4.

Amber Ellen Taunton was born an older twin, older by a whole nine minutes. Strange how as few as nine minutes can go and alter a lifetime or two. She grew up the responsible one, the (mostly) calm one, the one who studied, the one who always done as she was asked, the one who always done the right thing, the one who looked out for her brother.

The dead took from Amber Ellen Taunton, they took and took then took some more.

Yeah, Amber may be the calm one though when it comes down to it, there is more than enough fury within her to stir up the most deadliest of volcanoes, and the fury is certainly justified. If it came down to Amber versus the world then the safe money would be on Amber.

Her small slim frame is most deceiving; she has the look of a rabbit, small, soft, and harmless though at a moment's notice she can become an erupting volcano, exploding to inflict large amounts of damage when she needs to. Generally, her calm side makes the decisions, generally she takes charge of any given situation, generally is not however one hundred per cent of the time.

It has been four years now since looking out for her brother first became a full-time occupation. He may see things a little differently though now and especially back then at eighteen years of age, if she didn't take care of him then who would? If it weren't for her, he probably wouldn't get out of bed and face the world on a daily basis, something he now does freely more out of fearing the wrath of his sister than anything else. The re-animated dead cannot hold a candle to his sister in his humble opinion, and of course, there are others who have also been taken in ...

The young Miss Taunton in any other world at any other time, may in appearance, live a life of wealth, stature and class while feeling more of a connection with those who go without. A posh exterior with a wild interior and a heart as free as the wind, there would be no expectations trust upon her or expected of her. This however is not any other world.

Pleasantly beautiful in a rough everyday way, Amber has a touch that can be both motherly and deadly from over a hundred paces, not at the same time of course unless she wants that effect. She'd be a ruffian in princess clothing only the princess clothing is nowhere to be seen and she does not see herself as being high and mighty in any way.

Now Shawn Aaron Thornton, the younger twin by those nine minutes, in another world would be laid back and carefree, the 'relax, it will all be fine' kind of guy. He may still be that in some ways but out in the here and now he is the wild one, taking numbers and no grief from anyone, well apart from his sister. No one else can ever scold him though whatever Amber says goes, and indeed there are times when even he would briefly debate that. He can argue all he wants though ultimately; he knows that she is doing no more than keep him in check.

Despite Amber being more than capable of looking after herself, Shawn takes care of her like a knight would a princess. They may have come to be in the company of others though there is nothing more important to each other as one another, except perhaps the boy they brought into the fold.

Shawn, he'll happily do the heavy lifting; in fact, he enjoys it. Fear, if you were to mention that word to him, he would probably question as to what that word means and a lot of the time there would be truth in that, indeed for the most part. To be totally honest fear comes from and accompanies his nightmares. The nightmares are also relevant to his sister, despite that he'd rather not discuss those nightly horrors with her. He knows she has them too.

What is the root of those nightmares? Well besides and including the obvious, there is the particular day in question which occurred almost four years prior. Eighteen years of age, this should be a time of transition for most, neither twin could have foreseen the transition which was about to come for them. There had been reports, broadcast reports right before television and radio stations began going off-air, still what had been coming through had to be some kind of an elaborate hoax.

Hoax or not, there were those who were taking things seriously, gathering all they can into their vehicles and taking off. Amber witnessed some of this taking off as she made her way home one afternoon in particular. Surely people were overreacting to such a hoax, the fake news had to be ... fake. If it were a hoax, then it more than seemed to be achieving its intentions.

She called out for her mother as she entered the family home. There was no response but that was alright, for her mum could be anywhere in this particular moment. Coming into the kitchen Amber could see that her mum was not just anywhere, she was out in the back yard. It would take a moment or so before it become clear that things were not so alright.

The back yard is a large one, a large space cordoned off from surrounding yards by flimsy fencing. There was something not so far behind mom, and Amber would soon see it. It was dark, grey, and moving. At first at a glance, Amber ignored it as if she hadn't truly seen it at all, with it appearing to be something out of place or straight out of a movie.

Catching a second look, Amber freaked. There was a living moving corpse out the back yard and it was oh so close to mom and mom seemed oblivious to its presence as she went about hanging laundry for it was closing in on her from behind. It took a second or two to react and when she did, Amber called out to her mum, but it was too late.

The shouts and screams of his sister woke Shawn. He took a look outside his bedroom window and panic took a hold on him. By the time Shawn got outside, his sister was unleashing her fury upon three moving corpses. They, the moving corpses, seemed to be multiplying almost out of nowhere. What had been one soon became three then eight, fairly soon there were dozens. Shawn side stepped one or two of these entities before reaching out to grab his sister.

'C'mon, we have to get out of here.'

'Not without mum' says Amber.

When they looked, they could see mom was being devoured by two of these dead entities.

'There is nothing we can do, we have to go' he says almost crying, his voice wavering and his eyes welling by the second.

If only he hadn't slept in so late, maybe this moment would be different. He might have seen it coming, perhaps mum could have been saved. Amber takes a moment to look towards her mum. She begins to cry before agreeing that there is nothing either she or her brother could do and that they do indeed have to go or they'd be next ... so much for things being a hoax.

'Mum' she quietly speaks before Shawn grabs her by the arm and off the two go.

Go to where exactly? Well time and circumstance decide that.

***

As Amber unleashes her fury outside that church on a small gathering of re-animated corpses, fighting alongside others with whom she and her brother have come into contact with, she can't help but reflect on those four years since losing her mother. Yeah, that is how the twins were introduce to the reanimated dead and in recent times, indeed four years on, a church had become a place of refuge until the dead gathered outside and grew in numbers, just like they did in the back yard of what had been their actual home.

The priest, the most recent addition of a gathered group, is providing reason for worry, not worry of himself, but worry to everyone else. He is getting more and more lost in himself as each passing day moves on ...