Chapter 2800: Story 2801: The Day the City Burned (Series HS:ZE 29)

The world did not end with a warning.

It ended with a scream.

At 8:17 a.m., Ryan Malik stood on the rooftop of his apartment building, watching the morning sun rise over Karachi. The streets below were crowded with buses, motorcycles, and impatient drivers. Vendors shouted from their stalls, children hurried toward school, and the city moved with its familiar energy.

Everything seemed normal.

Then a man ran into the middle of the road.

His clothes were soaked in blood. His face was pale, and his mouth hung open as if he were trying to scream without making a sound.

A police officer approached him.

“Sir, can you hear me? Are you injured?”

The man suddenly attacked.

He threw the officer onto the pavement and buried his teeth in the man’s neck. The second officer shouted and fired his weapon. The attacker collapsed.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then the dead man opened his eyes.

He rose to his feet.

Ryan felt a cold shiver travel down his spine.

“What the hell is happening?”

A second scream came from the street. Then another. Within moments, panic spread through the intersection. People abandoned their vehicles and ran in every direction. A bus crashed into a traffic signal, and a motorcycle skidded beneath a truck.

Ryan hurried downstairs.

He had always believed that preparation was the difference between survival and disaster. Inside his apartment, he grabbed his backpack, bottled water, a first-aid kit, a flashlight, and his survival knife.

His phone vibrated.

An unknown number had sent him a message.

GET OUT OF KARACHI. THE OUTBREAK HAS ALREADY BEGUN.

Before he could call the sender, another message appeared.

DO NOT GO TO THE HOSPITALS. THEY ARE INFECTED TOO.

A tremendous explosion shook the building.

Ryan rushed outside.

The city had become a battlefield.

Flames poured from a fuel station. Thick smoke climbed between the buildings, turning the blue sky black. Military helicopters circled overhead while gunfire echoed through the streets. Abandoned cars blocked the roads, and blood-covered figures stumbled among the wreckage.

The infected were everywhere.

Ryan spotted a young woman fighting to free herself from an infected man near a wrecked car. She struck its head with a metal rod, but another creature approached from behind.

Ryan charged forward and smashed the second creature across the skull. The woman broke free, grabbed her fallen pistol, and followed him into a narrow alley.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Zara Malik,” she replied breathlessly. “And unless you have a better plan, we’re going to die here.”

“Then let’s make a better plan.”

They reached an abandoned electronics shop and barricaded the entrance. Through a shattered window, they watched soldiers establish a roadblock across the main intersection.

A loudspeaker crackled.

“Attention, citizens! Proceed immediately to the central evacuation zone. Follow all military instructions.”

Zara looked relieved.

“They’re evacuating survivors. We should go.”

Ryan watched the soldiers more carefully. They weren’t allowing civilians through the roadblock. Instead, they were forcing everyone back toward the burning districts.

Something was terribly wrong.

His phone rang.

The screen displayed an unfamiliar name.

CAPTAIN HAMZA QURESHI.

Ryan answered.

“Ryan,” a man’s urgent voice said. “Listen carefully. Do not go to the evacuation zone.”

“Who are you? How do you know my name?”

“Captain Hamza Qureshi. We don’t have time for explanations. The government knew this was coming.”

Ryan tightened his grip on the phone.

“Knew what was coming?”

“The infection isn’t spreading randomly. Someone released it deliberately.”

A burst of gunfire interrupted the captain.

“Where are you?” Ryan demanded.

“Underground. Beneath the old research facility.”

A terrible noise echoed through the phone—a deep, unnatural roar that sounded almost human.

Captain Hamza whispered, “God help us. It’s awake.”

The call disconnected.

At that exact moment, every infected creature in the street stopped moving.

Hundreds of bloodshot eyes turned toward the ground.

Then, one by one, the zombies fell to their knees.

Zara stepped away from the window.

“Ryan,” she whispered. “Why are they doing that?”

The pavement trembled beneath their feet.

A crack split the road outside. Somewhere deep below Karachi, something enormous struck the earth from beneath, sending abandoned vehicles crashing against one another.

Ryan pulled Zara away from the window.

A final message appeared on his phone.

SUBJECT ZERO HAS AWAKENED.

Then the power died.

In the darkness, a voice rose from beneath the city.

It spoke one word.

“RYAN.”

He stood completely still.

The thing beneath Karachi knew his name.

And it was coming for him.