ᒪIᐯIᑎG & D⃒Y⃒I⃒N⃒G⃒

Chapter 1: I Found You.

I don't know how we all died. I don't have a memory of it. Maybe it was a flu, maybe an air-borne virus, or maybe a radioactive outbreak monkey. But I guess that doesn't matter now.

We're all dead.

My name is-...well, I'm not really sure what my name is. I have no memories of it. I don't have memories of anything really. I'd like to know my name, as odd as that sounds. I wanna know what I was before all of this. Before the world died. Before we lost everything we loved. Before we became the monsters we are now. It must have been so beautiful before. Sometimes I see flickers of sunshine and laughing and green meadows. But when it comes, it's over in an instant. A lot of times I wonder what the others are thinking. Do they feel trapped? Do they want more than this? I know I do.

I don't want to be like this anymore.

The world is so messed up. I thought this as I tore through a mans shoulder with my teeth, savoring the taste of his cold flesh. He didn't scream. Most of them don't. They're just too shocked to believe that I've just bitten them.

A few others came around to help me. As they bit through his skin, I cringed a little. Did I look this scary when I was feeding? Demonic and lifeless? I'd suddenly lost my appetite. I finished what was left of his arm and stood up from the crimson floor. If it were up to me, I wouldn't feed at all. It's so...chaotic and inhumane. I don't like hurting people.
But this is the world now. This is the new hunger that we all crave. It's eat or starve, and I won't turn into a dusty skeleton. It's not my style.

I wiped the blood from my lips and chin. I hate getting blood on my clothes because...well...these are my only clothes. An old suit with a red tie. I'm not really sure where I was going when I died, but it must have been a pretty fancy place. Maybe I was a lawyer or a business man of some sort. I don't know.

All I could do was stare as they ate every last piece of him. The poor guy didn't even get the chance to fight back. He didn't have a gun, or any kind of weapon really. His friend had a small hand gun, but she died right away when one of us bashed her skull in. Her body was already gone. It didn't take us five minutes to devour her. We hadn't found any food in weeks and were starving, so of course we weren't gonna let the food go to waste.

I didn't wait around for them to finish. I walked out of the mini mall doors alone, guilt in the pit of my stomach. I wish there was another way. Anything is better than this.

Getting home is always a struggle. Especially if you're dead and you can only drag your feet, and my limbs aren't as functional as they used to be. And it was dark too, so I couldn't see very well. It was dangerous to travel back without a group. Most of the time the living carry around huge guns and wear protective gear, making it difficult to feed on them and making it easy for them to kill us. If we travel in packs, we get them a lot faster.

I tried to imagine what the city use to be like. Lights, speeding cars, the living smiling and talking to the other living.

Now...everything is paused. It's like time stopped. The cars still lined the roads, but they stay unmoving with grey rusted paint instead of their original. Newspapers litter the ground. The buildings on the verge of collapse.

The place I call home is a skyscraper. I think it used to be some sort of hotel, because most of the rooms have beds and bathrooms. It's nice. Sometimes the emergency generator powers on and I get to use the elevators instead of the stairs. I live on the top floor. It's a long way up, but it's worth it. My room has big open spaces and a king sized bed with two bathrooms. Not that I need that stuff, it's just nice to know I have it.

I finally reached the 13th floor. I walked pass rooms and rooms of empty space. I stepped over the same towel cart flipped over on its side like I do everyday. No one lives here but me. I claimed it and I usually growl at anyone who tries to follow me in. I don't want to be around them more than I have to. They remind me how much of a monster I am.