Chapter 01. The Beginning Of Disaster

17 Mei 2024, Tangerang - Indonesia.

In a small facility located in Tangerang, a man wearing a white lab coat that’s ripped and covered in blood was running through the crowds, people run past him and bumping into him as the building keeps flickering red followed by screams and gun shots, he went inside and locked himself in before coughing uncontrollably “PA! KELUAR! KITA BISA CARI SOLUSINYA BERSAMA!! JANGAN BEGINI!! TOLONG BAPAK! BUKA PINTUNYA!” another man screams from outside of the room, “PERGI! SELAMATKAN DULU DIRIMU!! BAPAK SUDAH TIDAK BISA DITOLONG! JANGAN MATI KONYOL!” the man from the inside of the room shouts back before not long after he falls to the ground and starts heaving seizures, his eyes start changing black followed by black liquid that’s coming out from the man.

3 days later, New Jersey – USA.

It’s 08:00 pm, James Kennedy walks around his apartment room while packing his things, he went to his 7 year old son’s room and leaned his shoulders against the door frame, “baby, I know you aren’t asleep yet.” He said as he sighs, Aslan who was pretending to be asleep, sat up with a pout. James chuckles softly “come on baby you need to pack your things for tomorrow, don’t wanna miss the plane.” James said, Aslan pout his cheeks more “can you do it for me dad? I’m tired." Aslan said, James looks at Aslan with a straight look, still waiting for Aslan to get up and pack his things. Aslan looks annoyed, gets up and starts packing his things. James patts Aslan’s head “good, don’t make me ask twice okay kid?” he said before helping Aslan pack his things.

The next day at 6 am they both got into the car and drove off heading to the airport. On the highway they see a long traffic in front of them, James notices the traffic doesn’t seem to move at all before he honks his car and opens the window to see what’s going on, he pokes his head out of the window to look. He then gets his head back inside and sighs, “let’s just go back another way.”. Aslan looks at James confused “wouldn’t that take too long?”. James shakes his head before turning his stirring wheel to turn and drive the other way.

While on the road James notices more traffic heading towards the airport road, he suddenly stops the car on the edge of the road. As he sits there, he feels something was off. “dad, why are we stopping?” Aslan asked innocently. “uh- I don’t… know…” James said a little confused at himself before driving again. At the airport he slowly drives the car to look for the parking lot but couldn’t help but notice people running and screaming out of the airport. Aslan who noticed the scene too looks at James with a terrified look, “dad? What’s going on?” James stops and parked the car while looking at the scene in shock and confusion.

James and Aslan decide to walk into the airport with James carrying Aslan in his arms. They look around and see people screaming, some heaving seizures, and some laying on the ground that seems to be dead, but what’s more terrifying are people start to eat each other and there’s a woman walking around with her neck broken and her body pouring out black liquid.

James who realizes what’s happening turns back and starts running with all his strength while still carrying Aslan in his arms. Aslan looks from behind James’s shoulder, people running and eating each other. Aslan holds on to James tighter as he eyes widened while watching the scene unfold. They managed to get into their car, James quickly turned on the engine and quickly hit the reverse. He then hit the gas but accidentally hit someone, as they paused, suddenly a terrifying man jumped in front of the car, the black liquid that was coming out of the man’s face covered the front window. Aslan screams before James quickly hits the gas again and hits another car, plunging the man between the cars. James then quickly hits the reverse again and drives away.

On the road, James wipes the front window with the car wipers. They both stay quite still in shock, James glances beside him and sees Aslan trembling in shock, James also feels overwhelmed with the whole accident. He holds Aslan’s arms gently while still keeping his eyes on the road. “Baby are you okay?” James said trying to sound fine. Aslan looks at James with wide and traumatized eyes before tears start to roll down, “what was that daddy? What’s happening” James who is still traumatized too and has no idea what’s going on, looks at Aslan with a hesitant look “I- I don’t know” With that Aslan starts hugging both his knees and hides his face between them before a soft sob can be heard. James looks at Aslan with guilt but still overwhelmed sighs, “I’m sorry baby” he said with guilt in his voice.

They’re on their way back to the apartment but happen to see civilians loading the store and any possible place to gather some supplies, James starts speeding up back to their apartment. After they parked the car, James quickly rushed to grab Aslan and ran back inside their apartment. Inside James starts looking through the fridge and cabinets to see if they have enough food to survive. He locks the door and windows shut before searching for his weapons and his collection of firearms. Aslan who was following every James’s steps, held his shirt with a frown “dad are we going to be okay?” he said while still sobbing. James hugs Aslan tightly and kisses his forehead “everything will be fine, I won’t let anything happen to you okay baby? Now I want you to help daddy charge all of our electronics including our power banks and generator okay baby? Can you do that for me?” James said followed by Aslan’s head nods.

Aslan grabbed all the electronics and started charging them, meanwhile James went to the storage room and grabbed the generator to charge. While waiting for the electronics to be full James and Aslan both hear a woman scream, James peeked through the balcony and saw the women getting grabbed and bitten by the infected person. Aslan who was also watching, looked up at James with a sad expression “are we going to help her dad?”. James who was still watching shakes his head and went back inside while holding Aslan’s hand. “No, from now on we’re on our own”.

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