Generation Dead

Chapter 1

Wandering through the streets, swiftly ignoring all the dead eyes of once alive New York City citizens, Grady continued his way towards his apartment complex. The sun shined bright in between towering skyscrapers, making the path clear for him to be walking in such a dangerous street.

The lifeless bodies stood still, immobile except for their lingering glares of torment and hunger - a hunger only stated by warm blood and the flesh of a human body. They pierced Grady from all directions, his breath picking up as a choking sensation started gnawing its way into Gradys' head.

He saw his building, and resisted sprinting as his emotional defences started slipping. It felt as if an eternity passed before Grady came face-to-face with the heavily boarded entrance. He opened the gate, letting out a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. Grady locked up the entrance, which also acted as a barrier after dawn hit the crumbling city.

Grady continued his way up the stairs, carrying a backpack full of needed sanitary items, a small stock-up of food and three 1L bottles of water he managed to grab. Now that the stress from being exposed had left, Grady finally noticed how heavy it all was.

He finally made it to his twins' apartment on the fourth floor, walking over to where they kept all their items clustered in one corner of the apartment and put down the bag. Grady heard Alix in the bedroom, and went in to see her sorting through the small amount of clothes they had, plus whatever was left over from the previous residents.

"I'm back," Grady stated, feeling overwhelmed with a sudden tiredness, "do you need help with anything?"

Alix looked up and relief swept through her before smiling kindly at her twin brother.

"Nah, I was just seeing if anything here would be of use to us," Alix held up a simple blue wife beater that looked one size too small for Grady, who took it gratefully at having new clothes, "I planned on having soup for dinner, considering we have quite a bit of it left." Alix smiled sheepishly.
Grady just nodded, and Alix gave him an understanding look, "You can rest, I have everything under control."

His twin walked out of the room, most likely to sort through the backpack of supplies, leaving Grady to rest.

———————

Grady eventually woke up, and noticed the light coming in from the bedroom window. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, feeling momentarily dizzy. Walking out of the bedroom, he saw Alix in the kitchen with her hands on the bench, looking as if she'd been waiting for him. 

"Hey," Grady started, but Alix cut him off by giving him a cup of water forcefully, "What's up?" Grady asked confused.

"What happened whilst you were out yesterday?" Alix shot back, staring at him with a slightly knowing look. Grady stepped back, taken aback by Alix.

"What do you mean?" His voice shook. She knew something was up, but how?

"You've been asleep since yesterday afternoon!" Grady looked around, noticed the two cans of soup on the bench. One was open, the other wasn't.

How could he have slept so long? He didn't feel like that much time had passed.

"I- nothing happened, Alix. I was just exhausted." He tried to reassure her, but the look in Alix's eyes said she wasn't falling for it.

"Alix, you have to understand, nothing bad happened. I'm fine." His voice was soft. Alix looked at her brother, and apologised.

"I'm sorry, Grady, but you can't be sleeping that long. Something happened, and I need to know about it. Please, you can trust me." Alix's gaze had softened, and Grady reluctantly shuffled so his hand was on her shoulder, and put the cup down with his other. He looked into Alix's green eyes, and took a deep breath.

"Alix, what I saw out there was just the usual. I got into the store, and the place was a mess. Blood all on the floor and splattered on the walls, shit everywhere. I walked into the back and I saw a family dead. Not even rotting yet, they died the night before."

"Grady, like you said, that's the usual. It couldn't have effected you that bad?" Alix pondered.

"There was a baby," Alix noticeably cringed, " a goddamn innocent family we could've saved if we had known they were there, we could've helped. This building is safe! We could have taken them in!" Grady was getting emotional, the thoughts of what could have been and what he saw, memories from before, making him angry, but mostly, hurt.

"Grady, Grady calm down. It's okay, we had no choice. We didn't know they were there and there's no way we could have. You know this. Calm down, please." Alix begged with her brother, feeling the same pain he did. But she needed him to not let his emotions control him. They couldn't be weak anymore. The past was the past, and they had to focus on the future, and how to survive.

"Grady, look. I know how much it means to you to try and save as many people possible, to have a bigger team. But we can't worry about those who aren't with us anymore. We can't focus on what we could have done, we have to focus on what we can do. And if what you're saying is accurate, about how recent the family-"

"- it is.-" He ground out.

"-then, this place isn't that safe anymore. The store is only a couple blocks from here, and if the attacks are that close, it's only a matter of time before they attack here. Especially with us coming in and out during the day, that'll bring more attention to this place.  We need to keep moving North." Alix sighed. She knew how difficult this was for Grady, especially being so emotional. She felt his pain too, understood where it came from.

"Yeah, yeah you're right. We need to leave within the next few days. Today, we can search for more supplies, before we leave. Theres a chemist just down the road from the store I went to, we can search it. And hopefully we'll catch sight of where we can head to." Grady replied.

"Sounds good, brother. Let's get going."