Chapter One
"Speak."
"I have nothing to say."
"Doctor Meyer, I require the research you acquired."
"Nein."
"I will take it by force if I must."
"Do it. I dare you."
"Very well, Nadine. Have it your way..."
Danny was just like anyone else. He had a girlfriend, was going to school to get his degree, and even had a decent car. Yet, he still couldn't figure out how he wasn't one of them.
"Of all the fucking ways to die… why couldn't it be a giant tornado or something?" he muttered under his breath as he brushed his shaggy brown hair out of his face. Danny cowered behind one of the shelves inside the campus' bookstore, quietly holding his legs close to his body. He was wearing an old pair of jeans, some t-shirt for a band he couldn't name, and an old letter jacket he found on the ground when he ran in.
Danny shuttered, "I can't believe It's mid July... yet it's flippin' f-freezing…" he muttered. A few tears fell from his eyes, as he silently weeped. No matter how hard he tried, his fear seemed to bring him back to this endless nightmare.
"Alright, Dan… calm down… it's all good," he tried to reassure himself, "Y-you'll wake up… from this h-horrible… horrible dream and… and…"
He slowly raised his head to where he could see outside the shop, "... or not…".
The streets outside were burning, shops and businesses turning to ash, shattered glass covered the ground outside buildings that the living dead had breached to reach helpless victims. The few people he could catch sight of were being chased by hordes of the yellow eyed creatures. Their screams were beginning to fade into zombie moans, which only could mean Danny didn't have long before he would be found out.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"He hissed, and slowly turned around and sat with his back to the shelf.
He started quietly breathing warm air into his shaking hands, thinking of any way he could get out of the building. Then the alarm went off, signaling the door to the shop opened. Slow footsteps could be heard, maybe even a leg dragging on the hardwood floor. Danny clenched his fists and stopped his breathing. He looked across the aisle and saw someone's bag laying on the floor. Maybe it would have something he could use to defend himself! Danny carefully slid his palm across the floor, praying to every god that he believed or didn't believe in that the creature wouldn't hear him.
The bag had an eerie glow to it, he figured it was just a flashlight or something, but at that point Danny could care less about the light. He gently slid the bag toward him and stood still to listen for the zombie. The room was silent. He quietly put a hand in the bag, grabbed something, and pulled it out. An evil laugh filled the room, almost as if satan was chuckling about his petty attempts at survival. He looked down and was holding a teddy bear that had a missing ear and blood stains all over it.
"I want to play a game!" a voice of a girl he couldn't see suddenly yelled.
"What…?" Danny mumbled.
There was a zombie's shriek to his right, and he jumped up and looked in it's direction.
"No! Leave me alone!" Danny yelled.
He pulled his arm back to throw the bear in a useless attempt to distract the zombie, but stopped and quickly brought his hand back down. An M1911 handgun had taken the place of the stuffed toy.
Without hesitation, Danny fired round after round into the beast's chest. After he emptied two clips, missing most of his shots, the zombie's eyes lost their color and it fell to the ground.
"Jesus…" he covered his mouth with one hand as tears ran down his face, "I'm a murderer…".
He stared at the lifeless body until more zombie shrieks came from outside. "I have to get out of here," He ran back over to the door, and hesitantly out into the street.
All that he used to know was gone.
No one was living anymore. The city he knew was turned into an absolute wasteland. The sky was a dark black, the air smelled of ash and burning flesh, but worst of all the flesh was still moving. Zombies were slowly moving from the fires, their tattered remains holding the flame to their bodies. Multiple clouds of dirt shot up from the ground shortly followed by a head or an arm. Danny just ran. Moaning figures zoomed past him as he ran through the crowds, looking for any way out. Suddenly, out of no where, he heard a train blast it's whistle. He snapped back into reality for a split second. A train! Someone else was still alive! He bolted for the station, not even daring to look behind him.
After eventually reaching the Russel M. Anne Train station, Danny forced his way through the revolving doors and found himself inside the main terminal. Incredibly, it still looked a lot better than the rest of the town. Somehow the station was almost exactly how he remembered it as a little boy. The station still had it's gold glow to it, the walls were still made of that really nice wood Danny remembered, and even that giant sign with all of the departure times was still there. Fewer undead were in the station, Danny assumed this was because most of the people tried to escape by train, but surely more would come after him eventually. He weaved his way past the zombies, and found himself on one of the platforms, which then opened up out into the trainyard.
Danny Cautiously weaved his way through the old train cars toward the spot where he last saw the smoke rising into the air. He cringed every time his feet sunk down into the gravel and tightly gripped his pistol. Every shadow, sound, and crunch of his shoes on the rock frightened him. He made his way onto another set of train tracks and looked down at his feet.
"Well…" he sighed as he looked up at the sky, "Looks like the smoke came from here… but a train doesn't just disappear…"
Danny gazed to the right, up the track. No sign of any black fog. He turned to the left and froze.
Fear had him locked in place.
He suddenly forgot how to breath.
Danny's hands began to violently shake as he stared down a steam powered train raced down the track toward him.
