Among the Dead

Chapter 1

The world died around me in a matter of days, but by luck and coincidence, I made it out. I was nothing special, just a normal workaholic trying to find my way in the world.

My upbringing wasn't the best and my childhood left me numbers of emotional scars that never seemed to fade. After the incident I purposely tried so hard to forget the awful incident that happened there, then I moved in with Rick until I graduated High School and went off to collage. That was where I discovered my love of journalism and Rick had discovered his love for Lori, whom he married in a matter of months. Lori and I were never on the best terms, disagreeing on all of our choices and life decisions. I was more work orientated, and she leaned more toward being the perfect housewife. When she had Carl, that all that had seemed to change. Carl became a son to me as Lori ignored him, off in her own little world.

I didn't have a very good record of relationships. All the men that I had dated ended up the same in the end, controlling and self centered. But the one that lasted the longest was with my brother's best friend, Shane Walsh. When I had fallen for him, I had fallen hard. In my mind, there was nobody better to spend the rest of my life with than him. But I realized a little too late that he was secretly in love with Lori, shattering my already fragile heart. So I broke up with him, but my heart was still with him, so we would meet up every once in awhile when either of us felt lonely, which was more often than I would like to have admitted. But shortly before the outbreak, I ended it, knowing that the whole exchange was not healthy.

A month after we broke up the news started playing these messages, altering the world of the horror that had just started to occur. It hadn't gotten bad, but people were slowly dying from the virus. Nobody could make out what was happening, why everyone was dying so quickly, but it wasn't a big enough issue for us to not continue on with our lives. Since Lori and I had a nasty fight, I wasn't able to see Carl very often, which broke my heart. So I dove into what I knew best. Work. I sat at my desk, thinking of my recent promotion, becoming the lead anchor of the Atlanta news, reading over the next days stories. It was late and the only light in the entire floor was coming from the lamp on my desk and the one's out of my boss' office. I had my cell phone in hand, starring at the background photo. It was the one that Lori had taken last Christmas of Rick, Shane, Carl and I, all of us smiling under the brightly lit lights of the large pine tree. It was my favorite picture, but there was always that aching feeling whenever I glanced at it. I sat it down on my desk and sighed deeply, starring at my computer screen before looking over some important emails. I didn't even notice someone standing in the doorway of my office until they started speaking.

"Katherine, go home. You need to stop working." My boss said, sounding exhausted himself. Henry was about twenty years older than me and had a thick brown mustache. Everybody thought he looked like a less attractive Ron Burgundy from Anchorman reeked of cheese crackers.

"No I don't. I'm fine."

"Katherine..." he started, walking into my office, leaning against my desk.

"I said I'm fine. If it makes you feel any better, I'll leave in thirty minutes. I just have to reply to a few more of these so I can get caught up before tomorrow."

He laughed a bit, his breath reeking in the same cheese crackers as normal. "Oh Katherine, you take your job very seriously."

"Thank you sir."

Henry loosened his tie and sat on the corner of my desk. "Well, you are taking the week off. You never take vacations and are never sick."

"Sir..."

"Don't sir me. Once you finish your corrections, you may leave for the whole week, completely excused."

I narrowed my eyebrows, wondering if this was some joke. "You're kidding right? Who's gonna replace me?"

"We'll have Amber do the stories for the week. Katherine you've worked so hard for your promotion. It's been three months since then and you're doing absolutely fantastic. Therefore, I can't have my best worker get too worn out. So you have a week."

"Sir, I don't know what I would do with myself." I admitted quietly.

He took a drag of his electronic cigarette before tucking it into his back pocket, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Don't you have a boyfriend, a rich, newly famous, beautiful girl like you?"

I felt as if that comment was a tad inappropriate for him to be saying, but I just shook my head. "No sir."

"I swear you had a kid. Cam was it?"

"Carl. And no... well, that whole part's complicated. He's actually my nephew."

"Then why don't you go visit your family for the week? Your sister or brother..."

"Brother," I said before biting my lip, playing with the small diamond pendant I was wearing on my neck. "I messed things up."

"That bad?"

I nodded before taking in a large breath. "I called my sister in law a stupid bitch who shouldn't be a mother."

Henry grinned widely, laughing a bit to himself. "Well, did she deserve it?"

"I wasn't in my right state of mind..."

"That wasn't my question, Katherine. Did she deserve it is what I asked."

I nodded. "Completely sir."

"Then go. Your brother can't say no and that kid worships you from what I've seen."

Confusion drifted across my face as I glanced at the photo on my desk of Rick, Carl, and I. "What have you seen?"

"Bring your kid to work day, last year. You brought Cam."

"Carl."

"Still. You could just tell." Henry leaned over the desk. "Go Katherine. Or the kid will think you abandoned him with his bitch of a mother."

I smiled a bit and shut off the screen of my computer. "Alright sir. Thank you."

"No, thank you." He said before putting his coat on. "Have a nice night, Katherine." With that, he walked out the door, leaving me with a huge smile on my face. I was going to go see my family.

I stood in front of my brothers cookie cutter home. It was everything you could expect from the family man's house. White picket fence, green spades of grass covering the lawn, a perfectly painted house with a welcome mat under the door. It was just the type of house Rick and I was raised in, though looks can be deceiving. I knocked on the door, hearing voices on the other side. The door swung open to show my nephew, who was grinning widely, his bright blue eyes gleaming. "Aunt Katie!" He exclaimed before launching himself on me, giving me a huge hug.

"Whoa there kiddo! Your going to knock me over!" I said laughing. I was just as happy to see him as he was too see me.

Carl let me go, still grinning from ear to ear. "I missed you."

"Kid, it's been eight days."

"Still..."

I smiled. "I missed you more."

His smile suddenly vanished as he looked around the house. "It's a good thing you are here. I didn't think that mom would call you."

I narrowed my eyebrows. "Your mom called me?"

His eyes went huge and his breathing caught. "You don't know?"

"Know what?" I asked, eyebrows narrowed.

His eyes were filled with sadness, shock, and surprise, all reasons I had no clue on why they were there. He didn't say a word, but it looked as if he was going to burst out into tears at any second.

I stepped into the house, hearing a clanging sound from up the stairs. "Hey Lori, get down here!" I yelled up the stairs, having no idea on what the big issue was.

My dark haired sister-in-law emerged from the stairs, looking absolutely livid. "Carl, did you let her in here?" She demanded, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Yeah, he should be able too. I'm his aunt." I said, putting my hands on my hips.

"No you aren't. Not anymore."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm pretty sure I am. Plus, I raised Carl more than you did. I taught him how to speak, how to walk, helped him with his homework, took care of him whenever he was sick. What have you done Lori?"

She starred at me with fury in her eyes, but she didn't speak.

"So I think I can come in this house."

"This house is mine."

"It's not. It's under Rick's name."

She stopped breathing too. All of a sudden it was like you could hear a pin drop.

"You didn't tell her?" Carl asked with a hushed voice.

"Carl, go upstairs."

"No."

"Carl! Now is not the time to argue!" Lori walked right up to me. "I will call the police and get you off my property."

I tilted my head to the side with amusement. "Alright. Call Rick. I'd like to see him kick his only family off of his property."

"Dad won't come." Carl muttered.

"Carl!" Lori hissed.

"Why not?" I demanded at her. "Why won't Rick come?" I asked curiously, knowing that this was the big secret that was being kept from me.

"None of your business!" She snapped, looking more angry than I had ever seen her.

"It's her brother..." Carl mumbled.

"Carl!"

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?" I yelled, making her finally shut up.

She sighed before glancing at Carl, before back at me. "Rick is in a coma."

I didn't know what I was doing. My body wasn't connecting with my unresponsive brain and my arm swung back and slapped Lori across the face, leaving a red mark that started to swell. I gulped, knowing that I once again should think before I act.

"I'm sorry I slapped your mom." I mumbled to Carl when we were watching the news on the couch about two hours later after everyone had somewhat calmed down.

"No you're not." He stated.

"I kind of am. At least just a sliver if that helps. I should've thought a bit about it first."

He smiled at me, rolling his eyes a bit before starring blankly at the television. "I just really can't believe she didn't tell you."

I nodded, not really knowing what to say next. I bit my lip and turned on the TV to my news station. There was some movie commercial on about dead people eating the living. It was really a horrifying image. "Wow. That's graphic." I mumbled. "Movies are getting more intense, huh?"

"Aunt Katie?"

"Yeah?"

"I think that's real."

I sighed, running my fingers though my hair. "It's not. It's obviously fake, Carl. There is no way that could happen."

"Are you sure

I turned back around to the TV to see the same thing, but different people and a different dead person. On the bottom of the screen, there was an alert, telling all viewers to Atlanta for safety. "Hey Carl, turn off the mute."

My nephew put the volume back on and Garry from the station was on, his eyes panicked and scared. "This is a severe warning. The dead have came back to life and started to eat people. The CDC doesn't know how this happened, only that it is a virus that can be passed down by a bite or scratch. In Atlanta there is a safe zone where they are holding people for safety. Grab you and your loved ones and get down there."

I leaned back in the couch and ran my fingers through my hair. "This can't be happening." I whispered.

"It is." I heard from behind me. I whipped around to see Shane, standing there with his bags. My shot of pain went through my heart, but I ignored it, knowing that there were larger issues out there than my former relationship with the deputy officer. "Now we have to get both of you out of here and to Atlanta before something else happens." He got his first good look and stopped. "You're not Lori."

I shook my head. "And thank god for that." I said, feeling a bit hurt, but I shook it off again. I got up along with Carl, crouching down so we were face to face. "Hey kid, go get packed. I'll be up to help you in a minute." I promised.

Carl slowly nodded before running up the stairs, leaving me alone with the last person on Earth I wanted to see.

"What are we going to do about Rick?" I whispered, scared for the life of my brother, the only person that had been there for me his whole life.

Shane sighed deeply. "Katie, the hospital is filled with them." He glanced up the stairs, terrified someone might here. "I didn't hear his heart after the machines shut off. No way Rick is alive." he said quietly, his voice breaking at some points in his sentence.

I felt water fill my eyes and I turned away, not wanting him to see me cry. "You can't be sure about that."

"I am."

My lip started to tremble along with my hands. "He can't be dead. He's...He's Rick."

"What part of the hospital is overrun by these things don't you understand Katie?" He demanded, trying to make his voice sound strong.

I leaned against the post of the stairs, hooking my fingers together and putting them behind my head, tilting it back. "How am I going to tell Carl?" I whispered, fighting back the tears which tried to betray me.

"Same way I told you. He is sure to say something."

"Yes well you can't just be like, 'hey honey, your dad is dead or half dead'. Are you a damn idiot?" I said, now a bit angry with the man in front of me.

"Rick is dead?" Someone gasped from the stairs. Lori was standing right there, wide eyes with her fingertips pressing against her lips. "Like, gone?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah."

She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly, him instantly returing it. If I wasn't in the state of mind I was in at the moment, I would be extremely uncomfortable.

"You're going to be fine." He said, petting her hair like she was a dog. "We all are. I'll take care of you, Carl," His head lifted up and he looked me in the eye. "and Katie."

"Where are we going?" she whispered into his shoulder.

I couldn't manage to hear anymore, so I darted up the stairs, not wanting for them to see me cry. I walked right into the guest bedroom and fell on the bed, sobbing uncontrollably for the loss of my only sibling.