DAYLIGHT

I woke up due to my head throbbing with pain and dizziness. I hadn't even fully opened my eyes when I started coughing so hard because all I could inhale was dust and every cough made me wince from the pain of how dry my throat was. It felt like I swallowed a whole cactus and got stuck in my throat. No part of my body wasn't hurting making me groan. I just realized that I was confined in a small space, lying down on a hard floor, and above me was a cold wall just a few inches above my nose as if it had fallen on me. It was so dark that I couldn't see a thing and also quiet and I couldn't remember a thing about that place and what happened. Was there an earthquake? I was lucky that I wasn't squashed by the huge pile of debris. My body felt fine, gladly, as I checked my arms and legs moving them without problems. I could still move them without any pain and it seemed like I hit my head when I fell making me lose consciousness. My head was throbbing and there were traces of dried blood on the side down my neck as I felt my face. The more I tried to remember what happened, the more my head ached so I stopped trying so hard and thought of getting out of there first before I die of suffocation. I wanted to call for help but I couldn't shout because it felt like my throat would tear before I could produce a sound and I was afraid to knock on the wall in front of me thinking it might fall and squash me. Since I wasn't hurt, I would have to find ways to get out of that space. I tried to close my eyes and listened to the surroundings, maybe I could hear voices outside but all I could hear was my loud heartbeat. I swallowed my saliva as I breathed out and moved my hands to feel the little space I was in and found that I could freely stretch my hands above my head. There was enough space for me to crawl. I pulled my whole body, sliding upwards and the cold floor rubbing my back with only a thin shirt in between made me shiver. I coughed from all the dust falling on my face feeling my rough throat about to bleed. I am not going to die because a building fell on me but because of the dust and pulverized cement that would fill my lungs. I groped around checking if there were any sharp objects as I slowly slid my body and found a hole above I could tell that outside that hole was an open space because of the cold air. I was relieved as I gathered all my energy to pull my body from that narrow space and clasped a part of the broken wall. It was difficult to slip in the hole but I was thankful for my lean frame. I coughed and sneezed as I dusted my clothes after finally getting out. I wanted to lie down and rest but I needed more water and food too so it felt Like I hadn't eaten or drank for a long time. The surroundings weren't that dark since there was a light source not far away. Sunlight came in from a huge crack of the fallen building and it was weird how there was a lot of dried blood everywhere, on the floor and walls, and not just drops of blood but pool. It looked horrible but there was no corpse. "Everyone..." I called but my dry throat hurt so bad that it came out like a groan from the dead. "Fvck." I cursed with my hoarse voice. What the hell happened? I was almost out of breath and my body was giving out from hunger but I forced myself to walk to where the light was coming from. I squinted my eyes because it was getting too bright and the nearer I walked towards the gap, the temperature seemed to increase. I finally got out of what used to be a huge building and now it turned into rubble as if a gigantic elephant smashed, but I was surprised to see the surroundings because everywhere outside was burning. Literally burning, like hell. Or am I really in hell? Fvckkk! I gathered all my strength and ran where the fires hadn't reached yet. I was surprised that I could still run fast with my current condition. It felt like I was inside a game. How could something this horrible happen after I passed out? How many days was I out? I was again lucky that the fire didn't spread that far and I managed to get out of the burning area I was surprised again by what I saw after finally breathing and scanning the scene before me. Cars were abandoned on the long road and the city that used to have a lot of people turned deserted as if there was an apocalypse. I was breathing hard as my brain was trying to process what was happening when I heard the crackling of the things that were burned by fire. It was a horrible sight. I wondered where the hell was everyone and why was the place burning. I was near a three-storey building and I pulled myself up to the rooftop to look around and I was more than stunned. As far as my eyes could see from the direction that I came from were burning while on the other side were abandoned cars and ruined buildings. It was chaos and I was in the middle of that scene. Alone. And didn't know what to do. My body trembled after the adrenaline inside of me ran out. I almost collapsed but I managed to sit down on the floor and lay down. The sun was up above. I could see traces of blood everywhere: on the wall, on doors, and on floors. I closed my eyes and breathed out. Maybe this was only a dream, I thought, but I could feel the heat of the sun biting my skin making me realize that everything I saw was real. I was alone in a burning place. Everyone was gone. I was hungry and thirsty and I felt uncomfortable like I was giving out heat. It just came to my thought that I was an omega and the uncomfortable feeling that I was experiencing right now was because of my omega hormones. My heat was starting and aside from food and water, I also needed an inhibitor to suppress my heat. Maybe it was instinct that I knew what I had to do when in heat despite not remembering everything. I had to find a pharmacy before I couldn't move from my heat. I groaned as I pulled my heavy body up and looked around the building I was in I didn't know but I was glad that I was so lucky. The god of luck was really rooting for me. I found a pharmacy and a small convenience store inside the building on the second floor. I immediately looked for inhibitors and without a doubt injected it on my thigh. I gritted my teeth as I waited for it to affect and sighed, resting my tense back on the rack of scattered medicines after feeling the inhibitor effect on my body. It was like spring after drought. My burning body automatically went back to normal in an instant. It was a huge relief. The pharmacy had been ransacked by people since medicines were scattered everywhere. I took a few heavy breaths before walking around the convenience store and picking a few biscuits and bread and water which was the only bottle that rolled below the rack of snacks. Lucky. I slumped on the floor, my back on the rack as I slowly drank the water despite how thirsty I was because I wouldn't know where I could find another one. After drinking half of the bottle, I opened a pack of ordinary biscuits and maybe I was just hungry but it tasted good. My heavy breathing and my chewing were the only sounds around the place when I suddenly heard footsteps making me stop eating and breathing. Heavy footsteps echoed, maybe three pairs, and it was heading inside where I was hiding, then came another shuffling step and a low growl near the entrance of the store. I froze upon seeing that someone who entered the store was walking bizarrely. He was shuffling because his left foot was twisted at a disturbing angle yet he didn't mind it, his clothes were tattered and filled with dried black blood, his right arm was also twisted almost 360 degrees that it was hanging loosely on his side and his face has the most horrible sight. My heartbeat accelerated from the bizarre man a few meters away from me that I wanted to run. His face was rotting and he looked like he washed his face with black blood, he could only open his filthy black mouth as he gave out a low growl. He looked like a zombie from those movies I recalled watching before. It was strange how I remembered watching movies yet I couldn't remember most of my memories. I was gasping in short breaths as I tried not to move and as if sensing something, the zombie groaned, rolling his head around and then a pair of reddish eyes and jet-black eyes met.