Z-Day

EPILOUGE

The secret of life is to master something that's very hard and that hard thing to do is survive… The date is 21/12/2020, 7 years after Z-Day. They said it wouldn't come. Everyone said that it was a hoax… but they were wrong. A worldwide pandemic struck with no warning. People turned on each other, the world's population went from 7 billion alive to 7 billion undead. Apart from some who are immune to the virus…

CHAPTER 1: RIDE OF THE VAULT HUNTERS

"How long are we going to sit here waiting for the military to arrive?" a small, tanned teen shouted across the small apartment. His name was Marcus; 15 years old and already can drive and shoot like a Gunzerker. He wore and old Hollister top and Superdry joggers with a pistol slot in them.

"I don't know but I'm not gonna wait for any longer!" a female voice shouted from behind Marcus. He turned around and saw his best friend Natalie, known to everyone as Nat. Marcus and Nat had known each other ever since they were born. Nat had Dark brown hair and hazel eyes and, like Marcus, she was also pretty tanned and 15. She took after her Mother Lilith, who worked a lot. Nat didn't see her much, and now is dead, but she remembers her smile and funny sense of humour.

All of a sudden there was a massive bang and clanking at the garage door. They both rushed to the garage door.

"Shit! Shit!" a light brown haired guy shouted as fire engulfed his shirt.

"What's happened this time Sammy-boy?" Marcus said in a tone that told people he was used to this sort of ruckus.

"I told you not to call me Sammy-boy, Marc!" the brown haired boy shouted back in a pissed off tone. Marcus hated to be called Marc but he got used to it when they found Sammy-boy. His name was Sam and he was the youngest of the lot because he was 13. He was still easily the most physically endured one as well, with his slick singed light brown hair and burned shirt but still manages to keep his calm even though he's just been on fire. His Father was a great mechanic, though wasn't seen a lot. Sam didn't even know his name, but he called him Scooter because all his dad's friends did. He was known by everyone for his saying; "CATCH A RIIIDE".

"Well the trucks ready but I've got to get changed first though." Sam said in a less annoyed tone. As he walked back to the others, he flicked the light switch. Underneath the bright strip lights was a camouflage coloured pick-up truck, a Ford F-150 Raptor, old yet fast and durable. Before Sam had dealt with it was bashed like hell but now, after only 2 months working on it, it was a work of art. Ammo boxes in the bed of the truck and a bunch of switches and buttons that he'd installed in the drivers cab.

"Whoa, it's like a hillbilly bond car!" Nat said sounding excited.

"Yes Nat, it kinda is. You two will sit in the back with the rifles while I drive an..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DRIVE!?" Marcus interrupted, enraged.

"Marcus I built this thing, I know it inside out whereas you will press a random button and blow it up" Sam replied annoyed at the prick of a friend. Through his life Sam had always had a crush on Marcus and Nat knew about it. She thought it was cute.

"YOU TWO STOP BLOODY ARGUING PLEASE!" Nat shouted at the top of her voice. With that, Sam stormed upstairs to change into his other top

"Get in; I'll be back in two minutes." Sam said blushing. When he walked past Nat, who was smirking at him, he just smiled back and went to change his shirt.

Nat and Marcus climbed onto the back of the truck, loading the rifles, "Hey Marcus can I tell you something?" Nat asked, then waited to see if Sam was coming, "Sam kinda, uhhhh how can I put this, well he li…" Nat cut off mid-sentence.

"So guys you ready?" Sam asked excited.

"Yeah" they both said half enthusiastically and half shit scared. Sam flicked a switch and a huge ram came out of the front of the car, then with the twist of a key, the truck roared to life. "Got 350 horses underneath here, should get us to New York… hopefully." Sam said "In the honourable words of my father, CATCH A RIIIDE!" With that the truck lurched forward and broke through the corrugated iron door that was between them, freedom and zombies. Lots and lots of zombies…

CHAPTER 2: SCARIEST MOMENT EVER

Half an hour later, they were on the highway to New York City. Sam, being quite rushed, had forgotten to put extra fuel canisters in the truck. Since they were almost at Tampa Bay in Florida, they decided to stop there and look for supplies. They got more than they asked for.

"Wal-Mart, pull over Sammy." Marcus said hungry and tired.

"OK Marc, Wal-Mart it is." Sam replied, smiling at his friends then stopping at the fuel station there.

"Marcus and I will go in and find food while you stay and re-fuel the truck, OK?" Nat said. She always liked to take charge.

"Yep, that's fine with me Nat." Sam replied, feeling happy because Marcus hasn't shouted at him for calling him Marc.

Marcus and Nat walked into the shop while Sam started fuelling the truck. "Hey Nat, what were you about to say before Sam came downstairs?" Marcus asked confused because it was troubling him all the way.

"Oh, that ummmm. You see Sam is I don't know how to say this but… Sam sort of, ahhhh it doesn't matter it isn't that important." Nat said relived that she didn't say that Sam had a crush on him.

"Ok, whatever you say Nat." Marcus replied sounding happy that it wasn't anything serious about Sam, because even though they fought a lot, Marcus had a big soft spot for him.

They were halfway round the store when they heard gun fire. They rushed outside to find Sam on top of the truck with Marcus' revolver shooting about 15 zombies.

"Help!" Sam shouted with tears streaming down his face. Marcus pulled the trigger on the rifle and started to walk across to the truck; taking down 12 of the 15, when he got there he smacked one in the face with the end of his gun, then Sam shot the last two. He jumped down and hugged Marcus and started crying. Marcus just hugged him back and kept on saying "its ok, its ok," in a calm, subtle tone and they both climbed onto the backseat of the truck while Nat just drove on and Sam fell asleep in Marcus' arms.

CHAPTER 3: MORE PEOPLE

The next day Sam found himself alone on the back seat of the car. He sat up wondering where Nat and Marcus were. He looked around, when he noticed a note on the dashboard. It read, 'Morning Sammy-Boy. You fell asleep last night, so Nat had to drive. Sadly, the car stopped in the centre of town. Meet us at the town hall. From Nat and Marcus.' Sam nodded after he read the letter; he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, grabbed Marcus' Pistol and set off for the town hall, locking the car behind him. Once he reached the town hall, he was tired from running and the revolver in his hand was getting heavy.

He opened the door to the town hall and instantly came face to face with a stranger… a cute stranger.

"My name's Alex what's yours?" The blonde haired stranger asked.

Nat walked over, "Sorry Sam that we left you alone." she said, "But anyway this is Alex he's the same age as you and the girl talking to Marcus over there is Zoey. Marcus seems to have taken a liking to her." Nat carried on.

Sam glared at Zoey. Nat just smiled, "Awww is someone jealous?" she whispered to Sam.

"Me, jealous? Ha, good one Nat!" Sam replied, lying but Nat knew that. Sam just blushed and started talking to Alex.

Nat walked over to a door and pushed it open. Inside was a black haired boy with bright blue eyes.

"Jack, we have to go its 6 already! We'll take turns on watch." Nat said.

"Yeah, that sounds good Natty! Just let me introduce myself to Sam," Jack replied and they both walked out into the main hall.

"Hey, you must be Sam, right?" Jack asked.

"Yeah why?" Sam replied and then stood up from the bench.

"Do you think that there would be room for 4 more people to join you going to New York?" Jack asked his blue eyes piercing through Sam.

"What there's a 4th person, but there are only 3 here?" Sam said confused.

"It's my little brother Damien; he's 8 and the only one of my family that survived apart from me. He's pretty cool you'll like him." Alex said, smiling at Sam.

"Someone say my name?!" someone shouted from the top of the stairs. Down came a little boy wearing Pilot shades, a Hawaiian shirt, Hollister joggers and holding an iPod. "Guys this is Damien, my little brother," Alex said pointing at the little figure at the top of the stairs.

"Well let's go then" Sam said and they all marched out to the truck.

CHAPTER 4: THE DRIVE

Sam was driving, Alex was behind him and Damien was in the passenger seat. Next to Alex were Jack and Nat and on the flatbed was Marcus and Zoey.

It quickly turned to night and Sam was getting tired, "Hey is it all right if I plug my phone in and listen to music?" Damien asked Sam.

"Sure as long it ain't crap alright?" Sam replied. Damien plugged his phone in and out came 'Sweet Child O Mine by Guns n Roses'

"Awww yeah!" Sam said. Alex just smiled as Sam and Damien sang their hearts out.

Sam was in the best mood he'd been in a while, until he looked in his mirror and saw Marcus and Zoey kissing. He slammed on the brakes, launching everyone forward.

"What the Hell?!" Jack shouted.

"Sorry, Lost control" Sam said using his puppy dog face then tilting his head towards Marcus. Nat saw what he was meaning.

"We should camp here for the night" Nat said and they all agreed.

The next day Alex sat in the front seat next to Sam while Damien was asleep on Jacks knee.

"Look Atlanta, can we go there please!" Alex said looking at Sam.

"Yeah, why not. I've always wanted to visit Atlanta anyway." Sam replied looking into Alex's eyes.

"Hey aren't you going to watch the road?" Alex said and with that Sam put his foot down pushing the truck to 110 mph, then looking forward, slamming the brakes and turning the car into a lay-by, thus waking everybody up.

"Wakey-wakey guys we're heading towards Atlanta!" Sam said.

"YAY" Damien shouted

CHAPTER 5: THE BECKONING

Once they reached Atlanta it was pushing 10pm. Everybody was really tired especially little Damien. They stopped at a hotel and walked in. Zoey and Marcus, shared a room (Sam didn't like this one bit, especially when they walked in holding hands), Damien, Jack and Nat were in another room and Sam and Alex were stuck with each other in the last room in the hall.

In the middle of the night there was a loud bang and someone screaming. That someone was Zoey. Sam rushed into their room and saw Marcus being eaten by a zombie.

"You Mother…!" he roared and took a lamp by the door and threw it at the zombie to get his attention, and then pulled out the revolver he stole from Marcus a couple of days earlier and shot it point blank in the head. He then rushed to Marcus' side.

"Marcus" he said crying "No, Marcus!" Marcus' eyes opened and hugged Sam.

"Shoot me" he groaned.

"No, I can't," Sam replied, clutching his companions head next to his. By this point, Nat and Jack had heard the ruckus, and had rushed in and saw what was happening. Sam dropped Marcus and took out his pistol.

"I love you," he said and then he pulled the trigger, launching a bullet into Marcus' forehead. And with that, the young boy wept into Alex's shoulder.

Chapter 6: Months of Darkness

The next morning Sam's eyes were sore from crying he woke Alex up and surprisingly Damien was behind him cuddling up to his big brother.

Once they were all up and dressed they went down to the main reception to see if Jake and/or Nat were there, no-one was there just a note, it read

'Hey Sam and Alex, sorry for leaving you alone in this baron place but Zoey wanted to bury Marcus and we knew that you wouldn't be good in a funeral. We took the truck but we found something that will keep you happy, we will wait for you at Richmond, Virginia.

From Nat and Jack'

There was another envelope, Sam opened it and it contained two keys, one what was like a door key and the other looked like a car Key and another note what said to go to the back and open the door and take off the cloth.

Alex came up behind him and started to read the notes.

"This way" he said.

Sam just dragged his feet along behind him. Damien ran up behind him with hair sticking up like crazy.

"Hey Sam, what's up?" He asked his deep blue eyes looking up at him.

"Nothing." He replied, thinking that he can't be sad forever and looked up at Alex who just opened the door to what it seemed was a garage.

Sam's eyes Lit up and rushed into the garage just staring at the huge shape in the middle of the room.

"It can't be!" He said sounding excited,

"Be what?" Alex said sounding confused.

Sam pulled off the cloth and it revealed a bright blue Camaro.

"Isn't that a 60's Camaro?" Damien asked his eyes like Sam's

Sam could only nod but his expression changed when there was a lot of banging at the garage door.

"SHIT, Going to have to hurry if we're going to get out alive. He rushed and shut the Door, Just in case they got in that way and 5 hours later Sam was finished.

"It's not much but it'll do" he said wiping his hands on the cloth. They all got in and Sam started the engine and off they went barging through about 20 Zombies at the garage door.

Once they got out of the city, Sam felt something on his hand. He looked down and found Alex's hand on his. Sam looked at him and found him smiling, his Blonde hair shining in the morning light Sam just smiled back. The car stopped at the side of the road with smoke coming out of the engine and they were being surrounded by not Zombies but Bandits…