In the year 2029 a woman was scavenging through the wastelands of the city she once lived in. The woman was around 26 years old and she's collecting up supplies she needs to survive for another few days. She wore a helmet that covered her whole head along with a thick shark suit to protect herself. For double protection she'd put on some thick patches of rubber on the suit as well.

"Ugh, this suit is so heavy and hot! But it keeps me safe from the evolved infected so I can't complain much." The woman said as she sat down for a bit.

The suit concealed heat, which would be good during the cold months, however the temperature was pretty hot today. As she sat there, she looked in the bag because she had to see how her supply run was going. Inside, were some cans of food, medication, tools for her motorcycle, and some matches alongside.

"Alright I got a good amount of supply, but I still need to find a working battery. Without that I can't get my van working and I won't be able to move onto the next location." The woman said to herself.

Just as she said that she heard vicious and bloodthirsty roars coming from around the corner. The woman stood up and looked to where the roars were coming from. To her horror she saw some evolved infected jump out from around the corner and start whipping around looking for their next meal.

She started slowly backing away to get away from them quietly before they saw her. Unfortunately fate decided to be an absolute dick to her and she ended up stepping on an old glass bottle and it broke under the presser from her foot. The sound was small, but the evolved could hear it very well because of their heightened senses, so they looked and saw the woman. They all roared at her in delight as they saw her as their next meal for the next few days.

The evolved then sprinted her at sonic speed which inturn prompted the woman to start running as fast as she could. She turned tail and went full on flash in order to get out of there ASAP. However the evolved where catching up on her as their speed was much higher than her own.

But there's still several questions left, how did this happen? Why is this happening? And what are the evolved alongside the other infected. To answer all of that we'll need to travel back to three years before the apocalypse took place.

Three years ago in a regular tech company the same woman was working in the accounting department. She had deep dark circles under her eyes, her hair was all matted, and there was enough discarded coffee cup to build the entire elfe tower in France. Just by looking and smelling her you could tell she hasn't left the office in a long time and is clearly having too much coffee.

"Hey Ella, I need you to calculate these numbers for me." A man's voice called out to Ella.

She turned around and saw her manager standing outside her work cubicle with a stack of papers in his arms.

"Alright sir, I'll just put these in with the rest." Ella said in a flat exhausted tone.

"Good, the boss also said that once you're done with all of this you can go home and have a few days off. But we'll need you back next week. The numbers just keep growing and growing." The manager explained.

"I know, I've been counting them for the last week. I haven't been able to go home for almost two weeks because of it." Ella explained.

"Well once this is all over things will go back to normal and you can go home more often again." The manager said as he handed the papers to Ella.

Once she had a firm hold on the papers the manager let go and left her cubical to go do some of his own work. Whatever he did, Ella didn't really care as long as it didn't affect her paycheck or was illegal.

All she wanted to do was bedone and go home to shower, rest, eat and drink something else aside from processed food and coffee. She swore that if she goes another day filled with coffee she's going to have a seizure from how much caffeine was going to her brain to keep her awake.

Ella had been working this job since she finished college, and this was an enormous busy season for the company she worked for. The company had gotten a great investment deal with a well known client and has had lots of income for their products coming in. As a result of this the accounting department has been flattened with enough work to fill the Atlantic ocean.

While they did get paid well for all their hard work, for Ella it was too much at times and she needed more than a few days off. She'd needed a vacation once this was all over, but she had to wait till this busy season was over, which she prayed would be soon. Ella looked at the time and saw that it was now 9:00 Pm so she decided to work as quickly and effectively as she could so she could get home ASAP. All Ella wanted to do right now was go home and pass out on her bed as if her life depended on it.

After about four hours of hard and exhausting labor, Ella was finally done for the day and could go home. So she started collecting her things so she could go home in peace with no worries about her things. Once she had everything Ella got up and left the cubical like she was leaving the gates of hell and going to heaven.

"Hey Manager, I'm going home now!" Ella called out weakly to her manager with the little energy she had.

"Alright, I'll see you in a day or two." The manager said as he continued to do his own work.

Ella left the office and called up a cab to take her to her apartment as the buses were done for the night. The city of Pittsburgh was brightly lit up as always even during the very early mornings. Ella stood on the sidewalk, looking like a zombie waiting for her cab to come and pick her up.

After about five minutes the cab finally arrived and Ella got in as soon as it parked. She collapsed in the back and tiredly told the driver where to take her, which was just her apartment building. The driver didn't say much and just drove her back to her apartment, which was just fine for Ella. Once at the apartment Ella paid the driver and got out of the cab.

She stumbled inside the building, with the night shift receptionist being the only other sign of life inside the room (aside from the plants in the room). Ella manages to make her way into the elevator without passing out from exhaustion. She pressed the button that took her to her apartment's floor and waited as the elevator shook a little as it went up. As soon as the elevator reached the floor and the doors opened Ella stepped out and made her way to her apartment.

Soon she's at her apartment, she unlocks it and goes inside. She then closed and locked the door behind her before heading to her room. She was so exhausted and tired that she didn't even bother to take off her work clothes or even turn on the lights. She just passed out in her bed and fell fast asleep instantly, as if she'd been shot with a tranquilizing dart.

The next day Ella woke up and looked at the clock sitting on her bed shelf and saw that it was now well into the afternoon.

"I slept for most of the day and I'm still slammed so hard. Maybe I should just make myself something that isn't processed or instant food, and drink some goddamn water! At this rate I think my kidneys are going to blow a fuse with how much I've been overworking them." Ella said to herself as she slowly got out of bed.

However before she went to the kitchen to make a proper meal, she stripped off her work clothes, along with her undergarments. She then walked up to her dresser and opened the draw where she kept all her underwear. She picked out a cute and comfortable pair of underwear and put it on. Since Ella lived alone in her apartment she was free to walk in nothing but her favorite underwear without a care in the world.

Once she had her underwear on she went into the kitchen and started cooking up a healthy and proper meal. As she cooked she turned the TV on and switched on the news to get some updates.

"Hello everyone, I'm Barbra and I'll be your newscaster for the day." The woman on the TV said.

Ella just started cooking while the announcements on the news just became another background noise, aside from her neighbors walking around their apartments.

"In recent events outbursts of violence have been happening all over the city. The hospitals have also been overflowing with patients who seem to have suffered horrific injuries from the attacks. Those who were killed seemed to have huge chunks of their flesh bitten right off. The police believe that some satanic cannibalistic cult is behind the attacks. It also seems that those who survive fall ill after a few hours from the attack. After about a day they suddenly disappeared from their hospital room with the only thing left behind is a trail of blood. It's unknown what has happened to these people yet but the police say they are doing all they can to find them." Barbra explained.

Ella just listened to the news and didn't take too much interest in what was going on. She was too tired from work to even care, as she just wanted the news as background noise. After sometime she finished making herself a healthy meal and once it was finished Ella got a glass of water. She then swiftly drank the water as her body was crying out for something that wasn't coffee. As she drank it she felt like it was absolute heaven for her.

"Ah! OMG! I never thought I'd miss the taste of fresh water!" Ella said to herself.

She then refilled her glass again before taking her plate and went back into her room. She sat down on the floor and sat the plate down on the table, that was thankfully small enough for her to not need a chair. She then changed the TV channel from the news to a station that was currently playing her favorite live action TV show. Ella sat back and watched the show while enjoying her food that wasn't processed or even a microwavable store bought meal.

"Ah, this is like heaven! I know my body's thanking me for this right now!" Ella exclaimed happily as she felt as if the food was from a five stair restaurant.

Later in the day Ella was now watching some brain rotting shows to help her unwind more from the tiring work weeks. As she laid down on the bed she heard someone knocking on the door rapidly.

"LET ME IN! HURRY PLEASE! THERE'S SOMETHING GOING! S-SOMEONE ATTACKED ME! PLEASE HURRY UP AND LET ME IN!" Ella heard a woman screaming.

While Ella wouldn't normally let some rando in her apartment, she recognized the voice as her upstairs neighbors daughter. The couple was currently out in Hawaii for a vacation while their daughter stayed here for school.

"Hang on, hang on! I'm coming!" Ella called out as she got up and grabbed her bathrobe off its hanger.

She put it on and then went up to her apartment door, unlocking it she opened it up and the young teenager collapsed into the apartment and Ella's arms. She then began crying in Ella's arms as she seemed to have gone through something horrifying. Ella noticed that the girl had many scratches on her body and she even saw a bite mark on her shoulder. Not sure if the person responsible was still out there Ella closed and locked the door again just for safety. Once locked and secure, Ella took the girl to her room and sat her down on the bed. She then went into the kitchen and got the girl a glass of water, returning to the bedroom Ella placed the glass in the girl's hand.

"*sniff* T-Thank you, I-I was so scared!" the girl exclaimed, still sniffling and shaky from what happened.

"Hey, hey it's alright, you're safe here with me. You want to explain what happened?" Ella asked curiously on how the girl got her injuries.

"I-I was heading home after going out to karaoke with my friends, and there was this guy in the alleyway on the other side of the street. I-I thought he was on some substance as he was acting strange and twitching violently. B-But then he started sprinting at me, and he attacked me. I believe he was on drugs as he was way too strong or that's what I thought from how he looked, but h-he looked like he was... r-rotting." The girl explained.

"What?!" Ella exclaimed, confused.

"I know it's hard to believe but his face just looked like it was rotting. He didn't look human, I managed to push him off of me, but he bit and scratched me. I ran all the way here and tried to find anyone who would help me. And now I'm here with you, telling you all this." The girl explained having finished her story.

She then took a big gulp of water and started to calm down a little. Ella remained quiet for a bit, thinking about what she could do to try and help the girl feel better.

"Hey you want me to call the cops and an ambulance for you?" Ella asked, hoping that with the help of proper authorities they could find the stranger.

"S-Sure, go on and do that." the girl said.

She then placed her water on the table and laid down on Ella's bed, and passed out faster than Ella did last night. After the girl passed out Ella got up and grabbed her phone off the table and dialed in the emergency number. When the operator answered her call, she started explaining the whole situation to the operator.

Once she was done with her explanation the person on the other side of the line said "Alright we'll send an ambulance over along with some officers to access the situation. You just make sure the girl is alright and stay on the line with me in case something happens."

"alright, but I'll need to put the phone down as I'm gonna put on some actual clothes as I'm just in some underwear and a bathrobe right now." Ella explained.

"That's alright, just make sure your phone is still near you and on speaker." The operator explained.

"Understood, I'll let you know if anything happens." Ella said, then went up to her dresser and started digging through it.

She went for a sky blue tank top and dark green baggy lazy day pants. Once she got the main clothes on Ella went up to the sleeping girl and looked to see if she was doing alright. She lightly touched the girl's forehead and it felt pretty hot.

"Um, the girl is running a fever. I don't know how she wasn't before but now she is, and I'm not sure what to do!" Ella explained feeling a bit worried about what was happening.

"Don't worry the ambulance will be there soon, just make sure nothing bad happens to her till they get there." The operator explained.

Ella understood and sat back, waiting for the ambulance to arrive and hopefully help the poor kid out. After a few minutes, Ella heard the loud sirens roaring outside, so she got up and unlocked her apartment door. She then looked over the balcony and saw the ambulance and some police cars parked in the parking lot.

Ella stood there watching as the medics and officers scrambled out of their cars and went up to the apartment. Once they were up Ella let them in and the paramedics put the girl on a stretcher while the police asked Ella a few questions. She answered them as best as she could from what she knew, but she couldn't give out many details.

Soon the police had asked her everything they needed, so they informed her that they'll update her about the situation. The paramedics and police all then left the apartment and got back into their cars/vans. As soon as the vehicles were out of sight Ella decided to go back to watching shows that would rot her brain so she'd be more effective at work.

However as Ella went back inside her apartment she had no idea that in a few days her whole life would be turned completely upside down. As the world is beginning to suffer a change that would change everything for many years to come.