Prologue
I ran. I didn’t even know why I was running anymore, I just was. I sprinted over roots, through broken down buildings, across a barren field. Then I heard it. A blood-chilling cry, so close to me it was like it was inside my head. I remembered why I was running now. With renewed energy I kept running, desperately trying to survive. Under columns, in between fallen trees, down a stream, over another root- I had misjudged the distance and was caught in it. My whole body suddenly stopped moving, and I fell to the ground, smashing my face into the dirt. As I struggled to free my foot from the root, I heard the cries getting louder and louder. My fingers hopelessly fiddled with the root, my heart was screaming inside my chest. “I’m going to die,” I thought. “No. I’m not going to die…” A brutal realization came over me as I saw one running toward me. “I’m not going to die… I’m going to become one…of them.”
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Chapter 1: Claire
Two weeks earlier
“Are we going to survive?” I asked no one in particular. I might as well have been talking to the wall for all the response I got. I looked over at the people around me, most of whom I barely knew.. Most of the others were sitting together, probably praying to God or something. Denver was sleeping, peacefully sleeping at that. “Hopefully he still thinks this is a game we’re all playing with him: Zombie Apocalypse.” He’s definitely handling it better than me. “I wanna go home” I whispered to myself, and suddenly tears were burning up in my eyes. I didn’t realize until now how much I wanted to leave this damned church. I had only been here for a week, but it felt like a lifetime. “I wanna go home” I whispered again, hoping for Ruby Slippers to drop in front of me, whisking me away from here. “I wanna go home….”
“Claire, get up! Come on, it’s the first day of school, don’t you want to look nice?”
“I’m up Mom, I’m up,” I say dryly to her. Tentatively, I open my eyes and roll over to see what time it is. 5:30. “I really shouldn’t have stayed up till 12:30,” I think to myself. School didn’t start for another two hours, but, like my mom said, I did want to look nice for the first day of school. I stumble over to the bathroom and start to put my makeup on. When I was younger, I thought makeup was gross, and I still do. But if you want to be accepted in high school, it’s a must. Slowly, I paint over myself, masking the bags under my eyes, masking the scars on my face. Transforming myself into a normal, stuck-up, popular girl. Someone I could never be on my own.
“Claire.” Jacob’s monotone voice took me out of my daydream
“What?” I asked, not even bothering to turn around.
“Well… we’re out of food.”
“What?!” I said again, spinning around to face him. “How the hell have we run out of food already? I mean, it’s only been a week!”
“Well, it’s not like we’re living in a grocery store. And there are a dozen of us here…”
“Fine. But, how are we going to get food? You’re not actually saying we go outside?”
“Well, yeah. Antonio said he saw a grocery store when he came here. We can’t go now, since it’s, well, the night. We’ll hit it tomorrow, at noon. That should keep us safe from...,” Jacob’s voice trailed off.
“Ugh. Is Denver staying here?”
“I... don’t know. Jane will probably decide that.”
“Why does Jane get to decide? It’s not like he’s her son or anything,” I said, staring at the pew. When I looked up, Jacob was already back to the little circle of friendship, talking to the others. I mentally prepared myself for tomorrow, running through everything I knew about surviving a zombie attack. It wasn’t much. “Aim for the head or both legs, don’t let its saliva contact your body,” I recited to myself. “Only go out during the day, as they mo-“ A loud bark interrupted my thoughts. I turned around and saw Denver’s dog, CoCo who was facing toward the boarded up, stained glass window, and was barking. I looked over at it. When I had arrived in the church the window was already boarded up, and hadn’t given it much notice since then.
“Wha…what is it girl?” Denver said, waking up. He went over and tried to calm the dog down. The others started to look at the dog, wondering what she could be barking at. I saw Antonio slowly pull something out of his pocket. It was a pistol. The whole room became silent, except for CoCo’s incessant barking. We all waited, tense, as CoCo's barks slowly died down into satisfied pants. I started to relax myself, convincing myself the dog had just barked at the wind. Then suddenly I heard a cry, an ear splitting, fear-inducing cry like fingers scraping a chalkboard. The glass in the window shattered with a crash and I saw a rotten, pale hand grasping the barricades. The zombie had gotten its hand through a space between the planks of wood. I screamed, and stumbled back into a row of seats. Antonio fired a shot at the window and I heard another cry, but this was a whimpering, pitiful cry. It made me think for a second that it wasn’t a monster trying to eat my brains. “This is going to be a long night,” I thought to myself, staring out the window into the dark, merciless world I had to survive in.
