Chapter 75: It begins

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: It begins

The sound wasn’t loud.

In fact, beneath the blaring car horns, the screaming, and the chaos of the city, most people would never have heard it.

But they did.

Killian’s expression changed immediately.

Erik turned toward the sound.

Ben’s grip tightened around his weapon.

Kai’s smile disappeared.

"Stop making noise," Kai said quietly.

No one listened.

How could they?

The people outside didn’t know. They still believed this was a riot, a virus, or some kind of natural disaster that would be solved by tomorrow morning.

Penelope didn’t hesitate.

She reached into her space and pulled out a portable microphone.

The action startled Ben.

Before anyone could react, she pressed the power button and raised it to her mouth.

"Stop talking."

Her voice echoed throughout the street.

Conversations halted.

People turned.

Children stopped crying.

Even the car horns seemed quieter.

Penelope looked at the dozens of confused faces staring at her.

"The infected can hear you," she said. "They follow sound and vibrations. If you continue making noise, you will become their next meal."

For a brief moment, the street became silent.

Then someone asked:

"The infected?"

Kai stepped forward and gently took the microphone from Penelope.

"The zombies," he said. His voice was much quieter than hers had been. "Please. Keep your voices down."

The crowd stared at him.

Then they stared at one another.

No one laughed.

No one called them crazy.

Because the fear in their eyes was real.

Slowly, one person stepped out of their car.

Then another.

A mother picked up her child.

A husband reached for his wife’s hand.

An elderly man turned off the flashlight he had been holding.

Without another word, the small crowd quietly abandoned their vehicles and began walking back toward their homes.

No one ran.

No one shouted.

They simply walked.

As quietly as they could.

The silence lasted less than a minute.

The people who had listened to Penelope quietly abandoned their vehicles and began returning to their homes. Some carried children. Others held the hands of their spouses. Nobody spoke.

Unfortunately, not everyone had listened.

Several people remained standing in the street.

Some looked at Penelope with suspicion.

Others looked embarrassed.

One man laughed nervously and said, "There’s no way zombies exist. And even if they did, they wouldn’t hunt by sound."

No one bothered arguing with him.

Because then they heard it.

A growl.

This time, it was louder.

The sound echoed from somewhere between the rows of abandoned vehicles.

Everyone froze.

The city itself seemed to hold its breath.

Then another growl answered.

And another.

Penelope’s heart sank.

They were coming.

She turned toward the elderly couple sitting at the bus stop.

The old man had already stood up.

He looked around in confusion.

"What was that?" he asked his wife.

She didn’t answer.

Because she had seen it.

A figure emerged from between two cars.

Its clothing was torn.

Its skin had turned gray.

Its movements were wrong. Not because it was fast, but because every movement it made was driven by hunger.

The old woman screamed when the zombie lunged. The old man reacted immediately, pushing his wife behind him.

But that made no difference to the zombie, he crashed into the old man and both fell onto the pavement.

The old woman screamed again.

This time, everyone heard.

Chaos erupted.

People ran.

People shouted.

Car alarms began blaring.

Someone dropped their bags.

Someone else fell.

The illusion that everything would be okay shattered in an instant.

"RUN!" Kai shouted.

Nobody needed to be told twice.

The people who had ignored Penelope’s warning scattered in every direction.

Some sprinted toward nearby buildings.

Others jumped into their vehicles.

Several simply froze.

More growls answered the screams.

Then came the dead.

They emerged from alleyways.

From behind vehicles.

From inside abandoned stores.

Not hundreds.

Not thousands.

Just enough.

Enough to turn panic into terror.

Ben’s face lost all color.

"There are more!"

"Of course there are," Killian replied.

His voice remained calm.

It somehow made the situation worse.

Penelope looked toward the elderly couple.

The old woman was still screaming but the old man had stopped moving.

She reached for him even as the dead reached out to her.

Three zombies surrounded her.

She never had a chance.

Penelope forced herself to look away.

She couldn’t save everyone.

No one could.

"Move!" Erik ordered.

The group ran.

The parking lot behind the apartment complex came into view.

Killian reached his truck first.

The massive black pickup truck suddenly felt like the safest place in the world.

"Get in!" he shouted.

Nobody argued.

Ben practically threw himself into the back seat.

Kai climbed in beside him.

Erik slid into the passenger seat.

Penelope jumped into the front seat just as another growl echoed behind them.

Penelope climbed over Erik, climbing over the center console and squeezed into the back seat beside Kai and Ben while Erik remained in the passenger seat

Killian started the engine.

The headlights illuminated the street ahead.

Dozens of figures turned toward them.

Not because they had seen them.

Because they had heard them.

"Oh," Kai said quietly.

"I think we have a problem."

Killian shifted the truck into drive.

"No."

He pressed the accelerator.

"We have several."

Killian shifted the truck into drive.

The truck roared forward.

The first zombie slammed into the driver’s side door.

The impact caused Ben to yelp.

The creature bounced off the truck and disappeared into the darkness behind them.

Killian didn’t slow down.

He couldn’t.

Not when more of them were emerging from the alleyways.

Not when people were still screaming.

Not when the city itself had become a beacon of sound.

The black pickup truck sped onto the main road.

Penelope looked out the window and felt her chest tighten.

The city had changed.

Less than five minutes ago, people had still been trying to convince themselves that everything would be okay.

Now they were running.

A mother sprinted across the street carrying a little girl in her arms.

A man desperately pulled an elderly woman toward a nearby apartment building.

Someone pounded against the locked doors of a convenience store.

Nobody stopped to help.

Nobody could.

Because the dead were everywhere