From a Dying World to New Lands

by Electrician

Chapter 1: One Hell of a Favor

Chapter 1: One Hell of a Favor

Perspective: Eddy Culivin
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 25, 2025

It’s kind of tragic when you think about it, it really is. I mean, a few people saw something like this coming, but most of us said they were crazy, that they were wrong. Yet the end of the world really did come, or something like that. Don’t get me wrong, there are humans left on Earth, we’re just…not as abundant as we once were. Of all the things that could have (almost) wiped us out though, of all the disasters people prepped for, I don’t think anyone saw ‘cell regeneration accident’ coming. If it had worked as planned, people could’ve regrown lost limbs, malfunctioning or failed organs, T-cells; it would have been the single greatest achievement in medical history. But things rarely ever go exactly as planned.

From what was reported on the news before all hell broke loose, the serum to be tested consisted of specially developed cells that could merge with existing cells and copy their DNA, analyze the body for any defects based on acquired DNA, and replace missing/broken cells as needed. The first and only test subjects though, suffered excruciating pain, and then mysteriously died; it wasn’t the best start to the project. The bodies were covered and brought to a separate building for a closely-observed autopsy. Upon uncovering the bodies though, it was apparent something was going horribly wrong.

The images shown on the TV, images still burned into my memory all these years later, showed that while the bodies regained their missing appendages, the ‘miracle cell’ had tried to regenerate everything, and severely disfigured the bodies. All their internals, organs, bones and tissues, had been over-generated and deformed the body. The skin remained somewhat normal, but the bloated internals had stretched and ripped it, revealing bloody hulking masses of muscle. It was the single most revolting thing I had ever seen…until they awoke. Then, on live television, everyone got to watch as the reanimated corpses bit, clawed, and literally tore everyone in the room apart, then broke out. Moments later, the torn corpses (except the ones missing heads or hearts) began to regenerate, deform, and reanimate as well. The Infected cameraman slowly picked up the camera and stared into it, before screaming at it and breaking it, the feed shortly after going dead.

Long story short, because the infection took over a host so quickly, the military was unable to stop large cities from falling. The fact that one had to be dead before the infection took over was a blessing though. It meant that the checkpoint inspectors didn’t have to check everyone; if you were alive, you were ok. Quite a few people made it out before the infection came because of this; a lot of them didn’t however. I was lucky; I lived two miles from a small town in a rural-type area. My three best friends, Edgar Worthington, Mike Britowski, and Jonathon Burley, were also lucky; they were able to make it out of the city they lived in and to my house before shit went downhill. I-

“EDDY!” Edgar yelled, snapping me back to reality. Crap, this is what happens when I have time to think. My mind wanders back to how this nightmare started. “Geez man, quit spacing out. We’re here.”

---

Perspective: Edgar Worthington
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 25, 2025

I swear, when Eddy spaces out, it’s hard to reel him in sometimes. Anyways, here we are in the peaceful town in…well, I can’t quite remember actually. I guess when the apocalypse dawns on you, trivial things like state borders are lost and forgotten. Ever since the Infection spread, the only places that were able to defend themselves and continue human life were small, somewhat isolated towns, much like this one. Because these towns are the only surviving pockets of human life left, the military aids these towns greatly, resupplying us with food, water, and ammo weekly. Thanks to this, when the occasional horde strolls into town, we’re able to drive them back. Being on the losing side of a coin flip, Eddy and I were tasked with going into town to collect our share of said supplies, while Jonathon and Mike held down the fort. We pulled the truck into the parking lot of a now-useless Walmart. There were a few people in the parking lot gathering supplies, but one particular person there was waiting for us with a few boxes at his sides.

“Hey Edgar, Eddy!” the person called out. “Glad you guys made it!”

“Phoenix! Good to see you’re still in one piece,” Eddy responded. “How’s the radio working?”

“It works great ever since you fixed it. Listen, there’s someone in town that’s having electrical problems in…” Their voices faded as Phoenix, the ‘Sheriff’ of sorts around here, and Eddy, or ‘Electrician’ walked away. Phoenix, or ‘Boss’ as he’s known around here, and a few others around town (us included) have nicknames which spawned from our most useful talents. Since Phoenix and my buddies and I are close though, we usually disregard them. Eddy is an expert with circuitry, so he can fix all sorts of gadgets, as well as solder custom circuits. My nickname, Pyromaniac, was given because of my knowledge on whipping up all sorts of flammable and explosive powders and liquids. Mike is known as Gunmen; his skill in firearm maintenance and repair, as well as his tendency to hoard ammo means he’s got quite the stash of firepower. Finally, Jon is known as Motor-head; his ability to repair mechanical mechanisms (especially when it comes to cars) quickly earned him that nickname.

The five of us had met in college, and with our complimentary skill sets had quickly become the best of friends while working in groups in shop class. We built all sorts of things together, from potato cannons to go-karts; hell, we even had plans for an ultralight at one point. Those plans fell through after the Infection spread though, and the unfinished ultralight (or should I say mostly pile of parts), and the rest of our little projects sat in Eddy’s workshop behind the house. They haven’t been touched since the Infection.

“Hey dude, can I get a hand here?” I spun around to find that Eddy had already finished speaking with Phoenix and had begun loading the boxes into the back of my Ford F-250 Diesel. I was about to go and help when Phoenix’s voice came from behind me.

“Actually Eddy, Ima need to borrow your friend here for a moment. That ok with you?” Eddy mumbled something inaudibly before waving us off. Phoenix took that as a ‘yes’ and motioned me over away from the others.

“Listen Edgar, I have a favor to ask of you and your friends.” ‘Ah shit, this sounds like trouble.’ Now curious, I urged him to continue.

“Shoot.”

“Ok. You remember our reconnaissance team, right?”

“Yea.”

“Well, a few days ago, they stumbled upon a…place with a large supply of chemicals. They don’t know which ones are useful, but there’s bound to be something worth keeping in there, ya know what I mean? They also said there was a good chance that this particular place had other supplies that could prove very useful to us.”

Something was definitely up. This sounded like very good news, but the fact that he refuses to name the place, or even comment much about it, puts me on edge. Also, if the reconnaissance team was already at this ‘place’, why had they not investigated further or taken some of the supplies? There was definitely more to this, something that he’s not telling me, and I intend to find out what it is.

“You know, there’s a saying about things that are too good to be true. Now out with it, what’s the catch?”

“Well…it’s…uh…”

“Phoenix, tell me what the catch is.”

“Ok ok. The place is a small city nea-“

“A city!?”

“Keep it down! Yes, it’s a city.”

I took a deep breath to rein in my disbelief before continuing, my voice much quieter this time. “A city is where this whole mess started. Cities are where this shit spread. What did you smoke to allow the go-ahead for the scout team to search a city!?”

“Listen Edgar, all the neighboring towns that are close by are dried up by now. The military may provide the bare essentials, but when we need to make repairs, or when we need to design something, or in literally any other situation, we have to find our own supplies. Look, I know you’re not particularly happy with my actions, but you must remember that at this point, any nearby cities have already been overrun. You know about that little quirk of the Infected; the large majority of the population leaves the city once it’s devoid of people.”

“But a small portion always stays behind, and depending on its size, there could be thousands of Infected in the city!”

“Well that’s apparently not the case this time, since our team made it out just fine! They even said it was more deserted than most cities.”

“…Ok, fine. Say I go along with this for a minute. What do you need from us?”

“Harvesting season for the only farm left here is approaching very soon. And you know that soon after that, the military comes by to pick up our harvest to store and distribute. The machines that make this process fast and easy need fuel, but our supply of Biodiesel is low. The town’s got plenty of vegetable oil, but little of the chemicals needed for the titration process. If we don’t get fuel soon, we’ll have to hand harvest, and I’m sure I don’t need to tell you how dangerous that can be. We’d have a large part of the population out in a field with little protection.”

“But why can’t you send literally anyone else instead? We’re not the only ones who know how to make Biodiesel, not by a long shot.”

“Two reasons actually. First, you’ll want a vehicle that doesn’t make much noise,” he slightly jerked his head in Eddy’s direction “and there’s only one of those round here. Secondly…well honestly, everyone else is rather reluctant to go, not to mention you guys are better suited for this.

“Seriously? We’re ‘better suited’ just because Eddy has an electric car?”

“It’s not just that. There are only two entrances to this town, and you guys live right on the road for one of them. You’ve been guarding half the entrances for the town this whole time, and have seen, and killed, more Infected than most here. We need you guys; will you please go get what we need, and explore other shops for useful items?”

Well that’s just fan-freaking-tastic! If we don’t go, everyone ends up in the fields and could possibly be attacked. ‘Will you please go’ MY ASS, it doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice! It almost feels like I’m being guilt-tripped into this. It also feels like the universe is trolling us. Of course Eddy’s SUV would be the only electric in town, and he’s the only one that knows much about it. Of course I would know exactly what we’re looking for, and of course we happened to be at the ‘right place at the right time’. Seriously Life, stop lining us up for this, we don’t want the job! Unfortunately, Life seems really keen on making us do this, so with little choice in the matter, I let out a sigh of resignation.

“…We’ll need extra ammo, 9mm and .45, just in case. We leave tomorrow at early dawn. Also, you guys owe us big time!”

“Whatever you need man, we’ll even supply you with ball bearings for your pneumatic weapons! You don’t know how much this means to us, thank you so much!” I was then treated to a bone-crushing bear hug, courtesy of Phoenix, before he left to retrieve our extra ammo and a map with directions. By the time I made it back to the truck and loaded the supplies, Eddy was already seated in the passenger seat. The look of confusion on his face told me he’d seen the contents of the boxes I loaded in.

“So, not that I’m complaining or anything, but why were we suddenly given a huge supply of ammo to add to our already-enormous pile of ammo?” Eddy asked. This was going to be fun to explain.

“Yea, about that. You see…”

---

Perspective: Mike Britowski
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 25, 2025

"Hey Jon, could you pass me a cotton swab?” I asked. He passed one over the table, and I proceeded to clean the inside of the blued steel cylinder in my hands. Once clean I inserted it, along with the recoil spring back into the slide. After greasing the rails and reassembling the weapon, I gave the M1911 a final once-over before loading a snap cap and giving the slide a pull, then releasing it. A satisfying metal-on-metal clack rang through the room, and the click that shortly followed after pulling the trigger assured me everything was in working order. I pulled the slide once more and as expected, the snap cap ejected, so I set both it and the M1911 aside and reached for the next gun to be cleaned, a civilian version of an AUG, the XM17-E4.

This was one of my favorite activities. There aren’t many fun things to do in an Infection pandemic, and cleaning and maintaining our weapons helps clear my mind and helps me temporarily forget my worries and troubles. Some might find it ironic to find comfort in maintaining a killing machine, but these pieces of plastic, wood, and steel have kept us alive all this time. I used to admire my gun collection, but now I have the upmost respect for the firearms, as well as those who made them. Also, cleaning our firearms is a useful task. Useful, unlike some people.

“Jon, you’re just sitting there on your ass! Get over here and do something useful!”

“What!?” Jon exclaimed. “For your information, Eddy just contacted me via walkie-talkie and told me to prepare a few things for his arrival. I was just doing that, so I was doing something useful thank you very much!”

*Sigh* “Sure, whatever. Anyways, what did he ask you to do?”

“It’s a little strange actually. No I don’t know why he asked me to do this, but he told me to plug in his Model X, start the generator, and load a few specific items into the back of the Model X. He also said we start our watch shifts early, because tomorrow we head out at the crack of dawn. Where we’re going however, I have no clue.”

“Hmm, that is strange. I guess we’ll find out what he has planned for us when he gets back. Anyways, you said the generator was running, right? Could you go ahead and rotate the solar panels inward, and if the wind generators are up, could you take them down please?”

“The wind generators are already down; there wasn’t much of a breeze today. I’ll go ahead and rotate the solar panels though”. With that he disappeared back upstairs, heading towards the attic.

“Hey, check the charge percentage of the Ultracapacitor Bank while you’re up there!” I shouted up to him. I heard a reply, but didn’t quite catch what he said. I just hope he understood; that bank is what’ll get us through the night. From what I heard from our resident circuit geek, Ultracapacitors overtook batteries a few years ago in capacity and life, something about no chemicals storing the energy or something like that. This means our solar/wind/generator energy collector system uses Ultracapacitors now. The bank is massive, taking up almost the entire house’s attic, and will run our fridge/freezer, a few lights, and the A/C for 24 hours once fully charged, or the entire house for about 8-10 hours.

“78 percent charge on the Ultracaps!” I heard Jonathon yell from the attic. Well that’s a relief! Even without the generator, we’ll have more than enough power for the night. Satisfied, I went back to cleaning the rifle in my hands. It was peaceful in the house for a while, the only noticeable sound being the quiet hum of the diesel generator in the little shed next to our house. Eventually, a second diesel engine joined the first one, revved down, and then silenced. Guess the guys were back.

I called Jonathon, and between the four of us, we put away the supplies. The multiple boxes of extra ammo did not escape my sight, but when questioned, the only response I got out of Edgar or Eddy was ‘we’ll discuss it with you and Jon over dinner’. Eventually, dinner came around. Jon and I were already seated at the table, having cleared it of gun cleaning materials. We awaited an explanation.

---

Perspective: Jonathon Burley
Location: Southern United States
Date: October 26, 2025
3:30a.m.

Well this blows! Not only did I have to wake up earlier than usual for my night watch shift, but after everyone wakes up in an hour and a half, we head off into a city. This fact alone made it hard to sleep, and I already had trouble sleeping. Heck, I don’t think anyone’s truly had a good night’s rest since the Infection. Right now I’m on the front porch with my trusty Sig 556, waiting, listening, looking for them. The porch was retrofitted with lights to illuminate a good 50 feet in all visible directions from the porch. Normally, this would be a stupid idea; the lights would seem to be a beacon in the dark to attract the Infected. Luckily, observations showed that strong stimulation overloaded their senses, meaning they see well in low light, and can hear and smell extraordinarily well, but daylight and other bright lights, as well as strong sounds and scents disorient them. Easy prey. Lucky for all of us though, there hasn’t been an attack in 4 months now, so here’s hoping for yet another uneventful watch.

5:20a.m.

Thank God it’s finally over, that was creepy! Don’t get me wrong, the night watch had been quiet and uneventful, which I’m grateful for. But something about the silence bothered me, and it felt like there was something important that I’m forgetting that the silence should have reminded me about. Maybe I just need more sleep; that would be nice. Dismissing that thought, I return my attention to last-minute checking all equipment in the Tesla Model X. Satisfied that everything was in order, I closed the trunk and checked the connection to the storage container we were towing. It looked like those U-Haul towing containers, but larger, and it would be carrying all the stuff that didn’t fit in either the trunk or the ‘frunk’ (the front trunk; it’s what Tesla calls it). The connection to the container was secure, so I climbed into the left seat in the second row of the SUV, intent on strapping myself in for the ride.

“Hey guys!” That sounded like Mike. “Headlights coming this way!” Headlights!? It’s freaking 5:30 in the morning! Who would be coming our way at this time? Whatever, at least it’s not Infected. Grunting, I slid back out of the seat and awaited the mystery vehicle. As it pulled up, I could make out a very familiar driver, along with one male and two female passengers I didn’t recognize.

“Phoenix!? What the hell are you doing here so early?” I asked.

“Well,” he began, jumping down from the driver’s side of the truck. “Since you guys are helping us out, we thought the least we could do was watch over the place while you’re gone. Also, moving out here means that even when you’re in the city, you’ll be in the outskirts of our radio range. If you need anything, let us know. Not sure how effective we’ll be if you need backup, considering it’ll take at least 12 minutes at top speed to reach you, but we’ll do our best. If you need extra ammo or storage space though, we’ll be there to help you out.” He then turned to Mike and flashed him a grin.

“Oh, and don’t worry, if anything happens, we brought our own ammo. Your stash is safe with us.” Mike couldn’t help but chuckle softly at this. After wishing us luck, we climbed into the SUV and I strapped myself in. This time, there were no distractions stopping me as I closed the left rear Falcon-Wing door. Eddy put his foot on the brake and hit the start button. The vehicle came to life and let out a mighty feral roar…and by that I mean the screens lit up and a quiet two-note tone let us know the car was on. Seriously, it’s an electric, what were you expecting?

“Everyone ready?” Eddy asked from the driver’s seat. We all answered affirmatively; well, as ready as we’ll ever be I suppose.

With that, along with a final wave to our temporary house sitters, we departed in silence down the little two-lane road.

Comments

[no longer on]

The five of us had met in college, and with our complimentary skill sets had quickly become the best of friends while working in groups in shop class.

Hmm... five?

[setablaze53]

3382352 The 4 guys and Phoenix.

[setablaze53]

My curiosity is peaked. I'll read on!

[oostintwo]

I havent read on yet but why do i feel as if Pheonix is going to screw them

[shy sad jaded shard]

I will read on I like zombie story's and id like to see what and how they get to the other world(side note in all the ideas I have had for a hie I always fined my main character having the princess destroys the guns they may have I can see so many things going wrong if they ever get ahold of guns)