• mary, i was wondering if you wanted to go to the spring festival with me said travis the spring festival is held on the first 3 days of spring when children become the age of marriage which is 21 come with each other and will be put in a bond together. the bonding lasts about the same time as the festival does. all my life i wanted travis to ask me to the festival when we were both ready to be married i finally got his attention. i-i id love to go with you travis! said mary just as travis was about to reply the alarm went off. the alarm ment that the gate had been opened. all i could think about was mother she always stood near the gate hoping that her husband would come back alive and not infected. but i know mom too well i know she would go so close to the gate that the infected would get her in an instant. i know she would get infected. there are only to ways to kill someone who is changing into an infected or who already is infected. either to decapitate them or to let them be on of the infected that has been among us since the return. i ran off hoping mother would be fine that she didnt get hurt but how could i be right its only 1 in million that she will survive. when i got there most of my friends had fallen prey to the infected some of lay on the floor dead. i kept on shouting for my mother but i had to save myself as well. when i got to the platforms people had filled most of them i was able to get on one of the platforms. i stood there watching my friends get eaten and killed by the infected. i saw travis on one of the platforms looking at me i knew he couldnt look at me in the eyes he only looked down at his feet. i hoped that my mother had made it alive and unharmed. like most times im wrong..... my mother did get hurt she had got bitten by one of the infected if only i was there to tell her not to go to close to the fence. john my brother told me that i had to go see the sisters and say goodbye to our mother for one last time before she changed. before i went to go see the sisters i went on the highest hill that i could find and looked at the village to see how far the forest stretched and to see if i ever might get a glimpse of the ocean. when i was done looking at the forest and village i went to the sisters home.there they greeted me with warm welcoming smiles. they told me i could see my mother but i had to keep my distance just in case. when i saw my mother she was tied to the wall with a rope. i stood there for a second then ran into her arms she held me like i was a child again. i started to cry for i knew that my mother would be left in the forest with other infected friends and family. she whispered to me and said to me mary dont forget about the ocean i know its out there somewhere. never throw away your dreams mary. her voice sounded so soothing like as if the gate had not opened and that i was at home getting ready for the festival. i knew i had to tell her that i would be getting married soon. so i did. mother i wanted you to know that even when your gone i want you to know that your little girl is growing up because she'll be getting married soon. i only wanted you to know that so i would remember you before you change. oh my little mary that is wonderful! it reminds me of me and your father....... we loved each other so much but when he went into the forest that one day........ i somehow knew that he wouldnt come back to us. maybe ill see him in the forest. mary i want you to remember these stories that i tell you so you can pass them down to your children. and if you ever see the ocean tell your children about your life in the forest before you ever saw the ocean. i spent another hour in there with mother hugging me tight and telling me stories when john came into the room. mother smiled at him her eyes gleaming with happiness. john! said mother sounding like she was going to cry i love you so much john. i know you do mother and i love you too and ill miss you when your gone. oh john why dont you take mary home i wont be this way very soon...... before me and john left john gave mother a tight hug and said goodbye to her on last time. she told him about the ocean before the sisters told us we had to leave and we might be able to come tomorrow if mother had not fully changed.i cried myself to sleep that night. i missed my mother humming in the morning. i missed father, life mightve been easier for us with him mother mightve still been here looking at the stars while we slept. the festival was tomorrow and i had to get ready. the one thing that i know about the infected was that they never lose their memory so father would remember mother and mother will remember us. life felt more of a rush. everyone was moving fast putting up decoratins. almost every girl that i knew swarmed me with make-up and clothing. i never knew this was such an important day to everyone. i had to go and get into my wedding gown. i mostly hated wearing the heels they made my feet hurt alot and i was off balance in them.note to self:practice wearing heels. travis said i looked great in my gown. that made me feel happy after what happened yesterday. just thinking about it made me sad so i tried not to think about it too much. one of the elder sisters came. she told us this is the begining of our bond. tomorrow me and travis will live together in a one-room cottage unil we start a family that will be our home for now. later that evening i went and sat on one of the hills there i found milinda. she was happy that i was getting married.i asked milinda what ever happened to her parents yesterday. she said that they died they fell prey to the infected they didnt change but died.i knew i had to comfort her so i did she started to cry so i began to tell her stories about the ocean.this was what i told her.the ocean was something wonderful it was untouched by the infected. there may be life there wondering if life is here in the forest. people would come there to see the ocean to play in its water.althogh the water is undrinkable it is a home to so much life. you were able to fish and then eat the fish you caught when you wanted to. my story seemed to comfort her so i continued. milinda...what would you do if you ever saw the ocean would you run into its waters and play in it or would you look for life that may be nearby? she answered in only a whisper that it made it hard for me to hear her.she told me that she would look there for any life. i realized that she stopped crying after i asked her a question. we both knew we had to go home and get ready for the festival before night came. i kept on repeating the stories mother told me so i wouldnt forget them. the next morning life felt slow. everyone seemed to do more things carefully. i met travis on one of the hills. we only stared at the forest barely talking to each other it was almost as if me and travis were in a different world. finally travis spoke. he said what if our world didnt have the infected. would our lives be different? we both lost someone who we loved......but you lost almost all of your family......you only have your brother.......while i still have my mother and father but i dont have my brother like you do. if you lived near the ocean would you wander around wondering what lives in the forest just as we live in the forest wondering who lives near the ocean. dont you wish that we could live with no worries mary? yeah i think life wouldve been better for everyone we wouldve never lost our friends and family to the infected. i think we should both go see whats happening down at the village. yeah i think the festivals about to begin so we better get ready. when i got into my gown and had all my make-up on i went outside to meet travis and the sisters with the whole entire village behind them. i felt my cheeks get hot as i saw travis grin and wink at me. after the elder of the sisters bonded us me and travis went into our little cottage i went into the bathroom to change out of my gown and into my regular clothing. travis was out of his clothing and in his normal clothing. we went to sleep together i felt so calm when im around him. finally its the last day of the festival and the bonding. all the sisters helped with the bonding this time. i felt so happy i wanted to tell my mother about this maybe i could see her through the gates but im afarid that she might bite me so i wont tell her. im still amazed i still know my mothers stories. after me and travis were bonded together the worst thing happened......the gate had been opened! everyone ran scraming trying to get to the platforms while fighting off the infected. travis packed food and weapons just in case we had to leave the village but no one ever left the village in years. the platforms were all full travis and i had no were to go so we started to run to the gate. as we were running a child fell and seemed like she hurt herself travis picked up the girl and ran with her in his arms. i heard someone call my name i turned around and saw john running with his wife and child. we slowed down for them to catch up with us. i was still in my wedding dress so it was really hard to run in heels. good thing i packed some regular shoes. i changed out of my heels as we rested for a little while then we started to walk. i looked back at my little village the gate was closed but the infected were trying to open it. i noticed a little crack in the gate and realized that they were pushing the gate open since there was so much weight the gate was breaking. i knew i had to tell everyone to run so i did. everyone we have to run now the gate its been cracked. the infected have gotten more strength we should hurry!! what do you mean....... shes right we have to go theres to many to fight off. said travis we all started to run when i could hear the moans of the infected wanting our flesh i couldnt help but turn my head back to see if the infected had broken the gate open. when i looked back i saw a swarm of the infected pour out of the village some of the people near the gate were still alive and began running towards us when they caught to us they told us that the infected had grown. my friend milinda had made it with out getting bitten or scratched. she hugged me tight and told me that she saw me and travis running towards the gate and decided to follow us too. milinda i asked my voice sounded shakey and scared did you see my mother? yeah she seemed to be the same just as if she were to be alive.....she told me about a village there were no infected there which is odd. said milinda well we dont wanna be infected so lets keep walking you know so we dont get eaten or anything. i looked at travis and realized who the child he was holding he was holding anna marie. she was only eight or so she seemed awake so travis set her down for a while. she seemed confused but then she saw milinda and me and similed at us. by an hour or so we found a gate it had letters on it that went like this:II i kept thinking it was a code so i tried to remember it. travis went to pull the lever to let the gate open so we could go in. i was the first one to enter the gate it as jst like my village except that there were shops and very nice houses. i didnt know why this village had shops and very nice houses but i assumed they mustve traded things and got very rich from it. travis and i found a white house that was very huge. we enterd the huge house.while travis was looking in the living room i felt like going up stairs to see what i would find. i enterd one of the rooms and saw a shelve of books. there were so many of them id never seen that many books before so i looked at what each book was about. none of them seemed to intrist me until i saw an album of photos. i never seen photos of other people before so i looked at each one carefully. when i was done i explored some more until i came to a door. on the other side of the door i heard a baby cry for its mother. i slowly enterd the room i looked in and saw a baby i walked inside looking at everything and stopped next to the babys crib. i was amazed how the baby wasent hurt or infected. i carefully grabbed the baby from its crib and took it down stairs to show travis what i discoverd. the baby seemed hungry and only a few months old as soon as i came back downstais travis stared at what was in my arms. he was silent and finally spoke and said were did you find that infant at mary? i told him i found it in the babys nusery....i felt sorry for the child so i brought her downstairs should we tell the others about this? no,not yet.....the baby looks hungry and seems like she wants something to eat. like what? i asked not sure what to give her something small and easy to chew like..... jam! he shouted happily. he handed me the jam and a spoon so i wouldnt have to cram it into her mouth with my hands. i fed the baby on the front porch so the baby could get some fresh air. i saw milinda walking up towards our house and waved to me. i waved back and told her to come over to me. as she walked she saw the baby and stopped for a little and then kept on walking. when she came to me she asked if the baby was mine and travis's? i told her and and that i found her in the house crying. we sat there in silence until the baby finally fell asleep.i went inside to go put the baby in her crib i stared at her for a moment then i finally knew what i was going to name, her i was going to name her rose. i went back outside to go talk to milinda. when i came outside she looked sad. i asked her why and told me that anna marie was very ill. i told her that i had to see her until i knew what type of illness she had. i went with milinda to go see anna marie. when i saw anna marie she looked very sick. her face was sore and she had i high fever. i told her that she needed a wet towel and some medicine. i went back to my house and grabbed a towel and wetted it in the bathroom sink then i grabbed some medicine to help her with her sores on her face. i checked to see if the baby woke up yet luckily she didnt so i went to milindashouse, i went to anna maries room and putted the wet towel on her forehead. i rubbed the medicine on anna maries face and told milinda that she should wake up soon. to our luck she woke up in an hour. her fever went down and her face wasent sore anymore.i went back to my house and saw rose was up. she smiled at me she looked so adorable to me. i took her out of her crib and carried her downstairs. travis smiled at her. i told him that i named her rose. he didnt mind her being called rose. travis seemed to get attached to rose now cause he was calling her rosey. i carried rose to milindas house so anna marie and rose could play together,milinda and i talked for a while we watched anna marie and rose play.rose was getting much bigger from the day that i found i sometimes wondered who took care of her and why she was left here with nobody to take care of her,i knew that they left her her on accident the mother and father probably sad that they left their daughter here alone with no one to help her... i had to find out how i was going to take rose with me if the infected ever came here. when dusk approched i told milinda that i should take rose home to eat and go to bed. she thought the same thing herself. wheni woke up the next morning i heard milinda scream, i got out of bed and looked out of my window to see what was wrong to my surprise the infected and finally reached the town everyone that were asleep i woke them up and told them that the infected had reached our village,we had to escape somehow but the infected came out of our only exit... TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2 (hopefully sweatdrop )