The Dead Awakened

Chapter 1

As Daniel Bryant thoughtfully walked out of the Riverview Police Station, where he had been working a late shift, he realized just how much of a depressing day it had been for the little town of Riverview. There had been a robbery in the local Jewelry Store, luckily no one was hurt, a massive car wreck in which two people died, and to make things worse, one of Daniel's closest friends had gotten fired. Getting into his car, Daniel turned the ignition to see that it was actually 5:00 pm, two hours later than when he usually gets off. "It's sure as hell been a long day.." Daniel said to himself, sighing. He was eager to get home, take off his uncomfortable uniform, and relax with his family.

Daniel casually took off his sheriff hat as he walked up his front porch steps. He was humming an old tune, and he was not going to let the depressing events of that day ruin his mood. As he opened the door though, he began to realize something was off. Usually, his wife would be cooking dinner by now. Instead, no one was in sight. "Raven?", Daniel called for his wife, concerned. "In here." He heard her yell from the bedroom. Her voice was completely monotone. "What's wrong..?", Daniel asked as he paced down the hallway towards their bedroom.

He walked in to see Raven, sitting crosslegged on the bed, her face in her hands as she wept. "Honey?", He asked, kneeling next to her. "It's...its..my mom..", Raven sputtered out between cries. Daniel had never seen her so upset. "What do you mean? What happened?," he asked, concerned like never before. "She's..she's...dead!", Raven got out before bawling again. "Wh-what?!", Daniel cried out. "Yeah! My sister, Merlee called about ten minutes ago..apparently she was visiting Mom, and went downstairs to get her a drink. She heard a crashing sound from upstairs, and ran up there to find Mom on the floor! Merlee though she had fallen or something, but when she got closer to help her up, she...she.." Raven started sobbing again. "Come on, Rave, you can tell me." Daniel said, rubbing her back to console her. "No! You don't understand, Daniel!", Raven shouted, jumping to her feet. "When Merlee tried helping Mom up, she started making these..these..inhumane sounds..like a hungry dog or something..and she started growling at Merlee! So she ran out, closed Mom's bedroom door, and called the doctor..When the doctor got there, he went into the bedroom to take a look at Mom. Well the doctor didn't come out for a while, so Merlee started to get worried, when all of a sudden she heard a painful yell coming from the bedroom. Merlee ran in there and...Mom was..was...eating him!" Raven cried. Daniel looked at her in shock, not knowing what to say

"Is that all that you know?", Daniel asked, trying to watch what he said, afraid he'd upset her more. "That's all Merlee was able to say before there was a crash and then the phone hung up!" Raven was now pacing back and forth. Daniel was at a loss for words, knowing that Raven's family all lived nearly three hours away, they could not afford the gas money to go check up on them. "Well...shit." Daniel said, at a loss for words. He quickly got up and went into the living room where he clicked the power button on the remote. Upon seeing some static for a couple of seconds, a news broadcast came on the TV. There stood a woman holding a microphone, looking at the camera.

She looked horrible; her hair was frizzed out, bags underneath her worn out eyes. "This is Lacey Matlock, coming to you live from Riverview . She started to look offscreen at something. "Look people, I don't know what's going on but..the dead have...they have come back!" She cried, before coming closer to the screen. "If there is anyone out there watching this, anyone at all, this is a warning to you. I don't know what to say besides--" The woman's sentence was cutoff as a rough-looking man with glasses and a tattered business suit came from behind her, biting into her neck. His eyes almost glowed as a low inhumane growling in his throat started getting louder. The screen suddenly cut off, and static appeared. "Holy shit." Daniel whispered to himself. Clicking the TV remote once again to turn the TV off, Daniel yelled to his wife. "Raven? Pack your bags, and get the kids. We're getting the hell out of here."