On that day—the day everything changed—Arthur lay in his small apartment, teetering on the edge of something he couldn't quite name. He wasn't sure if it was depression, madness, or just the numbness that came from wearing a mask too long. Each passing day chipped away at his sense of self, eroded by the fake smiles and hollow routines he'd forced himself to adopt just to survive.
He didn't understand how people did it—how they moved through this world pretending, hiding, lying to themselves and each other. It all felt like some cruel joke he wasn't in on.
He lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling, until—
BOOM.
The walls rattled. The floor trembled. Glass somewhere shattered. Another explosion followed—louder, closer. Then came the screaming. Piercing, desperate, real.
Arthur's body jolted upright, instinct taking over. Panic surged through him as he scrambled off the bed and darted into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him. His breath came in short gasps. What was happening? Was it a war? A bombing? The end?
And yet… in the middle of the chaos, something stirred deep inside him. A heartbeat that felt different. Stronger. His hands were shaking, but not entirely from fear. His chest pounded, not just with terror—but something else. Something like… exhilaration.
As the sounds of the world unraveling filled the air outside, a crooked, involuntary smile crept across Arthur's face.
He didn't understand why.
But some part of him—buried under months of numbness—was finally waking up.
Arthur's mind spun with questions. Was the country under attack? Was it terrorists? Why his city, of all places? And more disturbingly—why did a part of him feel… happy?
Was it relief? The idea that, finally, he could drop the mask and stop pretending? Or maybe it was the hope that his life was about to break free from the dull routine of "normal society." He didn't have answers—just an uneasy thrill coursing through his veins. But one thing was clear: he couldn't stay locked in the bathroom forever.
He had to see what was really going on.
Arthur stepped out, slowly, cautiously, and moved to the nearest window that overlooked the street below.
What he saw shattered every expectation he had.
Military fighter jets screamed across the sky, dropping bombs that erupted into fireballs across the cityscape. Buildings crumbled. Sirens howled. The skyline was painted in smoke and flame.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
Down in the streets, the people—at least, what looked like people—were in chaos. Screaming, running… and tearing each other apart. Some were hunched over others, biting, clawing, ripping with animal-like fury. One man was tackled to the ground, and his attacker began tearing into his neck with his teeth. Blood sprayed wildly, painting the pavement and the attacker alike.
Arthur couldn't move. He couldn't speak.
This wasn't just a city under siege. This was the collapse of everything.
The end of society as the world knew it.
And the beginning of something else entirely.
The world of the dead.