Groups that had survived together for months were suddenly torn apart without warning.
"What's wrong?!"
"How could this be possible?!"
"What happened—what changed?!"
"They're all dead! They're all dead—every single one of them!"
Panicked voices echoed through radios and cracked communication networks, many cutting off mid-sentence in bursts of static and screams.
Survivors who had once trusted their methods now stared in disbelief at the carnage unfolding before them.
Entire safe zones fell in minutes.
Defensive perimeters that had held firm for countless nights were breached with terrifying ease.
Barricades were bypassed. Watch posts went silent.
Trained hunters vanished without leaving so much as a struggle behind.
Fear spread faster than the infection ever had.
The truth soon became impossible to ignore.
The zombie hordes had changed.
They no longer wandered aimlessly or attacked in predictable swarms. They stalked their prey.
