Undead Rises

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ

ᴄᴏʀᴀ ʜᴇɴᴅᴇʀꜱᴏɴ'ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ

The sun seeped through the trees and made everything start to glow. It reminded me of the orange flames that burned the world to the ground. The sound of screams and buildings turning into rubble. The fear and panic that seeped its way into everyone's soul. For a moment, I relived through those memories of fire and chaos before finally pushing them away.

Today was another day. I had to find a way to be grateful for that fact.

With a sigh, I pulled myself into a sitting position and stretched, hoping to get the ache out of my back. Sleeping on the ground was slowly becoming easier. Tobias' soft snores filled our peaceful surroundings, drowning out the soft chirps of birds and insects. My brother knew how to ruin a perfect scenery, and it did not bother him one bit. He had never been an outdoor person.

I walked over to him and kicked the bag out from under his head, causing the back of his head to hit the ground. "What?" he yelled sitting up, clearly confused but ready for any danger. "Good morning, Sunshine." I smiled down at him with a smile. Tobias shook his head and slowly got up, clearly annoyed at his rude awakening.

"Seriously Cora? Couldn't you have woken me up like a normal person would?" he asked, stretching his hands over his head before bending down and shouldering his dark brown tattered backpack. "Where's the fun in that?" I asked before walking to the trees that surrounded us, slowly unwinding the wire we used as a layer of protection. Attached to the wire, were several empty cans that made a loud clanking sound if something were to walk into the wire.

It acted as an alarm if we were surrounded by the undead in our sleep. It was nowhere near high walls and barbed wire, but it was the best thing that we had.

When the wire was down and packed away, we started to walk. We had been doing this for several weeks, trying to make it back to our hometown.

Before everything went to shit, Tobias and I were doing our annual sibling trip. So, we had no idea if our friends or our parents were even still alive. We wanted to go back to our hometown in case they were there, waiting for us but I doubted it. It was Tobias who had more hope and faith towards our friends still being in town, he didn't want to believe in the possibility that his girlfriend was most likely dead.

My brother wasn't looking for the logic in this, which he usually did, and it made me worry about him. However, I promised myself that no matter what we found in our hometown, I'd be there for him.

"Cora?" his groggy deep voice pulled me out of my thoughts, I looked over at my brother whose eyebrows were furrowed in concern. "Sorry, lost in thought." I sighed as we continued to track through the woods. Usually when I got too quiet, he'd check up on me, no matter how I had treated him.

"There should be a highway a mile up. If we stick next to it, we should be home tomorrow afternoon." he mumbled, glancing down at the map in his hands but focused on me. Always a concerned big brother. Even with the worry in his voice, I noticed the tinge of excitement and hope in there as well.

The sound of a snapping twig sliced through the woods like a blade cutting through steel, there was something behind us. Silence filled the air around us, as we waited for another sound. Nothing came. "Run." Tobias whispered before grabbing my hand and running.

Tobias was much taller than I was, so it was difficult to keep up with him. My legs burned and my lungs ached as we ran, but we weren't watching where we were going. We were just desperate to get away from whatever was behind us.

Tobias' foot got caught on tree roots that peeked out of the ground before falling down a steep hill, dragging me with him.

I felt the rocks and sticks scratch me, as sand turned to a cloud of dust on my way down the hill. When we reached the bottom, I had hit the ground so hard that for a moment I couldn't breathe, I gasped for air. After a few seconds, my lungs remembered how to inhale and exhale again. "Cora? Are you okay?" I heard Tobias groan, clearly in pain as well. I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see. "Yea, just winded. What about you?" I asked him as I slowly pulled myself to a sitting position, my body reluctantly to do so.