Hello, I'll apologise here for the spelling and grammar, I'm dyslexic and I can't seem to find a beta that is willing to help me so just now I'll have to do without.

Chapter one

I wiped the back of my hand over my brow, after being in the country a couple of months I thought I would have gotten used to the heat, but no. temperatures here were high compared to what I was used to back in Scotland and it was a struggle to find enough water to keep myself properly hydrated, I often had a headache by mid-day. I wasn't equipped for the end of the world, I didn't even have a gun, wouldn't know what to do with one if I did have one. You couldn't buy a gun in Scotland, I was pretty sure the only people who had guns back home where farmers. I had a baseball bat though. I had found it beside a chewed-up body a few weeks back and so far it had been my best friend. I had dabbled in rounders through high school and I had been quite good at it, thankfully after ten years I still had a good, hard swing. I heaved my backpack further up my bag as I continued to walk through the trees, constantly aware for any sign or smell of death. I was down to one tin of beans. I hadn't eaten at all yesterday or today so far, I knew the body could go a while without food but that didn't stop the sharp pains of hunger. I was scared to eat it though. What if I couldn't find anything else for a while? I wanted to save it until I had at least found something else to replace it with. Maybe I would come across a house to search, I doubted it though. I had a better chance finding cars to search on the road. Only problem with walking the main roads was that these things walked them as well. Was it worth the risk? No, I would stay to the trees my gut was telling me to stay to the trees as it had kept me alive so far.

By the time mid-day had arrived my headache was back. I sipped at my bottled water trying to make it last longer, I needed to find a stream or something to fill my other two bottles with. I now had a third of a bottle of water left and one tin of beans. I had to find more food and water, fast. I had barley slept last night, the tree I had picked hadn't been great, but it was the only one that was tall enough and strong enough to hold me so that the infected couldn't grab me through the night. I missed beds, hell at this point I missed pillow and proper covers. All I had in my bag where a few tops, shorts and jeans. I had packed for a summer holiday and all the rest of my belongings where probably still in the hotel room, gathering dust. I had just grabbed a few clothes and fled when we were told to evacuate the city. I had originally been with a group who had also been staying in the hotel but a couple of days of them screaming and crying all the time I had left. I wasn't an emotional person, and I couldn't remember the last time I had cried, maybe when I was a kid. Though when you didn't have anything to lose there wasn't anything worth crying over. My family had died a few years ago in a car crash. I had been on my own a long time before that though, I had never really seen eye to eye with my parents, we were to different.

I froze when I heard a familiar sound. I could hear the groaning and the sound of twigs snapping as feet where dragged over the forest floor. The infected, I tried to listen to see if I could tell how many, but I couldn't tell. I crouched down the floor and tightened the grip on my bat. Pulling twigs away from my eyes I looked through a bush I had ducked behind. Two, there was only two, I could take care of them. I stood up again and walked towards them, it only took a few seconds for them to spot me as they started limping towards me. there was about ten feet between them. As the first one got within reach I raised my bat, swinging it down hard right on top of its head. it buckled at the knees and fell forward as I stepped out its way. I kicked the next one in the stomach as it had been to close. It fell backwards and before it could get back up swung my bat down again, right into its face. I stood straight and relaxed the grip on my bat. I stumbled as something hit my back, I quickly turned just in time to grab hold of the neck of one of the infected people. It backed me into a tree as I tried to stop it biting me, I could feel its hands grip my upper arm as its teeth repeatedly snapped and snarled as it inched closer to my face. I swung my leg out, kicking it in the shin, it stumbled enough for me to give a push. I scrambled away from it searching for my bat, there! It was only a few feet away. I made a grab for it but stumbled on a rock, falling flat on my chest. Shit, now it had the high ground. I rolled onto my back just in time as it fell towards me. I pushed my hand against its chest as I reached behind me trying to find my bat, but all I could feel was twigs and leaves. I screamed in frustration. As it got closer I had to forget my bat, I needed both my hands to try and keep it away. It was getting closer though, I didn't have the energy to hold it off and it wouldn't get tired, I didn't want to die. Not like this. Suddenly it became a dead weight, unmoving. An arrow was sticking out the side of its head. with one last push I shoved it off me. I quickly scrambled to my feet and grabbed a hold of my bat. Just in time as well as another two came through the trees. I quickly smashed the first one's head in and was just about to go for the second when it crumbled to the ground, and arrow sticking out of its eye socket. I quickly sun round to face a man coming through the trees a crossbow in his arms, pointed at me.

We just stared at each other. I wasn't sure what to say, I wanted to thank him, but he was a man, and a tough looking one at that. what would he want in return? I had already come across some vile men out here, the kind of men that made your skin crawl.

"Ya bit?" he barked out suddenly making me jump. I quickly shook my head.

"No, thanks for that" I said waving at the corpses laying on the ground. He dropped his bow and swung it on his back, he walked past me and retrieved his arrows.

"you seen a little girl out here?" he asked.

"No, I haven't seen anyone in days" I replied honesty. Had he lost his little girl? I wanted to ask but at the same time I didn't want to upset him, he had to be breaking inside. I took a closer look at him, he wasn't carrying any supplies. Did that mean he had a camp nearby?

"You alone?"

"Yes" I replied my voice shaking slightly, He noticed and looked at me straight in the eye.

"Ain't gonna touch ya" he mumbled breaking eye contact. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Thanks, I…there's just some bad people out there" I replied, he nodded his head in agreement or understanding? I wasn't sure. "Did you see any streams around here?" I asked him "I'm running low on water" I added.

"Yeah, come on I'll show ya" he replied turning away from me and heading back into the trees. I quickly made my feet move to follow him. "Ya got a name?" he mumbled, not bothering to look at me.

"Yeah, I'm Freya McCullen but my friends call me Ness" I told him.

"Ness?"

"Yeah, you know as in the Loch Ness monster" I replied with a small smile "being that I'm Scottish and apparently I was a little monster as a kid" I added.

"If yar from Scotland what ya doing here?" he asked. It was a fair question, I couldn't exactly hide the accent.

"I was on holiday" I admitted. He just scoffed. "What's your name?"

"Daryl" he replied simply.

I leaned down at the streams edge and filled all my water bottles up. Daryl stood off to the side his eyes scanning the forest. My headache was back, I drank some of my water, but it didn't ease any. I put the bottles in my back and stood up, a wave of dizziness hit me. I felt myself sway, then everything went black.