Introduction
It was 2023 when everything changed.
The world had just survived what they thought was the last of a life-altering epidemic. Isolation was a thing of the past and life was back to normal…
Or so we thought.
We fought Covid using a vaccine, which is how we’ve always fought diseases. It’s usually quite effective.
You see, a vaccine is supposed to work by injecting a dead or inactive pathogen (bug thing) into the body - which remembers it, and saves the bug killing cell for later. Sounds simple, right?
Normally it is, yet something went wrong this time. We don't know how exactly but a new, more dangerous strain evolved that overpowered our immune systems by attacking the mind.
People were going insane, turning on each other; there was nothing we could do.
We were dying, but the news loved it :
“COVID? BACK FOR A SECOND RUN?”
“HUMANS MUTATED INTO SOMETHING NEW?”
We’ve all lost things. You can’t make make it through an apocalypse without loosing something, but you can’t afford to care either. Emotions have to be left behind, or you’ll die.
Everyone has a different story.
This is how it began for me:
10th November 2023
It was dark at three in the afternoon. Cold too, unnervingly so. Sparse street lights littered the sodden roads, making little difference to the stifling atmosphere. Blankets of fog lay at the base of the buildings nearby. It was a warning. (Poorly heeded, but hindsight and all that.)
Light rain was pattering viciously outside the dreary oxford lecture hall; the sun long hidden away behind the cover of clouds, which rumbled and crackled in regular intervals.
One and a half hours of this paired with the monotonous voice of Regulus’ lecturer was enough to send even him to sleep. Cursing whatever it was that landed him in a lecture hall with the most boring person on the planet, Regulus checked his phone.
“BRAIN EATING VIRUS ROTTING FLESH! 2500 INFECTED IN UK ALONE!”
Shit.
The government had set up an emergency alarming system earlier in the year. At least it was being used.
EVACUATE THE BUILDING. INFECTED APPROACHING.
Phones were blaring - shattering the dozing trance of the room - whispers breaking out. Then, echoing through the halls: screams. Bone-chilling, bloodcurdling screams.
Chairs were scraping, laptops slamming and screams echoing.
He couldn’t believe what was happening, but his legs carried him away.
Heart pounding in his ears and breath shallow; Regulus ran.He sprinted down the cream corridor, stumbled down the decrepit stairs, threw open the ornate door and… froze.
The earth was crumbling at his feet with an already narrow exit swiftly closing and Regulus was still. Why couldn’t he move?
After taking in the walking graveyard slowly surrounding him, he forced air into his lungs and life into his limbs.
He wasn’t done, not yet.
So he ran.