The thud of her own feet hitting the ground was the only thing keeping Meghan company. Sometimes she would walk in a certain way so it would sound different, or play games with herself where she made sure to only step on certain things or cracks in the sidewalk. It kept her busy and stopped her from being bored senseless sometimes, but it never lasted very long. The sun was at it's peak in the sky and its rays were beaming down between the huge apartment buildings on either side of her onto Meghan's fair skin. If she had too guess she would say it was just past midday, the perfect time of the day. The sun being at it's height deterred some of the infected, forcing them into buildings or underground subway stations. She just had to be quiet enough to not draw any attention to herself and sometimes she could go a whole day without any incidents.Sometimes.

She winced as she heard her stomach groan. She hadn't eaten today, and all she had yesterday was a couple of snack bars she found on the floor in the street. Meghan pulled her bag over her shoulder, stopping in her tracks as she unzipped it and began digging around for something. A few seconds later she pulled out a tin of beans and a knife, jamming the knife in and twisting it until she could rip the lid open. She put the knife back and closed the bag, and immediately began using her fingers to scoop out the cold baked beans, eating them like it was the nicest meal she had ever eaten.

It took her about five minutes to walk to the other end of the block through the alley, walking in between huge buildings full of apartments. Just as she got there she finished the beans, throwing the empty can too her side. She climbed on a bin next too a fire escape and jumped off of it, grabbing the drop down ladder and pulling it down with her as she fell. She smiled to herself as she climbed up, stopping once she was up there to pull it back up. She walked over to the closest window and jammed her fingers under it as she had left it open just a crack, and pushed it all the way up.

Meghan didn't close it once she climbed through and stood on the other side. Instead she threw her bag over her shoulders once again and dropped it on the floor. It was a small apartment, the right half of the room was what used to be the living area, with a couch, an armchair and a TV. On the left there was a kitchen on the far side and closer too her on the left was two doors that lead to a bathroom and a bedroom. The front door which was opposite her was boarded shut with a small cabinet placed in front of it. It was dimly lit by natural light coming through the windows near the living area, with pillows and other things messily scattered about the floor and a dead fire sat in the middle of the room.

She sighed deeply to herself as she knelt down, pulling out a long rope and a scalpel out of her bag and walking over to the couch. Laying on the couch was a man snoring louder than she had ever heard anybody snore. He looked to be middle aged, underweight, with scraggy hair and a long face. He was laying on his back with nothing but a pair of boxer shorts on and some cloth stuffed in his mouth. Crimson red blood and cuts covered his body and there was a nasty infected gash on his right thigh. His ankles and wrists were both tied with zip-ties to keep his hands off her and stop him from fighting back. She couldn't help but smile to herself as she admired her handy work, remembering the night and how much joy it had brought her. She reached down, lifting his head and placing one end of the rope underneath and grabbing the other end.

She tied a noose around the mans neck and tightened it. The man must have been exhausted, because as she tied the noose around his neck and moved his head around to do it he didn't wake up or deviate from his usual snoring at all. She chuckled too herself as she noticed the bean juice had rubbed off on him, and quickly wiped the rest of it off onto the couch. Without a second thought, she took the scalpel and quickly stabbed it straight into his shoulder. "Wake up!" She said, though she didn't sound sinister enough as she twisted the scalpel inside his shoulder.

The main jolted awake with a muffled cry of pain, his eyes examining his surroundings as his breathing quickened. Blood started dripping out of the wound as she pulled the scalpel back out, smiling down at the man. "Good morning!" she said, looking down at him. "Now, I need you to do something very important for me. Stand up and walk over to the window". The man shook his head, saying something that was muffled by his gag. Meghan's smile suddenly faded.

She didn't turn away from the man, but began walking backwards towards her bag, keeping her eyes locked on him the entire time. She crouched down, reaching into the bag and taking out her rifle. She raised it, aiming it straight at him. "Move". She said simply, now sounding a bit more annoyed. The fatigued man slowly stood up, now nodding quickly, and started shuffling towards the window. She laughed as he did, looking down to see the zip-ties she had made his friend put on him before she killed him. Pathetic.

By the time he had gotten to the window and stopped, she had managed to walk over to the other side of the room and tie the other end of the rope to a study, strong looking metal pipe that was on their side of the wall, all the while making sure he didn't try anything, keeping her gun next too her. She tugged it hard, making sure it wouldn't break, before slowly walking up behind the man and using all her might to shove him through the still open window. Meghan heard him make a thud as he landed and climbed through after, just as the man had begun pulling himself back up. By this point tears were streaming down his face and he was talking constantly, but she couldn't understand what he was saying. She didn't care. She grabbed one of his cut covered arms and lifted him the rest of the way, shoving him towards the edge with a gun pressed against his back.

Meghan pressed the gun further into his back as he turned around to look at her. "Did I say you could look at me? Did I fucking say you could look in my direction?". He immediately turned around. "Good. Your learning". She sighed, knowing it meant nothing. The man did as he was told, though his please only got louder, and he cried more and more. Some of his cuts had reopened from his movement and were bleeding again. She ignored his cries, instead reaching up too run a soft finger over one of the cuts, admiring her work. She laughed softly and for a moment just stood there, looking.

No more than a minute later, without warning, Meghan used all of her strength to push him over the edge. She peered over, watching closely as he fell, then stopped and started swinging. She could hear him choking. Oh the sweet sweet sounds off suffering, of death.

She stayed in the apartment for another hour, collecting anything useful, cutting the rope once he was dead and putting it back in her bag. She left, climbing down the ladder and walking past his body without a care as she turned out of the alley and started walking down the sidewalk of a deserted street, off to wherever she would settle down next.

Nina, having just finished counting out her few supplies, sighed. She wouldn't be able to hide here for long, she was running out of drinking water and the poorly kept soil of the office plants she had removed from their pots was no longer viable, she had sucked out what little nutrients the soil had contained to grow a small supply of food, but that wouldn't last long either. It was time to gather what little bit of supplies she could find in this office building and vacate the premises. Hell, best to vacate the whole damn city. If her father and Fiancé were still alive they more than likely would have left by now. Something she wasn't strong enough to do on her own. She would have to hope she found someone willing to help her before to long, otherwise she would never make it. Lucky for her she had a skill and knowledge she could trade for protection. She knew how to get and keep a steady supply of food, after all, potatoes would grow practically anywhere with the write knowledge, and she knew which mushrooms were edible or not.

Nina spent the better part of the early morning scavenging around the office floor she already knew was abandoned. While looking she managed to find another knife, several empty water bottles, some matches, a lighter, a flashlight, an umbrella, a couple empty Tupperware containers, a parachord bracelet, duck-tape, a fire axe (which she would more than likely not be able to swing around effectively to protect herself) which she strapped to her backpack, and some hair ties. Nothing of huge importance and unfortunately no ammo for the lone pistol she had found. Getting craft she used the duck tape to secure one of her knives to the already pointed, metal end of the umbrella, at the very least she may be able to protect herself a little. The axe would likely only be used by whoever she managed to find, if she even found another person before she died or turned.

Nina opened the window where the fire escape was located and climbed to the very top of the building. She scanned the city. "Okay Nina, how the hay are you going to get yourself out of here without drawing the attention of those...things?" She asked herself, she refused to call them dead people, if she thought of them as people still it would only be harder for her to kill one. "Looks you have I've got three options. The rooftops, the roads, or the subway/sewers." She would never be able to lift a manhole cover to get into the sewers and she was sure the subway system was infested with, she didn't even know what to call them. There was no clear path if she took the roads, she would never know what was coming around the next corner if she stayed on the ground. Logically that left the rooftops, unfortunately she wouldn't be able to stay on the rooftops forever, there would come a time where she would have to get down. She sighed. She would come to that when she got to it she supposed. Now that she had a plan she had to figure out how to execute it. She would never be able to jump from roof to roof, she would have to walk across somehow. Looking around at first she saw no way to get across but eventually she spotted it. A board, about a yard wide and about five yards long. It would do for now, she would have to be careful not to drop it.

It was a slow and painful process that took several hours to complete but eventually she had gotten to the point where he board was no longer of use to her. It was at this point that she took a break. Taking a much needed gulp from one of her water bottles she scanned the area. She had no clue where she was trying to get to but she was definitely trying to get out of the city. Maybe find a safe place, if there was one, and survive as long as she possibly could. It would be a bonus if she found either her father or her fiancé, preferably both, but she didn't want to get her hopes up that they were still alive out there. It would only crush her more, when and if she saw either one of them turned into the man eating creatures that had taken over the planet. After her short break Nina, carefully and quietly, climbed down the fire escape of the building and headed down the ally to the street, where she carefully peeked around the corner before exiting and heading on her way, always on high alert.

"Two days." Alex muttered to himself. "Two days I trek across this God forsaken state to get here and what's the first thing I find? My brother, a group of friendly survivors, hell, a damn dog? No, of course not," He continued to talk to himself as he watched the infected in the reflection of the knife strapped to his rifle. "A fucking infected is the first thing I run into after two damn days!" He let out a small sigh as he brought his rifle back down and slumped against the fence separating them. "Two days. Hell, I'm surprised my luck lasted as long as it did." His stomach growled softly and he looked around the area again.

He was hiding in an alley between two rows of brownstone houses with their back doors facing each other. From what he could see nearly all the houses had been looted, or attacked. Broken glass filling windows and doors left open showed the ones that had been looted for all their worth. Others had no glass in the frames at all and door hanging from hinges, no doubt busted and torn as the infected swarmed whoever had been inside. Most of the back doors were cordoned off by small brick walls about waist high separating small patio areas off from each other leaving a walkway just large enough for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder down. A few of the walls had iron bars on top of the brick walls but as far as he could see along this stretch the house behind him and one other had full taller fences separating them from the others.

The one Alex was at the wall was made of brick just a little over five foot high. The other fence was a simple wooden fence, or at least it was at one point, as someone, or more likely something, had crashed through the wood leaving gaping holes along it. As far as he could tell this one house was the only one that hadn't been looted, and now he knew why. He sighed again and rested his head against the wall to stare up at the sky as he heard the infected on the other side continue to shuffle in the fenced off area, every now and again he'd hear a scraping of metal against concrete as the infected bumped against the overturned chairs or table inside with it.

"Two damned days." He muttered again as he let his head loll from side to side taking in the area around the brownstones. To his right, probably at least five blocks away, he could see what looked like apartment building rising into the sky. He assumed they were apartment buildings at least because he could see that fire escapes were crawling up some of the sides he could see. Off to his left looked like office building probably just as far away as the apartment building, maybe even farther. His stomach growled again, a little louder now but still not loud enough for the infected to hear over its own shuffling steps. He leaned his rifle beside him and placed his head in his hands to try and think. "I can always leave this building," His voice was muffled even more at he muttered into his hands, "I could move and search the apartment buildings." He shook head no. "No, no they'd probably be just as looted or destroyed as these homes here. And those that aren't may be boarded from the inside hiding a few survivors, or god forbid, a few infected. And that's just what I need, to be trapped in a small room with one of more of those things."

He brought his head away from his hands to look over to his left at the assumed office buildings. "They may not have as much stuff to loot, but they may not be as bad off as the apartment buildings. Break rooms and water coolers may still hold some food and water at least. I could probably scrounge something useful from any supply closets. May be able to even barricade a room or two, may block off a floor to hole up in for a bit." He vigorously shook his head. "No, gotta stay on the move, can't stay in one place to long as long as I'm out here alone. And any buildings that large I'd definitely need to know the layout for all possible exits before I even tried to hole up in one. My best bet is still this place for the night." He leaned his head back against the wall to stare up at the house taunting him from the other side of the wall. "I'm just gonna have to take a risk and kill the damned thing."

He looked away from the house to the fence's door to his right. It looked like it had originally been an iron barred gate but whoever had lived in the house had done a little work to it, filling in the spaces between each bar with thick pieces of wood and then a strip of iron banding across the top and bottom. It's a decent, solid door. Good enough to keep one infected within it's confines at least. Alex thought to himself, possibly the first time all day that he hadn't voiced his opinions aloud. I don't wanna open the door though that's for sure. I want to be able to keep both hands free in case that thing somehow surprises me. He turned around to assess the wall for his plan. If I can make just enough noise I can get that fucker on the other side to climb over. That'll be my best bet. As soon as I see it's head I can run him through with the knife on my rifle. Dispose of the body afterwards and then I can search to my heart's content.

Happy with his plan a small smile formed on his lips. "No time like the present." He said as he gripped his rifle again in both hands and whistled softly. On the other side of the wall he could hear the infected stop in it's tracks at the new sound. He could only imagine that it began to crouch like he had seen some do before, reminding him of predators on the hunt, as a soft growl was the only answer to his whistle. It was waiting, listening for the sound again, it's cue to begin the hunt of it's newfound prey. Again, Alex let out a soft whistle and on the other side of the wall a louder snarl escaped from the infected as it's former shuffling steps picked up into a run. In his planning the thing must have wandered closer to the brownstone's back door giving Alex a few seconds to ready himself, but a few seconds was all that he needed.

On the other side he could hear the infected scrape against the brick wall, flesh on rough stone, the sound of it sent a chill up his spine similar to how nails on a chalkboard would, but he couldn't let that bother him now. Hands appeared at the top of wall and he could hear it's booted feet scraping against the bricks as it began to pull itself over the top. As it's head appeared and it's eyes locked onto Alex it opened it's mouth to snarl, but before it could Alex thrust with the rifle planting the knife to the hilt right between the infected's eyes. "Good riddance." He said as he pulled the rifle back letting the infected fall back inside the wall with a dull thud as his smile broadened. "Time to clean the place up now and grab some grub."

Ladder 25 Fire Station - Manhattan - 6 months ago

Sam had always been a fan of horror movies, especially the ones revolving around zombies or other post-apocalyptic settings. When she first saw one run after her, who had the face of a familiar co-worker, Sam thought he was pranking her. He knew she was a die-hard Resident Evil fan and she thought he was playing the part, you know.

As she held him at arm's length Sam had laughed and asked him where he had gotten that wake-up done. However, it was through his empty and glossy eyes that she noticed it wasn't just a prank - not to mention the way he had fought her relentlessly like he didn't feel the burn in his muscles added to her suspicions. Mere seconds later, undead flooded the station and her world was thrown into full panic. Not having the heart to kill her friend, Sam flipped him on the ground and ran for the nearest weapon : a fire axe.

The rest of the firefighters and her had attempted to use fire extinguishers like smoke grenades but it didn't seem to work as planned; the undead found them regardless. After numerous attempts at beheading, the few who survived sealed off the station and effectively locked themselves inside for four months until all their found and water supply had were exhausted.

They attempted to plan an evacuation of the station, but as Manhattan was a busy district a lot of undead had been attracted outside of their doors. Not many had survived their first venture outside after the outbreak, and Sam wasn't sure if anyone but her had actually made it out alive.

Convenience store - 228 Varric Street

Sam moved from place to place for the last two months, scavenging for daily necessities as well as useful items. It was lonely, and far more somber than what she thought it would be. If she came across other survivors she helped them, but they always ended up going off on their own or doing something reckless that got them killed, which made her wonder if the living had any common sense left at all.

Today, however, the sun was out and she decided it was the best time to go and scavenge another place to live as she had exhausted this corner's stores supply of twinkies and canned chili. Stealthily, she made her way through the deserted streets with her axe clasped in both hands. She moved from building to building not really knowing where was was going, unfamiliar with this neighborhood. She rounded the corner of a building when she spotted a tall and lanky woman emerging from an alley, and into the streets near Sam.

A little unsure, Sam weighed out her options. From afar, the woman didn't seem hostile and she didn't seem to be traveling with a group so that was a plus. What did she have to lose? In a world where it wasn't commonplace to come across other human beings it was a privilege to see smiling faces. Besides, Sam was tired to laugh at her own jokes.

So, taking a chance, Sam placed her thumb and index under her tongue and whistled once, ready to wave at the tall woman if she caught her attention.

Nina hadn't made it but a few steps out of the alleyway before she heard a noise that spooked her. Spinning around with her umbrella spear in hand she was prepared to face off with one of the things she had hopped not to come across. However she wasn't met with a bloody faced, snarling, thing running at her but rather another person a little ways down the street who waved to her when she caught Nina's attention. She was still cautious however. The end of the world no doubt allowed the psychos to go absolutely nuts and she was sure there were plenty of prison breakouts from the start to now. She wasn't sure who she could trust. It wasn't like she was strong enough to defend herself well. She studied plants for a living for pete's sake.

After a moment or two of staring she waved awkwardly back at the person but made no attempt to walk toward her. Rather she examined the woman from afar. She seemed fit, and maybe a little shorter than herself. Nina was abnormally tall for a woman, she had gotten that from her father, most other women were shorter than herself. She was glad to see another living person as it had been months since she had anybody to keep her company. She had holed herself up in that office building since the start and had managed to not need to leave until now. She didn't want to make to much noise in fear of being heard by something she would rather not deal with, so she made no effort to say hello or tell the other woman to come to her. This exchange would likely go a few ways. One, the woman would attack her and steal her stuff the moment she got close enough. Two, they would exchange a few words and head there separate ways. Three, they would end up grouping together, which would be the preferred course of actions but there was no telling if the woman would ditch her later on. She would just have to give the other woman her trust until it was proven she didn't deserve it.

---

(Chapter One)

Survivors aren't called that because they're easy to kill, especially those who survived the plague that wiped out most of the world's civilization. Small groups of people huddling in the upper floors of ruined apartment buildings could hardly be called civilization, but that's the best Nikolai had managed to find for the last couple of months. Most of the times he came into contact with these types of groups he was either attacked or simply told to go away. After months of surviving in the world of the infected, Nikolai managed to find three small havens hiding out in New York City.

Up until the apocalypse, people hadn't really thought of Nikolai as strange. As he stood in the blood soaked hallway entrance of one of the havens, the music playing in his headphones kept his adrenaline in check while he finished off the third infected to rush him. He let out a small sigh through gently smiling lips as he peeled his mace out of yet another partially collapsed skull. He could just barely hear the thumping of the final infected footsteps as it came up through the chokepoint into his kill room.

When Nikolai found the havens, he hadn't been able to settle down like he thought. He knew people needed a messenger; someone capable of surviving the infected without needing luck all the time. He spent his time traveling between the havens and collecting resources from the abandoned city. One thing that always hurt him deep down was walking past a grocery store stocked to the brim with canned food while hunger gripped him. People had gone to them thinking there would be getting food, but ended up becoming food instead. He did his best for these people but they never really expected him to come back when he left.

Humans may be able to learn from the mistakes of others, but infected take a lot longer to pick up any new information so when the fourth infected finally reached him, Nikolai braced like always and waited. A moment later, a crash for one was a familiar shudder to the other and a hefty swing of his mace ended the infected as it lay on the floor at Nikolai's feet. Bleach and mops replaced bodies and blood as the haven's resident's helped him clean up the mess. He finished his delivery and left after only accepting a refill to his canteen.

The sunshine and clean air that rushed to meet his senses could have easily made Nikolai forget the apocalypse as he stepped out into the ruined streets of Old New York.

Jason stood in the hallway of a supposedly empty office building tight against the alcove of a doorway, he wasn't nearly thin enough to be hidden but he hoped it helped. He listened carefully with his knuckle duster knife in his hand, for the quiet shuffling of the undisturbed infected. He listened for a dozen heartbeats before he heard one, a quiet thump of the infected walking into a desk or table. Jason tensed at the noise listening for an infected to hear the other, he wasn't sure that happened but it always made him nervous. There was nothing it seemed, so he gingerly stepped out from his hiding spot to find the infected. After a few moments searching it seemed that the infected was trapped in some office break room. Which was fine for his safety, but the vending machines were in there and they had snacks. Not as nutritious as his last couple MREs but had plenty of calories to keep him moving, not to mention the half full water jug in there. Jason carefully crept up on the door staying out of sight from the windows.

He knew he would have to kill the infected, which was a task in and of itself. He worked out a crude plan that would minimize chances of exposure and injury, but he still brought his blood flecked mask onto his face. Standing behind the windowless door he braced himself, without touching the door, putting his left leg and shoulder in the way to prevent the door from opening more than a few inches. he raised the knife in his right and and flicked the door handle, enough to unlatch and get the infected's attention. Jason braced clenching his teeth as the zombie roared at him and charged. A moment later it hit the door with the force of a small train sending a lance of pain through Jason's arm. It didn't knock him down, but the impact pushed him back a little. Just enough that the zombie could reach out and claw at him. His thick leather coat prevented the zombie from finding purchase but he could feel the hand rake across his torso. It was then that he realized that this infected was a small, thin, office worker but was pushing at the door with force that he would only think of as from a bodybuilder. That didnt matter now, he would ponder it later. He had hoped he could hold the door closed just enough to stab the zombie in the eye, he miscalculated their strength.. again. He stabbed at the face as it chomped repeatedly in his direction. The knife found the zombie's eye burying deep and easily destroying the brain, all the pressure against the door stopped at the zombie fell limp held in place by Jason's desperate pressing against the door.

Jason sighed "you bastards are strong" he said panting from the adrenaline as he backed off and pulled the door open discovering his prize. A vending machine with maybe a dozen packs of snack foods, and a water cooler with a few gallons of water left in it. His victory was cut short as he heard another roar from behind him, a little higher pitched than the last. A woman in what would have been very nice business attire were it not caked in gore and disheveled was at the top of the stairs he had come up not long before staring at him tensed like a predator ready to pounce. "Shiiit" Jason said, muffled by his mask and assumed a defensive posture. The zombie charge him, it seemed like it had the speed of a cheetah, but that was probably not entirely accurate. Jason charged too, hoping his momentum and weight would overpower the smaller zombie. They collided, Jason ramming his shoulder and arm into the zombie's sternum. Jason won the trade in blows knocking the infected to the ground, but Jason was dazed by the impact, a jolt of pain rocketing up his other arm. He didnt waste his moment though grinding his teeth through the pain and diving on the zombie. He jams his knee into the zombie's chest and begins stabbing at the zombie's head. After the fifth and sixth stab he noticed that it had stopped struggling. He stood panting and listening for more infected, after counting to 60 he still heard nothing so he went to claim his meager prize. a full canteen and full belly of water, a couple bags of chips a few cup of soups and a pack of knock off Twinkies. He simple stuffed the supplies in his bag to eat later while he moved off to find a secure office he could hole up in for the night that was still hours off.

Sam was relieved the woman hadn't simply turned away and fully expected the wary look on her face. It was hard to judge someone's intentions by simply staring at them. Most people's body language was guarded and constantly on edge - the cost of six months of brutal survival in a world they can hardly recognize. It didn't mean they had to relinquish every ounce of their humanity, which was decidedly easier for some to do, Sam thought. That wasn't her, though, and she still believed human relations were important.

She rested her ax down on her shoulder as she approached the woman with a smile. Sam stopped just a few feet in front of the tall stranger and cocked her head sideways as she quickly examined her: no wounds - at least, no visible ones. Sam smirked when she spotted the long wooden handle and the sharp edge of the fire ax, Smart woman. She didn't seem worse for wear but certainly looked a tired from exertion. Though, who wasn't these days?

Sam took a confident step forward, "Come here often?" She chuckled and hoped it would dissolve some of the tension between the two strangers. She then offered the woman her hand. "I'm Sam. Ex-firefighter at your service," she informed with a wink

As cheesy introductions went this one was pretty high up there, but seriousness wasn't exactly Sam's strong suit.

Nina watched to woman walk closer to her. She was wary but she did not move away. This stranger had given her no reason to not trust her yet. She examined the woman when she got closer. She was definitely shorter than herself but Nina had already figured as much. She seemed more worn down that Nina did, it made sense, not many people would have had the luxury of hiding out as long as she did. She had gotten lucky, something that she seemed to be doing a lot lately, save for the lack of ammunition for the gun she possessed. Not that she had the damnedest idea how to use the thing, she probably wouldn't be able to hit the side of a barn.

When she woman came to a stop a few feet from her she made the worst joke Nina had heard in a long time, not that it was that hard since she only had herself to joke with previously and Nina was convinced that she was hilarious, even though it probably wasn't the case. "Ha, used to before the world decided to end." She remarked in response to the lame comment. The shorter woman introduced herself as Sam, an ex-firefighter and extended her hand toward Nina. "Nina, botanist, don't really think you can be an ex-botanist, once you know, you know, ya know." She chuckled at her stupid remark and took the woman's hand, shaking it firmly. She seemed nice enough, and she too carried a fire axe though she likely got more use out of the thing than Nina would out of hers. "You heading out of the city or?" She questioned, not finishing her sentence because she didn't know how to finish it. She pulled her hand away from the woman and began fiddling with the ring on her finger, the one her fiancé had given her. She hadn't taken it off in fear of losing it and had a habit of messing with it when she was nervous or on edge, and standing in the open like this was indeed putting her on edge, even if there were no signs of the man eaters or other people in general.

Natalie was sat down in the corner of an old, dirty apartment. Her back was against the wall and her knees were brought up to her chest, a backpack next too her on the floor with all of her possessions inside. The wallpaper was rotting and peeling of the walls. This place was obviously not kept well before the apocalypse, let alone after. Dirt masked what could have been a once nice looking pattern, and a nice looking floor. The room was nearly bare, had it not been for a couch against the wall where she had been sleeping and empty cans and bottles littering the floor. Natalie sighed as she ran a hand through her hair which also wasn't as clean as she would have liked, peering to her side an looking into her open bag.

"One bottle of water... some snack bars..." She said to herself as she rummaged through and took note of what she had left. Some spare clothes, some cigarettes. Some bullets that she didn't have a bloody gun for. She was coming to the realisation, no matter how much she didn't want too, that she couldn't just sit in this grimy apartment any more. She was quickly running out of food and water, and frankly having nobody to keep her company was starting to drive her insane. Venturing out would probably only solve one of these problems, but that was better than none. She reached too her side, grabbing the wall and pulling herself up before swinging her back onto her back. She held her machete in her hand and reluctantly left her hiding place.

She stepped out onto the street. The sun beamed down onto her. She looked around as she took a few more steps forward and examined the houses and shops on this street. Most had already been broken into. She turned and started walking down the road until she came too a huge office building. "Fucking hell". She said as she looked up at it. The front doors were wide open, but hardly any of the windows were smashed, and peering inside, it looked like all of the things inside had been chucked about and vandalised a little less than usual. She would try here first.

As she walked in, she pulled out a cigarette and some matches, lighting it in her mouth before putting the box and the matches back. The smoke hitting her throat was ironically like a breath of fresh air. One hand clenched her machete as she snuck around, crouching and moving as slow as possible as she moved so that she couldn't be detected, and the other held the cigarette. She moved from room to room, searching for anything useful. There was almost nothing.

She had almost given up on finding anything when all of a sudden she heard something on the floor above her. It sounded like somebody was trying to smash through a door. Natalie moved quickly to the stairs, and started climbing to the next floor. She got to the last flight of stairs and just as she turned the corner, she froze. It was one of them. A zombie was standing at the top of the stairs, staring into a room she couldn't see. Whatever she had heard, the zombie had too. Natalie froze and started holding her breath. She was not getting noticed by that thing. She must have been standing there for about half a minute, just staring at it, before it suddenly roared and ran off into the room she couldn't see. She started climbing the stairs, but stopped at the top and waited, not wanting to go in if the zombie had beaten whatever it had gone for. She would wait and see what came out.

A few minutes later, a man walked out and turned the other way, not seeing her as he walked. She gasped out loud. A person. Another actual living person. Natalie had to talk to him. She didn't want to go right up behind him, in fear of being mistaken for a dead person, but she didn't want to shout and attract actual dead ones. There really was no good way to surprise somebody these days. She moved a bit closer, but not too close, and spoke. "Hello..." She said.

@Sophrus

Jason walked out from the offices, most of them where little more than cubicles that offered no real protection he needed a real office with a solid door. Most of those he found had broken windows or had a dried pool of blood in them, not a good place to sleep. He had examined the north section of the offices on this floor wich was thankfully uneventful and only took a couple of minutes, he had taken off his mask as it did obstruct his vision and was somewhat uncomfortable. he walked back crossing in front of the stairs, nerves still on high alert as they had been for about 6 months now. Maybe the south section of the office was in better shape but he doubted it.

He heard a noise from the stair well, initially he didnt register it as speech, he assumed it was one of the ghouls about to try and eat him. he whirled around drawing his knife in one motion. Natalie could see the genuine terror in his eyes as he prepared to fight for his life again. His muscles slowly relaxed as he realized he wasnt about to be attacked by the dead, but he knew he wasnt safe per-say. Several people had tried to rob him which is where most of his shotgun ammo had gone. It was then he finally processed that she had actually spoken to catch his attention. 'What was it she said? hello?' he thought to himself 'cant be too careful... people are just as dangerous as the ghouls.. she is pretty tho- no! safety first' She could see that he was processing the situation, scanning her, not in a lewd manner but as a threat assesment. She didnt seem terribly dangerous herself, she was definately smaller than he and probably a little younger she was lightly armed, no firearm which actually made him feel much safer.

"H-Hi" he said finally "Who are you? Are you alone?" he asked, fist still tight around the long knife with the knuckle guard. He could feel the effects of his hyper-vigilance, months of time without much real rest he was starting to distrust regular people which was either smart or very dangerous. He sighed realizing how it must have sounded, and looked, he lowered the knife to his side and apologized "sorry, ahh.. come on up here we'll find a safe place to talk. I dont want to be out in the open for much longer" after speaking he took a few steps back and over the business woman zombie to look down one of the southern halls but specifically never turned his back to her while he did.

Alex crossed through the gate into the walled off area. The patio and chairs that once decorated the area had been tipped over onto their sides, the umbrella of the table was bent and broken in several places and the cloth was tattered and strewn all over the area. In one corner were a few potted plants that had died with no one around to care for them and to his right lay the crumpled body of the infected he had killed in an ever growing pool of blood.

"Well," He made his way over to the infected's corpse. "Let's see what you had on you." He said as he crouched over the infected and began to rummage through it's pockets. "Nothing special." Alex grumbled as he looked over what he had found. A Swiss army knife, 2 rounds of 9mm ammunition and the infected's wallet. "Well, Mister," Opening the wallet he pulled out the driver's license and what little cash had been inside. "James Harrison," He closed the wallet and tossed it over the wall, listening as it landed with a soft thud. "Thanks for the kindling, I guess. Now, let's get you outta here."

He grabbed the former Mr. Harrison's legs and began to drag him, pulling him through the iron gate and down the alley before eventually stopping two houses down to leave the body in another abandoned patio. "Sure hope you enjoy you're new digs, Mr. Harrison." Alex said turning away from the corpse, noticing the trail of blood that he had left from dragging the body. "Well, shit. Not gonna be hiding from any real people that's for sure."

Following the trail of blood Alex made his way back to the untouched house where he used his newly acquired swiss army knife to pry open the door. As soon as the door was open he was hit by the stench of something rotting. Gripping his machete he drew it from its sheath and whistled, waiting to see if there was another infected inside. In the silence that following the only thing he could hear was the sound of his beating heart.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Ba-bump.

Nothing. With his nerves slightly less on edge he shut the door and looked around at the interior of the brownstone house. The door he had entered through put him in the kitchen, and while the smell of rotting fruit on the kitchen counters was pungent he could still smell something else in the house, mostly likely upstairs. Past the kitchen was a small laundry room and a dining area as well as the stairs that led up to the remaining levels of the house and down to the basement.

While in the kitchen he took the opportunity to clean while he searched, setting everything he found useful on the kitchen table. By the time he was finished searching he had nearly vomited from the stench of rotted food in the fridge but in the end he had been able to gather most of what was rotted and place it in trash bags while able to set aside 4 cans of assorted canned goods that were still good enough to eat, a small bag of rice, an unopened jar of peanut butter and another unopened jar of honey. "Pretty good haul so far, if I do say so." He said as he stuffed his haul into his sling bag before moving through the house to make his way upstairs.

With each step to the next level the smell of grew worse. The second floor held a living room set with two comfortable looking chairs and a sofa facing a television, and through another doorway was a reading area with a few chairs set around a table and several book shelves along the wall packed with books. Seeing nothing of use at first glance he moved on up to the next floor.

The smell was strongest here. On either side of him upon stepping foot on the landing was a bedroom. One of the doors stood open, but the other was shut. Moving to the open room, keep his hand on his machete, he peered into the room. Two dressers were set along the wall, a large bed pushed up against the wall opposite them. To the right of the bed, along the same wall with the door leading into the room, was a door to a closet and another leading to the master bathroom. The smell was starting to become unbearable so he searched quickly. Besides clothes in the dressers and closest he found a magnalite flashlight and an empty gun case. "They've got a gun, but where is it?" He muttered to himself tossing the gun case on the bed as he moved to the other closed bedroom.

"This is it," He said coming to a stop in front of the door, the stench of something long since rotted permeating through the closed door. He slowly opened the door and shined his new light inside. One the floor between two twin size beds covered with sheets were there lumps, one larger one and two smaller ones. Slumped in a chair in front of them was another corpse. "Some people weren't meant for the new world," His voices was muffled as he kept his hand over his mouth in an attempt to hold the stench at bay. "Better to take the easy way out, but it's still not a pretty sight." As he was shutting the door he saw it. A .38 revolver lying on the floor by the corpse in the chair. "There it is!" He quickly grabbed the gun and shut the door. "I hope I don't see anything else like that, but I've got a feeling I wont be that lucky." He muttered to himself as he made his way back downstairs checking the cylinder of the revolver and removing the spent shells. Only two shots left, and still no extra ammo for anything I already have.

---

(Chapter One)

Megan had been wandering aimlessly for at least the past hour. There was obviously nowhere that she needed to be, she didn't have a certain location she stayed in or anywhere she was planning to stay at. Her plan for the moment was to walk around until something sparked her interest or something happened to her. So far the most interesting thing that had happened was an infected trying to get at her over a fence and ending up impaling itself. There was a small amount of satisfaction in climbing up and horribly disfiguring it with a few good hits with her trusty hunting knife to its head and face. He didn't have a wallet, so she couldn't take anything from him except the lighter with nearly no fuel that was in his pocket. She threw that at the ground 20 minutes later and it made a little bang sound, which made her smile, a bit.

Exactly an hour and fourteen minutes had passed as she turned a left into a small alley between homes. She sometimes would jump as she was walking so she could see over a fence but only if she thought that particular garden might be interesting. Maybe the windows were broke or the fence was. Anything to grab her attention. As she was walking, she noticed a blood trail in front of her. It was coming out of the garden of a home on her left. It came out, went down a little, and then went into a garden on her right. Megan went up to the blood trail, crouched down and ran her fingers across it. It was wet. It was fresh.

Megan followed the blood trail down to the home on her right and pulled out her rifle, aiming it in front of her as she slowly turned the corner into the back garden. The trail of blood ended on a patio, meaning somebody had killed somebody or something here recently. She smiled as she made her way into the kitchen through the back door which was still open. As she was walking through the kitchen, somebody came down the stairs and was checking the rounds they had in a pistol. Gotcha!

She waited for him to look up and see her, standing across from him with a rifle pointed straight at his chest.

@Aro