KELLY - Chapter 1

Now

'Morning to all y'all. This is Rave, writing. I can't sleep. I keep thinking of her and the man that killed her. I can't even remember what he looked like. My people are currently hunting for people and bringing them to me. I try to see if I can remember what he had looked like. I don't know where he's holed up, but I know that I am going to be the one to kill him.

I walk down the stairs. I pet Judith. She looks like she's in a good mood. You probably don't know. She is a thirty-day-old Persian Kitten. She then runs and bumps into the rake. At the instant the rake hits the ground, I watch a haunting image flash by. It's the man who killed my wife. He was taken into the camp, with grace. He betrayed the trust we lend him. He burnt everyone alive, except for his own dad.

Chapter 1: (Reindeer)

I then get pulled back to reality, in which I am shivering, trembling and gasping for air. I am currently on the floor, with Maya checking in on me. "Jesus. You've been through so much. You've got to get used to it. With you falling down and sobbing on the floor won't make things change." She says.

I look at her with vibrating lips and clutching fingers. She looks at me and says, "Come here." As he puts her hands around my chest and back to hug me. It feels relieving. Then, she lifts up the rake and leans it against the thin wooden pillar in my barn.

"When you feel better, come sit outside with me. You know where to find me." She says. I nod at her and take a sip of water from the aluminum flat bottle. It's a special bottle. My wife gave it to me. The aluminum is strong therefore it reflects me. On the bottle, there is a logo of a reindeer, with white eyes. There is fire in front of the reindeer. From which the reindeer represents my wife. It's also the same reindeer on my jacket. Except, I carved it out of leather and leftover acrylics I found in a store, abandoned like all others.

I can breathe normally now, after thinking of her. I then get up and look for Maya. She's somewhere we both go to take a look at the world and laugh at it. I look up, and there I see it. I let out a forced smile and walk towards it. It's a billboard at the edge of our fence, looking over at the road. Grey clouds scattered everywhere, wrecked and rusty cars parked on the roads for one last time. One side of the highway is completely packed with abandoned cars. And the other is packed with air and emptiness and dust. On the side is our fleet of ships and boats. We have old war boats, used in the world wars and will be used again. We had to visit a museum for that.

"Hey," says Maya, "I remember coming up here when we were small kids. We would do such stupid things." I chuckle and say, "Like blackmail each other to go do something embarrassing for not having to pick their sandwich from the floor?" "Exactly like those. Mom and dad used to sit by the pole holding us up and make sure we didn't fall to our deaths." She says. "I remember it like it was yesterday, though it was a whole world ago."

"I still remember the day I lost my mother and father. I stare at the sun beginning to merge with the straight strip of highway, between mountains and large pine trees. It almost looks like a liquid, as it squeezes out of our sight, staring back at us. Then, I say, "You know, the day the world went to shit, my dad had passed in a hospital. They couldn't save him. I was at home. Then a few people from the army barged in, kicking open the door. They told us to clear away, take our car and head for Florida. We believed them because, they had some serious rifles. As we walked out with what we needed, they lifted all of our shirts to search something. Now, I know that they were searching for bite marks. My sister got pulled back into the house. I thought it was just for a deep search. We kept walking and got into the river of people moving towards Florida. While being forced ahead by the bellies and chests behind us, I look back to see that my sister is out. Instead of seeing her, I see a muzzle flash at home. They shot her. I then try to turn back and push against the crowd, but the forces pushing us were too much to reverse. We fall over and the crowd runs over us. I get kicked in the temple and get knocked out. I wake up the next morning on the hot, sunny road. There were no clouds and no water for me. I turn my head and look to my right. There's my mom. And my dad is kneeling in front of her, facing away from me. I sighed of relief. I get up slowly, while doing so, I had hurt my back. So, I screamed of the pain. Instantly, my dad turned his head towards me. His skin was all molten, eyes were yellow and fading to a milky white. He made the sounds of choking as he very oddly ran towards me with is back bent and his hands flailing, front to back. What made me freeze was, my mom woke up the same way. As soon as my dad reaches me, he aggressively tried to bite something off of me. He had the smell of rotting flesh, and the breath of rotting flesh too. I tried to remind them that I am their son. I hear more footsteps from behind, where I can't see. Then, they come close and I hear knives being pierced into my mom's and dad's heads. A pair of hands come to pick me off the floor. Instead, I push them away and fall on to my knees with the pain from my back and kneel in front of my dad and mom. The person trying to help me, kneels behind me and puts a wooden carving of a reindeer on my mom's hand and she covers it with my dad's hand. Two hours later, I am in a car with her. Looking out the window, I said absolutely nothing. The same type of people, which were infected had swarmed the road." And that's how I met her. That deer on the bottle I carved was to remember her. I survived with her for a couple months, fell in love. Through all that, she didn't even tell me her name. I just used to call her reindeer. She called me Rave. Everyone calls me Rave now."

Long time ago, I used to help people. The people I have are the ones who decided to survive with me, after getting my help. I took them in, and in a night, half of them had burnt to death.

I grab a hammer and a few screws to fix up the hut I was working on. It's for a person. A person that I will care for, a person that I will be honored to have by my side.

Very soon, I hear my radio go off. "Hello? Is anyone there?" says a muffled voice seemingly surrounded by the infected. "Hello? Who are you? What do you want?" I ask back. The same noise says, "I need help. I am at an amusement park locked in a building. By mile marker 28."

I say, "Hold on. We'll be on our way."

I grab a revolver and a set of keys to the cars. Maya spots me, "Where are you going?" She asks. "A girl, she needs our help." I reply. "I'm coming with you" She says. She insists, and I refuse.

I get the car and storm out. "Hello? These doors won't hold. There's a horde on the other side." She stresses. "Hold on tight. I'm right by mile marker 20. Do whatever you have to... but when I see you, keep breathing." I reply.

Soon, I hear Maya over the radio, "Be careful, we are listening from home. If you need something, just hauler."

The girl calls again, "Hey, where are you?" She says something else, but stops in the middle. In the background, I hear chains breaking. I'm still at mile marker 24. The infected must've broken in.

Soon, the car runs over a bed of nails. All the tires pop. "Shit!" I scream into the radio.

As is begin panicking, I hesitate to put down the radio.

"I won't be able to make it, kid. You're on your own."

Maya then takes over the frequency and speaks to the girl. "Hey, if I'm not wrong, there must be a gun over there. Grab it." She says. "Yeah, but there's only one bullet in it." The girl says.

"I know," says Maya, "make good use of it."

Then, I hear, "umm... They made it in. The doors are open now." The sounds of choking from the infected grows louder and louder, till I hear, "It's okay. Thank you for trying. It's better off this way. I have one bullet left, and imma make good use of it."

"No, you can do it!" I say. "You know, I can't" she replies in a softer voice. Then, I hear the radio buzz. And the, a gunshot follows.

I fall down to my knees and put my head against the car's hood.

But then, I hear another gunshot. And followed by many more. I quickly get up and hold my radio. "Gotcha!" I hear. "Maya?" I ask. "I got her, now I'm coming to get you. Stay put.

A few minutes later, I see Maya's car park next to mine. I get on board. "I'm glad you're okay." I say to Maya. "Kid, who are you?" I ask, "Melissa. And you are Rave?" she replies. "That's me, kiddo." We now drive to the camp and pass from our mercenary. I basically designed it to look like an elephant. Filled it with electronics, scrap metal. Mostly steel.

We now drive in. As soon as we get out, I hear a gunshot. Maya falls dead. Then another one, it shoots through Melissa's face. Then, a blunt object hits both of us from the back of our heads. It knocks out Melissa, but not me. I play along and fall over. I couldn't have picked a worse position, because I see Maya laying dead with a hole gaping out of her left temple.

Then, a man comes in and stands next to us, checks for heartbeats on the wrong sides of our chests and walks away. I noticed that he has serious burns on his skin. And I also notice that his temperature is as high as a cup of hot tea. Then his radio goes off.

"Deacon? It's Kelly, do you copy?"