Dead Eyes Watching

Chapter 8;Loid's Perspective - The Day Everything Fell Apart

It had been a normal morning. At least, that's what Loid had thought when he left his apartment just after dawn, heading to work at the bank like he had every other day for the past seven years. He remembered the chill in the air, the way the city seemed unusually quiet, like it was holding its breath. But he hadn't thought much of it. Not then.

As he walked through the streets, his mind was already on the day ahead—numbers, transactions, the usual monotony. He barely noticed the first signs that something was wrong. An ambulance speeding by, faster than normal. A police car parked haphazardly on the curb, its sirens off but lights flashing.

By the time he reached the bank, the unease had settled in. The doors were still open, but inside, it didn't feel right. There were too few people. He glanced around, noticing the tense expressions on his coworkers' faces, the way they glanced nervously at their phones. The news had been strange lately—rumors about a sickness spreading in other cities, but no one seemed to know what to make of it.

He found Nina by the counter, her usual confident posture replaced by something more uncertain. She looked up when he entered, her eyes wide, like she was waiting for someone to explain what was happening.

"Morning," Loid muttered, trying to sound normal as he hung up his coat.

Nina nodded, but her smile was thin, forced. "You see the news?"

Loid shook his head. "What now?"

She held up her phone, the screen showing a news headline: "Unidentified Virus Spreads Chaos in Major Cities."

Loid frowned, his stomach twisting. "More of the same? People are panicking over rumors."

But even as he said it, he could feel the weight of something darker settling over the bank. There was a tension in the air, something heavy and ominous.

It was just after nine when the first scream shattered the uneasy calm.

Loid froze at his desk, his head snapping up as the sound echoed through the bank's lobby. A woman near the entrance was shouting, her hands covered in blood as she tried to drag a man—someone Loid recognized as a regular customer—out of the building. He was convulsing, his body shaking violently as blood spilled from his mouth.

"What the hell...?" Loid whispered, standing up.

Chaos erupted in seconds. People started screaming, running for the doors. Someone pushed past him, nearly knocking him over as they sprinted for the exit. Loid's heart pounded in his chest, but his feet felt like they were glued to the floor.

Nina was standing by the counter, her face pale, frozen in place.

"Loid!" she shouted, her voice cutting through the panic.

He snapped out of his daze, rushing over to her. "What the hell's going on?"

"I don't know!" Nina's voice was trembling. "I think... I think it's happening. What they've been talking about."

The words didn't make sense, not at first. "What they've been talking about?" Loid repeated, his mind struggling to catch up.

Then, through the chaos, he saw it. A man stumbled through the door, his eyes blank, his skin gray and mottled. He lunged at a woman near the counter, his teeth sinking into her neck. The scream that followed would haunt Loid for the rest of his life.

It was like something out of a nightmare. One minute, everything was normal—people doing their jobs, going about their day. The next, it was madness.

"Run," Loid whispered, grabbing Nina's arm and pulling her toward the back of the bank.

They made it to the stairwell just as more people started flooding through the doors. Loid glanced back, his mind racing, trying to make sense of it all. People were biting each other. Biting and... killing.

"Upstairs," Nina gasped, pulling him out of his shock. "We can lock ourselves in one of the offices."

Loid didn't argue. They bolted up the stairs, their footsteps echoing loudly. The sounds of screams and chaos followed them, growing fainter as they reached the upper floor.

They locked themselves in one of the private offices, the thick glass door the only thing between them and the nightmare outside. For a few minutes, it was silent—just the two of them, catching their breath, trying to process what they had just seen.

"What was that?" Nina whispered, her voice shaking. "What's happening out there?"

Loid didn't have an answer. He pressed his hands against the desk, his mind spinning. He'd seen people die before—his job at the bank had put him in touch with desperate people, people who'd lost everything. But this? This was something else. This was the end.

"I don't know," he finally muttered, sinking into a chair. "But we can't stay here."

It didn't take long before the screams from downstairs quieted, replaced by an eerie silence. Loid stood, his body shaking as he tried to calm his racing heart. They had to move. They couldn't just wait to die here.

"I can't," Nina whispered, her face pale as she sat on the floor. "I can't do this."

Loid knelt beside her, gripping her shoulders. "We have to move, Nina. We can't stay here. You understand that, right?"

But Nina's eyes were glazed over, her body trembling. She was too scared, paralyzed by the reality of the situation. Loid felt the panic rising in his chest, but he knew what he had to do.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice breaking. "I can't wait. I have to go."

Nina looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear and confusion, but she didn't argue. She just nodded, too numb to say anything.

Loid stood, his heart heavy as he backed toward the door. "I'll... I'll find help," he lied, knowing full well that he wasn't coming back.

He left her there, locked in the office, and made his way down the stairs. The lobby was a massacre. Blood stained the floors, bodies lay scattered, and the groaning of the undead echoed through the building. Loid didn't look back.

He ran. Out of the bank, into the streets, away from the chaos. He didn't stop until his legs gave out beneath him, collapsing in an alleyway far from the horror he had just left behind.

That's where he met Asher and Mira.

They found him curled up behind a dumpster, shaking uncontrollably, his mind reeling from everything he had seen. Asher had pulled him to his feet, muttering something about getting out of the city before it got worse. Mira had been quieter, but there was a fierce determination in her eyes that reminded Loid he wasn't alone.

The three of them stuck together from that moment on, surviving by sheer luck and willpower. But even now, as Loid stood outside the house with Asher and Mira by his side, looking at Nina again after everything they had been through, he felt a strange sense of guilt. He had left her behind when she needed him most.

And now... now he had to make it right.