Chapter 1
                                            The Beginning  




My name is Samantha. My family and friends call me Sam. I have brunette hair, and dark brown bear eyes, as my father calls them. Me and my family, my sister, mother, and father, were up camping deep in the woods of Montana, thirty miles away from any civilization. My sister and I were twins. We had the same colored hair, and the same colored eyes. Her name was Catriona, also called Cat. We would stay in a small wooden cabin that my grandfather built for him and my father. Now, mother and father brought us, hoping we would bring our children… once we grew up of course. My sister and I were eleven. We had fun at the cabin. We went every year at the end winter, when the snow still covered the ground. My mom loved the wild blue berries. They were fresh this time of year.
“Sam, could you go pick some berries for me? I’m going to make a pie.” She asked, handing me a small, twig woven basket. I loved mothers blue berry pies. I nodded. I hoped I would run into a white tailed deer, as I normally would. I grabbed the basket.
“ You can count on me!” I giggled. Cat got jealous, and began to whine as I put on my coat. But my mother had promised her she would get to make the pie dough while I was gone. I put on my shoes, and walked outside. I remembered my father had left to the town to get supplies for a leak in the house. I saw his footprints. I looked at them closely. He taught me how to tell how long a footprint was there. I calculated about an hour ago. He would be back in about three more hours. I walked on through the forest. I saw a deer. But it was acting strange. Its eyes looked pale gray and its teeth looked like it had blood in it. I shook my head. I thought the deer had just eaten a berry with red juice. Perhaps a poisonous berry, maybe the poison was causing the strange eye color.  The deer ran off. I walked on. I could smell something… something succulent, and sweet.  I followed my nose, and came to what looked like a blueberry bush. I heard something above me, and looked up. I saw a bird. It gulped down a berry like objected. I watched it silently. The bird seemed to begin to choke. I realized it was just choking on the berry. The bird’s eyes bugged out, and began to turn red. Some of its black feathers began to fall out. Quickly, it flew away. I wondered if the bird had swallowed the berries I was about to pick. I look to my left and saw a holly berry bush. I knew holly berries were poisonous, but I’ve never seen them do that to a bird. Not a lot of Berries were on the bush I found. It seemed as though the smell attracting animals to it, including humans. I began to pick them and toss them into the basket my mother had given me.  I didn’t pick much in an hour. I was a slow berry picker, and always have been. But I knew it was ok. My mom wasn’t a fast dough maker either.  I was about to pop one into my mouth, when I heard my mom calling me from the cabin.
“Sam, the dough is ready!” She called. I forgot about the berry, and tossed it into the basket. I skipped home. I watched birds fly away towards the town. I wondered why they were leaving. They were acting strange. Almost fighting with each other in the air. A lot of their feathers were missing. ‘Maybe they ate the berries too.’ I thought. I remembered the bird that had eaten a holly berry and began to lose some of its feathers. I got to the cabin about three minutes later. I didn’t skip fast either. My mom was waiting for me at the door. She greeted me with a smile, and guided me into the warm cabin. I took of my coat, but refused to take off my shoes. I liked wearing my shoes. Cat, Mother and I, squashed the berries in a mixing bowl. My mom reached into the bowl, and pulled out a plump, round berry that we forgot the smash, and plopped it into her mouth, and laughed while she chewed.
“Mom!” Cat and I laughed. My mom swallowed, and stumbled backward. Cat looked worried, and ran over to her. She grabbed her hand.
“Are you ok mom?” She asked. I put down the smashing spoon, and helped mom balance.
“What happened?” I asked. My mom coughed.
“I… I don’t know… I think I choked a little bit.” She answered.
“Maybe you should lie down.” Cat suggested. I nodded, agreeing with her. My mom agreed, and her took her to the couch to lie down. She sat onto the couch, and her breathing started to become shallow. I looked worried. I felt like crying, but I didn’t. My eyes stayed locked onto my mother. Cat slowly lifted her hand, and touched moms for head, and quickly jerked it back to her side, shaking it.
“Ouch! Your burning up!” Cat cried out. I looked at her. Mom was fine a second ago… Mom closed her eyes. Her skin was turning pale gray. I lifted my hand, and ran my fingers through her hair. As I brought my hand up, and tons of her brown hair was tangled around my hands. I made a gagging sound, and shook my hand to get the hair out.  My mom opened her eyes. The once white part of her eyes, were now red, and her pupils were pale gray… She barley had any eyes color left. Her hair was slowly turning gray from her scalp. Cat and I started to back away. We were scared, and didn’t know what was going on. I was back against the wall now. Cat was still about three feet away from our mom.
“Cat, get back here!” I whispered. She shook her head. Moms eyes closed, then her breathing suddenly stopped. The room was now silent. All I could hear was my heartbeat. Cat was beginning to lift her hand toward our mom. “What are you doing!” I asked her quietly.
“I’m seeing if she fell asleep.” She answered. Cat lifted our mom’s hand, felt for a pulse. Her skin turned white.
“What?” I asked. I could hear my voice shake. Cat put moms hand down. I could hear her begin to cry. “What!” I was desperate now.
“I found no pulse…” Cat said between her tears. My eyes began to tear. It was my fault. I should have realized the berries I picked were poisonous. I shouldn’t have brought them home. And if mom hadn’t eaten that berry, the pie would be done, and we would all die, because of me.  I heard my dad outside. He just got home. I looked at the door, waiting for him to enter. He entered with a hammer, nails, and some wood.  He looked at Cat and I on the floor, with red eyes from crying.
“What happened?” He asked. He didn’t see mom on the couch yet. Cat began to cry again. I stared at my dad like he was crazy. He never looked at his surroundings, only at the ground when he entered a room.
“You dumb idiot!” I cried. I got up from the floor, and began to hit my father’s chest. He pulled me away.
“What is wrong with you two!” He asked. “Its like someone died or…” He looked up, and saw mom on the couch. “Boy is she tired.” He quickly said.
“No dad…” I said. “She’s dead…” I began to cry, but not as much as my sister.
My dad shook his head.
“No, she can’t be dead…” He whispered.
“Why?” Cat and I said at the same time. Dad lifted his finger, and pointed to the couch, his finger trembling.  Cat and I turned our heads, and looked at out mom. Our mom’s eyes were open, and red, and pale gray. Her body leaned forward, to quick for Cat to get back, and took a chunk of her skin out of her shoulder. Blood spurted everywhere around Cat.
“Cat!” I screamed. Cat was screaming bloody murder. She pushed mom away from her, and fell to the ground, but managed to scoot away from mom with her feet. My dad froze, not knowing what to do. My sister began to tremble, and put one of her hand on her bite, and was breathing heavily She lifted her other hand, and put it into her hair. She pulled out a ton of hair from her scalp, and began to scream more. My mom was beginning to walk slowly towards my dad. Her mouth was drooling blood. Cats blood.
“Dad!” I screamed. That seemed to get his attention. He dropped the wood and nails, and grasped the hammer, and ran towards mom. He ran to mom, and put the hammer into her stomach. She didn’t fall, but lifted out her hands to my dad. Her grabbed the hammer, and took it from her body, and slammed the hammer into her head, on the pointy side of the hammer. The hammer cut through the skin, and the skull, into the brain. He released the hammer, and my mom fell to the floor. Cat, who stopped screaming, was beginning to die.
“Cat no!” I ran to her, and was shaking her. But I was to late. Her breathing stopped, and her heart stopped with it.
“Back up.” I heard my father’s voice. I turned around. He had taken the hammer from moms head, and now had it behind it head, ready to smash it into Cats head.
“No!” I said. I was shaking my head quickly; almost like I was going to have my head fall off. My dad had the hammer in one hand now, and grabbed the back of my shirt, and I was thrown back onto the floor behind my dad. He had lifted the hammer behind his head again, and was about to hit cat, when he began to scream, and had fallen to the ground. Cat had bitten his leg, and blood covered the floor. I was screaming. But no one could here me. No people were around for thirty miles to the next town. My dad was screaming, almost as bad as my.
“Run Sam! Run!” He cried out. Cat saw me, and began to get up from the floor, and walk towards me. It seemed that when you were dead but alive, you walked very unbalanced. I did as my dad said. But since I was too scared to think about it, I forgot to grab my coat, and ran out into the snow. I was halfway across the clearing, and I noticed it. I was about to run back when I saw Cat walk out the door and spot me. I screamed, and ran into the forest. I was jumping over bushes, and dodging trees. I looked back, and realized I lost my sister. But that didn’t slow me down. I was still running. Running to god knows where!
The sun was beginning to set, and I was slowing down. I was out of breath, and tired. Most of all, I was thirsty. I was walking now. I figured Cat would follow the scent of blood on me from herself, mom, and dad. Or she would follow my footprints. Probably not though. Most dead people in movies were stupid. But I rolled it some snow to wash it off, and I brought along a branch of a pine tree, with the pines still on it. And I was walking backwards, and brushing away my footsteps. Now that I knew Cat was far behind me, I was beginning to think more. The sunset was here, and I was exhausted. I turn around, and Just my luck. A cave. It looked empty, so I whistled, Just to make sure. Nothing happened. I walked it. It was warmer than outside. There was no snow, and the ground was dry. Just to make sure Cat didn’t see me when walking by past the cave if she ever came back, I found a wide rock, acting like a barrier from the outside world. I sat down behind it, with my knees up. I began to remember the memories back at the cabin, from where it all happened. I crossed my arms and put them on my knees, and brought by knees closer to my body. I lay my head down, and began to cry. I cried silently. I finally laid down on my side, and cried myself to sleep…