Note to all Readers: I know that this isn't true to the Anime's timeline, but fanfictions are a person's perception. Also, I would like to point out that NONE of the characters from the anime will be making an appearance in this story. This is gonna revolve around a group of survivors created by me and a group of people from Deviantart: Kent Gratley (me, or The-Zerg-Overlord on Deviantart), Maiko Summers (Zelnodi), Lillianna "Lily" Steele (TheDarkBladeHuntress), and Matthew von Drache (Drakhand006). Sorry to those that don't agree with my ideas, but this is my story, not yours. You don't have to read it. If you're still willing to read, go ahead and do so.
Chapter one - The beginning
June 15, 2012
I've been hearing reports all over the radio about something big happening in the streets. While I doubt it's anything serious, I'll be keeping a closer eye on the house while my mom is out. God knows her boyfriend won't. I'm just glad my father taught me so well.
June 16, 2012
I haven't seen mom since mid-day yesterday. Nothing to worry about there, as she normally works constant shifts to bring home money. Her boyfriend isn't here either. Went out to get something, he said. Yeah, right. That guy is the clearest dirt bag I've ever seen. What my mom sees in him, I'll never know, but if he keeps his shit up, there's gonna be fights going on in this house.
June 17, 2012
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE? I hear a loud commotion going on outside, and the moment I start walking towards the window, blood splatters on it. I ran upstairs and looked out the window, only to see someone EATING someone outside the window. Fortunately, it's that dirt bag my mother calls a boyfriend, but still, that person was chowing down. Jethro is out back, barking. I need to bring him in and keep him with me. Luckily, mom called, checking on me. Once I said something about the incident outside, she got all serious, telling me to lock the doors and barricade myself in the house.
-Journal of Kent Gratley
June 18, 2012, 6:32am
Kent Gratley sat in the living room. Jethro, the family's German Shepherd, was laying on the couch next to him, just looking at him. Kent was eating half a steak he had cooked, with the other half on a different part of the plate. Jethro's eyes bounced back and forth between Kent and the untouched piece of meat, an action that didn't go un-noticed by Kent.
"What's up, boy?" He asked quietly. "You want the other half of the steak?"
Jethro just whined briefly before resuming his bouncing glance. Kent chuckled.
"Oh, alright." He said jokingly. "Here."
With that, he tossed the untouched half of the steak into the kitchen, Jethro quickly following it. Kent then turned back to his meal, finishing a short time after. A few seconds later, he heard knocking at the door. Without thinking, Kent grabbed the knife hidden in between the couch cushions. He slowly approached the door, listening. The knocking sounded frantic.
"HELP!" A scared voice said. "HELP ME! THOSE THINGS ARE COMING!"
That voice set Jethro off, who started barking loudly.
"Quiet, Jethro." Kent said. Then he heard the moans of whatever was after the person outside. He quickly opened the door and let them in, shutting the door behind them and locking it.
The person was a man in his late 20s or early 30s, if Kent were to make a guess. He was hunched over, gasping for breathe.
"Thanks." The man said. "I don't know what would have happened had you not let me in."
"No problem." Kent said. "But before anything else happens, take off your jacket."
"What?" The man said.
"You heard me." Kent said. "Take off your jacket. I've seen what happens to those that have been bitten."
"I'm fine. Trust me." The man said. "I've been avoiding them for a long-"
Kent cut the man off when he pointed at him and said "Pin him, Jethro."
Jethro, with a loud bark, leaped at the man, tackling him and biting down on his arm.
"FUCK!" The man said. "Tell this dog to get off me!"
"You gonna listen to my demand then?" Kent said. "Because I have no problem with telling Jethro here to go for the kill."
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" The man yelled. "I'll do it!"
"Good call." Kent said. "Jethro, release."
On that command, Jethro let go and got off of the man, but started growling. The man scrambled to get up and took off his jacket, revealing no wounds. Kent nodded.
"Okay." He said. "You're clean. Jethro, shake with him."
Jethro approached the man and raised a paw. The man looked at Kent with an eyebrow raised.
"It's how we have Jethro apologize." Kent said. "I'm sorry as well, but after seeing what I have, you probably understand my caution."
The man nodded and shook with Jethro. Then another pounding began on the front door, only this time, it was like two sets of hands slapping on the door. Moans accompanied the slaps.
"SHIT!" Kent said. "Looks like they zeroed in on the sounds we made."
As he approached the door to barricade it with the bookcase in the hallway, He heard the sound of breaking glass in the living room. As he dashed into the living room to see people fall through the broken glass. Without thinking, he flipped the knife he had in his hand onto its blade and threw it at one of them, hitting them directly in the eye by some sheer stroke of luck. The guy slumped over the windowsill, dead, but three others had fallen in, and all had started eating the man he had just saved. Jethro was in the kitchen, barking, but the people didn't seem to notice him. With a speed that could only be attributed to an adrenaline burst, Kent leaped over the pile and into the kitchen. He grabbed a pair of smooth knives, but felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders. His father's hand-to-hand training came into play, and he flipped the person holding him over his shoulder and onto the floor. Then, he raised a knife and plunged it directly into the middle of the creature's chest, but the thing started to get back up.
"What the FUCK?" Kent yelled. "That...that should've..."
Then another idea came to mind. He remembered how he had thrown the knife and it had flown into his first target's head. He then pulled the knife out and stabbed it into the temple of the creature in front of him. The person slumped back to the ground, dead, and Kent stood up.
When he turned around, Kent saw that there were more of whatever had broken the window shambling towards him. He bolted for the stairs to the second floor, dodging them as he went.
"COME ON, JETHRO!" He yelled when he hit the stairs, hearing the dog follow. The duo jolted up the stairs, with the people in hot pursuit. Without thinking, Kent pulled down a large bookcase on the landing and sent it tumbling down the stairs, bowling multiple people over as well as crushing a few. The few that weren't crushed by the bookcase were blocked by it.
"Fuck you, too, assholes." He said to the creatures. "I saw what you did to my mother's boyfriend and that guy downstairs. I ain't about to let you make me your own personal happy meal as well."
With that, he climbed onto the roof through a skylight, Jethro following him. He looked along the streets, seeing the carnage that was raging. Fires burned all over the place, people were dieing in droves, and while Kent saw a few grouping together to fight, they quickly got overwhelmed by the walking corpses. Most of those that were eaten got back up and started shambling around.
"God damn." Kent said quietly. "It looks like one of the horror flicks I used to watch religiously."
As he got closer to the skylight, Trent started barking. Kent turned around.
"What is it, boy?" He asked.
Trent looked at him, then resumed his barking. When Kent followed his closest friend's gaze, he saw a blur of movement, much too fast to be one of the dead. He couldn't get a good look at the figure, but knew that if someone else could survive out there, he could as well.
"Stay, Jethro." Kent said. "I gotta go back inside for some things, then we're leaving."
Jethro whimpered, clearly not wanting to stay on the roof alone.
Kent descended the ladder he had used to climb up onto the roof and walked into his room. He picked up his backpack, which would have normally been used for school supplies, but now that seemed useless. He overturned it, emptying the contents onto the floor. In the place of all the supplies, he put a pair of notebooks, a case of pencils, and some of the food supplies he had hidden in his closet. The rations he had stored away there were multiple cans of fruit, as well as soup and some beans. He also had saved up jars of dog food and meat, mostly for when they ran out of readily available food for Jethro, but it was the perfect size for traveling. He then grabbed his military-grade flashlight, a gift for his 15th birthday from his father, and put it into the backpack's holder. As he passed by the staircase for the third time, he saw a couple nearly over the bookcase.
"Shit." He said. "Looks like I have less time than I thought to get the hell out of here."
He quickened his pace to the skylight and climbed the ladder, scrambling onto the roof. He looked to his right and saw that the roof of the neighbor's house was easily jumpable by himself and Jethro.
"Okay, Jethro." He said. "Come on. Let's get to Mr. Harrel's place. We need to leave."
Jethro barked once, and leaped to the other roof. Kent shook his head before taking a running leap to the roof as well. He landed on the roof and looked for a door off of it. It didn't take long for him to find one. He kicked it in, as it was locked and started down the stairs. As he hit the ground floor, he heard the moans from the creatures in his house and looked around Mr. Harrel's house. The front door was bashed in, no doubt from the creatures outside. As he looked around, he remembered what his first kill looked like.
"Oh dear god." He said. "I killed Mr. Harrel."
He shook his head, but then heard moaning from the next room, the kitchen. Out of it, shambling, came a figure. It was a woman, but her neck had a huge chunk ripped out of it. Kent then realized he recognized the figure.
"Oh my god." He said. "Mrs. Kasigawa. What's wrong with you?"
Only Mrs. Kasigawa didn't respond, but started to lunge at him. She never achieved grabbing him, as Trent rammed into her. Jethro sent her sprawling, snarling and barking. However, Mrs. Kasigawa didn't seem to notice him, just like the ones in his house. She started getting up, moaning as she did.
"God forgive me for what I'm about to do." Kent said quietly, pulling out one of his knives. He then flipped it onto its blade and threw it at her, catching her right in the cheek. She didn't register the wound and continued to get up. Kent's eyes widened as he saw this. He pulled out the other knife and walked up to her before stabbing it into her eye. She fell back, dead at last. Kent stood up and turned away, shaking.
"What the hell is happening here?" He asked nobody in particular, his voice shaking. "This shit isn't normal."
He then heard Jethro whimper and turned around. He saw a group of the creatures walking in through the front door. He turned back around and ran out the back door, followed closely by Jethro.
"Oh shit, oh shit." He said. "Gotta get to higher ground. COME ON, JETHRO!"
With that he kept running down the alley and into the next street. Then he realized that he had left the knives back in Mr. Harrel's home.
"Oh fuck me." He said. "Well, too late now."
Then he heard a piercing scream a block to his right. Without thinking, he walked towards the sound, but saw nothing when he arrived. What he did see was a long streak of blood as well as blood footprints leading away from a large pool of blood. Inside the blood pool was a fire axe. Kent shuddered.
"Well." He said after recovering. "I need some form of weapon. And it doesn't look like whoever dropped it is coming back."
With that, he slowly approached the axe and reached out the grab the handle when the foot of something landed on the handle. He looked up into blank eyes, and he froze. Much to his surprise, the thing just took another step forward and kept moving, ignoring him. Once it had moved a safe distance, or what Kent registered as a safe distance, he grabbed the fire axe. Once his fingers closed around the wooden handle of the weapon, he know what had to be done. While the blood made the handle slick, his grip only tightened around it. He turned to Jethro, a strong glint of determination in his eyes.
"Come on, boy." He said, taking a step down the road. "Let's go find other survivors."
