Prologue
Saturday, October 31. Hiraeth’s house, Whitebridge.
She woke up and looked at the clock; it was still four o’clock in the morning. “Fuck,” she thought. Hiraeth turned on the lamp on her bedside table, got out of bed, and rubbed her eyes. What was she doing awake at that hour? Surely it was probably insomnia again; she could never sleep through the night. The door to her room was still closed, just as she had left it when she went to bed last night. She felt safer that way.
She went out into the hallway slowly, trying not to make too much noise. She looked to one side and the other. There was nothing, and no one was in sight. She continued down the hallway, heading for the kitchen. A glass of milk might help her fall asleep again. However, she stopped when she reached her parents’ bedroom. The door was ajar, and she could see a light coming from inside, so she pushed the door gently and peeked in. Her worst nightmare had just begun.
—Mo… mom? —she stammered.
A few hours earlier.
Dozens of infected people were roaming the streets of France; hungry and bloodthirsty, they were chasing everything that moved to hunt them down.
—Are you filming?! —asked the news reporter.
—Yes! —exclaimed the cameraman. They were helicoptering over the busiest streets of Paris.
—This afternoon, there has been a series of murders in Paris, France. It appears that the attacks are related; in all cases, the killers have completely devoured their victims. According to what we are being told, this may be linked to a new virus that induces the infected to commit cannibalism. In addition…
At that very moment, a strange being, whose body was completely deformed and possessed a seemingly superhuman power, swooped down on the helicopter, and it plummeted to the ground. A huge explosion interrupted the transmission, and the alarm of the national emergency system began to sound. The situation was more serious than it seemed.
The alert reported the appearance of a new virus, “ZV-22”. It turns people into the living dead—cannibals who hunt down anything alive in order to feed themselves.
The virus is believed to have been created artificially in order to exterminate humanity. Contagion occurs through bites or scratches. At the moment, there is no further information available. Its initial symptoms are very easy to identify; some may be a high fever, dry cough, persistent dizziness, or even fainting.
The television broadcast ended.
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