Within this hell, one group tried to survive. They managed to last longer than most for one simple reason: they had begun preparing for the apocalypse faster than anyone else yet, not better.
They were there, watching the chaotic broadcast just like the rest of the world. But unlike the others, they were not only watching. They were planning, planning how to survive. Planning how to take revenge for Jean-Francis and Loïc.
"So… that's what killed Jean-Francis and Loïc?" Gabriel asked quietly as his brown eyes and tall figure looked at the violence unfolding under his very eyes.
"By the looks of it… I'd say so," Arnaud replied, his voice filled with a mixture of anger as his short body easily fitted inside a small part of the couch that stood in front of the TV.
This group had never experienced the loss of a friend before. Losing 2 of them at the same time was something they couldn't process. The anger inside the room was suffocating as the live feed stood frozen on the image of the large sword piercing the chief.
"We need to take revenge for them, don't you all agree?" Jacob quickly answered to try and accelerate the thought process of everyone staring at the screen in silence.
But one tall and strong boy hesitated and decided to speak up his mind.
"But Jacob, shouldn't we wait for Nicolas to come back before we start thinking about that?"
Gabriel looked at him in a worried expression for a moment before answering.
"Philippe, don't you know?Loïc went to search for Nicolas the day Jean-Francis went to get Loïc." Gabriel silently lowered his eyes and mumbled his thoughts out loud by accident. "He's probably dead too."
"…"
A small yet muscular Didier then began explaining his plan to shake everyone back to reality :
"It's clear that this is the start of some kind of apocalypse, if that's true, then we need to prepare ourselves, otherwise, we'll all die very quickly like the soldiers on the feed."
Gabriel's eyes immediately lit up at the idea as they all were gun addicts. The simple idea of preparing themselves for an apocalypse immediately made Gabriel think about guns.
"So we should buy tons of guns?" Gabriel said quite excitedly. "Pistols, revolvers, rifles, shotguns and maybe even AK-47's?!? And we can't forget the ammo and—"
"We probably shouldn't buy guns of any kind," a tall and muscular yet skinny Alexis interrupted. "Not even suppressed ones."
Gabriel slowly turned his head toward him in complete disbelief. The reason was quite simple in fact. Eversince Alexis was within the group, the first person to talk about guns and war in any conversations was him.
"But why? You love guns."
Alexis blankly stared back at him for a moment before answering.
"Didn't you watch the stream? The entire Japanese task force soldiers were probably trained for years and yet, were wiped out in seconds."
Didier then continued Alexis's reasoning before Gabriel could reply.
"If we look closely at the feed, the phantoms only started rushing the chief after he fired his first gunshot and—"
Gabriel didn't wait for the conclusion, he immediately grabbed the remote and replayed the footage. They then proceeded to watched the scene again in silence and as explained, Didier was right. The phantoms had remained behind to eat the freaked out soldiers while the chief was running. They noticed him after the first gunshot echoed through the forest.
That fact was indeed true, but it didn't make Gabriel's urge back down. He truly wanted to fight with guns. As he slowly lowered the remote, he continued his debate.
"So what are you suggesting?" he asked, ready to say anything to use guns. "That we fight with weapons that aren't guns, are you trying to get us killed?
"Gabriel, if we fight with guns, every single phantom around us will know of our location the moment we shoot"
"That's our only choice, I'm afraid," Didier quickly followed.
Gabriel hesitated, unsure what to say. He looked back at the screen where the nightmare had unfolded. Did these 2 weirdos truly wanted us to fight thoses things with swords and shields like in the 1400s??? At that moment, Gabriel shook his head in total disbelief, there was no way he would back down with just that.
"You want us to fight those things with pieces of metal?Seriously?"
"Do you want to survive or not?" Didier answered in a cold demeanor.
"…"
"fuck!"
Gabriel suddenly stood up and stormed out of the room in total rage, his cellphone already in his hand. A moment later, they could hear him calling someone outside. The room then fell quiet and after a few seconds, Mathieu finally spoke.
"Even if we manage to get weapons that don't attract those things, we're still not going to survive very long, especially against the big guy."
No one immediately disagreed as it was the total and complete truth. Alexis took a moment to think before responding. After all, they were going to die if they didn't think look at this situation in every angle possible.
"I know that already, that's exactly why we need to build some kind of bunker, fighting is not that necessary when you can hide."
Everyone then looked at him in a way that clearly meant to ask if he was joking.
"It doesn't need to be extremely expensive, we just need something solid enough to hide in. We also shouldn't invest in strong lighting systems. Electricity will probably become unstable."
"So what should we take instead?" Arnaud asked.
"Lamps, maybe?"
This was the first time that Victor said anything since the beginning of this conversation. The tanned skinny thug-like boy didn't want to interrupt the debate in fear of creating another one and so, he waited for a better moment to speak up
"Yes" Alexis replied. "That's actually a very good idea as it will cost far less than buying a full generator system and installing electrical cords everywhere." "Our shelter will also need to be built underground and the outer walls should be reinforced with steel."
Victor frowned immediately at the latter remark.
"Why should we put steel walls behind tons of dirt? Wouldn't that just be wasting money?"
Alexis shook his head with a disappointing expression on his face.
"I read about certain phantoms that dig tunnels through dirt to hunt prey hiding underground." "Did you even try to do the homework on mythology creatures?"
"Yea of course I did, but, I don't have the same creature as yours."
"Victor, we all have the same one…"
"Continue please, before this idiot waste more of our time," Mathieu said to quickly stop another argument."
Alexis nodded, still disappointed by Victor's laziness.
For the next hour, he explained his entire plan to Mathieu, Jacob, Victor, Philippe, Didier, and Arnaud. He described where each section of the shelter should be built, how deep it should go, what materials should be used, and how they could keep the structure hidden from anything searching above or below the ground. After running several calculations, they realized the total cost would be barely affordable if everyone contributed all the money they had on it. It was possible, but only barely, the real problem was time.
No one knew exactly when the phantoms would start pouring out of the forest. If that happened before the bunker was finished, the entire plan would collapse instantly. That meant they also needed weapons, good ones and not some useless junk and that before the phantoms would run out of their forest.
And more importantly, they needed to know how to use them.
"But we can't all use the same weapon" Jacob suddenly said while Alexis was on the subject.
Everyone turned toward him, out of all of them, Jacob was the one who had spent the most time researching the phantoms to obtain a higher grade on his essay. Alexis then looked at him, intrigued by whatever reasoning Jacob would bring to the table.
"Why do you think that?" Wouldn't it be better if we all used the same weapon? It would make it easier to help each other during training."
Jacob then quickly shook his head in a knowledgeable manner.
"Phantoms are extremely good at recognizing patterns, if we all use the same weapon and fighting style, it might work well at first, but they'll adapt quickly, very quickly. Once they understand the pattern, the situation could turn against us very fast without us even knowing."
Of course, that fact was important, but what they needed to know was the answer to this dilemma.
"So, what are you suggesting?" Didier asked.
"That we each specialize in a different weapon," Jacob replied. "If every fight looks different to them, it will be harder for them to adapt and to recognize any sort of patterns."
Alexis slowly nodded. That reasoning did indeed make sense. If they fight with different weapons, it will indeed be harder for an opponent that specializes in recognizing patterns to fight.
"So you're proposing that each of us learns a different weapon and maybe even different fighting styles?"
Jacob nodded, clearly proud that his suggestion didn't get immediately shot down like always.
"Learning multiple fighting styles might not be necessary right away, but after mastering one a bit, we could expand our knowledge of our weapon to confuse the phantoms even more, so yes."
The door suddenly bursted open the second Jacob ended his sentence. At that moment, Gabriel rushed into the room, nearly out of breath with a happy smile on his face.
"I got them! I got them! I managed to secure weapons for us!"
The entire group stared at him in confusion. He had already secured weapons for everyone? Alexis hadn't even told him what kind to buy yet. For all they knew, he could have bought useless replicas.
Arnaud crossed his arms and spoke in a cold manner as their entire plan could have been already broken just because of one kid with anger issues.
"What kind of weapons did you buy?"
"I didn't buy anything yet," he said quickly. "I just secured a location that sells high-quality weapons. The only thing we need to decide now is which ones we want."
Didier knew very well that if it was high quality, it meant high price and at the moment, the only one who even had money at their disposal was Gabriel since the rest was meant for the bunker.
"Do you even have the money to buy weapons for everyone?"
Gabriel blinked in confusion.
"Why me?"
"We are planning to build a bunker to protect ourselves you see" Didier replied calmly in a monotone voice. "And we barely have enough money for that. This obviously includes our entire life savings, except yours."
Gabriel shrugged as if he thought Didier was joking.
"I don't have that much money. But I probably have enough to cover most of the weapons."
"We'll see soon enough if that's true" Alexis replied. "But I doubt it."
Gabriel slowly turned toward Alexis in half anger and half confusion.
"Alexis, are you saying I'm broke?"
Alexis stayed silent for a moment to think of a way to send him the news without deescalating the situation. In the end, he couldn't hold himself.
"…Maybe."
Gabriel's face twisted in small anger at the insulting remark.
"You little—"
___________________________________________________________________
Days passed and the construction of the bunker advanced little by little. The structure slowly took shape underground. It wasn't luxurious, nor particularly comfortable, but it was solid and that was all that mattered right now.
Even so, one major problem remained: they didn't nearly have enough supplies to survive long in a ruined world.
Sooner or later, they would be forced to go outside. Regular expeditions to supermarkets or any kind of shop would become necessary, and they might even have to enter areas that are restricted by the government. At this point, they would need to gather anything that could help them survive.
The bunker itself was divided into several rooms. Three of them could be considered the main ones: the kitchen, the living room, and the training room. However, none of them resembled normal rooms. The kitchen had no real food stored inside yet. The living room contained nothing but a few couches placed against the walls. The training room was almost empty as well, waiting to be filled with whatever equipment they could afford later.
Every room contained only the bare minimum. No decorations. No comfort. Only survival and yet, that was far from enough.
The remaining rooms were personal spaces. There were two bedrooms and a laboratory. The laboratory had a very specific purpose. It existed for two reason at most: to help them create anything that might be effective against the phantoms and if necessary they would use it for some kind of operation on their own body.
If the group somehow managed to kill one of those creatures and drag the body back to the bunker, Gabriel, the only genius scientist among the group, might be able to study it. Assuming, of course, that he was still alive by that time.
___________________________________________________________________
12 days later, the bunker was almost complete. The underground structure was finally close to being usable, which meant it was time for the group to gather anything that might help them survive the coming apocalypse. After all, while the construction workers they had paid were working, they should too.
Their first destination was the weapon shop Gabriel had mentioned earlier. It wasn't that far, just a 30 minute walk. But just to be safe, they decided to use Arnaud's car.
When they arrived, they could see that the building in question was not in the best shape. Some parts of the building was destroyed as if a small gunfight had erupted. The sign above the entrance read:
"Steel and Bullet"
When Jacob pushed the door open and stepped inside, the room was completely silent. No customers. No employee. No one.
The group stopped near the entrance, exchanging uncertain glances at the unwelcoming silence.
"…Are we sure this is the right place?" Philippe asked.
"I'm 100% certain" Gabriel replied quickly in anger.
Arnaud slowly looked around the empty store, completely unconvinced.
"Then why are we standing in a building with no weapons… and no one inside it?" he asked.
Gabriel froze, he had no arguments that could save him here.
"…Good question."
He quickly rushed toward the counter, hoping to find a note or some sort of explanation near the main desk. But there was nothing. Nothing to tell customers the store was closed. In fact, there wasn't even a single sheet of paper on the bright red desk.
Gabriel frowned and looked around more carefully. The ground was a white mosaic type floor stained by some blood here and there. There were no computers either. Not even a phone. His stomach tightened as he leaned over the counter and opened the cash register.
Obviously, it was completely empty.
There wasn't even a single coin inside. Gabriel slowly straightened up in disappointment.
"…Was I wrong?" he muttered to himself.
"Yep" Arnaud replied immediately. "Looks like you were."
The group was about to leave when Gabriel suddenly froze.
"Wait guys!" Gabriel shouted as he looked behind him in the direction the rest of the group were standing.
Everyone turned back towards him as he said that with excitement within his voice.
"There's a button inside the register!"
Sure enough, a small black button was hidden inside the empty black cash register. Gabriel then stared at it for a moment. There were only two possibilities.
Either it was a silent alarm meant to alert the police during a robbery or it was connected to something that could somehow explain why this weapon shop looked completely abandoned.
"Well," Didier said," What are you waiting for? Press it."
Gabriel took a deep breath and pushed the button. For a moment, nothing happened. No alarm and no sound.
Then suddenly, a mechanical noise echoed through the empty store. The wall directly behind Gabriel slowly slid open, revealing a hidden room. Inside the small secret space stood a fat man. And that very man was pointing a revolver directly at them.
His eyes were cold, holding clear anger within them.
"Get out of my sight or you are all dead" he growled.
Gabriel, who was standing closest to the hidden room, froze when he saw the revolver pointed directly at him. Before he could rationally think, his eyes quickly scanned the floor.
A wooden plank lay a few steps away. If he moved fast enough, he might be able to grab it and knockout the man before he fired. But before Gabriel could even take a single step, the unknown man pulled the trigger.
The gunshot echoed through the empty shop and the bullet tore straight through Gabriel's left thigh.
"AAAAAAH!"
Gabriel collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony as pain shot through his entire body. The man didn't lower his weapon however and still threatened the rest of the group.
"As I said" he growled coldly, "get out of my sight. I won't hesitate to fire again."
Philippe immediately rushed forward, trying to drag Gabriel away from the open wall. Another shot rang out. The bullet whistled past Philippe's shoulder, missing him by only a few centimeters.
"Get out!" the man shouted. "And leave this guy behind!"
The group froze, this was bad. Losing someone before the apocalypse had even begun could destroy everything they had planned.
Alexis stepped backwards slightly as he hid behind the counter.
"Why are you shooting at us?" he demanded calmly.
"…"
The man hesitated. For a brief moment, the revolver trembled slightly within his hands before he suddenly shouted.
"You're here to rob me, just like those other guys earlier! I won't let you!"
As voice echoed through the empty shop, Alexis's mind immediately started racing.
Robbing him?
That meant the man in the hidden room was most likely the owner of the weapon shop. And if he believed they were robbers, then something must have happened before they arrived and a robbery would explain everything. The empty store, the missing weapons and the abandoned counter.
Someone had most likely already taken everything before they could arrive.
A low groan suddenly broke the silence. Gabriel. He was still lying on the floor, holding his wounded leg and breathing heavily through the unbearable pain as blood started to pour out.
Alexis needed to calm the owner down somehow, but the man was clearly terrified and already convinced they were criminals. There was almost no chance he would trust anything they said.
And sneaking into the hidden room was impossible. The narrow entrance was completely blocked by the owner's body and the revolver aimed at them.
For a moment, no one spoke but out of nowhere, Victor suddenly stepped forward.
"We're not here to rob you!" he shouted. "We came here to buy weapons!"
The owner's eyes narrowed. He clearly didn't believe a single word. Still, doubt flickered across his face.
Was there a possibility that he had just shot an innocent kid? No. His grip tightened around the revolver as thoughts flooded his head. In his mind, the answer was simple. He hadn't shot an innocent person. He had shot a robber. He was only protecting himself. That had to be the truth.
"I don't believe a single damn word you're saying," the owner snapped. "Do you have any proof? Identification papers… or proof that you're actually here to buy something?"
Identification papers? Victor frowned as he tried backing away. Why would he want that?
Identification papers felt almost useless in a situation like this. And even if they showed them, it wouldn't prove their intentions anyway. The only real proof they had was the money they had brought. And the money was in Gabriel's orange backpack. The problem was that Gabriel was the one lying on the floor.
Victor hesitated, quickly trying to think of a way to reach the backpack without provoking the man with the revolver. Before he could speak, Didier stepped forward slightly.
"The proof is in the backpack of the friend you just shot," he said calmly. "If you let me get it without shooting me, you'll see that we are telling the truth."
The shop owner's face tightened at the mention of potential proof. Sweat slowly ran down the side of his bald forehead. It could be true. But it could also be a trick. The backpack might contain a revolver for all he could know.
The only way to know for sure would normally be identification papers. After all, even if the world was slowly falling apart, you had to be at least 17 to legally buy a gun or any kind of weapon anywhere around the world.
"I'll check it myself" the man said slowly. "And if any of you try something funny…"
His eyes shifted around the room and then landed toward Gabriel.
"I won't hesitate to shoot your friend in the head."
The owner slowly stepped out of the hidden room, the revolver still firmly aimed at the group. Every movement was cautious and measured or he might get jumped by the random group of robbers.
When he finally reached Gabriel, the boy threw him the bag, still in anger and pain. He quickly grabbed it and hurried back toward the hidden room, clearly afraid that someone might try to rush him. Halfway back, however, he suddenly stopped. A terrifying thought crossed his mind : what if it was a bomb?
His hands began to shake as he stared down at the backpack. Slowly, he placed it on the floor. If it exploded, at least he would have a chance to jump back.
The man carefully unzipped the bag, his index still resting on the revolver's trigger. The moment the zipper opened, he immediately stepped backwards, bracing himself for an explosion.
One second passed.
Then two.
Three.
Five seconds later, nothing had happened.
The owner cautiously leaned forward and looked inside the bag. His eyes widened as he witnessed the pile of cash within the bag, it was filled with cash, a lot of cash at that.
"I knew it!" he suddenly shouted.
His revolver snapped back towards the group.
"You are robbers!"
"What?" Victor shouted back. "How?!"
"This is stolen money!" the owner barked like a mindless fool. "You robbed other stores and now you came here to rob mine too!"
Victor's patience began to break.
"That money is ours!" he shouted back. "We brought it here to pay for weapons!"
"Then where's your proof?" the owner fired back.
Victor threw his hands in frustration. Why was this guy so dumb?
"Why the hell would we steal money when the entire country is falling apart like shit?!"
"..."
"You're probably trying to buy tickets to escape the country by stealing other shops including mine!" the owner screamed back.
Victor let out a frustrated sigh while the others were laughing in their corners.
"With the money in that bag we could buy thirty tickets to France." he finally answered back. "If leaving was our plan, we would've already done it."
The room fell silent again. The owner's expression slowly changed. He then looked back at the backpack. Then at the group again.
Thirty tickets. While thinking about it, they really could have already left, yet they were standing here in his shop. The boy was most likely right. If they truly wanted to run away, nothing was stopping them. They already had the money for it.
Which meant that they hadn't come here to rob him. And if that was true, that meant he had just shot an innocent kid. That thought alone made his stomach drop. Guilt spread across his face almost instantly. His hand trembled as he lowered the revolver.
"I… I'm sorry I doubted you lots." he muttered.
He quickly waved them forward.
"Come in, and let me help the boy I just shot."
The owner hurried out of the hidden room and rushed toward Gabriel. Philippe quickly grabbed Gabriel under one arm while the owner grabbed the other, helping drag the wounded boy toward the secret room. With every mouvement, Gabriel could feel his leg burning and his blood flowing out. What seemed good was that the blood was barely dropping out, but that just gave him some more minutes to find a hospital.
The rest of the group hesitated for a moment before slowly following them inside. Just before entering, however, Arnaud suddenly stopped as his eyes caught something weird outside the building. His eyes narrowed as he stared behind him, unsure if what he was seeing was true.
"Was there always a forest outside the store?" Arnaud asked slowly. "If I remember correctly, there wasn't. Right?"
The others turned toward him in confusion. Before anyone could answer, a deep roar suddenly echoed across the town. A few seconds later, screams erupted from every direction outside. Some were filled with terror and others were filled with pain and torment.
The apocalypse had arrived started earlier than expected. Phantoms seemed to have already started to run out of their forest.
Without wasting another second, the owner shouted at Arnaud, who was still standing outside the hidden room.
"Quick, close the door!" he yelled. "The button is the same one you pressed earlier!"
"But I'll be trapped out here!"
"Don't worry!" the owner shouted back. "The door only closes after five seconds!"
Arnaud would need to try and trust the guy who just shot his friend but he had no other choices. He quickly sprinted to the counter, slammed the hidden button inside the register, and immediately ran back toward the secret room.
As he entered, the wall behind him slowly began sliding shut. Arnaud dove through the opening as fast as he could and as he turned his head toward the entrance of the shop, something moved in the doorway.
Stupidly long claws were scraping against the frame of the entrance. And then, for the briefest of moments, Arnaud saw it, a phantom head slowly leaning inside the shop. That head was accompanied by a wide and bright smile from the phantom but before he could react, the wall slammed shut.