Chapter One

Carl was in trouble. He had been separated from his group, and to make things worse he was definitely heading in the wrong direction. He had been separated when they walked right into a herd of walkers, they were everywhere. Somehow no one noticed them until it was too late, and by then everyone was scrambling to get away. He had been with Rick for a while, but when he checked a few minutes later his dad was no where to be seen. Rick had probably stopped to help someone without Carl noticing. He had never seen so many walkers in one place, and the smell was just as bad.
He had been wondering when he heard noises so he hid behind a large tree. Next thing he knew he was hearing voices, not walker noises but actual human voices. When he poked his head out to see he was spotted by one of the three men. All three were carrying weapons. Each had a dagger on their belt and at least two guns. The smallest was the one who noticed him. He was about two inches taller than Carl, but had some scruff from not shaving in a while. He had a young looking face, but his voice sounded like he was at least twenty. He was skinny, and it was obvious that before all this he wasn't the buffest man. He looked like he was someone who spent their days reading or playing games, but now his arms had some muscle on them and so did his legs. He had sandy blonde hair and small eyes, but apparently they were trained to notice things because Carl's head had only been out for a second before he was nudging the biggest man, and talking about how he saw someone hiding behind the big tree.
The biggest man looked a lot like the third man, they were probably brothers. The bigger of the two had very dark brown hair, almost black, while the smaller one had chocolate coloured hair. They were both somewhat muscular, they looked like men who spent their lives building, or destroying, things. The bigger man was almost six feet tall, while his brother was only around five foot nine. The big man glanced at the tree before grunting and pointed to either side.
Carl hid behind the tree again and was about to run when the two larger men came around either side of the tree, the small one no where to be found. Carl pulled out his gun and pointed it at the biggest man, backing away from the tree at an angle where he could see both men. "I got separated from my group, but they aren't far. I'm going to go and find them, I don't want a fight. I have no food or water, all I have is this gun and if you want it from me you'll have to kill me."
Suddenly Carl found himself face-first on the ground, a light weight pressing against his back. He had figured the smallest guy stayed back on the other side of the tree, but instead he moved around without Carl noticing and attacked from the only place Carl could flee. These three were smart, and strong since they were still alive with so many walkers close by. Carl spent a minute struggling, grunting and trying to get the man off of him. The men simply watched and waited for him to calm down and stop fighting.
After a few minutes Carl laid still, unsure what to do. Even if he could get the man off of him, there were two bigger ones right there. "What do you want?" The men laughed.
"We want to help you get back to your group, of course." It was the small one speaking, and he moved off of Carl when he finished. Carl looked at him while he sat up, turning to look at the speaker. The man was smiling at him, or more so smirking. Why would they want to help him? "Of course, we expect payment for our services."
"I told you, I don't have anything." The man continued smiling down at Carl before shaking his head.
"Back before all this there were more ways to pay for services, and for those who thought they had 'nothing' to pay with they found out they did. So, we'll help you in return for payment. Get up, where did you last see your group?"
"What will the payment be?" Carl wasn't going to tell them anything until he knew, nothing that they could hold against him or use to track him down.
"Favors."
"What kind of favors?"
"You'll find out." The man smirked again before looking at the men from his own group, who were chuckling now. "Don't think he trusts us. Fine, here." He pulled something from his pack and handed it to Carl, it was food. "We'll feed you then. How about that?" Carl was starving, and wasn't about to pass up the chance at free food. Plus, he could use the help. The food was some sort of meat and berries, he didn't care what, but as he finished he suddenly felt overwhelmed with sleep and fell over.