Doomsday: Ultimate Survivor

Chapter 1-2: U-Virus

At 14:00 on August 1, 2025, a comet with a radius of over 200 kilometers suddenly appeared in outer space, more than 200,000 kilometers away from the earth, making it even closer than the moon.

Scientists around the world couldn’t explain why a comet with such a large radius suddenly appeared, but it did. Worse still, it would hit the earth within 24 hours!

Human society had never been more united, as the five permanent members of the Earth Alliance Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 3088, to deliver nuclear weapons into space in the hope of breaking the comet up into small pieces and thus nulling the impact on the earth.

But the plan failed, and 23 hours later, the comet broke through the atmosphere and crashed into Caffe City in State M, causing untold damage.

Unfortunately, the damage wasn’t limited to the initial impact. What was more frightening was that the material on the comet contained an unknown virus, known to scientists as the ‘U-Virus’, which soon infected everything around the impact zone, including humans, who became zombies shortly after exposure.

U-Virus spread quickly. In less than a week, it had spread at a terrible speed across all five inhabited continents on the earth. Naturally, the planet descended into chaos as humans and other creatures infected with the virus spread everywhere.

Eric was just a clerk, but that didn’t mean he was an ordinary man. In his spare time he was an active survival enthusiast, as well as being well versed with a variety of firearms.

Although he didn’t understand how he had come to be in his present situation, the most important thing was how he would survive this new world!

He tried to contact his parents, but there was no phone signal. In addition, his parents didn’t have access to the Internet. There would be no way to contact them now...

It was getting dark, and the fading light reminded Eric that he should prepare for what would be his first night. Although the power was still on, he knew the electricity could cut out at any time.

As a survival enthusiast, Eric was well aware how important food and water were to survival. Now the question was where to find it? His current supplies consisted of half a bottle of old water and a packet of biscuits on his desk. This would not last long.

“The convenience store downstairs?” Eric thought. However, based on the situation below, he thought it better not to go down himself. He had learned on the Internet that the U-Virus was spread quite easily: by any contact from a zombie with an open wound. When this occurs, the human will be infected and become a zombie within 15 minutes.

After thinking it over, it occurred to Eric that besides the elevator, there was a fire escape that led all the way upstairs! This was a clear path for the zombies to threaten him and would have to be blocked immediately!

Luckily, following a burglary in the building the previous month, a stainless steel door had been installed on the 13th floor to improve security. Still, Eric knew he had to check it was secure. He went to the maintenance office and grabbed a wrench, then headed down the stairs of the fire escape.

Fortunately, there were induction lamps lighting the way. Still, Eric walked cautiously down the steps, wrench in hand, holding his breath and widening his eyes as he scanned for signs of danger.

Fortunately, there were no zombies all the way down to the 13th floor. When he reached the stainless steel door, his nerves relaxed a little, and he realized that his back was wet with sweat. His right hand, which was still gripping the wrench hard, was reddish and trembling slightly.

“Thank god for the security door, or else the zombies might have been here already. I would be one myself!” Eric thought. With a sigh of relief, he leaned back against the security door and slumped to the floor.

Now he was sure that he was safe for the time being, he suddenly felt as if he had no strength left. He fumbled around in his pocket for a cigarette to help relax.

Click! The crisp sound of the lighter felt familiar, but his hands were shaking and he couldn’t aim the flame properly at the end of the cigarette.

“Burrrr… burr...” The sound came nearer and nearer. Eric shuddered and the lighter in his hand dropped to the ground. Instinctively, he lifted the wrench above his head in anticipation. He was in pure flight or fight mode, his senses heightened, scanning the darkness for the source of the strange sound.