Dead Or Alive

Chapter 1 Loki

The windows rattled, some harbouring hairline cracks in them that seemed to spread with every jolt. I ground my teeth as plaster and dust rained down. The walls shook, and I moved to the centre of the room. I looked at Peyton.

She was pacing, blond curls bouncing. She turned her blue eyes to me, and I could see the fear shoved deep down, hidden from everyone else. I took a shaky breath. The house continued to shake, as if the world was cracking in two.

"We have to leave, Pey." I said, my voice sounding strangled. She stopped pacing and looked around, surveying.

"They have the whole place surrounded. We have no where to run." She said. I shook my head. They kept pounding on the walls. I started to see cracks.

I put my dark hair up. I didn't want to look out the window. I know what I will find.

Dreads. They used to be human, living and laughing. But once the disease took them, they became twisted, beyond human, beyond dead. Now they are killers. This part of the world is rotten with them. We have no idea who started the disease, or how, but they single handedly brought down the human race. The Dreads are multiplying, getting stronger, hunting down humans. No one can stop them. They are immune to everything.

Dreads had been hunting me and my best friend Peyton for over a year. We always managed to slip away, to escape, to survive for one more day.

"This house is isolated in the woods. We would have nowhere to hide." Peyton said. I looked down at the combat boots I had stolen.

"Loki, there's nothing we can do. They've won." Peyton said, the usual fire in her eyes distinguished. I heard a crash downstairs. They made it into the house. We scrambled up the stairs, to the roof. The shingles were rotten and crumbling. The roof was a mess of plants and shrubs.

Down below, I could see them. They looked up at me, milky white eyes hungry. They looked like real humans, except for the eyes. These days, they can cover them up, make them look human. That's when they killed you. When you least expected it.

Down below, I saw a little girl clutching a teddy bear. But she had the milky white eyes, too. It gripped my heart. Such a young killer.

They began to climb the house, and I could hear the others inside. I looked at Peyton. She looked back. I shrieked as one reached the roof. It grabbed my ankle. It squeezed, crushing the bone. I fell, clutching my ankle. My attacker was a grown man. He bared his teeth at me, and I dragged myself back, shaking. My ankle flared with pain.

"What is that?" I heard Peyton yell. I could not stand, could not see whatever she did. She shouldered the Dread over the side.

"Fire?" She asked, silence answering. She was right. I could smell smoke. It was an acrid stench, like burning flesh. Peyton gaped.

"It's a boy! He's...he's..burning them! And throwing fire." She said in a daze. I desperately wanted to see, but my ankle was throbbing too much.

"What now?" I asked through gritted teeth. She keeps looking.

"He's spreading the fire to the house!" Peyton cried, looking hysterical.

"Wait...he's coming inside!" She said, surprised. I was too. He probably wasn't even going to make it to the stairs. Smoke began to fill up the air, making the heavens smell like wildfire.