Chapter One: A New Day
A/N: Chapter One folks, here we go. Enjoy!
It was a quiet night, no screaming, no gunshots, and no gurgling or moaning from undead sacks of flesh. It was almost surreal at how calm the night seemed in contrast to the chaos of the town not five miles down the road. I had just woken up to a dark and empty room, different from when I fell asleep. I looked over to the bed against the wall that my parents fell asleep in but they weren't there. I got up to check the room the Johnsons were using but when I opened the door they weren't there. Panic started to well up inside me as different scenarios began to flash through my mind, each more gruesome than the last. I ran down stairs in a frenzy only for relief to wash over me when I saw everyone sitting around the living room watching the news. Or they would be if the TV showed anything.
"Oh, hello Misty. Sorry for not waking you up but you were so tired that we decided to let you sleep." My dad said to me from the couch next to my mom.
"Don't worry sweetie, we're still trying to find a working channel." My mom said to me, not turning around to face me.
"I've been working on boosting the signal to see if we could get one of the major news networks. So far no luck. I mean honestly, how old is this television?" I looked around but couldn't match the voice with a body, then I noticed a pair of legs sticking out from behind the TV.
"AH HA! Eureka! Eww..." Marlton yelled when the TV tuned into the channel nine news from California. Then he looked at his hands to see them covered in dust, which he proceeded to wipe on his pants. He walked around the couch to stand next to me while we waited for the news to come back, because right now it was just a 'Experiencing Technical Difficulties' screen. Our wait wasn't long as the screen flashed and was back to showing a tired looking man in a wrinkled suit shirt and tie with the sleeve rolled.
"Sorry about that folks, we ran into some uh, problems, with one of the police officers that came to protect the station and had to *cough* put him down. But back to the news. Reports are still coming in from across the nation about the recently deceased come back from the dead and infecting the living. The CDC is working round the clock to figure out the cause of this but so far have found no leads. Numerous eye witness reports are stating that those that have been infected are advancing in waves, over taking major cities in under twelve hours. People are reminded to lock all doors and windows and barricade themselves inside until further notice. The following are signs of infection, and we urge you to avoid anyone showing these symptoms: Glowing blue eyes, rotting flesh, severed limbs, moaning and groaning. Also, it is of the upmost importance that you report anyone that has been-" and all of a sudden the power cut off, dropping us into complete blackness. To be honest it made me jump.
"Marlton dear, what happened?" Marlton's mother asked in a frightened voice as she clung to her husband.
"It's just a power outage mother, nothing to worry about. Now if I could just find the fuse BOX! Oof." I couldn't help but giggle when Marlton tripped on the rug trying to work his way around to the kitchen. My giggling was cut off by the sound of pounding and groaning coming from the doors and windows. They found us.
"Shit, everyone upstairs!" My dad yelled as he grabbed the gun that rested against the couch. I followed his lead by grabbing my pistol from the back of my pants.
My mom and the Johnsons had run upstairs while my dad and I stayed to shoot any that came in. I heard grunting coming from the kitchen so I turn expecting to see one breaking in. Instead I saw Marlton trying, and failing, to push the fridge up against the kitchen door. The sight would have been hilarious if the situation wasn't so dire. I was about to help him when I heard the sounds of breaking glass and splintering wood. I turned to my left to see that some of them had broken through the window to the left of the door. As I brought my gun up their heads started to explode one by one.
"Go help that boy out! Ill cover the front!" He yelled over the sounds of gun shots and more wood breaking as they busted down the front door.
I ran over to the kitchen an helps Marlton push the surprisingly heavy fridge up to the door. After that was done I gave Marlton my gun and told him to protect the others. I watched him run up the stairs until he disappeared around a corner. I reached into my boot to grab my combat knife when I heard my dad yell in pain. I wiped my head around to see my dad kicking at a zombie that must of had its legs broken because it was crawling on the floor bitting into my dad's leg. Before I could run over and help my dad unsheathed his Bowie Knife from the ammo belt he wore around his waist and shoved it into the head of his attacker. Not wasting anymore time I ran over and started slicing up zombies left and right as my dad reloaded his gun. After another ten or so were dead I heard a scream coming from upstairs followed by a few gun shots. Next thing I knew my dad shoved his gun and belt into my hands and pushed me toward the stairs.
"Go! Ill be alri-ARGG! Protect your mother!" He yelled as he shoved the zombie that bit into his shoulder.
I didn't question him as I ran up the stairs, but I did turn halfway to the top and what I saw broke my heart. My father, the man who was always there for me and taught me to defend myself, was getting eaten alive as he yelled curses at them while driving his knife into a few at random. There was nothing I could do so I turned and ran down the hall while I tried to ignore the burning rage that boiled within me and the tears that threatened to stream down my face as I went to save the only family I had left. I busted through the door to the master bedroom to see a zombie climbing through the window. I saw red as I shouldered my fathers gun and unloaded all fifteen rounds into the reanimated corpse, watching as the impact of them all entering its body sent it falling out the window. I turned to see my mother clutching her arm while Mrs. Johnson tried to calm her down, even though she herself was crying uncontrollably. Even though her hair was covering her face I could see her tears hitting the dusty floorboards. I looked over at Marlton and saw him looking wide eyed at the body of his father, who's throat was ripped out. Most likely by the dead zombie that lay nearby, riddled with bullets.
"We need to leave." I said with little to no emotion in my voice.
"Misty? Where's your father? I thought-" he started to say but I cut him off.
"I MENT NOW MARLTON!" I screamed when I turned to face him. Tears were now flowing freely as I looked him in the eyes. I turned back to the hallway and saw that they must have finished feasting on my father because they were lumbering up the stairs and down the hall at an alarming speed. I shut the door and blocked it with the dresser near by. I found the rope ladder discarded by the now bloody windowsill and threw it down.
"Get moving people, we don't have much time!" Nobody questioned me and started down the ladder, first Marlton, then Mrs. Johnson, and finally my mother who's hair still covered her face. I just got on the ladder when door was knocked off its hinges.
After my feet touched the ground I turned and ran for my truck which Marlton was already waiting by, urging me to move faster. I hoped into the drivers seat and made sure our moms were behind us in the sedan. When I saw that their car was running I hit the gas and sped down the long dirt road back to the main road without looking back. My foot never let up on the petal as I tried to wipe away the tears that blurred my vision. I was so tuned out of everything that I almost didn't catch Marlton telling me to slow down. I finally cleared my eyes enough to see that we were going over seventy miles per hour and that we were so far ahead we couldn't see the sedan behind us. I slowed the car down to a complete stop and just sat there, thinking about how everything went so wrong so fast. Part of me couldn't help but think of how Marlton was holding up. He and his dad weren't as close as me and my dad but they tried, but their interests were just to different. I turned to look at him expecting to see him looking at me with a look of pity and sadness, instead I saw him looking out the back window with a look of confusion. I heard him mumble something about to something being to fast, then his eyes widened and looked at me.
"Get out of the car, NOW!" And with that he unbuckled his seatbelt and dived out the door.
Instead of heading his warning I looked out the back window myself to see what he was so panicked about. What I saw was the sedan our mothers were in come speeding at us with no sign of stopping. I couldn't see if they were alright as the entire front window was covered with blood, from the inside. Getting over my shock I followed Marlton's lead and jumped out of the car not a second to late, because as soon as I hit the ground the sedan rammed the back of my truck and flipped into a roll till it stopped in a ditch and caught fire. I did nothing but stare as the car's flames got bigger and bigger. Not even the figure that lumbered from a broken window got me to move. The figure stood at full hight and I recognized it immediately, it was my mother. Only she wasn't, she was on fire and didn't seem bothered at all. Through the flames I could only make out two things, the bite mark on the arm she was clutching earlier and the fact that she had no face. I was so shocked that I didn't even notice Marlton landing on his knees besides me and shaking my shoulder, yelling my name.
Misty
I could only look on in horror from my prone position on the ground as the creature that once was my mother lumbered over to me.
Misty
There was nothing left. I had no one left, Marlton had no one left. All we had was each other.
Misty
Would we end up just like our families or the countless others that we passed in town? What will we do now-
MISTY
I woke with a start. Sweat and tears pouring down my face as I struggled to catch my breath. I looked to my right to see Marlton, older and more dirty looking then he was in my dream. His face was a mixture of relief and worry as he let go of my shoulder.
"Thank goodness." He sighed.
"Wha- whats going on? What happened?" I asked, pushing my self up into a sitting position.
"You were having a really bad nightmare, and from the screams and shaking I think I can guess what it was about."
"Yeah, the same one I've been having for the past week. Only this time it was different." I hugged my knees as I said this, remembering the faceless creature that was my mother.
"Different? Different how?" He asked with genuine concern. I shot forward and engulfed him in a tight hug, even though I knew he doesn't like physical interaction, yet he returned it.
"It was horrible Marl, my- my mother, I can't remember her face. I just can't. She appeared as a faceless monster in this dream. I- I don't know if I c- can keep going on like this." I cried into his shoulder. He patted my back awkwardly like he wasn't sure what to do.
"All we can do is keep moving forward, hope things will get better." He replied in an uncertain yet strangely cute manner. I couldn't help but let a small laugh slip though my lips.
"Thanks Marlton, that was actually kinda helpful." I let go of him and stood up. "Come on, it's a new day and we got Zed Heads to kill." I said as I pushed the dream to the back of my mind. I started walking out the door when I realized I didn't have my normal plaid shirt on. I turned around to see Marlton holding it up trying to keep his eyes on the floor while a bright shade of red colored his checks.
"Thanks Marl, you sure know what a lady wants." I said in the sultry tone I use to tease him with.
"Uh, sure, no problem Misty." He stuttered. I started walking when I noticed that he hadn't moved.
"You coming Marl, or you just gonna sit there and enjoy the view?" I looked over my shoulder to wink at him, causing his face to flush and even deeper shade of red.
"Uh right. Yes Misty, I'm coming. And stop calling me Marl. My name is Marlton!" He called after me but I didn't pay him any mind as no matter what he said I would still call him that. I walked out of the large room we were using as a bedroom into the kitchen to go up the stairs and onto the balcony. I looked over the old Jenkins farm and into the fog that surrounded it. My eyes scanned over the barn where the other two members of our little group were sleeping. We picked them up about a month ago. Marlton was right, all we can do is move forward and hope we can go back to the way they were. Oh how I wish that were true, but after everything we've seen and done there is no way that could happen. But you know what they say, there's always a new day ahead.
Abigail 'Misty' Briarton
Green Run, Washington
0900 Hours
365 Days After First Infection
A/N: That was a lot longer than I intended for it to go but I guess that's a good thing. I don't really like how I ended it but I felt like that was a good place to end. I know the dream/memory was really dark but it had to happen that way, it's cannon. Misty mentions her father going out fighting and how she can't remember her own mothers face so it felt appropriate for her to have nightmares about it. The reason for the time skip is because I want to do more back story flashbacks later on in the story. Also I just realized that the title of chapter one is the same as chapter one of the Walking Dead game but that was purely on accident. I tried to combine the in game scoreboard and location indicators in that last bit, with the days being the wave counter(Think of each day being a new wave). They should appear at the beginning of each chapter to help keep track of time past since the last chapter because there not gonna be totally linear. Write a review if you liked the chapter or want to give some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.