Prologue/Ep1

The world has gone to hell. No one knows why they are here, just that they are. What was thought to be a virus, spread into a global pandemic killing millions. The dead began to rise from their beds and graves and began hunting. Anyone that wasn"t ripped apart by them, either ran away or was bitten and turned into one of them. It was a literal apocalypse. Soon around a billion were dead in just a few days. When will it end? Will there be an end? I"m not sure. I guess it"s a matter of who survives, if anyone does.

"Run!" The boy with the red hair runs past me and wacks down a few with a metal pipe. Those beasts. I hesitate not quite sure if I should stay and help or run towards the gates that lead to safety. I shouldn"t have hesitated. Gruesome, decaying hands reach out to me and another one of the kids whacks away the hands with his baseball bat. He gives me a look and I run towards the gates. There is a large chain-link fence surrounding a school. Is this where they had been staying? If so, they were lucky to have this much protection from the outside world. Out of breath, I finally reach the gate only to find it stuck.

From the four boys that found me only one comes to help. The others try to hold back the zombies but they continue to creep closer to us. I can smell their putrid skin from here, the smell of their rotting flesh. Black and red eyes stare at me as they roar, screaming for my blood. I shiver and keep pushing on to the gate. It may just be the key to us living right now. The guy next to me starts complaining and yelling at me. "Stop freaking out and help me open this gate!" Surprisingly his anger snaps me out of my trance. I take a few steps back and ram my shoulder into the gate. It crashes open and we rush inside. As two of the stronger looking guys push the gate close as the rest of us run towards the building.

The main hallway of the school is musty and dust floats around the air. All I can smell is dust and the scent of stale blood. I can only imagine what it was like when the first wave came. Those poor kids. My shoulder begins throbbing, pulling me back into reality and I can only pray it"s not broken. An injury in a time like this is not the most helpful thing in the world. While everyone takes a minute to breath, I look around at my fellow survivors. They all look around my age. Just high school teens. We are all just kids. How did we end up here?

I notice the others seem to relax a bit now and are talking while they stack chairs in front of the door. Should I introduce myself? What should I say? One of them seems to notice this and walks over to join me. "I"m Harry." I look at him, a bit confused. "What?" He laughs and gives me a warm smile. "My name is Harry. What"s your name?" Oh god. I have been here for five minutes and I"ve already made a stupid mistake. I take a quick look around the room and notice the other three are watching me closely. I"ve gotta look strong here! If I want to stay, or at least make some allies. Maybe even friends. I straighten my back and give him an equally warm smile. "My name is Charlotte."

His face flickers over with a quick pace of familiarity. Recognition even. But it passes and he keeps up the small talk. "So, your accent. Are you Australian?" "Yeah, I am. I moved here to the States about a two years ago with my family. My Dad is in the Air Force and he got posted here." I shouldn"t have said that. At the thought of my family tears spring to my eyes. Mum. Dad. Daisy. They could all be dead, and I would have no idea. They could have even been one of the beasts calling for my death just outside the gates. Harry notices the tears forming and picks up my hand. "Hey, are you alright? You"re allowed to cry, if you need to." Why is he being so nice to me? I don"t deserve this. "I"m fine." I whimper out. Why am I crying? I"m not normally this emotional. I"m not like this. "We"ve all lost something, haven"t we?" I stutter out. Harry looks like he wants to ask more but decides not to press it.

"How"s your shoulder? It looked like you hit it pretty hard." It hurts a lot, but I can"t say that. I need to look brave. I already look weak from crying. "Oh that? Barely even hurt!" I muster a small laugh. "How about you. Did you get hurt at all?" "Oh, I"m ok. Thank for asking. We"re lucky to have gotten out alive. Hey Zion!" He calls over to the boy with red hair, who wanders over to us. "This is Charlotte." I give a small wave and smile, nervously. He gives me a quick once over, and his face goes stoney. "I"m Zion. Be more careful out there ok? You would be monster munch if we weren"t there." Ouch. Harsh. But I brush it off and give a small mock salute and wink at him. "Sure thing!" Perfect! It looks cheerful so it should relieve tension from the room. Zion quickly turns away, but I can see a small smile forming on his lips. "Whatever. I"m gonna go find Scarlett." As he walks away, I realise what he meant. There are others here. More people. Maybe they could be here. My friends. My family.

Before I can start crying again, the boy that helped me at the gate comes over to us. "I don"t understand you." he says slowly. "Sorry?" I say. "Eugene." Harry gives the kid he called Eugene a quick look. Eugene rolls his eyes and turns back to me. "How are you so cheerful? We"re in the middle of the apocalypse! What"s the point of knowing names, when we are all going to be dead soon?" I"m not quite sure how to respond. Had I been overly cheerful? I avert his gaze. "I"m sorry." I begin, "I just wanted us to get along." He looks a bit taken aback by my words. "Oh well. Just don"t stay here too long. I"m going to take a nap. Don"t come looking for me until the meeting. Or unless more zombies attack." He turns and walks in the direction Zion left from, snickering to himself.

Now it"s just me, Harry, and one more guy. He looks a lot stronger than the rest. He"s tall, a lot larger than little, old me. Harry looks a bit nervous. "Ethan, why don"t you introduce yourself?" Ethan hadn"t seemed to be paying much attention to our conversation but at the sound of his name his head bops up. "...Ethan." "Nice to meet you! Oh, and thank you for saving me back there. I would be dead or worse if it weren"t for you" He smiles and then goes back to zoning out. I turn back to Harry who looks exhausted. "Thanks for trying anyway." I say. "Oh, don"t worry about it." I take a quick second to look at him. He"s fairly tall, about 5"10ish. He has hair so blond it"s almost white. He"s wearing baggy clothing that looks a bit worn down. Next time I go out I should get something for him. Those clothes don"t look like they"ll do much against the coming winter.

Harry notices my staring and quickly starts rambling. What"s he worried about? "I should give you a tour of the place. Come on!" He starts walking and I follow hurriedly behind him. The layout of the building is simple. He shows me bathrooms, classrooms, the different stairs. "Try to stay away from the middle school building. There"s dozens of zombies there." He warns. Maybe this place is not as safe as it seems. Still it"s better than going from house to house and being alone. We walk on for a bit and reach a classroom labelled "1-C". "This is where we come for meetings. I"ll explain that a bit more later. We are actually about to have one soon, so you can meet the others soon." The others. I wonder who they are. Harry opens the door and I follow in behind. That"s when I see her.

"J-Judy?" Standing there, next to a window, is my best friend Judy. She looks up from her conversation with another boy and runs over to me. I latch onto her and we hug. I start laughing and before I know it, I"m crying. Tears spill down and I can"t stop them, nor do I want to. Someone I know. I"m not alone anymore! And Judy is ok! My best friend is safe! "Oh my God! Charlotte is it really you?" she seems to be in disbelief. "Yes, it"s me! It"s me." I cry. She starts to pull back and I stand there shaking. "I was so worried! Are you alright? Do you need food? Water? A band-aid?" I give a short laugh and strike a pose. "Judy, it"s me. In all the time you"ve known me, when have I ever needed a band-aid?" Judy starts to laugh through her tears. Good. I don"t wanna see her sad. Besides, it"s a joke between us. The guy that Judy was talking to gives me a kind smile. "Hi there. I"m Lawrence. What"s your name?" He seems nice. Unlike some people here I could name. I give him a small smile in return. "I"m Charlotte. Nice to meet you!" He laughs and shakes my hand. "You might want to take a seat. Our meeting will start soon."

While Judy and I talk, more people begin to shuffle in through the door. First comes Ethan, who gives me a nod as he walks. Then comes a shy looking girl, who I learn is name Hailey. She gives a little gasp when she sees me and goes and hides in the corner of the room. A few minutes pass and Eugene wanders in, yawning. When he sees me, he simply says "Oh, You"re still here." Geez. Behind him are two more people. Another guy and a girl. The guy glares at me but the girl gives me a warm smile. She comes over and sits with me and Judy. "Hi there. My name"s Sue. That guy over there is Jay." We talk for a bit while longer before Lawrence pipes up. "Ok everyone, let"s start the meeting. Zion and Scarlett can come later. Now as you may have noticed-" The door to the classroom slams open, cutting off Lawrence. In files Zion and another girl, who I"m guessing is Scarlett. "Sorry we"re late!" she says. "We got caught up!" She walks into the room but stops suddenly when she sees me. "Uh, hi. I"m-" "Who is this?!" she demands.

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