Chapter 1



Hello. My name is Skye. My world is bleak and ugly. You wanna know why? All around the planet, brainless zombies are rampaging. They have been for about twenty years. I know this 'cause I was born fifteen years ago into the end of the world. Both my mom and dad worked for an organization that is trying to rid the world of the infected. Until three years ago. They were on a special mission to try to kill the leader of the zombies. He actually has a brain. When he was human, his name was Carter, so that is what we call him. But Carter unleashed more zombies than usual on my parents. They didn't make it. I don't show it though. I have to be tough. I am looked after by some close friends, but I hate Carter more than anything on this barren planet. I am training to kill any zombie that gets in my way when I go to kill Carter myself. I am really good at all sorts of weapons; my best is the bow. Sometimes Lil' Mama will put explosives on the end of the arrow. It gets messy. I am even better than Steph. And I could take on a human adult man in hand-to-hand and win.

My trainer is Sly. He was the closest friend my parents had. On nights i couldn't sleep, he would tell me stories of my parents in their golden days.

We live underground and it can be sooo boring. The only highlight of my day is when I train.

Right now, that's what I'm doing. With my long, red hair braided down my back, I jab at Sly, who is twice my size, as hard as I can. He falls on his butt, a look of amazement on his face.

"Wow, Skye, you are really good. I would hate to be Carter when you meet," Sly said.

It wasn't a secret that I wanted to kill Carter more than anything. No one could blame me. In fact, in our makeshift family, there were no secrets. There is seven people who live here; me, the youngest. Sly, my trainer, of course. Chef-- his name is self-explanitory. Emmett, our leader, and his wife, Steph. Lil' Mama, and her boyfriend, Razer.Emmet mostly stays in his room, looking for survivers. But I gotta say, after twenty years, it doesn't look good, Emmett. Once he finds a lead, they pack up and head out. Sometimes I go along, but I'll just stay in the tank. Atleast it's better than staying underground.

But, hopefully, next time we surface, I can actually fight.

"Okay, let's target pratice with the machine gun. I think Emmett is getting a lead," Sly added, catching my attention. Sometimes I got distracted easy.

We walked to the armory to get the guns and ammo.

"What are we doing today, kids?" Lil' Mama asked. Her tan face was friendly and open.

"Machine guns. You shoulda seen the punch Skye just landed on me. She is gonna make an awesome fighter one day. Thanks, Lil'," Sly said, as she handed him two guns and enough ammunition to kill an army of infected. We had enough supplies to keep us alive for a life time. We-- well they-- usually raided empty houses and stuff for supplies that we can use.

We then proceeded to the shootong range. Our underground living space was bigger than most two story houses, so we had tons of small rooms. I only pulled the trigger twice and there was a cross in the head of the dummy I was shooting at.

"Nice job, Skye. Me and Steph were talking. Maybe we can convince Emmett to let us surface and we can catch some infected for you to practice on. I explained to Steph how good you are getting and she can't wait to see."

My heart pounded in anticipation at the words. Sly looked in my one brown and and one green one and looked surprised. I usually don't show any kind of emotion so it probably looked wierd, my eyes glowing with excitement.

"She wanted to see you on bows, so let's hurry up here, 'kay?"

I nodded eagerly. We shot more rounds, then we got our bows. While I was preparing, Sly went over to the wall and pushed the little button, calling for Steph.

I heard a sweet voice answer. Then a pretty blonde, with cobalt blue eyes, walked in. You would have thought her the type to get manicures and pedicures and care what people thought about her. But you couldn't be more wrong. She had the sweetest face on Earth-- literally-- but don't be fooled. She will kick your head off before you can say "Wait!!!" just for making her mad.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," she said.

I picked a dummy, took aim--concentrating fiercely-- and hit a bull's eye, dead center.

"Good," I heard her murmer. "And she's only fifteen?"

"Yeah," Sly said, pride filling his voice.

I heard a small click and looked back to see Stephtaking out a digital recorder.

"Emmett needs to see this. Keep going , sweetie," she said.

I quickly loaded another arrow, shooting five more similar ones in a row.

"Nice," Steph said. "Can I see how you do in other fields? Just to make sure you can do more than shoot a bow."

"Sure. Which one you wanna see?" I replied.

"Let's see hand-to-hand combat. Sly, will you do the honors?"

Sly and I got in position. I analyzed him, the way I was trained, to look for an opening. I saw he wasn't even thinking about his legs, so I dropped quickly, swinging my leg around. I watched with satisfaction as he fell backward. I yanked the knife that always stayed in my boot out and sat quickly on his chest, pressing the blade gently to his throat.

"Wow, didn't see that coming. Really good, Skye," Sly praised.

"One more. Hand gun." Steph said.

I got my guns, loaded and shot impressively at a dummy. My odd-colored eyes glowed as both Sly and Steph praised me.

"Skye, you are really good," a deep voice said behind me, making me jump. The voice laughed.

I turned and saw Emmett standing in the doorway.

"Can you show me everything you just showed Steph?" he asked.

"Actually, I recorded it," said Steph.

"I wanna see for myself, but thanks for the effort."

"Okay, I'll send it to headquarters. They'll be really interested in her."

"You do that," he said. "What do you wanna do first?" he asked me.

"Hand-to-hand," I said. It was almost a question.

"Sure. Steph, get ready."

"I don't wanna hurt her," she replied.

"What? You don't think I can take you?" I was outraged. I atleast wanted the chance. Steph was the best fighter we had. I wanted to compare myself to her.

"You sure, Skye?"

I nodded eagerly.

"Fine."

We stood across from each other, me anylizing her, she the same to me. She darted in when she thought I wasn't paying attention, one of my tricks. Everyone knew I was, like, ADD or something. She went for my head, which was exactly what I expected. I thrust my arm up, blocking it with great speed. She quickly threw a fist at my stomache, which I blocked as if it were a fly. She paused for a fraction of a second and I saw my opening. I threw punch after punch, trying not to hurt her but also wanting to prove myself. I never missed a beat. She looked shaken as she yelled, "Enough!" I stopped my musical punches, watching to see if there was gonna be a second attack. She was actually through. I laughed out loud once when I realized I could take down Steph with ease and still have energy for more fighting. Sly's eyes were glowing with pride.

"Good. Now pistols."

I quickly shot off a whole clip with presition.

"Start getting ready, Skye. We are surfacing and you are going out of the tank"

I was soo happy. I always wanted to surface and now I was. This was the best day in my short, twisted life.