The events take place in a fictional country and city, located somewhere between North and South America. All names are American in order to make it easier for the reader to perceive them.

---

Nowadays

Country X city X

Another meaningless morning.

I woke up, washed up and sat down at the computer, as always.

My name is Sam, 35 years old, unremarkable appearance, except that my height is 1.90m and I haven't shaved for two months, so I look even older, but I don't care.

One day, when I was not even 20 y.o, I was on a train, and in the same train with me there was a man who said that I would not live to be 40 y.o.

I usually despise such people, those who pretend to have seen UFOs, or so-called psychics , and even people who believe in God, because as for me, in all three cases there is not an ounce of common sense.

But still, I remember that day on the train, I really believed that I would not live to 40, but not because that stupid guy had any abilities, but simply because I myself believed in what he told me, I myself hoped that I will die before 40 years.

About a year ago I bought a rope, I also looked at Wikipedia on how to tie a knot for hanging, I even bought gloves in case I have to climb a tree or something like that, in general I am always ready, but will I have the courage to do it? Well that's a separate question.

But this morning, something was wrong, I suddenly realized that I heard incomprehensible screams from the yard, at first I did not pay much attention to them, but I quickly realized that this morning it was these screams that woke me up, because it was only 7 in the morning.

I had no official work or anything else. I work at my PC so I usually wake up when I want to. Summer was approaching so that the balcony remained open even at night.

I went out onto the balcony and saw people running around screaming in the yard, some people were lying in the yard in pools of blood, and zombies were slowly trailing behind those running around, at least what I saw prompted me only to conclude that zombie, otherwise I cannot explain what I saw.

Just in case, I decided to close the balcony and watch what happens next. I lived by myself in a one-room apartment on the 5th floor, so, in theory, I had nothing to worry about yet.

But I still decided to carry a kitchen knife with me, just to be on the safe side, I wrapped it in a rag and put it in my jacket, the jacket was far from new, so the pockets were full of holes, but in this case it was very convenient.

Basically, by sticking my hands into the jacket pockets, I had access to a lot of space between the inner and outer layers of the jacket, and there was a lot to stuff there. Having put on a jacket, I decided to start washing and having a snack, while digesting what I saw.

Now there was no point in building a lot of speculation, even if this is happening all over the world, I strongly doubted that the Internet, telephone communications, and so on would instantly disappear.

After eating, I sat down at the computer again and started looking for information. As expected, there is enough different streamers and bloggers in the world, so it became clear that this is really happening everywhere.

After a couple of hours of watching various streams, videos and posts, the overall picture became clear.

At some point in time this morning, most of the world's population turned into zombies, of course there is no scientific explanation for what is happening.

The exact percentage is unknown, but it seems that 70% or more of the people were turned into zombies. And if we take into account the fact that people usually live with family and friends, then the situation was even worse, many did not have time to really wake up as they were devoured or at least bitten. I could only be glad that I live in splendid isolation.

One blogger managed to survive after the attack of his father, not only he killed his father zombie, he also claimed that after the murder he felt a little burst of energy and was able to feel something like his status.

Of course, the guy was clearly a little crazy, but after looking a little more Sam realized that similar messages appeared from other people.

Sam hadn't done anything other than working, playing movies and reading for a long time, so he had enough imagination to imagine where it was going.

He found a broom, which essentially consisted of the broom itself and a wooden round stick, rather long about a meter or so, he bought one specifically because he did not want to hunch over while sweeping the floor.

Naturally, Sam took off a broom so only wooden stick was left, then he found another more or less sharp knife, and began to sharpen his new weapon.

There was nowhere to rush, there was enough food for another couple of weeks, but if there is an opportunity to kill zombies without much effort and check what they wrote about on the Internet, then you shouldn't delay.

After this semblance of a weapon was ready, Sam took out a rope, he would have to use it for other purposes, but it even made him a little happy in this case.

He tied one part of the rope tightly around the handle of the front door, and tied the other side to the closet door, which was nearby, after which he tried with all his might to pull both sides to check for strength.

All this was done because he did not have a chain on the door, and if in this situation you open the front door, then you should make sure that the gap is small and nothing could get through it.

Then he put on gloves, they were not very expensive, but still better than nothing. Sam went to the window and looked at what was happening outside, listening to screams and abuse, he tried to mentally prepare himself for what should be done next.