The Walking Dead: Visions of the Future

[A/N: Hello everyone.

We're finally back with our protagonist after 10 chapters from different perspectives.

Now the story will follow Alex for the most part.

Comment, donate power stones, and click the heart button on my profile. If you have time, check out my other novels.]

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Friday, November 20, 2026, northeast area of the city.

With considerable weight in his backpack on his shoulders and the burden of a promise within him, Alex opened the door of the safe house.

The night air, usually fresh and serene in that northeast area of the city, now felt imbued with an evident tension. An unusual quiet had replaced the usual urban din, broken only by the distant sound of sirens and, occasionally, a muffled cry that faded into the distance.

The curfew had descended relentlessly upon the city, but the city had not yet completely surrendered.

He adjusted the strap of his backpack and headed to his car.

He started the engine, the sound reverberating in the quiet of the street. He knew that driving would get him to the center faster, but it would also make him a larger and noisier target at a moment of increasing hysteria. It was a calculated risk.

The cold feel of the extra gun against his side reminded him of the seriousness of his mission. Every step, every kilometer, was a commitment he made for Emily, for Ron, and perhaps, deep down, for the small spark of hope that still burned within him.

The first streets of the neighborhood were far from resembling a battlefield but normally had vanished. Cars parked haphazardly revealed the haste with which people had abandoned their vehicles upon hearing the news or the curfew.

There were no overturned cars or widespread destruction, but rather an impression of an abrupt halt, as if the world had suddenly stopped. However, this quiet dissipated near the commercial areas.

Alex moved with an innate caution, his eyes meticulously scanning every shadow, every alley, every window. Silence was his adversary and his accomplice; it allowed him to listen, but it also amplified any sound.

The sound of his engine, in particular, unnerved him. Alex believed it was possible to summon the risks or the attention of undesirable individuals.

"Ideally, I wouldn't encounter any military personnel," Alex thought, observing his surroundings cautiously, hoping his adverse fortune wouldn't summon misfortunes.

However, Alex soon encountered his first obstacle.

A few blocks away, a human figure, or what was once human, staggered from the mouth of a gloomy alley. Its clothes were torn, its skin grayish, and its eyes, devoid of life, craved flesh.

Alex slightly increased his speed, evading the infected with an abrupt turn of the wheel. It was not the time to stop for individual confrontations if he could avoid them.

Every bullet was crucial, but, above all, every moment was precious.

As he progressed south, the residential area gave way to wider avenues and commercial buildings.

Here, the signs of increasing disorder are more evident.

The streets, though not destroyed, were congested by evening traffic, with some abandoned cars in the middle of the road, their owners, likely, fleeing on foot.

Grocery stores and pharmacies showed signs of hurried looting, with shattered display windows and empty shelves.

The smell of combustion and putrefaction, though not yet abundant, began to mix with the metallic stench of blood.

The car advanced with great difficulty, tires crunching over broken glass and minor debris.

Suddenly, a makeshift barrier appeared in his path.

Sandbags, wire fences, and a couple of military vehicles obstructed the main artery. Behind them, the silhouette of two armed military personnel, with their rifles pointed forward.

A checkpoint.

Alex braked abruptly, stopping the car behind an abandoned delivery truck, pondering the scenario. He couldn't just pass through.

The military, in their attempt to contain the outbreak and ensure compliance with the curfew, had developed paranoia, firing on sight at anyone who approached without permission, although these were only warning shots.

He recalled Ron's warnings about unsuccessful bribery attempts. It wasn't worth the risk of a direct confrontation.

He turned off the engine, got out of the car, and moved stealthily through an adjacent alley, dodging piles of waste and debris. The passage led him to a parallel, less crowded street, where the disorder was more chaotic than regulated. Here, the voices expressed not only dread but also rage.

Turning a corner, he came across a scene that instantly paralyzed him.

A contingent of protesters, some armed with sticks, iron bars, and rocks, confronted a small police patrol.

The sirens of the police vehicles wailed, but the noise was drowned out by the cacophony of shouts and intermittent gunfire.

The undead, attracted by the din, began to gather at the edges of the crowd, adding a layer of horror to the already chaotic situation. The crowd, blinded by anger and fear, did not perceive the true threat looming over them.

Alex was unable to intervene in a conflict of such magnitude. His primary objective was Emily. However, he saw an elderly woman, stumbling and collapsing in the middle of the commotion, about to be trampled by the stampede.

An impulse, stronger than his reasoning, motivated him. He moved swiftly, pushing his way through the crowd, grabbed the woman by the arm, and dragged her to the safety of a nearby doorway.

"Stay here! Don't venture out until the situation calms down!" he shouted, his voice barely perceptible above the din. The woman, her eyes filled with tears and gratitude, nodded faintly.

Alex did not wait for expressions of gratitude. Every moment was crucial.

He continued his journey on foot, his heart beating vigorously. The city center had transformed into an intricate labyrinth of dangers.

On a side street, he spotted a couple of suspicious figures forcing the entrance to a pharmacy. Criminals, taking advantage of the chaos to commit looting.

Alex maintained a prudent distance, his hand on the handle of his knife. They were not his problem, not at this moment.

Alex continued walking for several blocks. He was approaching the point indicated by Ron.

Just as he was about to turn a corner, the sound of his backpack's portable radio caught his attention.

"Alex, are you there?" David inquired over the radio.

"I'm here."

"Did you manage to go get Ron's daughter?"

"Yes, I'm close now."

"How did you do it?" David asked in surprise. He had gone to pick up his friends a few hours ago, and at that moment, it was already impossible to travel through the city center. "I drove to the military checkpoint, but then I had to continue on foot," Alex replied.

His voice throughout the conversation had remained low, and the radio volume was also at a minimum. Alex did not want to die from careless oversight like exposing himself to zombies due to noise, and even less so while continuing to advance to avoid wasting time.

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[A/N: To be honest, I had about 500 words just describing what the city center looked like. But I felt like it would be too much filler. If I ever create a scene with AI, I'll definitely use this description.]

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"How is the situation in the center right now?" David asked with a hint of concern.

"The situation is not good. People ignored the curfew and are still in the streets. Not to mention the people who are protesting and the criminals who have taken advantage of the situation to steal. However, that's not the main problem," Alex replied with an enigmatic tone.

"What's the problem then?"

"Zombies are starting to increase in number. There aren't too many yet, but with each passing minute, someone is turning. The worst part is that neither the military nor the government has warned about the zombies, so many people have suffered an attack from an infected person and don't know what they're going to face," Alex commented with a pessimistic and somewhat angry tone.

"I see, are there many zombies on the streets?"

"Out of a group of 100 people, 9 to 12 are zombies," Alex exemplified, but his tone indicated that it was only an optimistic projection. "But, in a few hours, there will surely be many more."

"Do you think the military will be able to control this? Or is there no turning back?"

"I think..." Alex hesitated, looked around, saw people running back and forth, some of them staggering strangely. He heard gunshots in the distance, explosions, and screams.

"I don't think they'll be able to fix this. Tomorrow, they'll surely abandon the center to guard the stadium where they've set up a temporary camp. However, abandoning the center where so many people are concentrated will be the worst mistake," Alex replied with complete sincerity, even if this could crush anyone's hopes.

"I understand," David articulated in a subdued tone.

"How are things at your base? Have you seen any zombies in the vicinity?" Alex inquired delicately; he had noticed that David's tone had become disheartened after hearing his response.

Even if he had already warned David about this apocalypse, this confirmation seemed like a death sentence for any glimmer of hope.

"We had a small mishap."

"What happened?!" Alex asked with a worried tone. He had unconsciously raised his voice, and now he was scanning the surroundings, preparing to face any danger he might have attracted.

"*** **** **," the radio sounded. Alex, unconsciously out of fear, had covered the radio and did not hear David's response.

"Repeat, please."

"I was telling you that we helped some people, and one of them was infected. I was about to go for Ron's daughter, but I had to return immediately when they asked for my help to manage the information."

"Was anyone hurt? Did they bite anyone?"

"Yes, the infected devoured his friend, and was about to attack his friend's partner and their child, but luckily they took shelter in a room, and I was able to rescue them," David replied with a relieved tone.

"That was very close."

"Yes. From now on, we must be cautious with people who try to conceal their injuries," David agreed. "Which safe house are you staying in? The one near your old residence?" he asked, concluding the previous topic.

"In the one in the northeast of the city. I rescued several people previously, and now they are staying there... I have to turn off the radio; I'm about to arrive."

"Okay. Take good care. Let me know when you're with Ron."

"I will."

Alex immediately turned off the radio. The conversation with David had been a somber confirmation of his worst fears.

"Zombies are appearing all over the city," Alex thought with concern.

The shelter David had set up was in the southern part of the city, and zombies also appeared there. Alex, who came from the north, also spotted some on his way to the center. And while he didn't know the situation in the other areas, he had no doubt it was similar.

"Perhaps only the southwest area is safe," Alex reflected, recalling his last delivery trip to the stadium where the military had set up their camp.

He continued his advance with extreme caution, his mind processing the information and preparing for what lay ahead.

The engine noises, the screams, and the gunshots he had heard in the distance now felt closer, more vivid. The atmosphere grew denser with each step, laden with a mixture of fear, desperation, and the fresh stench of death.

Finally, after advancing a few more blocks, Emily's high school building came into view.

It was not the image of a safe haven Alex had anticipated, but rather a hotbed of tense and dangerous activity. Some military vehicles were near the main entrance, their lights flickering dimly in the gloom.

Improvised barricades, like those at the checkpoint he had avoided, had been erected at the gates and access doors, made of sandbags and other materials he couldn't identify from a distance.

A group of military personnel, armed and with tense faces, guarded the entrance. From time to time, their shots echoed in the night, aimed at the zombies crawling down the street, attracted by the noise and the faint light. But what truly chilled Alex's blood were the other shots.

Dry, close-range shots coming from inside the high school.

"There are zombies inside!" Alex thought, alarmed.

The revelation hit him with the force of a punch to the stomach. He had assumed his mission would be a 'normal' extraction, worrying only about the living dead outside and getting Emily out of a supposedly safe building.

He never imagined that the situation inside the high school would be so uncertain, so compromised. The animosity he felt in the atmosphere was not that of a guarded school, but rather that of a miniature battlefield.

The sound of internal gunshots, intermittent but unmistakable, mixed with the occasional screams escaping from various places. The high school, which should have been a sanctuary, had turned into a trap.

The military outside was containing but not clearing. And if there were zombies inside, it meant Emily was in much greater danger than Ron had been able to convey.

Alex hid across the street behind some abandoned cars, observing the main entrance.

The military seemed to be on high alert, their eyes constantly scanning the exterior.

Entering through the main door was suicidal. He needed an alternative route, one that wouldn't put him directly in the sights of the soldiers or the living dead crowding the gates.

His gaze swept across the building's facade, looking for any weak point, any less guarded access.

Ron hadn't given him a detailed map of the high school, only the location. Now, it depended on his ingenuity.

The mission, already dangerous, had just become exponentially more complicated.

Emily was inside, and time was running out.

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[A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETED

Thanks everyone for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

These upcoming chapters will be action-packed, so I took the time to accurately portray the setting.

In this novel, I won't talk much about the initial situation at the high school where Emily was isolated. But if you want to know more, there are already several chapters in the spin-off that go into much more detail.

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Read my other novels

#Vinland Kingdom: Race Against Time.

#The Walking Dead: Emily's Metamorphosis from Visions of Future Saga

You can find them on my profile.]