It was supposed to be an ordinary afternoon for the people of Metro Manila — until something suddenly appeared.
"Zombies!"
Adrian, a five-foot-ten college student with a fairly handsome face, was startled by the shout of a passenger inside the MRT. The man looked pale and paranoid, his trembling finger pointing toward the window.
Adrian followed his gaze.
The moment he saw what was happening outside, his eyes widened.
People were running wildly along the EDSA roads, abandoning vehicles and crashing into one another in panic. Behind them, others gave chase — but the way they moved was wrong.
Their arms were stretched forward, grabbing anything within reach. And when they caught someone, they didn't hesitate.
They bit.
He rubbed his eyes, making sure he was seeing it right and not hallucinating. But the scene was still there.
"Wait, isn't it like a movie setup or anything?" one of the passengers said.
No one answered.
The carriage had gone quiet. Dozens of eyes were glued to the windows. A few passengers nervously laughed, but it sounded forced. Others were already taking a video of the scene on their smartphones.
Meanwhile, Adrian just watched the scene, analyzing it. If they were shooting a film then there must be a crew somewhere but he didn't find anything like high-tech cameras or a microphone. And why would they shoot when the rush hour is near? It doesn't make sense.
The more he watched the scene unfolding, the more he realized that maybe they were real. People were attacking one another, there was even a car crash.
A hatchback clipped the rear of a bus and spun sideways, tires screeching. The hood folded inward with a dull crunch. Smoke hissed out as the driver kicked the door open and stumbled into traffic.
He didn't make it three steps.
Two infected rushed him. One caught his arm. The other slammed into his back. They dragged him down between vehicles. His shout cut off as bodies piled over him.
The MRT continued forward, rattling along its track.
Then the train jerked.
The carriage lurched hard enough to throw passengers off balance. Adrian tightened his grip on the pole as a heavy thud traveled through the floor.
Another followed.
A low vibration ran up through the metal beneath his feet.
Someone near the window gasped. "Did we just… run over something?"
He didn't know. He couldn't tell. How was he supposed to know?
Still, Adrian pushed himself upright and stepped closer to the window. He pressed his cheek against the glass to get a better angle.
The MRT Ortigas Station came into view.
At this hour, the platform should've been packed.
Instead, it was chaos.
People were running in every direction. Some were trying to force their way through the exit gates. Others shoved past each other toward the stairwells. Bags were dropped. Phones scattered across the tiles. A man fell near the platform edge and was trampled by the crowd rushing over him.
Then Adrian saw them.
The infected were already inside the station.
They pushed through the mass of commuters without hesitation. One grabbed a woman by the shoulder and dragged her down. Another lunged at a man trying to climb over the railing. The platform turned into a crush of bodies — people fighting to escape, infected forcing their way in.
The train slowed.
"No, no, no…" someone whispered behind him.
The MRT rolled into the station anyway.
And when their carriage entered the station, he could now see clearly what was going on.
Zombies.
They hurled themselves into the fleeing commuters, knocking them off their feet and pinning them down. Teeth sank into shoulders, arms, necks — anywhere they could reach.
A woman tried to crawl away, dragging one leg behind her. An infected grabbed her ankle and pulled. She clawed at the floor until two more piled on top of her. Adrian couldn't see her anymore — only the jerking movement of bodies feeding.
The train crept forward.
Passengers inside the carriage backed away from the windows, voices rising in panic.
"Don't stop here!"
"Keep going!"
But the MRT didn't speed up.
It rolled deeper into the station.
A survivor sprinted alongside the train, slamming his palm against the glass.
"HELP ME! OPEN THIS DOOR! OPEN THIS DO—"
His cries were cut off by a zombie who dragged him to the ground.
Adrian was shocked to see it, unable to move.
But then.
An infected threw itself headfirst into the glass.
The impact snapped Adrian back. A spiderweb of cracks spread from the point of contact. The zombie's face smeared against the window, leaving a streak of blood. It slid down slowly, jaw working, teeth snapping at nothing.
Several passengers screamed.
"Don't open the door or we are going to die!"
"Tell the driver to move on!"
Those were all the cries and pleas from the passenger inside. They don't care about the people outside the train, they only care about their safety. And Adrian was nodding his head, agreeing to them.
However, the doors of the train slid open.
Adrian's eyes widened once again. Why did it open? The only way for it to open is if the driver itself opened it. It can't be opened automatically upon arriving in the attention.
But it's too late, the zombies outside the train were now rushing inwards with a roar.
Adrian quickly ran.
Panic detonated inside the carriage.
People scattered, trampling bags and stepping over each other. Someone fell. Another passenger tried to pull them up, but the crowd pushed past too fast.
"Close it! Close it!" someone shouted.
The doors stayed open.
More infected forced their way in. One grabbed a woman by the hair and yanked her backward. She clawed at the pole, fingers slipping. Her scream vanished into the chaos as she was dragged into the swarm.
Adrian shoved through the crowd, shoulder-checking past a man frozen in place. His heart pounded so hard it hurt. Every instinct screamed at him to move.
A zombie lunged from the side.
Adrian twisted away just in time.
He stumbled, slammed into a seat, and caught himself before falling.
The carriage filled with wet snarls and human screams.
A teenager swung a backpack at an infected's head. The impact staggered it, but another zombie grabbed him from behind. They went down together.
The floor became slick.
Adrian kicked free from someone clutching his leg and pushed toward the far end of the carriage. Around him, passengers fought with bare hands — shoving, striking, trying to pry jaws away from flesh.
It's dangerous to stay inside the carriage, he knew it. So he has to get out of the train.
Fortunately, he was near one of the doors. He ran towards it and exited where most of the zombies were busy chasing their prey. None noticed him so he went towards the emergency exit which would lead him to the center of EDSA.
He descended the stairs.
When he reached the bottom, he pushed through the exit gate and stepped onto EDSA.
The highway was frozen.
Cars filled every lane, bumper to bumper, engines still running. Exhaust smoke drifted into the air. Doors hung open. Some vehicles were angled sideways, abandoned mid-turn.
And people were running everywhere.
Adrian stood there for half a second, trying to take it in.
It was hell! Where was he supposed to go when everything around him has zombies, and their numbers are increasing as they infect many people.
This country is the worst place for a zombie apocalypse. Overpopulated metro city and roads clogged due to never-ending traffic.
But he couldn't complain now. He has to survive this hellish place and being outside meant death if he stayed still.
Adrian forced his legs to move.
People slammed past him, breathless and wide-eyed. A man collided with his shoulder and kept running without apology.
He weaved between abandoned cars.
He needed somewhere to hide.
Somewhere solid.
His eyes darted across the skyline.
To his left rose the familiar bulk of SM Megamall.
For a split second, relief flickered.
Then he saw the entrances.
Crowds were pouring in and out in blind panic. People shoved through the doors, some trying to get inside, others fighting their way back out. And mixed among them were infected, snapping and dragging victims down right at the threshold.
The mall was already lost.
Adrian tore his gaze away.
Think.
He scanned the buildings beyond the traffic.
Then he saw it.
Megatower.
The skyscraper stood just beyond the chaos. Compared to the mall, the entrance looked… quiet.
An office building.
Most workers would've evacuated — or never made it in. Fewer crowds meant fewer infected.
If he could get inside…
He pivoted toward it and ran.
A zombie stumbled out from between two parked cars. Its head snapped toward him. Adrian swerved hard, nearly tipping himself over debris, and vaulted over a low bumper.
He landed and kept moving.
The distance felt longer than it should've.
Every step, he expected hands to grab him from behind. Every sound made his pulse spike. He dodged a fallen briefcase, hurdled a motorcycle lying on its side, and burst onto the sidewalk leading to the tower.
The entrance doors stood half-open.
Adrian slowed for the first time since leaving the train, chest heaving. He glanced back at EDSA, at the running, the screams, it was still going!
Then he slipped inside.
The lobby swallowed the noise.
Cool air brushed his face. The marble floor gleamed under fluorescent lights. Reception desks sat empty. A security chair lay tipped over near the entrance.
He vaulted over the turnstile and jogged towards the elevator. He pressed the up button.
Now, the most safest part of the skyscraper was up, if possible, to the rooftop. The elevator arrived and the metal door slid open.
He stepped inside and just as he was about to hit the top floor, he noticed something. There was a scanner mounted beside the panel.
Adrian stared at it.
"Seriously…?" he muttered under his breath.
The elevator wouldn't move without access.
He jabbed the top floor button anyway.
Nothing.
The red light stayed on.
His breathing quickened. He hit the button again, harder this time, like force would make a difference.
Still nothing.
He stepped back out of the elevator and scanned the lobby.
Reception. Of course, there must be an ID there.
He jogged to the front desk. Papers were scattered across the counter. A coffee cup lay tipped over, its contents dried into a stain. A lanyard hung off the edge of the desk.
Adrian grabbed it.
A plastic ID card swung at the end.
He sprinted back to the elevator just as a distant scream echoed faintly from outside. The sound slipped in through the half-open entrance doors.
They were getting closer.
He swiped the card.
Beep.
The red light turned green.
Adrian hit the highest floor button.
The doors slid shut.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the elevator hummed to life.
He leaned back against the wall, chest rising and falling fast. His reflection stared back at him from the brushed metal interior.
The floor numbers ticked upward.
5…
8…
12…
He is safe, for now.
The top floor was 50, so the ride took a while. And when it reached the 50th floor, he stepped out of the elevator where a pristine hallway greeted him. It was unlike the chaos outside. He stepped toward the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked down.
Smokes billowing out from the residential buildings, clogged roads, people running, it was the same wherever he looked. It was as if the whole Metro Manila had fallen apart at the same time.
Why did it happen so suddenly? An hour ago, everything was peaceful, and then this.
And then he realized he could check the news from his phone. He still has it in his pocket.