If I'm being honest this story was originally born out of my frustration for the complete lack of POC original characters, but the characters are distinct on their own and it's turned into a fully developed story. There's going to be some spanish in this, mostly small phrases easily understood in context, but in case you need help there will be translations at the end of the chapter. Enjoy~
Chapter One:
"till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."
Genesis 3:19
When one thinks about the apocalypse what usually comes to mind is hellfire, brimstone, chaos at the very least, and in the early days it was. Screams and gunfire were suddenly more commonplace than the sound of birds, but nothing could compare to the deafening quiet that followed. If noise meant life, then silence was the song of death, and the world was dead.
The dusty black jeep crept through the streets, weaving between the abandoned cars, crunching over the brittle corpses of those lucky enough to die and stay dead. Wind whipped Daniela's long dark hair around her face as she watched the reflection of their car pass over intact store fronts. Garbage littered the streets; it clung to trees and bushes, rustling as the wind shook their branches. And yet... it was quiet. Daniela ripped her eyes from a swimsuit shop with boarded up windows, and set her eyes on her older sister in the driver's seat beside her.
"It's empty." She whispered, fear keeping her from speaking above the sound of the engine.
"That's a good sign, right?" Victoria said, sparing a glance down some overgrown side street.
"It feels wrong." Daniela crossed her arms and tried to picture what Tybee Island looked like when she was little, teeming with life.
"I can still turn around." Victoria answered now glancing sideways at her sister, worry etched into her face permanently fixed in the lines between her brows. At thirty-four, almost ten years her senior, Victoria was always more of a mother than she was a sister to Daniela.
"No," Daniela let out a long sigh, "I still want to, it might be our last chance to see it after all."
Victoria pulled into a cul-de-sac right in front of the pier and pulled through so the car was facing back the way they came. Quick getaway plans were necessary at the end of the world. Victoria jumped out of the car without opening the door. The second her feet hit the sun scorched asphalt her left hand gripped the hilt of her hunting knife, and her right hand rested on the gun at her hip. Daniela threw one last cursory glance around before climbing over the door herself, even if the streets were empty she didn't need to make unnecessary noise.
She pulled her own knife out of the duct-tape holster on her belt. The blade was staring to slice through again, she'd need to tape it back up soon. Victoria gave her a nod and they moved in tandem, walking swiftly across the side walk. Their footsteps thumped on the old wood of the pier and Daniela prayed it waited at least a few minutes before giving out on them. She didn't remember the pier being this long, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the end.
Daniela tucked her knife back into its sheath and looked around. Waves crashed against the wooden supports and the wind swept mist into her face. She couldn't pull her eyes from the horizon, where the inky ocean met the clear sky. The ocean was unchanged, still vast and mysterious, and blissfully empty of all the world's problems.
"I wonder where they went." Victoria said, staring down the empty stretch of beach on their left, mirroring the one on their right perfectly. A gull screeched overhead and Daniela watched it land near a bulge in the sand.
"Maybe inland, in search of better hunting grounds." Daniela answered grimly. Dark lumps dotted the beach, bodies long forgotten covered in sand picked bare by the birds. She looked back at horizon, and watched a new shape take form. It was little more than a white smudge, but her heart jumped.
"Vic look," she smacked her sister's arm excitedly, "A boat!" she exclaimed, unable to stop the smile from breaking out across her face. Victoria swung around, it was even closer now, Daniela could just make out the sails, and it was approaching quickly.
"Hey!" Daniela yelled waving her arms, they had to see her.
"Keep your voice down!" Victoria hissed whipping her head around.
"That could be our ticket out of here." Daniela jumped up and down, waving her arms. The boat was heading directly for the pier now, there wasn't a dock exactly but they'd find a way.
"¡Mierda!" Victoria aimed her gun down the beach, the shapes in the sand started moving. The body the seagull was chewing on stood, clumps of sand and skin falling off it. A snarl sounded to her right, on the other side of the pier bodies started emerging from the shallow graves they rested in.
"Why isn't it stopping?" Daniela breathed, if it didn't slow down soon it would crash into the pier.
"We need to get out of here. Now!" Victoria grabbed the sleeve of her shirt.
The boat was close enough that Daniela could make out the blood splatters on the cabin and deck. Not even the sails were untouched by the grisly scene. You couldn't come back from that kind of blood loss, not alive anyway.
"¡Vamos ahora!" Victoria barked, and Daniela didn't hesitate to run with her. Dozens of vacíos rose on either side of the pier, groaning and shambling for them. The stench of rotten flesh invaded her nostrils, a smell she learned to avoid. Halfway down the pier they felt the impact of the boat crashing into the pier, but Daniela's legs did not let her stumble, and the two just kept going. There was no way anything within a five-mile radius didn't hear that.
The end of the pier was blocked by three of them. "Vic!" Daniela shouted, fear threatened to freeze her joints but she kept herself heading straight for the three hungry mouths, caked with dry blood. Victoria raised her gun and fired three times. Two of the bodies dropped giving them enough of an opening. Daniela felt grasping hands graze her side as she bolted past.
The car was thankfully clear, but now bodies crept out of the old store fronts, out from under cars, from everywhere. Victoria jumped into the jeep turning the keys in the ignition, Daniela dove into the back of the jeep, a box of supplies digging painfully into her side. Victoria didn't waste any time, the tires squealed as they tore away from the growing hoard. Daniela gaped as more and more of the undead poured out into the streets. The town might have been dead, but it wasn't empty.
"Guess we know where everyone went." Daniela gritted out.
When they were finally on the open road and all the bodies fell away behind them, Victoria slowed enough for Daniela to climb into the passenger seat. All of them were there, hiding or lying dormant. They were lucky they made it out alive. She pulled her medallion out of her shirt and pressed it to her lips.
"Where do you want to go now?" Victoria asked.
Daniela sighed. "Dondequiera pero aquí."
Vacíos- (Victoria and Daniela's word for the Walkers) empty ones
Mierda - shit
Vamos ahora - lets go now
Dondequiera pero aquí - Anywhere but here
I won't be posting repeated words in the following chapters for brevity's sake, but if there's something i forgot to add let me know and I'll fix it:)