Chapter I: The First Signs of Winter


Elsa stepped out of her jeep onto the dried, cracked mud that used to be the Mississippi River. It had dried long ago and she only knew what it was because of the overgrown signs on the sides of the ridge surrounding the small valley that was once the bed of the river. The feeling was back again.

Her dog, Bullet, a pure white Siberian Husky, hopped out along side her as she scanned the horizon for what she was looking for. From the passenger seat, she heard Anna getting out to join her.

"Everything alright?" She asked.

"Yeah... I just wanted to stop for a minute." Elsa said.

Anna reached her arms around Elsa's waist and pecked her on the cheek. "Okay. Just checking on you." Anna rested her chin on her shoulder and Elsa leaned into the touch and closed her eyes.

After a minute of enjoying the embrace, Anna let go and got back in the jeep with Bullet. Elsa got her binoculars out of the back and scanned the horizon for anything interesting. Finding nothing worth looking into, she put the binoculars back and got back in, started it and pressed on the gas. They had driven this way before and knew most of what to expect. The few groups of raiders on the way to their destination left them alone.

Their reputation throughout the region spread like wild fire. One story that the two frequently heard was of Elsa freeing captured settlers turned to slaves from a raider camp close to Saint Louis and leading them all a hundred miles south to a large settlement called Old Orleans. After getting the dozen or so clothed and fed, she disappeared only to reappear in the Illinois Territory.

Anna was a product of Elsa's heroism. She was saved from a brutal warlord who had captured her near the Great Lakes who had held her as his own personal servant. Elsa had saw her getting beaten by his soldiers and saved her by killing them and the warlord when he stated that he would find and kill both of them after his arms were blasted off by Elsa's shotgun.

As they sped up the Mississippi, the feeling returned to Elsa but she ignored it, thinking of just earlier. They kept going until a large crashed cargo plane came into view. Cautious, Elsa brought the jeep to a stop a distance away. "Stay here, ill be back." she told Anna, But as she was stepping out, Anna grabbed her hand and jerked her back in and kissed her. It only lasted a few seconds, but Elsa pulled away smiling and said, "Ill be okay." With that she pulled away and got her M4 off the roof rack and slung it over her shoulder. The adrenaline started to kick in and she pulled her gas mask up over her mouth and nose and her cloak's hood over her mane of long, platinum blonde hair.

Walking up to the huge, wrecked aircraft, she raised her rifle to the windows watching for movement. She felt someone watching her and she smiled at who she knew it was. Shuffling came from behind one of the crushed landing gear and as soon as the thing reared its ugly head, it was on its way to the ground, head exploded by one of Anna's explosive rounds. Elsa knew she was watching. Its just how they worked. She'd have to thank her later for that.

The rear cargo ramp was opened and inside it was virtually empty, save for a few bloody piles of gore and military uniforms, a couple tents, and a firepit, and a few long green lockboxes near the cockpit ladder. This plane, she thought, looked like one of the relief planes the Army had sent before the infection hit. But it looked like it had been picked clean ages ago. The dead soldiers still had their weapons, and some gear making this little stop not a total bust so she piled them at the end of the loading ramp along with the vests, gas masks, pistols, and even a few hand grenades she found that were basically the only remnants of the devoured soldiers besides bone and spent round casings.

She dragged the long green boxes to the end of the ramp and moved out into the open to signal for Anna to bring up the jeep and then went to check the cockpit. The pilots were long gone; probably ran off or pulled out somewhere and eaten like the others. All that was left in one seat was the helmet with the name 'Jackson' on it and a couple of bottles of water in a case near the ladder.

Elsa strutted down the ramp, gas mask and hood down, to greet Anna with a hug and found herself locking lips with her instead. Anna's hand ran down her back and pulled Elsa's chest closer to hers while their tongues danced around eachother. Elsa brought her hands up to Anna's waist and pushed her back onto the jeep, their lips never losing contact.

Elsa pulled away panting and kissed her neck and whispered,"when we get home-" she paused pulling back and locking eyes with Anna"-you're mine." Anna beamed a huge smile pulling away and retrieving the weapons from the end of the ramp, all the while Elsa stood admiring her curvy form. Anna's shorter, but still long, fiery red hair complimented her teal-green eyes in a way that made Elsa practically melt. Elsa's eyes were a deep icy-blue, but she always thought Anna's teal-greens were the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Little did she know that her icy blue eyes had a similar effect on Anna. They loaded up the jeep and looked around the plane to see if there were anything else they could use.

While Elsa was on the other side checking out a humvee that looked like it was getting worked on, she heard Bullet start barking and snarling. He was usually their alarm so something had to be wrong. She drew her pistol and sprinted around the side of the plane. One of the pilots(dead as she thought) had returned and was ontop of Anna struggling to get a bite at her throat.

Bullet had bitten the things arm and was shaking it to get him off. Elsa started running again, this time she holstered her gun and pulled out her spiked knuckles she got off a highwayman who tried to jump them. After drop kicking the undead pilot off Anna she got up and started punching madly at its partially exposed skull. After blood covered her hands she stopped and looked back to see Anna curled up against the jeep, weeping. Dropping the knuckles, Elsa ran over and got down to eye level with Anna.

She was shaking and crying and Elsa didn't know what to do, so she cupped Anna's cheek and brushed a bang behind her ear and kissed her forehead. "It's alright, Anna, it's dead now, see?" Anna looked over her shoulder at the body and back into Elsa's soothing gaze. She nodded her head weakly, panting to catch her breath. "You're okay, you're safe now. Im here." Elsa smiled reassuringly at her and got up, reached under Anna's shaking legs and just under her shoulder blades and picked her up. Anna was surprisingly light for her curvy figure and Elsa easily moved her into the passenger seat. Before going to load the rest of the salvage, she leaned in for one more quick kiss. "I love you and I'll be right here, okay. Im not gonna go anywhere."

Anna shook her head. "I love you too" she gave a small smile, telling Elsa she would be okay.

Elsa shut the door and loaded up the remaining salvage from the plane. The humvee, however, was another story. After an hour of working on the bolts and other fastenings, the .50 caliber was off it and strapped onto the top of their jeep along with some ammo cans, a case of MREs, another rifle, some gas cans, a couple spare wheels and parts and armor plating that Elsa was using to build her own little project, and even a rocket launcher that was in the back of the humvee. Anna had fallen asleep lying sideways with her knees to her chest.

Elsa took off her long black cloak and spread it across her love, making sure it covered Anna enough to keep her warm. It was freezing outside, but Elsa still had a black Old Navy hoodie on, so she felt she was fine giving a little bit of warmth to Anna who hadn't been sleeping very well recently. She needs all the sleep she can get, Elsa thought. They sped along the Mississippi heading North to one of their havens that they had become revered members of. They had multiple safe houses and havens that they would move to between traveling and scavenging runs, this one, though, was Anna's Favorite. Night soon came and they came across it... Memphis.

Elsa pulled the jeep up the small ramp from the dry river bed to a highway into the heart of Memphis, Tennessee. A few blocks later they were at their destination. The huge pyramid structure stood out in a neighborhood of tall rectangular buildings, making it easy to find.

Elsa pulled the jeep around into an alley back behind it and down into a loading dock zone. The six loading dock gates were all opened except for the two farthest from the center which were raised half way, but the two center gates were the only ones they could go into, which had been joined into one with the concrete pillar that had once separated them demolished. The ones to the right and to the left each had a small sandbag wall with a mounted .50 caliber machine gun behind it. The men manning the guns and the ones standing beside them with their rifles slung over heavy coats were part of a small but busy settlement Elsa had become a part of years ago when she was still just getting out into the world.

Elsa pulled up and stopped as a guard came up to clear them to move through. All residents of the Pyramid Colony had a simple red cloth attached to their shoulder by pins to tell if they had been there yet. If she didn't have her pass, they would have to go through a long process to get reinstated, but lucky for her, she never took it off. The guard waved her in and she drove inside and turned down a hallway that was the traders market. She slowed down to a steady 15 miles an hour and avoiding anyone in the finally turned left down into a section of stadium that used to be the luxury box in the stadium that was sectioned off just for her. She, and with the help of some of the off duty guards who were willing to help, had built a small house and garage out of a section of luxury booths overlooking the stadium.

After pulling into her small garage and shutting the sliding door, she got out and whistled for Bullet to climb out behind her. She went to the other side and opened the door only to catch a deep sleeping Anna in her arms. Silently chuckling to herself, She reached under her legs and picked her up carrying her through the doorway to their home and then back into their bedroom and onto their bed. She quietly slid Anna's boots off and threw them into their closet along with her socks, pants and coat and then did the same with herself. She slid into bed next to the love of her life and fell into a deep slumber with the last thing she saw being Anna's peaceful sleeping face.


A/N Hey guys! How's it going? Was it any good? haha This is my very first Fic. Ever. Anywhere. So it could be good, or it could be terrible haha. either way, thanks for the read. You guys are awesome. Update sooner than you know it!