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CHAPTER ONE // day of the fall. THE STREETS RAN RED WITH BLOOD.
If the old world ever returns or if we build a better one some day, there are a couple of things you should consider when picking a college. (Which I expect you to do, Ximena. Education is important!!)
A, pick a college that's close to home. I know home is a messy thing right now, but being near family is important. That's why I chose a school only 20 minutes away from you guys while I was still in college. I was unwilling to sacrifice the Sunday dinners and Thursday game nights that took up so much room in my heart. It was a bonus for me that it happened to have one of the best ROTC programs in the nation.
B, pick a college that has a good escape route in case the dead start walking.
I remember the first time a cannibalistic horror story plagued our local news. I had to listen to mom's tirade about the psychoactive drug crisis in America for over an hour. The second time it flashed on my screen, I said my prayers and asked you guys to lock your doors at night so I could have better peace of mind. Within days, the lines were down and the news channels were no longer covering what had turned into a national calamity. You know the story. You lived through it too.
By the time I got home, you guys were gone.
I don't have much to write about this day. None of it felt real while it was happening and it still doesn't. Which I think is kind of odd. Like... obviously I'm used to the death and the blood and the walkers now. I'm more used to that than the way life used to be. But something about that first day still feels like another world or a nightmare or something.
Really all I remember is finding our house empty and thinking I was going to die. When you guys weren't there, I genuinely thought I was going to die.
Oh, and I remember Carmen's stupid fucking Walkman playing AC/DC.
Eva stood, body utterly numb, as she watched the world collapse from the window of her campus apartment.
Her university had only put out the evacuation order an hour ago, but pandemonium had already taken the school by storm. Car alarms were blaring and people were screaming bloodcurdling screams; hundreds of students and faculty zipping frantically about on the sidewalks below. Backpacks and papers had been abandoned on the ground— nothing like that seeming to matter anymore.
The girl stumbled away from the window, glancing around her humble home; the only thing in the world right now that felt untouched by the chaos and decay. She checked her watch for what had to be the millionth time, chewing on her bottom lip so hard she tasted blood.
