May cursed quietly under her breath and calmly backed away.

  What had happened there?

  She hadn't heard any shots, and she couldn't imagine any other way so many people could have died so suddenly. She lived in a fairly quiet neighborhood, but it seemed that didn't matter!

  How many people... At least a dozen?! This is a terrorist attack!

  She sat down on her bed and was about to turn on the lamp, but quickly stopped herself.

  She began to calm herself down in her own head. Calm down... As long as you're inside, you're safe!

  Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She never expected something like this to happen so close to her. Such attacks always seemed so distant and unreal to her.

  She bit her tongue and out of habit reached for her phone. Only after a moment did she remember that her internet wasn't working. After a moment, she turned on her laptop, hoping that the problem was with the phone itself, but unfortunately that also failed.

  Maybe I should call my mom?

  However, she quickly dismissed the thought. It was the middle of the night and she didn't want to worry her, especially since she was fine. A tragedy had occurred, but she was perfectly okay.

  Suddenly, she heard a knock on the door. May shuddered at the thought. She hoped it wasn't anything dreadful.

  Very slowly and with extreme caution, she approached the door. The light was on in the hallway, which meant that someone had been moving around there recently. She cautiously looked through the peephole.

  Seeing an elderly woman, May breathed a sigh of relief. It was just her neighbor. She stood there impatiently in her nightgown, coughing from time to time. Not long ago, she had complained to May that she had caught the flu.

  “Mrs. Winningham?” May asked from behind the door, still cautious. “Is everything okay?”

  Of course, May didn't think that this nearly 100-year-old chain smoker and widow of three husbands was behind the massacre on the street, but something was stopping her from opening the door.

  “Sweetheart, are you going to talk to me through the door?” she asked in a nondescript sweet tone, which nevertheless betrayed a certain jaundicedness. “I just wanted to ask if you know anything about those screams? They’re keeping me from sleeping!”

  May quickly realized that Winningham's apartment was on the opposite side of the building, so she didn't have a view of the street like May did. She was therefore completely unaware of what had happened.

  “You should stay inside,” May replied. “Something's happened... There are dead people lying in the street, it's probably some kind of terrorist attack...”

  “A terrorist attack? In the middle of the night? That doesn't make much sense,” the old woman protested, lighting a cigarette with a trembling old hand. “You're talking nonsense, my dear.”

  “I know what I saw,” May replied, irritated by her words. “Tomorrow they'll probably be all over the TV.”

  “Honey, I've been through many of those attacks in my life. Terrorists don't attack at night. They want as many victims as possible, and at 3 a.m.? There's not a soul on the streets.” She said, blowing smoke. May could smell the cigarettes even from behind the door. “I'm betting more on a gang conflict.”

  “There are no gangs here,” she replied uncertainly. “It's a quiet neighborhood.”

  “Of course there are. They just hide better. It's not the 1980s anymore, and those dumb gangsters have realized that it's better not to draw too much attention to themselves,” she replied, suddenly starting to cough loudly.

  May wondered if she really had the flu or if it was the cigarettes. After a moment, however, she realized that the old woman had been smoking cigarettes for nearly a hundred years and was still doing well.

  “If you say so...” May replied indifferently, not particularly interested in the perpetrator of the massacre.

  Old Winningham suddenly threw her cigarette on the ground and crushed it with her foot. May was about to say something, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. The woman didn't care about anything anymore and did whatever she wanted.

  “Never mind. I'm too old to get involved in this,” she said after a moment of thought. “I'm going back to bed. I hope they'll just be dying a little more quietly on these streets.”

  May was about to leave the peephole when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the door to the stairwell, which was separated from the hallway with the apartments, open. May tried to see who had just entered the floor, hoping it was just another resident.

  Unfortunately, she quickly realized that it was a complete stranger! The man was covered in blood, she could barely see his face, but as soon as she saw his monstrous grin, she froze.

  “Mrs. Winningham! Watch out!” she shouted from behind the door, trying to warn the old woman.

  She quickly turned her head and jumped slightly when she saw the monstrous creature in human form. The man approached her slowly, without saying a word.

  “What do you want?!” Winningham shouted, taking a step back. “Don't come any closer!”

  May swallowed hard as the woman approached her door. She knew she should open it and let her in, but... What if this man ran and broke into her apartment? Then she would be done for!

  Step by step, he bared his glassy white teeth. Slowly, he reached out his hand. Suddenly, like a wild beast, he lunged at Winningham! They fell to the ground together, right outside May's door. She quickly jumped away from the door and rushed towards the kitchen.

  Nervously, she forgot where everything was, but somehow managed to pull a knife out of the cupboard, cutting her hand in the process, but at the moment that was not her concern.

  She rushed to the door with the huge knife and looked through the peephole again. The woman did not give up and tried to fight back. May couldn't understand how this almost 100-year-old woman had so much strength.

  However, seeing her desperately fighting for her life, not giving up for even a second, gave May some courage. She didn't even like Winningham, regarding her as a phony and two-faced snake. But had known her for so long.

  She opened the door and quickly plunged the knife into his neck!

  “You idiot! Cut, don't stab!” Winningham shouted.

  The man twisted his head toward her without uttering a sound, still clutching the old woman. May shuddered. She pulled the knife out of his body and aimed it right at the center of his forehead. Then she repeated the motion and stabbed him wherever she could!

  She went into a frenzy, covering herself in blood. Suddenly, she felt a touch on her.

  “Enough!” Winningham grabbed her. “He's already dead! And you're just going to get your clothes stained for no reason.”

  “Stain... my clothes?” May couldn't believe what had happened. She laughed quietly at how absurd the situation was.

  “Oh, come on. Don't worry about it so much...” The older woman comforted her. “But first we have to rinse it with cold water... Hydrogen peroxide... I should have some in my apartment. Don't worry, I'll wash it out for you!”

  She... She's not normal.

  “How are you?” May asked, seeing the bruises on the woman's arms and swollen neck, as well as her black eye and blood trickling from her nose and mouth. She also noticed a few broken teeth on the ground.

  “It's been worse.” She shrugged and lit a cigarette, leaning against the wall next to the man's body.

  “I find that hard to believe,” May replied, sitting down next to her. The woman offered her a cigarette. May hesitated, not keen on smoking, but she felt that in the current situation she had to have a smoke.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  She put the cigarette in her mouth and Winningham lit it for her.

  “Honey, the things I’ve seen would make you shit yourself,” she replied. “But thanks for helping me kill that son of a bitch. It would have taken me a little longer without you.”

  May laughed softly when she heard her words. How could she possibly defeat someone so much bigger and stronger than herself?

  Suddenly, however, she noticed bite marks on the man's neck, from which blood was flowing profusely. She also realized that the blood in Winningham's mouth was not her blood. May stopped laughing. She sat in silence for a moment.

  “Strange,” the woman said suddenly, lighting another cigarette.

  “What is?”

  “Nothing's happening,” she replied.

  “What should be happening?” May asked, still unable to calm down after the whole situation.

  “Something. Where are the neighbors? Didn't anyone look out to see what was going on? Where's the police?”

  Now that she mentioned it, May did find it strange.

  “Maybe they're just afraid to come out?” May tried to explain the situation logically. “No one would want to end up like that guy.”

  “No... That's not it...” The woman struggled to her feet. She wiped the blood from her face.

  She knocked on the door next door. And then on the next one. No one answered. The hallway was completely silent. What was going on?

  “It's as if we were alone here,” May said loudly.

  “Shhh!” hissed the woman standing by one of the doors suddenly. “There's someone in there!”

  May fell silent. And the woman began pounding on the door with her fists. May didn't really know who lived there. She didn't know all her neighbors.

  “I know someone's there!” she said in a loud voice, continuing to pound on the door and ring the bell incessantly.

  Suddenly, someone answered.

  “Get away from here!” a man's voice rang out. “I have a gun! If you don't move, I'll shoot you!”

  Winningham stepped back, not wanting to cause them any more trouble. Even she was not immune to bullets. From a distance, she called out, “What's going on?”

  No one behind the door answered. However, the woman did not give up and stood still.

  “What do you mean, what's going on? Can't you see? Haven't you seen the news, haven't you listened to the radio? Get away from here!”

  May shuddered at these words. She quickly realized that the surrounding apartments were not empty. On the contrary, they were full of people who were surely watching and listening carefully, not daring to make the slightest sound.

  May looked around at the surrounding doors and could imagine dozens of figures watching her at that moment.

  Winningham also quickly understood something. “Let's get out of here. We're going to my apartment.”

  May was about to protest. But before she could speak, Winningham said, “There's a dead body under your door. And gallons of blood have poured inside. We're going to my place.”

  It was hard for May to argue with that. Blood had flooded her entire hallway. But Winningham gave her a strange sense of comfort. It was strange, because until today she had never seen this side of her.

  They entered her apartment together. May had been there before, when Winningham had gone to visit her grandchildren living abroad. At that time, May had to water her numerous plants, which took up most of her living room and dining room.

  Nothing had changed since then. As soon as she entered, May was delighted by the smell of cinnamon. It was a nice change from the metallic smell of blood. However, the aroma of cinnamon abruptly transitioned to that of cigarettes, which permeated the entirety of the furniture.

  “Mrs. Winningham...”

  “Call me Evelyn. What is it?”

  “What those people were saying, the news... Do you have internet?”

  “I don't use such things. It's a waste of time,” she replied with a kind of superiority.

  May thought for a moment. She looked around. Finally, she noticed something useful.

  “What about the TV?”

  “I don't know, I haven't watched it in at least a week.”

  If you don't use it, why do you have a TV in the first place?

  “We should check what's going on. We must have missed something. All the neighbors seem to be aware of it,” May said thoughtfully. “If that doesn't work, we'll have to try the radio.”

  May picked up the remote control and tried to turn on the TV, however it seemed that it wasn't working either. All that appeared on the screen was a message saying there was no signal. Just as May was about to give up, the message suddenly disappeared and an image appeared with distorted sound.

  “It works after all,” commented Evelyn, sitting quietly on the leather sofa and treating her wounds, pouring a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide on her injured arm.

  May tried to change channels, but there seemed to be interference everywhere. At one point, however, she stopped at a news channel, seeing that its quality was slightly better than the other channels.

  Someone was talking in the background, but it was difficult to understand anything as the voice was too distorted. A message could be seen on the screen. The letters appeared and disappeared.

  “Honey, what does it say? I can't see very well without my glasses,” Winningham asked, trying unsuccessfully to read the subtitles on the TV.

  “Don't leave your homes. Don't talk to strangers and don't let anyone into your house. And now... Ha! Don't panic.” May said, reading the short messages on the TV screen. She sighed and threw herself into an armchair. “No details.”

  “It doesn't sound too good,” said the woman. “But it's all so strange. That attack by the man... A zombie?”

  May was surprised by her words. She hadn't expected this elderly lady to be the first to suggest an undead apocalypse as a theory for the current situation.

  “That's ridiculous,” May replied.

  “What other explanation do you have? What's happening seems to be happening on a national scale... You mentioned corpses in the street, didn't you? And that man... He seemed inhuman.”

  May didn't believe in such things and could hardly believe that Evelyn had said such a thing in the first place.

  “If that's the case, we're done for,” May said, dismissing the thought. “Because I'm covered in zombie blood, and so are you. We would have been transformed long ago.”

  The woman took a good look, seeing blood all over her body. It was hard for her to argue with that.

  “So what's your theory, sweetheart?”

  May didn't answer and fell into deep thought. Nothing she could think of seemed to make sense. Suddenly, however, she remembered the junkie-blonde from earlier.

  Wait... It can't be possible that... No... That's not possible!

  But it would explain so much. May looked around the room, but seeing it all made it hard for her to believe that none of it was real. After all, she felt pain. When she pricked her finger with a knife, she still felt an unpleasant tingling sensation. Was it all just an illusion?

  “I think you've figured something out, haven't you?” asked the woman.

  “Something just came to mind, but... No. It has nothing to do with our current situation.”

  “If you say so, I won't try to find out,” she replied, slowly and exhaustedly laying her head on the pillow. “We should rest before tomorrow. Eventually, we'll have to find out something about the current situation, or at least stock up on supplies.”

  “I... I don't know if I should. I think I'll go back to my parents...” She wondered aloud, fearing for their fate. They were resilient, but the current situation was not normal, and no one could say for sure if they would be able to cope during the apocalypse.

  “I understand.” She replied indifferently. “I won't stop you. However, it will certainly be dangerous. You should be careful.”

  May nodded, understanding well. Whatever was happening, it wasn't normal, and the risk of death would certainly increase after leaving this place.

  Suddenly, they heard a knock at the door, looked at each other, and slowly got up. The woman reached into the cupboard and took something out. It took May a moment to realize that it was a firearm. May swallowed hard and looked at Evelyn.

  “What are you staring at? Haven't you seen a gun before?”

  “No, I'm just... I'm a little surprised that you have a pistol...” she whispered.

  The knocking continued. It was also getting more and more nervous.

  The woman frowned and looked at her disapprovingly. “Are you stupid? It's not a pistol, it's a revolver; even a child would know that"

  “I've never been interested in weapons.” She tried to defend herself, but she could see from the woman's gaze that she was looking at her judgmentally.

  “Never mind. Go ahead and see who it is. I'll cover you from behind.” She said quietly, and May nodded.

  They quietly approached the door, and May looked through the peephole again. When she saw the person standing behind the door, her heart skipped a beat.

  She stepped back, lost in thought. Winningham looked at her questioningly.

  “Fuck,” she whispered to herself.

  “Hey!” They heard a sound behind the door. “I can hear you there, May! Open the damn door! How could you leave me here! Do you even realize what's going on here?!”

  Winningham covered her mouth, but it was too late. The blonde knew they were inside. She whispered in her ear, “Why are you talking right at the door?” After a moment, however, she said, “Do you know who that is? She knows your name.”

  “Yes... sort of,” she said uncertainly. “We met for the first time today.”

  She frowned. She didn't like it.

  “So you didn't know each other until today? Does she know where you live?”

  “No... she shouldn't. She must have been following me or something...”

  “Hey! You know I can hear you!? I wasn't following you! I mean, I was following you, but then I got lost! But you told me your address yourself once... You know, not here, but THERE.”

  “What is she talking about?”

  “Well...” May fell silent, not quite sure how to explain it.

  “Move aside.” The woman pushed her way to the door and looked through the peephole herself to get a better look at the person standing outside. “He doesn't look dangerous...”

  “She shouldn't be dangerous... Just a little strange, at most,” replied May, now feeling somewhat inclined to speak with this Minnie and determine whether she had been lying earlier. “I would like to have a talk with her.”

  “And let her in? You said yourself that you didn't know each other until today,” Evelyn remarked.

  “Yes... But I think she might know something.”

  The woman wasn't convinced by the idea. However, she looked at her revolver and shook her head.

  “All right, but I'll keep an eye on her.”

  May agreed. She slowly opened the door. Minnie stood on the doormat with a sad but slightly angry expression on her face.

  Winningham suddenly pointed her weapon straight at Minnie! The girl let out a slight cry and began to move her hands chaotically, as if trying to defend herself. “Aaaa!”

  She fell to the ground. Finally, she began to cry.

  May and Winningham looked at each other in confusion.