The Survival Games (Book 1 in The Survival Games trilogy)

chapter 1: the begining of the end

Author's note: When I started writing this I was young and still using abbreviations and not caring about spelling, but after the first few chapters there are very noticeable improvements. At the point in the book I'm at now, I'm happy to say I think my writing is fairly professional. I know the start doesn't seem so promising, but as you read on I guarantee you'll be hooked. Thankyou to everyone with the patience to ignore the errors in my early chapters. It's much appreciated! Signed, Cityofthelostsouls.

So, mum we won the game today' i tell mum the good news.

'really? that's great' she replies, though she is sidetracked by her game.

'what did you do today?'

'i cleaned the house and went shopping'

I look in the cupboard.

'you forgot my milo'

'you didn't tell me i had to get any'

'yes i did'

'sure, whatever you say'

'urgh'

she sits silently playing her game. i am just about to walk to my room when i hear her voice again;

'can you make me a cuppa please' she says not asking but commanding.

'do you drink anything other than coffee?' i ask smartly

'my day consists of drinking coffee, cleaning, looking after the baby, playing my game and socializing with your nan' she says as if telling it in order.

I gently pour the hot water into the cup.

'here mu-' i begin to say before a few soldiers bust through my door.

'what are you doing?!' i ask in a high-raised voice.

three begin to search the house whilst the other two grab my mum, my 9yro sister and my 2yro sister and push them out the door.

'stop! what are you doing? leave them alone! give them back! stop!' i scream as i watch my family get shoved into a van.

i hear their screams and my mothers desperate voice tell them to give me to her and to set them free. i stare in horror as i watch the van drive away. when it is no longer in sight, i try to run outside but step on something sharp. when i look down i see glass and coffee spilt on the ground. i must have dropped it as the soldiers came in. i walk through it, making sure not to step on the glass, then i run. children my age are chasing after vans, screaming and crying. some are just standing there in shock. what is happening? just as i race down the stairs, a jeep pulls up in the middle of the street. a man climbs on top of the vehicle and holds a megaphone to his mouth and shouts;

'your parents and younger siblings have been captured. there has been an outbrake of some sort of disease that is bringing the dead back. we need to stop it. our men have either taken their own lives or been shot, leaving the leaders and few men. by few i mean around a hundred, which isn't enough to stop this outbrake. while their is very little men, we have alot of citezens. we decided to use yous as an army, but we had to pick ones that were young and old enough to fight it. we couldn't have babies fighting it, nor could we have the elderly fight it. so that left the teens. you will fight. we are going to make a deal. you fight this outbrake, we give back your families. you choose not to fight we kill them. simple as that. we only have so much food and space. it won't be long before we run out. we all know how that will end. if you fight, we will be able to bring everone back to their homes and collect the resources we will so desperately need. So this is the plan - get into little group or teams or whatever the fuck, get your asses moving and fucking kill all the zombies! Then come to Savannah to get your families. one peice of advise: don't fucking die! I suggest yous get moving. oh. one last thing; welcome to the survival games'

I stair at the jeep as it drives off. what.the.fuck. are the military seriously going to leave us here to die? fucking assholes! how do they expect us to survive? Brianna and i were right. we knew their was going to be a zombie apocalypse. don't worry caitlyn; you have a plan. CALL BRIANNA NOW! i grab the phone praying that their is still signal. thankfully their is. i dial her number and pray once again, this time praying that she will pick up the damn phone.

i hear a voice on the other end of the line, and to my relief it isn't the stuck up computerized female voice explaining that whoever i am trying to reach will not pick up.

'hello?' i hear Brianna's voice ask.

'it's me, caitlyn'

'thank god! remember our ZSP?'

'yes! so i'm guessing you heard it too. where are you?'

'i'm at home'

'okay, grab the items we talkied about, and meet me at the park'

'alright, be quick and remember we only have an hour so try to be there in about 20 mins so we have time to find a place to stay the night'

'yep. i'm going to get ready now. see you soon'

'okay, bye' she says as she hangs up the phone.

i think about all the items we talked about in out zombie survival plan, which we call ZSP for short. Brianna is going to collect all the food and suplies, whilst i collect the weapons and tools. i run into the kitchen and retrieve the bag a had up there incase this was to happen - well not this exactly, but the whole zombie part. i grab the lighter out of mum's bag (she was a smoker). i grab the tool box, open it, and make sure i havn't forgotten anything. i go to the utensal drawer and take all the sharp knives. i take a few spoons and forks just incase. outside is a shovel and pitchfork (mum recently started to garden) so i fetch them too. i grab the torch hanging on the bar to my bed. it has already been fifteen minutes so i need to hurry. there's gym and camo clothes in my room so i should go get them. i only now start to be relieved that i was preperred before hand. i retrieve my sleeping bag from the garage and tie the string around my rist. i shove on my joggers and a pair of gym clothes and i'm out the door. people are running around, screaming and hiding. as i turn around the corner of my street i see two dead bodies on the ground. at first i hesitate stepping forward because i worry that the dead were rising already but as i slowly get closer i see the stab wounds. they murdered themselves. i hope this doesn't tick off the military. jogging sounds like a good idea right now. i can see the park up ahead. great! i'm nearly there. Brianna turns around and smiles at the sight of me.

'i was begining to think you weren't coming' she explains

'yeah, well i'm supprised i'm not too late'

'to be honest, i didn't think you would be late at all'

'sorry'

'so the sanctuaries are in savannah'

'i guess so'

she stairs into the distance. i turn around to see what she is looking at but nothing is there.

'what are you staring at?' i ask concerned.

'nothing. i'm just thinking'

'about what?'

'i can't believe they would take our family. what good will it do?'

'i don't know. they're insane'

she giggles. something i wouldn't expect to hear considering what's going on.

'we need to start moving if we want to find a place to stay before dark. we only have 20 minutes' i advise.

'crap! let's go!'

lucky i live near the mountains. that might be a good place to stay for the night.

'how about there?' she asks as she points to a lake surrounded by trees.

'sounds good' i agree

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

after we have set up camp we climb the tree and gently crawl into our sleeping bags. i gaze at the stars, knowing that it this is probably the last time i will get to look at them.

'are you afraid?' she whispers

i hesitate for a moment.

'yeah. a little' i say in return.

i close my eyes and think to myself; you will survive.