"The R-Virus claims its first victim." I glance at the title, briefly considering clicking it before I pass over it. There will probably be a recap of the whole thing on the front page once it blows over in a few days anyway. Instead I click the link below, an askreddit post titled "Reddit, what little things do you hate the most?". Reading and chuckling to myself, time seems to fly by into the small hours of the night, munching on some chips, only the flickering light of the screen lighting my dark room.
I wake up with a jerk, launching my cat hissing into the air. She was sitting on my chest, pawing at my face, trying to wake me up. She must be hungry. I shake some chip crumbs from my shirt onto the floor and she gives me a dirty look before digging in to the salty snacks. I close the blinds, shielding my tired eyes from the morning light trickling in through the window before I turn back to my computer. I'm should probably get something to eat, but then again... I'm already here. I might aswell just check the front page, it won't take long.
"Omg, what is happening?!" How did that shitty title make the front page? And there's more like it. Cries for help, people asking for information or trying to figure out what is going on. I click a post at random and start reading.
*They're all dead. My friends, my family, my entire city. Corpses are littering the streets. What is going on, reddit?!" The top comment is "Anne frankly I did nazi that coming!", I chuckle, upvote and move on. Below it are hundreds of posts and comments, all saying the same thing. They are all dead.
Skeptical, I glance out the window. Nothing there, just a normal parking lot, just like any other day, but just when I turn back I notice something strange. There are people in the cars, just sitting there. And the cars are not in the right places, half off them are in the middle of the parking lot or crashed into other cars. Upon closer inspection I find more strange things. A woman just lying on her back on the pavement and the silence. The world is completely silent and empty, not a soul moving in the streets.
I grab my phone and feverishly tap the numbers in.
"Come on, mom. Pick up. Pick up. Pick up!" Finally, the gravity of the situation sinks in.
~
"Woah, this is like, totally unreal" -SmokeErryDay420
"How can there still be 20k people on askreddit alone with so many dead? This is weird as fuck." -BobTheBuilder
"My son is not breathing! Is anyone a doctor?! Please, I'm in Chicago." -SuperStar
"LOL, gl finding a doctor in Chicago now, I'm surprised you're not shot yet. Sorry about your son, bro." -Derpinator
"We need to stick together if we're gonna survive this, guys. I think everyone should go to their capital or the nearest big city, maybe we can rebuild if we stick together." -I_MOLEST_SMALL_CHILDREN
"Hey guys, I made a new subreddit, /r/virussurvivors so we can get organised and shit." -TywinIsTheMan
It's too much. This is all too much. I need some air. The door barely opens an inch before being pushed back shut. Strange. I give it another shove and with a great heave I manage to open it, pushing something out of the way. I stumble out into the light and a repugnant smell fills my nostrils like venom. The thing I pushed out of the way was the slack body of my cat loving neighbor, Selma, whose body is decomposing before my very eyes. I crawl back into the apartment and shut the door behind me, bile rising in my throat.
"Shit. Shit!" I hiss to myself. "Pull yourself together." I check the fridge and find I have a few leftovers, but it won't last me long. Sooner or later I'm going to have to head out there to get food.
~
The buzz of my phone startles me at first, but I pick it up.
"Hey, man, you're alive? Have you heard from mom?" My brothers voice is ragged, as if he had been running a marathon.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine, Nick. I tried calling mom, but she didn't pick up. Do you know what's going on? I just woke up and I see this post on