kitchen to grab a breakfast burrito I throw into the microwave to nuke it for about 2 minutes.

While I stare at the TV my other roommate Marcus was flipping through while John was getting ready to leave for a summer class as Ted, my last roommate could be heard snoring from his room.

Before an emergency alert is sounded on the Isekai anime Marcus paused on, causing us all to stop and listen to the robotic voice.

[Beep, beep, beep…]

[Warning, warning, the United States of Merica Government has issued a civil warning for all citizens of the United States of Merica. This is not a drill and this is not a test. Five days ago, a viral outbreak of unknown origins began in Tampa Bay, Flo Rida, spreading rapidly through the streets. At first it was believed to be a mutant strain of COVID-19 that began to attack the cerebral system, but it became quickly apparent that this is not COVID-19.]

[This is a fast-acting viral strain that infects the host immediately, inducing intense coughing, sweating, shivers, chills, fever, and hallucinations. Usually culminating in the host's death. The deceased reanimate between 1 minute to several hours after this stage of the infection, immediately pursuing the nearest uninfected, their method of identification is currently unknown.]

[All citizens are advised to remain in their homes and to not leave under any circumstances. National Guard forces are currently deployed to establish safe zones in certain cities, and all local Law Enforcement is tasked with taking down any aggressive infected they come across.]

[This message will be on repeat…]

[Beep, beep, beep…]

The message begins to repeat on a loop on all channels, leaving me frozen in shock until the beep of the microwave jars me back to reality.

"All right Marcus, this isn't funny, switch it back to normal," I tell him pushing his shoulder.

"Dude, I'm not doing this," Marcus says back with confusion.

"I don't think he's kidding, look at the news coming out of Flo Rida," John says pulling out his phone, prompting me to do the same, where I see a video of a little girl covered in blood tearing into the neck of a police officer who unloads a clip into her chest before she takes him to the grown where he passes out from blood loss before the girl charges at the cameraman where it cuts off.

"Oh fuck... John, I think you shouldn't go to class today, wake up Ted and start taking a tally of who's still in the building. Marcus, you should probably call the RA and tell him to lock down the building I'll start stocking as much water as I can and count our food." I begin to instruct them while they're frozen watching more videos of what's going on.

I slap them both on the back of the head before saying, "Wake up! We have to start prepping!" Which snaps them out of their shock as they begin moving too.

I write a quick message informing my few friends to move their asses to the dorms before the shit storm hits them as I begin filling jugs, totes, and any sealable bag I can find with water when a nearby explosion shakes the building and the lights flicker before shutting off.

"Fuck! Someone must've hit our transformer!" I say while trying the water to find out it's stopped running too.

It's then Marcus comes in a panic, saying "Don says with the power out the locks on the doors won't engage!"

"Alright! Tell Don and whoever will help to start barricading the 1st-floor doors and windows with tables and desks and move everyone on the first floor up to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, floors. Put them in the empty summer rooms and if those fill up ask friends to bunk up in their living rooms. While I make a tally of food in our apartment." I order while quickly pulling out the food stored in the fridge and pantry to begin taking stock and planning how to cook it up quickly.

After about thirty minutes I get an estimate of my apartment's food stores not counting my emergency food storage. Which contains about three totes of dried goods, and a number of survival gear and items, I've never been more glad to be a hobbyist doomsday prepper.

And ten minutes later John and Ted come back with a tally of who's here.

John reports, "So there's about 40 guys and 21 girls remaining out of the 120 people our building holds, and luckily no one seems sick but a few summer people seem to be missing."

"Alright, move everyone to the top three floors and we'll make the second floor a quarantine zone. Tell everyone to clear out their fridges and bring it to the roof and ask Marisa and anyone else who has one to pull out their grill and charcoal. And tell Don to contact the other RAs and instruct them to do the same." I say beginning to move our fridge food up to the roof and begin setting up a seating area and food prep area.