Chapter 1

The feeling of chills run down my spine as the cool fall air brushes across my skin. Slowly opening my eyes, I look at the hard, cold slab of concrete I've been laying on all night. My heart sinks remembering that I've lost everything and have been alone for years.

Guess I'm up now. I think as I roll over. My body aching with pain from tossing and turning all throughout the night.

I don't know what's been happening recently, but the same dream occurs over and over again when I try to get any sleep during the night.

Flashback

The smell of warm, blueberry pie fills the air, causing me to look up. Everyone is sitting at the dinner table eating.

My grandfather, drunk as a sailor, decides to get up and he starts to rant about some political matter. It might involve the next president and his duties, but I can't quite manage to hear the full conversation from across the room.

I look back down at my book and continue to read. I'm away from everyone else, alone in a corner where it's quite.

I hear a noise outside that causes me to look back up and out the window.

I see a man.

He's being real clumsy with his feet, and he even knocks over the flower pots my Meme had worked so hard on the summer before.

I slowly rise from my seat and turn around to see if anyone else sees. No one has noticed, so I walk to the door and step outside to confront him.

The man ignores my warning.

I get closer and yell at his back, yet he still refuses to leave.

As I get closer his attention is suddenly caught and he slowly turns toward me.

The sight I see is horrific.

His face has been torn apart and his chest is wide open. Some of his internal organs are hanging down to his knees, making him trip a bit.

I'm mortified by what I see before me.

Terrified, I take off running in the opposite direction of him, but he follows after me limping. I manage to barely evade him, but nevertheless

make it back to the house. I see that the door is left wide open.

I could of sworn I had closed it earlier when that man attacked me.

I walk in and yell for my Meme to tell her what happened with the strange man, but she doesn't answer.

It's eerily quiet, which it never is, not in this house.

I walk to the one place a creak comes from; the far room, at the back of the house.

I slowly approach when I see what my grandfather is doing.

He's eating my family.

He stops devouring his meal to look at me. "You need to know..." He starts, but then everything slowly fades away.

End of flashback

I always immediately wake up after those very few words, never knowing what he was going to tell me.

The one thing that seemed to haunt me the most was how his eyes glowed a golden color, making me go blind for the few seconds the dream remained after that.

I reach for my bag and grab my gun, it's time to head out.

I've been on my own ever since the beginning when my family was slaughtered by the newly found Z's, over five years ago. They're everywhere, no place, so far that I've seen, where there are none.

I saw a couple years back, that some idiot came up with the name Z Nation, and decided to vandalize a sign on the side of the road, as if to voice their founding.

Now how are we ever gunna get tourist with a name like that.

I hunt my own food with a bow I snagged along the way.

For some reason the animals aren't affected by the virus, so there's still plenty of game. The meat they harbor is still healthy enough to eat.

Now if there is a dead carcass laying around they will not hesitate to eat, I've learned that from experience.

Rule 21: When you kill your meal, do not wait a full five seconds to get up and retrieve it.

I have to move around a lot, don't want to stay in one place too long, I've noticed it only attracts Z's soon enough if you do.

I rest every night, and continue moving on during the day.

I've mostly given up hope of finding a cure for the people, until I heard about a savior named Murphy. It's said that he's half human and half zombie, but still has control over what he does. I'm not sure if its true or not: people will come up with anything now a days if it still means there's hope.

I sigh and finally decide to head in the direction my gut is pulling me: towards the tree line, and into the forest.

As I walk away from my night camp, I get a feeling that today's going to be different, that something's going to happen.

********

I walk until just about sundown, only ran into a few Z's.

That's a good sign.

Slowing down, I come up on a beautifully tall tree near a river that looks like it branches out over the horizon. It gives the perfect amount of cover, and a view from all directions.

I decide that this tree will suffice as my new camping grounds, but before I even take another step, the feeling of doubt and uneasiness washes over me, causing me to halt any further movements.

I don't know where it comes from, I just know that all these signs and feelings started around my seventeenth birthday.

If there is ever any danger near by, my body reacts and goes into a self defense type mode. The feelings appear and, in a way, guides me through whatever obstacle I'm facing. It's hard to explain in any way other than pure instinct.

The area has minimal Z's, the height of the tree we will gain an advantage point, and with the thick layering of leaves a perfect cover is made.

As I finish going over the facts in my head, the feeling slowly starts to subside.

Taking a rope out of my bag, I throw it around the tree, just to catch it on the other side. After a little push off the ground, I begin to climb.

The views not too bad.

Grabbing a hold of the last branch, I haul myself up.

The bark itself is cooling and helps with the heat I've accumulated in the past thirteen minutes.

Molding my back against the tree, I rap the rope around the base as well as myself.

A song I once knew comes to mind and the toon soon slips its way past my lips.

The sound of the water splashing over the rocks along with the song I've committed to memory, soothes me into a light sleep, but just before I can completely drift off, a sound startles me.

Voices.

Not zombie rambling or moaning, but actual voices.

Excitement surges through me as I wait for them to pass.

I haven't had contact with another human since the beginning of the Zombie Apocalypse.

I'm not quite sure if I'm physically ready to communicate just yet.

Thinking of this, sadness covers the excitement and I feel my body slowly grow cold.

The foot steps get closer and closer to my hideout; panic sets in.

What do I do? What if they try to steal from me, or even worse, hurt me?

I'm frantically screaming in my head, mentally breaking down.

I come to the rational decision to let them pass without giving away my cover, when the rope snaps, and down I go tumbling along the side of the tree and fall flat on my ***.

And **** if it didn't hurt.

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