Before the world succumbed to the silent grip of the undead, there was a time when the greatest threats were not the walking dead but the specters of war and the shadow of nuclear annihilation. This prequel to the *Zombie Chronicles* unfolds in the heart of the Cold War era, a period when the line between friend and foe blurred under the weight of mutual distrust and fear. It was a time when the American landscape was dotted not with the remnants of a post-apocalyptic nightmare but with the concrete manifestations of fear itself-underground bunkers and bomb shelters, meant to be sanctuaries against a nuclear fallout that seemed all too imminent.

In 1965, amidst this climate of tension and preparation, lived Jack, a man whose life was deeply rooted in the soil of a farm that had been passed down through generations. A radio technician and electrician by trade, Jack's existence was intertwined with the rhythms of the land and the cycles of day and night. His farm, a bastion of stability in a world teetering on the brink, became the stage for a story that would prelude the chaos to come.

On a Halloween night that seemed like any other, Jack retreated to the solitude of his barn, immersing himself in the intricacies of a new communications radio. It was a project born of passion, a testament to his unyielding curiosity and his connection to the broader world beyond the confines of his farm. As the night deepened, Jack's family, enveloped in the simple joys of the season, remained unaware of the shifting tides that would soon engulf them all.

The dawn that followed was not the gentle awakening it should have been but a jarring descent into a reality transformed. Jack awoke not to the familiar light of day but to a world bathed in blood-red, a harbinger of the devastation that had unfolded while he slept. The silence that met him was not peaceful but ominous, a precursor to the horror of realizing that the dead no longer rested in peace.

This prequel sets the stage for the *Zombie Chronicles*, offering a glimpse into the life that was, before the emergence of the undead. It is a story of contrasts-between the calm before the storm and the onslaught that follows, between the life Jack knew and the survival he must now navigate. Through Jack's eyes, we see the transition from a world consumed by the fear of destruction from without to one facing a threat from within, a threat far more insidious and uncontrollable than any nuclear fallout.

The saga that unfolds is one of resilience, of a man's struggle to hold onto his humanity in the face of unimaginable change. It is a narrative that explores the depths of fear and the heights of courage, a prelude to the darkness that awaits and the flicker of hope that persists, even in the darkest of times.