Prologue

My name is Genevieve Camille Ronae. I'm 5 foot tall and have brown hair and deep brown eyes. I've lived in Kingsland, Ga all my life. My mom had me when she was 16 and her and my dad; a man I've known only by the name of Joe really tried to make their relationship work. My mom quit school and after she had me. She got her GED and started working at a local diner. She lived with my grandparents for a long time. When I was 2 and my parents were 18, my dad decided that with the option of university looming in the fall, that he would leave us and sign over all his parental rights. After that my mom said she only knew that he moved to York, Pa. From what my grandparents have told me my mom got really depressed after my dad left.

When I was 6 my mom and I moved out of my grandparents' house and into a small 2-bedroom rancher house. She was still working at the diner and made enough money for us to get by. We were in no way rolling in money but we lived well. When I was 9 my mom met Dylan. A 29-year-old "music producer". He treated my mom well enough but he was constantly smoking weed and never fully attentive to my mom or me. One time he did bring me a very nice doll, but I didn't really play with dolls anymore.

When I was 11 my mom had my little brother Jackson Nathaniel Anderson. After my mom had Jackson she didn't really work anymore. She didn't really take care of me or Jackson either other than making sure we ate and that I went to school. Dylan moved in and started paying for everything, I didn't know how since I never saw him work. My mom went back to work when Jackson started school and I was in high school.

When I was 16 and Jackson was 5 Dylan got arrested for possession of an illegal drug and 2 weeks later my mom was fired from her receptionist job because she didn't show up. I got a job at the local grocery store every day after school. On the weekends I waited tables at the nearby waffle house. I even got a boyfriend that year, a sweet guy named Tyler.

A year later Dylan got released from prison. I kept working although Dylan could pay some bills again. I knew he was selling drugs but the one time I brought it up he slapped me across the face and told me never to speak of it again. Tyler was always there for me to talk to and he constantly urged me to get emancipated and move out but I couldn't leave my little brother alone. During my senior year my mom got pregnant but went into labor 3 months early. And on February 12 she gave birth to a stillborn little boy she named Zachariah Leo. After that all my mom and Dylan did was argue and fight. Dylan even hit mom a few times and started going out and seeing other women, I know because I caught him once. Tyler was urging me to go away to a university so I would be away from it all and I easily could have because of grades I would've gotten a big scholarship. But I still didn't want to leave Jackson.

When I graduated I took online classes while taking care of the house and working at the waffle house. Tyler got a job at a mechanic a town over and went to the community college there. The January after I graduated my mom gave birth to my little sister Penelope Grace. Her pregnancy was very difficult she was constantly sick. Her labor was even worse, after the placenta was delivered they had trouble getting the bleeding to stop. The doctors warned my mom that if she had any more kids it would likely cost her life, the baby's or maybe even both. My mom got postpartum depression after she had Penny and was never in the right state of mind to care for Penny. I became the mother figure even more than before. Penny's first word "Mama" was directed at me and not Christy as it should have been. Dylan was never around anymore unless it was to drop off money for me to pay bills or my mom to get her medication or to use Christy. Whenever he did that I took Jackson and Penny to a nearby park or the library.

Shortly after Penny turned 1 Tyler broke up with me. He claimed I never had time for him and I agreed. All my time went into being a mother, making money and getting my education. Way too much for a 20-year-old to handle on her own. I never had any friends to help me out and even then, my boyfriend wasn't there anymore.

2 weeks before I turned 22 Christy found out that she was pregnant again. I lost it. I screamed and yelled for hours and asked her why she would be so reckless to get pregnant when she knew she could lose her life. Why she was so willing to leave her children behind. Her simple answer was that I had taken her place as the mother and she never had the chance to mother Penny. Which left me astounded, it was somehow my fault that she never took responsibility for her kids. That night after I had screamed myself hoarse at Christy, she packed a small bag and went to a motel for 4 days. When she came back we carried on exactly as we had before her announcement. Me being the mother figure and her being the moping lazy person who occasionally played a game of patty cake with Penny.

On August 24, 2010, the world went to shit. Or at least got shittier. The dead started walking, if you got bit or scratched then you turned. I learned quickly that light at night, loud noises and movement attracted them. The only way to kill them was to kill their brain. Our neighborhood was ransacked and it was very easy to sneak into our neighbor's house and steal the only gun that was left. I made a few trips to stores that were close by and gathered food and water, luckily Christy kept some of the stuff from when Penny was a baby so we had those things.

Almost a week and a half later Christy gave birth, but something went wrong. There was too much blood when the baby came out. She was a little thing and I immediately cleaned her nose and throat and she started crying. Unfortunately, as all my attention was on the baby I missed Christy's eyes rolling back in her head and didn't know anything was wrong until I was cutting the umbilical cord and Christy's legs limply fell to the side. When I looked up I didn't think there was much I could do, the entire bed sheet was coated in bright red blood soaking though and coating everything. I quickly bundled the baby and place her beside the bed in a bundle of towels. I attempted CPR for I don't know how long but when I began to feel her stir, I pulled back and grabbed my nearby knife and prepared for the worst. And boy did it come her eyes opened and they were clouded over unseeing and a groan erupted from her lips before she could make a move for me or the baby I stabbed her in the forehead in one fluid movement and wrapped her in the sheet.

The next few minutes I cleaned the baby and dressed her ignoring my tears all the way. And prepared myself for the hardest part. When I emerged from the bedroom Jackson was waiting at the door. I tried to explain to him the best I could that something had went wrong and Christy had passed away. He handled it surprisingly well, he cried a little bit but then asked about the baby. When I showed him her, he immediately asked if he could name her. I agreed and placed her in a little nest of blankets on the couch while him and penny looked over Christy's list of names.

I went outside and patrolled the immediate area. There weren't too many biters around but I was terrified that Christy's screams had drawn a herd. Deciding to be on the safe side I went inside and explained to Jackson that we had to leave. For the next hour or so I moved between my room, Christy's room, and the bathroom packing everything I could think of. I packed a book-bag for Jackson to carry and 2 for me. I opened the baby carrier and set it up for me to use. With Jackson's help I got the baby settled and loaded up the car. I put the bags on the front seat and a mosses basket in the back between where penny and Jackson would sit. I locked Christy's bedroom door, and herded Penny who is clutching her stuffed bunny and Jackson out the door to the car.

Before pulling off I bundled the baby into the mosses basket and made sure penny was secure. I headed to the gas station and filled up the gas tank and took a few gas canisters from inside and filled them too. I put them in the trunk and went back inside to get some matches, non-perishables and any baby items. The only baby thing they had was a packet of squeezable apple sauce. So, taking a chance I went back to the pharmacy. I filled one of my book-bags up with formula cans and little sample bottles. I managed to get a pack of diapers and water bottles before a bunch of biters headed my way. As I pulled off I asked Jackson if he had finally picked a name. he stayed true to Christy's theme of unique baby names by picking Anneliese Scarlett. And so, with Jackson, Penelope, and Anneliese in tow I headed out of Kingsland towards Atlanta where there was supposed to be a safe zone.

This is my story of survival in a world gone to hell.