#apocolypse

Chapter 1: The City Of Wellspring

“You got another long shift, y/n?” a woman chuckled softly.

“Yeah Vicky, got strange infections coming in, and I wanna make sure I can help any way I can.”

“Just make sure to get plenty of rest, you know that your health comes first.”

“Yeah I know-” you went silent at the sounds of screaming coming from the hallway. “Is doctor charles performing a c-section?”

“Not that I know of?” Vicky questioned, pushing her chair back and moving up from around the reception desk to check on the screaming.

Without warning, a bloodied woman came charging towards her, forcing her on the ground.

“Ah!” Vicky screamed as she tried to get the woman off of her but it was too late as she tore through her neck with her teeth.

You stood there, frozen in fear, unable to move a single muscle. “W-What…”.

“R-Run….” Doctor Charles limped out of one of the patient rooms, clutching at his torn throat, his eyes blood red.

Your feet took off faster than you could think, adrenaline pumping through your veins as you grabbed the keys of your car from your purse.

Roars echoed along your ears, your head spinning towards the direction of it, noticing crazed people chasing after you. “Leave me alone!” You shouted as you opened up your car, got inside and locked the door.

The blood red eyed people proceeded to jump on your car, slamming their fists, trying everything and anything to get to you.

Hands trembling, you turned on your car, and sped out of the parking lot, trying to shake off the remaining person.

“Ah!” You screamed as the person broke your windshield, their bloodied hand reaching for you, their mouth chattering uncontrollably.

“Get off my car you son of a bitch!” You shouted, making a tight turn, their body flying off, cutting their wrist and splatting you with blood.

Ignoring the splatter, you dialed up your parents number, wanting to tell them what had happened and to lock all their doors. But at that very moment, you didn’t know the chaos that was about to ensue across the world.

[4 Years Later]

“Name.”

“Y/n.”

“Occupation?”

“Nurse.”

“You’re a nurse? Damn, didn’t think there were any left.”

Your eyes slowly glanced up at the man speaking, giving him a deathly glare. “Anything else you wanna fucking ask me?”

“Take it easy there baby, I might not be as generous as the other men here, so settle down…”.

“Uh…what my sister meant to say was that thank you officer and that she’ll move down the line” your brother scowled at you.

“Ugh” you rolled your eyes, groaning at how disgusting the officer was. No matter where you went, women and children always suffered the worst in catastrophes.

“Pff….women….name?”

“Andrew Cortez.”

“Occupation?”

“Chief.”

“Huh” The man chuckled, jotting down on his clipboard. “Move along.”

“Y/n, you need to stop causing trouble” your brother whispered close to you.

“Why, they’re all pigs Andrew.”

“Yes, I know, but they have food. Do you want to starve?”

“Psh, I’d rather starve…”.

“Okay, so I’ll call over the officers and tell them that you want to share a meal with the infected.”

You let out a soft chuckle, following the line of people into the City of Wellspring, a heavily fortified place occupied by the new governing body, The Wolf Brigade. Three brothers and one sister ran the brigade, you never had the pleasure of meeting them and you prefer it to stay that way.

“Wow, this city is huge” you let out a breath of awe, not believing the sight before you.

“Yeah, I heard the Brigade ordered their men to scour the local area for any people that needed help and bring ‘em here.” “It’s a big enough city to house millions of people.”

“Are you sure that it’s big enough to house all these people?” You questioned, not believing that for a second.

“Yeah, you see directly north of here, there’s a construction area where they’re building more apartments. I’m telling you, these people in the Wolf Brigade really care about people like us.”

“Hey!” An officer shouted to a bystander that was rushing into the area without going through the line.

Without warning, an officer in a look out tower adjusted their sniper rifle and shot the individual, their body falling lifeless on the ground.

You jumped violently, holding onto your brother’s arm tightly, “A-Andrew….”.

“Don’t look, don’t look” Andrew reassured you, pulling your head into his chest.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize for what has occurred, but this individual was infected. We had to take proper measures to ensure that everyone here is safe” A burly man spoke aloud, his attire suggesting that he was in charge.

“How could you be sure of that?!” An individual shouted, everyone cowering in fear.

The burly man sighed deeply as he approached the lifeless body and pulled up their sleeves, showing everyone the infected bite.

“Now, please, I assure you, that we all care for each and everyone of you. The Wolf Brigade has made it very clear to not use violence or invite it into our city.” “Please, be patient with us, we are all trying to rehouse you and your loved ones.” “Officers, continue your work.” “Dante, Fisk, clean this shit up.”

“On it boss” Dante nodded, pulling his rifle behind his back and gesturing to his partner to grab the infected person’s legs to carry him out before the body festered.

Pulling away from your brother, you wiped the tears from your eyes, hating to see such brutality, but was glad in a way that this place didn’t invite violence, or so you thought.

“Ms. Y/n, Mr Cortez” An officer called your names.

“Yes?” You both spoke aloud, turning your attention to the officer.

“My name is Rita and I’m your assigned Wolf.”

“Assigned Wolf?” You asked with confusion laced in your voice.

“What the hell does that mean?” Andrew joined in on the confusion.

“Oh, you haven’t been briefed yet. That’s okay, come walk with me” Rita turned at her heels and began to walk down the road.

“Each and every citizen that joins our city has an assigned Wolf. The Wolf is kind of like your caretaker slash job giver slash home assigner.” “We basically monitor your adjustment here in the city, make sure you’re doing your assigned job, that you take proper rest, and are not just sitting around doing nothing.”

“But, what if we decide we want to do nothing?”

“You can do that Andrew, but we prefer that you let your assigned Wolf know that you want to take a break because if one of us finds you doing nothing and just wasting away our limited resources…..there will be significant consequences.”

“What kind of consequences?” You spoke with slight distaste in your voice, because the Wolf Brigade preached nonviolence and the statement that Rita spoke sounded very much like violence.

“We do not need to get into the details y/n, because I know you two are some of the hardest workers we’ve ever seen” Rita dodged the question as she pointed to the apartment complex to her right.

“Woah” you gasped as you looked at the beautiful apartment building in front of you.

“Now, we aren’t supposed to give special treatment to any individual that comes into the city. But our great leaders of the Wolf Brigade have never had the pleasure of having a nurse in the medical field here in this city, so they wanted to gift you an apartment building all to yourselves.”

“No way, I can’t accept this” you shook your head.

“I think this should go to a family that needs it” Andrew shrugged, wanting to be compassionate to the less fortunate.

“You should really take this y/n, because underneath this studio apartment is a clinic. Your assigned job is to cure and help the sick that are in this city.”

“What?”

“Mhm, and as for you Andrew, your assigned job is to cook for our lovely citizens here in Block A.” “

“So, do I work here or?”

“No, your place of work is right down there” Rita pointed all the way down to the quaint little restaurant down the road.

“The BackRoads? That’s the name of the restaurant?” Andrew huffed, crossing his arms.

“I do hope you love your new assigned jobs and place of rest.” “Now I will give you these stamps that are your tickets to the food banks we have here.” “No need to worry, because you’ll be giving them to me when you feel the need that your food storages are running low” Rita smiled as she handed you the green stamps.

“I know it’s a lot to take in right now, but please, take some rest, and you’ll start next week on Wednesday.”

“W-Wait, hold up, I have a question Rita” You raised your hands. “Are we allowed to go out of the city?”

Rita’s smile soon faded, her expression hardening, “I forgot to explain the rules, the Wolf Brigade doesn’t allow laziness, lying, violence, or leaving this city.” “Your new life is here, and you must abide by the rules…or like I said before….there will be significant consequences.”

“But why can’t we leave the city-”

“Enjoy your studio apartment and I’ll be here on Wednesday to explain your duties fully” Rita’s smile returned as she waved to both of you and left to go about her duties.

“Are you fucking serious?” Andrew shook his head, wanting to call Rita over but preferred to keep the peace.

“They have food” you mocked your brother’s voice, shaking your head as you looked up at the apartment building in front of you again.

“Well they do, and they have a system going.” “I mean I-…..son a bitch…is that Lyle?” “Lyle?!” Andrew shouted.

Lyle looked up, an enormous smile creeping across his lips, “No way, Andrew!?”

“Ha!” Andrew laughed as he charged towards Lyle who was in a group of men, heavily armed.

Lyle laughed alongside Andrew, nearly crushing him in a bear hug. “Son a bitch man, it has been too long!”

“Yeah” Andrew pulled away from the hug to get a good look at his old buddy. “Why do you look like World War III?”

“Ha! Screw you,” Lyle shot back with a grin. “They got me on outside duty. Dangerous stuff."

“Dangerous?” Andrew’s smile faltered. “Lyle… your neck.”

Lyle’s hand shot up, covering a dark puncture mark beneath his collar. “Nothing, man. Just injections. We all got them.”

“Injections? I never got one?”

“You didn’t?” Lyle blinked, thrown off.

“Move out boys, we don’t got all day!” An officer shouted before Andrew could question him further.

“Yes sir!” The men in the group shouted in unison and proceeded forward.

“Move it maggot” The officer told Lyle, his eyes dilating in compliance. “Good talking with you Andrew, I have my duties to attend, as do you” He spoke in a monotone voice, his posture snapping straight.

“Lyle..” Andrew gasped as he watched his old friend disappear amongst the other soldiers.

“Andrew, come on” You gently tapped your brother’s shoulder, leading him away from the road and towards your new home.

A few hours had passed as you watched your brother pace back and forth in the studio apartment. “What do you mean his eyes dilated?”

“I’m telling you y/n, there’s something going on. This fucking Wolf Brigade aren’t what they claim to be.”

A soft sigh escaped your lips as you rubbed your temples, trying to understand what your brother had seen. “I want to believe you Andrew, but I didn’t see that for myself.” “Maybe he was just following orders?”

“No….there’s something going on here….and I just can’t put my finger on it…”.

“Listen, why don’t you get some rest, and we can talk more about this tomorrow morning” You stood from the couch.

“Fine….whatever you say….I just feel like I made a big mistake bringing us here” Andrew sighed softly.

“At first I thought you did, but I think we can call this place home….since we lost our-” you went silent, tears swelling in your eyes.

Andrew also felt tears swell in his eyes, “Parents…” he gulped, choking back the frog in his throat.

“I miss them” you broke down, wrapping your arms around yourself.

Andrew softly approached you, giving you a gentle hug. “I know y/n….but….I told you that I’d be with you forever….and protect you from those fucking infected people…remember?”

You slowly nodded against his chest, feeling comforted by your brother. “Yeah…thank you” you pulled away from him and used your sleeve to wipe away the tears.

“I miss them too, just as much as you do. But for right now, we need to focus on ourselves, and take care of each other.”

“Yeah” you softly smiled, turning your gaze towards the bedroom at the end of the hall. “Well, why don’t we get some rest.”

“Yeah, g’night sis” Andrew patted your head gently and walked off to his bedroom.

Outside the walls of Wellspring, the night was alive with whispers.

A man stood among the trees, mouth covered by a weathered bandana. His eyes scanned the distant walls, catching the faint glow of patrol lights. Beyond the outer fence, the infected stirred, sniffing the air, restless, drawn to the scent of life inside.

He let out a quiet scoff and adjusted the rifle slung across his chest.