Chapter 1

I smiled at James as he took my hand at the alter.

I had waited so long for this day... well this night! I had planned every tiny detail to perfection, but now I was here... well all that mattered was James!

He took my breath away as he smiled back at me proudly, dressed in his smart tuxedo. He gazed over my simple satin dress.

We had decided on an evening beach wedding as it was where we first met.

Stupidly I got in to trouble whilst out swimming 18 months before, my leg cramped up and I went under the water, lost consciousness. But I woke up to James giving me mouth to mouth... He saved my life and we had been inseparable ever since.

"Wow!" He mouthed at me as he looked in awe of my beauty as we listened to our service of marriage begin.

My heart pounded in my chest. The way James made me feel was so complex, a whirlwind of emotion was always inflicted on my body.

His beautiful eyes smiled at me as he slipped the ring on the tip of my finger.

"Zoe... On this day,

I give you my heart,

My promise, That I will walk with you,

Hand in hand,

Wherever our journey leads us,

Living,

learning,

loving,

Together,

Forever." James said huskly, his voice thick with emotion.

Tears left me as the love I felt for the man I was about to marry felt too much to contain. James rubbed my hand with his thumb.

"I love you." He whispered, placing the ring fully on my finger.

I smiled and looked up to the large collection of friends and family that had come to share this incredible day with us, everyone looked so smart, the night time glow of the candles that lit our ceremony made everything look soft and romantic. Big smiles on everyone's faces as they looked up at me.

My turn to declare my vows to James came and with a shaking hand I placed his wedding band on the tip of his finger, ready to commit to him for the rest of my life.

"Many people spend their lives searching for their soul mate, their one true love. Some people are lucky to find the person they can truly call the better half of themselves, while others spend the rest of their lives searching and never finding." I began looking deeply in to James' eyes.

"I am happy to count myself among the lucky ones because I found you.

I love you james, I know you are the only one for me, my one true love! I am happy and I am grateful that you came into my life. now that I have found you, I shall never let you go. I promise you james, that I shall hold you and cherish you, and give you my heart, I shall support you and care for you. Faithfully, I shall always stand by your side with your hand in mine, regardless of what life will bring us. I take you now as my husband and I shall remain so for the rest of my life." I declared, my voice quivering.

I slipped the ring fully on his finger and was blown away by his smile... a smile that now belonged to me.

We shared our first marital kiss, the sweet scent of James' breath hit me. The whirlwind of emotion began swirling inside me.

A new life awaited, and it was about to begin.

"You look beautiful zoe!" James whispered to me as he parted from our kiss.

"James, I love you so much... we are married!" I replied with a giggle.

James leaned in to kiss me once more as the crowd of friends and family cheered in celebration on the privately owned stretch of beach that we were on.

In an instant the atmosphere changed though, what was a second ago a beautiful romantic moment was now confusion and fear. The crowd that were clapping and cheering now had a mixture of screams and panic. Both James and I looked out to the commotion of our special audience but in the candle lit beauty only frantic movement could be seen,

The panic spread throughout the crowd, beginning at the back but making its way forward, I saw people running. My eyes darted around, trying to make some sense of what was actually going on.

James took my hand tightly, I saw him also scanning the crowd.

The screams were only what I had ever heard from horror films or scary rides.

Gun shot echoed through the night sky, that was when James fled, taking me with him, gripping my hand tightly as we ran in to the shadows.

The people around us were either running or randomly stumbling about.

"James!... what's going... on?" I panted out as we kept running.

"Don't stop moving zo'" was all he replied. James was a lot taller than me, his legs a lot longer and more powerful, I found it a task to keep up with him as we sped to some kind of safety, although we knew nothing of what we were running from.

I lost my footing and fell to the ground over some drift wood. my satin dress not being the best thing to run around in, a mouthful of sand made me cough and my breath stagger.

"Baby, c'mon! Up you get!" James said grabbing my arm and helping me back up to my feet.

"L... Logan?!" I stammered out, on seeing the unmistakable figure of Logan Henderson as he approached James from behind, he was hurt! Hurt bad, blood coming from his head, neck and chest.

James turned to look at Logan; who looked possessed like the devil as he lunged at my james.

James pushed him away, sending Logan to the ground like a ton of bricks. It was then that the side of Logan's neck became horrifyingly visible as unmistakable large chunks of his flesh were missing.

Quicker than the blink of an eyelid, Logan was back on his feet and grabbing at James once more, the state he was in was enough to fill my body with irrational fear but the snarled noises he was making, made my blood run cold.

James was using his foot to keep Logan from him, already his suit jacket had been lost in an attempt to free himself from his crazied friend.

Nothing seemed to work, I looked around, wanting help, needing help. Something was seriously wrong! I was somehow now in the middle of a messed up war zone, fire was breaking out in the distance, and what looked like a riot was spreading across the sand. I saw bodies! Bodies laying motionless in the darkness as they were still attacked by... guests of my wedding. What the hell was going on?!

I did the only thing I could think of and picked the drift wood up that was by my feet, I swung it with all my might, clipping Logan around the head, he fell back to the floor with a thud.

James looked at me in complete shock, he was having trouble believing what his ears and eyes were witnessing all around us.

James grabbed my hand once more, Logan was upright already, like the terminator on steroids. He grabbed at James' ankle, gnarling at him, baring his teeth like a rabid animal.

James kicked him in the head, sending him back to the sand with a sickening thud.

Once again we fled. Knowing this time it was for our lives.

I lost both my shoes in the sand as I ran. We made it up to the road, cutting through the long grass that separated the beach from the local car park we had stumbled upon.

My heart beat uncontrollably in my chest. My lungs not able to work.

James slammed me in to the side of a truck. "Shhh" he whispered, covering up my mouth as he spoke to stop the noise from my heavy breathing.

James pushed his body completely in to mine, protecting me, disguising me, trying to be as flat as the side of the vehicle we were up against.

We both watched in complete horror as chaos unfolded around us in the dark.

Strangers with jerky dangerous movements walked amongst James and I.

Blood curdling unnatural noises leaving their lips. The people, although they no longer acted like people; were fast! They ran with a mission, with a fire! They ran like the devil himself was empowering them.

A snarl came from the front of the truck that James had me pressed up against. The eye contact we made was scared.

"On the count of three I want you to get under the truck zoe! Promise... get under it yeah!?" He demanded.

I nodded. It was all I could do.

"1... 2..." James whispered. He then bolted! Running from me, the snarling person hot on his heels in chase.

"THREE!" I heard him shout, as he ran in to the darkness surrounded by the monsters that were out there.

My tears started but I did as I promised and got under the truck, scared out of my wits, scared for my life, scared for the life of my new husband.

I watched from under the truck as staggered footsteps walked around me, I covered my own mouth up, hiding my scared panting that left my lungs.

I heard a crash in the distance, like trash cans falling and rolling on the floor. The staggered feet that were near me, then took flight as they ran towards the noise.

I then heard more footsteps coming near me. I closed my eyes tightly, not sure what to expect. These footsteps didn't seem as controlled as the demon like ones though, these skidded as they came near.

A cry of relief left me as I saw James scoot under the truck.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" He whispered to me.

I shook my head. "No... are... are you okay? James what's going on?... Logan was... oh my God!" I said as the terrible memory of what our friend looked like came back to me.

James took my head in his hands as we lay quietly under the truck. "I'm fine... I don't know what is going on, I thought at first like some... I dunno.. terrorist attack? But... shit, zoe! I just saw Dustin eat Alexas' arm... he actually had it in his hand... not attached to her!" He replied quietly, staring in to space in shock.

A cry whimpered out of me at the thought of my friends and what had become of them.

In any other situation, on any other day the next words that were to come out of my mouth would have been laughed at.

"Zombies?" I whispered.

James looked at me like I had gone bananas, but he shrugged, he knew it as well as I did.

The human race and the world as we knew it was never going to be the same.

"What are we going to do baby? I'm so scared!" I said, my entire body shaking as my once beautiful wedding dress got ruined as I lay on the floor.

"Don't be scared... don't be! Zoe we are going to be fine. I won't let anything happen to us, I promise you! Once it's safer we will try and get up to one of the houses by the beach and call for help." He said looking out from under the truck. The sound of gun fire and riot still echoed through the air.

Obviously we weren't the only ones out there fighting for our survival.

"When do you think it will be safer?" I asked, putting every ounce of trust in to James.

"Daybreak" he replied with a sigh.

My heart sank. The thought of spending a terrifying night under this truck surrounded by monsters was the last thought of how I ever thought my honey moon would go.

James wrapped his arms around me. "It will be okay..I promise! Are you warm enough?" He asked kissing my forehead.

I nodded, not wanting to talk, the sound of footsteps around us scared the life out of me.

James held me tightly, protecting me as best he could from the horrors that were so close.

Daybreak couldn't come soon enough for me!