The streets were eerily silent. Wrecked cars filled the street. Fires long ago died out from the spilt fuel, their only evidence were the charred masses of twisted metal. Some contained the ashen remains of the lucky few who died suddenly and swiftly. They had escaped the fate that befallen countless others.

Alexis tread softly between as she emerged from the front door of a home. She had spent the night in the home using it as a safe haven for the night, but now it was time to move on, and she needed supplies.

Her pulse quickened with every step, but she forced herself to remain calm. The infected started to show signs of intelligence. They respond not only to sight, but smell, and sound. She has even heard rumors of them being able to distinquish between ill and healthy. Despite the rampant infected, her worst fear still remains other survivors.

Senses heightened she reached the door to the next house. It was locked. She looked around, still very weary of her surroundings, looking for another method of entry. The windows were all heavily boarded. Her eyes fell upon a window on the second story just above the porch. It didn‘t appear to be secured. She let out a heavy breath and taking one last look around slung her rifle across her chest and started to climb the lattice. Pulling herself to the roof the lattice beneath her began to give-way with an audible splintering of wood. She cursed under her breath and froze, hoping noone was around, infected or otherwise, to hear it.

Several silent moments passed without as much as a sound. She released a held breath. Bringing herself up she again froze as the lattice finally snapped and began to fall. It came crashing to the ground. Her heart thrashed in her chest as she once again froze solid. No way in Hell that that sound went unnoticed.

Sure enough, the sound of shuffling footsteps broke the silence. One of the walking abominations turned the corner and glared in her direction. Her heart sunk as she made eye contact with the creature. Bile burned the back of her throat as the beast moved closer.

Its eyes were milky white and its flesh grayed and leathery. Its jaw hung slack from strings of muscle and its teeth stained with blood. It was impossible to tell if it was its own or the blood of one of its unfortunate victims. Torn clothes hung in ribbons from its body. Alexis stepped slowly back towards the window as it slowly made its way towards her. It gave out an ear-splitting shriek the pierced the silent air. Alexis could feel her heart sink and the blood drain from her face. She cursed as she quickly slid the rifle from her back and broke the window. Little use in worrying about being silent now.

She slid into the window and emerged into a messy bedroom. The room appeared to be that of an infant. The walls were painted in a soft pink hue with stickers of teddy bears and balloons. She grabbed a nearby dresser and slid it affront the window. As it set into place she released a heavy breath. Sweat beaded on her dirty face. A soft metallic click caught her attention.
Two azure eyes looked up from the dresser and fell upon a large pistol. Behind the weapon stood a ragged looking man with a long salt & pepper beard. His steely gray eyes glared at her sending a cold chill down her spine.

"What are you doing in here?!" the man asked with a malicious snear, it was he had lost his mind. This was her worst fear. She‘d rather deal with the infected outside then remain inside with a crazy man, at least the infected were mostly predictable, humans were nowhere close.

Alexis put her hands in the air, "Please, think this through. I'm not here to hurt you. I was just passing through."

"Drop your gun," he demanded.

"Okay, okay," she said slowly sliding the weapon off her shoulder and to the floor.

"Now your backpack. Drop it! Now!"

Fear welled up within her as she could only guess what was going through his mind as her backpack dropped to the ground with a light thump.

"Now follow me," he motioned her to follow him with a wave of his gun.

Alex complied but could feel tears forming in her eyes. He escorted her downstairs the cold steel of the gun pressing against her back, driving her forward. As they emerged into what appeared to be the living room. A large bloodstained sheet covered two masses, one tiny and one one larger. It was no secret it was a woman and her baby.

Alexis shook her head as tears finally broke loose and rolled down her dirty cheeks.

"You don't have to do this!" she protested.

"ON YOUR KNEES!" he snapped.

"Please, just let me go... I'll leave right now," more tears streamed down her face and dropped to the dusty floor. So this was how it ends. She had survived so well, but now she would die by the hand of a madman.

"My daughter had hair just like yours... so beautiful...I couldn't bear to see them become one of them."

He pressed the barrel to her forehead. She clenched her eyes as she felt her body begin to quiver.

"I'm sorry, my dear."

The front door suddenly jostled violently. A familiar shriek echoed from the other side. The creature had not forgotten her. The man jumped, and pointed his gun to the door. The beast was not alone this time. He ran towards the window and peeked out the cracks in the boards. Alex could hear at last three on the other side, but they didn't concern her now. For now, she only had to escape. She saw her opportunity and took it.

She leapt up from what almost had become her grave and took off into the kitchen. Wood splintered the doorway beside her as a bullet struck.

"Not so fast, you!"

The man took off after her, ignoring the beasts outside.

She scooped up a large knife from the counter and hid just around the corner to the laundry room. As the man passed the threshold she buried the knife into his chest. With a gargle the man slumped to the floor, the knife still standing from his chest. She couldn't help but sob. Her hand covered her mouth as she now saw what she had done. Even through all this she had never taken the life of a human. The ill, she no longer considered human.

She gave herself a few moments to compose herself, at least enough to worry about what lay in wait outside the front door. She slowly picked up the pistol, the weight a comfort, and yet a burden in her hand. It would only be now she would notice fresh blood running down her wrist. She opened her hand to reveal a deep cut. The window, she recalled.

- - - - - -

Her reflection peered back at her through the glass. Her eyes, still blue as ever but they had a weariness about them. Her once fair skin now a mixture of tanned and burnt with a layer of dirt.

"What I would do for a hot shower about now," she said as wrapped an old tshrirt around her hand and cutting it to size. Disgusted with what she saw in the mirror she left the room and headed to the kitchen to hopefully find supplies.

She found a few cans of food and stuffed them in her backpack. The front door still rattled but it still seemed secure enough to at least allow her to escape. She stuffed the pistol in her pants and slung her rifle across her back the strap crossing her chest.

She peeked out the back window. What she saw made her heart sink. She was surrounded. The infected were everywhere outside now.

They seemed to know she was watching as many turned in her direction and started to stumble to the door.

“Shit,” she cursed as the front door began to violently shake. It wouldn't be long before it gave way under the barrage. There was nowhere to go but up, and up she went. Back up to the bedroom where she first entered she heaved the dresser away from the window and let it fall to the floor, no use in being silent now. Back out the window she climbed and onto the roof. Below her was a small horde, ten, fifteen, maybe more, trying to get inside. She heard the door give-way and the infected began to filter inside, the scent of the living and freshly dead leading them onward. She had one chance. She had to make a run for it once enough were inside. That was her only hope.

As the mass filtered inside leaving only a few stragglers she figured the time had come. Taking a deep breath and giving a small plea to whatever god would listen she jumped and as soon as her shoes hit the ground she took off running down the street. If she was lucky, maybe she could find a place to hide, but distance was the most important factor now...

The silence of the dead city had been interrupted by a loud crash, and a shriek, and the two didn't go unnoticed by Jason. He had been looting a gas station, when the screams caught his attention. From all of his experience with the mindless dead, he's not known them to cause a noise, then scream if there weren't anyone alive at least near. He looked at the granola bars he had slid into his bag, brushing them aside and picking out his knife, sticking the sheath in his pocket as he went out, and walked in the general direction of the noise, half-hoping his sister or mom or someone who knew where they were was the cause, mostly thinking it was probably some unlucky soul who might have something to trade. as he got closer he could hear more and more shuffling and stumbling footsteps, until he caught a zombie shuffling mindlessly to its destination. He his and grimaced, unsheathing the knife as it continued- called more by the scream than the smell of an unwashed man and sweat. as quietly as he could, he snuck behind it, and as it turned to look at him, its glazed eyes unfocused and its jaw opening to scream. Quickly, and nervously, he sank the knife into it's head, and let it fall before removing his knife, wiping it on the tattered clothes it wore moving on right after. He moved with his knife out and an ear for shuffling, before eventually finding a suburb with at least ten zombies stumbling into a house, busting down the door. With a grimace he slunk back a few paces, and watched for a moment or so, moving on to avoid any other zombies that might be summoned by the screams.
It was then he heard some strange footsteps- not like the rest of the zombies. A big heavy one, then lighter, faster ones, and by the time he had turned to look, all that passed was a flash of orange hair. Looking back at the hose full of zombies, then the quickly leaving figure, he decided to follow it; If it was running away from the zombies, it was probably good for at least something. He hoped that the figure didn't mistake him for a hostile as he ran after her, attempting to catch up to her. "t..take a right!" he barely hissed above the volume of his heavy breathing, hoping to let them know he wasn't a hostile, and to get to a building with a fire escape so they could talk, and maybe trade.

She darted and weaved through the wreckage of cars and even a few stragglers that turned their attention her way. She hadn't encountered any of them that could move beyond a shuffle so outrunning them wasn't the problem, hiding from them was. Pumping her arms for speed she took off down an alleyway.

A few faint words make it to her ears through the sound of blood throbbing in her temples, “Take a right!”

She couldn't be sure if she had actually heard the words or not. She turned her head over her shoulder. Someone was running after her. She didn't look long enough to see if it was an infected or otherwise, it didn't matter. She came to a crossing in the alleyway and she skid to a halt, but only for a second. The path ahead was blocked by a fence with razor-wire, and the left had a stray infected who now turned its attention her way. Without another thought she darted off to the right.

Sweat rolled down her forehead with each heavy breath. Her eye then caught something that might just prove to be her salvation, a ladder. It was an old black metal ladder suspended some distance off the ground. It clearly was part of a fire escape structure that lead all the way to the roof. It would be perfect, at least for now. The trick now, was getting up to reach it. She doubted she could jump that high, she was nowhere near tall enough with her 5'3” stature, not to mention the weight of her supplies. Yet, she had to try or die. She pushed herself. Eeking out a bit more speed from her weary body she jumped at the wall attempting to gain just a bit more height to reach the bottom rung of the ladder. Her fingers grazed the cool metal but it proved to be too high, she fell back down the the concrete, the weight of her supplies putting pressure on her back with the hard landing. It hurt, but hell, she hurt all over as it was. She quickly looked around but not backwards, not wanting to see the speeding figure closing fast on her.

A filled up trashcan caught her eye and she threw it to the ground and using she could finally reach the ladder. With a heave she pulled herself up, her muscles protested the strain, but she managed. She reached the first deck of the escape before she looked down at the speeding figure below, for the first time actually taking in some detail. It was a young man, tall and tan running behind. How she managed to beat him here was something she could only attribute to adrenaline. He didn't seem malevolent, but she wasn't about to take anymore chances. She bolted up the stairs to the roof.

Stepping to the middle of the roof she never let her eyes off of where he would emerge should he follow. She pulled up her shirt slightly to reveal the pistol stuffed into her pants. Her hand wrapped around the grip nervously and her chest heaved with each heavy breath as her long hair began to stick to the sweat on her face and on her lips. She waited.

Jason had a hard time catching up to the girl, his footsteps heavy and slowing as he came to the dead end. He noticed the zombie, it's foul mouth beginning to open wide to scream, and quickly went to it and pushed it down, stomping it's head a few times, before looking around for more. Seeing none, he wiped his shoe on the zombie before turning around, watching the girl climb up the escape after some struggle. Perplexed about why she didn't kill the zombie and ask for help, he went after her, climbing up with ease, placing his knife on the ledge by the ladder, pulling himself over, hands in the air when he noticed her gun. "...Woah, hey, I'm a friendly, I'm good," he spoke with a hint of a southern drawl, his forehead and skin beaded with sweat. "I just.. Have ya seen my sister? Tall, skin like mine, blue tattoos all over her arm. Probably got a motorcycle with her." He asked, eyes darting about her but always landing on that gun of hers. "...c-could you put that thing down? my only weapon's over on the ledge... and it makes me a bit nervous. An', uh, if you're willing to, d'ya have anything to trade? I heard a zombie scream a'cha when I was looting a gas station, so I have some excess I could trade." he pulled his bag out in front of him and sat it down, rustling through it and pulling out some toilet paper, and a granola bar. "...awh don't tell me I left that stuff on the counter," he breathed , digging around for more.

The stranger emerged over the ledge and instantly threw his hands in the air. "...Woah, hey, I'm a friendly, I'm good. I just.. Have ya seen my sister? Tall, skin like mine, blue tattoos all over her arm. Probably got a motorcycle with her.”

Her hand twitched nervously on the grip. If she did have to fire, she doubted she'd ever make it off this roof alive. There was nowhere else to go if they got swarmed.

"...c-could you put that thing down?”

Chest still heaving heavy breaths she swallowed hard as she slowly began to nod. “Okay, just don't try anything...” The fear of what had happened earlier evident already. The healthy were just as, if not more dangerous, than the infected.

She released the grip on the weapon and pulled her shirt over the weapon. She let herself sit up against some kind of electrical box and brought her knees up close to her chest. Resting her elbows in her knees she looked over the tall stranger still quite suspicious of his intentions.

He was a very tall man with well tanned skin and short hair. His eyes dark and his face slightly scarred from who knows what.

“Forgive me if I'm not very trustin' today,” she said her own voice showing a bit of drawl of her own, but one from slightly more north.

She watched him dig around for a moment the idea he may have a hidden weapon still in the forefront of her mind. He seemed benevolent enough, but only time would truly tell.

“I'll save you the trouble, I only have a few cans of food, some rope, and a few bullets.” She didn't disclose she had a knife as well, just in case.

Jason visibly relaxed when the woman's hand went off the gun, and he looked through his stuff once more as he thought about what she had said. "...ah, I see. Nah, it's ok, I get ya. Some folks out there are crazy. I woulda' spoke up more, but I didn't wanna alert anything." he mumbled, before sitting down, recovering from their sprint and taking the time to look her over. Her hair, bright like fire, was messy and tangled from her run, and probably a few rests without a hair brush, and the length made him wonder if she was just lucky, tough, or both, for not being infected yet- wait, was she? "...You aren't infected, are ya? I mean, I don't think you are- you ran too good- but I gotta ask," he spoke up a little, after a while, to get some formalities out of the way. "You also missed a zombie when you ran up here. I got it, though, right before it was gonna call a horde.... Speakin' of horde, most the zombies in earshot are probably heading to the source of that scream, from before." He looked off, thinking, his brow furrowed. "...hey, maybe that means the mini-mall that was surrounded is gonna be cleared. That's not too far from here, I think." he looked back to the girl- then away because she was white as hell, even when slightly dirty, and he felt he might get distracted. "...Hey, ya wanna go with me? We're both low on supplies, and I'm pretty sure there's something of use in there. We can split the loot." He offered, getting up. He looked back to her, then down as he thought about how sudden he'd offered and how normal human interaction actually worked. After a moment of thought, an inhale and a brief shutting, clenching and reopening of his eyes, he attempted to restart. "Er, I mean, I figure there's gonna be a zombie or two in there, and I don't do well in closed spaces alone. so if you're gonna head that way, we could...like, watch out for each other?" He looked to her, with a slight shrug and a half smile intended to help him not look like an idiot.

She couldn't help but allow a small smirk appear on her lips as he mentioned people being crazy.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

She watched as he sat down, catching his breath after their little race. She felt his dark eyes peer over her. She tensed slightly.

"...You aren't infected, are ya? I mean, I don't think you are- you ran too good- but I gotta ask.”

“No,” she said simply, “I'm clean.”

The guy spoke about missing a stray zombie, the one she remember she fled from while he was perusing her. She felt foolish. She knew damn-good-n-well that they alert more if they see someone, but she also lacked any real skill with her knife. She could always have shot it, but that would've been worse. More importantly, he spoke of a mini-mall. This got her attention and she really began to listen intently.

Supplies is what she needed, well, it seemed what both of them needed. Then the question came.

"Hey, ya wanna go with me?”

Alexis thought back to when the last time she heard those words from a guy's mouth. It was summer, two, maybe three years ago. She remembered it was at school and Brian, yes, Brian Young asked her to goto the dance just like that. He was a nice guy, a bit rough around the edges but so were most the guys in the area. Chance, her brother, though, wouldn't have that. He was far too intimidating a man to allow anyone to be around his little sister.

Smiling at the memory as if it was a fairy tale she had just recalled she returned to reality. The reality was now the decision wasn't as simple or as pleasant as weather or not to goto a dance. It was life or death. She could place her trust in him, and he could turn on her, or use her as a sacrifice if things went south. It was hard to tell. She weighed her options for several silent moments as he rephrased his words in an act she could only attribute to nerves.

“Very well,” she finally said as she stood up.

She extended her left hand, her right hand still wrapped in a bloody tshirt, “Alexis. My friends used to call me Alex.”

"ah, that's good. Oh, goes without sayin, but if I get sick feel free to take my knife and put it in my skull, when it's safe. Preferably before the worst hits. I'll do the same for you, if ya want." He picked up his bag and slid it on before going to shake her hand, noticing her right one was all wrapped up. "I'm Jason, er, Jason Cortez. Jay's good- basically anything's good, just let me know what you're gonna call me, though." He thought about the last time he'd been able to speak to someone, and how long ago it was, and cleared his throat. "Sorry, It's been a while since I've been able to talk to someone. I'm a bit bottled up; I'll quiet down soon. Anyways, your hand looks pretty messed up; I could bandage it up a bit. I got, like, half a first aid kit at least. Definitely some bandages." He offered, letting the brief handshake end- though it wasn't much- he didn't grab her hand too hard, and it was probably one of the weakest, most non-threatening handshakes he'd ever attempted to give. "I don't know if I have any disinfectant in the kit, though. You'll want somethin' waterproof to cover that, in case business gets rough..." He frowned, thinking for a bit as he went over to pick up his knife, putting it in the sheath he had set in his pocket. "Hey, you got a quiet weapon? If not I could see about gettin' ya one, if I can find it." He offered, walking around the perimeter of the building, scanning for the safest way to go. "Also, I'm ready to go when you are." he added, looking back at her for a brief moment.

"I'm Jason, er, Jason Cortez. Jay's good- basically anything's good, just let me know what you're gonna call me, though."

She watched as he clearly got ruffled in his actions and his words began to ramble. She bowed her head slightly as she tried to hide her grin. He seemed to notice and quickly apologized.

"Sorry, It's been a while since I've been able to talk to someone. I'm a bit bottled up; I'll quiet down soon.”

He gave her a surprisingly soft handshake. It wasn't at all what she was expecting from such a large man.

“You'll want somethin' waterproof to cover that...”

She nodded. “We can worry about it when we stop next. We need to get off this roof or there might not be a next time.”

“Hey, you got a quiet weapon?”

She nodded and patted her left hip just under her shirt. “A knife,” she replied simply. It's military-like sheath attached to her belt very much out of place on her person. Yet, it was the only one she could find and appearances hardly mattered nowadays.

She watched as he walked around each side of the building, checking for threats.

“I'm ready when you are.”

She couldn't agree more. It was time to leave. She looked over the edge of the building. All and all, it seemed relatively clear.

“Lead the way,” she said with a nod, “I'll follow you.”

"Alright," Jason nodded, moving back to the fire escape. "be sure to use it instead of the gun if you can," he added, picking out his map, and looking at it for a moment. "I think the fastest way is... Er, that way. if you wanna see my map, just ask." He murmured, folding the marked map and putting it back inside his bag, zipping it up and climbing down the escape, as quietly as he could, as if he were sneaking a boat out to sea, as he did several times in the past. A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he thought back to the clear, moonlight night when he first snuck a boat out to joyride. He had got caught, but bribed his coworkers into not ratting him out, in exchange for showing him how he did it...

But there was no time for those memories right then, he decided, and shook them out of his head as he reached the ground, holding the ladder for the girl- Alex, she had said, and waiting for her to reach the ground before starting off, at a decently fast pace, to where he believed the minimall was.
The roads were eerily silent, and although the sounds of shuffling foot steps weren't nearby, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he encountered a four-way intersection. Carefully, he looked back to Alex, then around, shutting his eyes for a moment before taking a left, and praying the force and his poor map-reading skills would lead his way successfully.

"Alright, be sure to use the knife if you can."

She looked over at him as he breifly studied a map of the area.

"Er...that way," he said.

Although his words lacked confidence she had no choice but to trust him. She wasn't familiar with the area and couldn't offer any help.

Jay quietly slipped over the side of the roof and back down the fire-escape and to the ground. She followed him down. Each step was quick, but carefully made as her eyes scanned the allyway for any threats. Just as she reached the ladder she saw Jay waiting for her to desend. It was a sweet gesture she had to admit.

Her feet hit the ground and they started off in a strong stride. The area was silent, not a single sound hit her ears, even the sound of their steps were silent. Alex gripped the rifle strap tightly forcing the weapon firmly against her back in an effort to keep the noise to a minimum.

Jay stopped at an intersection or moment. Before she could ask the matter he made a choice, left. She sped up her stride a bit and come up beside him as they went.

"If you don't mind me askin..." she trailed off for a second, "What happened to your sister?"

"If you don't mind me askin..." she trailed off for a second, "What happened to your sister?"

Jason arched a brow and looked over to Alex as she asked, looking down and taking a breath before speaking. "...Well, she and my mom were over in louisiana when all this happened, and I was stuck south of here, and she called me up before I even heard about zombies. She was all 'Jayjay there are dead people walkin' around and eating people,'" he did a poor "...and then I was all, 'whaddaya mean? Ophie I think you were watchin' too many horror movies last night' but then she was all 'noooo I'm bein' serious here. me an' mom are heading up to Mobile Alabama, meet us there as soon as y'can.'" he paused his hushed speaking, listening for any shuffling before continuing, "but I was all, 'but ophie what if I cant make it up there? and wouldn't it be safer over here, considerin' I aint seen any dead people?' so she was all 'fine then, me an' mom will wait in mobile and if ya haven't shown up for a long time- like maybe a month? I dunno I'll ask mom- we'll start lookin for ya.' and then she hung up and I aint heard from her since."
As he told the story, he looked away from Alex, to the intersection they were at, then to the map in his hands. After he decided that they didn't have to turn for a while, he looked back to Alex. "So, I guess long story short... uh, well, my sis' is lookin' for me, and I'm not sure if she's in mobile, or if she's down here. Being bad with time doesn't help much, but I figure that with how impatient my mom and sis are, it's already been way too long, and it can't hurt to ask around." He gave a slight shrug and a nervous, hopeless smirk as they walked, and as he fell silent for a while.

The next time that he spoke up was at the next turn they took, where he had paused and looked round before going left, revealing that they had walked around a big pile up of cars, some burnt, most abandoned and bloody. With a grimace, he looked away, muttering "one shitty way to go" under his breath, a hand resting on the knife in his pocket. There was an audible shuffling coming from the street over, causing him to tighten his jaw and look around nervously. His eye caught another fire escape and he made his way there, motioning for alex to follow as he pulled down the escape and held it for her. He needed to see what the deal was, and make an estimate about how long it'd take for it to be safe enough to get through to the minimall.

Alex listened to his story and couldn't help but break a grin at all the dialogue. The story was said but the words exchanged held humor in themselves.

They continued walking stopping every once in a while to check for the sounds of any of the creatures nearby. So far, it seemed clear. They turned a corner and passed a large pile of cars. The metal was twisted and burnt. Blood streaked across some of them, and in the inside windshield. Alex could feel acid it the back of her throat. It was sickening. She turned away from the carnage just as Jay stopped. There was a shuffling in the silence.

He motioned her to follow and she complied without question. If at all they could avoid these things, then that was the way to go. Kindly he even held the ladder for her. Glad to see that even in these dark times chivalry wasn't dead. She climbed to the top.

“What is it? How far?”She peeked around the sides of the building just enough to see the streets below.

"...I just need to take a look at how the horde's movin'..." Jason murmured, already walking next to the edges of the roof, crouching when he came to the edge that was on the street with the shuffling. He motioned for Alex to stay back as he counted the slow moving husks. "....Shit, looks like there's ten of em..." His eyes were trained on their path, and the car wreckage they were stumbling around. "They're facing the wrong way, so if we move quietly- like, uh... batman level of quiet, we could walk past 'em... Or we could wait for a bit... But then they could set off a car alarm and we'd be fucked. Personally, I think bein' batman would be better. Wadda you think?" He glanced at her for a moment before resuming watching the zombies shuffle around." Ten slow zombies shouldn't be a problem if we mess up, right?"

"They're facing the wrong way, so if we move quietly- like, uh... batman level of quiet, we could walk past 'em... Or we could wait for a bit... But then they could set off a car alarm and we'd be fucked. Personally, I think bein' batman would be better. Wadda you think?"

He looked back at her before looking back at the creatures below.

" Ten slow zombies shouldn't be a problem if we mess up, right?"

“We'll be fine,” she said as a small grin tugged at the corner of her lips. Pulling the knife from its sheath and tightened the strap to her rifle as tight as it could be across her chest.

“Lets go,” she said with a nod., “I'll trust ya.”

"Alright. If they notice us, we're gonna have to kill 'em. If you're not good with stabbin' them through their skulls, just knock em down an' jump on their face once... Maybe twice." He nodded at her as he moved back to the fire escape, going down nimbly and silently, landing at the end and keeping it down for the shorter girl once again- he thought back to the times when he worked on the boats, and this little fireball friend of his kept trying to do parkour, and jumped from a perch that was just a bit too high for the height-impaired man, and broke his legs. the yell made just about everyone in a half mile radius turn their heads, and he relived there would be no repeats- especially now. As soon as she was down, he adjusted his bags then started off, sneaking as if he were slyly taking a boat out for a joyride, calculating almost every step to be silent, and every breath to be slow and even, and low. He paused mid way, looking back to check if she was doing ok, and feeling like a doof for not making sure she knew how to sneak.

Meanwhile, the zombies were milling about, the smell of burnt cars and chemicals masking the smell of the living, completely unaware of the two living bodies nearby.

"Alright. If they notice us, we're gonna have to kill 'em. If you're not good with stabbin' them through their skulls, just knock em down an' jump on their face once... Maybe twice."

Alexis couldn't help but crack a smile at his last comment. It reminded her of a movie she saw some time ago.

“Rule 4: doubletap,” she said with a small smirk. Maybe he'd get the reference, maybe not, but she found a small chuckle from it regardless.

Ever the gentleman it seemed he again held the ladder for her to make sure she got down safely. He did a quick gear adjustment and they started off down the ally. Her steps were quiet and breathing slow, not wanting to make any unnecessary noise. The smell of burnt machinery and petrol assaulted her senses. Hopefully that would help mask their scent. Lord knows their scent must be strong, showers were not easy to come by now-a-days.

“Rule 10,” she said just above a whisper. They progressed slowly moving from hiding spot to hiding spot. Stopping behind a turned over car she noticed the creatures stumbling about blocking the path they needed to proceed. She cursed as she looked around at the debris at her feet. To her great fortune a broken off side mirror lay nearby. She picked it up and motioned to him her intention to throw it for a distraction. “Got a better plan?” she asked.

(been drinking so forgive any mistakes I might have >3 )