TWD story – Chapter 1 – The day it happened.
It seemed it was a morning like any other in Savannah. The sun was glaring through the peaks of the clouds in the warm sky and civilians were passing through the streets, getting on with their business, thinking about what they'd have for dinner later. Nothing was out of the ordinary.
Olivia had decided to lay in bed for a little while longer. She didn't have a job anymore anyway. She was glad of it. She was tired of doing the same things every single day... take someone's order, go to the kitchens, give them the order, clean some dishes, take out the order, take someone else's order. It was painful. Her dad, Joel was pretty pissed at her for losing her job but there was nothing she could do about it now. Olivia loved her dad, he was all she had left since her mum died of cancer when she was a young girl, but she wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman in her early twenties, she didn't want to clean dishes for the rest of her life. Her dad often spoke about taking off in their boat and travelling for awhile, but they never got round to it. Joel was always busy. It was probably because he didn't want to be reminded of his deceased wife, so he worked until he forgot. He never did.
Olivia dragged herself out of her comfortable cradle and slipped on her bunny shaped slippers. "Dad!" She shouted from the top of the stairs. No reply was returned. Olivia assumed he'd already set out to work as he did most days and turned back in to her box-sized room and pulled on some slim fitted jeans and a t-shirt that was far too big. Then, She turned to the broken mirror that was placed on the wall and cringed at the sight. Her intense, fiery red hair no longer held any attraction as it seemed to resemble a painting by Francis Bacon. Olivia grabbed her hairbrush and ran it through her disheveled hair and attempted to tie it back, but stubbornly her fringe continued to fall in front of her face.
That's when she heard it. The scream. A scream of terror.
Olly darted downstairs and flung open the front door. Only to see a woman shaking violently on the concrete floor with another person piercing her neck with its teeth. "Oh my God..." Olivia darted down the street towards her dad's workplace, the screams of others and fear riding her forwards. She didn't get the whole way, before she was grabbed and pulled in to a tight hug. Her determination had made her oblivious to the fact that her father had been heading towards her first.
"Thank goodness you're okay, Olly." Tears had sprung from their shared emerald eyes, but the moment was crushed when another scream pierced the sky. "We have to go, honey. There's supplies on the boat, but we have to go quickly. There's a storm coming." And he was right. Olly hadn't noticed it before. The sky had grown dark and eery, like God had given up on this place. Joel grabbed hold of Olivia's hand and pulled her towards the seafront. It was a race. A race against others who fled to the shore, a race against the oncoming storm and the race against those man eating creatures that had caused so much fear and mayhem. Olly afforded a look towards the shopping centre and gazed upon the looters and pillagers. Mayhem.
Joel jumped on the boat and pulled Olivia's slightly shaking body aboard after him. Then he got to work on getting the boat out of the docking bay. Olly couldn't move. Her body felt like ice and fire all at the same time. The screams echoed inside her head until they were nothing more but dull noise. The boat shook under her feet as it accelerated forward. She could hear her dad cursing in the background, but she didn't regain her senses until he continuously shook her. "Hey! Snap out of it, honey!"
"Sorry, sorry." She shook her head in disbelief trying to figure out if this was all real. If people had really gone mad. If the world was really ending.
"Honey you need to snap out of this. I need you to be strong. We have a problem. The boat doesn't have enough power for the large trip, but I might be able to get another battery. Do you hear?" Olly nodded. "Good, then I'll go and get us one." Joel moved towards the wheel of the boat preparing to turn it around, but she clung to his arm and shook her head. "I have to, honey. We'll be okay." He attempted to reverse the boat back to its original position, but it was too late. The storm was upon them and other boats who also weren't as quick surrounded them. They had lost this race. The once deep blue sea had turned grey and clattered in to the the fishing boat that was floating in the middle of the water. The boat swayed violently from side to side, catching them both off guard and sending them flying overboard. The waves crashed over Olivia causing her to choke on the sea water as she attempted to keep afloat. Olly kicked her feet in a struggle to swim towards the boat, but then a loud crash sounded as a boat also trying to escape collided with her childhood fishing memories. Instead, she made for the shore.
When she finally washed up on land, she frantically searched for her father. She hadn't washed up on the docks, but further down the sea. She was now just outside of the city, an onlooker of the devastation. Confusion wracked her mind as the once chaotic city seemed to have grown silent. Had she passed out? Fear filled her bones as there was no sign of her father. She had to find him.
Olly crawled her way through to the city, like a spider. The city was dead. The people were dead. Whatever these things were that were left, weren't people. They just roamed. They were roamers. Olivia tried to keep herself focused on finding her dad, but the whole world was fucked. How did this even happen? She sighed and turned the corner to where their house lay.
If Dad were still alive, that's where he'd search for me. No, no. He's still alive. He'll be there. He has to be.
Olly entered the house quickly, shutting the door behind her. Scanning the living room she whispered her father's name softly. No reply. Sprinting upstairs she pushed her father's room door open. "Dad!" Nothing. Tears made her eyes glisten like gems as they escaped to her pale skin. She knew her dad hadn't been here, because his hat was still hung up on the bed post. He loved that hat. He only left it here when he had to go to work because it wasn't uniform regulation, but there was no way he'd go extended periods of time without it. She cradled it in her hands for a while before placing it on her head. You're still out there dad... I know you are. Olly ran to her room and pulled out her backpack from under her bed and started tossing important items inside. She'd find him... she had to.
Her dad had never believed in keeping weapons in the house and if she was going to survive... she'd need a weapon. Olly stalked her way to the huge weapons shop that lay on the outskirts of Savannah. She imagined that most of it had been pillaged but maybe she would be able to find a pistol in the very least. Once she finally reached the weapons' shop, she realised she had been correct. Most of the weapons that were once secure, were now no longer here. There has to be something. There were a few loose boxes of ammo scattered around that she placed in her backpack. Under the counter lay a revolver with scattered ammunition around it. She smiled with relief and then checked the magazine. It was full. Placing the gun in her backpack, she went to leave... until something caught her eye. Hung on the wall was a katana, with an embroided sheath. Olly remembered the time she entered this store and she had tried to convince her dad to buy her it... Now she'd find him with it.