My name is Maya Evans and I live in times of Apocalypse. Dead raise from their graves and the only thing I've been doing since then is trying to survive.

Day of Apocalypse

I woke up in the middle of a day with a huge hangover.

'Fuck' I mumbled. 'Never again.'

That's what I've been saying after every party but lately I've been drinking way too much.

I looked on the clock near my bed. It was half past noon. I sat on the bed and growled. I felt like my head was splitting in half.

'Never again' I repeated trying to convince myself that this time I will keep up to that promise. I got up and looked at myself in a mirror next to my bed. I looked like a mess. I didn't take off my make up so under my eyes were black smugs of mascara and eyeliner. I always use them a lot. I feel naked without make up on my eyes. My black hair were in terrible state and they smelled like cigarettes.

I put on big T-shirt with Nirvana logo and some pants. I always slept naked even drunk. I left my room and went into kitchen, thinking only about a coffee and a smoke.

'Hello sunshine' my best friend and a flatmate Samantha welcomed me. She was sitting behind a table and eating lunch. She was beautiful even after partying with me all night, maybe because she barely even drank something… She had long, blonde hair and blue eyes. True southern beauty… She could be easily a model if she wanted to. Instead she covered her body with tattoos and became a tattoo artist. She also did a few tattoos for me and I have to admit that she's really talented. I always feel like a little mouse next to her (with my height it's quite normal) but I like that feeling. I don't like people and I'd rather stay in someone's shadow. It's easier…

'Hi Sam' I whispered afraid that my head will explode.

I walked over to coffee machine and poured myself a huge mug of coffee. I took a sip and I was in heaven…

'You don't look so good. Told you, you should stop yesterday' she said staring at me with smile.

'You know what day was yesterday…' I mumbled in hush voice avoiding her gaze.

'Yeah, your birthday…' she said with irony.

I looked at her with anger.

'Not only!' I said louder than I wanted. She raised her burrows at me. 'I can't celebrate it like nothing ever happened…' I took a cigarette from package on the table.

Sam sighed and looked at me with care.

'You should eat something first' she said with soft voice.

'I'm a big girl Sam. I can take care of myself just fine. Shouldn't you be at work?' I asked to change the subject.

'What time it is?' she looked at clock and made a loud inhale. 'Shit! I'm late!'

She quickly grabbed her bag and run to the entrance door.

'Are we still eating that dinner later?' she shouted from corridor.

'Sure thing. See you later!' I heard door closing behind my friend. Sam always wanted to take care of me yet she couldn't handle her own business. She was always late or forgetting of something but nobody could be angry at her cause she was apologizing with that big smile of hers that could melt hearts. Her fiancée was a soldier, stationed at Fort Benning. I'll never understand how she could fall in love in such collected and strict men but she was happy and that's all that counts for me.

It took me a while to clean myself. I took rather long bath just relaxing. I took pills for headache and ate something. Then I decided to work for a few hours. My book was almost finished and I was quite satisfied with it.

After some time Sam waltzed into my room. I didn't even hear when she got back I was so into my work.

'Pack your things! We're leaving!' she shouted panicked.

'What the fuck, Sam?' I asked with cigarette in my mouth. 'What are you talking about?' I was angry that she interrupted me in the middle of a chapter.

'Fuck, Maya' she shouted at me. I looked at her shocked. She was usually calm and she avoided to use a mild language. That had to be serious. She took my wrist and half dragged me out of my room to living room.

'Sam…' she looked at me scared and just turned on TV.

They showed some horror movie. But then I looked closer and realized it wasn't a movie – it was news from Atlanta. They showed a picture from street camera. People were fighting on the streets using tooth and hands. They were tearing each other apart and… eating. It was horrid. Sam was terrified as was I. When the pictures started to be really gruesome they turned off the camera view and went back to studio. Pale news anchor was saying that everyone should remain calm, stay in house and wait for army response. It hit me that he didn't explain what was going on.

'It's even worse.' Sam whispered pale.

'Maybe we should just wait like the reporter is saying?' I asked confused.

'No!' Sam said with strong voice. 'James told me it's a complete mess and they have no idea what's going on. I want to be with him…' her voice went down and she started to tremble and sobbed quietly.

'Okay, okay Sam' I hugged her tightly. I couldn't stand watching her crying. 'He's the army so he knows best. Pack your things and we're going to Fort Benning'.

She nodded and run to her room. I stood there for a while stunned. The whole channel on TV went down.

'What the fuck is going on?' I said shocked.

I went to my room and started to pack important things into my big backpack I used for trips. I took some clothes and whatever I thought was useful. To smaller backpack I packed my gun with silencer, wallet, cell phone with charger.

We took all the food we had and run downstairs to parking lot. I looked over to my motorcycle but I knew it wasn't the best idea so we packed to Sam's jeep. It was peaceful on underground parking. I guess everyone was acting according to what they said in news and just stay put.

When we drove into main street of Atlanta I looked around with horror. Weird looking people were slowly walking with weird sound. Most of them had some deep wounds or bites on their bodies. Some had arms and legs twisted in different directions but they didn't seem to care or feel any pain. When they heard the sound of engine in our car they started to walk into our direction. The closer ones started to hit the windows and putting faces closer. I looked in eyes of one of them and shiver went down my spine. There were no human in that… thing, only hunger.

I hit the gas and we left Atlanta in a hurry. City was overrun by those things and after few hours we knew that we made a right decision cause the army bombarded our hometown…