2050

Chapter One: Happy Birthday to Me

** I should start off saying this is the first post I'm making, so I'm sorry that I'm still new to how this site works. Also, if there's a grammatical error, let me know, because it annoys me and I'd like to not make the same mistake next time :)**

I woke up another year older, but I felt no different. I felt more lonely than ever as I went downstairs and got bowl of crackers for breakfast. I headed back up to my bedroom and brushed my long dark hair out of my green eyes. After filling up a cup with bullets, I reached for my .270 and slid back my dark cutains and opened my window just enough for me to stick the gun out and shoot. I aimed at the dead people walking around, sometimes moaning, sometimes feeding off of a random squirrel running up a tree.

I wondered if my mother was out there. I wonder if maybe she could still be alive. All I remember for the last six months was my mom running away to her mothers home, someone dying, then coming back. Within a month dead walkers were all over the place. My dad went outside to get supplies, and didn't make it back alive. I sleep with one of his shirts, tied to one of my mom's. One day, my older brother, Anthony, saw him trying to get into the house. If I hadn't have braced myself to shoot him, I would be all alone.

Now I could hear gunshots coming from my brother's room. He must've woken up. Every morning, we eat a bowl of crackers, get dressed, and shoot a cup of bullets. Once a week, either Anthony or I go out to get some more food, more ammo, and medicine.

I heard a knock on my door.

"Mornin' Alex."

"Hey, Anthony."

"Happy sweet sixteen." he tried to sound happy, but he's never even showed a full smile since my dad died.

"It's not so sweet when we're stuck like this." I shot another dead walker.

I could feel his blue eyes glaring at me. The same eyes my mother had.

"I was going to say, I'll make the run to the grocery today." he mumbled and left.

Anthony is two years older. He had just gotten accepted to the college of his dreams when this whole thing erupted. He was literally packing his bags when my mom left us.

I know I was a jerk to him, but I get like this when I stress, though it's still no excuse. Twenty minutes had past and I felt a familiar ache in my stomach. I was completely relieved when I looked out the window for the thirtieth time, and saw a six foot three man run towards my house with blue eyes and bags of food and supplies in his hands. He as he got to the door, I attacked him and almost made him fall over as I hugged him.

"Alex, it's almost time."

"Time for what?"

"There's about a week left of supplies at the store. We should get the rest tomorrow, pack up and leave." He said, in all seriousness.

"Where could we go?" I asked, the ache in my stomach came back.

"I was searching for any plans in Mom and Dad's room and I found a map. He knew this would happen one day."

"Really, well , could you show it to me?" I asked, looking up for the first time.

"Yeah, sure," he pulled out a map of Washington County, South Carolina. There was a dot on the map that said Andrews. Our house was right on the edge of town.

"If we leave Andrews and head to the coast, we might hit this gated community."

Dad drew out a several paths we could take, and a note next to each one. Written along the side of the coast was Harris Creek. It's a fancy neighborhood with a golf course, two private beaches, and rich people. You need a special key to get in, and unless you're a resident, there's no way you could enter that area.

"If no one has transformed behind that gate, we're safe until the government gets this under control." Anthony said.

"We should pack tonight and leave tomorrow morning, that's when the night crawlers are gone."

Night crawlers are the most damaged zombies there are. They make noises like someone screaming for help, but once you find out its a crawler, it's too late to turn around.

"Okay, I'll leave you to it. Just remember, this trip will last a few days so bring a spare change of clothes. We'll take as much as we can out of the stores and be on our way."

He turned to walk back into his room. I started packing my bags. All of my underclothes went to the bottom of my bag, then my shirts. The last thing I packed was my dad's t-shirt tied to one of my mom's. I slept with it every night.

I shot another cup of bullets then went to check on Anthony. He helped me pack some food and supplies we would need.

Tonight was going to be a long night.