This story is a work of fiction. Characters, placings and settings comes from my imagination. Any resmblance is entirely coincidental. No part of this story may be copied and used for other references without permission.

I do not own the George A. Romero or the Resident Evil franchises; however, they inspired this story.

Rise of the Dead

Chapter 1

October 15th, 2006

A soft vibration brought me out of my dreams at 5:00 in the morning. At first, I thought it was just my cat jumping on my bed. He usually wanted attention this early in the morning. I reached my hand out and patted...air. My eyes slowly opened and looked around. My cat was nowhere to be seen. Annoyed, I rolled over and went back to sleep. I had to go to work later and I needed my rest.

A couple of hours later, the sun woke me up. It's rays were poking through the blinds and on my face. I turned to my side to check my clock. 8:00. Even though I went to bed early last night, I still felt groggy. I sat up and suddenly shivered. My entire room felt like a refrigerator. My body felt like a block of ice. Even with my comforter, I felt my teeth chattering. I didn't understand. The weather reports showed that it was going to be warm all weekend.

Shivering slightly, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower in my bathroom. I spent a couple minutes longer in the shower, trying to absorb the heat from this chilly morning.

When all of the hot water was gone, I got dressed and quietly went downstairs. My parents like to sleep late on Saturdays, and I didn't want to tick them off. It was surprised, however, to find them both at the kitchen table. My mom was browsing through a magazine and my dad was eating his breakfast. My mom was wearing a bathrobe over her night clothes, but my dad was dressed up this morning in his usually tie and dress pants. He had a scowl on his face.

I got a bowel from the cuppard, and poured myself some cereal. I carried the bowl and a glass of juice to the table

"What's going on?" I asked dad as I began eating.

He took his time chewing his toast before he told me. "One of my co-workers called in sick today so I have to go in and cover for him," he explained. No wonder he looked grouchy.

"But it's Saturday. Why you?"

He sipped his coffee. "Because I said I would. And you yourself work today, so why shouldn't I ?"

I sighed and took a sip of my orange juice. Dad works fived days a week from seven until six so he likes to enjoy his weekends off. Only on rare occasions does he work for somebody else on a weekend. Either their getting free donuts today at the office or he must be getting a big paycheck next week.

I turned to my mother."So what are you doing up?" I asked politely as I took a bite of my cereal.

"They're having a sale at Wal-Mart today, so I thought I would take your sister in and get her some winter clothes," she explained.

I groaned. Everytime a sale comes around, my mother drags me and my sister to the store and dresses us up like her own barbie dolls. The humiliation is unbelievable.

"Do you need anything while I'm there?" she asked me.

I cringed. "No thanks. I'll be okay for a while." I said.

Before she could say anything, I put my empty bowl in the sink and hurried into the living room. I nearly tripped over my twelve year-old sister, Natalie, who somehow snuck downstairs and was now glued in front of the TV. Normal for any kid these days. But my sister was welded to the TV twenty-four/seven. You need a crowbar to seperate her from the screen.

I glanced at what she was watching and sighed. I don't see how anybody could like Spongebob Squarepants. She believes it is the greatest cartoon ever created and deserves an Oscar.

"Do you ever grow tired of that show?" I said.

"No! Now leave me alone. Spongy is rescuing his friends from the shark gang," she told me, never taking her eyes off the screen.

I had to grin. I loved my sister, but she could be a real pain in the butt. She really needed to get some after-school activities or else her brain was going to go flabby.

I walked up the stairs to get ready to leave for work. Since it was Saturday, there probably wouldn't be to many people today at the library, which was probably going to make the day slower. Since it was Saturday, I could usually dress up the way I want. Days like these, I just usually put on a pair of pants and one of my sports jerseys. I found my boots under my bed and started to lace them up when my cat Maddie came out of nowhere and fought with the strings.

"Hey! I don't have time for games. I need to get to work, " I yelled as I tugged the strings out of his claws. But he didn't give easily. I kept him pinned down with one foot while I laced up my boot on the other. When I was done, I let him go and he jumped up onto my bed.

I putted on some deoderant and tried to flatten my short, black hair in the reflection of my computer moniter. I caught my cat staring at me in the reflection. It's real creepy when he does that. Almost like he's staring into my soul.

I rounded on him. "I also don't appreciate you jumping on me in the middle of the night," I explained even though I knew he couldn't understand.

He just meowed and settled down for a nap. I smiled and returned to my hair.

"Oh no, not again!" I heard my sister cry.

This sudden outburst brought me to my senses. I hurried downstairs to find out what caused my sister's outcry. When I arrived in the living room, Natalie was watching a news report. But it wasn't a news station channel. It still had the CN symbol on the bottom left screen.

"This is the fourth time. Why won't it stop?" she complained.

"Shush," I said

"...now known as the earthquake felt around the world, we have reports from every city in the world they have felt a small vibration in the earth."

"Earthquake around the world?" my mom questioned, coming in from the kitchen.

"Be quiet," I snapped.

"... although there has been no reported damaged in any major cities, geologists are puzzled that earthquake didn't even show on a single Richter scale in all major geological sites..."

"I gotta go. I'll see you guys tonight," dad reported from the front door.

I never took my eyes off the screen. "Okay, see ya."

"...now to your original broadcast."

"What, that's it?" I asked, outraged that they didn't have anything else. A news report was on the Cartoon Network channel and they only report a few seconds of news?

"Thank You," my sister prayed looking up at the ceiling.

I looked at my mom.

"Did you feel anything last night?

"No I didn't. Now if you will excuse me, I have to get ready,"she said and went upstairs.

I just stood in the living room. Was that earthquake the vibration I felt last night? If it was, why didn't mom feel it and only I did?

I went to the front door to ask dad. His car was already driving down the street when I arrived.

Dissapointed, I got my keys off of the hook in the hallway and went to work.

12:35

"Did you feel anything last night?" I asked Jessica, one of my co-workers.

"Besides the sudden urge to go the bathroom, no," she explained, eating her sandwhich.

I dropped the subject and went back to my lunch. I like work at the library part-time after school and on Saturdays. It's not the best paying job in the world but all my car payments have been paid and so I just work here for gas money. It's also very quiet and I get to meet new people everyday. Problem is, everybody just wants to get on the free internet we have.

Jessica is my only friend here. She helped train me when I started and we always help each other with our problems. She is twenty-two and is already married. I tease her about getting hitched with the first guy she met. She, however, tells me it's true love. Me, I don't believe in soul mates so I like to giver her a hard time about it.. I also like to tease her about the way she dresses. She always wears white. Even her Converse are white.

I threw my napkins in the trash and returned to the front desk. There, I found my best friend, Kevin, leaning on the desk. His back was turned to me, but I recognized his blond hair.

"Get off. This desk is for our computers and costumers, not to be leaned on," I snapped.

He turned around and gazed at me with blood-shot eyes. I laughed.

"Damn, what happened to you?" I asked. He's not exactly the drinking or partying type.

"The football team won the away game last night. All the players, cheerleaders, and pretty much everybody else was up all night partying in the floor above mine. I didn't sleep a wink," he groaned.

"Ha-ha. Why didn't you join them?"

"Because college scouts are coming to more of my games and I need to be in shape, not drowning my liver with alcohol."

I raised my eyebrows. "Drowning your liver? What is it going to do, suffucate when you down a shirley temple?"

"Shove it," Kevin warned.

I smiled. We've been friends since first grade so we now joke around.

Kevin is a year younger than me; although, we're in the same grade because he moved up when he was too advance for kindergarten. We met fighting over a box of crayons in art class in first grade. He's tall for his age, taller than me in fact. He is also the most respected athlete at our school.

Kevin's story is a sad one. His parents were killed in a car accident when he was twelve. Because he had no other family members, he was required to live in the dorms with the high school kids who are from out of state. He suffered through junior high by being picked on. But when he was made a starter on the basketball team in his sophomore year, he earned the respect he deserved from even the best seniors. Now that we're both seniors, he has ten different colleges trying to recruit him and even more are starting to notice his talents now that the season is about to start.

I suddenly got serious. "Hey,did you feel that earthquake last night?" I asked.

His face suddenly darkened.

"Yeah. At first I thought everybody upstairs, jumping up and down with the music being played. But I was on the bottom floor and everybody was on third. I couldn't feel the vibrations when they're that high up."

"What time was it when you felt it?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Maybe around five in the morning." He then took out his favorite coin and started flipping it. It was a coin that had heads on both sides so he could always win when we needed to settled something. I didn't realize he had one until last year, after he won all my CD's and my Barry Bond's autographed baseball.

He looked around and dropped his voice to a whisper. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this. I asked everybody in my dorm if they felt anything but they were all to drunk to remember anything."

"Nothing?"

He grinned a little bit. "Except the quarterback puking on the couch and the captain of the cheeleading squad taking off her top."

I laughed. "Sounded like a fun party."

"Makes me wish I wasn't a basketball star," he chuckled.

I remembered something. "I forgot to ask how your date went the other night."

He smiled mischieveously. "I had a great night. You really need to meet this girl."

I knew which girl he was talking about. I have seen her in the hallways. She was the new girl at school. She transfered from a different school, about thirty or fifty miles away. I don't remember which one. However, Kevin was assigned to show her around school and where her classes were. The two really hit it off.

I noticed Jessica waving her hands and tapping at her watch. I got the hint and turned back to Kevin.

"Look, I need to get these books shelved. You should get back to the dorms and get some sleep," I told him.

Kevin looked over my shoulder and waved at Jessica. She smiled and waved back. Jessica always let Kevin talk to me during the work hours..

"Make sure you bust his ass if he slacks off," he whispered.

"I will," Jessica replied.

He winked at her and started to walk away.

"Don't worry about the earthquake. It's not the end of world," he told me.

I chuckled. Somehow, I just couldn't believe that.