The throbbing pain in my head was my first rude awakening. I blinked at the digital clock on my bedside table — 12:00 PM. Panic set in as I realized the power was out. Dazed, I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom, my mouth parched and my head pounding.
Desperate for relief, I tried to check my phone, only to find it devoid of signals. Frustration nibbled at me as I restarted it repeatedly, to no avail. Frustrated, I stepped out onto the balcony.
I lived near the HAL airport in Bengaluru, and fighter jet sounds were nothing new, but today, there was something different. The skies were filled with an unusual air traffic. Seems like new memes on sky traffic along with road traffic may rise. Helicopters swarmed the airspace, more than usual.
With boredom gnawing at my insides and my phone rendered useless, I decided to visit my friend who lived just a street away. As I ventured outside, creepy silence engulfed the neighborhood. No one was in sight. It was as if the world had fallen into an unnatural hush.
I reached to my friend’s building, climbed up to his third-floor flat, and knocked anxiously. He opened the door and pulled me inside, shutting it quickly behind me. Before I could even speak, he demanded to know how I was still alive and walking the streets.
Confused, I thought he was being sarcastic until he recounted the horrifying events outside. He had witnessed what appeared to be zombies attacking a family with a young child while he was on his way to gym. At first, he toughs it was a prank planed by some youtubers but then he realized the gruesome sight had left him in shock, runed back to his flat and locked himself inside. Then he saw the news about the outbreak of Zombie virus which government has named as Ze Virus and reason how the spread happened is unknown. The virus had spread rapidly, from Hal region to rest of the Bengaluru and the government had sealed off the infected area, cutting off power and communication.
He showed me videos he had downloaded before the network went down — images of chaos, terror, and the undead. I was at a loss for words.
We made our way to his bedroom balcony, and from there, we saw them — zombies growling and stumbling on the streets below. We spent three agonizing hours in silence before I suggested that we signal the helicopters for rescue. On the terrace, we noticed a pattern — two helicopters frequently flew from a nearby community apartment complex.
My friend suggested we should head there, as his ex-girlfriend and her friend lived in one of the buildings. With our makeshift weapons mostly house hold knifes in hand and ventured onto the eerily empty streets. However, our attempt to avoid a group of zombies went wrong, and we found ourselves in a gruesome battle for survival.
The guilt of taking human lives weighed heavily on us as we pushed our knives into their skulls. Once victorious, we continued our trek toward the apartment complex. The main gate was locked from the inside, leaving us no choice but to climb the gate. We took staircase to nine floors, encountering more zombies along the way. Each one was a stark reminder of the world we had lost.
We knocked on the door of our friend’s ex-girlfriend’s apartment, tense and ready for anything. Fortunately, they were safe but traumatized. We shared our plan to signal the rescue helicopters and seek their help in escaping this nightmare.
Together, we reached the terrace, but the gate was locked. However, the people on the terrace saw us and unlocked it for our safe passage. Among them was a man in his late 30s or early 40s, who had the key. We were grateful for the gesture.
As we waited, we watched in horror as the streets below became infested with zombies. Darkness fell, and the rescue team informed us that we had to wait until morning for extraction. Panic erupted among the crowd, but the man who had opened the gate for us calmed everyone down, emphasizing that unity was our only hope.
The rescue team dropped food and water packets before leaving. Moments later, I approached the man, introduced myself, and thanked him for his kindness. His name was Akash, and he was accompanied by his younger brother.
As we sat together, eating and discussing the horrors we had witnessed, Geetu’s one of my friend’s friend fear overwhelmed her, and she began to cry. We did our best to comfort her, but the nightmares were far from over.
People gradually settled in to sleep, but I couldn’t. I gazed up at the stars, thoughts of my worried parents haunting me. Suddenly, Akash’s brother caught my attention. Foam was oozing from his mouth, and he appeared to be seizure.
Akash and I rushed to his side, but it was too late. When his eyes opened, they were lifeless, gray, and hauntingly familiar — just like the zombies we had encountered. Horror engulfed us as we realized that Akash had been bitten by his brother.
Panic erupted once again as people scattered in terror. Trapped inside with the gate locked, we had no way to escape. Akash, now one of them, roamed the terrace, a distorted reminder of the nightmare that had consumed our world.
Our sanctuary had turned into a prison. The eerie silence of the night was broken by the mournful cries and growls of the undead below. We huddled together, our fear and despair threatening to consume us.
As the first light of dawn crept over the horizon, we knew we had to make a choice. We couldn’t stay here, trapped on the rooftop, with the threat of the undead and infection closing in on us.
With heavy hearts, hoping that we could outwit the horrors that awaited us below. The city had become a wasteland, a city of the damned, and our only chance was to fight for our survival or become one of the relentless undead that now ruled the streets.
In the distance, the sound of approaching helicopters grew louder, a glimmer of hope in the midst of our nightmare. But would they arrive in time to save any of us? Only time would tell as we braced ourselves for the ultimate battle against the darkness that had descended upon our world.