Chapter 2 : Acceptance

Philip took a deep breath to calm himself. Right now, panicking wouldn't solve anything.

"I wake up and my house is dirty, the water is dirty, and my appearance has changed. The first two suggest that a large amount of time has passed, and my appearance changed after I passed out." Philip touched his chin. But why?

His mind spun as he went through all sorts of scenarios. Time passing like this suggested he didn't just lose consciousness and actually fell into a coma when he passed out. His appearance also changed during the period.

Thinking of this, the only plausible explanation he could think of was that he...

"... Was infected. But why?" It clicked a moment later.

"The damn cat!" He ground his teeth. Who would have thought that this act of kindness was liable to get him infected? However, he frowned.

"If I am infected, am I not supposed to turn into a monster? Why did only my hair and eyes change? And why did I retain my rationality?" Once again the more he thought about it, the more he got confused. However, he couldn't think of any other theory that made even a little sense. So for now, he decided to stick with his current theory.

He took a few more breaths and stepped out of the bathroom. Right now, his top priority was to meet someone and get information. Sitting here and musing to himself wouldn't change anything.

*CRASH*

Philip flinched as the sound of something large and heavy hitting the ground entered his ears. He ran out of the bathroom and immediately went to his bedroom window. And what he saw made his pupils shrunk and his legs trembled.

The city. Or what remained of it, was totally destroyed. Buildings lay in ruin and cars were stopped all over the road abandoned. Weeds grew out of the cracked floor and all sorts of plants grew along the sides of the destroyed buildings.

Philip could even see the back of a plane that had crashed into the mall at the end of the street. It looked like an apocalypse had happened.

Philip felt his heart rate start to rise and his breathing begin to hitch. He was panicking.

"No!" He slapped himself hard and took more deep breaths to get himself under control. Panicking would only make his situation worse. No matter how bad it was, he had to keep his cool.

When his heart had reached something approaching normal, he looked outside again. Other than the destruction, he noticed how empty the place was. Even if the city git devastated, there should at least be some people, right?

"No." His tone was grim.

"Most likely, the G-Virus came here. There are no people because they're most likely hiding from monsters, or are dead." He felt sure of his guess, and it did nothing to improve his mood.

Right now, he was in an abandoned city with possibly large amounts of infected monsters surrounding him from all directions. His situation didn't look good at all.

And the thing Philip hated the most was that he knew deep in his heart that he had to move. He wasn't sure about his food situation, but he would eventually run out.

Moreover, even if he decided to stay, there was no guarantee that an infected that had a great sense of smell would notice him and bust down his door.

Granted, moving out had an innumerable amount of risks, but at the very least, there was a chance. If he stayed here, dying was a certainty.

He cleaned the tears that had fallen and refused to despair. The prospect of leaving for an infected-filled town horrified him. But his resolve to live was stronger than his fear.

He pushed his fear down to the deepest recesses of his mind and began to look around the apartment.

Thirty minutes later, he looked at the things he had packed.

Canned food enough to last him two to three days, a baseball bat, bottles of water, and a knife. Most of his other food had already rotted, and his backpack could only carry that much. Though he'd carry the baseball bat himself.

He took another set of deep breaths. Here goes nothing. Best love while he still had supplies.

He went to his door and reached for the doorknob. Then he paused. His fear tried to climb out of the pit he'd shoved it into, but he shoved it even deeper. If he didn't leave now, he doubted he'd get the resolve to leave again.

He gritted his teeth, grasped the doorknob, and twisted it open. The moment he did, his heart sank.

Right in front of the door, a creature stood. Its skin was pale with its red veins visible. Its arms were long and gangly and its fingers and hands became claws like knives. Its head was deformed and its mouth had become impossibly large, filled with rows of sharp teeth.

The moment Philip opened the door, the creature turned towards him. Its eyes were black and a disgusting liquid dripped from its mouth. The moment it caught sight of Philip, it let out an inhuman shriek and lunged.

Philip froze. He was such an idiot. He didn't even look through the peephole to see if there was anything on the other side.

“I should have just stayed inside. Dying from thirst and hunger would have been better than dying to this horror” He instantly regretted his decision as his suppressed fear came roaring into his mind.

He couldn't move, and even if he couldn't there was no way he was avoiding that thing. It was already in front of him, its claws inches from his face.

I don't want to die. Then everything stopped.

Like a huge pause button had been pressed, time ceased to seize as the creature that had been inches away from Philip stayed that way and didn't move an inch.

It took Philip a moment to comprehend what just happened. Then he dropped to his knees, wheezing as tears streamed down his face. That had been far too close.

It was only after some time had passed that Philip calmed down. He cleaned the tears and looked up. The infected was still frozen.

Wait, that's not right? He felt something was off. Then he realized. The creature had moved. It was a minuscule amount, but it had moved.

It was also then that he realized. Why was it so slow? And why was it floating? Philip had a guess, but his rational mind told him that it wasn't possible.

Still, he held out his baseball bat, and let go. It didn't fall. He looked at it more closely, and just barely caught sight of it moving down.

He was sure now.

I'm moving super fast. The realization nearly made him laugh at himself. However, the proof was right in front of him.

He was moving so fast that time appeared slow to him. The creature that had lunged at him was no different than a snail. No, it was even slower than that.

Philip picked his bat from the air and moved to the side of the creature. His eyes narrowed as he looked at its frenzied eyes lunging at nothing.

This used to be a person. How sad. He sighed and raised the bat.

Let me put you out of your misery. Then, he swung the bat down.