The Dead World/Issue 60

''Waking up to hear the camp under attack, Natasha sighed and rubbed her head not bothering to worry and go out to help, she was used to attacks and she knew what was going to happen. The group she was with was going to die and she would be left alone AGAIN. The screams from group members and the sound of ripping flesh soon confirmed this...''

''Eventually getting up off the group leader's bed, she reached over and grabbed her Colt Detective Special before getting dressed, finally slipping on her jacket, ready to leave. Opening her tent, Natasha looked around and saw what she usually woke up to.''

Death

''Soon she had caught the attention of nearby zombies and sighed at this. However she didn't raise her gun and instead ran towards the woods, aware of the fact members of the group she had been part of were calling for her help. She didn't stop though, all she cared about was her survival, she knew they would be the same if they were in her position. She was just lucky enough that she wasn't where they were.''

''Running through the woods quickly, Natasha dodged zombies from nearly every turn she made and realized that she was very lucky to survive because it was quite a big herd for their small camp. Reaching the nearby road, Natasha done a quick turn around and noticed the herd had failed to follow her to where she was so she judged that she was alright and looked around to see what she could do.''

It was dark so she couldn't see much but she was aware that there was a load of cars around so that made her put her guard up instantly, a load of cars meant a load of zombies.

''However with further investigation of the cars she came to a quick conclusion, the cars were full of supplies. Smiling to herself she tried to open the closest one and was in luck when it opened.''

''Reaching in she soon found a crowbar which she looked at but shrugged and chucked it behind her somewhere. She was never good at taking zombies on at close quarters so there wasn't much point in having it.''

''Biting her lip, she cursed as she couldn't find anything so she reached around for the light and thankfully found it before turning it on. Unfortunately though when she did an undead face suddenly came into view and snarled at her making her yelp and moved out of the car tripping up in the process.''

''Panicking, Natasha began crawling away before trying to stand up but her leg was starting to hurt her painfully at landing the wrong way. Biting her lip so much that it was surely bleeding, she grabbed the nearest car and used it as support to get up.''

''However as soon as she got up, she found herself face to face with a zombie and let out a scream as it pushed her against another car trying to bite into her neck but she used all her strength to hold it away. She knew this would be no use though, she had no weapon to defend herself except for her gun which was currently holstered and she couldn't get as well as the fact she couldn't even see so she prepared for the worse.''

''When she spotted another zombie stumbling over out of the corner of her eye, she knew that it was all over and said a quick prayer. Although when she finished said prayer an arrow went flying straight through the zombie about to bite into her neck and she turned to see...her hero.''

''Hidden in darkness, he wielded a crossbow and looked dark and scruffy reminding her of the "knights in shining armor" you read about in fairytales. She smiled inwardly as she took it all in, maybe she wasn't done for after all.''

Sitting against the wall silently, Anthony took a glance over to Natasha who was currently laying next to him resting because she hadn't woke up from her wound yet.

He had successfully stopped the bleeding and covered it up which was a surprise but he'd seen Karen do it on Daniel before she he guessed that he knew enough to save Natasha's life. All he had to do now though was wait for her to wake up.

Sighing, Anthony shook his thoughts out of his head as he remembered things that had happened at the start of the apocalypse. However he couldn't help but think about it ever since Natasha had told him she was pregnant.

Closing his eyes, Anthony bashed his head against the wall a little as he blamed himself for this whole situation. He had got them trapped in that small warehouse, he had let her drink a lot and then open the door to find Riley's lot and he had got her shot killing her baby when he didn't reveal any information.

Bringing his knees up to his chest he heard her groaning and watched as she slowly started to get up before he told her not to. Getting up was the last thing she wanted to do as she might reopen her wound.

"w-what happened?" Natasha asked groggily as she looked up to him moving so she was laying on her back.

"Riley....shot you in the stomach, I patched you up" Anthony replied looking away as she felt down to her stomach and let out a small sigh tears at her eyes as she thought of her lost unborn baby.

Looking up to him again she saw he was looking away guiltily so she reached up and ran her hand up and down his arm to comfort him causing him to turn around and see her give him a small smile.

"its not your fault...none of this was" she whispered and he was about to argue but when he saw the look in his eye she knew he wasn't the one she blamed and he shouldn't either. If he continued to blame himself he would be moping for ages and that wasn't what he had to do...what he had to do was help everyone else.

Reaching to her hand, Anthony grabbed it and gave it a little squeeze and sharing her smile with his own while nodding. The two then went into a comfortable silence hand in hand until Natasha finally broke it by speaking.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you and everything" Natasha said softly and Anthony chuckled.

"its ok, I need a good shouting at once in a while" Anthony joked giving her a smile which she returned knowing he was doing his best to cheer her up and suddenly she had a thought, if they were going to die, she had to tell him something.

"I don't know what your life was like before all this but...your a good man Anthony and never mind what you go through your always thinking of others and trying to help them, I want to thank you for that, there are not many people like that left in the world"

Hearing this, Anthony smiled and nudged her a little as she moved position to sit next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

"not really, inside I'm plotting to take over the world and everything" Anthony stated causing her to give a little laugh before wincing as her side gave a little sting due to her wounds.

"yeh? what you going to do?" Natasha asked smiling as she looked up to him eyes sparkling with amusement and Anthony understood, she wanted to have one last laugh before they died and he was happy to comply.

"well, maybe I should use evil but cute bunnies? fool everyone before attacking" Anthony wondered and they both laughed, their true laugh for the first time in what felt like forever and it made them happy despite being minutes away from death.

"isn't that from some game? I think I've played it..." Natasha responded thinking and Anthony chuckled at the thought of her playing video games and she caught on with this.

"what? you think I didn't play video games?" Natasha asked playfully and Anthony grinned turning to look at her properly.

"na, I just find the thought of you playing them funny, bet you was a laugh while playing them" Anthony stated and Natasha blushed running a hand through her hair.

"yeh I used to be shouting and everything, I was like a little kid if you let me play one" Natasha responded and Anthony couldn't help but laugh again picturing her doing this and she soon joined in on this laugh.

After a few moments of having fun the two went into silence again until Natasha again broke it by giving his shoulder a little nudge and speaking.

"its true what I said though, your a good man, one of the nicest people I've ever met...don't ever change?" Natasha asked and Anthony was about to chuckle but when he turned to look at her he saw her face was all serious causing him to sigh and nod his head, squeezing her hand.

"I've already made that promise" Anthony told her causing her to tilt her head curiously but he just smiled "and I ain't ever going to break it".

''Sitting on his sofa, Anthony held his beautiful girlfriend, Clara in his arms while softly rubbing her slightly expanded belly where they're child laid. The two were currently watching TV, some program that had come on. However they both knew they were both bored. Running her finger up and down his arm, Clara giggled childishly before speaking "you know, sperm apparently helps the baby when its inside the belly" she stated causing Anthony to chuckle as he turned around and kissed her.''

However before he could speak there was static on the TV and looking up to it, the couple saw the program was gone and static was on the TV for moments before a news reporter suddenly appeared instead.

"whatever you was watching we do apologies but this message is being said all around the world by many different reporters and news stations and it is very important" the reporter stated and he looked very out of breath as he and the camera man seemed to moving away from chaos that was happening at some hospital which Anthony soon recognized as the downtown hospital.

"We all should know by now, that around the world in all cities and some towns that for the past week, people have been constantly taken into hospital with all the same disease coming to a number of over 1-2 billion people sick" the reporter continued leading Clara to look at Anthony scared but all he did was look at the TV.

"This morning on 1st March 2013, all the patients suddenly died, however that wasn't the end of it as at around lunch time they all suddenly CAME BACK and are now running around biting people and killing them" the reporter said as there was a load of gun fire coming from nearby them causing them to move from the area they were standing.

''Once they had reached a safe enough distance showing that behind them there was a load of police man with riot shields looking like they were trying to push crazy people biting at the shields back into the hospital, the reporter began speaking again "that's not the worst of it all, the people who are bitten come back as some kind of monster and join the others trying to bite more people" the reporter frantically"

"honey-" Clara began but Anthony squeezed her hand to stop her from panicking and soon enough it worked so she settled back down into his embrace before they continued watching the reporter as he spoke.

"we're getting reports that this is happening all around the world but don't worry the army is going to the major cities to deal with the situations there so they can move all people without the disease to safety and then focus on cleaning up everywhere else" the reporter explained but his face told the couple that what he was saying wouldn't work.

''Sharing a look, Anthony got up to the door and started locking the door while Clara continued to watch the reporter explain "the army is telling people to go to their homes, barricade yourselves in and wait for any news of the situation ending, ok?" the reporter said looking directly to the camera, however behind him the policeman screamed as the monsters pushed past them and began tearing them apart, one running over and attacking the reporter right in front of the screen.''

Gasping in shock, Clara held her hand to her mouth when the TV went back to static and it was all silent until they heard a explosion from outside and opening a curtain to look out the window, Anthony saw fire coming from the direction of the hospital and they shared a look before Anthony spoke "go get some rest sweetie, I'll make sure nothing happens" he said and she nodded, getting up slowly hand on belly while walking to their room.

Taking one last look outside, Anthony saw people running around the streets, some people being shot down by the police and military as they had just arrived, Anthony guessed this was happening everywhere else and sighed sadly before closing the curtains and beginning to push the sofa back against the door, preparing for the worse.

After a couple more hours of being alone, the door to the room Anthony and Natasha was in opened and in stepped Riley grinning to them with his revolver surprisingly holstered as he walked over to them.

"alright I have an announcement which is quite surprising" Riley stated looking down to them but all they did in return was glare up at him so he shrugged and continued, used to them giving him the silent treatment.

"ONE of you is going to be set free so you can go back to your little group so you can tell them what is going on" Riley said but the two knew there was a catch as well as the fact neither of them was going to abandon the other "but it must be only ONE" Riley said clapping his hands together.

"neither us are leaving" Anthony stated boldly looking him right in the eye but he just chuckled and gestured to Natasha who was shaking her head and holding Anthony's head.

"looks like she's disagreeing" Riley stated and Anthony turned to look at her confused but before he could ask she answered.

"go Anthony, warn the group these guys are here and tell Will I love him" Natasha stated but Anthony began to protest so she pushed him away forcefully holding back the tears "GO!!! I cant go myself due to this wound so I'm trusting you to do it" she continued and Anthony sighed bowing his head but nodding giving Riley one last glare before exiting the room with one of the bandits.

Finally, Anthony reached the outside and took one last look at the base where the bandits were currently watching him before he began to run down the streets heading towards the refugee center, not once considering that some bandits might be following him back....

For a few minutes, Natasha and Riley just looked to each other in silence before there was a knock on the door and Riley's grin widened without even turning around as Leon came in with a zombie on a litter grabber to hold it at a distance.

This caused to Natasha instantly panicked but before she could move herself, Riley dived forward and grabbed her by her hair, forcefully pulling her to a standing position.

Letting out a yelp as she winced due to her wound reopening spilling blood on the floor she caught a look of regret on Leon's eyes and she saw he was afraid of standing up to Riley and she understood.

However this didn't stop her and she began kicking resulting in her kicking the zombie in the chest and hitting Riley in the knees as well desperately doing everything trying to get free.

Despite this though Riley held on to her tight and pushed her towards the zombie until she was just out of its range while Riley also made sure that her neck was open for biting but she could barely tell.

She was in so much pain through the open wound, the grip and all the other pain Riley had caused her all she noticed was she was in a dying moment.

"now this is how its going to work....your going to tell us how many group members are in your group or this zombie is going to have his next meal, YOU" Riley stated and Natasha quickly shared a look with Leon who mouthed for her to do what he says with an apologetic look but she shook her head turning to face Riley face on.

"go to hell" Natasha told him and it was obvious by Riley's expression he was pissed at her for standing up to him, his grin was gone...replaced by pure anger and it was the last thing she saw before he pushed her towards the zombie that was simultaneously freed from the litter grabber....

''sitting on their bed in the refugee centre, Natasha and Will laughed as they looked over pictures which the group had recently taken with a newly found camera. Picking up one, the two saw that they were kissing with a load of passion near naked and laughed even more remembering that as the time, Maria walked in on them about to have sex.''

"oh my god that was so embarrassing" Natasha stated and Will nodded in agreement before nudging her playfully on the shoulder.

"good thing your a natural with kids and handled it" Will stated giving her a suggestive smile which caused her to blush and push him away playfully remembering her sleep talking when she had a dream of the two marrying and having a child.

''"it wasn't funny, that dream was meant to be private!!" Natasha exclaimed but all Will did was chuckle as he pulled her to him which she accepted before he began kissing her neck.''

''"oh come on it was cute...like its cute when you snore" Will stated and Natasha pouted and pushed him again shouting that she does not snore. Only for Lewis who had been walking down the corridor to bluntly tell her that she did causing Will to laugh again and Natasha to blush even more.''

"ok, ok I snore" Natasha admitted while picking up a cute picture of the two of them acting silly on camera making her smile before she picked up one of the whole group together in the living room making her smile even more which Will made note of and cuddled her kissing her cheek.

''"you think things will ever get back to normal?" Natasha said looking to him and he gave her a smile which she returned not being to help it when he smiled at her while he just playfully nudged her.''

"yeh its going to be you and me in a mansion, maybe with two children" Will said and Natasha soon realized he was making fun of her dream and began to get up causing Will to pout but she just laughed and kissed his cheek.

''"I gotta go, I'm on watch remember?" Natasha said and Will chuckled before nodding.''

''"obviously, I'm the one who wrote the schedule, remember?" Will said causing Natasha to stick out her tongue before slipping on her jacket and exiting the room giving him a playful wink as she went.''

''A few moments after she had gone, Will got all the pictures back together and put them in a bag where they would be safe and got up to put them in a draw. However when he opened the draw he saw something he had been hiding from her and smiled as he put the pictures down and picked up the small box.''

''Opening it up, a ring came into his view which had been his wife's but he couldn't let it go and smiled when he took it out and looked at it. He had been thinking about proposing to Natasha recently and knew by her dreams she had been thinking about it too. Putting it back into the box and then the box into the draw, he put the pictures over it before closing the draw entirely.''

Maybe one day the two of them could get married, maybe one day soon....

Walking down the streets of George Town with a fast pace, Will held his loaded crossbow in his arms as he kept an eye out for zombies or the bandits. Anthony had got back to the Centre and told the group what had happened so Will had come to rescue Natasha alone for two reasons. One half the group still hadn't got back and two, he didn't want anyone else in danger.

However just as he turned the corner which was still a few streets away from where Anthony had told him the Bandits base was, he saw who he was looking for looking down at a car just standing oddly but Will didn't notice this, all he noticed was it was her jacket and her gun holstered at her side strangely.

"Natasha!!" Will called out jogging towards her, however he soon skidded to a halt when he realized that she wouldn't understand him when she turned around causing him to try and hold back the tears.

When she had turned around he saw her eyes had gone cloudy grey, her face was full of bruises as well as rips on her clothes every where else. She had a big bite mark out of her neck as well as a gun shot wound to the stomach causing blood to spill down her while she just growled and raised her arms, stumbling towards him.

He realized why her gun was holstered to her side, it was to taunt him, to make sure he knew it was here...it was a message from Riley and his bandits.

Walking towards the front door of his house eagerly awaiting to see his wife and daughter again after getting the weapons from his neighbor, Will noticed that the door was open slightly making him confused as he picked up his walking pace.

Soon, Natasha picked up her pace and stumbled quickly towards Will causing him to on instinct raise his crossbow, however he couldn't bring himself to shoot and instead a single tears went down his face.

Finally reaching the door, Will slowly opened it wide enough for him to step in but when he poked his head through followed by the rest of him the sight he saw made him raise his hand to his mouth while a few tears began to fall down his face.

Closing his eyes tightly as a few more tears fell down his face, Will tried to block her monster like growls out of his head as he finally managed to get the guts to put his finger near the trigger, yet still couldn't pull the trigger.

''Entering his house fully, the two zombies currently eating at his dead wife looked towards him and lost interest in her and instead got up and began to stumble towards him causing him to instinctively grab the crossbow he had taken from his neighbors weapons and raise it towards their heads. However before he fired he noticed in the living room a third one was finishing up eating his baby daughter causing him to cry even more as he gripped his crossbow tight.''

Opening his eyes again, Will looked into the cloudy grey ones of Natasha as she continued stumbling towards him before he took a deep breath and finally pulled the trigger sending the arrow, in what felt like slow motion, flying through the air before it eventually got stuck into Natasha's undead forehead.

''Looking towards the three undead in the room, Will's sadness quickly turned to anger as he raised his crossbow and shot an arrow through the first one's right eye before kicking the now dead corpse to the side so he could whack the next one around the head with the weapon sending it flying across the room without the rest of the body. After this, Will walked over to the remaining zombie who had eaten everything but a couple bits of meat of his baby and got his knife out before stabbing it straight through the head.''

Sighing, Will lowered his crossbow to the ground and tried to resist crying as he looked around to make sure he was alone before walking up to Natasha's corpse and kneeling down in front of it, taking the arrow out of her forehead.

''Taking the dagger out of the zombies skull, Will cried a few tears over his dead baby before going over and stomping the head in of the still moving zombie head repeatedly. After a few moments of this, he walked over to his wife's corpse and fell to his knees, letting him cry a lot as he took her in his arms "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" Will said repeatedly to her as he rocked her body and himself, never having cried so much in his life.''

Taking Natasha's body in his arms, Will rocked her gently as all of the revelations came flooding into his head and he couldn't help it....he burst out crying, holding her close to him as he repeatedly said one sentence....

"I'm sorry"