HellWorld - Chapter 1 - A Dead New World Part 1: Alex

Her helmet closed completing the opaque silver armor that glistened softly in the light of the full moon. The eye holes in the helmet lit in a soft honey color mimicking the color of her real eyes. Behind her, she could hear his helmet closing too; in previous encounters they had discovered that back to back was the most effective way to repel the enemies attack. He clenched his fist twice and a swarm of millions of nanobots materialized a sword in his right hand, sharper than a scalpel, many enemies perished to its curves. He briefly swung it in a backward circle and its sharp curves made it sound like it could almost cut through air itself. She clenched her fists and another swarm of nanobots materialized a chain on top of each wrist. The first link in the chain was arrow shaped and as its sword counterpart, could penetrate almost any material on the planet.

A couple of revenant demons screeched and hovered above, briefly covering the moons light while waiting impatiently for their next attack. The cold night’s silence was suddenly broken by a thousand running feet; the floor alongside them briefly shook to the incoming foes. Mere seconds later, the air was filled with screeches and growls from the undead that were now visible and running towards them in every direction. She grabbed the first link of each chain with each hand and he tightened the grip of both hands on the sword. The enemy was now only meters away. Her chains rattled as they were shot from her wrists at speeds that made it almost impossible to see the leading link. His sword made a hollow noise as it penetrated rotten flesh and bones from the swarm of undead that now completely surrounded them. The first revenant demon howled furiously as it dived, with its feet nails aiming for the kill, the standoff had begun.

My life was completely normal, until the sundown of the twenty-seventh of April of 2032. I rented a house by myself, on the outskirts of a small town, two hours away from Coxime, the countries capital city. Woke up, had breakfast and took my motorbike, a red and blue motocross that I named Bob and that allowed me to have fun on my free time. The road to work was only 5 minutes away from my house or 3 if Bob was up to the task and I knew I could still break that record. I still remember we were fermenting bacteria in a 500 liter bioreactor that was supposed to keep me busy for the rest of the week. My boss, Alfred, who was and old school chemical engineer with a grumpy attitude, but a genius for industrial production processes, followed the news closely in the meeting room of the small production factory. I clocked in and greeted him to which he only replied “Good morning Alex” without taking his eyes off the TV. As I passed by the meeting room, the only thing I could hear from the news anchor was something about a new virus that had been constantly shown on the news for the past for months.

I had heard about the early 2000’s SARS, the 2020 nCov, and the 2025 H1N7 flu that had caused big outbreaks in the past but were always contained so my attention kept focused on the work that had to be done. Took my gear from my cabinet and immediately got busy moving levers, controlling air and water vapor pressure and sampling our bacteria for quality control. Luis, my shift partner and mischievous accomplice was already gathering data from the process which had started the previous day. As soon as my shift started, it had gone by, I loved my work and Luis’s company made it very fun. He was one of those guys that love to joke around, prank people and make everyone laugh, he had such a light soul that not even Alfred with his stiff personality could get himself to reprimand him for his mischief.

We welcomed our relay, passed all the data gathered throughout our shift and left for home. Alfred who was commonly one of the last people to leave the first shift was nowhere to be found, I assumed he must have left for an emergency and went on my way. Picked up Bob and rammed the throttle on the almost empty roads that led to my house, 3.5 minutes, not bad, but it could be better. Entered the house and immediately removed my bra and dumped it in a basket with its brothers that had suffered the same fate days before. I dropped myself in the couch and proceeded to listen to the white noise of the TV in the background while I decided whether to take a nap or scroll endlessly on my mobile. I still remember the program, some dumb reality was cut mid show and breaking news about the virus were once again on the screen.

I decided to shut off the TV and go outside with my Stephen King to enjoy a cigarette and the sundown. Not much people lived in the small cluster of houses which I had decided to make my home, the nearest town was a 15 min drive and the nearest city was at least a 40 min drive. The view was spectacular, you could see the mountains all around the horizon that depicted the valley in which that small town was located. The sun going down the mountains to the west, even though I saw it almost perpetually, never seized to amaze me and provided a soothing cover to relax and read a good book. The sun had almost set behind the mountains when a massive explosion shook the ground, the flames were instantly visible and expanded tens of meters into the air, maybe hundreds.

My first thought was that the bioreactors had failed and led to this catastrophe, but when I could finally focus on the source of the flames I could see that it was another company located in the lot parallel to ours. The sighting gave me some momentary relief and considered it would be a good gossip the next morning at work. A chill went down my spine as I started to hear tires screeching and…where those gunshots? I ran from the little front porch into the house and locked the door behind me, flew up the stairs that led to the second floor and closed the door to my bedroom. My brain was trying to adjust itself to the reality, wondering if it was a bad dream and was desperately trying to find the sanest answer.

My thoughts where nowhere near calm as mi mind struggled to keep up with the million sudden thoughts that flooded my brain, suddenly I heard a loud crash on the bottom floor, it could only mean that the glass door that lead to the porch had just been shattered, fuck, someone was in my house. Instinctively, I grabbed one of the metal tubes that helped my clothes hang in the closet. I dumbly opened the door to my bedroom and shouted with all my might “Who the fuck is there?! Get the fuck out or I’m going to hurt you”. My brain immediately regretted my decision and shouted back, “You’re a 172 cm, 65 kg woman and you’re completely alone… any psychopath can easily take you down”. I threw the metal rod to the ground and made my retreat behind the cover of my locked bedroom door.

Seconds later I could hear..where they growls, gurgles? A sound that would never to this day escape the farthest corner of my mind. Something on the lower floor made a screeching sound and fleeted to the top floor, in an instant, loud banging noises covered the loud growls on the other side of the door. The door shook violently and I knew it would not stay shut for much longer. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what do I do, fight or flight…survive.