Prologue
"Should we check the apartments up the road?" The girl asked the older man. "I honestly don't know any more Charlotte, more of them might be there, and we don't want to mess with them..." The older man replied. Charlotte was coated in a jacket of dirt, hungry, and most of all, she was scared to death. No matter where she hid, no matter where she ran, she could always hear the moaning of the poor, hopeless souls that got bitten or infected by the deadly virus. It made normal human beings into rabid, flesh eating monsters. Charlotte could still remember the memories of no screaming and moaning people chasing after her, the normal days. She remembered the day when it all changed.
(Weeks before)
"So... you still up to the challenge?" A friendly voice questioned. Sam. Sam was Charlotte's best friend, knowing her practically since Kindergarden. What lie before Sam was a tiny, thin pole dangling above the bayou of the small town of Balae. "Of course I am, think I'm scared?" Charlotte said, voice quivering slightly, "Well what are you waiting for?" Sam said with a smirk. "You afraid?" "You think I am afraid?" Charlotte questioned, "Think about it, I'm here, aren't I?"And before sam could reply, she was already halfway across the pole, and stood there in the middle. "How about now?" Charlotte said, and gave Sam a smile. "I say keep going before you get hurt little girl" Sam said, and smirked back. They both stared at each other for a while, and then broke out in laughter. "You know I can't be mean to you Sam. Your way to nice for anyone in the world to be rude to you." Charlotte says with a smile. "And I mean it." She says in a serious face. "And nor can I be rude to you Charlotte, plus if I was rude to you, you would probably punch the light out of me!" Sam said with a laugh. "That's true." Charlotte replied, and also laughed. "You should seriously get to the other side though; I don't want you getting hurt." Sam said with a sudden strange look in his eye. "Oh yeah!" Charlotte said, and raced to the other side of the bayou. "Your turn!" Charlotte called from the other side of the bayou, "Coming!" Sam called back, and raced to the beginning of the pipe. He started to walk slower and slower across the pipe, until he was barely moving at all. "Hurry up man, I'm getting bored!" Charlotte said, growling with impatience. "Sam hurry up I'm-" But she never finished that sentence. A huge explosion shook the ground, as Sam lost his balance, and toppled over the pipe, falling into the bayou. "SAM!" Charlotte screamed as she raced toward the spot where her friend disappeared.
Sam felt nothing as he sunk into the water, but coldness, and fear. Fear that he would never see his friend again... fear that he would never see anything again. He tried to push himself up towards the light, but it felt like something was dragging him down. Using every ounce of strength he had left, he pushed that force away and rocketed himself towards the surface.
Everything went black for just a moment, and then came light, he saw Charlotte crying, head in hands, sitting on the edge of the bayou, muttering "Please come back up, please come back up." She lifted her head up, and launched herself at him. "Sam, you're alive!" She said, sobbing into his shirt. "What the hell was that...?" Sam asked, looking quite dazed. She said nothing, but only pointed to a cloud of dust, dirt, and death in the distance. "Oh no..."
Chapter 1
"What was that?" Charlotte asked. "Dunno..." Sam said, sounding confused. "Well I don't know about you, Sam, but I plan on going back to the town and investigating!" Charlotte said, and started making her way back towards the town. "What! That's crazy! Everyone is probably gone by now Charlotte! You could get hurt!" Sam said, and grabbed her arm. "I'm not a little girl Sam, and you know that, now I'm going, whether you want me to or not." Charlotte said without looking back at Sam. Sam stared after her with a look of misery in his eyes, sighed, and said, "Well at least let me come with you so you don't get hurt!"And with that, he dashed after her.
The roads were split, and the buildings were either covered in debris, or were the debris, scattered across the town, and the streets were empty, not a soul to be seen. "Where is everyone? Why is everything so... blank?" Charlotte wondered out loud, looking around. Sam had an idea, but just could not accept it. They had to look around just a little bit more before he could think, so all he simply said, was "I have no idea."
About an hour later of wandering the empty city of Balae, they saw a man in the distance, he was covered in dirt, but something seemed off about him. He was starting to stumble, and yet something about him seemed... not human. "I'm going to try and talk with him, okay?" Sam whispered to Charlotte, and then faced the strange man. "Hey, mister!" The man turned around, and said nothing. Charlotte gave Sam a doubtful look, and said "Let's keep on looking." Then the man shot his head towards the sky, and let out an ear-piercing scream, and charged towards Sam and Charlotte. "Whoa!" Sam yelled, and backed up. But the strange man just kept running towards them. Sam looked at Charlotte and said, "Keep back, I got this." Charlotte ignored him, took a pipe from the ground, and ran at the man. Only meters away from the man, she pulled her arm back, and swung the pipe at his face. Charlotte watched as his head snapped back, and the man crumpled to the ground, completely limp.
