I stepped out onto the roof of the Stratosphere Hotel; it rose over 1,100 feet, giving me an amazing view of Las Vegas. The city was silent though, the infection spread, causing whoever was left in the city either infected, dead, or in hiding. The scientists discovered the virus in ticks and rodents, it was an accelerated type of rabies, and it only affected humans. They thought they could use it as a weapon, but things went wrong. It evolved. They took the virus and started infecting people nobody wanted. People in the psych ward, orphans, convicts, elderly men. They took them, destroyed their file, and experimented on them. At first things were going well, but the basis of the virus morphed and changed, it was supposed to turn people into 'zombies.' Killing machines with no feelings that could destroy whole countries, continents. But they became more civilized, had longer lifespans, looked more human, got faster, stronger, but most importantly, they became harder to kill. The prisoners were kept behind a thin sheet of glass for observing. But one of them easily broke through the glass, her instincts took over and she bit one of the professors, they all thought he would be fine. But they discovered that he was infected a day later, once he had eaten his ten month old son and bitten his wife. After that the virus spread like wild fire, starting in Nebraska and spreading outwards. Canada and Mexico put up walls to contain the virus, leaving everyone in the United States to die.
The people who knew how to shoot a gun died first. They were arrogant and thought they were invincible. I used to be one of them. When the 'zombies' or Uraithians, as the scientists called them, first attacked, they were disgusting, swollen, decomposed things. When they made it to Billings, Montana, where my family and I lived, we had no idea how to kill them, so everyone was killed but me. The only reason I survived was because Blake, my friend, saved me. He was 17 at the time and went to military school, and I was 13, but he easily taught me how to defend myself, this was in 2020. A year later I thought I could kill a Uraithian. But it was already evolving and it was a little more difficult to kill, so it cornered me. Blake died trying to save me. After that I never went after a Uraithian except for self-defense. I always traveled alone and never got close to anyone. It was too much of a risk, I didn't want anyone else to die because of me, and if I die, well, then it would be my own damn fault. I slowly moved south and made it here, in Las Vegas, in 2024.
"Happy Birthday, Rachelle." I muttered to myself as I kicked a nearby can off the Stratosphere. I am now 17, living in this hell. I picked up my backpack and trudged down the stairs, it's a long way down, 24 stories. I laughed at myself, I always wanted to go here, wanted to go on the rides on the roof of this place. But the electricity is out, has been for the past four friggin' years. I bent over the circular stair well and saw the long drop down. I took the rope out of my bag and mentally measured it. It should be long enough. I just need to get low enough to where I could drop and not kill myself. But that would be a waste of rope. I sighed and put the rope back in my bag and slowly walked down the stairs. When I made it to the 15th floor mark I heard some noises, probably coming from the 10th or 9th floor. I took out my double edged knife, it was really sharp on one side and serrated on the other. I tested the weight in my hand, it felt nice. Blake gave me this knife. I quickly pushed him to the back of my mind and silently walked down the steps. When I got to the 11th floor I peeked over the edge of the stairs to see if anything was there and met the gaze of a Uraithian. Crap. It screeched and started running up the stairs in all fours. It put the knife back in my bag and pulled out the hand gun, shooting the Uraithian in the middle of the forehead as it pounced. It instantly fell to the ground and started twitching. I walked up to it and stomped on its softened skull. It's black blood oozed out of it, dripping off the edge of the stair well. My stomach clenched as I looked down at the mangled body. Its arms and legs were elongated and its skin was a yellow tint. It was only on the 1st stage. I walked over it and continued my trek down the stairs, still holding the gun, just in case it had any friends. When I made it to ground level my legs were screaming, jeez, I'm not gonna do that again …
I walked outside and went over to a neighborhood, the houses looked pretty nice, like they haven't been raided yet. I went into a nice red one that looked kind of like a farmhouse and checked the fridge, there was some food, but it was spoiled. I looked around the kitchen and got a couple cans of SPAM some refried beans, canned peaches, uncooked noodles, and some chicken noodle soup. I was packing the cans in my backpack went I heard the floors creak behind me, I pulled out my gun and spun myself around, I was about to pull the trigger when a man yelled, "Don't shoot!" I still held the gun high but I noticed that it was a person, not a Uraithian. He was actually pretty cute; he looked as if he was in his late teens or early twenties. He had salt and pepper blonde hair and ice blue eyes.
"Hold out your arms." I said coldly. He did without hesitation; I lowered my gun a little and walked over, inspecting his arms. They were clean. Not even a bruise. They weren't even that dirty. I squinted at him, "Who are you?" I asked. He put down his arms.
"I'm Davis." He said slowly.
"Why are you here?"
"Probably same reason as you."
"Are you infected?" I asked, raising my gun again. He stared at me blankly.
"By what?" He asked. My eyes widened.
"The Uraithians? Zombies? Hello? Why do you think America is stuck in this hell hole!" I exclaimed, how can he be so ignorant?
"Me and my brother, Taylor, have been underground, moving between different bomb shelters for the past four years!" He yelled back.
"Okay, well I'll give you a brief summary. America is filled with monsters that like to eat humans. They also infect other humans and turn into them, we call them Uraithians." I said very slowly, enunciating my words very well, like he was in 1st grade. He wrinkled his forehead.
"Monsters?"