CHAPTER ONE,
greater sorrow

THE SILENCE MADE Samantha Walsh's sanity become on edge. It echoed around the graveyard of abandoned vehicles and luggage, like an invisible monster that would faintly caress her skin and taunt the unsettling pit in her stomach.

Samantha had once been a woman of noise, a lover of thunder and lightning, a catalyst of recklessness and self destruction. But as the world changed, so did she, but her hatred for silence didn't evolve with the rest of her being.

The world was nothing but an inescapable silence, taunting her anxieties and her looming thoughts.

Samantha sighed, rubbing her head.

The twenty year old brunette gazed up at the sky, the twilight gazing back. Stars lighted the inky abyss like scattered diamonds, the moon a crescent and half hidden.

"There is no greater sorrow then to recall our times in a joy in wretchedness."

The sudden, unfamiliar voice startled Samantha, and so she turned. There a man of old age with kind features and brown eyes stood, a faint smile pinned on his face. "Dante's Inferno, my wife was obsessed with it," He continued, chuckling. "I didnt mean to startle you, you just looked alone."

The ebony haired woman wondered how long he had been standing there, but nevertheless she enjoyed the company.

"The philsophy is beautiful." She commented, ignoring every ounce of stranger danger that had been built into her system. He looked friendly, but even the most friendliest looking people can hurt you.

"Ah, philosophy," The man let out a chuckle. "What a thing to drive man insane."

Samantha chuckled too, her anxieties and thoughts being put to sleep as she held out her hand. "I'm Samantha Walsh," She introduced.

The man took her hand and shook, his face holding nothing but kindness. He seemed to be the type of person to not have a single fiber of hate in his body.

"Dale Harvoth," He introduced. "Do you go by any nicknames? Surely you do."

"Sam."

The silence wasn't so unsettling with his prescence.

She just hoped wherever Shane and Lori were, they would make it back soon.

"Were you in the highway when they-"

"Bombed Atlanta," He finished for her, nodding his head somberly and sadness creeping up to his face. "I was."

When the city had been bombed, it broke the barrier between control and choas, unleashing panic and hopelessness. If was as if those thunderous booms were the trumpets of the inevitable apocalypse.

Samantha gazed at her godson, who's form was curled up on the backseat of her brother's jeep. She had been the one to hold him when the panic came, the one to soothe him when he had become hysterical, the one to hold the anger for Shane and Lori's absence.

Carl needed his mom and dad, but one was dead and the other was no where to be seen.

Samantha felt terrible, absolutely horrible. Carl didn't deserve to be exposed to such ugliness, but Rick also didn't deserve to die.

"Is he your son?"

Dale's unfaltering kind voice brought her back.

Samantha paused, her eyes glistening with tears as she thought of Rick. "No, he's my godson." She finally spoke, not wanting to break down in front of the stranger.

Dale looked sympathetic, placing a hand on her shoulder, and despite him being a complete stranger, Samantha let him. She felt like she needed that support, and without her brother there he couldn't provide for her.

"I'll be back," He had said to her as people around them lost all sense to reality. "Lori needs me, I'll be back."

That was hours ago, and she couldn't decide whether she was angry at him or scared.

"Poor child, must've been traumatized," Dale sighed, shaking his head in pity. "It can't get any worse then this, right?"

Samantha didnt know what to think. Everything was so unpredictable and unnerving. It made her anxiety build up, erupting like an electrical storm in her brain that spread througout her veins. The absence of Lori and Shane didn't make it any better, and suspicion churned her insides.

"So, its just you and your wife?" Sam questioned, rubbing a hand over her forehead in hopes to keep her thoughts at bay.

Shaking his head, there was a hint of remorse shadowing his eyes. "My Irma passed away some years back," He informed, making Samantha feel a twang of guilt. "We were on the road before she did, but after I decided to continue to travel around to distract myself."

"I'm sorry." Samantha sympathized.

He only smiled and waved her off, saying its nothing to worry about. Turning to look over her shoulder, she looked at Carl again, her heartstrings being pulled, because she knew that he was mourning. No child that young should mourn.

Rick was a good man, too good to not be mourned. She loved him like a father, and he had loved her like a daughter.

Samantha swallowed thickly. "He lost his father several hours ago," She whispered. "His mother is somewhere, and she left me alone to be strong for her son, but I dont know how to be strong when I lost someone too."

There was no judgement evident on the older man's face. Only understanding, an understanding that didn't make Samantha feel embarrassed for opening up to a stranger.

"When my wife died, I didn't feel strong neither," Dale admitted. "I was so alone, and so angry. It was as if I fell into a million pieces and I didn't have the strength to piece myself up,"

He lifted his head up to look at the stars. She could see them twinkling behind his eyes.

"Distraction is not the key to acceptance," Dale breathed deeply. "Pain is a lesson that cannot be learned if we neglect it, it demands to be felt," He looked back at her, another smile gracing his lips, wisdom colored into his irises. "The strength is in the pain."

His words lingered into her ears, her eyebrows pulling together as she pondered. How could someone possibly find the strengh to rise while struggling to get up in the first place?

Samantha, for a moment, thought of a phoenix, with his red feathers and fury soul. It rises from the ashes and it is reborn into something stronger. She rememebered her past, the past that bruised her mind and spirit. She had been reborn, but was she reborn into something stronger?

Gunshots suddenly cracked in the air like thunder but without the raw power of a storm. Samantha gasped, realizing how close the orgins were.

"Sammy, you okay?"

At the sound of his husky voice, she turned and saw the tall figure of her brother. Lori was beside him, and relief flooded within her, but anger soon contanminated those waters. She rushed towards hims, bringing a fist into his shoulder to which he barely reacted to.

"Where the hell have you been?" She pinpointed that she wasn't scared she looked at Lori too. "Do you realize how upset Carl was-"

"Where those gunshots?" A voice had interrupted her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a woman with a head full of blonde hair appear besides Dale, her eyes a mix of steel and blue.

Carl stuck his head out, his small features screwed up in confusion, but upon seeing his mother, he ran into her arms. More gunshots rang out, each and every bullet that popped making Samantha's heart pound in her chest.

"Andrea!" Another blonde that shared similarites with the other one scurried out of the RV. Next to the vehicle, a family that Lori and Samantha had become aquinated with during the bombing stepped out. Carol, a timid looking woman wore a matching expression of fright with her daughter, Sophia. Ed Peletier was behind them with cruel beast eyes.

Samantha felt her brother's presence coming closer to her with twilight eyes on him, having already picking up the scent what kind of a man Ed was like a hound dog.

Her husband looked flat out irritated. "Wha' the hell is goin' on?" He demanded.

"The roads aren't safe anymore," Andrea stated. "We need to move. We don't know who the hell and what the hell they are shooting at."

Samantha agreed. "She's right," She turned to face her brother, who was rubbing his head in thought. "We dont know if those things will expand to the highways, we need to find somewhere safer."

Her brother sighed, all eyes on him. "If I knew where the hell to go, I would gladly take us," He remarked. "We need to find a place where the militairy can easily get to us."

Samantha was in disbelief. "The kids are scared, big brother. To hell wth the military." She cursed.

"I know a place," Her eyes went to Dale. "Its not too far out from the city, but secluded enough where those things wont find us."

Solace and desperation quickly filled the Walsh siblings. "Where?" They both asked in synced.

"Its at a quarry near interstate 85."

Just as Samantha moved to say something, there was a disturbance in the trees that made the words in her throat become stuck. Her blood had gone cold, the bones freezing underneath her skin.

The feeling of suspense was thick in the air and her brother immediately whipped out his shotgun from the back of jeep, the sound of it cocking forcing the youngest Walsh to follow behind him. She whipped out her very own pistol, the gun glinting in the moonlight and revealing her engraved initial on the handle of the weapon.

S.W.

After a few moments of painful silence, two silhouttes stepped out with darkness concealing their faces. A gasp left one of their lips. "Dont shoot!" It came out as a squeak, and he stepped into the light of the moon, his Asian features contorted into fear.

"Are any of y'all infected?" Andrea demanded, her own weapon pulled out and her face hard.

"Do I look dead, woman?"

The voice made Samantha's stance waver, and as the source of the voice stepped out from the darkness, revealing his militairy uniform and his features, she dropped it altogether. Happiness warmed up her veins, and she didnt hold back from flying across the road and into the arms of her best friend, her weight making him stumble back. He snaked an arm around her waist and embraced her, afraid to let her go.

"Holy shit, man," Shane let out a breath. "I thought you were one of 'em."

Nathan chuckled, the moonlight dancing on his pale features. "I know I ain't that ugly." He jested, pulling away from the brunette.

Nathan Barton was a man of stormy eyes and dark, lustrous hair. Long ago, the Army had been his santuarary from his troubles, so instead of going away to college, he was shifted off to Afganastan. Samantha hadn't seen him in months, and as much as she was happy to see him, she was also concerned that he was alone and not with his men.

Or his baby brother Jason.

Her brother's dark eyes were serious as he stared at Nathan. "You know what the hell is going on military boy?" His tone was quizzical, but he made sure that her best friend knew that the end of the world didn't change the fact that he didn't like him. He never did, and probably never will.

Nathan was torn between many emotions, too many emotions.

"Atlanta got overrun by the infected," He began, wiping the blood mixed with grime on his forehead. "My men had to start shooting down civilians in order to contain the virus, but it had become useless."

Carol let out a faint sob. "Oh, god." She cried, clutching her daughter closer.

"And then?" Dale pressed, stepping closer to the soldier.

Nathan wiped at his sweaty brows, a clear fight within him. "Operation Cobalt." The term was vague, but for some reason it filled Samantha's heart with dread.

"What's that?" The pretty blonde asked.

Nathan looked at her, frowning. "Its what you saw with those helicopters," He gestured down the road that led to Atlanta. "We were losing all control on the war, so my lieutenant called it in. Not only did they bomb Atlanta, but it set off a chain reaction for other cities too."

And there it was, just a few words to cause whatever Smantha had for this to be over to dwindle and fade into nothingness. The military was supposed to be powerful, protect the citizens and fight against the enemy. She knew almost nothing of the virus, instead how it would completely creates monsters out of people. If that virus had managed to make the militairy commit such acts as a last resort, how powerful was it actually? Did this mean they had to fend for themselves?

They were all questions that didnt have answers, and instead they only turned into dust.

Her body was shaking, her brain trying to comphrend that today could've been the last day of society. "How did you get out?" Her voice was wavering.

Nathan looked back at her, contemplating what to say. There was a lot he could've said, too painful to resurface. "Surviving," He finally answered, turning to the Asian with a growing grin. "This dude was freaking out in a pizza car with those things trying to get in, his name is Glenn."

Carl was intrested. "You deliver pizzas?" He asked.

"Did." Glenn corrected, a blush creeping up to his cheeks.

A smirk tugged Samantha's lips. "Might as well get his autograph, midget. Glenn was a hero." Both Carl and Sophia laughed at Glenn's blush darkening.

Shane was running a hand through his dark roots. "We were planning on going to that quarry a few miles away from here," He spoke, the leadership heavy on his shoulders. "We think it's safer to move once sunlight hits."

Nathan wasn't keen on this idea, his head shaking and his hair bouncing. "It doesn't matter, it's unsafe either away. From what me and him had seen," Glenn and Nathan exchanged a knowing glance, the memories of bloodshed behind their eyes. "The quarry is our best bet and we need to go there now. Did you not hear those gunshots?"

Dale was on the same page. "He's right," The older man agreed. "Whatever is happening, its unprediable. Those things can show up at any moment they want."

"I don't wanna sleep with one eye open tonight." Lori chimed in.

"Shane," Samantha pulled her brother's attention towards him, the two siblings different shades of eyes locking onto one another. She shared so many similarities with their late mother, her eyes also the same green as their father. She was a mixture of both their parents, and for a second - Shane thought he was truly looking at them.

Shane sighed, knowing that her protection was always his first priority - his sister, his responsibility after all. So, in conclusion, he gave into her pleas.

Samantha let out a breath of air that she didn't know that she was holding, her shoulders shaking in relief.

"Well, let's get this dysfunctional family on the road." Nate clasped his hands together, finding his own comment to be the joke of the century. Nobody laughed.

Samantha watched as her brother climbed into his jeep and slid on his police cap, but her attention soon trailed down to his shirt and noticed how miss buttoned they were, as if he had buttoned them in a frantic state.

Her suspicions churned again.

Shane felt her eyes burning holes into the back of his head and turned, his head cocked to the side. "What?"

"Were you in some kind of rush?" She asked with a questioning eyebrow raised, arms crossing over her chest.

"Damn, are you interrogating me Detective Walsh?" Shane sarcastically retorted, a wry smirk on his lips.

Samantha opened her mouth to speak, but was unable to let the words fall out.

She has never been a stupid girl. She was smart, and she had always been quick to place the pieces of a puzzle together, but was it wise to ignore the obvious?

When Shane spoke again, Samantha never let the words roll off her tongue.

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟnote

welcome to the brand new, revamped chapters of Inferno! I've worked so hard on this (took me 3 weeks holy crap) but i hope you guys like this little 2.0.
now since it is edited, some of the inline comments have been sadly removed, so please feel free to comment and give me reviews. I really love them, because believe me, I read all of them.
as always, stay golden chickadees!

words ; 2790
edited ; ✔️