Surviving Love

Chapter 1: The Outbreak - A Fatal Mistake

I remember the day it all began, as if it were etched into my memory like a scar that refuses to fade. The epidemic, the end of the world, it had a name, but all it meant to us was terror, loss, and the struggle to survive.

It started with a mistake, a human mistake, one that changed the course of history forever. In the pursuit of everlasting life, scientists had developed a drug, an elixir of sorts, that promised to grant immortality. They believed it was the key to a brighter future, a world without sickness, without death. But as the saying goes, "Pride comes before the fall."

My family, the five of us, stood at the precipice of this monumental decision. It was my father, Choi Seung-hyun, who had brought this opportunity to us. A brilliant scientist, he had dedicated his life to the pursuit of knowledge. He believed in the drug's potential to change the world, to give humanity a gift like no other.

"Seung-hyun, are you sure about this?" my mother, Sandara Park, asked, her voice tinged with skepticism as she looked at the vials of the elixir on the lab table.

My father nodded, his eyes filled with a mix of excitement and apprehension. "I've seen the results in the lab, Sandara. This could be our chance to make a real difference in the world, to give our family something extraordinary."

I glanced at my older brother, Kim Seok-jin, who had always been the pillar of wisdom and caution in our family. He was the eldest among us siblings.

"I don't know, Dad," Seok-jin said, his brow furrowed. "The risks are too high. What if something goes wrong?"

But then there was my older sister, Bae Joo-hyun, who always had a sense of adventure and a thirst for knowledge. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked at the elixir.

"What if it works, Seok-jin?" she said, her voice soft but filled with hope. "What if this is the breakthrough we've all been waiting for?"

We stood there, at the crossroads of destiny, torn between skepticism and ambition, between fear and hope. My family's future hung in the balance, as we faced a choice that would change our lives forever.

I wasn't with them in the facility. My cells would reject the injection, a fact that had kept me far from the experimentation. Instead, I had been on a trip with my two friends, Lisa and Rosé. It was a vacation that had saved me from the horrors that befell my family.

As I watched the effects of the elixir through a video call with my mother, I witnessed the transformation of my family into something monstrous. They rampaged through the facility, their eyes devoid of recognition, their mouths dripping with blood. The military forces available in that place tried to stop them, firing their weapons, but they, too, became victims. Bitten and overwhelmed, they transformed into the same horrors that had once been my family.

As I stood there, helpless and horrified, I knew that the world had changed forever. The elixir meant to grant immortality had instead unleashed a living nightmare, and there was no going back.