Chapter 1

They are everywhere.

Walkers cloud my vision every direction I go, like a huge swarm of insects. When I feel cold hands on my skin, I swat them away frantically; shaking my arm anywhere I can.

'Just need to get away.'

I have no idea where my parents are, or even my big sister Susie. They had all gone to repair the Walker alarm earlier that morning; some of the tin cans had fallen off of the wire. Ironically, an hour or so later a horde had attacked the camp and my family was nowhere in sight.

My thoughts will not process through my jumbled brain at all; the adrenaline had taken over completely. All I can do is keep on running and running, until there is not one single walker left to bring me harm.

A voice from the depths of my mind calls out to me, pleading ''my family! Go back, go back! Don't leave them there, don't leave me all by myself!''.

The voice may as well have been talking in another language because my brain is in no state to process any logical train of thought. My feet just continued to pound into the mud, leaving a trail of footprints behind.

I had been running for what seemed like hours, but could have only been minutes. Heavy breaths heave out of my chest, gasping for air. My legs are sore, and my body feels near collapse, but I can not stop. I feel as if something was forcing me away. Away from the horror and what it would do to me if I saw it.

''Avery!''

Suddenly, my ears pop, my head clears and all my senses come flooding back. My running abruptly comes to a stop forcing a rapid wave of nausea to turn my stomach, so I clutch my chest in pain. I turn my body slowly towards the familiar voice, hopes soaring into the sky.

''S-Susie!?'' I cry out, my eyes searching relentlessly for the source of my big sisters voice.

And then she's there. And I'm in her arms. And I'm sobbing, crying out for all I had lost in the last hour.

Not only did I cry out for my parents and their almost certain painful deaths, I cried for myself.

I cried for the little girl stuck inside a world where she has to run from her own family to keep herself safe.

Time had passed since me and Susie had reunited, and the moon was shining in the sky like a huge flashlight; banishing all the threatening shadows.

Our hands are entwined; mostly because we did not want to lose each other again, but also since I need the comfort.

I had mourned for my parents, but now that time was over.

It is time to survive.

''We need to find a place to stay the night'', my sister breaks the suffocating silence.

I just give a simple nod, not trusting my sore throat to produce anything close to words.

We both keep going with heavy hearts and tear streaked cheeks.

An hour later, a run down toilet block looms in front of us as menacing as a feral dog.

It gave me a feeling of dread, but Susie welcomed it with joy.

''This is great Avery! We hit the jackpot!'' She grins over to me.

I give a small smile back only because I knew she was trying to cheer me up.

Susie rushes over to the cement wall of the block, moving around to the front….

And screams.

In panic, I sprint over to see a dozen of walkers tearing my sister apart. Blood flowed out of multiple bites on her body, leaving red trails across her skin.

My hand comes up to cover my open mouth; smothering my hysterical screeches.

I am frozen, eyes wide open in horror. I feel useless and futile; there is no saving my sister from this.

She is crying in agony, yet her eyes never leave mine. Seeing my body unmoving and locked in place she pleaded to me, ''Avery please! Please just get out of here! You'll be okay, I know you will. You'll be…..AAHHHHH''

A walker bites deep into my sister's throat leaving a mess of blood and muscle.

It is all too much, my insides feel like they are being ripped and torn; mimicking that of my sisters flesh.

Screaming, I ran. To get away from this, all of this. I am exhausted, but none of it matters anymore.

I push trees and branches from my face; receiving small cuts along my arms and legs. I hardly notice, my body is too numb.

I ran until my legs collapsed, and my feet were blistered. My knees buckle to the ground, so I fall onto my back. My eyes glance at the millions of stars, but they soon became unrecognisable from the amount of tears in my eyes.

My chest is heaving, from the running and the sobbing. I shut my eyes tight and claw at the mud in frustration.

My loss was immense, too big for my young mind to comprehend. It was too unreal, too dreamlike to actually have happened.

But deep down I knew the truth; I would never see them again.

Rolling onto my side my grieving howls start to fade into whimpers and my mind begins to fall into unconsciousness.