CONSCIOUS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Tori's Mind Field

Chapter 2

Moonshine

Chapter 3

The Stalker

Chapter 4

Sleep Walkers

Chapter 5

The Cure?

There is always a way to die, but what if

you could come back?

What would you do if the world you came

back to was replaced with

the stuff of your nightmares?

Tori's Mine Field

'7 AM, Time to get up already...' Tori thought as she

rolled over and pressed dismiss on her mini alarm

clock. 'Can't wait 'til I can stay in one place...'

With a gusty sigh she slid into her morning

routine of stretching, praying, washing up and

packing her belongings. All while speaking into her

trusted voice recorder.

'No where I have gone has stayed safe for long,'

Tori said aloud. Speaking into her recorder helped

her maintain her sanity and made her feel less alone.

' I feel like they're following me. Do I have a scent?'

Tori Rainey 5'7" of power, was ex CIA, ex Hired

Gun after society fell, ex wife, mother, sister, friend

and pet owner. A Taurus born May 7. She was a deep

rooted Native American woman who knows how to

keep it together... Most of the time.

Shaking away her memories Tori packed her

things and checked the time. Only after her

morning prayer did she look out of the side pannel

window of the old mobilehome she was camped out in. The

coast was clear, save for a lone raccoon checking

the bushes for blackberries.

Tori was happy the animals were unaffected by

the change, though she did expect them to be.

They aren't susceptible to the infection the way

humans are. Seeing the slender animal made her

tearful with memories of Stacy, her loyal and

strong golden retriever.

Early in the change it was widely believed that

dogs could be infected. Tori sadly learned two

years later that that belief was untrue, but she had

already put her down. Stacy had been bitten while

trying to help Tori and her family escape their

home. In an attempt to crawl into a neighbors

garage Stacy was bitten on her hind right leg and

was in so much pain.

Tori couldn't bare to see her suffer, so she put

her down on the spot. She was able to shoot the

zombie who bit her dog and seven more before

they were over ran. The hardest thing she ever

had to do was kill her husband and daughter after

they were already dead.

'I miss you Stacy, I miss my family!' she shouted

internally. Her escape was only possible because

of their sacrifice. Sobbing internally at the

memory of them chasing her, Tori shook her head

and slowly opened the side panel door.

Exhaustion was still nestled in her joints,

they made popping sounds as she wiped the

tears from her eyes. The first tentative step she

made outside the mobilehome was greeted with

a hearty dose of regret.

Tori's Heart sank into her steel toed boots. She

saw it before it saw her( thank God in Heaven).

The zombie stood in the lawn across the street

from the lot she was parked in. Slowly swaying

and staring into the sky. Her clothes were dirty and

tattered, and her left hand looked mangled with the

middle finger barely hanging on.

Tori wasn't taking any chances. As slowly as she

crept out she crept right back in. Tori didn't know

if the little girl was alone and she wasn't

prepared for a battle.

Immediately after the door slipped closed the

zombie began moving and behaving strangely.

Searching its body for holes and being terrified

of its reflection.

Tori had no idea how to proceed as she

watched the little girl.

Option A: book it. Run as fast as she could and

get to a new safe space.

Downside: Nowhere was actually safe and she

had no clue as to which direction to head in .

Now wasn't the best time to send out her mini

drone.

Option B: Fight the zombie, put it down and escape

to a car.

Downside : She hadn't found a functioning car in

over three months.

The last time she saw a car it was careening down

the road toward her, and it didn't end so well for the

driver. Tori was able to jump out of the way before

the car could hit her, wrapping itself around a tree in

her wake.

She decided to go with Option C: Stay inside lock

and barricade herself inside as silently as possible.

Hopefully not alerting anyone or thing to her

presence in the process.

It took Tori fifteen minutes to create her makeshift

barricade. There wasn't much to work with inside the

small framed mobile home. It was no bigger than a

box truck, the cab was separate from the home of it.

'If I wanted to drive this thing I would have to go back

outside.' Tori thought. She didn't think that was the

wisest choice given her current predicament.

It had a bathroom fit with a toilet and walk in

shower. A kitchenette outfitted with a working gas

stove, sink, and small fridge. Whoever the owner was

took really good care of it, not a speck of dust in

sight.

There is a full size bed above the driving cab that

you have to climb a three step ladder to get to.While

laying in the bed Tori has an excellent view of the

street, thanks to the curtained perch. It wasn't much

but she loved the coziness of the little mobile

home.

After stacking everything she could find against the

door, she climbed up into the bed.

"what in the world is wrong with that thing?" Tori

asked the wind. She watched as the small zombie

dramatically threw itself onto the ground. The

strange behavior of the little girl was like ringing the

dinner bell. It was starting to look like a festival

outside.

A hulking male zombie with a snake tattoo across

its chest approached the little girl from behind.

Tori held her breath in fright and entertainment,

ready for the show to begin...

To be Continued...

...........

Thank you for reading the first chapter

of Conscious!!!

CHAPTERS UPLOADED

EVERY MONDAY @12 AM

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