Renewal (WIP)

Chapter One

A/N: 

Hello! Welcome to my own story. This story was based on a dream I had a while back so I've finally decided to write it down and expand on it. No, the Echo in this story is not me, nor a self insert of me, I just named the character after myself. Also, chapters will be updated every Tuesday. Now that all that is out of the way, I'm going to list the trigger warnings for this chapter.

TW:

Death, Violence, Grief

          The cold bit at Echo's face as he sprinted through the desolate tundra. He could hear the steady beat of his friends footsteps alongside him, along with the erratic and stumbling footsteps of the undead chasing closely behind them. Echo could still hear his friend, Keagan, as he screamed and begged for help only moments ago when he was bitten, knowing there was nothing he or his friends could do. His other friend Ruth and him were just searching for game twenty or so minutes ago, alongside an alive, friendly, beaming Keagan, hunting through the thick, snow-covered forest. He didn't understand how he didn't hear the haunting crunch of the snow underneath undead feet, or perhaps the low growls emitting from the creature... Echo shook his head to clear his thoughts of guilt and shame.

          He didn't need guilt and sadness gnawing at him right now, which he was sure would eat him from the inside out for years to come once he had the luxury of contemplating his thoughts. His priority right now was making sure the rest of his friends, Ruth, Violet, and Noah all made it to their boat safely. Echo and his friends, ever since the apocalypse began three years ago, at the ages of twelve and thirteen, had taken a boat from Ruth's late father. Ever since, they have lived on it, out in sea, avoiding the desolate and infected land as much as possible, only climbing ashore when supplies were needed. And today was the worst possible day to choose to go on shore.

          After that one undead spotted them during hunting, it lunged at Keagan, letting out a bone shattering screech that will forever haunt anyone who hears it. This of course, alerted any undead within earshot causing them all to come after them. Echo snuck a quick glance behind him and felt a lurch. There was Keagan, tattered, deformed and diseased. The only way he could tell it was Keagan was by the necklace he always wore that was given to him by his grandfather. It almost made Echo sick to his stomach, but before he could have the chance, he whipped his head around

          They were almost at the boat, which was stationed next to a rotting wooden dock that smelled of mildew and looked as if it would collapse at any moment.

          "We're...", Echo huffed, "Almost there!" He shouted to his friends.

          "Ruth, turn on the engine for the boat as soon as we get there, Violet, untie the boat from the dock, and Noah help me keep those creatures off our asses!" They all gave a nod of acknowledgement and picked up the pace as we neared our destination. Everyone immediately falls into their respective tasks, Ruth disappearing into the cabin, Violet untying the knot she so carefully tied early this morning and Noah and Echo staying on the dock, the wood almost bending underneath their weight from years of unattended rotting. Everyone on Echo's team was armed with various blunt objects ranging from bats we were lucky enough to find, to old pipes and crowbars. Only Violet was lucky enough to have a pocket knife she found while digging through a junkyard a few months ago.

          Noah prepared himself with his bat and Echo with his crowbar he had found a few weeks ago. His heartbeat was hammering in his chest as adrenaline ran through his veins, it was almost exciting. He enjoyed the thrill of a good fight every now and then if he was being honest with himself. The first couple of undead stumbled clumsily onto the dock, which were easily taken care of. Echo swung his weapon with a force strong enough to knock the undead off of the deck, and into the freezing water below. A few excruciating long minutes passed when Ruth yelled from the cabin.