"The greatest gift our parents ever gave us was each other."
*Ten years earlier; Start of the apocalypse*
A seven year old male with midnight black hair and bright crystal blue eyes looked at his identical twin brother. They were waiting for their mother's response. Their older brother was possibly going to give them a ride in his helicopter.
"Leo, Raymond."
The boys looked up at their mother.
"The two of you can go with your brother. Only for a short fly, okay?"
"Okay mom," both said.
They ran off to find their older brother.
The twins found their brother at his helicopter. He was putting some supplies in the small storage bay.
"Ready to head out you two?" Cole asked when he saw his brothers.
Both started to jump up and down. They were really excited. Cole laughed at his brothers.
"Well let's go then."
All three of them got into the helicopter. Cole started up the helicopter, pushing buttons and pulling levers. He put on his helmet.
"Everyone buckled up?" he asked.
Leo and Raymond both gave him thumbs up. The helicopter's propellers started spinning. The engine started roaring louder and louder.
"Both of you might want to hold onto something. It's going to get bumpy," Cole said through the headset.
Leo and Raymond grabbed onto something stable beside them, just as the helicopter was lifting into the air. It rattled and shook as it ascended.
Once in the air, Cole looked back at his brothers. Leo was looking out the window in amazement. Raymond was looking around, possibly trying to find out how they stayed in the air.
"Cole, how are we staying up?" Raymond asked his brother.
Leo looked at his twin and shook his head. It was because it is magic, right?
"A rotating propeller creates changes in air pressure, lowering it in some areas and raising it in others. Combined with a specially curved wing, the effect is known as lift, and it's what allows helicopters to lift off the ground vertically. Without some sort of rotary propeller system, the aircraft would never leave the ground," Cole looked back, "You got that? I'm surprised that this old thing hasn't fallen out of the sky on us yet. It was made way before mom and dad. Made back in 2078. It's around a hundred years old."
This caused Leo to look up from his current viewing point. The helicopter was one hundred years old. It shouldn't still be able to fly. That's not possible.
"Cole, is the helicopter safe?" Leo asked.
"It should be fairly safe. But that is one of the things you don't have to worry about Leo. I triple checked everything. They were all in great condition," Cole told his brother.
Leo still didn't trust the helicopter. He looked back out his window. He spotted a huge group of people wandering down the street at a very slow pace.
"Hey Raymond. Look out the window at those people."
Raymond looked out at them.
"They walk funny. What do you think is wrong with them?"
"They look dead. Zombies aren't real, right?" Leo asked, panicked.
The helicopter jerked. It almost tossed Raymond over. Raymond jumped to his feet. Both twins looked forward at their older brother.
"Just a little turbulence," Cole laughed nervously.
"Why did he say it like that?" Leo asked, his voice shaking slightly.
Raymond looked at his twin.
"He didn't get a good helicopter. This one is broken and old."
Leo became panicked, what if the helicopter fell from the sky and they all died? He stared at the back of his older brothers head. One thought went through his mind. If we die, I'm coming back to haunt you.
The helicopter lurched again.
"Whoa. Do you guys see what's going on down there?" Cole asked.
Raymond and Leo looked out of the windows. People were running around being chased by slower people. Sometimes the ones running would be caught and pulled under a big pile of the slower ones and then they would all leave after someone else and the person who was pulled down would get up and sprint after the ones running away and jump onto their backs.
"Cole! We have to go back home and get Mom and Dad!" Leo shouted.
Cole looked at his younger brothers and turned the helicopter around. He made the helicopter go faster towards their home.
This was it. The zombie apocalypse had started.
They flew all the way to their home.
As they headed over their neighbourhood, all three of the brothers saw blood and torn down doors scattered across the roads and yards.
"Oh my god," Cole breathed. "We're literally in hell."
Leo glanced down he saw their home, door busted down and blood splattered all over the yard from inside the building. Cole made the helicopter come down, but the moment he saw into the house, he made the helicopter raise back into the air.
"Hell no!" he said.
"Why are you doing that Cole? We have to go get mom and dad!" Raymond yelled.
"Mom and dad aren't here anymore," Leo said, not even looking up from his window.
"How do you know?" Raymond demanded.
"Look closely," Leo whispered.
Raymond walked towards Leo's window and gazed out. He saw the mess his brother was talking about. He started to shake. He fell backwards onto his butt.
"This can't be happening," Raymond gasped.
Raymond pulled his knees into his chest and started dry heaving.
"Cole! Raymond's having a panic attack!" Leo yelled.
Cole looked into the back at his brothers. Leo was trying to snap Raymond out of his panic attack but it wasn't working.
"I'll try to find somewhere to land then I'll help you," Cole told Leo.
Cole scanned the view of the community. He saw two tall building side by side.
"Left or right?" Cole yelled into the back.
"Left," Leo decided.
Cole landed on the building on the left side. He opened his door and walked to the back of the helicopter. He climbed into the back.
"Mom and Dad are dead," Raymond wailed.
Leo put his arms around his brother.
"Raymond," Leo whispered. "Look at the sunset."
Raymond's blue eyes looked up at the sunset, the sky being painted with magnificent shades of orange, yellow, pink, and purple. He smiled.
"It's beautiful," he whispered.
Raymond wrapped his arms around Leo. Cole pulled both his little brothers into his arms. The boys shut their eyes.
"Cole, will you protect us?" Raymond asked.
"I promise," Cole sighed.
Leo and Raymond both opened their eyes in sync.
"I swear, you two are carbon copies of each other. One day, it's going to scare the life out of people," Cole laughed.
"Where are we spending the night?" Leo asked.
"We clearly can't go home," Raymond sighed.
"We'll stay here tonight," Cole explained. "Tomorrow, we'll start travelling."
The twins pulled away from their older brother. They sat on one of the benches and fell asleep together. Cole crawled back into the front seat. He sat there.
"I'm not sleeping tonight," Cole whispered to himself.
Leo woke up before Raymond. He went to the front to see if Cole was awake. He saw that Cole was near the edge of the building talking to a child who looked to be either the same age or a year younger than himself. He went back to the back to wake up Raymond.
"What do you want?" Raymond asked.
"Wake up and come with me," Leo instructed.
Raymond finally let himself wake up. Once he was awake, Leo opened the helicopter door and the two boys walked towards Cole. They stopped when the blonde boy started freaking out.
"Stay away!" the blonde yelled. "You shot me in the foot with an arrow!"
"You did what?" Leo asked from behind Cole.
Cole turned and saw his little brothers.
"Go to the helicopter and stay there," Cole instructed firmly.
Both twins nodded before running to the helicopter parked on the building.
"Do you know who that is?" Raymond asked Leo.
"Yes, I know Cole."
"I meant the blonde guy."
"No idea."
Leo opened the door to the back of the helicopter and climbed inside. The twins sat in silence for a few minutes before Cole opened the door for the blonde boy to get in. Cole got into the driver's side of the helicopter and started setting it up so that he could fly. He turned to the back seat where the three kids sat.
"All set?" he asked. "By the way, Leo, Raymond, this kid is Dawson. Dawson, these two are my younger brothers, Leo and Raymond," Cole introduced.
The kids nodded. Leo kept turning his eyes towards Dawson but kept looking away whenever Dawson looked to him and his brother. He assumed Raymond was doing the same thing as him.
"Dawson, if you don't want to hold onto your weapon and stuff, you can set it down in the compartment under the seat," Leo said in a small voice.
Dawson nodded and quickly put his stuff under the seat. Leo was observing his actions.
"Out of curiosity," Dawson started. "Who's who? I don't want to call either of you by the wrong names."
Raymond turned to Dawson, irritated he had to explain the difference between him and his twin to another person.
"I'm Raymond. He's Leo. You can tell us apart by our voices," Raymond stated. "I'm a lot less scared of speaking to people than Leo is until he knows them. My voice is naturally louder."
"Another way is using the direction of our hair," Leo added in a small voice. "My hair goes toward the left side of my face, Raymond's goes to the right."
Dawson nodded. Leo noticed how he immediately adverted his eyes to the floor. The boy was quiet and timid. Leo was feeling sorry for him. He was shaking. Leo swore to himself to be nice to this younger boy. Cole drove towards the forest surrounding the town.
"Everyone okay back there?" he called.
"Yup," Raymond called lazily.
The whole helicopter lurched throwing Leo at Dawson. He jumped off of the blonde.
"Not at all!" Leo yelled.
"Hold on tight kids!" Cole yelled.
Leo looked out the window on Raymond's side. Both twins were looking at the ground. Leo looked back at Dawson. He was doing the same thing as both brothers.
"Is the ground getting closer?" Raymond whispered to Leo.
Leo nodded. The ground did seem to be getting closer. Suddenly, both twins exchanged a look. This 100 year old helicopter was approaching the ground quickly.
Fire crackled around them. Parts of the helicopter had been tossed through the trees. A few of those trees were on fire also. Dawson woke up first. He looked around trying to find someone. He saw one of the twins. He wasn't that far away. Dawson started crawling toward the twin. It was Leo. He started to shake Leo's shoulder. Leo awoke with a start. He looked around and he saw his brother, arm split in two by a propeller. He started screaming and crying.
"Raymond! Get Up! Please wake up! Cole! Where are you? Cole!"
Dawson felt as if he should try to comfort the other boy. He put his arm around him in an awkward half hug.
"Leo you have to be quiet or else those things might-"
He was cut off by a gurgled groan. The two boys looked behind them and saw a huge horde of the zombies. They both got really scared.
"Shh. Just stay quiet," Dawson told Leo.
Leo had tears streaming down his face. The zombies started toward the loudest thing. The engine. Although they were on the ground, the hunk of metal was making the most sound. They all swarmed it and started hitting it. They made horrible sounds and other noises. Leo wanted to get up and run, just leave everything where it was, but he didn't want to leave the bodies of his brothers Suddenly, guns were being fired, machine guns. The zombies fell and the ones that didn't, tried to get to the people shooting the guns. Their plan didn't work. When all of the zombies were dead, the people came out of hiding. There was eight people there. One looked really young, and another seemed to be in her sixties. The rest were all young adults. The youngest turned to face the group, he grabbed the collar of the biggest ones' shirt. He pulled him down to his height.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Justin?!" he near bellowed in Justin's face. "There could have been children in there! You fucking idiot!"
The short one clocked Justin in the face, it brought the big guy down to the ground. He turned back around.
"Come on, let's see if anyone survived."
They looked around for anyone alive, Dawson and Leo stayed quiet. A woman with gold hair came over.
"You kids okay?" she asked.
That was when Dawson felt the pain in his leg and Leo, his arm. The woman looked them over and saw that their leg and arm were broken. She turned her head.
"Levi, we got live ones over here. They're kids and they are hurt."
The little one, Levi came over. He crouched down and looked over the kids.
"Shit, guess Justin's going to the pit. Ava, we have to get them out. Kids, we won't hurt you. We'll help you until your bones are better." Levi said. He then turned to look at the rest, "Is there anyone else? Anyone alive?"
"We got a pilot. He's the one Justin shot. He's dead and won't be coming back," a man with light brown hair said.
"There's another boy. Looks like him," Dawson said as he motioned to Leo.
Levi looked over to the propeller. He saw the boy and the propeller going into his arm. He sighed.
"Another fatality. Died of blood loss. I don't think he'll be able to get out of that for a long time."
Raymond was being held in spot by the belt he strapped on so he wasn't tossed around.
"Was there anyone else?" Levi asked.
"No, Just the four of us," Dawson replied.
Leo looked at his twin, his brothers were dead. Raymond had a chance of getting out if he turned but the chances of that would be low. And Cole. Cole was shot in the head. He wasn't ever going to be a zombie. The group got Leo and Dawson out of their spots. A tall man with ginger hair carried Leo and Ava carried Dawson.
"We'll bring you both back to our base. Treat your wounds and let you heal. We may even teach you how to shoot a gun," Levi looked back to Leo. "Sorry about your brothers. Don't worry, Justin will have a worse fate."
He then tossed Dawson's bag over his shoulder. Dawson and Leo both fell asleep. They woke up later in a room they didn't know. Levi was leaning up against the wall. His eyes closed. Ava was also in the room. She was sitting at a small table, her head resting on it.
"Dawson, are you awake?" Leo asked.
"Yea. What's up?" Dawson asked the ebony haired boy.
"What do you think of them?" he asked as he gestured to Levi and Ava.
"Those two seem nice. Levi is surprisingly strong. You saw how he knocked that big guy on his butt, right?" Dawson questioned.
Leo laughed at that. Causing Ava and Levi to wake up.
"Yea, that was pretty funny," he said grinning.
Levi looked at Ava.
"How are you two feeling?" Ava asked.
Leo and Dawson looked at them shocked.
"I'm feeling better," Dawson said.
"That's good. But you shouldn't try to walk," Ava said. "And how do you feel?"
"Heart-broken," Levi said. "He had his twin and older brother killed in a helicopter crash. It's a miracle that they lived."
"My arm is still sore," Leo whispered.
"Don't worry. In a few days, the pain will be gone completely," Ava said. She seemed too happy to be in a zombie apocalypse.
"Why are you happy?" Dawson asked Ava.
Ava looked down at her hand.
"Well, I guess it's because I got married a few days ago, and my husband is helping keep our lives the same."
"Lives can still be the same during a zombie apocalypse?" Leo asked.
"I guess they can. Only if you choose them to be," Ava said.
Levi came over to Leo's bed. He sat down at the foot of it.
"I know what it's like to lose someone you care about. My twin sister, Hannah died last week. She was hit by a car. Almost couldn't tell she was human."
Levi's pupils shrunk to little pin points. He was shaking too.
"Levi, darling, why don't you go talk with gran? It'll help calm you down," Ava said.
Levi got up and left the room. Leo looked at Ava.
"Are the two of you related?" he asked.
"He's my cousin. He was going to go visit our younger cousins at their cabin, but he ended up driving here with his parents. Just like you and Levi, I lost a sibling. My older brother was in a train wreck. He passed on instantly, so I know he didn't suffer. Hannah did, she was still alive when the emergency vehicles started showing up."
"How was she still alive?" Dawson asked, terrified.
"Her vital organs weren't wrecked, she was just bleeding out. You couldn't tell she was human because the cars axel had almost torn her in half and the bumper had smashed her face. I probably just scared the two of you for life. Sorry about that. The two of you have nothing to worry about here. It's well fortified and we are all related somehow. There's gran and my parents, along with Levi and his parents. Levi's parents, close friends are here. And there is a whole lot more. We basically have our own little village. We'll take care of the two of you. We won't let the beasts get you. They'll have to tear down the walls to get in."
Leo and Dawson looked at each other. They may just have a chance of surviving here.