The Dead Have Risen

Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

No one was prepared for the end of the world. Not even the people who were "prepared" for the end of the world. Volcanoes erupting, a virus out break and a winter that seemed like it would go on for ever. I remember that fateful Monday it all began like it was yesterday. Let me start this story from the beginning and tell you all how it began.

First let me introduce myself. My name is Damon and I was a relatively normal 17 year old before all of this started. I went to school got good grades and had lots of friends. I have black hair and blue eyes and can usually be found wearing all black, though my mother doesn't always like that. That morning was a normal Monday, and like all Mondays, I was not feeling it. "Mom, I don't want to go to school," I told my mother as she stood at my bedroom door trying to get me to get out of bed. My mom was very beautiful and got lots of tips at the coffee shop she worked at. She had mid length brown hair and vibrant blue eyes. Her face was diamond shaped but not too pronounced and her features were soft and kind. I only ever saw my mom without a smile on her beautiful face once, the day my dad died in a car accident. "Damon honey, you need to go to school. I don't want to get a call from your school saying you're truant," she said then she smiled and gave me a small wink. I chuckled softly and rolled my eyes knowing that that would not happen for only missing one day. I had only missed one day of school my entire senior year. "Fine, guess I gotta go to school then. I would hate for you to go to jail for me missing one single day of school," I said and we both laughed. "Get dressed silly I'm making eggs and bacon for breakfast," she told me before walking away from the door. I sat up in bed letting the blanket fall away from my bare chest then I stood and walked to my closet to choose an outfit for the day, which wasn't very hard. Most of my clothes were black, but today I decided to humor my mother. I pulled out my black ripped jeans and a red band t-shirt. After pulling those on, I put my black combat boots on and grabbed my black leather jacket. I then went to my bathroom and brushed my hair back putting a bit of gel on it to keep it slicked back then did all of my other normal morning routines. Once I was satisfied I made my way downstairs and put my jacket over the back of my chair. My mom looked up at me and gave a feigned surprised look, "oh, I see you threw a splash of color into all that darkness." I laughed and kissed her on the cheek, "yeah, I figured I'd surprise you on this fine Monday morning." She laughed and I went to pour myself a cup of coffee then sipped it thankful that the caffeine was in there to give me a slightly better start to the day.

After taking a few sips of coffee I walked into the living room to turn on the television, it was on the news since that was what my mom watched at night saying she wanted me to know what was going on in the world, as if I didn't get enough of that at school. I was about to change the channel to see what else was on when the headlining story caught my attention. *"And this morning we are getting reports from all over Hawaii saying that they are having numerous reports of deaths from the continuous lava flow from the six volcanoes, all of which erupted yesterday. The head officials of Hawaii are trying to get together a rescue mission to try to get everyone off of the islands before more people perish in the ash and lava and have reached out to the president for help. In other news, the CDC reports that an explosion occured early this morning that left a hole in the building but they report there is nothing...."* I tuned out at that point and looked up as my mom walked in, "did you hear about this? People in Hawaii are in terrible danger," I said and she nodded with a solemn look on her face. "Well the only thing we can do is hope they make it away from the islands safely. Turn that off and let's eat breakfast and get you to school," she replied and I nodded and turned the television off following her into the dining room sitting at the seat closest to my mom at our round table. There were still three chairs at the table because my mom never wanted to get rid of my dads chair.

My mom brought the bacon and eggs to the table and we started eating breakfast. Afterwards I drove myself to school in my black Camaro and parked in one of the empty spots on the edge of the school parking lot since most of the other people parked close to the doors so they didn't have to walk a long way. I grabbed my bag out of the passenger side of my car and stepped out. I went to lock it when I heard footsteps running up behind me. I turned and was tackled in a tight hug in arms that I knew well and was comfortable with. My girlfriend of two years, Angela, looked up at me and smiled, "hey there handsome." I smiled back at her and hugged her, "good morning Angel," I said then we started walking toward the school hand in hand. She got the nickname Angel from me because she came into my life at the perfect time, when I thought things were the most hopless for me. Plus part of her name was Angel, but she only let me shorten her name like that. She lifted my spirits and reminded me that there was something worth living for. "Did you hear about those volcanoes exploding in Hawaii? Pretty crazy stuff huh?" I asked her as we reached her locker and she nodded, "really crazy, I hope some of the people made it off the island, that would be a scary way to die...trapped by lava on all sides, could you imagine?" She asked and I shook my head. Little did we know at the time that volcanoes in Hawaii would be the least of our worries soon.