You’ve been missing for 5 days. I have the television on nonstop, waiting to hear a report that someone found your body, cold and lifeless, in a ditch somewhere. I hadn’t slept since you left that night… I searched. I searched everyday, everywhere. But then I started to feel it more and more, somewhere in my stomach, or maybe in my heart but somehow, part of me knew you were dead. I lay here in bed, eyes glued to the screen, mind swarming with thoughts like mosquitoes buzzing around inside my head. I think of a million different ways you could have died. I couldn’t bear to talk to your parents. They’re probably going through their own mourning period. The police were no help either; they said they have too much to deal with right now without having to worry about “some stupid runaway.” But I knew you wouldn’t run away… not from me. And the demons you lived with could not be outrun. But I tried so hard to protect you from them…

Ever since the day they started pumping that damned chemical into the air, weird things started happening. They called it the “Atmosphere Rejuvenation Experiment.” Some scientists from god-knows-where developed a chemical that was supposed to fix the holes in our atmosphere made from pollution. Our pollution. It’s also supposed to cleanse the air of the kind of bacteria that spreads illness and disease. I don’t know if it does, but honestly, I could care less. What I do care about is the fact that you’re missing, and quite possibly dead. I will not be satisfied until I find you, either way.

The news suddenly cuts off one of their stories for some “Breaking News.” I turn it up.

“Earlier today at Rex Hospital, something very strange happened to one of the elderly patients who died of heart failure at 4 o’clock this morning. Let’s go to Sydney Phillips for more details.”

“Yes, Claire, something odd and rather disturbing has happened here today. Dr. Clement, the attendant taking care of 98 year old Wallace Margot, claims that his patient had been declared dead around 4am after undergoing an emergency surgery to revive his heart, but during the cleanup, one of the interns said he heard mumbling." The camera changes to a young man in scrubs. "Yeah he-he just... we heard this low grumbling sound and when we couldn't figure out where it came from we just ignored it, but then a couple seconds later Mr. Margot... he just... he sat up! He was looking around frantically, and asked where he was and... have to be completely honest with you, I think I nearly peed my pants..." Sydney Phillips goes on to say that they have been unable to speak with Mr. Margot because he has been moved into a quarantined part of the hospital, and the doctors are performing numerous tests to figure out what exactly is wrong with him.

You've been missing for a week.

More and more cases of what they're now calling "Waking Death" have been popping up all over the country. People are dying, and then coming back to life a little while later. Mr. Margot was sent home with his family after being deemed "healthy" enough, even though technically he was still dead... His family claims he is just like he was before he died. People are calling it a miracle, that they are able to be with their friends and family members for a little while longer. Scientists and doctors are still trying to figure out exactly what is causing it, but speculations are that it's caused by the chemicals being pumped into the air.

It's been 21 days now, and I still haven't given up hope. I feel like a zombie going through my daily routine trying to act normal. But your absence has left me with an emptiness that won't go away. The "Waking Dead" have drastically increased in numbers, as more and more people die. News reports are saying that some of the "older" dead (the ones that have been "Waking Dead" longer) have begun to behave strangely, as though their mental stability were degrading the longer they live. Families have reported serious mood swings, aggression, anger, depression and paranoia in their dead family members.

28 days and there is a news report saying Mr. Margot attacked and killed his wife and two children. It all goes downhill from there. The world outside becomes chaos as the dead begin to go after any living human they can find.

I decide it's time for a walk, and turn off the TV. I put on my coat and grab my keys. I wander around downtown for a bit before ending up at the orphanage where we had both worked before all this started. I didn't intend to end up here, but I did. The kids are running around, screaming and throwing things, completely trashing the place. I look around for one of the attendants but there are no adults to be found. I quickly round up the kids and put them in their rooms. As I'm about to leave one of the rooms I notice a gun sticking out of the edge of one of the kids mattresses. I grab it and ask the kid where it came from. He leads me to a closet at the end of the hallway that had been chained shut. From inside I could hear crying and soft thumping sounds. I unchain the door and a girl that looks about 16 tumbles out. She gets up and I notice her skin is gray with death, her hair matted with blood. Half of her jaw is missing, and there's a dark black hole in the back of her head. I just stand there, completely stunned as she stumbles past me and runs out the door. She must have killed herself... and the kids didn't know what to do with her so they shoved her in the closet. I wonder how long she'd been in there... how long she'd been conscious. I think of you... somewhere out there, reanimated...

I tuck the gun into the back of my pants and go outside to try and find the girl and ask her some questions, but she's long gone. Outside there aren't very many people on the streets. Those that are out and about look scared and paranoid. Several policemen are patrolling the area in groups of two or three.

Suddenly I hear a scream and a woman runs out of the building next to us, followed by a great lumbering man with a missing arm. He catches up to her, tackling her to the ground and begins gnawing at her head. I look on in horror as the nearby officers try to get him off of her.

I look over to see another officer leaning against the wall of the orphanage smoking a cigarette, watching the scene in front of him with a calm demeanor.

"Shouldn't you be helping?" I ask. He shrugs, and turns to look down the street where two cars had just collided into each other. When he turns his head I noticed some blood on his ear. "Hey man, you're bleeding." I say.

"Ah yeah... it's been a bit of a wierd day," he takes his hat off and I see why he is bleeding. There's an enormous gaping hole in the back of his head. I back away, horrified, and wretch on the pavement. He chuckles to himself. I decide to go to your parent's house to check on them... they only live a few blocks from the orphanage. I start walking. After a few minutes I get the distinct feeling that I'm being followed and duck into a building. It's dark but I can tell I'm in the library, but no one is here. I grab my gun and hide behind a bookshelf.  No one followed me in so after a few minutes I hide my gun and peek outside again. I continue towards your parents house, and when I'm about a block away I get the feeling again, and start running for my life. I turn to look behind me and there are two dead people chasing me with heavy footsteps. I jump into the woods near your parents house and hide behind a tree, drawing the gun and aiming for one of the guys. I shoot and miss his head but hit him in the neck, which explodes in a spray of thick black blood. I shoot again and this time hit him above his right eye, and he falls lifelessly to the ground. The other guy comes at me and I shoot at him, just as he takes a flying leap that should have been humanly impossible and tackles me to the ground. I drop the gun and it goes sliding through the leaves. I struggle under his weight for a moment before I suddenly feel his weight being dragged off of me as he's flung into a tree a couple yards away. I sit up and look around and YOU are standing there in front of me, but a different you, a dead you.... and when I see you my heart breaks all over again.

Both of your wrists are sliced open so deep I could see the bone and where your eyes should be are two empty sockets, black with dried blood. You can't see me, but you hold your arms out and start walking towards me, and I open my arms for an embrace that I'd only dreamt of a million times since you disappeared... you get to me and you touch my face and if you had eyes I knew you'd have been crying... I wrap my arms around you and just hold you. Your body is cold and stiff. It doesn't matter, I never want to let go, but all too soon you push me away and you fall to your knees and begin feeling around in the leaves. The gun. You find it and hold it out to me.

"Aim for the heart, it's all that keeps me going now... Please... do this for me... free me from this hell..." I just look at you in horror, tears streaming down my face. You fall to your knees in front of me. "Do it..." I hold up the gun, aim it at your chest... "I- I can't!" I sob.

"DO IT!" You scream at me, and I flinch and pull the trigger. It hits you right where you wanted it to... Your body slumps to the ground and I stand there, paralyzed. It felt as though my heart had stopped with yours.

I hear screaming from behind me and your mom comes running from the woods straight for me, followed by your dad. As she nears, I notice the strangle-marks on her neck and then notice the knife protruding from your dad's forehead. I turn, and open fire, hitting your mom in the side of the head, and missing your dad twice before finally getting a headshot. They both fall to the ground silently. I smile, knowing they would be with you now. I look down at the gun and sigh. Realizing I had just put a bullet through my only reason for living, I take the gun, place the barrel in my mouth and pull the trigger.