Night Fall

DA. Whisper

Chapter One

Ruins

You know those moments in life that change everything. Nothing's ever the same. Sometimes it's good; you meet someone, get married, have kids; live happily ever after. Sometimes it's bad. Car crash kills a loved one or your family.

I could handle either of those. I think I'd rather my whole family die in a wreck. At least then it would have been fast, maybe a moment of fear and then nothing. No more pain; no more fear. That I would take any day over what happened; what's still going on.

We're not living. This isn't life. This is hell, pure and utter hell. It has crawled from the depths and clawed its way free of the pit and evil roams this world... rules it.

The cities fell first. Our whole system failed. Chaos broke out in a matter of days.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Flashback *

Duo woke with a start. He looked around the dark room but nothing was out of place. Rolling over onto his side, he checked the time. Just under an hour before his alarm was set to go off. Rubbing his face with his hands he threw his feet off the bed and sat up.

He made his way to the bathroom, switching the light on as he went.

It was on his way to the kitchen that he heard what must have woken him up.

Someone was screaming; a woman.

Duo grabbed his bat he left by the front door and slung it open. He rushed out, bat held high ready to swing, but the hallway was clear. He turned around and looked down the other end of the hallway; still nothing. He dropped the bat by his side and stood there for a second before returning back to his apartment. He relocked the door and set the bat back down. A few steps back to his kitchen he heard another scream; this time a man's. A loud bang from the next apartment rattled a few pictures on the kitchen wall.

"What the hell?"

He picked up his phone to dial 911, but the line was dead.

Another crash. Duo rushed out of his apartment and began to bang on his neighbor's door.

"Hello? Hey, is everything alright? "

"Help me! Please! He's crazy,"

Duo tried the door knob, but it was locked. He took a step back and with one swift kick he knocked the door in, bat held high. Rushing into the living room, he stopped. The place was torn apart. Another scream.

He ran into the bedroom and stopped in his tracks.

"What the... "

There, across the room, pressed to a door, a man was banging his hand against the wood then sliding it down, before raising it to bang again. Blood smeared all over the door.

"Hey … Hey man, are you okay?" Duo took a step forward, bat held level with his shoulder ready to swing if he had to.

The man's hand fell to his side. He rolled his shoulder and fell onto his back, facing Duo.

Duo's stomach rolled as vile rose in his throat.

There looking at him was a man with half a face. Blood soaked the front of his shirt. Flesh hung from his mouth. He made a gurgling sound as he slowly pushed himself off the door. He staggered forward.

"Wow, hold on dude; stay back!"

The man took another step. Duo took two steps back.

"I told you stay back,"

Before Duo had the chance to fully process what was happening, the man lunged at him. A deafening scream ripped through the man's chest. All Duo saw was teeth baring down on him. He lifted the bat and swung. The sound of the bat hitting the man's head was unlike anything Duo had ever heard. The man stopped and fell sideways, landing on a small in table, before crashing onto the floor.

Duo watched in horror, the bat slipping from his hands. What had he done?

"Hello?"

Duo looked up at the sound of the woman's voice.

"Yeah you...you can come out now; I think he's dead,"

She slowly opened the door.

She rushed Duo and threw her arms around his neck.

"Thank you... He… he lost his mind. One minute he was sleeping on the sofa the next he was trying to eat me. He... ripped at his own face and, I think I'm going to be sick, he ate his own cheek. Then he bit me

"She pulled away and held her arm out. She'd wrapped a towel around her forearm. She slowly pulled it away and showed Duo a large chunk of meat missing.

Duo took the towel and rewrapped her arm.

"It's gonna be okay. I'll take you to the hospital, "

She nodded as he took her other hand and made their way to his apartment.

He pulled on a pair of jeans and his shoes and grabbed his car keys. They started for the parking garage.

When the car pulled out onto the street Duo suddenly slammed on the brakes. What they saw floored them.

A new kind of fear spread through them as they took in the sight, the deafening sound of people screaming.

People were running for their lives. Others were attacking them, knocking them down to the ground and doing the unthinkable; eating them.

The girl screamed as someone ran into her car door. He was trying to pull the door open. She slammed her hand down on the lock and sat there staring at him, her eyes wide with fear. Soon someone else was banging on the back window, and then another. Duo spun around and looked behind him.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?"

"Go... Just go,"

Duo turned back and took the wheel.

"Right,"

He hit the gas and spun the tires. One of the people who climbed onto the trunk rolled off and hit the ground. She jumped up and began to chase the car.

The more they drove the more chaos they found; more blood and death.

It was the beginning of the end.

*End Flashback*