My parents have always had a relationship that I've admired. They became best friends, "and the rest is history", as they always told me. Even through the end of civilization, they managed to make it out together. I had never really questioned "The End" as they called it, until I was helping them move.

It was a few weeks after I had turned 23, and they asked me to go through my old things in their attic so they didn't throw away anything that meant a lot to me. It had been years since I crawled around up there, so the boxes were hard to tell apart. Thinking I was pulling down a box of old toys, I accidentally came across a box from before the world ended. Laying right on top was a dusty, brown, leather-bound book, with something written under the dust I wasn't quite able to read.

Using the cuff of my sweatshirt, I wiped a few thick layers of dust off the front, revealing the words, "I'm sorry Kelly, I tried". I instantly recognized the handwriting to be that of my father Marcus. I fanned through the pages to see it was a journal of some kind, and by the date scratched into the inside cover, I realized this was during "The End".

Like everyone from my generation, I'd always had questions about that time period, but it seemed no one was willing to answer any of them. I could tell there was something they had always left out, something they thought they were protecting me from, maybe. Now I had the chance to find out what exactly happened, and from the point of view of my father. I quickly wrapped the journal up in a blanket I had set aside to keep, and continued the day as if nothing had happened.

When I got home, I wasted no time, barely even waiting to get through the door to begin reading. After just a few pages, however, I came to understand why they had left this dark part of their lives so well hidden.

July 23, 2015

The world finally gave out. The small bits of humanity left, are now gone without any sign of returning. It's not like in the movies, or on T.V. People aren't "zombies", there's just nothing left for anyone to fight for. Kelly and I have taken refuge in an abandoned apartment complex, which seem s to be secure enough. It's not permanent, that's for sure.

We can hear the screams at night, people being discovered, and killed for food. We heard a rumor that there is shelter. Some place called Griffin, where there is no threat of death, or being killed, just living again. It's not far from where we are now, so we're going to try for it first thing tomorrow.

July 24,2015

They took her, the people of Griffin. They asked us outside of the gate what jobs we carried before and what our health history was like. Kelly, being a teacher was let in, while my journalism history got me a gun in the face. A tall man wearing a mask, put the barrel of his gun against my head and said, "I dare you. Make one stupid move, I DARE you.". I begged him, "Please, let us stay together. She's all I have", but he laughed and carried her behind the thick metal barrier.