In a city once filled with the hum of life, now there was only silence. Jim, a young bicycle courier, woke to this stillness in a dimly lit hospital bed. Disoriented and weak, he stumbled into the empty corridors, his footsteps echoing through the abandoned halls. London was unrecognizable — its streets deserted, its landmarks cloaked in decay. Torn newspapers fluttered in the wind, warning of an infection. But where was everyone?
As Jim wandered through the hollow city, confusion turned to fear. The splattered blood, the overturned cars, the vacant stare of mannequins in shop windows — all painted a picture of a world that had fallen apart. He called out, but no one answered. Not until night fell did he realize he wasn’t alone.
A flicker of movement. Groans that weren’t quite human. The infected appeared — people twisted into ravenous, fast-moving shells of their former selves, eyes filled with a furious, mindless rage. Panic surged through Jim’s veins as he ran for his life, his breaths ragged, his heart pounding.
Just when escape seemed impossible, salvation arrived in the form of Selena and Mark, hardened survivors who pulled Jim from the brink. In their weary eyes, he saw not relief but grim resolve. The world he knew was gone, they explained. The Rage Virus had swept through the population like wildfire, turning friends and neighbors into monsters within seconds of infection.
Trust was a luxury no one could afford. Selena’s warning was brutal: “You get bitten, you get infected, and then you have 20 seconds to say goodbye.” Her machete was swift and merciless, a symbol of the price survival demanded.
Together, they navigated the ruins of society, meeting Frank and his teenage daughter Hannah — a glimpse of fragile hope in the chaos. Frank believed in salvation, a distant radio broadcast promising sanctuary with the military in Manchester. Desperation and the desire for something better led them down desolate motorways and through darkened tunnels teeming with dangers both human and inhuman.
But salvation was a mirage. The soldiers they found weren’t saviors; they were predators, their moral compass lost in the collapse of civilization. Jim realized survival wasn’t just about escaping the infected — it was about clinging to humanity when the world no longer resembled one.
In a final act of defiance, Jim unleashed his own brand of rage, proving that even in the depths of despair, courage and love could flicker like a candle in the dark. Against all odds, he, Selena, and Hannah found each other and a fragile hope that maybe, just maybe, the world could begin again.
The winds whispered through the empty fields, and for the first time in 28 days, the silence felt a little less lonely.
