Everybody is dead

First chapter : The first hardship

Everything begin with a car who ride to a home, the owners of this are mister and misses frale, they are with their child's Emerick and Alan Frale, it's a party's journey because Alan won the competition of ball trap, the first place, something increadible for a young men like him.

He is felicity by all his family, who are very proud of him, arriving at their house, and getting out of the car, his father put his and on his shoulder.

Alan's father: tomorrow we will train at the knife throwing my son.

Alan (smiling): you know that if there's an apocalypse we'll be ready.

Alan's dad (laughing): Well, don't worry, if it happens we'll all be ready.

They return to their home together, Alan hangs his gold medal in his bedroom next to a photo of him with his family, he takes his rifle and admires it, there's the date of manufacture engraved on it, "1965", it was his grandfather's rifle, since its creation it had a problem the bottom barrel was shocked which means that its end was further apart than it should be, so when it's this barrel that shoots the plomp has a wider dispersion.

Alan liked this, he thought it made his rifle unique, more personal as if it had an identity of its own,

Alan gets up and puts his rifle away, falls asleep serenely, he's happy, but at night, around 1:00 am, he hears noises, he gets up again in the limbo of sleep, he discovers that the noises are coming from the living room, he goes there slowly, but the closer he gets and the more he wakes up, the more he's able to make out certain noises, like the grunting of animals, like groans of pain, he finally arrives at the entrance to the living room and switches on the light, he'd rather never have switched on that light, he'd even rather never have woken up, He thinks he's losing his mind or that fatigue is playing tricks on him, because he sees his parents and brother dead but alive at the same time, and they're kneeling in front of their dog's disemboweled corpse, and what's worse, they're eating it, Alan takes several seconds to react, and even when he does, he's far from being in full control of himself. His family notices him and starts to approach him, and not for any good reason, he's sure, He backs away awkwardly, crying.

Alan (crying): Daddy, Mommy, emerick, what's the matter with you? Look at me, it's me Alan, LOOK !

His mother throws herself at him, but he just manages to dodge her, then he pushes his father who falls to the ground, but he's surprised by emerick who in turn throws himself at him and tries to bite him, Alan tries to keep him away.

Alan: EMERICK STOP IT, DO YOU REMEMBER ? IT'S ME YOUR LITTLE BROTHER, REMEMBER WHEN YOU PROTECTED ME FROM THOSE WHO BROKE MY ARM AT SCHOOL !

But Emerick hears nothing, and redoubles his efforts to bite Alan, but he succeeds in throwing him to the side, only for his mother and father to get up and launch themselves at him again. Alan flees to the bathroom and grabs a pair of scissors which he reflexively sticks in his mother's eye, but she feels nothing and continues to try to bite him, He pulls out the scissors and plunges them into her head, and this time she falls inert and definitively dead. Alan is even more shocked because he's just killed his mother, he manages to kill his father in the same way as his mother, but Emerick grabs him with supernatural strength and almost manages to bite him, but Alan plants the scissors in his mouth, which struggles against his jaw, but the scissors loses this struggle and breaks, so Alan has 2 separate blades now, and plants them on either side of his older brother's head and manages to survive his first encounter with the zombies.

Alan stands up from under his brother's corpse, surrounded by the bodies of all those close to him, blood on his hands, he bursts into tears, which to his eyes are tears of blood, but through the window he hears screams, he turns and sees his neighbor being eaten by his family, he turns and understanding finally overcomes fear and surprise, he understands that this is what would have happened if he hadn't fought back, and understands that it's not just those close to him who have suffered.

Alan (murmuring): Impossible, how is this possible.

He pulls himself together, even though he's still in shock and no longer really aware of what he's doing, grabs his backpack, puts some provisions inside, takes his rifle, his throwing knife, a box of matches, a lot of ammunition, his gold medal, and the most important thing the picture of his family, and he advances towards the front door, stops and takes one last look at his family, he's crying, shaking and not at all lucid - only the will to survive allows him to take his first step outside, He gets out, and locks the door - he doesn't really know why he's doing this, but it's as if he wants to condemn and forget forever what he's just done inside this ordinary village house. He hides the key by sticking it with a piece of tape inside a small bell next to the front door, and ends up going behind the gate.

He's now alone in the street, where it's pitch black, with only the few street lamps to illuminate him, trying to calm down and think, but he knows he can't stop because it's not safe here, in truth, he's more motivated by a human or rational obligation to survive, he's doing it because it's what any normal human would do, but right now in his eyes it's more of an obligation than anything else, his body's outside but his mind's still inside of his house, but he's still managed to put together some useful thoughts, and decides to go into the immense forest not far away.

Alan walks briskly forward, he lived in a small town, not far from the biggest town in the region, and from where he is he hears distant gunshots, he looks at the big town in the distance and sees explosion, he quickly understands that the state is trying to intervene but surely in vain, this therefore confirms that his intention to go to the forest was better there.

He's surprised by the explosion, which doesn't help him calm down, he's walking alone and startles at every sound, he's still crying and surrounded by darkness, and he hears growling from all sides, he was alone, there was nobody, well nobody human, he quickens his pace and by chance manages to reach the forest without being attacked by a zombie, He entered the forest and burrowed inside until all he could hear was the natural sounds of the forest around him, moving forward but eventually landing near a tree, he was tired and exhausted both mentally and physically, he gathered a few branches and with a box of matches made sure to light a controllable fire.

He sits down by the fire, closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and tries to think and calm his trembling fear and tears, but he hears a branch snap behind him, he turns and a zombie jumps on him, Alan tries to hold him back but it's too much for him, he cries even more and loses his mind.

Alan: STOP YOU'RE HUMAN, WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, I SUPPLY YOU, MAKE IT STOP !

in his deluge of suffering he manages to pick up a wide, pointed branch of wood and plants it in the zombie's head.

He pushes the lifeless body of the zombie and quickly backs away, crawling on his back. Leaning against a tree, he gazes at the corpse of his latest victim. At that moment, his expression changes; it becomes much calmer, no more tears, but this look doesn't signify great determination. Instead, it's the first sign that he is starting to lose his sanity.

He rises, moves calmly toward the zombie, retrieves the knife his father had given him for the knife throwing, and decapitates the zombie. Then, he takes the head and creates a blood circle 5 meters around the campfire. Afterward, he lies down with his bag as a pillow, placing the decapitated zombie's body on top, and easily falls asleep. When he wakes up, he realizes he was right to do what he did because he is surrounded by a horde of zombies, estimated to be 2000 or 3000. Fortunately, they avoid the circle he created, but unfortunately, he is trapped and must wait for the horde to pass while they consume his rations.

For two weeks, he endures the existence of the undead, their unearthly cries and rhythmic marches creating a cacophony. Yet, he manages to sleep at night, sustained by his rations. While physically well, his mind descends further into madness. Finally, after the long two weeks, the horde is now distant. He rises, pushes the corpse away, and heads towards the city, realizing his rations are depleted. Quickly thinking, he believes the army must have been pushed back or even decimated in two weeks. Before anything else, he modifies his rifle, attaching broken scissors on both sides of the barrel. Armed, he sets out in search of the nearest road, encounters and dispatches lone zombies with his improvised weapon, crosses the entire forest, reaches a road, and hears a lot of noise. It's rhythmic, as if multiple people are striking something. He turns around and sees a school bus surrounded by zombies, banging on the windows. Upon closer inspection, he discovers that the bus is filled with living people.

The first human he see since a long time.