A/N: Let me state this clearly once: I do not own any rights to The Walking Dead, its characters or any commercial product affiliated with the brand. I am writing this story for the the fun of writing, I have no commercial interest or gain. I have no profitable affiliation to the creative product that is The Walking Dead, or its owners and license holders. I am not trying to infringe on copyright. All of the dialogues and situation that does not involve, including some dialogues and situations that does involve my OC Jessica McLennan, are taken from the show and used to shape context and understanding of the story line. I do not take credit for this, I do not own this, I am simply writing in a OC in the world that is The Walking Dead for my own pure satisfaction.
We left everything but some essential things behind. We knew we had to bring the gun in order to survive, but we also brought some blankets, clothes, food, water and gas.
And when we left, we didn't leave in a fashionable sense. We ran. We ran for our lives.
Everything happened so ridiculously fast – within days the virus had spread and many of my friends had become flesh-eating monsters. Later, I heard someone call them 'walkers', and I guess it stuck. The dead had risen, as though the apocalypse was coming. They did so in massive amounts, outnumbering the living after mere weeks. By then it was already too late. The government responded too slowly, and the army – the stupid fucking army – did not have enough manpower or ammunition. They couldn't protect anybody, and in the end they couldn't even protect themselves.
My name is Jessica, and I fled the city together with my younger brother Keith. They told us to go to Atlanta, that we would find shelter there. All we found was death. We got stuck in traffic, and after a while people came to the conclusion that walking would be faster than waiting for traffic that wouldn't move. Keith and I joined the exodus to Atlanta. But then a really big group of walkers came walking from behind. Our backs weren't covered and many people died. If not by the undead, they died because of the panic – people got squished to death, trampled on and left behind. The walkers managed to get to Keith. I hid in a car and pulled a dead body on top of me to mask my smell. When the walkers moved on hours later, Keith's excruciating screams still rang in my ears. I saw him trip, bang his head and get knocked out. I tried to save him, but the walkers had already spotted him. He was bleeding heavily and the walkers devoured him.
I witnessed everything. The horror and the stench of the corpses almost knocked me out, while at the same time preventing me from drifting off. I couldn't cry, because I didn't want to make any sound that might betray the fact that I was alive. Those hours, there on that highway and under that corpse watching my brother die were the most excruciating hours of my life. My little brother was shredded to pieces and eaten right in front of me. I thought about jumping into the group of walkers, to let them have me too. But my instincts told me 'no', I went into survival mode and I wanted to live.
When the walkers moved on, I felt like I could finally breathe again. I pushed the dead body off of me, which took some strength, and I got up to my knees. I looked around my, making sure that there were really no walkers around. Then, I slowly made my way to whatever was left of my brother. When I saw him, his mangled body and bloody face, I broke down. I started bawling my eyes out. I couldn't help myself anymore. All those hours underneath that corpse listening to my brother dying caught up with me.
I don't know how long I spent weeping, but all of the sorrows of the past weeks came out. I was completely alone. I lost all my family and friends, even my dog. I had no place to go, no friendly faces to look forward to. I felt like I had no future anymore either. I was a Law student in at Mercer University in Macon before all of this began. I wanted to become a lawyer. Not a real valuable survival skill to have.
When I came to my senses I felt surprisingly clear and empty. I grabbed Keith's backpack, took out his bottle of water, flashlight, dry socks and food. Then, I started walking in opposite direction of the walker. And I just kept walking.