THE DAY THE WORLD FELL

Chapter One

The world fell before I even got the chance to eat my dinner. It was late in the evening, all was fine. I had just gotten home and began preparing dinner, when a I heard a knock at my front door. It sounded desperate, so I cautiously peered out the window to see who it was. To my surprise it was my neighbor Nix. She was looking all about herself and seemed as though she was scared of someone or something chasing her. I quickly opened the door for her. She barreled inside and slammed the door behind her. She shot straight into the living room and snatched up the tv remote. She flipped through the channels and settled on channel 6 news. 

I didn't know what was wrong, but it was seriously bad. Nix never watched the news. She didn't like having to see all the over-dramatized rants the media produced. It was all propaganda made to incite panic. 

"Nix what is going on?" I asked her, "I was just about to cook dinner. Where's Danny and the kids?"

"Listen to this report." She increased the volume. "I can't believe this is happening. What are we going to do? What can we do?"

The reporter was quiet for a moment before speaking, "We interrupt this broadcast for emergency news. I regret to inform everyone that the world has changed. This is serious. Life and Death. Literally death. A virus has been sweeping the nation under our noses. CDC claims to have been unaware until now, but special reports say otherwise. I have with me Dr. Korinna Eberhardt, an employee for the CDC." the camera panned over to face a young woman in a white blouse with long blonde hair. She had bright blue eyes that looked as though they could see through your soul. "Now Dr. explain to us what you know about this new virus."

"I don't know much" she explained in a thick German accent. "All I know is that we received a communication a few weeks ago. It stated that a small village, Schiltach, Baden-Württemberg, had evidence that a contagious virus had spread among the people. It spread silently and quickly. No one was immune. It started causing dangerously high fevers, shortness of breath, and strong hallucinations. My branch got word after the tenth death. We sent a few doctors to examine and determine the cause. They never came home. Eventually we lost contact with them and the rest of the village. My brother Elfriede Lorch was among the rescue team I dispatched."

"So what happened after they were deployed?" inquired the reporter.

Dr. Eberhardt went silent for a brief minute. She was trying to hold back the tears. "They made contact after reaching Schiltach. They reported a ghost town, no one in the streets or homes. It was like they vanished. My brother turned on the video comm and broadcasted what he was seeing. It really did look like a ghost town. The streets were empty and trashed. Not a soul to be seen. I think if you see the video, you'll understand what is going on." She looked to the reporter who motioned for the team behind the cameras to roll the footage.

It was dark in the video but there were streetlamps on, casting an eerie scene around the area. Trash and clothes were all over the place. It looked like a scene from a horror film. The team walked about the street in tactical movements, someone shouted for survivors, but no one answered them. We could hear some of the team speaking low in the back. Then Someone started speaking to the camera, "This is Lieutenant Elfriede Lorch with the rescue team.  We are currently seeing no signs of life. It is so quiet out here. I've got goosebumps. Alpha team is taking the streets to our right, Bravo is with me to the left." We saw the division happen and watched as the Bravo team snuck around the corner of a small shop. We just barely saw movement in the shop window. The bravo team immediately sprang into action. Pointing their weapons at the front door as the head of the team entered the building. We couldn't hear anything beyond the door, but we could see. The shadow was a thin elderly woman. She was stumbling around and bumping into shelves. She turned towards the man and stumbled close. Once she was close enough, she lunged at him. He fired bullet after bullet and still she didn't go down. 

"William!!!!!!!!!!!!" Hollered Elfriede, "Move out!" He pointed his finger toward the door and the other soldiers immediately ran in and fired upon her. The other thing to work to take her down was a shot to the head. 

"Turn it off." I said, snapping Nix out of her state of daze. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Seems like it is, the world has gone to shit." she shook her head and dropped to the couch. "I am insisting that we all stay close. We have room in our home. Will is already there with Danny and the kids. I'm here to help you pack. Let's get your shit and get out." she moved about the room gathering my stuff up. "Only pack the essentials. We have to be ready to move."

I nodded and did as I was told. Holy shit. This is real. No one actually thought we would see an apocalypse with zombies.