Prologue

"Help me close this door quick!" I tried to push the shelf to block the door, but it was too heavy. I can hear countless footsteps echoing in the hallway, the infected are making their way towards us, "I'll help you with this, just keep pushing the shelf!" Yulia jumped into action as she frantically tried to help me blocking the path to our demise. Together we pushed the heavy shelf towards the door, she was scared and her goggles fell off but she kept on going and tried to ounce every single bit of her strength to help, but we still can't block the door in time.

"Oh fuck this!" one of the guys in our group pulled out a revolver from his jacket and began aiming at the creatures chasing after us. His face was fueled with rage, but within it hid a deep fear of death, his pupils constricted to the point that it looks like he's staring straight at the devil himself, but he didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger and the sound of the deafening gunshot could be heard all throughout the building, he kept on firing second after second, chambering and loading more bullets when he ran out. The things following us screamed in return. My ears were ringing now, and his expression became worse as the realization sets in as he is probably facing a horde of infected that filled the hallway in front of him.

One of the infected suddenly appeared in the opposite end of the room to where we are, the thing wedged itself on a small crack on the wall where any normal man couldn't fit into, its eyes darted around the room as it rapidly shivered itself stationary, "Infected!" I locked eyes on our gunslinger Heron, as he turned his face at me, I slightly shook my head upwards and faced the opposite end of the room, Heron realized the signal and quickly turned at the infected that was on his left side. The thing began running towards him but he wasn't prepared, it leaped upwards making its way to him, and he could only raise his left arm to cover himself to prepare for an oncoming attack.

"Watch out!" Haruki appeared from behind me, our friendly resident former hitman was holding a concrete block and smashed it to the incoming infected that was aiming at Heron, the thing fell on the floor and Haruki stomped on it's already brittle head to make sure it doesn't move again, it left imprints of rotten flesh and brain matter on his boots, but he didn't care. "I owe you one! but please move the fuck faster and get the goddamn door blocked already!" complaining and as he tries to pump out more shots to defend us, Heron stood his ground, awaiting for my signal. Slowly inching our way to the entrance, Heron closed the hallway door as we were about to drop it in front of him.

We managed to give out one last push and in a few seconds, the heavy object fell to the ground, it released dust that scattered around on impact, books that were originally stationed on its old carrier fell to the floor, but with it, we blocked the entire entrance. But it was a small victory, the infected were slowly gathering at the door, pushing it with all their might, we have some bit of time but we weren't going to stay around any longer. Haruki took a bit of time to breathe in and calm his adrenaline filled state, "Zaina, protect Yulia and get to the next room and gun it all the way to the hallway, make your way up on the rooftop, Heron, shoot any infected that comes close to me, I'm going vanguard" as he grabbed a block of wood that was standing slanted in a desk near to where he was standing, holding it as a weapon. Heron released the chamber of his revolver and dropped the used bullet casings, "Don't attempt anything stupid" warning Haruki to stay vigilant and not being reckless, he pulled out the bullets from his pocket and loaded it onto his revolver.

I pulled out a metal rebar stuck in the wall and pointed at the door "Go!" I gestured Yulia to go running into the hallway, she nodded in response and quickly head out, I followed shortly after. I glanced back at the two boys behind me before following her "And you two need to come back to us alright?" and they replied with a nod and a smile to reassure me that everyone will come back alive.

I opened the door to the hallway and came out rushing through, the chunk of metal I grasped firmly in my hand made clanking noises each time it hit something, it echoed throughout the hallway and it made a ton of attention dragging the infected to our position, Yulia made a run to the end of the hallway, waiting for me before she heads out to the next room "Hurry up Zaina! We need to get through!" her voice echoing throughout the hallway. Gunshots can be heard behind me now, I can hear Heron screaming profanities at the infected, and Haruki's wooden block reverberating the sound of gushing blood and flesh all over the previous room. Their sounds would be drowned out by the ensuing madness of the infected surrounding us, making it harder to hear them.

I ran to reach Yulia, and I aggressively bashed open the door at the end of the hallway, and we just met more of these things, they all turned their heads to look at us, their heads caved in with fractured skull fragments protruding out their flesh and their brain completely mashed, their brown skin covered by the embers of flames that died down from a fire their bodies withstood, and not a single ounce of humanity left in them. Their eyes filled with blood and chaos focused entirely on me. They all moved at the same time as they were about to grab both of us, I grabbed Yulia by her arm and pulled her backwards, I closed the door again and one of the things stuck their arm on the edge of the door, preventing me to completely close it, "Push this door for me!" I told Yulia, she exerted her strength to hold the door, I readied my metal weapon as I smashed open the rotten arm of the infected, I hit it once and it made a clear dent, the second time I swung my weapon I heard the bones snapping, the flesh barely holding on, the third swing went in and it dismembered the thing's arm.

I dropped my weapon and pushed the door one more time as it finally closed down, "Zaina!" Yulia looked at the desk on my left near the door, it was filled with heavy stuff I couldn't waste time to look into it, I managed to push it and block the hallway door, blocking another route out the building. I breathed heavily, sweat pouring down my face, I grabbed my weapon again that fell on the floor, I then looked to Yulia, "Well shit, do we have other options here Yul?" she began looking for other ways to get out this open area, she backtracked her way going back to where we last set foot, "I think I saw a fire exit leading somewhere" I followed her through the corridor and managed to find an emergency stairway that leads to the top floor. "We might as well try this option, but I don't think-" she stopped abruptly as I grabbed her and opened the fire exit door, "Its better than nothing!" I told her, if we were to survive we might as well risk it and go through here, if anything happens I'll protect her, just like we always do.

The screaming and rumbling of footsteps grew more louder, but they weren't after us, they were after the boys. The gunshots seem to have stopped and at that point I began to worry if they escaped, but a promise is a promise, I trust that they'll get out, we're all too stubborn to die anyways. We reached the top floor of the building we gathered around the door leading us upwards, I gently opened the door and took a peek to see any movement and there was none, same goes for noise. "Let's go" I held the door open for Yulia and closed the door afterwards. I felt the hairs on my skin raise up as I felt a slight ring of movement from somewhere in the room, "You two are okay huh? What happened to the dipshit and Haruki?" a familiar voice called out to me, I turned around still stuck in an adrenaline rush but it was quickly calmed down the moment I saw the person talking, it was Joseph. "Oh thank god it was only you" I remarked. "They let us go first and chose to leave behind for now, they'll make it through and I'm sure of that" Yulia answered, optimistic as always and believes in everyone, even in times like these she just pushes everyone to live and see through the end and never disappoints with her smile.

"It'll be a miracle if they managed to get out alive but they are meatheads after all, so I'd doubt they'll die over a bunch of these things" Joseph said, half assured of their safety yet confident of their skills, "But we need to get out of here quick, I already got ourselves an exit plan, we just need to get going" we followed him to a stairway leading to the rooftop, we walked the path going upwards, the way was wide open and sunlight shined through and for a moment I was blinded by light and the ray of the sun punching my face full of intense heat, all that venturing down the building in dimly lit areas forced me to readjust my eyes again.

The moment my eyes were focused again, I could clearly see the entire area where we are. Hundreds of abandoned and derelict buildings measured as far as I can see, the air was fresh but at the same time it felt dirty to breathe in, there were no infected below us but cross a couple blocks down the road and there are a few of them. Joseph pointed at the east showing us the open water and the docks, "I managed to find a boat in the docks, I also found some gas that we can work with" he explained, "But we'll risk ourselves with a chance of getting infected from these waters, so I'll leave the decisions to you Zaina" Joseph then gave me a pat on the shoulder, awaiting for my next order I'll give him.

I just simply gave him a nod, realizing what he had to do now, he took the stairs down leading to the docks, making preparations to leave with the boat, "Why don't you go help him Yul?" I looked at her, she replied with a nod and followed him down, I joined them momentarily.

A loud blaring sound suddenly popped off inside the building, "A fire alarm?!" Yulia panicked, surprised that the fire alarm in the building was still functional, not only that but I can hear gunshots again, and so does the rumbling of footsteps and vicious screams of those damned things. "Go!" I told Yulia to make a run for the docks, she began making her way to Joseph faster in the stairways, I reached out to our man in the boat "Joseph! We need to get out of here!" I shouted to him, he was already on it and began rushing for preparations to fill the boat with gas and Yulia being the one in charge of any electronics that needs some fixing to get it operational. I then heard a loud clash of what seemed like a metal door hitting from somewhere in the building, I faced wherever the sound came from, and it seems like its on the ground floor, I can barely see two silhouettes and by the time I can recognize them...

"Now you've really done it you fuck!" there was Haruki, and he was holding on to the door trying to block the infected from going through, "Its not my fault one of them would actually push the damn fire alarm!" Heron rebutted to Haruki, to what seemed like the doing of an infected was all blamed on him. But this was no time for arguments, I rushed to help both of them, I grabbed a chain dangling from a nearby crate and began to tie it around the doorknob to prevent it from opening, but it wont last that long. "You two save the arguments for later, we need to get out of here now!" I ordered both of them to get their asses on the docks. So we ran, panicking to get to the docks, and it seemed like everything is surrounded by sounds of screaming monsters now.

My eyes widened at the sight we were seeing, a horde is piling up from all sides, if I can describe what it looked like, imagine a tsunami 10 meters tall, except its brown and covered with blood infused smoke and with it, the disease. And slowly but surely, they were getting closer by the second. We made it past the bridge and now we're heading to the pier where we can now see Joseph and Yulia fixing on the boat. "Please tell me it's done" I asked both of them for an answer, Yulia then turned to me, her grit and determination died as she realized.

"The electronics are completely destroyed along with the engine, we cant run it unless we find a new machine or a boat, but this is the only one left". My mind started racing, thoughts began to spring around my head, is this the end? Is this really how we're all going to die? Heron broke the silence, "I'm not the one that should be saying this but..." he paused for a while, trying to scavenge for something in the boat, before he continued to say something we've never heard him say before.

"Do you guys trust me if I said I had an idea?" Heron then asked everyone, time is of the essence and no one, not even me would believe his half-hearted words.

We all looked at him in disbelief but somewhere down we hoped he had a plan, but our words still stood the same exact response "Hell no" all our responses were expected. "Too bad I'll fucking do it anyway" Heron then chuckled lightly, proud of the fact that he's somehow going to save all our asses. "You guys depend too much on machinery that you forget that sails exist for a reason" slightly annoyed, Heron got to the center of the boat all while grabbing a thick giant fabric and was about to attach it to a makeshift mast.

"If that's the plan then..." Joseph mumbled to himself, and began to throw off all heavy items into the water, "Everyone drop everything heavy into the water! We need to lose weight!" While Heron was doing the sails and the others were dropping stuff as fast as they can, the infected have already passed the bridge and are almost on their way to the pier where we were at, they are this close to getting to us. Haruki dropped what he was doing and instead grabbed my makeshift weapon from earlier, "I'll get ready to bash those damn heads the moment they come through me" ready to strike without a moment's notice.

"Oi, Zain!" Heron shouted, I looked at him and he threw me his revolver, "You guys don't trust me but I'll trust you with this!" I caught his weapon and peeked into the chamber, his gun fully loaded and ready to fire, I nodded at him, ready to protect the boat at all costs. The entire pier at this point was piled with hundreds of infected, the fire alarm still blaring in the distance, countless incomprehensible numbers of former humans now drowned out the sound of the alarm and are headed straight to us.

We only have one chance to get out of here and I hope to whatever everyone believes in that its going to be a flawless way out.

Its do or die.

_______________

March Journal day 15

Journal start

Last night was shit, my roommate came home drunk and vomited all over the toilet and left their puke on the sink, their friend however was kind enough to clean up the mess for me, today's a Monday and that same drunkard left early to catch some errands, though today, the rain is heavier than usual, its already the start of the summer season but what can you know, climate change and all that stuff you know?

I decide not to attend classes today as it'll probably end up being another visit to the hospital, though I'll go outside later when I wake up again to buy some food and treat myself for something, forgot to mention that the time I was writing this journal is about 2 AM in the morning, also to keep in mind for today...If ever I run into those bastards that slapped my best friend last week, I'll shove them into a meat grinder.

Journal end

I read my journal again, reminded by the horror earlier where Nia and her "friend" Adam destroyed the toilet, the damn smell is still there and is practically unusable at this point. "Fucking bitch" I murmured to myself trying to hold back swearing at her, Nia is a very laidback person who doesn't really care that much at anything, well apart from her social status that is. She frequently goes out at bars and hooks up with whoever she finds attractive and brings them all home here, where I had to put up with all the stains and residue every time. It's past the point of being annoying and I really just want to get out and change apartments, if only I had the money...

I closed my journal and laid it on my desk beside me, I waited a while savoring the comfiness of my bed before I had the willpower to get up and finally fix it. I looked outside our 17th floor window and it was still raining, the city skyline where its usually covered with beautiful lights that almost look like a retro neon paradise, were now filled with the gray clouds roaring with thunder, and its downpour reaching into the window. I plan to go out and buy some food for today, rationing all of my meals based on the money I get from working part time at a local bar, that and managing my time along with studies in university. Although my room mate visits bars on a daily basis, I don't mind her visiting the place I'm working at, if it means that more customers and an increase in regulars gets me a bigger paycheck, then I won't mind.

I tidied up the little bits of my bed and got the vacuum cleaner from the cleaning cabinet near the bathroom, I cleaned the rest of the room while I was at it, comparing my side of the room where it's all organized and spotless from the top down, Nia's was... an eldritch being cooking another eldritch abomination. If she can't clean her shit then she can't expect me to clean it up for her given how many stuff I had to go through every day just by being here. I turned off the vacuum cleaner after I was done with the rest of the room, walking over to the cabinet, I placed it nice and tight into the small compartment where it's usually stored.

Everything was set and clean and I can finally go out, though I still can't use the bathroom cause of the reasons stated earlier, I feel so damn dirty after touching Nia's stuff I'd want a hot bath first. Instead I'll have to go to my best friend's apartment located a few floors on top of mine. I opened my clothing cabinet and within the dozens of hanging clothes, I grabbed my outfit for today. A plain black t-shirt with some Japanese characters pronouncing my name in butchered English, a gift given to me by my best friend during Christmas last year, gray pants that are a bit large for me but comfy nonetheless, a pair of sturdy tactical boots I bought a few months ago because I thought they looked cool on me and everyone says I should get one due to my rough nature, and a dark brown leather jacket that a co worker gave to me.

I grabbed what I needed, clothes, wallet, phone, and whatever else I bought, I crammed all of them into my bag and head out to see my friend in the 21st floor. I turned off all the lights and set the air ventilation in low to at least filter the air before I get back here, I'll also probably call up a plumber to fix the toilet later. I swiped the card to the door and checked the lock, I twisted the door knob a couple of times then I let it close the door itself, card in pocket and heading to the elevator. The other apartments in this high rise building were fairly similar to mine, albeit more clean and less of a disaster, the ones in the 20th floor and above are way more extravagant and classy, and I should've been there with my friend up top but costs are due and I simply can't keep up with it, so I'd rather keep it manageable.

I walked around the 17th floor all in slippers and in my pajamas, the luxurious looking wall filled with abstract shapes together with the floor in red carpet made it look like a high class hotel, but in reality is just a high rise apartment building that looks way too fancy to have an average priced room. I walked towards the elevators and pressed the arrow key pointing up, under a minute the elevator doors opened up and I went inside, I pressed the button leading to the 21st floor and waited a few seconds before finally arriving. The intercom on the elevator rang and a voice can be heard "You are now at the 21st floor", I stepped out the elevator and the same red carpet looking floor and abstract wall greeted me. My best friend lives in the west side of the floor, on room 21-09, I made my way to a corridor leading to a series of rooms starting with 21-01 and ending in 21-06, the next turn on the left after this corridor should be where my friend should be, right in the middle, and there I saw the numbers 21-09.

I stood in front of the room, surprising my friend at this time seems a bit of an ass move, but I just need to get this over with so I can head back and lay down in my comfy bed again. I hovered my hand to the door, and knocked three times. I can hear footsteps from the inside and some sort of rustling, the door beeped for an quick second and has been unlocked, the door opened slightly and I can barely make out the person, but it's still the same girl I always knew and cherished."Wint? Can I uhh... Use your shower?"

The door slowly opened revealing more of the person in front of me, the girl with long black hair turned dark brown from lights and amber eyes wearing brown and reddish sleepwear came out, her smug expression on her face and her eyes met mine as she took a few seconds appreciating what's in front of her. She put out her arms and hugged me."Zainaaa welcome!" Winter hugged me tightly as she lazily tried to mutter out my name welcoming me in her room. "If... You want to use my shower..." she paused, "I'll gladly let you in, on one condition"

'What?' I thought to myself, wondering what it was. She placed her hand in my belly as her hand slipped through my clothes, I can feel her racing up to my stomach making its way up. "Please let me touch them..."I can feel her hands on my chest, she fondled them gently caressing it in her hands and playing with it like a stress ball, I couldn't help but be embarrassed as she's doing this in an open space, I grabbed her hand, my face and hers all red while she just stands there grinning at me and panting heavily. Pervertedly.

"Stop!" I took her hand off of me all while hiding the embarrassment from my face, she still had that wide perverted smile and still begged to touch me, "Aww but I love doing that" Winter was now acting annoyed, trying to make me feel bad for stopping her for playing with me. "Just... don't do it outside, then I won't mind" I said, her eyes flared up and became more prominent, "Heh, well come inside Zaina" I entered inside her apartment room and I could finally help myself for a nice bath.

Winter stood there right by my side and looked at me, her grin disappeared and what replaced it was a slight expression of guilt, she still has a faint smile looking to me as if I was a long lost loved one in a reunion, "I'm sorry if I had to do that, I just miss you, its been like a month since we last talked you know?" Winter hopped on her bed, dropping down feeling bad for what she did. I dropped my bag filled with my clothes and other stuff and dropped down in the bed with Winter, the warm puffy mattress covered my fall as I descended into a realm of comfort, drowning out my worries and living in the moment.

"You do know we're just 4 floors away, we could visit each other anytime we want" I remarked, my voice muffled by the fluffy bed, my body grew weak as I gave in to comfort, unmoving. Winter tried to move a bit, also giving in to the comfort of the bed and her voice muffled out by the mattress too, "There's too many projects I'm working on to actually catch up to you dummy" "Same here Wint, same"

It was about 30 minutes, give or take that I spent around the bed lying down with giant pillows around me and Wint, all she could do was hug my arm and talk about her worries while I did the same, she still remembers the time she got slapped by one of my university mates in one of the sections I attended and I'm not gonna let the chance pass to beat the shit out of them. Though Winter fell asleep as she was talking to me about what happened, I got up from her bed, and fixed her hair and laid her in in a pillow.

The sight of her sleeping soundly was something I cherished all the time, considering our past together since high school and how we managed to get through even the worst situations, I was her sole protector and she acts like the cheerleader. I got into many fights before and somehow in some ways she's always indirectly hurt by how I acted, that's why I promised to be strong for the two of us so I can keep defending her, but at the same time I have to leave her in some situations where she doesn't need my help in order for her to grow and adapt. I grabbed my bag from the floor, opened it and bought out its contents inside.

I grabbed my clothes and a towel from Winter's clothes rack and went to the shower, finally getting some warm water. The thunder roared outside as I entered the shower room and slowly undressed myself lazily, my pajamas are all wrinkled and smells like vomit that got sprayed with an air freshener, my underwear was covered in sweat last night and it dried up, leaving a cold after touch on my body, freezing me to death as I quickly put it away. The rain still hasn't stopped and probably never will for the next few hours, weather broadcasts said that it might also last until night time, its only about 10:33 AM in the morning and I might make it in time to catch up on some food outside. What matters now is that I can finally get some peace and a moment of solace in the shower.

I closed the door in the room, locking it, and turned on the shower setting the temperature to mildly warm. Water poured down on me like rain and the hair on my skin raised from the sensation sudden change from cold to warm, quickly calming down after a few seconds. I closed my eyes for bit, my mind raced with ridiculous imaginations of whatever I could think of, I imagined myself standing in an open area, head raised to look at the clouds, while the rain just falls down on me.

I opened my eyes again and decided to stop dreaming, I touch my rough skin, my arms were filled with scars from the past, memories of me protecting Winter flowed right back in my eyes, and her innocent looking smile together with her laugh just made my day a bit more brighter. I grabbed the soap from Winter's holder, then rubbed the soap on my body, it left foam of gold and I can smell it clearly, an aroma from that of the sea which I loved when I was always at the beach. Then I used a conditioner for my hair, Winter said before that I can use her own because I was treating my hair like nothing, she even commented how my hair feels like a used mattress.

I grabbed the bottle of hair conditioner and poured it into my hands, the slimy goo texture sat there as I rinsed it on my hair, it feels soft and I feel a bit more lady-like. I gently grabbed my hair and wrapped it on my face, "Fluffy" I thought, as it felt more like a pillow now. I stopped stuffing myself with my own hair and rubbed parts of my body where there was still some soap left lying around. And spent the rest of my time leaving myself on random thoughts.

Maybe life is not so bad after all with some people around me and with her, a contrast of me being rough to myself and soft for others, while they do the opposite for me. Its weird...I turned off the shower and wrapped myself in Winter's towel I grabbed earlier and walked out the bathroom, Winter was still there sleeping in her bed all cozy. Her mouth muttered something, it was faint but I could hear her talking to herself but I could barely make it out, I leaned in to her closer."...Zaina... Ice cream... Please... "She was sleep talking, I don't know what she's dreaming right now but now that I heard the she wants Ice cream, I guess I won't mind setting aside a few bucks for a frozen cup. I'm in the mood for some cold stuff too even if it's super cold outside, eating cold negates cold I guess, or I'm just the odd one out.

She continued mumbling in her sleep and kept moving in her bed while I picked up my bag and removed the towel from my body and started putting my clothes on. After that, I picked up my phone and turned it on to see 3 new notifications, the first 2 were random spam emails but the last one was from my co-worker. "Yo Zaina, I know you have classes today but if ever you're free to hang out please drop by the old man's bar, bring anyone else you know or some of your friends if you want, we just want a new taste test for the new brew the master has, and like I said only come if you have free time, don't ditch your classes" is what his message said.

I might meet him later afternoon and get someone to taste test for the bar but my hunger comes first, as well as Winter's Ice cream. I decided to leave my bag in her place as I'll be hopping in again to her room once I come back, but before I leave I want to make sure she feels comfortable sleeping, I tidied up her bed a bit and laid down her blanket and set her air conditioner at low, that way she won't feel cold once I'm away.

Its currently 10:55 AM, I turned on my phone again to see a public news broadcast on the headline when I opened my browser, something about a riot appearing in several states around America, reports said that the riots started off with protests, eventually though the riot became more violent as the people suddenly resorted to punching and stabbing security and police officers, some claimed to have even seen others biting officers in the neck. However, this only appeared in the most crowded areas, and it just happened an hour ago.

A tragic story I suppose but it's not our problem, probably some government related shit that people are fed up with again, but who knows. I closed my phone browser and turned off the lights in Winter's room, I turned back to look at her before I closed the door, fully clothed and ready to head out.

I made my way to the elevator again and this time I pressed the button to be dropped on the 1st floor. The elevator doors opened and I was greeted in the building's lobby with the loud dark rain outside, it was cold and I was basically chilling my bones out but I have to get going for our Ice cream. I opened the doors outside and popped my umbrella, there are fewer people than usual and the convenience stores in front of the building are still available, their lights as bright as a lighthouse in a stormy sea and empty roads devoid of cars, I looked back at my building for a brief second, and thought.

"What a nice place I live in huh?"