An interactive apocalyptic story.
You've heard the strange reports of cannibalism that seems to be sweeping the country. It all seemed so far fetched. Now, though, you have witnessed it with your own eyes. What will you do?
Read along and make your...
Your bus drops you off, along with the three others who live on your street. It's earily quiet, the only people you see are those of you who just exited the bus, but you suppose that has to do with you being home hours earlier than usual. Inexplicably, school had suddenly let out early. The principal announced, in a stressed out voice, that the busses had arrived and all students should go home and stay there.
As you trudge along the street, you wonder if these strange circumstances have anything to do with that news report you caught a glimpse of yesterday. You didn't see much, before Mom caught you looking and changed the channel, but they seemed to be talking about a widespread epidemic of cannibalism. Yuck.
Widespread cannibalism? That can't be right. You must have heard wrong. Who ever heard of modern people eating each other? You reach your driveway and turn toward your house. Taking out your key, you unlock the front door, and are inside in seconds. It's nearly the end of the school year, and it's really hot outside. The air conditioned temperature inside is a welcome relief from the outside heat.
Dumping your heavy backpack carelessly by the door, you go to the kitchen to make a snack. You should probably call your Mom, to let her know that you are home, but it can wait until after you make that sandwich. Your hungry. A few minutes later, sandwich in hand, you walk to the living room and turn on the tv. Maybe you can find something good to watch while you eat.
You flip through the channels until you find a favorite movie. Happily, you flop onto the couch and take a bite from your food, watching the tv intently.
Before you know it, the movie is over. Shoot. You didn't mean to get so caught up in the movie. You realise that you haven't made that call to your Mom, yet. Going back to your backpack, you dig until you find your phone wedged under some books. The little green light is flashing, indicating that you have a missed call.
You look at the screen. 17 missed calls. 4 messages. All of them are from your Mom. That's really excessive...
Dialing your voicemail, you listen the the first message.
"Hey Kiddo, call me when you get this." It's brief, and Mom sounds stressed.
The next message starts. "Are you there? Honey, you need to call me right away. I heard on the radio that all schools in the area dismissed early. Call me as soon as you get home." This message, there's a sharpness in her voice. Unusual for your soft spoken mother.
When the next message starts, Mom sounds panicked. "Why won't you answer your phone! You should be home by now." There's a second of silence before she speaks again. "Stay inside. Lock the doors. I'm stuck in traffic in the city, but I'll be home as soon as I can. Whatever you do, do not open the door for any reason."
You stare blankly at the front door for a second. That third message was disturbing. What is going on?
The last message starts. There are no intelligible words. You can hear someone sobbing and guttural moans. A woman screams loudly, making you flinch and look at the phone in your hand in horror. Slowly, you put it back to your ear, in time to hear an animalistic growling.
The message ends.
Frantic now, you scroll to Mom on your contact list and hit send. A screeching beep, followed by an automated voice telling you that your call couldn't be completed, are your only answer. Two more tries yield the same results.
Jumping up from where you had sunk to the floor in the hall, you check that you remembered to lock the door when you came home. You did. You run to the back door and check that one, too. Not sure what to do next, you go back to the tv and switch it to a news station.
What you see there shocks you. Images of bloody, stumbling people are hard to comprehend. It looks like a war zone, but you recognize the city in the video. It's the city where your Mom works, just a 20 minute drive from your house.
You finally manage to concentrate on what the news anchor is saying. His voice shakes, and his face is pale, as he tells you about the inexplicable cannibalism that is sweeping the nation. People are actually eating each other. And, some reports say, that the bitten victims are quickly dying. But they aren't staying dead. They reanimate with just one thing on their mind.
Zombies. Your freaked out mind whispers to you. There are for real zombies on the news.
You don't have long to get used to the idea, when a shrill scream outside catches your attention. You dart to the window and peek out from behind the curtain. Outside, you see a middle aged woman dressed in a dark pants suit banging on the door to the house across the street. You know that those neighbors both work in the city. It's unlikely that anyone will be opening the door for that woman.
The woman trys the doorknob, but it must be locked. She continues to beat at the door frantically. Movement coming around the corner of the neighbors house makes you look that way. Your breath catches in horror as you see a blood covered person shambling towards the woman.
No, not a person. It's a corpse. It's hard to see features through all of the gore on its face, but you think that used to be a man. Now, one arm is missing below the elbow, just a raw stump left. The entire front of him is covered in congealing blood and bits of something that you dont want to think about too closely. The skin that you can see through the blood is a sickly grey and the texture looks wrong, swollen and leathery. The corpse stumbles along as though his balance is affected, swaying first one way, before overcorrecting and swaying too far the other. Despite it's obvious handicaps, the zombie manages to stay on its feet.
The woman is still trying to get into your neighbors house, seemingly unaware of the horror closing in on her. With wide eyes, you comprehend the situation.
That woman is about to be zombie food.
Frantically, you try to figure out just what you should do? Your mom wants you to hide in the house. To not open the door for any reason. And you're sure that drawing attention to yourself is a bad idea.
But that woman is about to be bitten. The news said that those bitten don't survive. Can you just stand by and watch that happen to her? And, quite suddenly, being all alone is less than appealing.
If you save her, the woman may turn out to be an ally. Or, she may become a handicap.
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