Bloodsport ━━ 10K

𝟬𝟬. the beginning

PROLOGUE
as the earth runs to the ground

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     𝐈f someone would tell the former nursing student that the world had come to an end, Natalia Ackerman would've probably told them to fuck off and get lost. It used to be her way of ignoring her problems. Besides, she was known to be that girl from Mr. Cruz's bioethics class that told the old man to stick his nose up his own ass because he was a sick pervert and he shouldn't even be doing anything remotely that horrid and disgusting in the first place.

     Natalia Ackerman might be nice but only to the people that deserve it. And everyone from before the apocalypse knew it. They could see it clearly from the way she acted. However, when someone gets on her bad side... Well, that was another story.

     Even though she was as kind as she could get, there were some things she wished she could control. Her temper, mostly, was as bad as it seemed. She would practically blow up if someone ever did something wrong or said something that she didn't like. Although back then it was easier to contain since not a lot of people wanted to get on her nerves these days.

     Natalia was bad at keeping things to herself, especially when she gets mad. She tends to let loose her words; sometimes, she wouldn't even care if it hurts them.

     Then the damn apocalypse came and ended the world all at once.

     It ended her too, but not in that way. Her whole persona, the person she was before━suddenly, was gone. Then came the person she never wished to show. The part she tried so hard to hide, but now it was out for the whole wide world to see. But then again, it was the only thing that kept her alive, but definitely not completely sane.

     It messed her up the way every horrible situation does to people. She was left alone in a suddenly dangerous world, and it ruined her. Because no one was there for her, and everybody around her just disappeared, or simply, died.

     Because after all, who would survive in a world that's filled with literal monsters that were once human? The only thing that was in their minds━if they even had that━was to eat their flesh and brains until there was nothing left but dust and bones.

     But the thing was, it was either she becomes the hunted, or be the hunter itself. Natalia chose to survive. That was always the rule when the world crashed down. They were left with nothing but the fear of dying and living at the same time.

     The first terrifying thing she encountered was the start of the zombie apocalypse. She was in one of her classes that day, boringly tapping her pen on the table with the usual nonchalant expression on her face while chewing her favorite gum. Then all of a sudden, there was one scream. The abrupt noise left the already quiet class even quieter as they gave each other unsure glances.

     Then came a series of loud frightened screams.

     That caused a lot of ruckus more than it already had outside the classrooms. Their professor even stopped to teach and ordered them to stay inside the room while he checked what was the commotion outside.

     He never came back.

     She still remembers all of it. The screams, the blood, and the fear in their horrified eyes. It left a dent in her poor mind she wished she didn't see. That day, all she could feel was her heart beating harshly against her ribcage like a loud marching band, and uncomfortably disgusting cold sweat dripping down all over her shaking body.

     Natalia was scared. Hell, she was more than that. She was terrified.

     Her first kill was her best friend, the person she grew up with since they were just children. A stab through the eye with her favorite fountain pen that her own friend gifted her the moment she turned ballistic right in front of her face.

    Then she ran after that.

    Natalia never looked back once. She just kept running. She left all the memories━everything behind, in order to keep herself alive. The most selfish thing she had ever done, and she didn't know whether it was the right thing or the wrong thing to do. All she knew was that she had to keep running.

     After that day, Natalia Ackerman was never the same. No one was ever the same. And neither the world they'd come to know.