Chapter 1

The year was 2042, a mega metropolitan city had spiraled in the heart of the nation of Anuria in addressing the country’s overpopulation. A massive city built from scratch in the bowl-like landscape between the mountain ranges defining the city’s perimeter. New Londo, or New City, was given its name to re-define what a city in the 21st century should look like. True to the culture of Anuria, everything in New Londo was massive in scale. From the roads of great Broadway to the towering skyscrapers of the financial district, every infrastructure was built for its magnificence.

Leo lived in this city all 11 years of his life, soon to be 12, after 11 a.m. this morning. That’s right! It was Leo’s 12-year-old birthday today and his mother had entrusted him with a mighty $100 bill to buy whatever present he wanted from the store as a gift. She was a practical mother; Leo won’t be disappointed by a gift he didn’t want. It was a trait she had adopted due to the early passing of Leo’s late father.

Leo was excited as he patiently looked at each of the new generation gaming consoles present behind the counter. He was debating whether to get PlayStation X for $99.99 or beg his mom for an extra $10 to buy the Deluxe edition of Xbox 5. While he pondered his thoughts in the store restroom, a crack in the mirror behind him began to screech. The cracking sound startled him and made Leo look behind, while quickly finishing his business.

“What the..”

Soon, the crack burst, revealing a rift, shining with brilliant light. Then the rift began to darken, black mist started to pour out, quickly spreading across the restroom, passing through walls, soon engulfing the entire district.

Looking from above the city, one can see that the black mist was quickly washing over the city with a dark spot at its center. It even spread beyond the city’s perimeter, passing through the mountain range and beyond. Leo, stood at that center of the black mist, staring blankly into the rift, as if he’d smoked some weed and his mind wandered off.

In the city, panic ensued as the black mist covered people’s view. The mist was short lived as it traveled past quickly; however, it created hours of lasting chaos. Strangely, during that time, Leo stood lifelessly at the center of the black mist where the rift had opened and continued to zone out.

A ringtone from Leo’s pocket brought him back to reality. This must have been like the 20th call his mother had made to her son in desperation. The rift had already closed. Leo calmly picked up his iPhone 21, clueless of the situation and not remembering a thing, then began to speak.

“Hey mom, can I get $10 more for my birthday present?” his thoughts the same as before the rift opened.

This gave Leo’s mom an impression that he hadn’t seen what she had witnessed, which gave her hope.

“Honey, come back home right now, I will give you $10 more if you make your way back as soon as possible. Avoid people, don’t let anyone approach you and start running. Now!” Suddenly, a loud scream could be heard outside the restroom. It was heard through the phone, but instead of panicking, his mother gave a calm speech in a whisper.

“Remember the movie Resident Evil we watched? That is happening outside right now. Believe your mommy. Try to come back home if you can. If it’s dangerous outside and you are safe right now, stay where you are and mommy will come find you.”

Reacting to the scream, Leo had already peeked outside of the restroom while his mother talked over the phone. Observing the gore outside, he said to his mother “I will be home soon, love you mom” and ended the call as he had to move quickly.

The scenery at the store would normally shock an adult into freezing on the spot, not to mention a 12-year-old. But Leo felt fear and excitement at the same time. His blood boiled through his vein and his body was calling to him to join the slaughter. Leo did not question the madness before him.

Several man-eaters were feasting on their meals on the ground. The few survivors had climbed on top of the shelves and were calling for help, drawing the zombies without prey. Leo resisted the urge of bloodlust as he thought about his family and quickly ran to a corpse holding a fire axe. The corpse started to move as Leo took the axe, but was too slow to do anything.

There was a single zombie blocking at the entrance. It was a female, quite the beauty with short and petite stature but an ample body. She seemed to be enjoying the last meal her husband will provide her with. Dodging zombies for a kid was fairly simple, Leo quickly approached the lady zombie and gave her a strike to the neck. The boy cleanly chopped the head from her torso, unfazed by the blood splashing out.

‘Just like in the games’ Leo thought to himself, without noticing the strength required to perform a decapacitation was almost impossible for a boy at his age.

Leo jogged outside to the street and saw the same chaos. ‘Seems like taking the bus is not an option’ he joked to himself and hastily started to move. It had been a while since people turned into zombies. The horde that plagued the street had already dispersed while looking for more prey. The few remaining zombies were all too slow to catch an agile kid. Leo noticed his body felt light as he ran; finally noticing some anomalies in his body, but now was not the time to think about that.

His thought wandered back to the woman crying for help on top of the store shelves. She had a young child, similar in age to him, held within her bosom. Before he left the store, he smashed the windows to attract the zombies out of the store with the sound. It might have put him at risk with the number of zombies surrounding him at the time; yet, he felt no regret with his decision.

The woman was reminiscent of Leo’s mother. She also tightly embraced him into her bosom while in tears during the funeral of his late father. He almost suffocated and would have joined his father on the spot; hence, the strong recollection. It was a rare occasion to see his mother in such a state of seriousness. Witnessing the mother and her child, his first thought was if the child was suffering from suffocation as he had before. Though the pair of peaches was not on the same level as his mother, they were formidable nonetheless.

Leo quickly came to his senses as he looked upon the zombies scattered throughout the street. It will be a long trip back home on foot, he thought, it was best to get moving.

——————————–

Catherine was almost ready to open up her Deli and prepared for the morning rush of business. The Deli used to be a garage of a rather large house, surrounded with brick walls, except the garage at the back. It was the biggest asset left over from her late husband. Catherine had quit her job and decided to open up her own business, at home so she can take care of her family. The Deli was her investment.

“Sarah, maybe you should go buy your little brother a cake. A small one is enough for the sake of celebration; Leo doesn’t like eating sweets.”

The girl named Sarah has short-trimmed blonde hair with tomboyish look and a visible age of a high schooler; yet, her well-endowed assets that put many mature women to shame definitely showed the mother and daughter relationship between the two women in the shop.

“You should’ve given Leo some more money and told him to get the cake while he is out.” Sarah pouted and complained to her mother.

“Well, he left so early that I wasn’t even awake to ask him.”

Leo was so excited to buy his own present with the money he got last night, he planned to arrive at the store when it opened. This left his portion of morning work at the Deli unattended and Sarah was very salty about covering for him.

The two women did not notice the dark mist that covered the streets outside momentarily as it moved on too quickly through the air. Just as Sarah grabbed the keys and wallet, putting them into her “breast” pocket, disruptive banging sounds were heard from the door.

“PLEASE OPEN UP!!”

“Deli isn’t open yet, give us a few more minutes” Catherine responded while still looking at the grocery note.

Sarah approached the door since she was about to head out anyway. Fortunately, what she saw outside the Deli windows stopped her from opening the door. A man covered in blood had pressed his entire body up against the window. The horrifying sight of the man was not normal and it frightened her.

“Mom….” A weak, timid voice sounded from her lips.