Apocalypse, Now.

Alex

Miami Florida, December 13th, 2025.

The Sun is setting and the rain begins to fall. As everyone goes in, he comes out. Nothing on his back but a sword. He stands 6 foot 2 inches tall, blonde hair, and a ripped physique. His name is Alex. Tends to not care about anything except for his little sister Stephanie who is the only one who can calm him. He comes from a broken home, and doesn't know the meaning of peace. He's been fighting a war of his own in his mind for years. No friends, no acquaintances, nor companions. He walks into the woods standing tall. No fear in his eyes and no regrets or sympathy. It is 1:07 in the morning deep in the woods. Fog and darkness only those who tend to live there can see through it. On this particular night Alex walked through his normal trail as he does every night. If there were a sound or movement how out of the ordinary he would know it for sure. As he walks he notices movement in a distance. He has only met a few people walk this try out this late at night but this person was different. Hands down to the waist, non responsive. Assuming the person was ignoring him, Alex picks up a small rock and tosses it at this person. If a person is what you would call this man. The rock hits the man the back of the neck and instant reaction. This man turns facing Alex and instantly begins to rush, full of aggression. Alex tries to calm the situation by saying " slow down man, what is this all about?" As the man gets closer Alex can see him clearly. Clothes ripped, nothing but blood on his clothes mixed with the mud of the woods, eyes completely dilated. With no other option Alex quickly draws his sword. 40 inches of razor sharp high carbon steel. A katana, known to the Japanese as the sword of warriors. With little effort Alex quickly rushes and beheads man in one accurate swing. In stock, Alex investigates the body. While removing some of the clothes of the deceased man's body Alex quickly notices bite mark, scratches. Before he can even pull out his phone to photograph what he is seeing, a bright light shines in the woods. Cars and police emerge. An officer yelled "put the story back on your back, and put your hands above your head!" I felt like I was about to be arrested But that wasn't the case, as the commanding officer approached me he said " listen son, you're not in any trouble. But I need you to get in the car and come with us right now" without hesitation I get in the car and we drive off. We stopped at a local police station about 14 miles away and immediately they began asking me what happened. After I explained, he tells me that this is a very serious matter and it should not be spoken anywhere. It didn't take me long to realize that these weren't your everyday Miami PD. They cleaned my sword and gave it back to me without asking where I got it from. I went home to see my sister Stephanie that night crawling through her window to make sure she was okay. Has a crowd in the window to sleep on her floor beside her bed, she says in a tired voice, "what took you so long dude" surprised I quickly gave her a hug and kiss on the forehead. In my broken home my sister is all that I have and the only one I trust. With my father and Afghanistan and our mother a depressed alcoholic, sticking together is all we knew. Twenty minutes go by and I have explained all of the events to my sister. Of course, she thought it was a big joke and even saw it as a bedtime story. Not wanting to worry her, I let her rest. Morning approaches as I wake her up for school and casually watch the morning news to inform me of the weather. There was a report of a series of attacks within the city. And dozens of excuses to cover up something. Concerned as I was I told my sister she would not be going to school today. I then had to speak with our mother of whom I have not seen and over a month as she refused to leave her room at her own request. As I enter the room her eyes shoot open . She quickly grabs the cover to hide her arm, I then say " is everything okay Mom?" She says "yes, your mother is okay." Being as cautious and sneaky as I could I began to slowly investigate the room when she went to the bathroom. Once I lifted up the mattress I found dozens and dozens of paper towels and bandages, along with a big pile of pain killers. I began to really feel suspicious on what was on her arm. I went to my sister and I said "has mom been acting weird lately Steph?" My sister says "she's been acting weird for exactly three days" . Not trying to over think I offered to take my sister to have breakfast at IHOP, it was our favorite place to eat and bond. As our conversation drags on she tends to ask me a lot on when I will be coming home for good. Not sure of how to answer that question, I avoid it. An hour and a half has gone by and I begin to drive her home. As we enter our house we call to my mom to alert her that I am leaving and my sister is home. Suddenly, we hear coughing and choking. I quickly run up the stairs to see my mom choking and potentially having a seizure. I then yell to my sister "give me the first aid kit now!" As I'm trying to calm my mother down I noticed her arm is bleeding excessively so without hesitation I pull up her sleeve and revealed the womb. My heart was beating like a drum because I noticed, it was the same bite marks as the guy in the woods. I then asked my mother, "what happened to you?" Her words are bunched together as she says, "I was attacked". In disbelief I began to hold her down for she couldn't stop shaking. Moments later, she stopped breathing. With my sister at my side I tell her "you need to stay strong with me" . What many attempts of CPR, we get nothing. It is a full ten minutes of silence as me and my sister come to the reality that our mother has passed. As we both stand up we begin to call the police to let them know. But, as I picked up the phone I heard a noise. it sounded like something was breathing around me. I didn't pay too much attention to the sound but at the corner of my eye I witnessed the towel on top of my mother was moving. And in shock I dropped the phone and slowly a snarl came from her body and she slowly began to get up. Unable to come to words I said no to my sister to get in the closet and close the door. I called to her as my voice begins to break "mom...." she turns to me, eyes completely dilated and she snarled, growled, looked at me dead in my eyes like she didn't know who I was. This was the moment where I realized that this isn't my mother anymore. Like the guy in the woods she rushed at me with no remorse or regards for anything I began to run down my stairs to get my sword which is was in the family room. As I was running I tripped down the stairs on my shoelaces . As I fell down the stairs I hit my knee on the railing. Once I got to the bottom I was quickly trying to crawl into the family room it didn't take long for my mother to catch up with me and grabbed my leg. Struggling already I kept on pushing myself to reach the family room, with everything I had left in my leg I kicked back and set myself free and grabbed my sword and close my eyes while I swung. And I didn't have to see it to know what was done. I then call my sister back downstairs.... it didn't take long for her to know what happened. This was a moment when we both knew that we couldn't let grief consume us. We then looked back on the news and there were more reports of attacks all across our town. It's like someone hit a switch and turned everything into madness. With nobody to turn to, the next morning I packed my sisters things and we set off to Utah. Where we will go to the only person I know I can trust. Carmen.