Hello, my name is Hotty, but you can call me Cat. This is my Edit of the first story I put up here, which I thought was an absolute failure. Yes. So. Yeah. o-o Word.

I stare down at my shoes, the old pink stained dirt brown and rusty red. Wind whistles quietly through the empty room, rustling old drawings, stories, and other such things. The sound of small foot steps in the background hardly reached my mind, until it was to late, and I felt hands on my face. Little fingers wiped tears from my face, and I was brought into focus. My little brother, so small and brave, stood before me, wiping my face, smiling reassuringly. Oh, but it wouldn't help. Shakily, my hand pulled his eyes, and I ran my fingers through his curly blond hair, giving him a half-hearted smile.

Our parents were gone. Leaving us, their children, all alone, while monsters ravaged the city. The sound of screams had died away, or maybe I was just going deaf to the sound. I couldn't believe it, not one bit, they had loved us, I had been so sure. They'd given me so much, they'd given me a brother, they'd... They had left us. I sighed, my breath leaving steam in the cold room. The sun was sinking outside, leaving the apartment house cold, from broken windows letting in so much air. Kylee, my brother, lowered his big blue eyes and decided to break the silence.

" Shar... I-I'm sure they'll come back. " His voice was small, only ten years old, but so smart. He was in middle school, the little grade-skipper, and he was braver then I could ever be. " I mean... They wouldn't really leave us right? " He didn't cry like me, he just stayed positive, while my mental stability crashed. I gave a half-hearted laugh, and leaned down, my knees hitting the ground without meaning to. I wrapped my arms around him, and gave another laugh, this one a bit hysterical sounding. Without a therapist, I wouldn't last long, I knew it.

" Yeah. They'll be back. But, I don't think we should wait Kylee. You saw those things out there right? " I felt him shudder, and gave a small smile, trying to be optimistic, be the crazy person I was at school, hyper and insane, the kid everyone avoided for her recklessness. " We have to go Kylee. Those things will kill us. You know that right? " I wasn't going to be gentle with him, he could handle this, he was the sane one, right? I felt him struggle slightly in my hug, looking up at me, his face had a smudge of blood on the side. Yes, running from them trying to get home from school was not great. No vehicles, no bikes, no school buses. I wiped it away, and smiled at him, my eyes sad, my smile... Hardly lucid.

He nodded, and I released him, we moved like robots, jerky, heavy movements. We were in our room, the bunkbed shoved in one corner, beds unmade. The closet open, clothes thrown about inside, since both of us hated hanging them up. Normally our parents would have them hung up by the time we got home, but not today. Books were stacked up walls, some had fallen out the broken window too. Me and my brother were readers, writers. I was an artist, a singer, an actor, I did anything I could do in the world of art. But now, I just had to survive, and so my books were kicked aside, and I rummaged through our closet.

I had a duffle-bag for many reasons. One, I'd been moved around families all my life, I've been staying with my father and step-mom for the longest. I'd kept the old bag, for just in case I had to leave again. Of course, I'd been living with them for three years, I guess it carried dust over time. Tossing the black bag on the bed, I ordered Kylee to go the kitchen, see if they left any nonperishable. Me, being such an avid reader, had seen my fair share of apocalyptic books, never believed it would happen though. Everything was just... Happening. Zombies, Infected, whatever the hell they were.

I was only 17, this was not suppose to be happening to me. I should be, publishing my books, and hanging out with my less-then-popular friends, and getting stuck in police cars because I got in some random, very violent fight again. I mean really, I was still a virgin dammit, even if I found sex, sexual organs, and shit like that disgusting, it was still demeaning to go down without shagging at least once, right? There was more then that too, as I packed functional clothing and cans into the bag, I notice how much shit I've never done. I don't have a cellphone, I've never told the guys I like I like them, I've never driven a car, I haven't gotten over my fear of needles. Hell, I haven't even dyed my hair yet, so I was going to die forever known as 'old lady girl'.

Running my fingers through the white strands of my hair, I snap back into reality at the sound of groans. Those damn monsters were outside. I'd heard on the news a while back, about the Flu. Me, I think that they are just zombies, and one cut, was going to result in me turning into one of them. Besides, my parents forced me to get any vaccine for anything that ever came up, no matter how much it made me scream, cry, and threaten them. I'm sure I got a shot for it, if they had one... I never really knew what I was getting a shot for most of the time. Hospitals gave me the willies. Kylee was backing a bag too, I don't know why, the duffle-bag was enough, if you asked me.

Once I was sure I had packed enough, I just stood there. We had no real plan, no real course of action... Kylee seemed at a loss too, as his movements became slower. He stopped behind me, and I looked over at him. He had changed his clothes, I hadn't even noticed. He was wearing my winter-camo hoodie, and it was long on him, but fit him okay; seeing as I was a freaking rail in height, weight and shape; he also wore boots, and comfortable, thick pants. Well, those would come in handy, in the cold of Vancouver, Washington. I wasn't going to change, I always wore apocalypse-suitable clothing. A large jacket, over a long-sleeved shirt, sweat pants, sneakers, long-socks. Of course, nothing matched, and I'd have to leave my hat-collection behind. Grabbing a couple of beanies, I shoved them in the bag, and sighed, picking it up with ease. Unlike other girls, I trained my upper body a lot, I was proud of my upper-body strength. Kylee watched me for a moment, as I strode out of the room and walked for our parents.

He whispered urgently, " Wh-what! No, Shar, don't go in there! " But I was deaf to him, and opened the door. Our parents had a water bed, and their room was painted mostly purple. I made a noise of disgust. Purple was my least favorite color in the universe, I felt my mind finally shifting back into my normal insanity, with random, impulsive thoughts. I yanked one of my dads jackets out of the closet, and began to shred it, with my bare hands. I pulled the blue jacket into strips, and shoved them into the bag. My parents stopped buying band aids, because I kept 'wasting' them all. It wasn't my fault my hands bleed like crazy when I chewed my nails. Speaking of which...

Bringing my already nubby-short nails to my lips, I bit at them, tasting dirt and blood on them already, from the run here. I stormed back into my room, and grabbed my only weapons. Or what could be used as weapons. I grabbed my bed, and hauled it onto my shoulder, coming up with a plan at random. We'd look for groups. Groups always formed during apocalypses, it was natural for some people, to group together and to survive like that. We'd get a group, we'd find... Some place safe, there had to be one, and then we'd continue on from there... I knew, that thinking like this, was going to drive me insane. I never liked responsibility, Kylee was more mature then me most of the time, I just thought on the depressing side of the world. I turned to my brother, who was now peering in from the door way, and smiled at him... A crazed, painful smile.

" Let's get out of here, shall we Ky? "