My younger brother Hunter had coughed. Freaking coughed. Our so-called leader didn't take any chances, not anymore. He stopped taking chances a long time ago.

Bang. Shot dead.

Right between the eyes. My brother was six.

Six years old.

It was maybe the first week after it all started. I couldn't exactly tell at this point. Everything kind of blurred together and no one was keeping track of the days. Lisa estimated that it had been about a month now since everything went to hell. It felt like my brother was murdered forever ago.

Things were still pretty crazy those early days, but most people had already died and turned into those.. things. Calling them zombies would make it seem too extreme, but that's basically what they were. People would get bit, die, and then rise up again to join an endless hoard of the undead. They attacked anything that moved, followed the slightest sound and were hungry. Always hungry.

We had been walking through the empty streets in the eastern suburbs of the city in search of sanctuary, but it was probably the most dangerous thing we could have done to this point. But danger doesn't excuse stupidity.

My brother wasn't even sick. He had seasonally allergies which would irritate his throat when he was outside. Most people did, my mother always told me it was something that was super common amount people. 

He coughed, clearing his throat as he normally did. That was the biggest mistake he had made in the short time he had lived. He could have still lived, all of them. 

They could have all lived.

Andrew drew his gun and without a second thought, pulled the trigger.

Mom had fallen to the ground next to my brother's body on the cracked asphalt, her hands muffling her uncontrollable wails, an endless stream of tears rolling down her cheeks. Her body shook as she slumped next to his lifeless body, putting her hands on her little boy and pulling him to her. She rocked back and forth as she wailer, clutching his tiny limp body to her. Her emotions smashed into her like a tidal wave. I covered my mouth with my hands, too shocked to react in any other way. Two men from the group grabbed my mother by the arms and tore Hunter from her, tossing him back on the ground. She screamed and fought as they dragged her away; unable to react, I stood there frozen as I watched this all happen. Another man took my hand and swiftly dragged me away in the attempt to keep the group moving and find shelter.

We never got the chance.

"Think about the safety of the group. Killing one to save 20." The man who had shot my brother said. He tried justifying what he had done, but how can you justify a mistake that caused not only my family, but everyone else pain and suffering.

Little did the man know, shooting my brother Hunter would cause 13 more of us to die because of his stupidity. The shot rang out through the silent neighbourhood. For a few moments, it stayed silent.

 First, it was the shuffling that made our group freeze in the street. The moans started to drift out of houses, from behind fences... 

It had attracted all of them in range. The streets were suddenly full of movement, the dead coming out of back alleys, backyards, and everything in between.

Death surrounded us and we were trapped.

The stupid, careless, reckless son of a moldy cheese biscuit got what he deserved. He was one of the last to die. A dead one caught him off guard as he pushed his girlfriend out in front of him to protect himself. Her terrified screams still haunt me at night.

There were only six of us left. The coward got my mother killed as well. I didn't even see her go down because I ran; I selfishly ran away like a scared little girl.

That's what I was. Everyone had been scared, didn't matter how old you were. This kind of world could scare anyone.

So now, it's just me, an elderly couple, a young pregnant woman, Lisa who left for who knows what reason though she has promised she'd come back, and Blake.

The old man, Jack, was in his late 60's and was a veteran who just so happened to be a medic from his regiment during one of the many wars. Jack was only good at cleaning and patching gun wounds; he didn't really have any sort of training. They had assigned him as a medic and threw him onto the battlefield. He always seems to have an explanation for anything. Just because he's old, he thinks he's always right.

He doesn't know how to explain this, well, apocalypse though. He couldn't tell us if we were going to get sick or die from anything that happens to us. Jack always wears these square black glasses when we have time to sit down and freely do as we please. He spends that time reading maps and planning our next moves. He sort of took over the group after Andrew, the man who shot my brother, died. Good riddance.

Andrew was a careless, hot-headed jerk. He just so happened to be with the rest of us when it started. I even think he was a drunk before and possibly got into fights a lot. His poor girlfriend; I don't understand how she ever put up with him. Carla was such a soft-spoken, kind woman who always put others before herself. Such a sad fate to be stuck with that guy.

He mentioned to us that he was in the army before this, but they "let him go". I bet he was kicked out of the army for having the kind of temper that would suggest he wasn't fit to be in the army. Like I said before, good riddance.

The elderly lady, Maggy, used to own a Pizza Hut. Her and Jack had been married for thirty-six years; Jack always likes to brag about it. They met at a dance in high school while dating other people and instantaneously knew that they were meant to be. 

He really loves her, and honestly, who wouldn't? She was one of those sweet old rich ladies every kid wanted as a grandmother. My mother, Hunter and I had been eating at her restaurant when it all happened.

Most of our group had come from there.

Lisa had been there with her father and younger sister Kristy, but her family never made it out of the restaurant. That day had been horrible, for all of us. My mother barely got Hunter and I out of there. Maggy, however, led Lisa and a few others out the back of the restaurant through the kitchen. Jack fended off a few of the early bitters with his trusty shot gun while Maggy had used one of the chef's knives as protection. 

Lisa never talks about her family, and I don't blame her. Only 19 of us had made it out of the restaurant. We had found Cindy, who is currently pregnant,  trapped on her roof. She had climbed out there to protect herself from her husband who had turned just after getting back from a walk with their dog. We lost someone getting her down. The man who had helped her had been caught off guard on the roof, stepping on a loose shingle. He slipped and rolled, falling off the roof. The sickening sound of his neck snapping when he hit the ground had made Jack sick.

I guess that's a better death than being ripped apart or walking around aimlessly for the rest of existence. Blake joined us about a week later. I don't know much about him, except the fact that he seems to like Lisa. I think that's why he stayed with us. When she's with us, he's always watching her from a distance or by right her side.

Our group was currently out at this campground on the edge of the city. We've been here for about two days. There were a few abandoned mobile homes scattered throughout the campground, some in better shape than others. Most of them had been locked up and left out here as storage and didn't contain any food which was what we had been worried about. The one R.V. I had searched had a box of stale crackers hidden under the sink. Unfortunately, some mice had been feeding on so it wasn't something as appetizing as we had hoped. Better than nothing though. 

We scavenged what we could, but there was practically nothing left in the few campers that remained here. I sat on a bench and thought back about what I could have done differently in the past few weeks. There was still food in the cupboards at my house which could have been taken with us here. The bathroom cabinet should have been emptied of all it's drugs and medical supplies. Jack has a med kit in his truck, but who knows how long that will last us. 

I was surprised when Lisa left, Blake didn't go along with her. She told him she had to do something alone and he resisted but eventually backed off and let her go. It was dangerous to go  out alone, without anyone watching your back. One wrong move and you'd end up dead. 

When I was born, before my father left, he chose the name of Beverly for me. I guess a name was the only thing he decided to give me before he disappeared from my life and was never seen again. I've never been a fan of my name. I decided to go by Bev ever since I was five. It was what my mother called me and it was better than the long version. It's short and simple, easy to get my attention when the situations stir trouble. I wonder where Lisa went.