Living Among the Dead

Gavin's POV

October, 2010 (Five years before present day)

I couldn't believe what was happening. My own mother, a killer. She was caught killing my father 3 days earlier, and she was convicted. Aunt Carol got off the phone, weeping into her hands. She walked over to me, and spoke to me as if she bared more bad news.

"G-Gavin," she sniffled, "We are going to the penitentiary to watch."

I got confused.

"Watch what."

She started at me before turning away. She spoke so softly, I was just barley able to hear the words out of her mouth, "You mother's execution."

I didn't look at Aunt Carol for the entire car ride. We drove to the visitor parking lot, where an armored guard led us into a room with a single window. Behind that window was a medical room with a table in the center of it. My mother was escorted into the room wearing an orange jumpsuit. She did't look up until she reached the table. She was strapped in and doctors put tubes into her arms. The crowd that was also in the room were yelling things like, "Killer!", "Traitor!", or even "I trusted you!". These angry people didn't seem to matter to her.

She stared at me before saying just loud enough for me to hear through the glass, "I'm sorry that it had to come to this, Gavin. I love you."

The doctor pulled a switch, resulting in a green liquid to spill into the tubes connected to her arms. The liquid entered her bloodstream, causing her to seize up before she just stopped moving. Stopped breathing. Stopped living.

Aunt Carol pulled the car onto the highway. I still couldn't look at her. She looked at me sympathetically.

"Gavin, do you know why I had you see that?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"But Gavin-"

"No!"

"GAVIN, LOOK AT ME!"

I slowly began to move my head towards her, but my gaze stopped when I saw the rod we were driving down. A bloody looking man was limping across the road right in front of us. I tried to warn Aunt Carol, but it was too late. The impact of the airbag on my skull caused me to fall unconscious.

I awoke after some time had passed to find my aunt still asleep. I shook her as I called her name. Then she woke up...but it wasn't her. Her eyes had faded and she hissed and growled at me. She reached her bloody arms at me as she attempted to bite me.

"A-Aunt Carol? Don't do this. What's going on with you?"

She continued making noises of hatred towards me. She brought her face close to me and kept chomping as if she were a snapping turtle. She was going to kill me. I grabbed the left side of her head. The skin was rotten and loose. With my right hand, I reached for a glass shard from the broken windshield. Once one was in my grasp. I stabbed the sharpest end through my aunt's skull. She stopped squirming, and I curled up into a bar on the seat.

A man rushed up to the window of the car and seemed relieved to see me alive.

"Are you okay?!" he asked.

"N-no. I was just forced to kill my aunt."

"I feel you, man. I had to do that to my fiancee, but other survivors like you and I helped me get through it. The name's Travis, and if you come with me, I can promise you sanctuary forever."

I pondered this, then realized that I had no other choice. I shook his hand after introducing myself. He helped me out of the totaled vehicle and led me to a place where I finally felt safe.

Present Day

I couldn't believe what was happening. First, my mother was executed. Now, my best friend, Swetha, is. With my own eyes, I saw her kill two guards inside the walls of our sanctuary. She claims that they attacked her first, but no one except me believes her. She was being carried to the town square next to the fountain to be shot. I couldn't let this happen. She was struggling the entire way there, so much so that she injured a guard, kicked liquid from a red canister into the empty fountain, and somehow killed a pigeon.

I knew what I had to do to save my Indian friend from being murdered. On the shop a few yards away, a later lit by a candle swung in the wind. I opened the glass casing and carefully pulled out the lit candle. I slowly walked over towards the fountain so that the flame wouldn't go out. I reached the small stone structure that at one point held water in it, and simply dropped the candle into the liquid that had spilled in there.

The fountain engulfed in flames, doing the same to low hanging trees, which also did the same for nearby buildings. The guards completely forgot about Swetha, and went to find something to extinguish the fire with. In the rush, I even nabbed a pistol from some guy. I untied Swetha's ropes. Once she was free, I handed her the gun, being that she knew how to use it. I looked around and finally realized what I had done. My home was now a charred black. People cried at the deaths of their loved ones as they choked on the embers. There was no putting this out. Swetha grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the exit.

Outside of the gated community which had no hope, a van rolled up. A short teenager, followed by a group of survivors told us to get in the back, for they could save us from this hell.