Jacob never believed in zombies. I mean, who does? They are fictional monsters that eat your brain. And, they really aren’t that fast either. So, why are they so scary? Jacob would soon find out. If he knew what would happen that day, he would have just stayed in bed.

It was a hot summer morning in June, and there was not a cloud in sight. The forecast called for even more heat, later in the week. With the area in a severe drought, there was no salvation in sight. The drought had started weeks ago and wasn’t expected to end anytime soon. Most wells in the area had run dry, and the local supermarkets sold out of water weeks ago.

Most people just stayed inside with the AC on max. As you can probably imagine, this put immense strain on the local power grids. Burnouts were frequent and blackouts were unsurprising. Most local businesses faltered and soon closed. However, some businesses soared. Some sweet corn growers and farmers benefited from a genetically modified species of corn. A lab, in nearby Greenwood, designed and engineered a species of corn that grew well in drought-like conditions.

With a water restriction, the local pools were closed. The Indian River, which was usually a couple of yards deep, provided relief to some risk-takers. The drought had dried up most of the river. However, there was still a narrow stream that was six inches deep, but it still provided relief. Normally, the river had white-rapids and debris flowing in it, but with no water, the debris didn’t flow.

Many people went to the hospital for heat stroke and other heat-related conditions. Other people went to the hospital for severe sunburn, since department stores had run out of sunburn relief items weeks ago.

Jacob lived in a high-tech house that was fairly large, that was situated on 2 square miles or 1280 acres. The house was set in modern architecture with clean, white walls, and wide windows almost everywhere to fill the house with natural light. The solar panels on the roof provided the house with auxiliary power, that connected to a large battery bank located in the basement. This powered the automatic AC and central heating along with the rest of the house and property. There was never a shortage of power on the property.

The property had mostly grass with some buildings with a portion of the Indian River running through it, but the majority of the property was farmland that was rented out. Also, some of the land was covered in a thick grove of trees. The last 400 acres were fenced in. Next to the house was a large generator, in case the battery system ever broke, and beside the house was a four-car garage and large barn.

His family was quite rich. They had gained their wealth from owning a railroad company in 1865, which they sold and made millions. They decided to settle in small-town Iowa for a normal life. His family had bought everything that was on our property. However, he soon had made his own millions by creating an efficient and cost-effective wind turbine design.

That morning, Jacob didn’t want to wake up, especially at five in the morning, but it was the only time when you could go outside without having your blood boiled. He slowly woke up and went down-stairs. As soon as Jacob reached the bottom step, he could already hear the AC roaring on full-blast.

Jacob received an alert on his phone saying that he was in a heat advisory. The fact that there was high humidity was both a good thing and a bad thing. Good meaning there might be rain, and bad meaning thunderstorm or even a tornado. He opened the cupboard and prepared a bowl of cereal.

Jacob received another alert saying that the chances of rain had risen to fifty percent. This put Jacob in a great mood, thinking he might get some rain this time. He started to eat his bowl of cereal, but this bowl somehow tasted better than the others before it.

After his bowl of cereal, Jacob did his morning routine of checking the generator. He made sure it had fuel and checked the solar panels for debris or cracks. When he was convinced that there were neither, Jacob started back towards the house.

At around one o’clock, Jacob received an alert on his phone, “There is a complete blackout in Greenwood. The power grid collapsed. Backup power is gone. Relief vehicles are inbound.”

“This is not good,” Jacob thought. He was concerned for the people that he knew in Greenwood. But, Jacob was more worried about the lab in Greenwood. If anything happened to the experiments inside, bad things would happen.

The lab was working on many projects. Some projects were classified even though everyone knew that the lab had classified projects. The frequent army supply trucks going in and out didn’t exactly keep things under wrap.

At half past one, another alert popped up on Jacob’ phone, “All residents in Greenwood and surrounding towns, stay inside. Lock your doors and windows until further notice.”

“That’s weird, ” Jacob thought. “ Why would they want people to stay inside during a blackout? Normally you would want to be outside.”

Jacob returned to his house, and immediately started the property’s security protocol. Metal shutters covered the wide windows and doors clicked shut. Once the cameras were powered up, they recorded any type of movement and sent a signal to his computer.

Jacob went to his computer to research a reason for the alert. After an hour of finding nothing but freaked out residents, one of his cameras in the grove went offline.

“What the…?” Jacob said, “The cameras shouldn’t run out of power, they are solar powered.” There must be an interference or someone messed with it. He heaved a heavy sigh. Now, he had to go retrieve the footage.

Jacob checked the other signals for any other clues and prepared to leave. He grabbed a sunhat and a bag filled with water bottles. Unlocking the front door, he took a deep breath and set off for the camera.

After twenty minutes of walking, Jacob reached the camera. It was nestled in a crook of a tree about ten feet up. The tree was an elm tree and was thirty feet tall. On top of the camera’s solar panel was a birds nest. The solar panel was covered in grass and bird feces.

Jacob started up the tree. The first couple of feet were difficult, as there were no branches for footholds. He reached the first foothold a couple of feet off the ground. He took a sip of water and was about to start up again when something reached out and grabbed his foot.

Jacob turned around to see who or what had grabbed him. When he turned around he saw a man covered dust and leaves. His hair was patchy as if he had mange. His skin had splotches over his face and arms. His eyes looked milky and distance.

The man snarled and pulled Jacob’s foot away from the tree. Jacob’s other foot slipped and he lost his handhold. Jacob fell from the tree, hitting his head on the roots of the tree. Jacob yelled out in pain. Dazed Jacob tried to fight off the monster.

He grabbed at Jacob again and bit the top of his shoulder. Jacob yelled once more, but this seemed to only make him hungrier. He grabbed Jacob’s head between his hands tightly. The monster had an iron grip despite his appearance.

He held Jacob down and went in for the kill. The man bit into Jacob’s jugular vein and ripped away. Jacob went limp. The man walked a couple of feet away and waited. After a couple of minutes, Jacob began to rise, with the same milky and distant eyes as the man before him.