Dead Weight/Issue 1

## Summary

A seemingly safe warehouse is suddenly ripped to the ground, the survivors having to pick up the pieces and survive a new world of danger.

## Story

Gripping his shotgun, Robbie stood on the roof of a large warehouse. This was his home, for two months now he had been living here with his sister, Jessica, and their dog Scrap as the world fell around him. Everyone he ever knew or loved, dead. It had only taken a week for all communication with outside sources to be dropped and thus leaving himself and the several other survivors living inside the warehouse in total darkness and unaware of what life was like in other places.

Jessica pulled herself up the ladder to the roof to greet her brother, he gave her a small smile as she got up and walked towards him.

“Are you feelin’ okay?” She asked, linking her free arm with his.

“Not exactly.” He said almost in a whisper, he gestured with his head to a small looking cluster of undead roaming on the road nearby. Jessica exhaled worriedly, squinting her eyes as the setting sun glared.

“They’re not coming out way. We’ll be fine.” She squeezed her brother’s hand in reassurance and kissed him lightly on the cheek, ruffling his hair. “I’m going to sleep, you should too.”

“I’m not tired.” He said blandly, running the back of his hand across his forehead and continued to stare out into the distance.

“You say that every night, babe.” Jessica positioned herself on the ladders, Robbie not replying to her, she climbed down without another word. Smiling towards a passing by man, she headed towards her room at the front of the warehouse.

“Hey, Jessica” Sally smiled as Jessica headed towards her bedroom at the far end of the corridor. She stopped in her tracks to give a polite smile and wave towards Sally. “How is he?” Sally asked, turning to walk with Jessica.

“He’s fine. Just needs to get some rest that he doesn’t want. He’ll come around eventually.”

“It’s worrying, when they’re always on watch, looking out for you. I guess it’s a good thing.”

“It would be if he stopped for a few hours, but he’s always up there.”

Robbie had always been overprotective of the people he cared about. And now, in the midst of an undead apocalypse, he was even more anxious. But who could blame him. He had his sister to watch out for and that’s all that mattered to him right at this very moment.

Jessica waved goodbye to Sally, who turned down the corridor on the left. Heading inside her small room, which used to be a closet or something. She lay down on the bed, which was basically a sleeping bag and a pillow or two. She closed her eyes, the end of the world was exhausting to her. She fell into a deep sleep.

“Jessica.” Robbie’s voice echoed around her head, she wasn’t quite sure if she was asleep or awake, it was dark and she could see her brother in an echoed blur in front of her, grabbing her shoulders and shaking violently.

“JESSICA!!” He screamed, she only now realized this was not a dream.

“What’s wrong?!” She asked worriedly, sitting up quickly and rubbing her eyes.

“They’re coming.” Robbie said bluntly, opening the closet door and the sound of banging and footsteps caught Jessica’s attention. She had never seen so many of them in a pack before and now they where coming for her home. She stumbled to her feet and almost fell out of the closet door, through the window she could see the undead marching towards the door, her heart started racing frantically as she tried to figure out what to do.

“We have to get out of the back door!” Robbie grabbed Jessica’s upper arm tightly, looking her in the eyes as he basically pushed and commanded her to run. She could see the others who lived in the warehouse looking confused and frightened out the boarded up windows. The undead hands reaching in through cracked glass and broken wood to try and reach for the humans inside.

“GO!” Robbie commanded, snapping Jessica out of her state of fright. She took off down the corridor with her brother and towards the front room as the front door opened with ease, allowing the hundreds of bloodthirsty dead to raid the hallways, trapping anyone who hadn’t made it out of the corridors in time.

Robbie couldn’t think of anyone right now, he just had to protect his sister and get out of the warehouse and possibly take it back via the very small armory they possessed. The dead didn’t seem to slow down for anything though as they tore through the warehouse at a fast pace, only stopping to rip apart an unlucky victim.

Robbie and Jessica reached the back door, pushing it open and running through the fenced off field until they came to the exit, their dog, Scrap, yapping at them as he ran towards them with a ball in his mouth. Jessica grabbed the leash that lay on the grass and quickly connected his collar to it.

“We can’t leave the dog behind.” Jessica said firmly, Robbie opened the gate and exited the infested area. He would have fought back against the undead, but he decided to save his ammo and help his sister get out in case they got swarmed.

Jessica looked back one last time at the warehouse, before Jessica could even react the warehouse seemed to go up in flames. Something must have been happening and Robbie didn’t want to waste any time to see what it was.

“Come on.” He said slowly, not wanting to seem demanding in front of his sister as his adrenaline calmed down and he finally seen fully what had happened and how their home had just gotten destroyed.

Jessica approached the building slowly, Robbie instantly trying to stop her.

“We need to go.” Robbie whispered, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her backwards away from the building as she just stood in silence and shock at what had just unfolded. Robbie grabbed the leash for Scrap and pulled both along with him. Leaving the warehouse behind and everything he had worked hard for.

They walked away, across the fields and away quickly from the oncoming horde. Not knowing where they headed now.

## Cast

* Drew Van Acker as Robbie Starn (debut)
* Melissa Benoist as Jessica Starn (debut)
* Imogen Poots as Sally Middleton (debut)
* Unknown Dog as Scrap (debut)