The Dead Walk Among Us

Chapter 1: New Hope

It's been ten years since the fall of humanity. I was only ten years old when the zombies took over. The military told us to flee underground, explaining that it was safer. The zombies are smart, too smart. They can learn to hide themselves. Some of them disguise themselves to look like normal people.                                                           
We tell them apart by checking their eyes. Zombies have enlarged pupils compared to humans. No one knows why.                                                                        
The first place they had focused their attacks on were hospitals. They were the easiest really. Sick patients lying in beds defenseless and vulnerable. No one would notice a zombie in a doctor's uniform wheeling patients across the hospital. Second, they attacked morgues. Not that many people there at night...dinner was there and ready.  

Then they hid in people's homes. They waited until they came home from work or school and attacked them. Once they were done, they buried them in their backyards. Finally, they just attacked people on the streets. Barely anyone survived.           

We have heard of a zombie free city over the radio. Our leader, Jason, is skeptical that such a thing exists. I think we at least have to try to find it. This isn't living! We are almost out of food and water.

There are five people in our group. There's me, my twin brother Jack, Jade, Jason, and Anne. When the fall of humanity happened, Jason just decided he should be the leader. We didn't fight him about it, although now I wish we did. We have been listening to him for years. We live in a small bunker near New York city.

I get out of bed. I walk over to Jason.

"Iris, how's it going?" he asks.

"Not great. Jack's leg is getting worse, and you refuse to help him," I say.

"Look we have little medication as is. We can't go wasting it," Jason says.

"We wouldn't be wasting it! Jack needs it, or he will die," I say.

"No. What if someone else needs it after we        used it on Jack?"

"Fine, I'll go and get him what he needs!" I say.

"You can have a rifle and some ammo but that's it," Jason says.

I walk into Jack's room. He lies on the bed. His leg got cut by barbed wire the last time we went to get food. It's been a week since then. His leg is infected and is getting worse. If I don't get him medicine, he's going to die. I sit in the chair next to his bed. Jack has brown hair and eyes that reminds me of our father.

"I'm going to get you medication today. You need it," I say.

"No! You'll get hurt or worse. It's not safe," Jack pleads.

"I have to go," I say.

I get the rifle and a box of ammo. I load the rifle. I grab my backpack and my knife. I go to the bunker door. The door is old and rusted. It constantly sticks, too. I pull on the bunker door handle.

Jason hands me a radio.

"Tell me every single thing that happens, okay?"

I nod. I walk out the door. The bunker is in the middle of the forest, its edge has a view of the city skyline. It's about a twenty minute walk from the bunker. The buildings have either collapsed or have been severely damaged. The city used to be so nice. Now it's just a city of ruin and death.

I'm quiet and careful as I walk. I try to keep myself hidden. I don't want to draw attention. I see a pharmacy ahead.

"Iris!" Jason says over the radio. I turn off the radio. I don't need the noise attracting the dead. I duck behind a old, broken down pickup truck.

I look around. No one in sight. I make a run for the pharmacy. I yank on the door handle. It's locked. How do I get in? I look above the door. There's a rectangular window above the door.

I drag a bench up to the door. I climb onto the bench. I open the window and climb through. I almost slip as I drop down on the pharmacy floor.

I look around, in the dark, using the sunlight from the window to guide me. I turn on my flashlight.


A person is sitting on the floor behind the pharmacy counter. He stands up. He's wearing jeans, a grey hoodie with the hood up, and sunglasses.

"Let me see your eyes," the man says.

"Take your sunglasses off first," I respond.

He shakes his head.

"No, come here!" he yells.

I back up aiming my rifle at him.