Chapter 1: Genesis

You can say her life was normal. As normal as it gets for an African teenage living in a nice neighborhood with her mother and her friends. She lived the typical life of a beloved daughter. She would wake up in the morning and hugged her sheets closer to her body as a sign of not wanting to start the busy days at school. After the third interruption from that maniac of an alarm clock, Gabriella would began her usual routines of prepping herself until there was not a spot of pimples that covered the caramel surface. Then she would rushed down the hallway to the kitchen to grabbed a jellied toast that laid on a small saucer plate near the doorway. This was her mother way of saying "I Love You" and have a wonderful day at school. Her mother would always be so kind and draw little messages or heart shapes jelly on the piece of toast. In the beginning it would always bothered her and would be she would considered this so "uncool" that her mother didn't treat her like an adult and left such stupid things on this toasted bread. She would always feel embarrassed to pulled it out on the bus to snacked on, but over the years she thought it was endearing and her friends even mentioned that they wanted a mother as cool as hers.

Gabriella reached up to opened the brass door knob of her front door and looked back down the hall. Her mother was getting ready herself. She was pulling on her usual buttoned shirt and black slacks that she wore at her receptionist job at the hospital. In the past, Gabriella would sit on the toilet seat's cover and watched her mom applied neutral make up to her also caramel face. This would take only thirty minutes and Gabriella always wished that when she becomes older, she would be something as elegant and beautiful as her mother. Already, the neighbors would compliment her and say she is her mother's younger twin. Compliments that never evaded her mother and her.

Once she shut the door behind her, she looked around the neighborhood in the morning. It was peaceful and there were bird's chatters covering the sky. Her neighborhood was really friendly. Even the elders were nice and not as cranky as most neighborhood where they would yell at the kids or shut themselves up in their house only to stare back at you through half shut blinds. A sound caught her left ear and she turned her head toward the area just to see a blinding yellow bus pulling up to a stop infront of her house and opening their doors so she can join them on another day of high school.

"Bye Mom!" she screamed toward the house and heard a soft sound that came from the door.
She walked down to the bus and climbed on in. There, sitting on one of the seats in the back was her friend Jessica. She was white with rich brown hair and brown eyes. In the olden days, Jessica and her would called each other the cats because they would always wear cat eyeliner, since they wanted to be like their shero Hailey Berry in the movie CatWoman

.

"Hey Bri!" Jessica shouted and was sipping on her water bottle that she always kept with her every since she joined the school track team.
"Hey, Jess, did you catch Teen Moms last night?" she said and sat herself down next to Jessica who was dressed in her normal shorts and plain long sleeve shirts.
"No, I tend to ignored those shows since those girls are not really good. Who gets pregnant than put your life on T.V. I think along some way they should had realize that they are on T.V and avoid drugs and abuse. "
"Right Right!" Bri agreed and thought about how MTV should had realized that children would love the idea of being on tv more than they would love the idea of not having kids at such young age.
"Anywho..." Jessica air quoted and turned her body in full knee-touching toward Bri.
"What?"
"Well, did you ask him yet..." she said and her eye stared like lasers into her own brown eyes.
"Noo..."
"What do you mean no?! You only have to asked him a question. We will do this in 7th period. You need a date to prom. You just cannot

go stag!"
"Yeah I can" she said defensively as bead of sweats started to fall down the back of her neck and she raked a hand through her corkscrew curls.
"No you can't and that is final." Jessica said stubbornly and turned her body toward the front, ignoring any more pleads that might had fallen out of Bri's lips.
"Okay..."

Chapter 2: Hell

When the bus rolled up to Southeast Memorial

High school and came to a complete stop, Gabrilla and Jessica went off to their separate classes. They did not talk the whole bus ride toward school and this made Bri worry. Soon she would have to asked out Chad. Chad was a tall light skinned male with brown dreads that caresses his back and light brown eyes. He is quite handsome and Gabriella always catch him looking at her whenever she turned her head in art class. This would cause her to blush and him to smile. Such actions began to repeat each day until it was a norm for them. She was hoping he would ask her out first but she doubted he would do that.

The next couple of hours went by quite quick and she began to feel nervous. As she dragged her feet toward her last class. While walking down the short corridor, she began to feel someone breathing down her neck. Looking back, she saw that it was nobody. Just her imagination, but as she continue to walk nearer to her class, she kept getting this sinking feeling that there was somebody noticing her every move and it was a predator's glance than the normal school population's glances. Her movement became more assertive and she walked faster toward the classroom until she was panting at the doorway.

"Good" she mumbled to herself as nobody in particular was looking her way. She then sat down and cocked her head to the spot where Chad would sit. Her eyes widen in confusion as she noticed Chad was not there. This may be normal to any other people but CHAD was always here. He was the raining champ on not missing school ever. In fact, Chad LOVES

school. It was just how he was. This made her eyebrow scrooch up together and as Mr. Donavan was calling roll, she could tell he was confused by the situation as well when he ran over Chad's name

"Well this is odd..." he said under his breath. "Should I call or check up on him?" he said than shook his head at the ridiculousness of such answer.
"Alright students, time to learn art. I want you to pick up those pencils and draw a happy land scape from your memory. Remember that there is no wrong answers in art and that art is for art's sake!" he said and sat behind his desk to finished his elaborate drawing of a Ferris wheel on top of a empty grassy park.

Everybody began working quickly and soon there was only the sound of the scratching of pencils on papers. Gabriella thought back to her childhood an would remember when her mother would take her to the country side to visit her grandmother and she would let her feed the ducks at the park. This gave her such inspiration that she already started to draw the outlines of the park .
Half the class period was quite busy until a scream echoed down the hall that caused many pencils to drop in surprise.
"What? What was that?" said Mr. Donavan who was quite frazzled by such sounds. He then walked over to the classroom door and opened it. Probably to yell at some teenagers doing angsts in the school's hall way she guessed.
As soon as he opened the door, everybody in the classroom saw many teenagers running pass their class door and screaming with such frightfulness. There was nothing but blurs that could only be seen as this continued.
"What is going on?!" said Mr. Donavan and he grabbed a student.
The girl he grabbed looked ready to pee her pants for her face was covered in sweat and her purple t-shirt was drenched in blood. She looked at the hall and something must had caught her attention for her to punch Mr. Donavan in the chest and bolting away from the area.
"Are you alright?" Gabriella said and walked over to the sound and the hunched over Mr. Donavan .
"Yeah..." he cough. "Just fine..."
"What's going on?" she said and peaked her head out the doorway.
There was students attacking students that could easily be considered a school fight, but on closer glance it was easy to tell that something was not right. Students just do not bite the face off other students. This was not reality!
"W-what? Why is..." she stopped and took closer look to see that it was Chad with eyes so red that pupils was not even evident and half his head was clearly gone. Half of his long dreads was dirty, matted, and covered in blood. A cried stopped in her throat and she back up making more of the students alarmed until they all came to investigate.
She didn't know who screamed, but it caused half the distorted looking humans to come rushing toward their classroom. In a blink of an eye, three-fourth of the class were either killed, fighting, or being eaten by the zombies. It wouldn't had been heart stopping if those very students didn't come back to life and looked over to the remaining three students left in the classroom.
"What can we do?" a red head said and her green eyes darted back and forth from one zombie to the other. She was freaking out and it was obvious by the way she held her ruler in her tight grasp and pointed it like a weapon to the zombies.
"I don't know, but the most easier answer we can do is get away."
"That is easier said than done! Do you see that half our class was eaten by those freaks?!"
"Well...we can escape through the window and climbed into my ford truck." said the other black girl standing on her left. She had a short bob that was pulled into a small pony tail at the nape of her neck.
"How do we do that, genius?" said the redhead who words was coming out more defenseless each and every time she talked. Gabriella wished she could punch her in the face because now is not the time to become a smart ass.
"Climb out the window. We are only on the 1st floor. It won't kill us and my vehicle is parked across from here. " she said and pointed her key ring out the window to a blue vehicle.
"Oh my gosh!" said the redhead and she looked back at the zombies who had finished removing the skin off the students and swallowing half of their flesh and blood. They were all covered in blood and even Mr. Donavan didn't stand a chance to the mass maniacs.
"Hurry, let's go!" said the other black female and she used a chair to break open the window. She then used one of the art drapes that was hovering over an unfinished statue to covered the broken window and climbed out.Everybody followed her out and they removed the drape so that when the zombies climbed out they would be stopped by the shards that would hopefully ripped their frames open.

Outside was not any better. Towns people and students were fighting off the zombies as well as getting eaten. There was not much rescuing that could be done at such state. Somewhere on the school's property, a fire broke out in the school, and everything began to be filled with chaos that made her want to covered her eyes and blacked out so she wouldn't have to endured this nightmare.
She and the two other girls made it safe to the vehicle and climbed in. Making sure to locked each door so that no intruders would ruined their escape plans.
"I know where you all lived since we used to ride the same bus" said the female. "By the way, my name is Maranda."
"Hi Maranda, I am Gabriella "
"Hi, I'm Laura" said the red head. Maranda didn't much care for the name of Laura for her attitude earlier must had bothered her.
"Alright, I'm going now." she pulled her vehicle out of the spot and navigated out of the school's parking lot, hiting a few zombies along the way that came rushing toward them. One was an old lunch lady who wielded a metal spoon around in the air. Her fat belly jiggled each time she made an effort to attack the vehicle and her face was smooshed back into the skin that only the red slit of her eyes was noticeable. The vehicle ran straight into her body and smacked her head first into the concrete. Running over the distorted head and crushing the brains into silence. As they were all cheering in happiness, Gabrialla felt a feeling of concern and she looked around to spot that nothing was wrong.
"Hmm, must be my imagination again..." she said.
"What did you say?" Laura said and turned around in the front passanger seat to look at Bri.
"Nothing, I just said it mu..." and before she could finish that sentence, a sudan crashed into the driving side of Maranda and causing the vehicle to flipped over. The truck tumbled and rolled around until it stopped against the walls of a house. Everything was silent and only the sounds of the wheels rotating around and around was heard.
Thirty minutes later, Gabriella awoke to the sounds of more screams. She tried to moved her body but knew that she couldn't because she was still buckled in.
"Must..get...free" she said with determination and unclicked herself from the seat that caused her to fall a bit on her back. She then used the heel of her shoe to kicked out the window and crawl away free. Looking back at the vehicle, she saw that the sudan was now on fire as well as the vehicle she was riding in that was badly damaged that in the front. She didn't need to check to realized that both her comrades were already dead.

Swallowing back her tears, Gabriella slowly walked down the street of her neighborhood. It didn't seem like hell happened on this peaceful neighborhood and she was glad that she only lived 20 minutes from the school or she would had been a goner by now if she lived 50.
Slowly, she moved her way toward her house, feeling a bit better at knowing her mother was alive.
Her converse dragged along the sidewalk until she was on the porch of her house and she used her keys to open the door. Just as she was opening the door, a sound erupted behind her small frame.
Gabriella stopped and stared at the action. She didn't know her mother also came to investigate the noise as well.
"What's going on?" her mother said and peaked her head out the door just in time where they both could see Mrs. Thomas lying on her lawn and Mr.Thomas growling at her. His cheek seemed to be removed and only the yellow stained dentures that he wore was seen. His eyes was also soulless and red like the previous zombies she came across.
"What is this?! What is going on?" her mother said and she feel her mother's confusion increasing as well as her anxiety.
"This...This is hell" said Bri and they both stared as the elder lady used her purple handbag with the gold clutch to beat Mr. Thomas in the face.
"Darling, what has gotten into you? Have you taken your meds? Let's talk about this inside over a cup of tea." cried the desperate Mrs. Thomas. Mr. Thomas made no replies as he lunched his withering frame onto Mrs. Thomas and bit into the skin and removed the aging flesh that was attached to it.
"Mrs. Thomas let out a painful shrill that echoed along the neighborhood until everybody was joining them on the front steps of the door to gaze at Mrs. Thomas being eaten by the zombies. A few males rushed over toward her, trying to be a hero, and pulled Mr.Thomas off. Two of them held him down but Mr. Thomas only had to turned his head before he sunk his teeth into one of the fathers' hand and ripped off the skin. This caused a reaction that made several of the women and children scream out loud in shock. One of the women, who must had been his wife, rushed over toward her husband and grabbed his arm that was bleeding quite badly. She could tell that his skin was turning pale and figured that he only had little time to live.
Mr. Thomas turned his head as he was being kicked by the husband now, and he stared at Gabriella and her mother. A bloody smile formed on his lips and he reached his hand out toward them.

"Shut the door!" her mother said and yanked Gabriella inside the house.
" Mom, we got to get out of here." It's nothing! Her mother said and grabbed ahold of Gabrialla's shoulder so tightly that she could feel each imprint of the fingers that were on her body.
"M-Mom..." wincing in pain.
" I cooked dinner. Let's eat!" her mother said. Her mother was always a good cooker and in the summer when the heat outside was unbearable. The cooking of her mother filled the house with such fragrance that it can make any anorexic want to give up their vows of not eating and take a bite of her mother's delicious rolls.
Her mother pulled her toward the kitchen and Gabriella looked at her face. Wondering who she should be more afraid of now. The monsters outside or the beast inside.

Chapter 3: The Last Supper

Her mother plopped Gabriella so hard in the wooden chair that the chair squeaked and Gabriella let out a low moan from the pain of her butt cheeks against the seat. She then stared pointy at her mother to let her know that her action is causing her pain. Yet, her mother was in her own world. Ignoring her daughter pain, her mother went over to the stove and turned it off. Removing the chicken that laid peacefully ontop of the stove’s top, her mother then reached toward the bird and ripped the leg from the body of the creature with her unwashed hand and placing it on a clean square plate.
“Um…” Gabriella said, a bit discern from her mother and those filthy hands of her mother that were digging into the poultry. This was so weird, she thought. Nothing seems right about this. Yet again, Gabriella looked over to her mother.
Still ignoring her, her mother continued to pick at the meat than used the palm of her hands to scooped out the potatoes and carrots. She then lazily tossed those savoring carrots onto the food like it was trash.
“Eat…” her mother said coldly and dropped the plate in front of Gabriella where it rattled and rocked to a stop. Food flew to a landing stop everywhere and her mother looked at her waiting.
“Do I have to really?” she said scared and slowly picked up a fork.
“Yes, you have to eat. I cook this meal and your ass better sit here and eat it.” than she torn a leg off the chicken, raised it to her thin, lipstick covered lips, and took a fierce bite that could make any lion proud.
Gabriella saw her mother becoming into some unknown carnivorous beast and she took small delicate bites of her delicious meal that turned into ash once it was swallowed down her throat. Minutes later of eating the fantastic but painful meal and the endurment of being under her mother’s watchful glare with soulless eyes, Gabriella asked to be removed from the table to go into the room.
“Yeah…go” her mother said and walked her small body over to the fridge. She soon start taking out eggs and cold cuts from the fridge.
“Okay…”
She ran down the hall and toward her room before locking and slamming the door. Once the door was safety locked and blocked her from her frightening mother. Her body gave away and she slid down the back of her door and wept. This was all going too fast for her. Things like this never just happen. It normally become some Facebook’s gossip and make interesting “What If?” conversation among friends and Hollywood’s screen writes. Though, it was quite obvious that life was now just a mirror to movies and it was actually a movie that ending could become destructive.
Wiping away her overwhelming tears with her teal t-shirt with the band named Korn written in gold letters across the middle that she won at a giveaway, she felt better. Calmer in fact. She has been holding this confusion, suffering, pain, everything in, in front of her mother who was just as upset as she was…and probably even more.
“We need to leave. We need to get out of here. I do not know what people do in such a situation and I am sure staying here is the best but this neighborhood would be over runned with those freaks and I know that our house will be busted in soon.” she said to herself to get things into perspective and structure.
“I need to pack. To make a plan. We could…we could go to grandma’s in the country side!” This caused her to become so happy that more tears ran down her cheek.
“Mom can be happy there. Zombies won’t be out in the country side and we can relax. Laugh this off. Eat some warm home cook meals and sleep peacefully.” Getting her spirit that died once she seen her neighbors torn to pieces and shredded down to the pale white bones that laid underneath the skin, Gabriella went to her chestnut dresser and started pulling out panties, socks, jeans, and sweaters. Then she moved over to her closet and yanked off her jackets and took an extra pair of red converse with her.
“This seem to be good. It is getting cold and we might freeze along the trip there” calmly speaking.
She walked over to her adjoining bathroom and removed every feminine product that she could manage to find and stuffed it into her gym duffle bag that she bought with her friend Jessica when they assumed they would head to the gym, but instead ate doughnuts at Krispy Kreme next door. She could never figured out why they had a fattening store next to the gym, but she now she knew that it was such a clever market stagey.
“Jessica!” she groan and rushed over to her black iphone and started to dial her best friend’s number. What answered back was a dead tone that made Gabriella shivered with pure terror.
“No..No… She made it. She is probably at her brother’s in the countryside as well. That’s right” she laughed and couldn’t stop herself from bursting into million of giggles that created her body to become sluggish. Just when her body had finished releasing its last giggle, her mother called her.
“Gabriella!” she screamed and Gabriella’s blood went cold from the way her name was spoken. She could actually feel the goose bumps forming on her skin from hearing her mother’s anguished and cold voice.
“Y-Yes?” Her body slowly moved to unlocked the door and she stood in the hallway to speak such words.
“Get your fucking ass in this kitchen this fucking minute!” Knowing that her mother meant business, especially with the situation of the pleads of help and mercy for God that was coming from her doorway, She hightailed her butt to the kitchen to witness her mother’s brake down.


In the kitchen, her mother was laying in the corner and her slender stomach was no longer slender anymore. It was more of a pot belly and was grotesque as it stretched the buttoned down shirt that her mother normally wore on her off days. Even the thin cheeks of her mother was stuffed and food was still hanging from the corner of her lips.
“Mom! What happen? OH my God! What happen to you?!” she said and rushed over to her mother but stopped in her track as her brown eyes caught attention of her mother’s timid hands clinching a huge steak knife with a deadly sharpened point.
” We can’t escape. Do you realize? We can’t escape that shit outside!? We are doom. We are dead. So I ate. I ate all that I can before I die!” Tears ran down the chubby face of her mother and drenched the collar of her already stained shirt.
“No! Mom, look. We can go to Grandma’s…”
“Shut up, you fucking child!” her mother said and made an attempt to stand up. She grasp an item on the counter above her that caused the rest of the chicken to tumble to the ground and covered their ivory floor with bits of food.
“We will die. Do you understand me? You should with your damn grade point average. ” Her mother hovered over her body and raise the knife that cast an eerie shadow upon the wall.
“No..” She said and looked around for an item to protect herself with. The only thing that came to her mind was a silver platter that the chicken was laying on top of earlier. Picking up the silver platter that must had fallen on the floor from her mother’s clumsiness. Gabriella defended her small frame just in time before the knife could cause damage on her.
“Die!” her mother screamed as she forcefully kept pounding the knife repeatedly over her daughter’s head. The knife was causing a huge racket and she knew that soon the zombies would hear it and come rushing toward the loud sound to investigate.
“Mom, stop!” she said and an image of Mrs. Thomas having the same plead to her husband but dying in vain made her terrified. With one last effort, Gabriella shoved the platter up in the air, causing her mother’s knife to ricochet off the platter and straight into her own face.
“No. NOO… NOOOOO!!!” She cried and let the platter fall from her finger tips and onto the dirty floor.
Her mother, whose face was split into half by such a huge object, stood in the corner of the kitchen. Her eyes darted back and forth around the room in a confuse state before landing on her daughter. The last thing that Gabriella could remember of her mother was the faint smile that appeared on her face before she collapse head first into the ground. Pools of blood started to flow effortlessly out of her mother’s body until it looked like a scene from a vampire movie. “M-Mom” she said and took a step back from such mind damaging scene.
“This…This isn’t real,” and her feet stumbled back until it hit the back of the arch of the doorway. Blinking her mind into focus, she realized that this is not a dream and she could not blink away this image. This ungodly sight of her mother dead with a blunt object protruding fro her face. She needed to leave and get away from this site.
Quickly, she rushed back into her room and grabbed her duffle bag that was resting on top of her messy bed, than walked toward the front of the house. Before reaching to unlock the latches on the door, she saw that something caught her attention and she realized it was a lighter with a picture of a orange lighting bolt that faced the red background.
“This can come in handy” she mumbled as she tried to choke the tears behind such gloomy eyes.
Walking over to the couch that she was on earlier, she thought about the time her mother and her watched many of comedies on that couch and shared gossip like no other teenagers she knew could with their own parent and still loved them the next day
Gabriella clicked the fire on and raised it to the couch to set it on fire. The fire quickly consumed the living room area and jumped around playfully to one furniture and to the next. She knew that she had only one chance to get out of here before the freaks noticed the fire. To her, she hope that this somehow created a beacon to the zombies that will lead them to walked over to the fire. This was a silent wish that she hope for where the zombies will become so fascinated and stupid by the fire that they would get caught up in it and become ashes.
She needed to hope. No matter as small as it was, she needed this. She was only seventeen years old and wasn’t great with figuring out math problems, but she knew this wasn’t math and the real solution to solve any problems was to at least attempt an answer.
Carefully, she walked over to her door and opened it. It was quiet on the street and she knew that at any moment, they can popped out and kill her. Turning her pretty head around, she searched for any clues or evidence that of zombies that laid hidden in the darkness of her neighborhood. But after awhile, she noticed there were no sound to be heard unless you can call the sound of the wind echoing as music.
She then deemed it was safe and rushed out of the house. Her pink bicycle laid on the grass infront of the house, and it made her smile that this can be her getaway vehicle.
Climbing on top, her feet peddled to the stop sign and she looked back to noticed the fire had closed around her home and was kissing the sky. This was her time to escape but she knew she couldn’t do that just yet. Staring back into the flames, she said a silent prayer and let the tears washed her smoke covered face clean. In the background, she could hear the groans and feet sliding of many zombies coming her way. She knew it was her time to make haste or the burning of the house would had meant nothing.
“Goodbye” she whispered into the wind and peddled herself away just as a zombie with one arm and wearing nothing but dirtied boxers lunged for her.

Chapter 4: The New World

Tears started to flow down her face and she left the pain inside of her finally bloom like a desert flower. This was so unreal, she thought. She was still telling her self that she cannot go back to her normal life. That life was soon coming to an end and if she paid any small attention to any zombie related movies, she knew that the population will disappeared quickly and that all areas in the world will soon become effected until evil roam the world. This was Earth's nightmare. This was the dawn of a new hell. This was something that she wished she could prevent but she wasn't government. She was just Gabriella Martins that lived on 401 Lane.

As she turned into a left lane of an open road, her breath started to come out harsh and she realized that she been peddling with fierce speed for thirty minutes. She haven't even dared to looked back for fear of seeing the fire, seeing a mob of freaks, and/or a horrifying site. She just wanted to escape and not see new disasters. She needed to keep her mentality intact or she will end up as her mom, so she avoided all huge cities. It was easy to guess that the worst of hell was probably in urban areas with the heaviest of population.

Still driven with the intense power to get herself out, she continued to move down the road and passed many of stop signs. Police wasn't going to stop her. She knew nobody would stop her. Hell, the police was probably her enemies now and were taken over to the dark side. At this state of her life, you trust nobody. The only one you can trust is yourself and that was the only hero that was needed

Upon twenty more minutes of her ride, she felt a cold splash of water against her cheek. She angled her head upward and looked up to find that the sky was raining. Unlike normal rain, this was black. Acrylic black. The sky was raining darkness that made things much more complicated on this supposedly simple bike ride. Black Rain isn't normal water that washes away every lies and sins. This was hell's rain. She was in hell's territory now.

Turning her bike around, she looked for nearest shelter. Any place would do. If she had to fight, she will probably make it. or persish

. She never tried and the only time she actually had to fight was when her mother went insane and wanted to...to murder her. The memory still rest fresh in her memories and tears start to form.

"I am all alone..." she whispered and slowly pulled up to an abandoned house. From what she took in from the sight, it looked quite haunted. The black rained didn't give her any comfort for it gave the feel of walking into a scene from a horror movie. The outside of the house was bricked and the windows seemed cracked, shingles were missing from the roof, dead gross grew the length of your ankles, and broken items laid on the lawn. It appeared that the zombies came through here and left from the sight of the broken window. This was a good sign because if they came by and left, she figured that they wouldn't come by a second time. She couldn't be sure but it was the only hope she had.

Making sure that nobody was around or that any strangers was unable to creep up behind her, her movements toward the house became quicker. The bike she rode on was pulled up the three broken steps that leaded to the door and she used her fingers to push the door open. Manners were gone in the new world. They did not exist. There was no need for her to be polite to people. If there were demons outside eating people, she sure as hell will not be courteous to people in this situation and she knew that people wouldn't be courteous to her. It was "One for All and None For You

" now.

She closed the door behind her and locked it with one of the dead bolts that was on the wooden door. She thought that this was probably a foolish idea for there could still be unwanted guest inside the house, but if push comes to shove, she will

shove. This being done, she inspected each area of the house. The living room looked abandoned and completely filthy. There were trash and newspaper alone the wall as well as sooth and ash that covered half the carpet from the fire place. Even the couch looked tattered and rats scrammed over the furniture. This room was clean from the zombies and she could clean it later if she wanted to.
Next, she moved toward the kitchen. The kitchen look like a disaster hit it as well. The cabinets were open and empty. The fridge also seem empty, if you did not count the rotten food that laid inside of it. When she had opened the fridge, she did not expect a wave of pungent smells to hit her in the face and making her bend over to throw up the toast that she only ate this morning.

As her eyes took in the sight of the disgusting puke, she realized that she haven't ate at all and she was quite famished. Stomach pains was now racking her body in a wave of vengeance and food consumed her only thoughts. Bri searched the remaining cabinets and found nothing. Collapsing was becoming possible each time her stomach growled and being powerless to defeat anybody that deemed her as a pray was most likely her future now.

"I must find food" she whined and hastily searched the cupboard. Inside, there were boxes that was full of canned fruits and vegetables. Seeing that alluring sigh almost made her peed in her pants from the happiness. In the past, Bri would be really picky about eating anything canned. Her mother normally go to the produce store and buy fresh vegetables for her to eat. Now, there were no more mother and no more food that can easily come across. Searching for food would be a daily part of life Dying didn't sound appealing since death was just another gateway of being a walking dead.

Using her finger tips, she popped the tab of the can peaches and hovered the item over her face. The delicious juice and peaches splashed down her dried mouth and she munched on the fruit. This was ambrosia in a can. This was heaven with no end. This small can that can easily be bought at any local dollar store. This was her happiness. Something so insignificant. If this was yesterday, she would had laughed at somebody saying that your heaven would be the most insignificant thing. To her, heaven was heaven. Heaven was in the bible. She would never had fathomed that heaven could be one single can.

Feeling full from eating three cans of peaches, Bri continue to investigate the surrounding areas. One of the room was a bedroom with forest green painted along the walls and a metal bed post with brown coverings. The bedroom looked to be the cleanest room in the house. It belong to an old man that lived here by him selves and he was prepared for a war because he was an Vietnam war's veteran. Knowledge of this was because of the pictures that dressed one of the walls in the room. In fact, he mysteriously had a lot of things in this room that she could used to defend herself. In the closet, there was a green duffle bag of semi-automatic & mamba pistols, revolvers, and a machine gun that came with over 200 bullets.

"He must had knew this was coming? So...where did he go?" she said and figured that maybe he was an old man who left in fear of his aging life. That could be the only answer of leaving such precious items in the house she thought or maybe he is a zombie

the small voice said in her head. She shoved it aside and wouldn't think about such things. It is highly possible that he probably was a zombie but thinking about that was only scared her. She sure he just left...right?

Walking to the last room, she slowly opened it and spotted that it was just a bathroom with a blue tub and a rusted looking toilet. This was more than enough to live in. She could do this. She felt tens time better and decided that it was time for her to rest. The journey has finally ended and she didn't need to be fill with desperations anymore. Dragging her tired feet back to the bedroom, she removed the blacken shirt and dirtied jeans she worn. Then flopped her lazy body on the bed, kicked off the converse, and felt better. Rolling around in the warm blankets let her realize just how cold she was. Even the blanket was a small gift from heaven she realized.

"It has all ended..." she said and cried herself to sleep to think about all the people she seen died today.
Moment later, she start to feel a breath over her face. This bothered her because the windows were shut and the condition wasn't turned on. Slowly opening one eye, she spotted a balding man with a thick neck looking down on her. Not being able to see in the dark wasn't helping. All that she could feel from this man was his eyes on her.

"I-I am so sorry! Don't hurt me!" she begged and trembled from the gaze of the old man. The old man continued to stare directly at her and a sense that something was not right tickled at her. Why was this old man not talking? He didn't lunged for her, abused her, or anything. He just stared at her.

"Hello?" she said and the sound caused the old man to raised his head. That is where the redness of his eyes were now in plain view. It wasn't clear in the beginning because of the darkness, but it was very much clear now. This man was a zombie!

Her feet scrambled back on the bed until she fell off of it and landed harshly onto her back. The pained caused her to stay down for quite a minute before rushing over to the closet and pulling out a revolver. Never having any use to shoot a gun not any talents, she figured that tonight would be a test trial.

The old man suddenly came aware of the area and bleak eyes turned toward the girl. After his eyes savored her body, an unhumanly expression appeared on his face and he swiped his hands through the air as to tell her he will captured her and destroyed her with his teeth.

"Don't you come near!" She said and cocked the gun with trembling hands at the man's face. The elder did not head her warning nor acknowledge it. The only thing he did was just walk with aggravating slowness toward her. His body was limped and the side of his neck seemed to be torn open from a huge bite mark. The only noise that was heard was the sound of bones popping as he moved his leg toward her. Soon he will be intimately close grabbed ahold of her body.

"NO!" She screamed at the thought of her flesh being ripped by this disgusting man. " NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! " She yelled repeatedly and shot the man over and over again until he was laying limp on the ground. Not even a single eyelash moved.

"I did it!" she said and slumped against the wall as to let out any tension that was holding up her body. "I killed a man. I killed someone. I actually done this... "

Anguish overwhelmed her and she prayed for the man to live happily in heaven now that mercy befallen on him.
"I guess this isn't bad. If the are dead, than they are not human. I can do this." Getting up, she stepped over the body and put on a pair of cleaned denims and a long sleeve red shirt. Looking back at the man, she figured she couldn't sleep with a rotten corpse just inches away from her bed. Outside would be a better place for him.
Hunching over, she grabbed the old man by his legs and dragged him out of the house. As she passed the living room, she saw a bill with the name "Mitchell" addressed on it. .Knowing the person whom she killed made her feel less guilty and remorse washed over her. As soon as she was outside, she tossed the lifeless body down on the ground beneath her
"I guess I shouldn't feel guilty. If I started feeling guilty now, than each obstacle that I will come across will become harder and harder." Her fingers ran through her curly hair and she sighed
"Let the crows eat you alive. Let people find this as a warning. Let them think that ret her was a battle between good and evil. I will claimed this as my home until I need to escape. " she exclaimed, looked at the figured and smile sadly. "Thank you, Frank." she whispered before locking the door.
Walking back to the bedroom, she locked the door this time and pulled all the guns out so she could sleep with them. There will be no more mistakes.
"When I am desperate, I will become as strong as gold" she said before tiredness washed over her.

Chapter 5: When There Is Light, There Is Darkness

In the morning, Gabriella awoke to not hear one single bird chirping. She was used to hearing the twittering outside her windows, but now...she heard silence. Surely the birds could not be dead as well, but she remembered that it rained blackness and the birds were probably poisoned by such actions.

Getting up, she stretched her aching body in the covers. Last night was such a rushed. Many things happen that she didn't want to comprehend. She could sit back and cry, but she needed to be strong. This was the battle of the toughest. Only the weak will die and the strong can survive in such barbaric era now.

Turning her head, her gaze locked on the sky outside her window. Something was different. The sky was not blue but red. It seems to captured her attention and caused her body to moved toward the door and opened it. As she walked outside, she stopped. Everything looked like she passed through the gateway of hell. She knew she did not go through such doorway, but that is what the appearance of life took on. Everything that laid on the earth was jet black. The grass, trees, cars, and even Mitchell that was on the grass still dead. It was all black. The rain wasn't a water but it was a stain. God left a stain on the earth and stains are normally removed. Was this a way of God saying he will remove life and start anew? She wasn't sure she hope that to be true or not because she was now considered a stain. She continue to gaze into the bleak redness of the sky.

The red horizon was the same color as the eyes of freaks, she noticed. It looked like blood.

"Why?" She could only said as she stumbled over blacken grass.
"I have come to turns with the zombies but why must new obstacles keep being thrown at me" she screech into the sky and soon all the anger that she has been holding in needed to be release. In the far corner was a broken down Mercury

car. Taking all the pent up frustration she had, she started to kick in the side doors until there was nothing much but huge dents. When that was done and she was happy, she climbed onto the hood and broke the glasses. The shattering of the glass reminded her of her shattered dreams and futures of being a chef. She wanted to be something her mom would be proud of. She wanted to be like her mom. Now that she was considered a stain, she couldn't be one anymore.

"I...AM...NOT.. A...STAIN!"
She screamed, making a huge racket that could be heard from the distance.

"I felt like I released all the tensions from my shoulders." she said and sat there staring all into the distance. The view was nothing exciting in particular. Down the road was a forest. The trees were black and it was nothing but shadows. She figured it would not be safe to go in an area where she did not know what was inside. Turning her head around, she looked around and caught something behind the house.

Standing up, she walked toward it. What caught her attention was a statue drenched in black. It was an angel that face looked horrified and distorted from the black rain. Could this be an omen, she thought. Could an angel that look like it is crying black tears be an omen from God? Bri's eyes slowly traveled down it and she began to walked around it until she comprehended that it was a grave.

"Really? A GRAVE?!" She spoke into the air and turned around to see that there was an old grave yard behind her house. "So my neighbors are dead and I am fearing from the undead. Is my life becoming a horror comedy or something?" A laughter erupted behind her that made her turned around sharply to see an older man with brown hair that was dyed black from the rain and ripped buttoned down. On first glance, he look to be friendly and he held his hands up in defense.

"I come in peace..." he said and stop walking.
"There is no more peace."
"Yeah, that is true, young lady, but I come in peace. "
"Prove it. Drop all your weapons onto the ground."
"Fine... No harm in doing that. " he said and removed the guns that rested on his hip.
"And the one on your back . " crossing her arms she waited patiently.
"Smart lad..." he smiled and reached behind him to grabbed a small handgun and toss it onto the stack of guns.
"What do you want?"
"I want a place to stay at until everything dies down." She thought about this and looked at him. She knew that she cannot trust that smile that did not reach his eyes.
"What will let me know that you are trustworthy to be around?"
"Well, how do I know you are trustworthy to be around?" he redirected back that caused her to stare agape at him and she quickly fixed her composer.
"Fair enough... " Slowly walking over to him, she picked up his guns and walked toward the house. She then put them under the long dresser in her room.
"He won't be able to find this," she whispered.

Walking back outside, she noted the man was still there and he looked miserable. She had to realized he been through the same journey as she and he probably just wanted to sleep. Kindness erupted in her heart and she thought that maybe she could let him stay. Having a male around could be a good thing, she thought.
"Okay, you can stay, but you sleep in the living room."
The man smile, yet again the smile did not reach his eyes, and shook her hand.
"Thank you, young lady! My name is John and I am so happy you gave me a place to stay!"
"Yeah, don't worry about it." she said and removed her hand from his. She did not know who to trust anymore, but company couldn't hurt. Turning around, she headed into the house and the man followed in. He then looked around the house and his facial expression turned into disgust as he looked at his surroundings. Then it changed into anger. He must had realized she was staring at his face and quickly covered it with a false happiness. She was beginning to wonder if it was really a right thing to let him in.

"We have food in the kitchen. I'll make you some can peaches. It is the only thing we have...and I think we have brandy as well. " she said and went to served food like she was the host of this house. The male greedily took the meal and swallowed it than took a long swing from the alcohol.
"Ahh, this is what I'ma talking about." he sigh and walked over to the dirty living room and sat on the couch. He then stared at the corner of the room, taking more swings at the bottle.
"Yeah, so you will be here alright?"
"Yeah yeah, don't get cheeky. I won't come back there so don't ya worry, ya here?" he said with a southern twang that came as a surprise since he didn't seem like he was from the south.
"Alright. I'm going to go take a shower." He grunted in acknowledgement of her statement and continue to stare at the ceiling, mumbling to himself.

Gabriella walked over to the shower and climbed in. She felt so much better as she used the old man's soap to wash her hair and skin. All the black ink that was on it washed off and she felt so refresh. Fifthteen minutes later, she climbed out of the shower and wrapped a robe around her body. As she was heading to her bedroom to change, the old man stepped out and stare. Both their eyes widen and she felt her face becoming red and her heart beating in alarm.

"Ahhh, 'scuse me. " he said and looked away. " I didn't see a thang..."
"G-Good" she said and walked into her room. Before she shut the door, she saw him finishing up the whole bottle of Brandy.

As she was pulling on her undergarment, there was a pounding on her door.
"Go away, I am changing!" she exclaimed and snapped her bra into place.
The pounding continue onward and onward for about two more minutes before she put on her robe and unlock the door.
"What?!" she screamed.
"You..." he said and grabbed her body. He leaned in and drunkenly covered his mouth over hers.
Gabriella wanted to throw up at how disgusting and foul this was. She did not want this slob all over her and she wanted to maintained her dignity and her purity. Her hands clenched into tiny fist and started pounding at his face, but it was like he felt nothing. All that drinking must had made him immune.
"Christ Anny, ya as beautiful as the day I married ya. " He said and reached over to unbuttoned her robe.
"No! I'm not Anny! I am Gabriella!"
"Wha dya say, Anny?" He palmed her flat stomach and looked at her with such lust in his eyes.
"Oh My God..." she screamed and punched him hard in the throat, causing him to released her as her body dropped to the ground. Turning over, she start to crawl away from her soon-to-be rapist, but he grabbed her ankles and yanked her toward him. The next thing she knew, his disgusting hands was over her bottom and he was squeezing it.
"Anny, ya haven't changed the day ya died. Why did ya have to anga me? Why did ya have to leave. I woulda had change, Anny. You shoulda stay. I'm sorry I kill ya, but now no one can have ya, Anny. Now No. One. Can. Have. Ya. " he said and started to unbuckle his pants.

Bri started to become more frantic as time went by and she wasn't going to let this stranger deflowered her like trash. With all her strength she could muster, she crawled over to the dresser and removed one of the guns he brought. Holding it up into the air, she aimed it directly at his heart.
"Anny, put down that dang blasting gun and come over here to serve me." he said.
"I am not Anny!" she screamed and shot him dead center in the heart.
John fell back and hit his head on the bed post behind him. His chest wound was releasing large amounts of blood and his eyes was darkening until they became red as well.
She knew that sooner or later, John would be another freak and she wasn't going to die so soon.
She cocked the gun at his head and shot it until he hit the floor face first.

Gabriella let out a sigh of relief and laid on her back. Tears started to come out of her eyes and her arm rose to cover them.
"I'm tired of this deceit. Whenever I get on my feet, something happen. I am tired of putting my trust into people just to realize that they will continue to let me know I exist in this horrible world... "

(Sorry for this. I tried to maintained PG as possible. Chapter 6 will be soon).

Chapter 6: The Calm After the Storm

Many things happened since she last went to school. There were a zombie invasion that probably wiped out half of Connecticut and probably on the rise to slaughtered the other states. There was also the death of her mother that Gabriella wished she could had foreshadowed because she would had prevented the death. Lastly, she almost got rape by some psycho maniac. These are the things that was an obstacle in her life, and she wondered why she didn't let her mother kill her. Being unable to feel anything would had been wonderful. There was probably a gateway to heaven for her.

Why don't you kill yourself?

The voice in her head said.
"Because, all these events in my life are proving that I exist. I am not dead like them. The pain and suffering I experienced is all because they want me to see I am alive."
You can be like them and do not feel pain nor fear death.

"They are death. They cannot die. They are trapped. I do not need to become them. I just need to find somewhere I belong." she said.
You have nothing to gain.

"I have nothing to loose as well..."

"Nothing to loose." she repeated and looked at her bowl of green beans. She was happy, truly and uncontrollably happy. It has been three days since she was attacked by that pervert and in those days, zombies or strangers did not come.
There were no ambush, fires, invasion, or anything. There was nothing but peace and quiet. Inside this small shack that has soot covering the carpet in the living room and instead of birds chirping in the morning was rats squeaking at night. This is home.

"Outside looked like the grave of life. It is dark, danky, and the scene of blood carries in the wind. It is quite a fearful sight. Home seems to be verrryyy inviting." she said and scoop some vegetables in her mouth, softly chewing it as thoughts of life form in her head.

"Can I really live here and be happy for a long time?" Pushing her bowl aside, she rested her head on her arms and thought. She knew there were things that needed to be done. She needed to find a broom and sweep out the disgusting living room and kill all the mice in the sofas. Second, she needed to find a way to get more food. She found more boxes of food in the shed connected to the house. This was so helpful. With this, Gabriella probably had probably four more months to live if she was careful. A month can easily go to weeks and where would she be then?
An image of her skin ripped, boils covering her face, and yellowed teeth protruding out of ripped purple gums popped in her head.

"No! I refused to be a freak!" she stated with passion and stood up. Walking toward the front door of the house, she stopped and looked out the window that was on the left of it.

"Can I really survive?"

Chapter 7

March

Chapter 8

April

Chapter 9

May

Chapter 10

June

Chapter 11: Painted Walls

Her body was weak. More weak than it should be. She decided that the best way to survive was to eat one can of vegetables at night and the peaches over the weekend. In time, she forgotten what weekends were. She seem to forget a lot. All she knew was that she was along and she did not have the strength to care or philosophized why she existed. It was now pointless. Food was the main worries for her, but there wasn't a can of vegetable or peaches in her house anymore. Even when her stomach caved in, her ribs visible, and her fingers were as skinny as a twig. Gabriella knew living wasn't possible anymore. No where was safe and this was truly scary to her. She was scare to leave the house. The walls were now her prison and in time, she assumed she saw mysterious shapes written on the ceiling of her bedroom. It was ridiculous and probably starvation that was messing with her sight. Why would there be words on the ceiling? That was just unbelievable.

Using a huge stick that was found behind the house, she used it to maneuver herself from room to room. Strength has been left her legs and worries of being paralyzed from hunger was always constant in her mind. Though, she needed to check something. Something before her strength gave away. Sluggishly moving to the bedroom, she crumbled over the bed and turned over on her back. Looking up, she looked at the ceiling. Twenty seconds passed and as she continued to stare up ahead, she realized that this wasn't her imagination. Does imagination last this long? She didn't think so.

On the ceiling was writings that said No way to escape. The undead will come. All die. Death to humanity!
It was written in small words, but it was there.

"It seems the old man knew..." she whispered hoarsely for she hasn't used her voice in several months and almost forgotten the sound of it.

Fixing her sight on anything but the ceiling, she turned to gaze out the window. A mysterious white flash appeared. It looked to be the front lights of a vehicle.

"Vehicles haven't roam in the house since I been here. " she said weakly and coughed. Her couch was a painful sound that caused her to heave in loads of air.

" I think I am dying..." Her coughing continue and she felt something wet on her lips. Raising her hand slowly, she dabbed her thin fingers on her mouth and looked at them. It was blood! She was coughing up blood.

A smile portray on her lips.
" I guess it is my time to die..." she said and closed her eye.

"Goodbye...I have no more strength to fight." With that being said, Bri's soul passed away.

Chapter 12: The End

Ten minutes passed and two policemen walked into the bedroom. They looked around and survey the areas.
"It seemed somebody lived here once."
"What made you say that?" Police Dan said.
"Well..." he walked over to the fire place and expect the logs. "There is still warm heat coming off of these logs."
"That could be anything, you know."
"I know, but lets continue looking through the house."
"Alright." said Dan and they both walked around the house. The kitchen seems to have many empty and open can of what looked to be vegetables and peaches.
"You see here, Dan. Somebody was here eating. With food like this, they won't have enough vitamins to be strong. They would need more proteins and iron."
"They probably dead by now with food like this."
"Maybe..." said Police Sullivan who carefully put his hand on his gun that was resting against his hip and walked calmly to the bedroom.
"Just in case, you be on the other side of the door."
"Gotcha"
They slowly tensed up their body, awaiting anything that could still be lurking inside. With one of their foot, they used it to kicked open the door. Police Dan went inside first and raised his gun around calmly and Sullivan followed second.

"Look like there is nothing dangerous here but a young lady." he said and raised his hand to addressed Gabriella that was laying dead and staring at the window with a faint smile on her face.
"Jesus! How long has she been dead?" Sullivan said and walked quickly over her to touch her pulse. "I'll say less than a hour."
"We were too late. If we were here earlier, we could had rescue her."
"Don't beat yourself up, Dan. Maybe if we did come faster, we would had saved her or maybe she would had died along the way."
"Yeah. It just sucks that she didn't know that in the first three weeks of the zombie invasion, the government had quarantine Connecticut and used soldiers to go through and killed the creatures. Also a vaccine had been given out and people were now healthy."
"I forgot, Sullivan, what caused the zombies?"
"It was all the pollution in the area. It seems that the toxin from factories, fires, smoke, and drugs was the most heaviest in our area and it sprayed into our water systems. Those who drunk the water early in that morning was poisoned and changed."
"God, that's scary." said Dan and his eyes lowered over Gabriella's form. She was beautiful, he thought. She could had made a perfect prom queen if life didn't become like this for her.
"Yeah, but she didn't know. She hid in the country side that wasn't touched by zombies. She was safe, but her isolation is what killed her."
Both of them turned their head to the window where a peak of sun was finally making it way through the black cloud.
"May her soul rest in peace..." Sullivan whispered.

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 05.02.2013

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