3 Second Change

"W-what happened?" Rising my face from hardwood I fell into the despair. Screams could be heard from outside, streets that were cleared were now filled again, fires were everywhere.

'No, no, no, no' Unlocking my phone after missing password four times I went to contacts.

User is out of ser-

Use-

Use-

Use-

No matter how much I called and prayed end was always the same. 'No Dad! Why, why!? Why didn't you just buy me the goddamn ticket! Why!' As my hope was slipping away, tears of powerlessness and anger were rushing out.

"It's my fault. I'm responsible for this. Why is this shit happening? F*ck! Why!" I was at loss ''How am I supposed to look my family in the eyes now. *Sob* I'm sorry... I'm... I'm-'

Suddenly I felt an intense wave of fear. The floor I was looking at started spinning, the taste of vomit filled my throat. My whole body started to shake, the only thing I could hear was my heart pounding loudly, breath was escaping me, gripping my hands even harder than before, waiting for this hell to pass, I felt unsafe.

'Huff Huff. Is it over?'

"..."

'I'm sorry, I'm sorry'

"AHHHHH"

'I'm sorry'

"AHHHHH"

Screams were filling the hall and street. I brought my weak body and traumatized mental state to the window. Just cleared out streets were thrashed again and fire all around. Some sort of black humanoid-shaped creatures caught my attention. There was a group of four, eating something on a floor, and other chasing humans that were lucky to survive stray cars.

Focusing on the group, I saw what they were eating, human. Lost for words I ran to the door, looking through the spy hole I could see a similar scene. People running from those completely black things, some monsters were fast walking and others almost running. Scared and trying to not make a sound I heard my phone.

Vrmmm Vrmmm

"Mom!"

"Luke! Are you okay!"

"I'm okay! How's there!"

"We are also fine."

"Mom I need to tell you something...*Sob* I-I" Tears reappeared on my face, how was I supposed to tell her?

"Luke. Stop that."

"But Mom. I killed him!" I couldn't stay quiet.

"Stop that! How can you know he's dead, don't blame yourself for something that's not true!

"But... okay." My mother, the same as me, wasn't ready to accept his death.

"Listen here Luke! You must become strong and survive. We can't see each other now but as long as you live we will!"

"Alright."

"Promise me!" She said with a commanding voice.

"I promise. Don't die!"

"You think your Mom will die from something like this or let someone touch your siblings? Kid, you're really funny." She didn't really have anything like the police or army career to back this up, but it was true she could be really fierce, like really fierce.

"I will make sure to come back. Stay safe"

"Alright. See you soon Luke."

It wasn't time to cry. Good thing screams outside were covering mine. The first thing I needed was a weapon. After searching the whole room I still couldn't find anything. Just as I was about to break a mirror I saw something else I could use.

Curtain holder above a bathtub, made of hard solid plastic. With hurried steps, I jumped into the bathtub. The bar was inserted into the wall on both sides. I immediately covered my hand in rocks and started to hit below one end.

Thud Thud

It was loud, but outside was even worse so I wasn't worried. After a minute of banging layer started to disappear, but it was already enough to get the bar out of the wall, luckily it was just a few centimeters deep.

I got it out and inspected it. It was of my height, 185cm. Inside was unfilled which was disappointing, but this still couldn't be called a weapon. I went to the furthest wall from the door and started to sharpen it. It took good 10-15 minutes, the result was satisfying. With a really sharp end and good length, It could finally be recognized as a spear.

After stabbing the air a few times I could feel spear better now. Lighter than I wanted but still good enough. I saw no movement through the spy hole. My guess was that they were at higher floors hunting there. I started heading downstairs with light steps.

'I must get away from the center of the city as quickly as possible.'

Horrible scene was on the first floor, blood was everywhere, there were even some of those monsters munching on a human. Seeing the fate of this guy, that also tried to escape after horde has passed, made me wanna go back into hiding, but I couldn't do that, If I did I might not be able to come out again.

Human that was getting eaten started to turn black, as a monster bit now the black meat it immediately spat it out. Late human, now same as those monsters got on his somehow still moving legs.

'Zombies?... So death makes you a zombie...' I had to get to the exit somehow, but I couldn't pass by unnoticed from those four.

"Hey, Luke." Whisper came from behind

I turned my head to the voice scared. Good thing it was a familiar face.

"Tyler?" Tyler was one of my classmates, with buzz-cut black hair and weapon the same as mine in his hands.

"I was left alone. Seems like you had the same idea as me." He was looking straight into a homemade spear.

"Seems like it. Wanna help out?"

"Yes, but before that, we should head to the kitchen." He was right about this. It would be much easier if we were to pack food now instead of raiding a store. Even if most of it was probably not canned we still might get lucky.

"I agree"

"Let's go then."

To get to the kitchen we needed to pass through the restaurant area. However, if we wanted to get there we had to fight. The group of three was in front. Without letting us prepare they rushed at us. Tyler was hiding behind me, he actually used me as a shield which surprised me.

The first one was heading towards me at high speed, my legs started to shake but remembering phone call helped. Gripping handle of my plastic spear and hardening my resolve I thrust it forward targeting head.

Monster moved, showing it had reflexes, I was only able to graze it. As I retrieved my weapon to get ready for the impact of its charge its head was pierced. Attack was from Tyler, much faster and stronger than mine, showing his strengthen arms in full light. It didn't move anymore, I assumed it dies after the brain is pierced.

Second one was approaching, this one was slower and less agile, I managed to kill it. My first kill, it felt weird stabbing something in a head, knowing it wasn't alive helped. I wasn't able to get ready for the third one in time and Tyler was even farther back than before.

Right hand extended to my face, as I put my stick in front to block. As it gripped my spear, spear broke in half, proving it was just homemade. As I was about to cover my shoulder into rocks, where it's mouth full of teeth headed, Tyler did the same thing as with the first one.

"Stop using me as bait and fighting so passive." I didn't limit my anger within my voice, this was life and death in reality not an online game where I wouldn't really care.

"Chill... It works doesn't it?" He answered me with a chilled attitude. Which just served as a way to annoy me more.

Even if I was full of anger, now wasn't the time for that. Not being in control of your emotions can only bring bad things. I clenched my teeth and went forward. Tyler followed me with at least two meters of distance. Double door was open, we could see kitchen doors from here. There were at least dozen of monsters. We had to fight all of them, otherwise, we would get surrounded when we enter the kitchen.

Same as before I was first in the line, now even with only half of my weapon, with a reach of only 1 meter. We tried to pull them one at the time, but it was impossible, this whole area was open. Instead of one three came, with those far away starting to move towards us. For three that were incoming we used the same tactic as before, but now much more dangerous for me since I needed to get closer.

We killed most of them, with just 2 left. One was running and another fast walking. I couldn't pierce its head anymore since my plastic tip was dulled out. Instead, I evaded it while going back so Tyler would be in range. Success. There was just one left. But this one was different.

It had undeveloped arms on lats. We finished it fast since it was weaker than others, but this made me scared. 'They keep the abilities they had as humans?' This meant they will get stronger with time, same as us.

No one was in the kitchen. There was still a lot of time before dinner since lunch was two hours ago. Remembering not eating since breakfast just made me hungrier.

"Let's get to the freezer."

In the walk-in freezer, there were mostly uncooked meat and vegetables. We were in luck, there were cans of corn and beans. With all this meat that will soon rot, we decided to cook some. You will approximately need 8-10 minutes to cook the stake. We had that time and wanted to save cans. It was good, what made it even better was thought of this being the last fresh cooked meal we will eat in a long time.

We were packing the cans, but the problem came up.

"Since I killed most of them I'm taking 60% of the food."

"Huh? Do you think you would be able to do that without me being a bait?" Tyler was telling the truth, but so was I. Giving him more food meant less time before scavenging for more. It wasn't time for my usual quiet self. If I wanted to see my family I had to adapt and change.

"You can either take that or get lost." He kept it up.

'Who does he think he is?' Even if I wasn't scared of fighting this guy I was scared of what would come after that. Being seriously hurt in time like this was a problem.

"You can take 20% more than what you deserve but in exchange, you have to give me your spear. If not, we will fight."

I knew Tyler wasn't a stupid guy, he knows the consequences of fighting, same as me. He looked surprised at my repelling, trust me I was too.

"Deal" Unwillingness could be heard from his voice, but I didn't care.

I got the new spear, same as mine before. It wasn't that bad of a deal, one more meter of distance was huge. I took my 40%, making sure I wasn't scammed. One knife was tightly placed in a pocket above my knee.

Since I only had one water bottle with me, from a trip, I took three bottles of oil. Two of them I drained and one put in a backpack. The sink was still working, water didn't have any smell or weird color. After washing two bottles of oil I filled them up and put them together with other water bottle and oil in a backpack. Finishing with a sharpening of the new spear I was now ready to keep moving.

Tyler also finished packing up, he did a similar thing as me. We were now again in front of big double doors and with exit and many monsters in sight.