Chapter 1: The Island

The setting, main character introduction and history.

A.J. removed her shoes and sunk her feet into the wet sand, letting the salty waves wash over her cuts. It was a good sting.  Looking out at the ocean where sky meets water was her favorite thing to do, especially so early in the morning. The stars still wavered above, a slight crescent moon tipped sideways, getting in one last smile before a brutish sun claimed its day. It was early enough still to beat the crawlers, so A.J. kept scanning the sand for any hint of food. This was her first night on her own and she didn't want it to end yet. She wanted to go back there and gloat of her success. But now she was running out of time. Her first attempt at night rummaging was almost over. 

Beneath the sand A.J.’s fingers felt something hard. Hopeful, she wiped more sand away, her burnt orange hair whipping back and forth like tentacles. Squid Girl, Bozo, Red Fro. Anna Jo from Oswego county, New York. She was the product of a beautiful Chinese mother who emigrated to marry A.J.'s Irish father. Anna Jo inherited her mother’s deep brown eyes, eyes that protested against her bouncy orange mane. They were fierce and brooding. Her skin was smooth and almond--innocent--not pink and angrily freckled as her father had been.

Now that A.J. was a grown woman, she longed to prove herself to the others. 

Freeing the object from its shallow grave, A.J. examined it, running her fingers across the smooth edges. It was some kind of tin can, probably containing food. She placed it in her tote for safe-keeping. It wasn't as much as she'd hoped to find, but the dark was beginning to fade now, and A.J. knew she had to start heading back to the compound. The degraded buildings that surrounded her were a waste of space now, she thought.

 As she walked back to the building she called home, she tried to remember her old house, the place where she was born, the place where she lived before moving to housing at the Ell. Some things she wanted to remember, but couldn't. She tried to recall the last time she saw her mother's smile, but the memory was just out of reach, like a word on the tip of her tongue. Where are you, mother? she thought. She looked back up at the moon. Is that you smiling at me? 

Some things she wanted to forget, but couldn't.

A.J. never received confirmation that her mother was dead, but she knew she was. She could feel it. She could feel her mother in the Earth and in the icy waves. She could feel her mother in the salt that stung her hands. In the wind that chapped her cheeks. In the goose flesh that covered her arms, in the creatures who swam in the sea. I am not one of you, she could hear her mother whispering through the tall grass, swimming through the coils of her hair. I am removed from your world, I am alone, I am eternal. 

A.J. fumbled for her key and unlocked the first door. There were four more doors to unlock before she would sit and count her rummage haul. It was all part of Andy's system to keep out the crawlers. The grounds were protected by fencing and the Ell haven was settled on the 2nd floor of an abandoned building, safely tucked away and inaccessible to outsiders. 

It was a condemned place for degenerates, lunatics. 

 

Fourteen years ago at the beginning of the outbreak, no one knew to what to make of the illness. H5N5-AC-R is what the scientists called it. Everyone else just called it “the crawl.” The outbreak ignited a full-on panic in the coastal town. For twelve months the city lived in darkness. Buildings known as havens were established until the population realized that only people over the age of 65 were being affected. Everyone else was immune to the disease. 

Many of the uninfected abandoned the seaside retirement community in order to live someplace with a younger population (and fewer crawlers). New developments went up like wildfire across the coast and people settled in to a new way of life, a place where old people are giant pests. Only the crazy people stayed behind.

A.J. heard hissing getting closer. She shook the key in the lock but it wouldn't budge. Over her shoulder she could see the crawler pulling forward on his elbows. His skin was charred, thick, and his eyes were blank, reflective and white without color or pupils. A.J. frantically pushed the key to the left praying for it to move. 

Please move, please move, she prayed. There was a wall of glass between she and the crawler but she was still afraid. She had never been so close to a crawler by herself before. The grounds were secured and it had been several years since any crawlers were caught on the campus. This is all my fault, she thought. F**k, s**t, f**k.

The lock moved. A.J. threw herself in the foyer and slammed the door shut. Peering through the glass ten feet away from her was the crawler. His hands were black and missing skin as he pressed them against the wall. He groaned with hunger. 

A.J. felt herself frozen in his presence. Her heart was pounding. 

A.J. turned her key in the lock of the fourth door. Bea and Zee, the Ell’s security system, barked low and deep, alerting the others to her presence. Andy, the haven’s Guardian and owners of the Great Danes, met A.J. at the door.

“Anything good?” he asked, one eye peering at A.J. and one rogue eye focused someplace far off in the distance.

A.J. pulled the can from her tote and waved it around, shrugging her shoulders. At first Andy’s gaze made her uncomfortable, but now she was used to it. 

“No biggie, Sport." Andy patted A.J. on the shoulder. "There’s always tomorrow.”

The residents of the island did their fishing and rummaging at night when the crawlers were asleep.  Many supplies were left behind at the time the city was abandoned, but that was years ago. Now the time had come that food was beginning to seem a little scarce. Mostly the residents of the Ell depended on night-fishing and rummaging for supplies that may have washed up on the shore. Tonight A.J. hoped to bring home a decent haul. 

Reviews

[Sydney Dreama]

You have a very good start. I don't know what feel you're going for with this but it has a very start forward and facts feel about it. As a story it pulls the readers in. But I so far I do not feel a pull or a longing to know more about A.J. It feels like the story is not so much about her as the Zombie breakout. I know its just a rough draft but I think if you want to make it more about A.J. or you want your readers to like A.J. it might be good to do some work on her. like a full Bio or something that will help you bring her to life.
as far as the zombies go you have that down so far :)

[zainul]

Wonderful write