Schuster Only fear survives

1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-64268-364-6
Verlag: novum publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 212 Seiten

Chris, a light-hearted person, is enjoying a visit with friends in the United States. But when he wakes up one morning, everything has changed. Something has transformed people into bloodthirsty beasts overnight. In panic, he flees the city. His hope of escaping the horror and finding normality in a different place quickly fades. Soon, it is only a matter of survival. On his escape, he meets Sarah, who seems better able to cope with the situation, and decides to join her. On their arduous journey into the unknown, both are confronted with fear, hatred, love and betrayal, and are put to a crucial test.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schuster, Sebastian

Leseproben

Day 1

I squinted hard. The sun was shining through my open window again. Birds were chirping and a siren could be heard softly in the distance. I felt sleepy, stretched across the bed and yawned excessively loudly. As if someone could hear me and conclude that I was finally awake. But there was certainly no one here. As always, I had no idea how long I had slept. Probably half an eternity again. Back home, I could estimate the exact time by the position of the sun, but there were enough mountains there to use as a guide. I couldn't do it here yet, but I'd only been here for a few weeks. To see what time it was here, I had to look for my cell phone. Sleepy and sandy-eyed, I scanned the floor again. Cables, packaging and ... "FUCK!" I screamed out loud and jumped up. I had a glass of cola next to the bed, which was now spilling all over the carpet with a loud splash. "Great," I muttered through gritted teeth and raised my eyebrows. "This is getting off to a good start." I quickly stumbled over to the cupboard, ripped out a towel and threw it onto the stain on the floor. I carefully pulled the glass out from underneath and started kicking the towel frantically. I was definitely awake now. I sat down on the bed and took a deep breath to calm myself down. I was very sensitive when something disturbed my peace and quiet after getting up. The siren was still blaring outside, or was it two now? Something bigger has probably happened, I speculated and shook my head. From downstairs in the living room, I could hear Hans tapping around restlessly in his kennel. What time was it? Was someone already home? I was still looking for the phone. It wasn't on the floor, so I took the comforter and shook it up vigorously. Sometimes the cell phone hid in one of the folds, and that's exactly what happened. When the blanket snapped open, the phone flew across the room and slammed against the door with full force. "I can't stand it," I shouted loudly and dropped the blanket. Annoyed, I picked up the phone, adjusted my clothes and went downstairs. After such a start to the morning, I needed a coffee straight away. I could shower afterwards too. Besides, why change your clothes when you're just lounging on the sofa anyway, I thought and slurped across the carpet in the hallway. The rattling of the thin kennel bars tore the air apart and maltreated my much-needed peace and quiet in the morning. I walked back through the kitchen, switched on the kettle for the coffee machine and strolled over to Hans. He was particularly excited today. He was nervously pacing back and forth in his cage. Just as I bent down to open his bars, he barked loudly in my ear. "Ouch, what's wrong with you," I snapped at him and stuck my finger in my ear. It hurt, my ear throbbed and I heard a low whistle. Damn, that dog could bark loudly. I heard another bark, but this time I was ready for it. "Calm down, my face. Why are you going so crazy?" But he wouldn't calm down. Normally almost nothing could upset him, but today he seemed very agitated and just wanted to get out of his kennel. When the last bolt was pushed back, he pushed the door open by throwing his whole body against it. It slammed against my bent knees and knocked me to the floor. "What the ...?" Man, was I pissed. He was now standing in front of the patio door barking and wanted to get outside so badly that he jumped back and forth in front of the closed door and drew light streaks across the window with his wet nose. I opened the door for him and he was gone. Shaking my head, I closed it again and went back into the kitchen. If you have to, you have to, I thought, probably assuming he had to do his business in the garden. But sometimes you could be in a hurry. "I need a fucking coffee now!" I carefully brewed the coffee again, as if in slow motion. I always did it this way, no matter how stressed I was. It simply tasted best that way. The boiling water must flow very slowly and with feeling into the filter filled with ground coffee. If you pour it all in at once, the hot water overcooks the aroma and everything ends up bitter. But today I found it particularly difficult to wait for the small lakes to seep into the powder. With a grumbling stomach and my mug in hand, I strolled over to the sofa and carefully plopped down on it. The dog was still barking outside in the garden and sirens were blaring in the background. I'm sure that's why he was freaking out. I certainly would be too if I had such good ears and had to listen to that noise all the time. I reached for the remote control and switched on the TV. The loading symbol spun in a hypnotic circle until, after a few seconds, a small text appeared. NO SIGNAL! "Are you kidding me?" I tried to change the HDMI channels, but nothing happened. The only occupied channel was HDMI1 and it showed the same error message again. "Fuck you!" I threw the remote control as hard as I could against the sofa cushion, knowing it wouldn't get scratched. However, it did make me feel better for a moment. Back to my room, I thought, and grabbed my coffee. The dog continued to bark loudly outside and as I passed, I yanked the door open. "Out. OFF! Shut up already, you nerve-eating tick carpet!" I called out to him in an aggressive tone of voice. Closing my eyes, I gently rubbed my temples. What the hell time was it? I looked at my phone for the first time now. Some of my game notifications appeared as I pressed the lock button. Xing_Lu69 has attacked her village. Her elixir collectors are full to the brim. Construction of the village center is complete. I hurriedly wiped everything aside so I could look at the digital numbers. It was 10:02am. The day hadn't even started and it already sucked. I went upstairs, sat on my bed and put the cup down next to it. With one finger stretched out wide, I turned on my laptop and took a deep drag from my pipe. I tried to hold my breath, but I immediately coughed. Oh man, that stuff was strong. Slightly dazed, I leaned back a little more relaxed and opened my browser. No internet connection! I opened the WLAN search bar. No router displayed. The area where dozens of addresses usually lined up was now empty. Baffled, I checked my phone. Nothing! Even when I tried to access my mobile data, the same screen appeared again. No internet connection! Jesus Christ, I thought. You've got to be kidding me! "Fuck you all!" I cursed, slammed the laptop shut and set it down roughly on the floor. The blood was literally boiling in my ears. Nothing could be heard in the room. Only the sounds from outside could be heard through the open window. The neighbors' dogs had now joined our rioter and there was another siren in the background. You could almost feel how fast the driver of the emergency vehicle was speeding across the asphalt, as the sound was very clear in the distance. What was going on today? "He's in a real hurry," I stammered, banging the back of my head firmly into my pillow. Suddenly there was a deafening crash from downstairs. It was so loud that the walls shook and I could feel the vibrations of the wall in my back. I jumped up, put on my shoes and ran downstairs to see what was going on. The noise from the street didn't stop all the way down the corridors. I took the stairs three steps at a time and almost lost my footing, but managed to save myself with a courageous grab for the banister. Once I reached the bottom, I had to slow myself down with my arms on the door to avoid running into it at full speed. I turned the knob, a crack opened and the muffled noise suddenly turned into absolute chaos. Now I could see what was making the house shake. A fountain of water poured from the right-hand side towards the entrance, the lawn was plowed up and thick brown clods of earth were scattered everywhere. Two clear, deep gullies led from the road across the entire driveway to the house. My gaze followed this trail and saw a car stuck halfway into our basement wall. It had torn off the line to the garden hose, and with a soft hiss, the water was sprayed across the lawn. White steam rose from the radiator and the electronics buzzed ominously in the hood, which had sunk into the house. The windows were shattered and the side airbags hung down like tawdry curtains. Shocked by the sight, I looked around to understand what had happened or if anyone was around to help. As if in slow motion, my eyes wandered around the neighborhood. My knees started to shake and I could feel the blood draining from my face. This was by far the worst trip I had ever experienced. Our neighbors across the street could hear shattering glass and loud banging. It sounded as if the furniture was being jerked around or even thrown across the rooms. Mrs. Keyel, who lived to our right, came running out of her house screaming. She had one hand pressed tightly to her throat and the other was waving wildly back and forth. Blood gushed from between her fingers and soaked her long, lavender dress in a deep red. As she stormed down her driveway, her slippers flew off in a high arc and landed in her flowerbed. Still screaming, she reached the road where she fell silent with a muffled thud. A passing car had hit her at full speed and catapulted her over the vehicle in an outstretched somersault. Glass shattered and blood soaked the hood of the white Toyota Highlander that had hit her. While Mrs. Keyel landed roughly on the ground, the car drove on without braking. It swerved slightly around Sarah, the neighbor's daughter, who hurriedly ran across the sidewalk towards the street. Her father ran behind Sarah and caught up with her in quick strides. He grabbed her by the back, pulled her to the ground and they both slid roughly a meter on the asphalt until they came to rest. The scraping sound of their limbs dragging on the ground could be heard and gave me goose bumps all over my body. Sarah kicked wildly and screamed as she tried to struggle free from under...