Walking Dead: The King
The sound of the ocean always comforted me... if I was close enough to the water and my eardrums were listening to only the lapping of the waves... I could imagine that the world had not come to an end, and the fact that the dead were walking...
Why would this happen to us...? Why?
Living in a reality where we fight the dead and fear the living... it's just a shame...
This world is a big place, plenty of room for the walkers. I don't know if my struggle is any different from yours, but it's mine nevertheless, choose to listen to it or not...
So I think it's best to start from the beginning...
"Check."
"Man... why don't you twist my arm while you're at it?"
"Well Mike, you do only need one hand to play the game..." Cayden smirked.
It was a weekly thing for the two young men: A game of chess to test their minds, strategizing against one another, and honing their tactician skills. At least one of them...
"Hell, if we were both playing at the pool table over there, I'd mop the floor with you." Mike retorted as he realized he was going to lose again, so he moved his King piece one space to the right.
"No doubts here, but that's why we play this instead." Cayden chided as he moved his Queen piece once more. "Checkmate."
Mike rolled his eyes in dismay. "Didn't see that coming..."
"You're getting better." Cayden held out his hand. "You took down some pawns."
"Yeah..." Mike shook his brother's hand in good faith. "Like I'd ever take down a champ like you..."
Cayden chuckled at the compliment. "Everyone has a niche little brother. And mine is kicking your ass."
"Screw you dude." Mike pulled his hand away then he crossed his arms. "By the way, is Dad home?"
"That's a negatory. Mom sent him out to get groceries. Fun fun fun." He sighed.
"Whatever, I'm just so hungry I could eat a horse." He exaggerated.
Cayden joked back. "Hey, horsemeat isn't bad, as long as you're not eating people."
"Nah." Mike responded with a grin. "I'm sure you'd kill me if I did that. No way would I survive the indigestion."
"Ha ha..." Cayden gave a humorless laugh. "Come on; let's see if Mom has our chores."
They both got up from their chairs and exited the game room which housed all of their favorite things. They had their game station, a new pool table with shiny new billiard balls, and their chess match set up for next time, a typical man-cave in their parents' house.
Believe it not, Mike and Cayden are twins, the latter being the eldest by two minutes. Both standing at about average height, they were identical in appearance, but certainly they had their own quirks.
They both sported the same Caesar cut hairstyle with a short, horizontally straight cut fringe. Dark black hair like the colors of the raven. Clean-shaved and both had distinguished blue eyes that their mother was thankful for, assured that women would be falling head over heels for her boys someday in the near future.
The Flynns', loving family of four, were your normal white family who lived in the rural neighborhood in central North Carolina, tucked away near the suburbs of Raleigh. The only other family they had was Uncle Johnny who is running a farm a few miles away, but the boys rarely see him themselves. He could get a little kooky...
By the time school comes back around, the twins were going to be off to college at the University of North Carolina. They were smart, real smart, well Cayden might be a little smarter...
Both wearing jeans and brown work boots, Cayden wore his favorite dark blue t-shirt while Mike had a green-grass t-shirt. Thundering down the stairs together to come out to the modern white kitchen of the house, they found their mother drinking milk... out of the carton!
"Mom!" Mike yelled. "How come you can do that and we can't?!"
"Because I'm your mother. Deal with it."
Their mother was shorter than them by a few inches and she wore red-rimmed glasses in front of green eyes. She didn't wear much make-up, only mascara. Her hair was short, red, and still re-growing, fresh out of the hospital, but she was right as rain.
Ruthie replied after she finished drinking and threw away the carton in the nearby trashcan, "Does one of you remember what day is it today?"
"No clue." Cayden smiled as he crossed his arms then he went to search the fridge for a snack. "You, Mike?"
"Why, it's our beautiful mother's 30th birthday... for the 15th time." The younger twin joked as he gave his mommy a bear hug.
"And that's why you're my favorite." She kissed her second son on the cheek. "So much kinder than your brother."
"When you're around sure. But he can swear like a sailor... no he swears like you when he's just with me." Cayden responded as he opened up a pack of yogurt.
"I'm not surprised." Ruthie simply raised an eyebrow. "He probably learned it from you."
"And I learned it from you, especially when you watch the football games. ...So the circle of profanity is complete. Happy Birthday Mom." Cayden gave a grin that would put the Cheshire Cat to shame.
"Come here." She pulled her first son for a hug of his own. Even though he could be rude sometimes and even a little arrogant, he had a good heart, both of them did. She had done some good in this world by bringing these two boys on this earth.
"When you're father gets home with the cake, everyone should start arriving for the party." Ruthie instructed them. "So when you hear the horn honk outside, get moving."
The boys nodded, understanding what she wanted to be done, so the two of them got to clean the house to prepare for the party. When momma was happy they could be happy. But they decided to have something on while they tidied up the adjacent living room, and the television channel had turned onto the News...
Earlier that day, Mr. Kevin Flynn was walking down the aisle towards the refrigeration section of the local market, passing by bread and sandwich ingredients. The store felt strangely sparse today.
An older version of his boys, his hair was already starting to grey and his stubble was a few days old. He was being casual for once and he wore his red plaid shirt with blue jeans as well. A man is his fifties was tempted by the sweets and candies he could procure, but decided against it knowing his wife would talk his ear off.
He muttered. "A little chocolate is fine once in a while... but oh well."
He finally made it to the cake section, standing next to a tall display of glass jar sauerkraut, must be on sale. The only transparent door that contained the birthday cakes was blocked by what looked like a homeless man. His back was facing Kevin and his clothes were ragged and dirty.
"Excuse me, sir? Can I get by you for a second?" Kevin requested.
But the homeless man didn't respond, he didn't even move. The figure continued staring at the door which held the cakes...
Maybe he was sleeping or just ignoring him? Sleeping standing up is not unheard of, but more than likely he was just not abiding by common courtesy.
Kevin was about to tap his shoulder when he suddenly heard a small groan slip out from the man... it sounded like a gurgle...
"Sir... are you alright?"
Everything seemed to slow in motion as the man turned, and what he saw frighten him... no... It horrified him...!
The entire front of the man was covered in blood, it littered his mouth! His neck... it looked like someone or something tried to eat him! His hair was mangled and stained with blood and dirt... His mouth was opening and shutting in a biting motion as he slowly moved towards him... His eyes, god his eyes! They were lifeless, a muddy grey like his skin with no emotion in them at all!
The monster before him raised its arms in an attempt to grab him, but Kevin back away, unfortunately he stumbled backwards into the same sauerkraut glass display, causing him to tumble into the ruined pile and fall to the floor, the sound of shattering jars filled the aisle as the cabbage littering all around him!
"No! What are you?!" Kevin tried to crawl away. "Stay back!"
But the homeless man did not heed his words as he mirrored his victim and fell on top of him! Kevin moved his hands to the monster's shoulders, trying to protect himself and push him off, but it was no use! He was pinned!
"Get off of me!" He cried. "HELP!"
The snapping of teeth got louder and louder as the monster inched closer and closer to his meal's neck and right ear.
Mr. Flynn wasn't going to go down without a fight, so he momentarily released his left hand from his attacker and grabbed the nearest thing he could.
As his fingers reached only centimeters away from a broken glass jar of saurckrat, a splitting spear of pain shot through his body when Kevin realized that his assailant had changed targets so intead of his neck, the monster ripped and tore and bit a small chuck of muscle and flesh from his right arm!
Blood began to spew from the wound as the creature was chewing and snacking on its first bite. Distracted long enough with his mouth full, Kevin heaved his good arm over and grabbed hold of the sharp glass jar!
With all of the strength he had to offer, he pierced his improvised weapon into the monster's right eye! Digging the the edges of the shiv into its rotten flesh, he was able to stagger and push him off enough to free himself from under the monster!
Screw it; he was going to kill this guy, self-defense right?
Now Mr. Flynn was in the dominate position, above the monster who was still reeling from that last blow. So he kindly gave him another one... and another... and another...!
Blood spatter was spread around the end of the aisle and after the fifth strike, the glass shard broke into an uncountable amount of shards and pieces, and the smell of a bad cabbage product filled his nostrils... the monster was lying on the tiled floor, but he was still moving.
Kevin looked at his arm which was bleeding profusely and then back at his attacker. He took his white handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapped it around the bite, tying it into a tight knot.
"You have any idea how mad my wife is going to be?!" He growled. "It's her birthday!"
He then took his foot and effectively stomped on the monster's head. This caused the skull to cave-in under his foot and the body had finally stopped moving as a pool of dark blood began to seep around it and spread across the floor...
He'll have to drive by the Emergency Room on his way home, so he'll be late... which is bad. Mr. Flynn grabbed the most expensive pink cake from the refrigerator and proceeded towards check-out.
But he found that the cashier was absent, so he just left some cash on the counter and continued on his way.
"Hope they don't mind the mess..."
At that moment, he was unaware of his true fate... and by the time he'd figure it out, it would be too late...
A/N- And this epic tale of survival in a world gone mad will begin... but first, I'd like to declare that this story will have an OC character contest for the plot!
Submit your character for consideration with these credentials via review. :) Support!
Name:
Age and gender:
Race:
Appearance:
Attire:
Personality:
Profession before Apocalypse:
Weapon of choice:
Anything else you want to add that I missed. Good Luck!