Episode 1

Bella Daniels slowly opened her eyes, feeling a sharp pain in the back of her head, and groaned. She felt her head, feeling something sticky and wet, and she saw blood when she brought her hand forward. Her bright red hair was tangled, matted, and uncomfortably stuck to her shoulders.

Bella looked around, confused, and realized she was in her little brother's room.

"Charlie?"

She scrambled to her feet, seeing the empty room, and the boy's clothes were gone. Suddenly, she heard a strange noise outside and walked to the window. The sun blinded her briefly, but then her eyes widened, seeing the grotesque decaying mutants staggering in the road.

"This can't be happening," she whispered, remembering the comics she loved reading.

The monsters looked just like the ones described in the stories, and Bella shook her head.

"Just do what they do in the books," she whispered.

"Find something sharp and stab them in the head."

Bella was seventeen with long waist length, wavy red hair, a medium muscular build, bright blue eyes, and piercings in her nose and up her earlobes. Her father was a Sergeant for the army base in Baker County, and when she was seven, she begged her dad to take her to work with him. She watched the men train and mimicked them before the training room window.

By the time Bella was thirteen, she was skilled in knife throwing and riding a sports bike, and when she turned sixteen, she graduated top of her skill shooting class.

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Bella glanced around the room and saw her ten-year-old brother's wooden wizard stick he got for Christmas a couple of years ago. She grabbed it and crept toward the door. She put her ear to the door and listened, but the house was quiet, and she opened the door and peered out. The place looked empty, and she snuck out of the room.

"Charlie? Mom? Dad?" Bella whispered, but everything inside was silent.

She crept down the hall and peered downstairs. The doors and windows were shut tight, and no one was there. Tears stung the back of her eyes as she realized she was alone and stifled a sob.

"Where are they? Why would they leave me here?" she asked out loud.

Suddenly, Bella heard a noise from the hallway closet, and she blew a breath as she nervously walked to the door. It sounded like something had fallen off the shelf, and she swallowed hard, gripping the stick tightly. She made a face, grabbed the doorknob, and flung the door open, ready to stab if it were a zombie.

Her father yelled, holding his hunting knife, and Bella huffed a sob, dropping the stick.

"Oh, Bell," he cried, hugging her.

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Abraham Daniels was a Baker County Army Base Sergeant and a part-time basic trainer. He was a cop for a couple of years after he graduated high school, but he decided he wanted more out of life and joined the military. Abraham was tall and muscular with salt and pepper hair, hazel eyes, and a matching beard.

He was married to a woman named Megan, but she wasn't Bella's mother. Megan was her stepmother. Bella's mother died when Bella was three, and Abraham married Megan when she was six. A year later, Charlie was born, and Megan always treated the kids as equally.

"Dad! What happened?" Bella asked, and her father shook his head.

"I don't know. I woke up with a splitting headache. I feel like I was hit in the back of the head," he said, rubbing the side of his head.

"Yeah, me too," she said, rubbing the back of hers.

"After I came to my senses, I went looking for you, your Mom, and Charlie when this thing came tearing through the house and knocked me in the closet. What's going on out there?"

Bella sighed, picking up the wooden stick, and gave her father a thoughtful look.

"Remember all those comic books I used to read and not shut up about?" she asked, leading him toward the hallway window and pulling back the curtain.

"I think we are about to see it in real life."

Abraham and Bella looked out the window and saw their neighbors and friends, bloody, decayed, and staggering around aimlessly. Bella gasped, seeing her high school boyfriend Jason as one of them, half ripped open, and she started sobbing quietly. Abraham hugged his daughter.

He couldn't believe his eyes. Everyone was dead.

"Do you remember anything before all of this?" he asked, and Bella shook her head.

"No, the only thing I remember is coming home from school, and you, Uncle Steve, and Mark and Brian were in the study drinking. Mom was cooking dinner, and Charlie took me to his room to show me something. Everything after that is a blur," she explained.

Abraham blew a breath and shook his head.

"I remember I started drinking with the guys, and me and Steve got into an argument about something, but I can't remember what it was," he said, looking back out the window.

Bella looked out the window sadly and sniffed back her tears.

"What do we do now?" he asked, rubbing his daughter's arm.

She thought about the first edition of Dead Alive and what the main characters did in the beginning when the apocalypse first happened.

"Gather supplies and hit the road. The Base, police station, and the hospital might be a good place to start," she said, and Abraham looked toward the hospital.

He saw cars crashed into the side of the hospital and ambulances turned on their sides. The building and the vehicles were slightly smoking, and most of the mutants were in that direction.

"I think the hospital is out of the question, but the Base and the police station should work. The Base and the station run on a well water system and may still have running water, warm water if we're lucky," he said, pushing down Bella's matted hair, and she giggled.

"I could use a shower," she chuckled, and Abraham nodded.

"Me too, kid."

"Hey, did you find a note when you woke up?" he asked, and Bella shook her head as she cautiously started down the stairs.

"I had one that said Find Us."

Bella peered around the bottom floor and sighed in relief, finding it empty.

"Maybe it's from Mom and Charlie. They're obviously not here," she said, walking toward the garage door.

"I don't know. None of this makes any sense. What happened? Why can't we remember?"

Bella shrugged, pushing the door open, and saw her black sports bike and her father's green quad-cab truck.

"None of this makes sense, Dad, but we have wheels to get the hell out of here and figure it out," she said, eyeing her motorcycle, and her father gave her a knowing look.

"Let me guess. You're taking the bike?" he asked, and Bella gave him a thoughtful look.

"Do cows shit in a field?"

Abraham snorted, shaking his head in disbelief, and sighed.