On the day all this madness began, you were on your way home from college. The streets of Atlanta were more chaotic than usual that day. Cars were lined up from one end of the road to the other, with no end in sight. Everyone was running with expressions of panic, urgency, and fear on their faces. You anxiously grabbed hold of a passerby and asked what was happening in the city and the person just threw you a sentence: "pack up and get out of here right now", before hastily running off.

Following the advice, you quickly returned home. You lived in a small apartment in the heart of Atlanta. You turned on the radio, trying to figure out what on earth was going on.

"... a highly contagious and extremely dangerous unknown disease has spread to the city of Atlanta, Georgia. This disease can be transmitted by being bitten by an infected person. The infected tend to become aggressive and attack others by biting and tearing at flesh..."

You gasped. Tearing at flesh? What the hell? Does getting infected turn one into a zombie or something?

A painful scream echoed from outside the window, making you jump. You cautiously peeked outside. Below, a woman was trying to fend off a man who was lunging at her. The man was growling like an animal, baring his teeth as if he wanted to tear the flesh off his victim. Eventually, the poor woman couldn't hold him off any longer and fell to the ground. The next moment, he used his teeth to tear apart the flesh on her hand, which she had been desperately using to block him. She screamed in terror, while he remained unfazed, continuing to devour the flesh in his mouth. But before even swallowing, he bent down, using his teeth to rip open her abdomen while she was still sobbing in fear. You froze as you saw her intestines spilling out. The bastard immediately grabbed them with his hands, stuffing them into his mouth and swallowing the fresh organs greedily. Blood gushed out like a stream, pooling on the pavement.

You could only stand there, helpless, watching the woman weaken until she could no longer scream. A few minutes later, the man seemed to lose interest in the dangling guts in front of him and staggered away. Then, she suddenly twitched, emitting the same growls as he had, and slowly stood up--with her intestines still hanging out--trailing on the ground as she moved.

You backed away from the window, covering your mouth with both hands. Tears were streaming down your face before you even realized it.

You needed to get the hell out of here. Now.

•••

Too many people were trying to flee the city. Cars were still lined up all the way to the outside of the city. You tapped fingers on the steering wheel, still in shock from what you had just witnessed. Outside the window, there was the blaring of car horns and the sound of people cursing.

It was nearly midnight. You had only managed to grab some clothes, a backpack full of dried food with water, and a few essential survival items. Your mind was still too overwhelmed to think clearly. You had never imagined something as absurd as a disease that could turn people into zombies could happen in real life. You were just an ordinary third-year college student, who didn't know how to fight and had never used a weapon. You might be smart, but only in academics. If this were a zombie movie, you would probably be the background character who dies in the first few seconds. You closed your eyes and prayed silently. Maybe someone would come, the government, the military or something. Anything. You desperately hoped someone would come and save you from this nightmare.

Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed from a distance, startling you to open your eyes. People were getting out of their cars and turning to look in the same direction. You hurriedly opened the car door and followed them, trying to understand what was happening.

The scene in front of your eyes made you freeze in place. A dozen helicopters were hovering in the sky, and countless bombs were mercilessly raining down on the city that, just some hours ago, was where you lived. The explosions echoed in the air with a mournful sound.

Everyone around you seemed to hold their breath, unable to utter a word.

The standing crowd outside kept crying and arguing, even after the helicopters had completed their mission. You didn't care as you returned to the car and lay down on the backseat. You didn't know what to do next. Even after escaping this place, where would you go? You had always been a loner. Your family was living in a different place, and you were not close to them anyway. You had no close relatives or friends. Even if you survived, you would have nowhere to return to. What should you do? You desperately tried to figure out an answer.

A terrified scream rang out. You already lost count of the times you had heard someone scream today. At first, you intended to just ignore it and continue drowning in thoughts. However, the scream didn't end there. It was followed by a series of continuous cries, and you lifted your head.

Right outside the car window, two or three zombies were pouncing on a guy about your age. You stared blankly into the distance--where a mother holding her crying five-year-old child was grabbed and thrown to the ground. Not far from there, a man was lying sprawled on the ground, his organs being devoured.

It seemed they had caught up with all of you, even outside the city.

People were screaming and running, and you looked around in perplexity. There was nowhere to run. Every corner you glanced at had zombies, someone being eaten, or a dead body. If you opened the car door now, you would instantly become prey for those monsters. You couldn't run fast and didn't have any strong weapons on you either, except for a small knife for self-defense. You closed your eyes, tried to stay calm and think. Perhaps the best option for you now was to stay inside the car and pray that the zombies would move elsewhere by morning before you ventured out. It seemed like they only attacked when they saw a target, and fortunately, your car windows were the kind you couldn't see through from the outside.

You lowered yourself onto the seat, covering your face with a thin jacket while silently sobbing. Meanwhile, the screams outside gradually faded, replaced by the animalistic growls and disgusting sounds of biting and tearing.

•••

You couldn't sleep a wink that night out of fear.

After making sure that it was completely silent outside, you cautiously raised your head and peeked out the window.

There were still a few zombies wandering around. However, compared to last night, their numbers had significantly decreased. Blood had stained the pavement a dark red, fresh flesh and organs were scattered all over the ground, creating an utterly revolting scene. You suppressed the urge to vomit, waiting until the last few zombies had left before grabbing your knife, clutching it tightly, and carefully opening the car door.

You quickly grabbed your belongings from the trunk and left the main road. Although you still didn't know where you should be heading, you could guess that most of them would stay on the avenue. So it's best to avoid it for now. You thought about heading into the woods, finding a place to shelter for the night and then figuring out what to do next.

And so, you put your plan into action.