Dawn's POV

I was crouched down next to the rotted wood fence, the overgrown grass and weeds brushed against my legs. Thank god it was mid-summer, I couldn't imagine a scavenge in the winter.

The sun had begun to set in the sky, shadows starting to crawl over the surrounding buildings.I had to hurry if I was going to make it back in time.

I slowly peeked above the top of the rotted fence and surveyed my surroundings. I was on a scavenge in West Marble Place, a few blocks from Barkley Avenue. It's a quiet neighborhood for older people, was a neighborhood for older people. When the plague hit it took out all our senior citizens, making this the perfect place to scavenge for the gear we needed.

The coast looked clear so I adjusted the black backpack on my back and stepped out from behind the rotted fence. I started sneaking over to the nearest abandoned house.

There was a small noise from behind me. Startled, I whipped my head around and stopped in my tracks. I didn't see anything so I silently ran past the side of the blue house and into the backyard, where I crouched next to the old wooden deck while trying to stay low and hidden. I glanced up and saw a glint of light from a sliding glass door, and concluded that it would be my entry point.

I waited a few minutes. The sun was sinking farther down into to fire painted sky as I listened for anything unusual. Deciding everything was clear, I slowly got up and  walked up on the wooden deck, trying not to make the old dry-rotted boards creak.

Once at the sliding glass door I peered inside, my breath fogging up the glass. I couldn't see any signs of life so I put my ear up to the glass to see if I could hear anything. It seemed clear so I slid open the door and stepped inside.

Stepping in onto hard white tile floors, I slid the door shut and let out a deep breath I didn't even know I was holding in. I took a minute to get my head together, and I started walking through the house.

I had come in through the kitchen which was a complete mess. Cabinets and counter drawers were halfway open, old plastic packaging and cans littered the floor. Rust and old food smudges covered the counter tops. I shook my head and carefully shuffled through the kitchen, trying to avoid the majority of the mess.

I paused when I came to the living room. I had stepped onto dirty brown carpet that was probably white at one time. There was a broken t.v.  that was still hanging up on the wall, and the rustic furniture looked old and worn down with holes or chips in multiple places.

There was a hallway on my left and one on my right. I looked down both and decided to go down the one on the right because the hallway was short with a door at the end.

I slowly walked down the hallway, stepping over scattered books and tables, still listening for any other signs of life. I came to the door and slowly twisted the small golden handle then pushed the door open slightly.

My head peaked out from behind the door and I saw that it was a garage with an old pickup truck left inside. Light from small windows on the garage door lit up the place. I scanned the room and saw tall shelves lining the side wall. I looked a little closer and saw there was canned food and non-perishables stacked up sky high on the shelves.

Slowly smiling as I pushed to door open the rest of the way, I was happy with what I found. I hit the supply jackpot today.

I carefully stepped down on to the cement step and into the garage. I made my way around children's toys strewn across the concrete floor and over to the shelves. I walked over to the nearest one and started examining the labels.

Slowly sliding my hand down the row, I read off the contents of the packages. Sweet corn, pineapples, ramen noodles, green beans and.... I picked up a large can and wiped off dust from the label. It was soup! I set it down and started wiping off other labels. Cheesy potato with bacon, chicken noodle, minestrone, chicken and rice! It was truly a lucky day today.

I slid my backpack off my back and set it on the floor. I unzipped the biggest pocket and started stacking a few of each item inside. After clearing out the middle shelf I zipped my bag shut and slung it onto my back.

Thinking ahead for the future, I picked up some of the cans and moved them to the very bottom shelf, pushing them far back to where they were hard to see.

Now I usually don't go back to the same house to get more supplies. It's safer to move from house to house while rotating different neighborhoods. However I was going to break that rule, I was definitely coming back here for another supply run.

I walked around the children's toys again and went back into the house, closing the door behind me. I picked my across the living room again. I hopped over a fallen armchair for fun, and walked down the other hallway still listening for anything.

While walking down the hallway I noticed pictures on the wall of what I guessed was the family that had lived here.

An old portrait of two people getting married, two teenagers in their soccer jerseys, two little girls eating popsicles, and a picture of a little brown dog.

It was a little weird that such a young family lived here when it was a neighborhood of elderly people. Unless it had been grandparents with pictures of their son or daughters family.

I continued walking down the hall, but once I neared the first door on the left, I saw a picture on the wall that made me stop. It was a picture of two happy parents and two little girls posing on a couch, as if they were the happiest family in the world. There was even a little old grandma sitting in-between the two girls on the couch.

So this must have been the grandmother's house.

Even though this was their grandmother's house, my eyes darted straight to the mother and father of the two little girls. I felt my heart pound in my chest and hot tears well up in my eyes as I remembered my own family. The first tear slowly fell, traveling down my cheek, so I wiped my eyes with my hands.

The picture almost perfectly resembled my own family. My grandparents, my parents, and my sister. My grandparents died in the first year of the plague. They both fell ill in the first few weeks after the announcement. My parents died after two years of fighting the plague. It was the most traumatizing day of my life. I watched them lay sickly in bed, took care of them for weeks, until one dreadful night.

**Flashback**

I walked into my parent's dark bedroom with two bowls of soup on a flat silver tray. I could see the candle on my dad's bedside table flicker and both of my parents slightly breathing in the small flicker of the light. The bed sheets rising and falling ever so slightly. I smiled halfheartedly and walked over to my mom's bedside table.

I  gently set the tray down and turned to my mom. She looked so ghostly white and fragile, it scared me. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a messy bun, probably more messy than it should've been.

I reached out and put my hand on her side, shaking her slightly.

"Mom.....mom," I whispered. "Wake up, I have dinner."

My mom stirred and sleepily opened her beautiful green eyes. I smiled and she smiled back at me.

"Do you want me to help you sit up so you can eat?" I quietly asked her.

"Yes..please..Dawn," my mother said in a voice slightly above a whisper. I mentally cringed at how hoarse and rough it sounded.

My mom slowly rolled on to her back from her side, and I pulled her up from under her arms, helping her sit up. I rested the pillows against the headboard giving her back support.

I picked up the spoon and got a nice spoonful of the steaming hot soup. I brought and held the spoon up to her mouth so she could eat without working too hard.

I could see the steam rising up from the soup as I waited for my mom to eat. She blinked her eyes sleepily, then slowly took a deep breath. She started blowing on the hot soup to cool it down, when she broke into a coughing fit.

I quickly set the spoon back into the bowl and tried to hand my mom a glass of water but she couldn't hold it. The coughs were racking her frail body, making her slowly slide down from a sitting position to laying flat on her back.

I grasped her hand and closed my eyes while she was coughing, praying that she'd be alright and stay with me for awhile longer. I opened my eyes to see she had turned over and was laying in her side again. My attention snapped right to her when she started to wheeze out words.

I was quietly freaking out, trying to figure out what to do.

"Alright, breathe mom, breathe. You got it." I silently pleaded and told her.

I saw my mom slightly shake her head, as more coughs tore through her body. I grabbed her hand with my other, and held on to her tightly with closed eyes, just so she didn't feel like her world was shaking apart.

It felt like an eternity went by before her coughing fit had finally subsided.

"It's my time Dawn," she barely whispered to me as she squeezed my hands tighter.

"No," I choked out. I didn't want to cry, not yet. I wanted to show my mom I'd be strong and okay without her.

Coughs erupted out of her frail body again and I tightened my grip even more on her hand.

"I....Love...You..Dawn...," She managed to say between coughs, with her eyes still locked onto mine. Her face had turned even whiter now.

I felt tears well up in my eyes as she was coughing. I heard her gag and then she laid still. I gasped and put my hand on her chest to feel her breathing or even a heartbeat, but there was nothing.

It seemed like an unlikely way to die. Of the thousands upon thousands of ways, yes she was infected by the virus, but coughing to death? That's why I truly hated the plague.

One of three things happened.The virus would enter your stomach and prevent you from eating or drinking for weeks, and you'd die from malnourishment, starvation, or dehydration. The virus could enter your brain and cause deterioration or mental conditions where you'd go crazy. You'd end up killing yourself, accidentally or purposefully, or someone would end up killing you first. Lastly, the Virus would enter your lungs and take over the respiratory system. It'd cause coughing fits or troubled breathing, and eventually your lung would give out or you'd suffocate.

I think the last way was possibly the better way to go.  

I shook my head to get rid of the thoughts, but I still felt the tears cascading down my cheeks and I started sobbing softly, trying not to wake my dad.

I pushed my mom's eyelids closed to make it look like she was sleeping, a peaceful kind of sleep.

My mom was dead, and I didn't even have enough time to say goodbye.

I started sobbing louder, and even though I knew I should've woken my dad for him to eat I walked out of the room and into the living room, where I curled up into the corner of the gray couch with a warm blanket and started crying.

I cried for a full fifteen minutes when I realized I needed to stop. My mom wouldn't want me to be sad, she'd want me to be happy that her pain is over, she'd tell me to be strong. She'd tell me to be brave.

I wiped my face, trying to get rid of all the salty tears. I was going to push all the pain away and move forward. I got back up off the couch and walked back into my parent's room so I could feed my dad his dinner.

I walked back into their room and I noticed that I couldn't see the sheets slightly moving anymore. I rushed over to my dad and  I put my hand on his neck to check his pulse.

I waited and waited, but I couldn't feel a pulse and I felt the tears start coming again.

My dad passed away in his sleep, and I wasn't there to witness it.

Both my parents were dead, dying not even hours apart from each other, and I didn't get to properly say goodbye to either of them.

I pulled the covers up to my dad's neck, and blew out the candle on his bedside table, making the room pitch black. I slowly stumbled out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind me.

I walked back to the living room and sat back down in the corner of the couch. I started crying, and crying, until I couldn't cry anymore. After I couldn't cry, I sat there and thought about how I was truly alone. I had to fend for myself, feed myself, protect myself, and all without that little comfort of my parents just being there.

I was scared.

I felt a hollow chill run over my arms as I looked around our little apartment. That's when I got up and blew out all the candles in the living room, then stumbled into my room, still sniffling and sobbing. I threw on some pajamas and pulled back the covers to my bed. I laid down and tried to sleep away the pains of my world.

I didn't get any sleep that night, or any night for the week after. My parents were dead and I was truly, absolutely alone.

** End of Flashback **

I shook my head and walked away from the picture and from my past. My parents were dead and that was a fact, crying wouldn't help me survive.

Emotions were what got you killed.

I slowly opened the door to my left. The room when I walked in, was of course, a little girls room. The walls were painted pink with small rainbows floating on the walls. Little pink plastic tables and chairs, along with stuffed animals were tossed across the floor. However the sparkly curtains to the window were ripped and the pink duvet was filled with unknown stains.

I felt tears well up in my eyes again and I brushed my hand over the scar on my left arm. My older sister died in the car accident my whole family got into. We were just on our way to the park when a large SUV ran a red light and smashed into our car. My sister covered me to protect me from the shattering glass from the window. I got a piece stuck in my arm, but I survived along with my parents. My sister wasn't so lucky though, because she was sheltering me large pieces of glass went through her skull, and unluckily punctured her brain. I had just turned five and she was only six.

I backed out of the room and closed the door, again locking my own past away. I distracted myself and ran through a quick list of stuff that we could use.

Clothes, toiletries, and maybe an extra miscellaneous item or two.

I continued my trek down the hallway, walking around trash and more books, until I reached a door on the right side. I slowly opened it to reveal a bathroom.

The bathroom was painted baby blue, with white drawers and a white medicine cabinet, along with a matching white sink and tub. Well you could say white at one time, but now, the tub was rusted over along with the sink. Toilet paper and dirt covered the floor, and holes started to form in the walls and ceiling. The mirror was cracked and shattered, millions of glass pieces littered the floor.

I quickly searched through all the drawers and cabinet, luckily finding some pain killers for if we ever needed them. I was really hoping we didn't. I slid them into my pocket and looked around. Other than that there was close to nothing left In the drawers, as if someone had already cleared them out.

I heard a crash from outside and I rushed to look out the small bathroom window panicking. My heart raced, as I barely looked out the window, afraid of what I would find. The sun had set and it was an eerie dusk outside, making it hard to see the guy in a leather jacket, blue jeans, combat boots, and a fedora laying on the ground next to some garbage cans.

I panicked more and I sprinted down the hall back into the kitchen. I carefully stepped back around all the garbage and other things scattered across the floor, and stood in front of the sliding glass door.

my mind was racing and my brain was only spitting out three words.

Escape. Run. Survive.  

I took a deep breath and slid the door open, crouching down onto the deck. I slid the door closed and waited for my eyes to adjust to the dusk lit surroundings.

I had to get out of here.

After the longest minute of my life, I could make out a few trees in the backyard and decided my vision was good enough to go. I quickly made a mental map of how to get back to our apartment on Barkley Avenue.

I snuck slowly across the wood deck and down into the grass with my adrenaline racing. I leaned back against the side of the deck and slid into the flower bed, taking in my surroundings and catching my breath.

I couldn't see or hear any people around so I kept going and I snuck back around the side of the house.

I was almost to the rotted wood fence when unluckily for me, my foot got caught in a hole, making me grunt as I flew forward landing face first in the dirt.

I scrambled up back into a crouching position, and quickly dusted the dirt off my face and arms.

My foot was still stuck in the hole and I tried to lift it up to get it unstuck. After moving it about every which way I realized I was going to have to stand up to get my foot out of the hole. It was something that was very risky with a nearby gang member, or members for that fact, and something I most definitely didn't want to do.

I quickly looked around and realized that if I stood up I could run behind the fence and continue with my escape.

Funny, I'm calling it an escape and I hadn't even been seen or captured.

I took a deep breath an decided to risk it. I quickly stood up and pulled my foot out of the hole, running to the safety of the fence.

Before I completely got behind the fence I heard a click from directly behind me that made me freeze in my tracks.

"And where the hell do you think you're going sweetheart?" asked a deep husky voice from behind me.

I felt shivers run down my spine, and a lump form in my throat. I put my hands up and slowly turned around, my heart beating a mile a minute, and my adrenaline at an all-time high.

I turned all the way around, to see the absolute worst thing that I could possibly want to see at while I was out on a scavenge.

A tough guy in a leather jacket, with a gun.

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Hey guys! First chapter of the book! *Puts hands up* Whoop! Whoop!

I'd just like to say thank you for choosing to read this book! it means A LOT to me! I've put an unbelievable amount of time and effort into this story so I really do hope you enjoy it!

Please consider voting if you liked the chapter, and feel free to leave me a comment if you have any thoughts or feedback!

-Delaney :)