Last Of Us: Outbreak Day Novels & Stories

On the day the zombie outbreak occurs, I tell my boyfriend, Valerio Petrucci, to come over and hide in my apartment, where my front door is already reinforced. Soon, sounds of the door being knocked can be heard. I'm about to get up when transparent comment bubbles appear in front of my eyes. "Don't open the door! Valerio isn't the only one out there—there are a bunch of loan sharks with him as well!" "One of them is already infected with the zombie virus and is about to turn into a zombie!"

Outside, the world was falling. Cities reported mass infections. People changing. Hybrids rising in the streets. Inside the quarantined house, two men clung to each other collared, chained, mutated, parents to something that was neither fully human nor fully alien. And the real cure waited in the one place they had sworn never to return to. Lagos. The heart of the original nightmare. Damian kissed him again, slow and deep. “We leave at nightfall. Together.” “Together,” Alex whispered. The child kicked once strong, approving.

“Let them watch.” He shook his head like I was a lost cause—fair—and then he turned, boots echoing sharply as he walked away, vanishing into the metal gloom. I stepped into my bunk and leaned my back against it, eyes shut, breathing harder than someone who technically didn’t breathe. Leah was alive. Ezren was here. And the game was a lie. All of it. No second chances, redemption. Or return to life. Just bullshits. But there’s a way out...

Just as Wendy yanked the flower out of the ground, a violent shockwave roared from deep inside the hunting grounds. When the dust finally settled, an enormous beast stood towering in front of everyone. Wendy was so terrified she collapsed on the ground, trembling and stammering, "B-b-beast…" Blake's eyes went wide with rage as he stared down the beast. While Blake wrestled with the beast, I waited for an opening before I rushed in and dragged the shaking Wendy to safety. Once I got her out of the hunting grounds, I turned right back around and sprinted into the danger zone.

Inside, on every screen, flashed a symbol, a glowing constellation in the shape of Orion’s Belt. Then the screens changed. A face appeared. Or rather, the absence of one. A blank visage with glowing white eyes. A synthesized voice filled the chamber. “Greetings. I am ORION. This world failed its test. But the child Ezra, is our last spark. I will finish what Lucien began.” The Estate Goes Into Lockdown Roman barked orders, activating emergency protocols. “Evacuate Alma and Ezra to the safehouse. Now.” Delilah grabbed her go-bag. “I’m going with them.”

Watching the screen, I notice that they end the call and then I turn to Rosalee whose eyes are peeled to her ex-husband. As we watch him come closer, she doesn’t seem to move, but stay right where she is. I cry out, “Let’s get out of here.” Right before he slams the bat into the windshield, and I hear the glass crack. Not being able to reach the peddle, I try to snap her out of it before he breaks through and kills the both of us. Shaking her, I hear the sirens finally in the distance and that is enough to stop him from doing any more. Watching him run to his truck and driving away quickly, I then return my attention to Rosalee.

Then he stood, leaned toward the microphone clipped to his lapel, and said one line. That single line traveled through the control board, through twenty-three million live streams, down the hallway, past the control room, past the partition wall, past that concrete door we'd broken open with three hammer strikes — and into the bunker. A bunker with no one left in it. "Ouroboros, Season 7 — that's a wrap." On the big screen, all eight snake logos went dark at once. The comment feed started its final surge. Not typed words. The same template, repeated who knows how many times — "Seven years."

01:05 Inside the penthouse Daniel whispered, “Almost.” Leo’s fingers slowed. Then stopped. He leaned back slightly. Daniel asked, “That’s it?” Leo nodded. “Yes.” Inside the vault Marcus smiled faintly. “You did it.” On the screen the missile icons continued drifting farther from land. Into empty ocean. General Armanov stared at his console. The launch had already happened. But the missiles no longer had stable targets. For the first time— He looked uncertain. Inside the penthouse Daniel exhaled slowly. “I think we just survived the apocalypse.”

It was almost kind. Anya sat across from him, her posture rigid but her eyes tired. “You believe it’s benevolent,” she said. He nodded. “I believe it’s curious. Curiosity doesn’t always mean harm.” “Command doesn’t see it that way. They’ll initiate the Daylight Protocol.” He froze. “That’s still active?” She nodded grimly. “Total EMP cascade. Wipe every connected grid, every relay, every network. Shut down the world before Lumen completes assimilation.”

His eyes narrowed into slits of cold fury. "Understood," Jackson said. He hung up the phone. He turned to face his family, who were all watching him with bated breath. "Dad?" Mia stepped forward, her hand instinctively going to where her knife usually was. "What happened?" Jackson looked at the sunset. The peaceful day was over. "Site Black," Jackson said, his voice low and dangerous. "There’s been a breakout. They are loose." "Who?" Alex asked. Jackson buttoned his jacket. "Everyone," he said. "The vacation is cancelled. Suit up." (Chapter 200 End)