Chapter 1

Ruby put her index finger to her lips and hushed her niece, Lucy. She nodded and tried to control her sobs. She watched a monstrous version of her father limp around his room from the little opening in the wardrobe they were hidden.

Saliva mixed with blood oozed out of his mouth and memories of him kissing her forehead as she left for school, tormented her. That same mouth had killed so many people already. She had to keep her eyes off him if she didn't want to erupt into tears and put herself and her aunt in danger.

Her dad limped dangerously closer to the wardrobe they felt wasn't concealing them enough. Both their heartbeats quickened and Ruby squeezed her niece's hand for comfort.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and a tear escaped. Just a few weeks ago, they were a normal, boring family. She, her dad, mum and aunt sat around the dining table and they joked about how carefree her aunt was. Her aunt was anything but carefree since their town was plagued with zombies.

She became suddenly protective and responsible. She kept the entrances barricaded and made sure they made no sound. She put herself at risk the few times she had to go out to find food. That evening, when she couldn't quickly barricade the door after rushing in from her food hunt, the zombies got in and she couldn't stop blaming herself.

She was terrified and she tried her best not to show it so she'd have a level head. Her brother's only child was in her care and she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if anything happened to her. She held her breath as her brother's pale figure came to stand in front of her. His eyes had turned white. His skin was rough and bruised. Bite marks covered his face from when he got killed. He looked so different, it broke her heart.

She and Lucy stood still till her brother turned away and left the room. They both exhaled and Ruby rubbed the top of Lucy's hand to reassure her that they were safe. The wardrobe was tight and suffocating. They couldn't stay there for too long. She had to look for an opening to run away from the monsters to somewhere far and hopefully safe.

As they waited for the sounds of the zombies to cease. Ruby thought back to when it all began. She remembered how terrified her sister-in-law sounded when she called and warned her not to leave the house. She had tried calling the school and calling her husband but none of them answered. She feared the worst.

The outbreak had started in the little hospital she was a nurse. They brought in a stranger that walked into their town looking half-dead and rushed him to the hospital for immediate treatment. Before they knew what was going on, a lot of the staff had been infected. They had an immediate lockdown in the hospital but a call came in saying more of those half-dead people had walked into town.

It wasn't long before screams and shouts could be heard throughout. The whole town was in a panic. The number of people turning multiplied by the minute. Family, loved ones, and friends, dying before everyone's eyes. People began to run out of town and Ruby was tempted to do the same. But with the possibility of her niece still being alive and knowing she'd have nowhere else to run to but home, she made up her mind to stay and wait.

'You ready?' Ruby whispered to her niece, tugging her hand. Lucy nodded, and they both stepped out of the wardrobe and then tiptoed out of the room. Ruby looked down the corridor on both sides, making sure no zombie was in sight while Lucy stayed behind her, waiting, her hands held firmly in her aunt's. They made their way towards the kitchen and crouched low.

Five zombies were on the way to the front door. The zombies moved about slowly, making groaning sounds. The two of them silently crawled to the kitchen counter and Ruby slipped out a knife from the top to arm herself.

She squeezed her niece's hand for her to get herself ready but her eyes widened in shock when Lucy let out a high-pitched squeal, alerting the zombies. Ruby's head snapped to Lucy in fear and a bit of anger only to see a zombie mere inches away from them.

In one swift move, she thrust a knife deep into the zombie's skull and ran past it with her niece. Weeks of dealing with them while trying to get food toughened her. She couldn't help it if her seventeen-year-old niece with a body so frail, didn't know the first thing about self-defence.

They ran towards the back door, caring less about the noise they made. The zombies were alerted already; thankfully, weeks of inactivity made them slower. The way to the back door was another dead-end as zombies made their way to them.

Ruby began to panic. There was no way of getting through them without being bit.

'Auntie,' Lucy whispered, getting more scared by her aunt's worried state. Ruby turned to her and was almost brought to tears by the look of horror on her face. She suddenly ran towards the zombies from the kitchen and Lucy's eyes widened in fear as she was dragged along. 'Auntie!'

Ruby's hand reached out in front of her and opened the door to the basement, quickly closing it behind both of them.

'The window,' she said, pointing toward a small window near the ceiling which led outside. Lucy ran down the stairs and to the window while Ruby locked the door. She backed away from it just when a zombie came and hit it.

The door shook. The wood was old and breaking. It wasn't going to hold for long.

'I can't reach it,' Lucy said, desperately trying to stretch and reach the handle of the window. Ruby ran down to her and held her hands together in front of her.

'Come on.' Lucy put a foot in her palms and she was hoisted up, using the wall as support. She got a hold of the handle and tried to pull it up but it didn't budge. She pulled harder and harder with desperation but it was stuck.

'I can't open it,' her voice broke as fresh tears slid down her face.

'Try harder.' The sound of wood breaking drew their attention back to the door where the snarls of zombies could be heard. Ruby quickly set her down and began drawing boxes together beneath the window.

Their old and dusty basement was filled with boxes of old equipment and toys. Gathering them was the easy part. Knowing if they would hold was another thing.

Lucy went over to where some boxes lay scattered on the floor and lifted a box only to see a zombie buried underneath. She screamed and the box that was in her hand fell to the floor. Ruby ran to her side and pushed her away from it and with her to the pile of boxes she had arranged. She climbed up the stack and it compressed under her but it was high enough to get her to the window.

She pulled on it but it barely budged. 'No,' she whispered, worry lines forming on her forehead. Just then, a head broke through the wooden door and a zombie shrieked, facing them. They were getting more aggressive. The zombie beneath the boxes shook fiercely, knocking away some of the boxes on it.

Fear was visible on Ruby's face and she began looking around for anything to yank it open.

'Here,' Lucy said, quickly getting a shovel that was dangerously close to the zombie.

'Be careful!' Ruby shouted as Lucy picked up the shovel. She turned around and was heading back to her aunt when the zombie got a hold of her ankle, tripping her. She fell, screaming and the zombie began to pull her towards itself.

Ruby jumped down and picked up the shovel that had escaped from her niece's hold. In one swift motion, she dug the sharp edge into its skull, killing it. She sighed in relief but it became evident that the struggle wasn't over when the door broke open, letting the zombies come through.

'Oh no, oh no, oh no,' Ruby muttered as she pulled out the shovel from the zombie's skull and ran to the window, breaking the glass immediately. 'Climb!' she shouted at her niece and Lucy quickly climbed up the stack, her breathing fast.

She made it out, the adrenalin not letting her feel pain as she crawled on glass. Ruby put her hands on the window sill when a sharp sting on her calf stopped her midway.

'Come on auntie,' Lucy said, looking back as she crawled away from her path. And for the first time, she saw tears well up in Ruby's eyes.

'Run,' she croaked and her fingers left the window sill. She'd been bit.

Lucy frowned in worry and confusion as tears slipped down Ruby's eyes, and her face began to lose its colour. Lucy widened her eyes in realisation. She shook her head and cried.

'I said run!' Ruby shouted and the shrieks from the zombies around her intensified as they hungrily tore off the flesh from her legs. She shouted in pain and turned around, using the shovel to swat them away, but it was too late and she knew it. 'Go!'

Lucy scrambled to her feet but was reluctant to leave the last member of her family that was still alive. She didn't know if she could ever survive without her. She was weak and hopeless. Seeing her aunt face off with more than a dozen zombies, broke her. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't help.

Snarls from the zombies close to the house brought her out of her thoughts. They were drawn by the noise they had made. She looked back at her aunt, terrified. Her aunt was laying down her life for her. If she disobeyed her and lost her life because of it, her aunt's sacrifice would be for nothing.

She stepped back, her eyes fixated on Ruby as she furiously smashed the shovel on the zombies' heads. She squeezed her eyes shut and ran away.

Ruby sighed in relief once she heard the sound of her niece running. Her hands went limp and her vision began to blur. She couldn't feel the pain of the zombies' teeth on her flesh anymore. She hoped in her heart that her niece would be safe, regretting not taking her and running away earlier. Images of her life flashed before her eyes. Her brother, her sister-in-law, and the little time they spent with each other and then, darkness.

Lucy ran to the entrance of town, intense pain shooting through her left leg. She looked down only to see a large shard of glass poking out and blood trailing down her leg. She covered her mouth with her palm to stop herself from screaming in pain and she slowed down.

The sounds of snarls and shrieks around her grew and her heart seemed to beat even faster. She reached for the shard to pull it out only to cut her finger. She yelped in pain but kept on moving forward.

She had to escape. But where to? She didn't know anyone apart from the people in that small town. Even if she did, there was no guarantee they would still be alive. Her pace reduced as thoughts of hopelessness clouded her mind and her head began to throb in pain.

Her family was dead. A lot of people died before her eyes. Her teachers, her best friend and neighbours. Her aunt had told her of a few people that were also hiding. She'd meet them as she took food from the small supermarket but every time she went back, more of them were either zombies or gone from town.

A loud snarl drew her out of her thoughts. She didn't realise the zombies had got that close. She ignored the pain in her leg and head and began to desperately jog towards the entrance. Snarls seemed to be coming from all around her, and tears streaked down her face.

She wasn't going to make it. The entrance seemed so far away. She collapsed to the ground and she wailed in pain as the shard of glass dug into her flesh. She sensed death coming and she prepared herself for it.

She looked around the town from where she lay as memories of her and the townsfolk filled her mind. She wished it didn't have to end that way. She wished she was stronger. She wished she could have helped.

A zombie limped toward her and she lay still, recognising the person that was going to take her life. She remembered how he had cried for help after falling and spraining his ankle. She was too scared. She left him in school to be killed and ran home. It was pretty ironic that he was the one about to kill her, and she felt she deserved it.

An image of her aunt flashed before her eyes. She could only imagine how disappointed Ruby would be. She remembered the tears in her eyes and her heart seemed to crumple.

'No,' she muttered and tried to use her elbows to push herself off the ground. The zombie was mere feet away from her. She scanned the ground and spotted a rock. Holding it tightly, she prepared herself to smash its skull when it suddenly froze and then fell on her.

A blend of confusion and disgust set in as she pushed it off her. Its eyes were rolled back, its mouth was ajar with its blackened tongue hanging out and a deep dark hole had appeared on its forehead. It was shot.

She unconsciously held her breath and her eyes darted back and forth to see where the shot came from. Just in front of the entrance to town, a beaten-down sienna had stopped with its engine still running. The middle door had been slid open and a figure holding a gun knelt in position.

The figure got down from the vehicle and motioned for her to come but she stayed frozen on the ground. She should have been happy for the new hope of survival just ahead of her, but a certain fear stopped her.

She had never stepped out of her town. She had grown up with everyone there. There were hardly any strangers. Seeing a new face frightened her and she wasn't sure if she could trust them.

Snarls from behind her brought her back to reality. A few more zombies came into view and began to limp faster once they spotted the unfamiliar vehicle. Lucy placed her palms on the ground, deciding that being with strangers was better than being eaten by those monsters.

With all her might, she pushed herself off the ground and began limping to the vehicle. The zombies behind her got agitated by her movement and increased their pace. The figure came running towards Lucy, seeing that she wasn't going to make it on her own before the zombies.

Lucy got a better view of the person as he made his way towards her, his gun held firm in his left hand. He wrapped a firm muscular arm around her waist and kept an eye behind them as the zombies got closer and closer.

The air seemed to swoosh above them as a bullet was shot at a zombie behind, stopping it instantly. Lucy's breathing became hard as more shots were fired from inside the vehicle. One by one the zombies fell to the ground but their snarls and shrieks only grew louder as more of them joined the chase.

The man turned and shot behind him, with a hand still firmly holding Lucy. Once they got to the vehicle, he let go of her and another hand reached out and pulled her in. The man jumped in after her and quickly rolled the door shut. A zombie slammed its face in the window just after.

He squeezed his face at the monstrous look of the zombie. Its mouth ajar and its teeth rotting. 'Disgusting,' he said and the vehicle rolled away.

Lucy's head spun from where she sat, her breathing hard and her heart still beating fast from the near-death experience. The man turned to her, his look, that of concern.

'Are you okay?' Before she could answer, dark spots appeared in her vision, and then, darkness.