Misery

Darkness and terrified human faces gathered around the world became a common occurrence. The groups, like the one with Mat Clearwater, scattered all around, hoping to get some news from their governments, police, and other officials. They kept waiting, and waiting, knowing at least in the morning things will get more clear, and they could move around more freely, not be confined by the fires.

Night around them was still, without wind or rain. Yet, its stillness was unnerving. More than one person was convinced they saw or heard something moving in the darkness, some creature or wraiths, but nobody spoke. After all, in this time and age, who would believe them if they said they saw a white ghost with shining green eyes?! Nobody. So, swallowing their fear, they continued to wait. Occasionally, there was a bit of conversation, yet, mostly everybody waited for it to be over, so they can go home.

Theories about the cause were various and more incredible with every following idea. Depending on who you asked, the reason for this blackout was blamed on malfunctioning equipment, a government test of a new weapon going wrong, the start of an unexpected war by another nation, to more stretched ones, such as alien invasion or witchcraft.

On one of such streets stepped a young man with dark hair. Darkness and terrified human faces gathered around the world became a common occurrence. The groups, like the one with Mat Clearwater, scattered all around, hoping to get some news from their governments, police, and other officials. They kept waiting, and waiting, knowing at least in the morning things will get more clear, and they could move around more freely, not be confined by the fires.

Night around them was still, without wind or rain. Yet, its stillness was unnerving. More than one person was convinced they saw or heard something moving in the darkness, some creature or wraiths, but nobody spoke. After all, in this time and age, who would believe them if they said they saw a white ghost with shining green eyes?! Nobody. So, swallowing their fear, they continued to wait. Occasionally, there was a bit of conversation, yet, mostly everybody waited for it to be over, so they can go home.

Theories about the cause were various and more incredible with every following idea. Depending on who you asked, the reason for this blackout was blamed on malfunctioning equipment, a government test of a new weapon going wrong, the start of an unexpected war by another nation, to more stretched ones, such as alien invasion or witchcraft.

Lucian was one of the people joining the crowded street. He observed people gathered around the flames which burned brightly, taking a second to inspect every face - all of them displayed various states of anxiety, lighted by a dim red light of the fire. There were also a lot of children which looked extremely sleepy. It must have been long past their bedtime, yet their parents went out of the house, so it was expected they would tag along - who in their right mind left children unattended in the house even at the best of times anyway? Some sprawled on the ground and were sleeping, their parents talking with the neighbors and walking nearby. A couple of really young children, twins, were crying as their mother and father carried them around trying to shush them. The elder guy looked at them disapprovingly while exchanging an annoyed look with his wife.

"You would have thought they would be kind enough to keep those screaming creatures away from us! As if we aren't in enough distress, now we need to listen to this as well," said the guy in a silent voice, just enough so he would be heard by the couple along with his wife, who nodded approvingly.

"One would think they would have some respect for the elderly, especially in times of hardship. They could have left them sleeping in their beds, why bring them on the streets?"

The father of the twins shot them an angry look while rocking his child in his arms finally started to pay off. The mother shot the elderly couple with a vicious look and turned her back on them while shushing the other baby in a slightly annoyed matter - the child started to cry even louder, causing her to immediately switch attention back to it.

Lucian rolled his eyes. He thought it was funny that even in this state of alert, someone found the time to be upset about crying children - who thought that CHILDREN would not be the first ones displaying signs of discomfort or fear.

Walking past the parents with twins and the elderly couple, Lucian switched his attention to four adult men on the bench in a heated conversation. After listening for a bit, he understood they were trying to decide what kind of action should they take.

The loudest of them all was a tall guy whose features were hard to distinguish, due to the tree in which shadow he was standing. He had short, presumably blond hair and a muscular body, at least compared to the rest of the men next to him, as they were all shorter and leaner.

"...been standing here for hours, HOURS!" the blonde guy was saying loudly, almost yelling, waving his hands around to emphasize his words. His companions were nodding their heads in agreement, while their arms were crossed.

"NOBODY decided to come and tell us of the reason for this, or instructions. Nothing happened and no one is doing anything to clear this out! And this night just doesn't want to end, on top of everything else!"

The guy was facing Lucian, so he could tell this guy must have been in his thirties, and apparently, judging by the fancy clothes, some kind of a bank employee. His clothes were neat even at this time, which could be spotted in the semi-darkness, late at night.

"Maybe we should start a car to see if we can find someone who knows more, what do you think Theodore?" another guy in his group suggested uncertainly.

Lucian smirked at that but stayed to see what Theodore had to say.

"Yes, let's go!" answered Theodore almost immediately, taking the car key out of his pocket and walking to his house, which happened to be right in front of the makeshift camp on the street, followed by all three others. For all his boasting, Theodore drove a pretty run-down car, Lucian noted. Despite the darkness, he could see the men going towards the small Mercedes that had to be at least twenty years old - did not even have an electric lock. As he watched, the car doors closed with a thud and the engine roared to life, car lights turning on, lighting the city street.

But the car did not go anywhere. Neither did anybody else. All faces stared in horror as the car lights illuminated the darkness, revealing hundreds of zombies inching towards their camp.

Some were fresh corpses that looked almost human, if not for their stuck-up movement, as if half of the bones in their body were broken or detached from the place where they were supposed to be, yet it went unnoticed. Others were obviously in the ground for longer periods, given their bodies and clothes were rotting, along with their bodies, on which you could see dirt from the ground that was still holding onto them, flesh-eating worms which were infesting their corpses, and missing parts of the bodies where worms have finished their job. One could tell they were not human by just glancing at their eyes from which identical shiny jades shone. Yet, the panic spread, not because of their eyes, or body, no. It was the expression. Every single face wore an identical unnatural grin.

Screams broke through the night, as the horde of undead started to run in a relatively distorted manner towards the terrified crowd. Theodore was frozen by fear and disbelief as car doors were torn out before he was faced with a small zombie child and what seemed to be a corpse of a dog. The zombie dog jumped into the car and ripped his throat out, splashing blood as he was attempting to tear the rest of the head along with it. And sure thing, a second later, the zombie dog jumped out to chew on the piece of flesh it managed to tear off of what was one Theodore. The sound of the car door getting torn alerted the camp.

People surrounding the fire ran from their places as fast as their legs were carrying them into darkness, but they did not run far. The first one to die was the mother of the twins, along with her child. She was woken up by the screaming crowd, confused, only to face a horde of appalling undead grinning as they closed the distance. Her body froze. She looked around helpless, searching for her husband for protection, only to see him running along with the rest of the crowd.

Lucius spotted the look of betrayal on her face a second before her head was snapped from her neck, blood splattering over her body. The child she was holding was falling on the road, woken by the sudden change of gravity. He did not manage to open his mouth and cry again, before he was snatched mid-air, by a moldy, cold pair of hands. Zombie's expression changed - it was not grinning anymore. Now, it looked hungry. Short seconds after obtaining his meal, the child in his hands was snapped in half, as another zombie tried to snatch it.

The elderly couple could not run and met their end a couple of meters away from the woman. Screams and tears were heard before their bodies were ripped apart and the sharp teeth of zombies began to devour their flesh.

Spectating all of this, Lucian stood near the campfire, taking in the scene in front of him with an indifferent expression. A glint of his red eyes shone through the human mask he was wearing, as he observed an obnoxious couple being torn apart. And it was just the beginning. A small smile accompanied that thought, as he started walking forward, as zombies ran around him, seemingly ignoring him. They were breaking the windows and doors out of their frames to reach the remaining few humans left that tried to hide in their houses. After the screams died out, Lucian turned on the place where he was standing, disappearing into the night.