If you had told me the world was going to end a day ago, I would have probably laughed and shrugged it off like a joke. I mean, it seemed impossible. How could humanity ever create something that would result in the total, or almost total, annihilation of society as we know it? Well, I can now admit I was wrong and that I probably should have paid more attention in my tarot reading sessions.

Back in reality I was freaking out. Like full on anxiety, hide in a corner and cry, attack. This sudden development was definitely not what I had been expecting and honestly I didn’t know how to cope. I ran my fingers through my hair as I fought back to a more sane mind set. I took a deep breath, before reassuring myself.

“Okay. You're stuck at the lab in a supposed zombie apocalypse, with no one around.” I said rocking back and forth, slowly plucking out strands of hair. “Which is fine because it means less zombies. Yah, let’s go with that.” I took another breath before talking over some solutions, because as much as I hated to admit it, talking to myself in the moment was the only thing keeping me from going completely bald.

“First thing to do when in a zombie apocalypse… is to collect resources because you don’t know how long the power or water will stay on.” I smiled to myself, proud I could finally use the stuff I read of pinterest. “Then I fortify my location to prevent zombies from infecting me. Ok. I can do those things.”

I stood slowly, still not totally convinced before setting out to complete the tasks. I headed to the cafeteria first, knowing it’s on a seperate power grid from most of the compound, and that it’s where the backup generator is for the rest of the building. I jogged quickly down the stairs to the ground floor, and quietly propped open the door at the bottom. The bright lights beamed at me through the opening, startling me. I hissed and quickly shielded my eyes, the door slamming shut in front of me. I froze, realizing I broke one of the unspoken rules of surviving. Don’t slam doors.

I stood there, for at least five minutes, waiting for something to drag itself out of the dark or run its nails across the other side of the door. When neither happened, to my relief, and I heard nothing suspicious, I opened the door again and slipped through.

The cleanliness of the cafeteria was horrifying, every surface seemably scrubbed to a cleanly perfection. The floor reflected me in almost perfect detail, counter tops a white so bright, it repelled light like nobody's business. I blinked multiple times and covered my face with my arm as I navigated the room.

I was startled at the state of the room, as it usually was filled with people and had at least a thin layer of dirt trailing from the door to the counter. You’d think a group of scientists might be a bit picky about the cleanliness of their work space, and usually we are, but our janitors recently went on strike. So the current state of the room was a big shock, and led me to wonder just how much had happened while I was gone.

I glanced toward the large cafeteria doors that led to the main hall, and was even more confused than when I found the laboratories empty, when I noticed the wall of fortification that had been built up. Just how much of the coming events had everyone known about? And how come I hadn’t known?

“Pssst!” I jumped at the noise, freaking myself out even more. When it repeated again, just a bit louder I was almost positive someone was trying to get my attention.

“Who’s there?” I asked looking around, though I didn’t immediately spot anyone. Whoever was trying to get my attention sighed before speaking again.

“Just get behind the counter.” They said, annoyed. “Before you attract unwanted attention.”

Confused at their wording, as I had already attracted unwanted attention from them, I paused for a second before deciding to do what they said. That is, in case they were referring to, assumably, zombies. Which wouldn’t be much a surprise honestly. What was surprising was who was waiting for me behind the counter.

When I rounded the corner, I was roughly pulled down to the ground, and I nearly smacked my head off the counter. I jerked my arm out of their grip, inwardly cussing in pain, before I found myself looking into the face of the guy who owned the apartment across from mine.

“Callum Greene?” I asked, face scrunching up in even more confusion. He quickly shushed me and seemed to be listening intently for something, as he peered back into the cafeteria. Obviously he didn’t hear anything that bothered him, or saw anything for that matter, as he quickly turned back to me.

“Do I know you?” He asked, his voice just above a whisper. I was a bit offended at the fact he didn’t recognise me, when I realized I was the most sociable person when it came to seeing neighbors.

“Oh, um, I live in the apartment across from you.” I said shifting uncomfortably, as I still wasn’t much of a sociable person. They thought for a second before finally showing some recognition.

“Oh yeah! You're the girl who’s cat left mice in my bed.” I frowned at the fact he only knew me through my dead cat. “I’m sorry for your loss by the way.”

“Who, Grim?” I asked, confused at his apology. “He was almost 19 years old. He wasn’t going to last very much longer anyways.”

“Well I’m still sorry.” He said, before crawling across the floor to the back storage room. He motioned for me to follow. I quickly scurried after him.

“Hey, what happened out there?” I asked as he propped open the door. I looked past him, and found myself surprised once again at the large jugs of water and the amount of devices that were plugged into the wall. I looked back to Callum, wondering jsut how long he had been in here.

“Where? The cafeteria?” He said, brows furrowing. “I cleaned it.”

“Well, no. I mostly just ment in general.” I said crawling inside. “Also, why the heck did you clean it?”

“To make it less likely for us to get infected.” He answered all too quickly. I raised a brow. “I may also have a compulsive cleaning disorder.”

That seemed more likely. It also explained why Grim liked to leave so many dead mice at his apartment instead of mine. I quickly cleared my thoughts though as I still had no clue as to recent events.

“For real though, what happened out there?” I asked again once he had moved inside the storage room, sealing the door behind him.

“You don’t know?” He said, surprise edging his voice. “It’s been broadcast to every personal device within Canada.”

He then pulled out his phone, and my eyes widened as I took in the blood red emergency alert, afraid of what it meant. I quickly read the english part, then the french before gulping. The apocalypse had just been confirmed.