Afraid of Being Alive (Shane Walsh Love Story)

Chapter 1: China Plates are for the Dead-Ones

Chapter 1: China Plates are for the Dead-Ones

The streets were empty, but never before so crowded. Atlanta wasn't a place of the lively and living; no, my quaint city belonged to the dead now. After the military was overrun and all means of safety began to fail, Atlanta was trapped in an ever growing downwards spiral and all security was forever lost. Lola and I were what seemed like the only two that didn't seek safety in the heart of the city for we had been able to foresee what was to come; all the devastation that followed.

I sat on the balcony of our still standing apartment and looked out to the deadly and diseased streets. Lola and I lived on the sixth floor so the living dead weren't much of a problem. Once people had started to escape the building and the city, we checked that the apartment complex was empty and barricaded it so Lola and I could be safe from whatever those things out there were. There wasn't much going on today, not like there ever was. We never had any living visitors, nor did we ever have to deal with any dead ones. The most fun that we ever saw from the balcony was one of those things eating a live bird and devouring it, and even that isn't very exciting. We did have an incident not too long ago where we could've sworn we heard a horse, a helicopter and multiple gun-shots, but it could have quite easily been the hunger settling in.

"Anything new out?" called Lola from the kitchen.

"The usual" I replied in monotone "same old, same old"

"Everything's so goddamn boring now" she huffed, folding her arms over her chest as she walked out to me and took a seat opposite me on the balcony "and lonely"

"It's been like this for about a month, we'll get used to it"

"What if I don't want to get used it?" sighed Lola, raising her voice a little.

"What exactly are you implying?" I hissed.

She just gave me an odd look before muttering something unintelligent under her breath and stalking away.

It was still around midday so we had quite a while before darkness was to fall, meaning we still had enough time to go out and get supplies. Lola and I did these runs together for if we went alone we would surely be killed. We've had a few near misses in the pass and Lola seemed to be more frightened of the things than I was, so I would always take the lead in our supply runs.

"How are we going with food?" I called out to her from the balcony, the raised volume of my voice drawing the attention of a couple of dead-ones outside. Yeah, we didn't know what to call them so we thought dead-ones was fair enough.

"We're running low, probably only enough for two to three days if we manage it sustainably" said Lola "The street looks alright for now so maybe now would be a good time to go and get some shit"

"Agreed"

"SHANE BEHIND YOU!" the cries of a man rang out across the street and I instantly bolted to my feet, the plastic chair which I sat upon falling carelessly behind me. I leant over the balcony to see if I could catch a glimpse of whom the voice belonged to. Our lack in visitors made this occasion a big deal. Gun shots began to echo around the city, catching the attention of Lola and the dead-ones.

"Hold that thought!" I called back to Lola.

"HOLY FUCK MAN, MOVE IT! GO GO GO!" screamed another voice.

The futile and hungry moans of the dead-ones grew louder as they became a herd and seemingly chased the men I couldn't exactly pinpoint. Finally I located them holding onto a rusty old ladder that only went half way up a goddamn building, holding on helplessly and staring down at an imminent death that awaited them.