The start of the end of the world

It was a normal day, as long as you ignore the fact that it wasn’t. Let me just be perfectly clear, that this was not my fault.

Yep, that’s me. No, not the vague figure that you're imagining now from the zero amount of information I’ve given you, and no, I’m not the heroic yet relatable main-character you’d expect either. I’m the one that’s currently, and quite poetically, hiding in the corner of a chicken den. Yeah, that’s the one.

Okay, maybe the predicament I’m in is my fault. But nothing else!

Let me clarify. It all started a few days ago. I woke up to the sounds of panic outside on the street. I looked outside, but it was still a bit dark and I couldn’t see much. So, I quickly got dressed and rushed outside. Almost everyone of my neighbors was out on the street, or their driveways. They were all looking at the sky, pointing and talking to whoever was closest to them. I looked up too, wanting to see what everyone was looking at. 

What I saw confused me at first, it was just the sun rising. Big whoop. But then it hit me. The sun was rising on the wrong side, the sun normally shone into my room and woke me up in the morning. That’s why my room was so dark that morning. My mind was racing, why is the sun rising in the west? Is the world ending? Was the logical conclusion that I came to. The world was ending. Then why wasn’t there any huge UFO in the sky? Or any meteor in the sky slowly and slowly getting bigger? 

I then realized that the world wasn’t ending. 

A few people rushed back into their houses and came back outside with a backpack slung around their shoulders. They had probably made emergency bags in case something happened. But it’s just the sun rising on the other side of the Earth, it’s not like an apocalypse is starting I thought. Boy was I wrong. Thinking back on it, why did my neighbors even leave? There wasn’t anywhere they could go where it would be different. 

Other than Australia. The sun probably always rose in the west there, the country is upside down after all. 

Yeah, when the apocalypse started there were still memes. I miss them so much. But at the same time, I’m very impressed and surprised that I still remember and can quote some of them. Anyways, back to what I was saying. 

So, people were leaving, and others were just going back to what they were going to do anyways. I wonder what I could’ve done differently. In order to avoid everything. 

I decided to just go about my day normally. I mean, it was just the sun that changed, nothing else had happened. Yet.

After that day, the sun went back to normal and everyone still continued about their normal lives. As if the sun hadn’t just been on the other side of the Earth. 

A week passed and everything was still normal. Just when everyone was lured into a false sense of security, the water stopped running, everywhere. Everyone had to resort to collecting water from their closest clean water source. People were stationed at each river or lake to make sure no one took too much, and that they got enough. The government had set a time on the same day every week, that was when people could collect their water.

Another month passed, everyone collecting their water once a week. Just as everyone was getting used to that way of living, the electricity went out. It was a worldwide blackout. No calling the police, or anyone actually. No searching things up on Google when you wanted to know something. And even worse. No Netflix.

That’s when I knew that something was going on. The sun rising in the west and setting in the east. Ok. The water not running anymore. Ok. But no Netflix… something was definitely going on. 

Another agonizing few weeks passed. Side note: do you know how hard it is to live without Netflix? It’s almost impossible. 

Anyways, a few weeks passed and just like the times before when humanity was just getting used to it, and not suspecting anything, the transportation stopped. Cars crashed, planes fell from the sky, boats stopped, stranding people in the middle of wherever they were at in the boat. Why would you even ride in a boat at that time though? Like, what had to be going through those people’s minds? Oh, the world is basically falling apart. It’s the perfect time for a boat ride. 

Anyways, I keep getting sidetracked, sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah, the transportation not working anymore. So, now people couldn’t get to work, they couldn’t visit their relatives who loved far away. It’s amazing that it takes huge problems to make people stop working. It reminds me of the time when the whole world was under quarantine, I don't even remember how many years ago that was.

A month later, people started acting weird. No, not like schizophrenia weird, like zombie weird. I know, sounds crazy. But it was like a switch just flipped in them, their skin started getting pale and cracked. They acted like they didn’t have any control of their body, and only spoke in a series of grunts and moans. 

That’s when it got worse, it started off with just a few people, but they kept on multiplying, like fleas.

What is this? The 5th wave? Is what I asked myself. 

Everyone resorted to locking themselves in their houses, well, the ones that still had control over themselves. But eventually, they ran out of food, and had to sneak outside and raid the grocery stores. 

Now, if you were smart, you would have stocked up on a bunch of food, like a few people in my neighborhood did. I, being the dumb moron I am, didn’t even think about doing it.

Anyways, I eventually had to leave, only packing the necessary stuff, and search for food. I never learned how to hunt, and the only weapon I had was a dagger that my uncle had made for me when I was younger, he was very good at making weapons and stuff like that. So that put hunting for food off the table. That left finding a store that still had some food left and surviving off of that until I learned how to hunt. 

And worse led to worse, and now I’m being chased by a huge group of zombies and hid in the closest place I could find. Which was stupid, this chicken den is really cramped and I have barely any space. It was a miracle that I could even squeeze in. I thought that the scent of chickens would throw them off, even though the chickens were long gone from here. 

At least I taught myself how to hunt and actually have a pretty good stock of food and clean water. If only I wasn’t being chased by a bunch of zombies. 

I accidentally set off an alarm at the house I was trying to break into, I thought that there would still be something there I could take, and maybe I could spend the night there too. If only I would’ve known about the alarm. 

It’s only been a month or two since I actually left my house and I haven’t encountered anyone yet, which I’m glad about, because I’m not super sure what I would do. 

I guess I just have to wait until the zombies are gone and I can continue on my way. I’m not necessarily sure where I’m going to go, but I guess I’ll find out on the way.