Shuteye Apocalypse

The Shuteye Apocalypse (or also known as 'The End of All Times', 'Sleeper Awakening', 'Global Wipe/Blindout', 'Judgement Day', 'Triumph of the Dark', 'The Outbreak' or simply '[regional name] Apocalypse') was a global event in the Better Days Ahead universe in which an unknown mutation transmitted from an unknown animal to humans, turning its patients into braindead bodies seeking flesh. More than 75% (exact % remains unknown) of humans died from the event during the 2022-2023 outbreak. In the United States alone, less than 10% survived.

History
The well known 'shuteye' or 'piker' was discovered in late 2021 but wasn't public until early 2022; which by then was a public issue in Asia and Europe. The virus did not reach the United States until sometime early-mid 2022 and became a nationwide problem by July 2022, with 28 states reporting over 20% of their populations having been possibly infected. Due to this, the president and military retreated to the cities and/or rural areas, none of which confirmedly remained in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont due to the stories gathered from Brighter Days Ahead and Worse Days Ahead. Though a government safe-zone was confirmedly set up within California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. For every other state, this remains unknown.

The first city that 'fell' due to the undead was New York City publicly in July 2022. However, due to the cut of power and electricity, many people only discovered news from radio broadcasts. Even so, people never discovered events happening in faraway locations; thus formicating the many early rumors and undead regional names. As such, people in safe-zones in Boston for example never heard of other safe-zones throughout the country. Or people in Kansas never heard of any safe-zone and were led to believe that the government collapsed and/or abandoned the people.

Some aforementioned 'rumors' include:


 * 1) The cold kills or slows the virus. *This is never confirmed nor unconfirmed, This led to many to travel north into Canada, during which a strong blizzard occurred from the winter of 2022-2023 that most likely killed most hopeful survivors.
 * 2) The virus spreads through liquid. *This is never confirmed nor unconfirmed, though eventually survivors discover that they cannot reanimate unless from a fatal infection, wound, certain death or an undead bite.
 * 3) Animals could reanimate. *This is later confirmed untrue by the Rubio family themselves. However, as evident throughout Worse Days Ahead, many pets and animals are abandoned from their owners and are forced to wander alone. By the 10 year leap, the Schroder family confirmed most pets from the old world had adapted to stray lives and mostly avoid human and undead interaction.
 * 4) The undead cannot swim. *This is later confirmed true by the Rubio family themselves. However, Worse Days Ahead eventually reveals people's fears of lakes, rivers and oceans due to the undead still being able to live and move underwater.
 * 5) The undead can run. *This is later confirmed true by the Rubio family themselves, though they later confirm the stamina rule. The stamina rule implies that the undead can only run after feasting; which remains true, though in Brighter Days Ahead, the undead are older and weaker; making this run into a limp.

Canada
Canada collapsed sometime before the United States, though the Western Provinces (especially the Prairie Provinces) remained in "government hands" for a longer duration. The only known place in Canada that had a significant survivor population after 2022 was Nova Scotia, with only Halifax and the Southern lands being conquered by the shuteyes. As such, Nova Scotians dedicated the summer of 2023 in liberating their lands; eventually becoming a self-sustainable province with walls separating cities/towns incase of an outbreak on the peninsula. However, by 2032, their safety remains disputed due to survivors from the Eastern United States unidentifying with or being uninformed about Nova Scotia's security. During the winter of 2022-2023, many Canadians presumably died in the blizzard; though figures are unknown.

Brazil
Brazil's survival is unknown. In July 2022, the city of Rio de Janeiro became victim of arson and most of the city's population perished in the flames or rampant shuteyes. By November 2022, the city of Cuiabá having lost contact with Rio de Janeiro and Brasilía and not understanding why, started experiencing shuteye outbreaks; this currently holds as the last shuteye outbreak in 2022, from what we know so far.

Japan
Japan collapsed as early as May 2022, with its population suffering from an atleast 90% fatality rate. In the Aomori region, many fleeing Japanese peoples attempted to cross to Hokkaido via a tunnel, though this tunnel was exploded in June 2022. It is hinted that Hokkaido was the last area of Japan that hadn't fallen to the shuteyes, though as of 2032 this remains unknown.

Mexico
Mexico collapsed earlier than the United States, sometime in June-July 2022, with huge migrant waves traveling from as far as Chiapas to flee to the United States. Its process of collapsing remains unknown, though the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila had small pockets of survivor camps and towns existing in September 2022.

Spain
Spain never formally 'collapsed', with its government running to the Canary Islands and Catalonians fleeing to the Pyrenees Mountains. Those who remained were not exceptionally hit hard, except for the obvious city people. However, the process of Spain's transition to a shuteye society was a short and slow one; to the point that about 80-90% of its population had perished by 2023. It is common knowledge among the hiding Catalonians that many Spaniard farmers managed to avoid the apocalypse, similar to the Kansas farm people; with large areas of Spain remaining 'shuteye free'. In 2027, Catalonians fled from the Pyrenees Mountains and ensued a battle that eventually won with the liberations of Barcelona and Girona. However, by 2028, the Barcelonan bureaucracy closed themselves from the public which resulted in an intense shuteye outbreak that killed about 50% of its inhabitants; those who survived fled to Girona or elsewhere and many of the aristocrats were slaughtered.