//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: City Life (Part 1) // Story: From a Dying World to New Lands // by Electrician //------------------------------// Chapter 2: City Life (Part 1) Perspective: Eddy Culivin Location: Southern United States, 25 miles from home Date: October 26, 2025 It was like a dark, towering prison of death. The Infection hasn’t been going on for nearly long enough for roads and buildings to decay, so apart from a few broken windows, the place was pretty much intact. And that’s what was so eerie about it. There was no obvious reason or cause for the emptiness, so seeing a very much intact city that’s normally swarming with people so deserted like this is unsettling. As we approached our destination, I slowed the car down significantly to 30mph and rolled down the windows. At this speed the two motors didn’t make a sound, and tire and wind noise were negligible. It was ghostly quiet in the city; the Infected that should be crawling all over here strangely nowhere in sight. Our first destination was the chemical storage warehouse thing the scouts found at the edge of town. We parked in front of the security checkpoint; a rather sizable motorized gate blocking our entrance. “Alright, first thing’s first. I’ll get that gate open,” Edgar said, already hopping out of the vehicle, bolt cutters in hand. Very strange, considering those cutters wouldn’t do squat to the gate’s thick bars. Instead of cutting the bars though, Edgar climbed and hopped over to the other side. Once there, he targeted the chain that the motor uses to move the gate, smart move considering it’s much weaker than the gate itself. Once the gate was free of the motor, Mike stepped out to help Edgar. Everyone cringed as a metallic screeching sound bellowed from the steel contraption; I guess four years without maintenance was too much for the wheels’ bearings. Settling back into the vehicle, I slowly advanced through the checkpoint and towards the facility Upon arriving, Mike and Edgar hopped out and grabbed their weapons. In order to remain somewhat stealthy, both used a pneumatic rifle as their primary. The weapon somewhat resembled an old bolt-action Springfield without a stock; an air tank, solenoid, and pressure regulator attached at the rear acted as the stock instead. The pressure regulator was operated by a rocker switch actuated by the thumb of the hand that holds the front grip. A bi-color LED indicates its setting; green would cause injury but was non-lethal, while red turned up the pressure was lethal. The trigger was an electrical toggle switch with a return spring that sent power when triggered to a 555 timer circuit. The circuit pulses the solenoid once per trigger pull, sending a powerful burst of compressed air that propelled a ball bearing out the barrel. The rifle was semi-auto, so the ‘bolt’ on it was actually a cleverly implemented magazine; sliding the bolt back revealed a replaceable copper tube magazine. The magazine held fifteen 5/16” steel ball-bearings. The weapons were very reliable usually, but just in case they fail, Mike packed a Sig Sauer P226 while Edgar carried a M1911. We had all agreed not to our secondary weapon unless absolutely necessary though, as even one shot would probably alert the entire Infected population of our presence. If anyone had to resort to their secondary, we would skip town immediately after pickup. “If you guys haven’t sent the signal or checked in in 20 minutes, we’re coming back for you,” Jonathon said quietly to them. “We won’t be too far off, but it’ll be quicker if Jon and I search some nearby buildings while you guys secure the main goods,” I added. “If the information we got was accurate, we shouldn’t run into any major trouble.” With a final nod, they were off, and so were we. The warehouse was on the outskirts of the city, so there were hardly any useful buildings nearby, just offices. The first thing we came across that might have been even remotely useful was an old fueling depot for fleet vehicles. We however, simply drove right past it; any fuel in there at this point was definitely past its shelf life. On our way to the closest actual store, I received a contact from Edgar. “Eddy, we’ve reached the door to the chemical storage area, but we ran into a bit of a snag. The door is locked with one of those electronic locks.” I thought for a moment before answering. “Is the code written down anywhere or if it’s RF-ID, are there any cards lying around?” “There are plenty of cards in the offices Eddy, but remember that there’s no power!” Crap, that’s right. We didn’t have a convenient source of AC voltage, so somehow, we had to bypass the lock without energizing the entire security system. I started forming a plan in my head on how to open it, but I needed to make sure that my assumptions were true first. “Um, ok, are there any wires leading from the scanner to the door?” There was a 5-second silence before Edgar responded. “Yea, two of them, leading to some box on top of the door.” So my assumptions were correct after all. “Ok guys, listen. The lock is an electromagnetic lock, meaning that to open it, an electromagnet is energized to repel the permanent magnet on the door. The electromagnets usually only require a small current to work, so you’re going to bypass the scanner and energize the coil directly, understood?” “NO, not understood!” said Mike over his Walkie-Talkie. “Walk us through it damnit, we don’t have a clue what we’re doing, otherwise the door would already be open!” Ugh, double crap, they’re right again! “Ok. Mike, go ahead and cut those two wires leading from the scanner to the door, then strip them about ½ an inch. Edgar, while he does that, do you know how to remove the battery from your rifle?” “Uh, pop the pin, swing the grip open and unplug, right?” “That’s correct. Go ahead and do that, and tell me when you’re both ready.” The duo was silent for a few moments while each member completed his specific task. Eventually, Edgar came back on the line. “Alright, I have the battery in my hands and Mike’s got two stripped wires, now what?” “Ok, Mike. Are the wires marked in some way to distinguish them apart?” There was a slight pause. “Yes, one of them is black with a white stripe, the other one’s just black,” he responded. “Excellent. Alright, listen before you guys do anything. Mike’s going to lean on the door. Edgar, you’re going to connect the red wire from the battery to the white-striped wire and the black wire to the black wire. When you do this, Mike should be able to push the door open. Once he does, immediately disconnect the wires and put your battery back in. Is that clear?” “Perfectly,” replied Edgar. Silence once again filled the car as they worked on the door. At this point, Jonathon had spotted a Target, which we decided we were going to search, so we pulled in and I disengaged the car. Before hopping out, Mike’s voice broke the silence. “Ok we’re in, thanks.” “No problem,” I replied. With that taken care of, Jonathon and I hopped out and pulled out our pneumatic rifles, along with our backups, a Smith and Wesson 910 for me and a Walther P99 for him. Jonathon went ahead, while I followed closely behind. “Flashlights on,” Jonathon whispered. The inside of the store was dark and spacious. Fortunately for us, most of the shelves were either broken or toppled, allowing us to see and clear a large part of the store right from the entrance. The rest didn’t take very long; Target stores don’t have any weird turns or other layout issues that presented blind-spots. It was just clearing corridor-like spaces between shelves, which was very easy. Our search, as well as the lack of noise, confirmed no hostiles. Satisfied that the store was safe, we began to search for supplies. There wasn’t much in the store, considering all the remaining food (with the exception of certain candies) was spoiled and the place had been previously raided, probably shortly before the city fell. We found some light bulbs, clothes, Zzzquil and even some pills. Some were easily recognizable, like Advil and such, but I did not know what some of them were for and if they were still good. The resident doctor back in town might want them however, so we took them anyway. I checked my watch as we exited and realized 18 minutes had gone by since Edgar or Mike had contacted us. It was time to check up on our friends. We loaded the stuff into the ‘frunk’ of the Tesla and drove back to the facility. It was on the way back however, that a transmission from Edgar’s Walkie-Talkie made both of us break into a cold sweat and made my right foot suddenly inch closer to the floorboard. “Guys, it’s Edgar. We’ve secured a lot of precious cargo, but we ran into some Infected within the building. We’d rather not run into more waiting in this God-damn warehouse, know what I mean?” Well shit… Perspective: Mike Britowski Location: Southern United States, 25 miles from home Date: October 26, 2025 1 Minute after Drop-off “Hey Mike, try that breaker over there,” Edgar said behind me. We were going to just enter the building immediately after being dropped off, but it was rather dark inside, so we looked for anything that could supply power to the building. Edgar spotted this circuit breaker lever looking thing that could have belonged to a battery backup system, so I went to see if it worked. I pushed it up into the ‘ON’ position and surprise surprise…nothing happened. I guess that’s what happens when no one runs the power plants in this city for 4 years. Still, I guess it was worth a try. Entering the building, the first corridor we walked down was illuminated by the light pouring in through the open door, but after that the only light present came from the flashlights on our rifles, along with the bi-color LED glowing red on each rifle. There were doors lining the corridor which led to small rooms with windows, but none of the contents of the rooms were useful. It seems we had entered the building through what appears to be an office space. Some of the offices were quite messy, indicative of the panic of the previous occupants. Hell, I’d be scared too if someone had burst into my office and proved to me the end of the world was here. Other than messy though, it was quiet, meaning no Infected, at least in the offices. The Infected weren’t smart enough to stalk/hunt their prey; they were driven by instinct, kinda like zombies. They wandered aimlessly until they found a victim, and then chased them relentlessly. Lucky for us though, they weren’t here, so we were free to roam the office space. Eventually, we came across a metal door with a sign that read ‘DANGER. CHEMICAL STORAGE AREA. AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.’ Just the door we were looking for. Unfortunately, when I pushed on the door, it refused to budge. I quickly looked around and saw a card scanner beside the doorway. Looking up, there was a metal box of sorts that seemed to be holding the door closed. “Edgar, bad news. The door seems to be locked with some sort of electronic lock,” I said, pointing to the card scanner, then the box atop the door. “Wait, if it’s electronic, shouldn’t the lock be off? You know, cause there’s no power?” he asked. “I don’t know, all I do know is that it’s locked. Go ahead and try if you don’t believe me.” Edgar walked up and pushed. Sure enough, the door didn’t budge. “Well that’s just great. Now what?” Both of us suddenly looked at each other for a few moments, as the same idea hit us. Edgar fished out his Walkie-Talkie from his pocket and contacted the person that came to mind. “Eddy, we’ve reached the door to the chemical storage area, but we ran into a bit of a snag. The door is locked with one of those electronic locks.” After some discussion and a few questions, he directed us on how to jimmy the magnetic lock open. “…immediately disconnect the wires and put your battery back in. Is that clear?” Eddy finished explaining over the line. “Perfectly,” Edgar responded. He connected black to black, and held the white-striped and red wires, one in each hand. “Ready?” he asked. I applied some pressure to the door before responding. “Ready when you are.” With that, Edgar connected the remaining two wires in his hands. Immediately, the door gave way and started to swing open, much to my relief. Said relief was short-lived however, because suddenly a very loud buzzer sounded from the metal box above the door. This startled both of us, and caused me to release the door, while Edgar broke the connection, silencing the buzzer. Luckily, I caught the door before it closed and re-locked. I pushed the door back open and we stepped in, letting the door go behind me. ‘Damnit, the buzzer must have been in-line with the coil! That was very loud, if there’s anything in here, we definitely got its attention!’ Just as I finished that thought, I heard a low growl, followed by footsteps. *Click* the door closed behind us. ‘SHIT!’ I grabbed Edgar, who was kneeling down and about to open up the grip to reconnect the battery, and pulled him up. “You can finish connecting your battery after we hide, we’ve been detected!” I quickly fished out my Walkie-Talkie and let Eddy know we got in, or else he’ll become concerned and come back early. What if those things are waiting for Jonathon and him outside? “Ok we’re in, thanks,” I said as calmly as possible, before rotating the volume knob to ‘off’. The warehouse had rows upon rows of shelves, almost all of them had something on them, but they were arranged oddly, making the place as confusing as a maze. Random pockets of empty space where shelves might have been only added to the chaotic appearance. ‘Was this place abandoned in the middle of a renovation or something?’ There were several boxes with unknown contents throughout the space; we didn’t really have time to look at the contents though. The large loading doors to our right were all closed, we’d have to find a way to open them later. Multiple skylights illuminated the area, so even with no power, we could see well enough inside. What we couldn’t see were those damn Infected, though the growls were getting louder. Where to hide? They haven’t seen us yet I think, they just heard the buzzer go off. There’s got to be a way to use that to our advantage. But they’re seemingly everywhere, and since I can’t tell their exact location, diving blindly into a shelf or corner could lead us straight to them, and them to us. Hell, it wouldn’t have worked anyway; those damn skylights are letting in too much light to find a spot dark enough to hide from their enhanced vision…wait. ‘Too much light…’, that’s it! “This way!” I whispered to Edgar, who promptly followed. I led us in between the two shelves in front of us and stopped close to the other end, directly under the ‘spotlight’ formed by the skylight. “What are you doing!?” Edgar whispered harshly. “We’re sitting ducks out here in the open!” “You’ll see. Trust me on this one” I responded. And just like that we waited, though we didn’t have to wait long. Very soon, one of those hideous things, the very plague of humanity itself, came into view. And it looked pissed. Perspective: Edgar Worthington Location: Southern United States, 25 miles from home Date: October 26, 2025 There must have been signs that I missed. Things he said, stuff he did, anything, to try and tell me something and I must have missed them all. I don’t know when Mike went suicidal on us, but before I knew it, here I was in the middle of an Infection-infested warehouse. To top it all off, he’s telling me to ‘trust him’. Heh, well if he wanted that he should have explained dragging us out in the open, but he didn’t. My internal train of thought was a mess at this point. ‘We’re sitting out in the middle of the open, we’re gonna DIE! Maybe I can try to break free from Mike’s grip on my arm and find some real cove- oh fuck OH FUCK THERE IT IS!! It’s too late I’m dead I’m dead it’s looking right at me and I can’t shoot it and…it’s…squinting.' The creature was only 15ft or so from us, so I was able to make out all of its actions from here. It was scanning the corridor-like space between the two shelves for signs of its prey, but when it looked in our direction, it squinted hard before quickly looking away. Doubt quickly melted away as I realized what was happening. ‘It’s almost as if…the light’s blinding him and he can’t see us! The Infected are over-sensitive to light, so the skylight’s hiding us in plain sight. Mike, you’re a freakin genius, I shouldn’t have ever doubted you!’ The creature only lingered for a short time, before moving on to find the source of the noise. When it was gone, I leaned in towards Mike and whispered in his ear. “Remind me later that I owe someone an apology,” I said. He raised an eyebrow at this, but commented no further on the subject. Another Infected came over and just like the first one, it was blinded and eventually gave up looking for us, but this one wandered into the space a little before giving up. Relief washed over me as it backed off and left, but I knew that at this rate, one would wander far enough in to bump into us. All Hell breaks loose then. I finished attaching the battery, the rifle quickly re-energizing, and turned back to Mike. “Any ideas?” I asked/whispered. “One, but I’ll need to test something first without drawing too much attention,” he replied. He spun around, as if looking for something, before stopping, his gaze resting on the creature at the opposite end of the space. Mike’s face quickly broke into a grin. “And I think I just found my unfortunate victim.” The undead being was about 90ft out, and was struggling to look into the corridor and find us. “Stay here,” Mike ordered. All of a sudden, Mike stepped out of the spotlight’s safety toward the creature. ‘Is he fucking crazy!? No no, wait, trust him on this one. I’m…somewhat sure that he (hopefully) has a plan.’ After moving a short distance from the light, the monster spotted him, and let out a low grunt before charging at him. The Infected had this weird way of ‘running’, most likely due to deformities. The easiest way to describe it would be a limp and skip at the same time, their top speed only a jogging pace. It’s best not to underestimate them though, for while they’re not blistering fast, they don’t seem to tire when chasing prey. Right now, it was closing in on its prey Mike, who had withdrawn his rifle at this point. He raised it to his shoulder, taking aim at the creature in front of him. ‘I don't get it. If he was just going to shoot it, why step out of the protection of the light?’ He lined up the sights with the creature’s head, and waited for it to come closer. Palms sweaty from nervousness, I gripped my own rifle tighter; the pneumatic hiss from his shot would probably attract more of those things. Finally, the Infected was no more than 15ft or so from him, so checking his sights one final time, he…turned on the flashlight? Well damn, I certainly did not see that one coming! It appeared to have a desired effect though. The powerful beam of the flashlight caught the Infected right in the face, which immediately stopped its advance as it covered its eyes, recoiling slightly. Mike wasted no time, and while switching the rifle to his left hand, withdrew a somewhat rectangular block of wood and metal from his pocket with his right. He pressed the button on said block, and with a quiet click, a thick and very sharp 4 inch blade sprung out and locked in place. Quickly bringing down his rifle and leaning it against the nearest shelf, it was his turn to charge his opponent. With light no longer blinding it, the creature removed its hands from its face, but it was too late. Mike was already upon him, and in one motion, grabbed the back of its head to hold it steady and plunged the entire blade into its right eye, angled upwards and leftwards towards the center of its brain. No sound escaped the mortally wounded creature except a quick gasp. Mike decided to seal its fate, and proceeded to violently twist the blade in its head. The being jerked a final time, before collapsing dead onto Mike. He withdrew his knife and shoved the body off of him. It landed unceremoniously on the floor with a thump. Mike folded his blade, retrieved his rifle, and returned to my position. ‘That was the most dangerous, stupid thing he’s ever done! However…that was pretty damn cool.’ “Hope you enjoyed the show, because I am not doing that again,” he said with a cocky smile. “Seems my guess was correct though, the flashlight not only blinds them, but temporarily ‘stuns’ them as well. So, here’s the plan. We’re going to hop skylights; we’ll stay under this one for now and shoot them from here. If it looks like we’re being overrun, we’ll move to another light, using the flashlights to stun them and shove them aside if we were caught in the middle of reloading. Once the majority of them are gone, we’ll stick back-to-back and clear each corridor, understood?” “You bet, let’s do this shit,” I answered. “Not so fast; let’s check equipment before we start,” Mike said. Sliding the bolt up and back, the magazine tube came into view. Fourteen ball bearings were seen by the slit in the copper mag, the fifteenth one in the breech already. Satisfied, I slid the bolt closed and grabbed my pistol. Full mag in place, I cycled the slide to load some brass into the chamber, then clicked on the safety and holstered it. “Think I’m good, you ready?” I asked. I waited for him to nod his head and reply affirmatively before letting loose a shitstorm at the top of my lungs. There’s no turning back now.