The thrum of the helicopter propellers rips through the air. Gusts from the propellers slash me, my twin brother, and my father, as we all look up at it. It lands directly on the helipad, the man flying the helicopter gives us a wave for us to get on. Another man jumps out of the helicopter and comes running towards us, I recognize him, he's one of my father's co-workers, Reid Wallace.

Screams come from behind us before clanks of vials shatter across the roof. I look back and the doctors are getting ripped apart by the dead. Every vial spills onto the concrete roof. The dead's fingers dig into the doctor's flesh as their teeth sink deep into their necks. Their skin is ripped from their bones as blood spurs out and drenches their white coats. The doctor's face contorts into horrific strains as their screams carry across the skyscraper.

Father rushes me and my brother towards the helicopter, the backpacks we have on weighs us down. We run as fast as we can. Gunshots come from behind us. My brother yells for our father, I look back, my father's gun is raised and bullets come speeding out.

Reid picks up my brother as my brother struggles against him. Reid straps my brother into his seat as my brother screams for my father. Reid steps ahead of me, raises his gun and starts shooting at the dead. Father's and Wallace's bullets take down sprinter after sprinter. More and more of the sprinters come running out of the stairway. Reid puts his gun in his holster before picking me up and strapping me in.

I look past Reid to see father, he's shooting more and more, none of them are getting past him. The sprinters just keep falling to the pavement. The smell of the corpses wafts to the propellers and crashes into our noses. My heart pounds up into my throat watching my father.

"General! We gotta go!" Reid turns around and yells. "I'll cover you!"

Father falls back, he sprints to the helicopter, his backpack sways behind him as he runs. The dead charges at us behind father. Reid shoots down every sprinter in sight. Father jumps in. "Bring it up, Riggs!" Reid yells over the thrum of the propellers. The helicopter picks up off the ground. Father and Reid slam the doors shut behind them. More sprinters barrel out of the stairway, they all look up at us with ripped, bloody faces.

Father leans over to me and my brother as he huffs and puffs, "Are-are you two okay?"

I look up at him with wide eyes and nod.

My brother tears up, "Why-why did you do that? You could have died!" His voice cracks.

"I'm here now buddy, I am not going anywhere." Father's voice is barely audible over the whipping of the propellers.

I sit in silence.

__________

(6 months later)

"I-I can't move!" I struggle to move my leg underneath the rock roof debris. It feels as if my lower leg is on fire. Screams and the piercing sound of bullets along with the groans and moans of the dead ring in my ears. Shadows play in every corner of the room; this place was supposed to be safe. They said it was safe!

My brother tries to move the roof debris off of my leg as my father holds his gun in his hands. Father's head sways back and forth as his breathing becomes more and more shallow.

The doors shake and shutter from both sides of the room, screams grow louder and louder. "Father help me!" My brother tries to pull, push and lift the debris off of me as I try to move my leg out. Nothing is working. Tears start to brim my eyes.

I don't want to die.

"Revival, leave Neveah. We need to get out." Father's voice is cold and empty. My heart drops into the pit of my stomach. Is he going to leave me? I look at Revival and he tries even harder to remove the debris, and still nothing. "No! No! NO! Revival, come on! We need to leave." Father grabs Revival by his shoulder and pulls him away.

Revival takes father's hand and rips it away from him. "I am not leaving without Neveah!"

Father's eyes spark with fire before huffing and picking up Revival fire-man style, "You're coming regardless if you want to or not."

Revival struggles against father's grip, "Nev! Nev! I'll come back for you!"

Father walks off with Revival over his shoulder. He kicks out the window, the glass shatters and the moonlight shines through the black curtains. The night's cool air floods into the room. My heart beats against my chest like a drum. Everything starts to slow down.

He's leaving me. He's actually leaving me. He didn't even leave me a gun with a bullet. I struggle to get out. Tears brim my eyes as look back up. I reach out towards Revival, he reaches towards me. "I'll come back for you Nev!"

The door shutters as screams turn into growls. More of the dead are rising.

Father jumps out with Revival. It sounds as if father lands on the top of a vehicle before the revving of an engine takes over the silence outside. Loud, booming music then sends vibrations through the building from outside, they must be trying to draw out the dead.

Growling begins to fade behind the doors as the thudding steps of the dead are drawn towards the music. I keep quiet, waiting for all of the groans and footsteps to fade away.

-an hour later-

Once it's quiet, I try to get my leg out from the rubble. I pull, twist, squirm and try to push it off and still nothing. Nothing is happening. Tear stains stick to my face. I am going to die here. I know I am.

Footsteps come from outside of the door. I stop what I am doing. My heart jumps up into my throat as I grab a nearby rock. A shadow comes from underneath the door. I hold my rock ready to pound anything that comes near me. If I am going to be ripped apart, I am going to go down fighting.

The door handle slowly turns, the dead doesn't know how to turn door handles. They are smart, but not that smart. The door cracks open and the broken flashing lights of the hallway flicker into the room. I put my arm over my forehead and squint my eyes.

"Neveah?" The figure trips over the rubble. I recognize their voice, it's doctor Phoebe Larris. She closes the door behind her. "Where's your dad and brother?"

"Father left me. Rev couldn't fight against him, he put Rev on his shoulders and then-," I look down, "Rev said he would come back for me though."

Phoebe looks down at me, "We'll find them okay? I know where they are headed." She looks down at my leg, "You stuck?"

I nod as the pieces of my heart lie shattered on the floor. My father left me. Left me to die.

"I'm going to get you out of here and we are going to find them, okay?" Phoebe puts her hand on my shoulder, "We are. We are going to find them."

__________

(4 months later)

"Phoebe? Phoebe? Come on! Don't die on me! We still haven't found them yet!" She lies in a pool in her own blood. The corpse of the sprinter lays in the corner. I pick her up off the wooden floorboards. Her eyes are fading with every second that passes. "Phoebe, wh-where were they headed?"

She takes a shallow breath, "Georgia. The state of Geor-." Her eyes glaze over and her mouth hangs open.

I take my dagger from my belt, I look up as tears stream down my face. "I'm sorry Phoebe." I push the dagger through her skull to make sure she doesn't turn. "You deserved better."

-3 hours later-

I cover Phoebe's body with a white blanket before pulling her out into the makeshift grave I dug. I lower her in the grave and begin to bury her. The sun sets on the horizon as the strong leafy trees tower over us. Pinks and reds bleed together in the sky as a couple of stars peek through the colours. Yellow flowers blossom beside her gave, they were her favourite colour.

I pat down the grave and put a stick with a yellow ribbon to mark it. I stand over it, "I know I said this more than enough, but, thank-you. Thank you for everything. From fixing my leg, to telling me jokes, to giving me hope. Just, thank-you."

I take a deep breath and head back to the cabin. I will stay here for tonight and head for Georgia tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be the first day of my new beginning.