Adore You

prologue

[ - prologue - ]
third person pov

ATLANTA

The end of the world was fast approaching, people fled their homes with their cars packed tightly, their entire lives shaped into just a few bags of essentials. No one knew what the protocol was, this had never happened before and they were terrified. Slowly, the crowds began flooding the highways, attempting to get to refugee centres that had been mentioned on the news, they just didn't know what was awaiting them. The end of the world is a threat for everyone, it's a scary threat because no one wants to die without deciding to but what was worse was the way that you would die. In this apocalypse, the dead came back to life and they were the enemy. Your loved ones that had passed away right in front of you, reanimated and were ready to kill you within a second, not one ounce of their past life in their eyes. That was what scared everyone more than the thought of the end of the world, knowing that this species could wipe out millions of people with no regrets.

Along one particular stretch of road, there were a group of unlikely members, who had met simply because their cars had been stopped in the queue behind each other. Lori Grimes and her son Carl had been evacuated from their home by a family friend, Shane was not only a friend but was also a cop and knew the best route of escape for them to take. However, it was clear that he was not the only one attempting to get to the city and they ended up queuing behind hundreds of families that had the same idea. Upon waiting for answers, the little boy made a friend and her mother quickly became friends with his own, sharing hope and prayers that they would all make it out of this alive. The little girl had barely stopped crying since they had joined the queue, holding onto her mother for dear life and sobbing loudly, she was sure that they were all going to die and didn't know how else to approach this situation.

Carol ran her hands through her daughter's hair, whispering reassurances to her. "It's alright, Sophia, we're gonna be alright."

"Would ya shut up your kid?" A loud voice boomed over the cars, where two men were sat in a sleek red car, attempting to listen to the radio that blasted every so often; giving clues as to where the safest places would be. "Can't hear nothing!"

The Dixon brothers were a different breed of human, they had no remorse for the children that were scared to death or for the parents that were comforting them. In their eyes, this had been something they prepared for and were in their element with the news. Merle was the older brother, he was blunt and angry, spitting at the tear-stained faces of the families around him. His younger brother Daryl was quieter, didn't mean that he couldn't be disrespectful when given the chance but he was always careful with his moments. It gave them a false sense of hope that maybe Daryl wasn't as bad as he seemed. With the brothers was another person, Isabel Ortega, she was young and pretty, people wondered how she had ended up with the pair but didn't dare to question it. She wore her thick black hair in a short hairstyle, not wanting to grow it out because it would get in the way and wore a black leather jacket over her shoulders with a red bandana tucked into the back pocket of her jeans.