Embrace The Madness: Cataclysm

2. Daybreak (part 1)

[Day 1]
As his eyes opened, the light of day greeted Patrick with a soft welcome. The air was still, with no breeze through the crack of the open window, no distant traffic. Only the cooing of pigeons in the fresh October air, some things ever change.
Patrick was curled up under the blanket, fighting the urge to wake up. He felt as if he weighed tons like he was magnetised to the mattress.
He rolled over to his left and went to put a hand on Sam's shoulder, but she wasn't there.

Patrick rolled over on his back and stared up at the light onto the ceiling. Something was on his mind, though he couldn't remember what it was.
Then he remembered.

"Ah, shit." He whispered, rubbing his eyes.

He forgot to tell Sam about him being fired.
He let out a great sigh and tossed the covers away and sat up. Patrick looked around for a while, then let out a quick whistle.
The sounds of little taps were getting closer and Benny emerged through the threshold and jumped on the bed. He sat next to Patrick and started licking his hand.

"Good boy." Patrick smiled, ruffling Benny's fur.

Minutes passed, and Patrick got ready for the day. He shaved and got dressed in the usual grey shirt and grey joggers with white Nikes. He decided that he'd take the dog out for a walk.
However, it was still pretty early, as Patrick took a glance at the clock he saw that it read 9:43.
He pondered for a while and settled on watching some tv.
Patrick landed on the sofa and started flicking through the channels. He soon came to realise that mining television sucked. It seemed like the best chance at any form of entertainment would be the news.
The television showed the 11 news channel, it showed a few dramatic flashy shots of London before presenting a news anchor, a middle-aged man in a navy blue suit who was shuffling a stack of papers.
His attention turned toward the camera.

"Breaking news today, the recent pandemic that has scoured the streets of England seems to be taking its toll on the country."

The camera transitioned to dirty, deserted council streets with cracked roads and terraced houses. It then cut to close-ups of people, young and old looking very ill, some coughing into rags and most looking flushed and drained.

"Due to the recent developments, there has been an increase in the presence of military units placed in nearly all major towns and cities."

The camera then transitioned to shots of large, green military trucks driving through, except these didn't look like regular military, they had some kind of symbol or insignia. It was a black, upside-down triangle with a red circle inside it, which had yet another red circle with a biohazard signal inside. Accompanied by this were the letters A.F.D.C, whatever that meant.

"The prime minister has yet to put forward an official statement, though the health secretary urges all citizens to stay indoors until further notice."

The television cut to a live broadcast from the House of Commons. It showed a large group of MPs bickering and yelling at each other until a man slams down a wooden gavel.
The crowd started to quieten as what appeared to be the deputy prime minister stood up, cleared her throat, and began to form a statement.

"It has become clear now that the severity of this new disease has increased dramatically, but let us not devolve into madness-"

"Well, where's the prime minister?" Came a loud, booming voice from amongst the crowd which erupted into jeers and cheers from both sides.

"The prime minister is not available at thi-"

Patrick switched off the TV.

"Assholes." He said.