It's been a month, hasn't it, Kiyotaka-kun?"
"Yes, it has, Yosuke."
I stand at the railing, gazing out upon the ocean as the distant mainland burns. The anguished cries of the people and the incessant crack of gunfire reach my ears, a symphony of pure despair.
Let us revisit how this nightmare first unfolded.
- A Month Ago -
Chabashira-sensei was explaining the new OAA system, the only remotely useful contribution from that man, Mr. NoticeMeSenpai. Until something most unexpected occurred.
Overhead, the rumble of engines pierced the air as military aircraft streaked across the sky. My classmates instinctively dove for cover, cowering beneath their desks as the earth shuddered with the force of distant explosions.
"What's happening, Chabashira-sensei?" one student cried out, their voice trembling.
"Is there a war?" another asked, eyes wide with terror.
Chabashira-sensei attempted to calm the class, but I could see the trepidation in her gaze. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. And I had a sinking feeling that this was only the beginning of a nightmare from which there may be no waking.
The shout from my last classmate caught my attention. Standing up to get a better view through the window, my seatmate, Matsushita, questioned me.
"Where are you going, Ayanokoji-kun? It's dangerous out there. We don't know what's happening."
"It's better than just panicking under my desk," I replied, my tone uncharacteristically blunt.
Matsushita seemed taken aback by my response, no doubt surprised by my departure from my usual aloof demeanor. But there were more pressing matters at hand.
Chabashira-sensei's voice cut through the din. "Ayanokoji, everyone, calm down. I've been called by the higher-ups - something is happening on the mainland, though the details are still unclear. They've assured us we're safer here on the school island."
Her words seemed to quell the class's panic to some degree, but the trepidation lingered in their eyes.
Turning my gaze back to the window, I squinted, straining to make out the distant mainland of Tokyo. What I saw chilled me to the core.
"Oh my God, look at the mainland," a classmate suddenly shouted, voicing the very observation that had settled like a lead weight in the pit of my stomach.
Squinting my eyes to see more clearly, the grim reality of the situation on the mainland came into focus. I could see throngs of people running in a frantic panic, military units firing indiscriminately into the crowds. Was this martial law? Some kind of crackdown?
Looking back again, I witnessed something that chilled me to the very core. A human, their features contorted with a primal hunger, was tearing into the flesh of another person, devouring them with a bestial ferocity.
I had seen many disturbing things in my life - adults beating children, the young driven to acts of self-destruction. But this... this was something entirely new, a level of depravity I had never before encountered.
"The world was in such a crisis, I see," I muttered under my breath, the weight of the realization settling upon me.
I knew what was to come - these creatures, which we would soon dub the "infected," would spread like a plague, their numbers swelling exponentially. The end of the world as we knew it was nigh.
Without a moment's hesitation, I turned and began to run, driven by the singular imperative to survive in this new, obscured world. I would need to formulate a plan, for the apocalypse was upon us.
yep, a rewrite
