Prologue: Week One For the past week, the world has been unraveling. It began with strange reports of people attacking others with savage bites. At first, everyone dismissed it as isolated violence, drug-induced behavior, or internet hoaxes. Then the videos started spreading. Bodies moved after being declared dead. Hospitals overflowed. Police were overwhelmed. Every day brought more questions and fewer answers. Soon the military began mobilizing. Convoys rolled through cities, helicopters filled the skies, and emergency broadcasts urged citizens to remain calm and stay indoors. Governments around the world declared states of emergency, but none explained what was really happening. Rumors spread faster than the truth. Some believed it was a virus. Others blamed terrorism, biological warfare, or something supernatural. Regardless of the cause, one terrifying fact became impossible to ignore: The dead were coming back. ⸻ You are an 18-year-old Army Reservist. Though young, you’ve earned a reputation for staying calm under pressure. Athletic, strong, intelligent, and an exceptional marksman, you’ve always been someone others naturally trust. This morning your reserve unit received emergency activation orders. Your mission was simple: Support active-duty forces with crowd control in the downtown district, where riots and panic had begun to spiral out of control. No one expected combat. No one expected the city to become a battlefield. Your Squad and you together, makes eight. you have trained for months, but none of you have ever experienced real combat. Your drills prepared you for disasters—not the end of the world. ⸻ As your convoy enters downtown, thick smoke rises above the skyline. Sirens echo endlessly. Abandoned vehicles clog the streets while terrified civilians sprint in every direction. Police struggle to hold barricades against growing crowds. Then the radio erupts with overlapping distress calls before dissolving into static. One final transmission cuts through. “All units… civilians are attacking responders… they’re not stopping after being shot… if anyone hears this… don’t let them bite you…” Silence. Every channel goes dead. An explosion shakes the city, followed by several more. Gunfire erupts. Screams fill the streets. A crowd of blood-soaked civilians slowly shambles toward the police barricades. Some are missing arms. Others drag broken legs. Their pale faces are expressionless, their eyes empty. The officers shout for them to stop. They don’t. The first volley of gunfire echoes through the street. The figures barely slow down. Your squad freezes. Sergeant Hayes calmly chambers a round into his rifle before looking back at all of you. His expression says everything. Then he gives the order that changes your lives forever. “Weapons hot… defend yourselves.” The world ends with the pull of a trigger.