Our darkest hours

"We are receiving reports of violent riots in multiple states-"

"There are hundreds and I mean hundreds of people attacking each other on the streets!-"

"Many police officers have been killed and the military are now mobilizing their forces-"

I switched through the various news outlets that kept appearing in my phone. These attacks weren't just riots but just a cover up.

They keep mentioning that what's happening right now is a coordinated terrorist attack, or a nationwide riot. Footage shows the attackers biting other people, yet they made not one mention of any armed men into the headlines.

If years of consuming media has taught me one thing, is that the rabid behavior of these people that attack you out of nowhere for no reason is a likely candidate for zombies, combine that with the news reporting this and claiming it's happening everywhere while trying to cover up the entire situation, then it's a full-blown zombie apocalypse.

But, did the guy I killed was still in his right mind?

I looked back into the half eaten corpse of the guy stuck in the meat grinder from earlier; I don't know his name but the way he treated Winter back then was enough motive for me to actually off him on the spot, but the thought still lingers that, maybe... If he was still sane, I could have stopped and apprehended him.

Adrenaline made quick work of it, it tempted me more than the thought of my friend herself.

As long as It wasn't yet confirmed to be an infection of sorts, I won't know if they truly are undead creatures.

Maybe... they're just drugged?

The rain kept pouring down on me, my clothes are completely wet now and it filled everything else I had with water, I thought for a while, what if I had saved that guy instead of killing him?

I should have felt guilty but I can't, it's not the time for it...

And besides, I have to keep going and find her so we can get out of here.

I made my way into the apartment where the exterior hasn't been damaged, and little carnage was seen inside the building, I took the stairs instead of the elevator in case it breaks down or an emergency power outage were to occur, and my guts served me right, as I heard the elevator descend rapidly from the staircase, and a large crash afterwards.

It took me a few minutes to rush from the first floor until the twenty-first. The staircase door was untouched and I opened it, luckily no person was on the floor, except for evacuating occupants.

Blood was smeared on the wall and there was this one guy that had his entire sides scratched off. Part of his flesh was dangling from his body and his face was mangled, one of his eyes popping out and his mouth wide open. He was walking, limping slowly until he gave up and passing out on the ground. I expect him to get up any time to try to attack me, but he didn't.

The guy stayed dead even after thirty seconds and counting, no signs of movement. The people around the area began running, making their way to the emergency exits while I stayed and looked for Winter.

I arrived at her room right in front of her door, it was visibly scratched and the card sensor was badly damaged. I called out for Winter screaming at her to get out, but to no avail.

I tried using my phone to contact her but my call wasn't going through, nor is she picking up my messages.

So I had to resort to brute force.

I grabbed a nearby fire extinguisher and tried to bash open the door with all my might, aiming at the doorknob and prying it open the moment it broke off from my repeated hammering with my tool.

The door was now open, and I called out for Winter once more.

"Zaina?!" Winter can be heard shouting in confusion, beckoning me. Her voice was muffled and I could barely make out where she was, until a door opened in the room.

The bathroom door opened and revealed the lady in black hair. She locked herself in the bathroom for a while now and she's visibly disturbed and shaken to what had happened.

She got out and the moment she stepped outside the bathroom I immediately hugged her and came in to assure that everything will be alright. Tears began falling from her eyes, her knees weak from the panic that engulfed her and she held me tight, not wanting to let go. She tried to speak but I wouldn't let her.

"Everything will be alright, okay? Let's stick together Wint." I gave her assurance. She tried muttering out words but I could barely hear them from her scared expression. "Y-yeah, p-promise me you'll n-never let go, alright?" she looked at me with those scared puppy eyes, those riddled with fear in mind after seeing the horrors of the new wave of disaster to befall our lives.

She sucked up her fearful self and began standing up strong, just like what I would do, we packed her bags with our necessities and all the important stuff we need and haul ass out of here; I explained to Winter that we're gonna be heading to my workplace where we would be safe there as long as someone watches over us.

The old man in the bar already had a contingency plan in case disaster number four hundred and twenty would ensue, and he prepared a lot with his employees in mind. All I need to do now is to safely get us there.

"Zaina, are you sure we'll be safe there?" Winter asked. Confusion still lingers in her mind as she contemplates whether the place is safe. I glanced back at her, and instead of giving the normal dead face, I smiled, giving almost a cocky, confident aura where I would assure that:

"We will be! Heh, you think our old man doesn't care for anyone?"

Her expression changed a bit, she's now a bit more lively and can see the confidence in my eyes, she fixed her hair and grabbed her bag, "Let's do it then!" she held my hand as tight as she can and stayed close to me as we were about to exit the room.

The area was still clear, the man from earlier with the dangling flesh was still lifeless, at this point I can safely say that guy isn't turning into one of those things any longer, we rushed to the same stairway I went through to get to this floor, and quickly descended back into the ground floor.

They gathered many evacuees in the lobby and at the entrance as they had nowhere to go. A lot of them were bleeding, and some are shaken from seeing the horrors of the attacks, but we had to press on. These weren't our problems.

We stepped outside the building and made our way to Balalaika, where we would rendezvous with Hank and the old man and stay clear of the chaos until it dies down, or worst case, we haul ass and get out of here.

I could feel Winter's grip on my hand tighter than ever, she wasn't letting go, and she was trying hard to keep up with the pace; I slowed down a bit to match hers and together; we were a bit more synchronized and made more progress and speed.

I backtracked through the countless alleyways I went through to make my way to our building earlier, the roads were filled and littered with people and those that are attacking everyone, making it a non viable option for us as it would jeopardize our safety.

I took the narrow pathways down in the most hidden areas I used to take so we can get to the bar faster.

On our way to Balalaika, we saw an enormous group of people being blocked by the military. They began moving and preventing anyone to pass by without authorization. We rushed through the checkpoint, hidden away from the soldiers because of our hidden path.

Suddenly, we heard gunshots from behind us. Fully automatic rifles began piercing the air with their sharp blasting sounds, accompanied by the screams of the people that I assumed were the same ones that got caught in the roadblock earlier.

Winter looked at me with panic in her eyes. Even without saying it, I could already tell her question.

"Why are they doing this?" Winter asked, hey eyes constricted and once more filled with fear, I told her "We're gonna be alright, We won't die here, and we won't get caught by them, I have friends you can trust so please believe in me and them alright?"

She nodded, her expression changed back to that of a determined girl in the midst of battle. She held close to me again as we made our last stretch to the bar.

A few minutes later, we finally arrived at Balalaika, the neon sign was still up but the windows and doors were completely shut and locked down, I put out my phone and contacted both Hank and the old man telling them we were here outside the building.

The communications worked, and the old man acknowledged my answer for help, he was about to open the doors for us.

"You two, stay where you are!" A man with a muffled voice can be heard behind me. I turned around to see two military personnel aiming both at me and Winter with their rifles.

We raised our arms up, hoping they would just check us and see if we weren't suspicious, but seeing how it went down on the last checkpoint, I doubt it will.

"This is Echo 3-2 we have eyes on stragglers attempting to escape perimeter, permission to apprehend," one of the soldiers talked on their radio, possibly their commander. Winter dozed off staring straight at the bar, she was frozen in place, she let out a gulp as she tried staying still.

"Yes sir, they are civilians," The soldier responded back to whoever was on the radio.

"Wait but sir, we haven't checked-" a tone of confusion arose from the soldier's voice. He was trying to comprehend whatever has been said to him over the radio, new orders? change of plans?

I could hear a sigh from the man, he felt defeated, "I understand sir, will comply, 3-2 out" and the radio went off.

I suddenly heard rifles cocking in the background, the soldiers might have been given orders to kill anyone on sight.

"What's the plan?" I heard a younger voice than the one that talked to the radio. It was the man's buddy, "Shoot to kill" the older soldier said.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins once more as I made a preemptive strike and turned around to tackle one of them, before they could even fire I got close to one of the armed men and grabbed his rifle, trying my hardest to snatch it away from him.

He was struggling; he was stronger than me, but I cant let him kill me or her!

I felt an intense shock of pain in my sides as I realized sooner that his buddy shot me twice in the abdomen. The gunshots were muffled from my fit of rage but later died down as I got weak from the pain.

The man I struggled to disarm then got his bearings and smacked me with the butt end of his rifle, knocking me down to the ground.

The younger man aimed his rifle somewhere else, as I realized who he was pointing to.

"WINTER!" I screamed. Winter looked back at me. The man was a few milliseconds to pull the trigger, and all I can do is hope to any fucking deity he misses.

Until...

I heard a loud bang from the area. I focused on Winter but looked back on where the sound originated, as I realized it came from the old man himself that was nested in the window, armed with a sniper.

I then turned my head to look at the soldiers, the young man got his head blown off, the helmet couldn't protect him from the massive bullet that pierced straight through in and out, he was still standing but moments later; he fell to the ground.

"Shit!" the older man cussed, shortly following on the situation and took cover. Winter fell down to the ground, tucking in her arms.

The lone soldier took cover on a nearby building near to us. I crawled for Winter and get her out of here until the man began shooting at us behind cover.

"This is Echo 3-2. I have a man down! Requesting backup!" He said on the radio while he still had eyes on us, the rifle fired in bursts of streams aimed both at me and Winter. The old man couldn't do anything as he had no line of sight on the soldier.

"It hurts!" Winter screamed in pain, I looked at her and she was holding her leg that was hit by a bullet, I tucked her with me and held both our heads down hoping the man would stop shooting.

He kept firing at us but the stray bullets did more damage than what he could actually hit.

Until he stopped firing...

I turned my head back up to find a familiar face behind the lone soldier, who had a knife pointed at his throat, and his rifle pointed down.

"Hank?" I squinted, trying to adjust my vision to look at who saved us, and lo and behold, it was him alright.

He apprehended the soldier and took away his weapon, then stabbed him in the arm, the man screamed in pain as the dagger cut deep into his skin, Hank twisting the blade ripping his flesh from the inside, the man shrieked and fell down to the ground holding his damaged arm and trying to get back up.

Hank let the soldier return back to where he was sent to, he didn't have any intent to kill, he only wanted to buy time and force a retreat, he picked up the soldier's rifle and the fallen magazines that littered on the ground when the soldier dropped them.

"Are you alright?" I took a peek at Winter's injury, she was crying so hard from the bullet wound in her leg, she wasn't hit in any critical parts and I was glad for that, but I took the most beating as I got shot twice in the side.

"W-what about you? Z-zaina?" Winter tried to suck up her tears and her sobbing, as she looked to me thinking that I was about to die, but I'm too stubborn to die, I'd promise that even if I took a life-threatening injury in my place I would still protect her, regardless.

Hank then arrived and offered a hand to get me up, Winter got up by herself and limped over on her way to the bar, using Hank as assistance with her injured leg.

The old man arrived at the door, he had aging gray hair and he wore an old red vest together with white sleeves with the usual formal pants and classy shoes, all while sporting his glasses and holding a bolt-action rifle.

"Oh no" He looked at me and Winter, as he saw the injuries we sustained.

"Do we have some bandages and other medical equipment, old man?" Hank asked, hurrying along to deal with both our injuries. I could feel myself sleeping at any moment now, my eyes are closing shut every time, I tried to keep myself awake, but it was too hard to fall asleep.

"We have- basemen-" Their voices are now being muffled out, I couldn't hear them anymore

"Oi, wake up!"

Maybe, if I can take a little rest...

"Zaina!"

Then maybe I'll feel better

"Stay- you fool!"

I hope I'll wake up again...