Ooh Child, Things'll Get Brighter: Chapter 1

Sunny remembered the first news reports of the outbreak, it had started with a few reports of people eating other people, her uncle had laughed real hard at that. Said the reports were bullshit and that she shouldn't worry. But those reports never stopped soon the news lady had warned everyone to stay inside with their doors locked. That these people who were eating other people were infected with an unknown disease and to not go near the infected. Her dad had decided that since the disease was so contagious that it wasn't safe for her to go to school, instead she'd stay at home with her family until the disease was under control. She'd been happy at first, no school! What kid didn't enjoy that? But the disease only got worse.

The news reports never got better, stories of the infected continued, stories of non-infected people stealing from businesses, people who were killed because a civilian thought they were infected and decided to end them before they could hurt anyone. The disease was everywhere, and no one knew what to do. That was until finally, the last report Sunny remembered before she and her family left their little home in Ellijay Georgia. They said go to Atlanta, that there was a refugee center set up. All non-infected people were welcomed, and there would be food, water, shelter, and protection from the infected. That was where her father and uncle decided to go.

"Now you listen to me Sunny Rae," Her father had started, he held her gently by the shoulders and knelt down in front of her so they were looking into each other's eyes- Sunny knew this meant he was serious- "I need you to go to your room and get your suitcase that you use when you go visit your grandpa's place. Pack only the things you need, ya hear? Only the things ya will need. Can't go bringing the whole house with us, got it?"

She nodded her head. "What about the stuff I wanna bring?" She asked. Who knew how long they'd be gone anyways? Days? Weeks? Months? There were things she didn't really need, but there were things she wanted.

Her dad sighed and shook his head, "Okay then, how 'bout this, get yer school pack, and you can bring whatever you want s'long as it fits in that bag got it?" She nodded at him with a grin before she sprinted off to her room to do as she was told.

As she ran into her room she immediately went to her bed to pull the suitcase out from underneath it, and put in on the bed so it'd be easy for her to see what all she could bring with her. What do you need when you're going to a refugee camp anyways? Well she figured it'd be like camping with her dad and uncle in the woods so she decided to pack like that, but for longer.

Pushing open her drawers and closet she immediately pulled out numerous amounts of underwear and socks. Dad always said your shirt and pants could be as dirty as the ground itself and you'd be fine, but if your underwear or socks were dirty you'd be miserable, so she made sure she had plenty. Once that drawer was empty she began pulling down shirts from their hangers, before dumping them on the bed. She quickly separated her camping/hunting clothes from her school clothes- although to be honest, she often wore her camping clothes to school, because they were more comfy- she had too many shirts, there probably wouldn't be enough room for her extra pair of boots or any of the shirts she'd stolen from her dad and uncle over the years. With a sigh she shoved the school clothes to the floor and began separating the camping clothes. She decided to stick to darker colors, blacks and navy blue, a few grey shirts here and there, and then quickly dumped the others on the floor. She knew that Georgia summers were extremely hot, so she made sure to stuff a few tank tops in among the shirts before she quickly moved onto pants. She decided to only grab two pairs of shorts, since she rarely wore them when she camped. Finally she was down to the last few things she knew she would need for this trip. A pair of old boots she always wore when she went camping, her mother's old college sweatshirt- she knew at nights it could get cold- and her small knife collection. Not many kids could say they had that! With a grin she zipped up the suit case and left it by her door, now came the hard part: What she wanted to bring.

First things first, she grabbed her school bag and dumped it out in the corner of her room not caring where any of the papers fell or where the pencils rolled off to. Man that felt good, it wasn't often a kid could just dump their school bag on the ground and not care what happens to all the papers or notebooks inside. Like the suitcase she set the bag on her bed and began looking around her room to decide what to bring. She grabbed a picture of her mom and dad off her nightstand and immediately stuffed it in the bag. No way was she leaving that behind. She figured it would be pointless to bring any cd's with her since she knew she couldn't bring the cd player with her, and her dad wouldn't let her play any of her music in his truck anyways. Instead she walked over to her small book collection and grabbed the last Harry Potter book- she'd just finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and there was no way she wasn't going to finish the series- and her newest book, Lord of the Rings. One of her older friends had read it and said it was amazing, so she decided that she would as well. She grabbed her Atlanta Falcons beanie her grandpa had gotten her for her last birthday and stuffed in in the bag as well. She had a little more space left and decided to grab one more thing before taking her stuff to her dad for approval.

Glancing around the room she wasn't really sure what to grab. Her blanket? One of the few stuffed animals on her bed? What? Finally her eyes settled on the box on the floor next to her bed and a grin stretched across her face. How on earth could she forget those!? Rushing over she pulled the lid of the box and began shifting through her collection of comic books. When she was really little she'd have to go with her dad to work, and right next door to the shop he worked at was a comic book store. Every day his boss with give her some money to go and buy one to read for the day, and slowly she'd began her own little collection. Her favorite heroes were the ones that used arrows like her dad! Like Hawkeye, or Green Arrow! Those two had been the cause of her obsession with the weapon, and her dad was only too happy to teach her- although he kept saying the crossbow was better. So with a grin she scanned through her collection before grabbing a few of her favorites and putting them in her bag. With one last glance around the room she said her goodbyes, after all when would be the next time she got to see her home?

"Got everything you need?" Her dad asked as he helped her lift her suitcase.

She nodded her head enthusiastically, her dirty blonde hair waving around her face. "Yup! S'all there!"

"Mhmm." Her dad hummed as he looked down at her with a critical eyes, "And what about your bathroom stuff?" He asked her.

Her smile faded as she realized that she had forgotten that. She glanced down at her suitcase wondering if she would be able to stuff it in there, but her thoughts were cut off by her uncle's loud laugh. She looked up at him as he came out of the bathroom with a baggy filled with her bathroom things, "Don't you worry, Sun-Beam, your Uncle Merle's got you's covered. Now wha'd'ya say?" He asked with a grin.

Sunny grinned up at him, "Thank you!" She wrapped her arms around his waist, and buried her face in his stomach. She was the only one he'd ever let do that.

"Ain't no problem sunshine. Now c'mon baby brotha' time to get the ball rolling we got ourselves quite the drive if we want to make it to Atlanta 'fore they decide not to take anyone else in!"

Her dad grunted as he grabbed their bags and walked out the door to put them in the back of his old truck. Sunny sent her Uncle one last smile before running off after him to get into the passenger side of the truck. She watched as her dad and uncle loaded up the truck before her dad went over to the shed and brought something back with him. She tried to see what it was but he kept it hidden from view as he opened the driver's side door. "Now, it ain't your birthday yet, but I figure, since yer grandparents already gave you your birthday gift it wouldn't hurt to give you yours now, good time as any." She grinned happily at him, so excited that she forgot the whole reason they were leaving in the first place, "Now close yer eyes…" He instructed. Sunny did as she was told, closing her eyes and waiting for him to give her permission to open them. She knew she couldn't peek, her dad had a weird sixth sense about stuff like that and he'd know instantly if she did. She felt something light being pressed into her lap, but continued to keep her eyes closed. "A'right, open up."

She looked down at her lap to see a wooden bow sitting there! She grinned so wide her face hurt, but she didn't care. Finally after all these years of pestering her dad for her own bow, she finally got one!-She'd always have to use his crossbow, and only a handful of times did she get to use an actual bow. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She said quickly as she grabbed the bow in her hands to examine it.

Something heavy fell into her lap next, startling her out of her admiration of her bow. "Thing's just a fancy tooth-pick if you ain't got these ta go with it." Her uncle said with a smirk. In her lap sat a quiver filled with arrows just waiting to be shot.

She looked between the two of them, "Thank you! I promise I'll practice every day until I'm even better than Hawkeye!" Her dad and uncle rolled their eyes at this. 'Course she'd say something like that.

The three took a moment to enjoy the happy moment. Sure the brothers didn't agree on a lot of things, but there was one thing they'd never disagree on, and that was nothing mattered as much as their Sunny Rae.

So I just started this and I'm not going to post anything else with this for a bit, I just want to see everyone's response to this to decide if I should keep writing it or not (So reviews would definitely help). I know I sorta abandoned my Teen Wolf story, but freaking Jeff Davis is just making it impossible to work with you know?

Anyways this story will more than likely stick to the TV canon, a few things tweaked- taken out or added- but overall it'll follow along the same timeline as the show.

So let me know what you think of this story if I should continue or not! Reviews are appreciated!