It all started with one tiny mutating cell. It spread, and spread, killing him. And then he rose.
When he devoured his wife’s flesh, it made national news, but people thought it was just a freak cannibalistic occurrence. But then, as people found later, when he bit his wife, it gave her the disease. She bit multiple policemen, who were examining her, “dead” body. The policemen turned into the Things, spreading it throughout the police station. They walked out of the station, spreading it throughout the town. It spread from there, into the city, which really started it.
The people who were bitten rose up from the dead, and got vengeance on the world. They wreaked havoc in the cities, and bit millions of innocents. Massive crowds of them were forming in the cities, too big to control. The police, national guard, and the U.S Army fought against them relentlessly, but to no avail. It was the end of the world as people knew it. (Historical)
Ruben Hitchler was there, in the first city, where it started. Chicago. (Geographical) He thought they should have just blown up all of Chicago, and stopped it right then and there. They thought it could be controlled. Instead, it spread throughout the entire world, killing billions. Ruben locked himself in his hotel room with his wife. (Physical) A couple days later, when searching for food, he was separated from his wife by a crowd of the Things. That was 8 months, 2 weeks, and 3 days ago. He lived on, finding the weapons he could scavenge, taking it from dead police officers, and soldiers. There was also plenty of food he could get, with a city filled with restaurants and other stores. He never felt guilty about taking food, as far as he knew, he was the only survivor in all of Chicago. He also had a black Ford Mustang, taken from a city parking garage, using it to speed across the streets, from place to place.
Ruben stepped out of his car, and sprinted into a restaurant. He grabbed a jar of pickles, and sprinted out of the store. His throat screamed for thirst as he stuffed three salty pickles down his throat. He looked back at the restaurant, seeing if they might have some water. Suddenly, he saw the restaurant’s name, and realized that was where he and his wife had eaten before the Things invaded the city. Hot tears poured down his cheeks, and he drove away. Before their vacation to Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Hitchler lived in Little Rock, Arkansas. The couple was recently married, and wanted to have a child of their own. Ruben went to Chicago for a business trip, and his wife, Jennifer, decided to come with to explore the city. As far as he knew, Little Rock could still be undamaged, but he couldn’t risk leaving the city, that’s how most people died.
Ruben walked past the long abandoned hotel pool. There was an unsettling silence throughout the hotel. He walked up the stairs, across a hall, and into the security room. The cameras were still working, so he could see what was happening on each floor. His heart skipped a beat. In one of the screens, he saw a group of about ten Things walking through the front door. His hands instinctively yanked out his two pistols, and he sprinted down the stairs.
When he sprinted along the hallway, he came face to face with them. He sprinted a back, turned around, and shot two of the Things heads off. He aimed his pistols again, and shot. Two more heads flew off. From almost a year of practice, Ruben became a good shot with a gun. Two more heads were shot. But they were gaining. Four of them remained. He shot two more, and knowing he was low on ammo, he drew his knife, and charged the next two. He stabbed one of them right in the forehead, but his blade got stuck in the Thing’s skull. The next Thing jumped over to bite Ruben, but he avoided the Thing. Suddenly, Ruben lost his footing, dropped his knife, and the Thing fell on top of him. Just when the Thing was about to bite him, a knife slid through the back of the Thing’s head. Ruben rolled the Thing over, and he saw a woman. She had a dirty face with torn clothes, and there was something else. There was a baby strapped onto her back. Ruben looked into her eyes and yelled, “Jennifer!” A huge smile broke onto both of their faces, a husband and wife finally reunited at that moment, caring about nothing other than each other. “What’s the name?” asked Ruben. His wife looked up and said, “I named him after you.”
He charged a crowd of the Things. He seemingly danced through them, tearing down their numbers with a combination of a pistol, and a machete. His fellow survivors stood around him, the group quickly slaughtering the entire crowd. Ruben lead the men back into the city. It was a gigantic camp he and his father, also named Ruben, had started, gathering up thousands of survivors, reviving human civilization in the wake of the apocalypse. This made Ruben Jr. the leader, also because his father was too old. But Ruben Jr. thought he was better suited for the role. He had grown up during these times, witnessed the new despair of daily life. He could tell he was tougher than his father, but not by much. He always talked to his dad whenever he had to make hard decisions. Ruben walked through the main gate of the city, surrounded by artillery and many armed survivors. Everything was going pretty well. Out of the 10,000 people living in the camp, not one person had died in over two weeks. Ruben smiled as the smell of BBQ ribs went throughout the air, his mom’s cooking about to feed many mouths. Ruben took a quick look at the hotel where his father had first survived, and reminded himself that he needed to have the same toughness for himself. He sat down at a picnic table close to where his mom was grilling, and he waited for his meal.