Sorry this is so long for whoever reads haha It'll take off after this one I promise ;)

It was a normal day and nothing more or less. The same Georgia sun baked my bare skin while I lied down underneath it in my bikini. My sweet tea and radio sat on the ground beside me.

Just a normal day for me.

I sighed and wiped a bead of sweat off my neck. That was my sign that my time was up for the day.

So I leaned forward and picked all of my things up from my tanning area. The cool damp grass felt amazing between my toes all the way to my front porch where my gram rocked in her wooden Adirondack chair. She gave me a cheesy grin while I passed her.

The screen door was already open, revealing the large elk mount in the foyer. Right underneath that was a hutch that had been in the family for generations. There were mostly pictures of my parents in high school. Some of me in my cap and gown. And one in the center of Gram and Pop on their wedding day. They were pictures of love and right underneath them inside the cabinets were baby blankets and photo albums.

My grandparents basically took me in from infancy. Momma ran off not too long after I was born and Daddy had never been sober enough to really raise me. I knew him well enough to not miss his companionship. The only time we did do things were enough for me to realize I had enough love from my pop.

Daddy's hunting trips and drunken outbursts while I visited were quite enough for me.

I kept walking through the house, up the stairs and to my bedroom where I stripped off my bikini and turned on my shower.

My room's walls were covered in old wallpaper like the rest of the house but it was pink floral rather than forest green or sand colored. Pictures of rodeos and hunting trips were hung allover. Ribbons and buckles sat on shelves. All of the furniture was white wicker that had been around for ages. The best thing about it all was the huge window that let the perfect amount of sunshine in. In front of it was a tree, like the ones in movies that the sneaky boy climbs up, that cast shadows of the leaves all over my room. They would always put me to sleep on days like these, when the breeze would come through and bring the smell of honeysuckle and fresh mowed grass through. This room was my safe place and I would hate to part with it.

The cool water felt eccentric on my skin. It washed off all of the sweat from my tan and made my energy come back. The smell of my lavender soap filled up the bathroom after I used it. I always enjoyed my aftertan showers….I had no idea this would be my last.

When I got out I didn't bother putting on a bra. Just threw on my favorite underwear and cutoff jean shorts with an old tee shirt of my dad's I'd cut in half and cut the neck off of.

Tea in hand, I started down the stairs to fix something to eat…. I got to about the last stair when I saw one for the first time, out the front door. There was a mob of estranged humans moving towards my front porch, probably about thirty yards away. Gram had already wobbled to the door, our eyes met and she nodded at me.

"It's the sick."

She was so calm when she said it.

The last we'd heard of the virus it was under containment just yesterday morning. So we hadn't seen it or heard much of it since…

I dropped my tea and shuffled up the stairs. I was headed straight to grab my gun because I had no idea what exactly was ahead of me…Good thing I did.

I could hear Gram and Pop talking about going underground. They were the type who had decided long ago to put whatever canned goods and nonparishables they possibly could into storage. Just in case a government emergency happened. They even had fuel stored behind the barn and a silo full of rice. They lived their lives off the grid on the outside of Atlanta. Just far enough.

Before I headed down to the storage with them I went back to the porch to get a closer look. That was probably a choice I could have lived without making but I did it anyways. I looked through my scope to see them closer and it was something from a horror movie. The living dead. They looked like living roadkill and there was no possible words to describe every disgusting detail about them.

I rushed to the backyard where the stairs to the underground storage were. Gram was helping Pop down each one, since he couldn't walk much anymore. She looked up at me and motioned for me. I wanted so bad to stay with them but I thought it would be better if I ran and caught the cops to come and take care of the situation.

"I'm gonna run to town and fetch help!"

"No you don't! You'd better get down here or you'll never hear the end of it from both of us! "

I looked over my shoulder and sighed, thinking about either options but still thinking it would be better if I left.

"Sorry gram!" I slammed the two wood doors shut and scurried off before I could feel guilty for what else she had to yell at me. I usually did what she told me not to. The most recent action I had taken was buying my own puppy shortly before graduation. I couldn't help my longing to take care of a little German Shorthaired Pointer. The only reason they let me keep my Cliff was because he was a killer huntin dog. That was only one thing. There were parties and guys and some other things they would never know and never expect from me. There was in fact, too much she didn't know about me that I already felt guilty for.

I didn't know how guilty I would feel for leaving them behind yet.

I rushed to back in to the house through the back and to my backpack full of boxes of shells for my shotgun. Just a precaution I guess in case there was trouble which at that point I doubted there would be.

I wish I was right.

The infected were now just a few yards from my porch but I was able to rush to my old candy apple red chevy truck.

It started right up and I was able to haul off down the dirt road towards the closest way to the highway.

I was so relaxed at this point. There was really nothing to be afraid of. Just hop on over to town and get the police, I had thought. Simple as that.

I went ninety the whole way to the highway and thought it was strange that there were no other drivers on the road. Everything was abnormally settle for what it usually was.

And then I got to the high way.

Let me rephrase I got close to the exit and saw the vacant cars for miles. There were accidents allover without any people making a fit at all. I obviously stopped.. I couldn't drive any further meaning there was a big rig clogging up my lane.

I stopped my truck grabbed my gun and backpack. I walked just a few feet and was able to see all of the broken glass and even worse, dead bodies everywhere. It smelt too horrible to even approach some areas. I had to cover my mouth to keep myself from gagging. My walk ended quickly when I heard the banging against a car not far enough away from me. Of course I waited to see what the cause of it was, but it noticed me before I noticed it apparently. I began to shuffle backwards slowly when I saw the figure that had previously been a little girl. My gun stayed down but my stomach seemed to jump up into my throat. Before she could get any closer I started off the main road and just walked towards my truck.

That plan immediately ended when I saw that there were three more infected near my truck. At that point I finally began to panick, which led me straight into the forest.

I tried to keep my breathing lite and my footsteps quiet but with the speed I was gainin that was harder and harder. The roads I took to get home were in my vision so I could easily follow them home. Again, I found myself cut off by these creatures that seemed to be noticing me more and more. That's when I began to haul ass.

I couldn't stay on one path without them showing up where my feet were going. My gun was getting heavy and my shoulder strap was at home still so I slowed down the more I ran. After I'd ran for a good five minutes I had to stop and breathe. I could still hear odd muffled voices all around me but there was no way I could continue much longer. When my hiding spot was discovered I kept going, hopelessly feeling and I was sure hopelessly looking as well. Another one came from right beside me at one point and it gradually built up. One every second it seemed like found me and I could just see the edge of the forest ahead. Luckily for me, there was a loud and obnoxious noise, a car alarm of some kind that came from where the highway was. That killed off almost all of my predators by drawing their attention elsewhere and with the light at the end of the tunnel, I felt like I could move quicker.

I should've known better than to push myself because not five steps later I tripped over a tree root that bulged out of the ground, hooking my entire foot. I couldn't seem to get over my nerves after I looked over my shoulder. Three of them were right on my tail and I was just a foot from the edge of the forest. I scurried and army crawled and did whatever I could to keep forward motion but I began to cry and was already panting and sobbing. With the span between the infected and I growing smaller, so did my hope. And I screamed at the top of my lungs, in case there was anyone near that would be there. My muscles seemed to lock on me and I found myself paralyzed in that spot, just as my face and back were exposed to the sunlight.

The only action I could take then was to scream and sob and wait for something to happen, whether it be getting captured or somehow by the grace of god saved. I was reaching further, trying to pull on the ground to escape but before I knew they were just feet from me. That's when I looked up and realized there was a camp set up just ahead, with a group of people just turning their heads and rushing to see where the screams were coming from. There was a few men in front, one with a uniform on, but I was most relieved to see a man with a crossbow up and ready. I screamed for them one more time before I felt something grab my heel and pull me. The man with the bow shot an arrow, and just when I thought I was going to be saved, I realized the arrow was coming right at me, closer and closer until everything in my vision faded to darkness.