This is my first story guys, so please tell me if you have any problems with it!

Ellie—

I looked at my reflection in the water. I had on a black tank top and a black sports bra under it. Then I had a grey flannel over that. You couldn't see all of the scars my uncle gave me with his knife, my tattoos, or my diamond belly button ring. Then after you followed the scars over my hips you would find jean shorts and even below that was black shin high combat boots.

I let my eyes wander over my face next.

The glass shard incident caused there to be a thin pink scar cutting over the bridge of my nose and down my left cheek. My hazel eyes that were once bright were a little duller and my lips pinkish. My light brown hair was in a loose fishtail braid which meant most of the hair near my face was falling out.

A stick cracked to the left of me. My head snapped to the side and my left hand immediately took ahold my bow handle.

A squirrel scurried across the ground.

As quick as lightning, I loaded an arrow and shot the little creature through the eye. Another thing to add to my belt of fifteen I already had.

"Jason better be glad I'm feeding his sorry ass group…" I grumbled to myself.

Jason was supposedly the leader of his little group. He found me surrounded by biters one day and shut them all down. Apparently I owed him some kind of debt so I hunt for the group, feed them all. And I get little to none recognition for it.

Then I traveled along creek bed back to camp.

"This is me ringing the dinner bell," I deadpanned throwing Jenna, our classic camp bitch, the string of sixteen squirrel.

"Ewe!" she squealed holding them out as far in front of her as I could. Shelly rolled her eyes and snatched them from her.

Shelly was the one I got along with most. She knows how to gut a squirrel, shoot a gun, and she's not all girly about it.

In another time, Shelly was a plucky, red head mechanic working in an Atlanta garage. She wore black rimmed glasses and was short, but not too short. She may sound ugly but she was the complete opposite. She was beautiful and weird at the same time. Just like me, that's why we got along so well.

"Remember to give me those skins when you're done!" I called after her. She waved an okay and disappeared into the brush.

"We need someone to make a run into the city," Jason's voice said behind me. "Any volunteers?"

I stayed quiet. I just got back from a hunt, he could find someone else to do it for him. Walking away was the best for me right then.

"Ellie, you're going…"

I spun around and glared at him. "Why do I have to go? I just got done feeding us!"

"And we're grateful, but you're our fastest and our quietest. Plus, you've been there countless times! Can't you go just one more time? For the group?" he snapped. The look in his black eyes were threatening. As if to say if I say no, he'd make me sorry.

"Fine!" I exclaimed throwing my hands into the air. "But I'm taking Shelly with me!"

"Fine!" he growled and stomped off towards his tent.

Shelly poked her head through the brush. "I'm going with you?"

"Yes, yes you are." I walked up close to her. "Do you remember on the way here how you were asking me if I like this group?" She nodded. "Well, I didn't get to answer you…" I lowered my voice to a whisper. "I hate this group. Constantly, I'm being told what to do and Jason believes I owe him some damn debt for him saving my life when I have saved him countless times, hunted for the group, and going on all of these runs while he sits in his tent and drinks tequila. I'm leaving. Do you want to come with?"

She didn't even hesitate. "Of course I do."

"Good. Discreetly pack your things. When we leave, we leave for good."

She nodded and threw the squirrels at Jenna. The string ended up going into her shirt so we had a good laugh about that.

I packed my small bag of things that included clothes, a flashlight, batteries (AA, AAA, etc.), condoms (Just in case), birth control pills (also just in case), a canteen full of water, my mother's locket, a quarter roll of duct tape, extra arrows, and a few extra clips for the 9mm that Jason took from me.

There was a tap on the tree next to me. I looked up the see Shelly looking down at me.

"You ready for this?" she asked as I stood up next to her.

"Absolutely. Let's move."

We made our way to her big black truck. She drove of course because when she was off shift as a mechanic she was also a drag racer and could drive a car like it's nobody's business.

"So what the plan?" Shelly inquired glancing at me.

I snorted, very unattractively I might add. "You can't have a plan in this world. Because of the dead there are too many liabilities for a plan to work out the way you want it to."

Shelly shrugged. "Very reasonable. What do you want then?"

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. "We're going to go into the city to this one convenience store I hid some supplies in. Then we head east to the coast, hijack a boat, and make towards the nearest island."

"Nice plan…"

"Not a plan. It's what I want."

We laughed.

Shelly parked the car a little ways away from the store.

All three sets of windows were broken through when we got there.

"There must have been a lot of biters to break through all those windows. Someone was most likely in here," I whispered to Shelly. There was a corpse on the ground by the cash register with a hole in its head. I crouched to examine the wound. "It's fresh. Someone was here not that long ago…"

"Or they're still here…" Shelly replied in a low voice.

I agreed and loaded my bow.

We quickly and silently made our way up the narrow stairwell. The door at the top was open. It was suspicious but I didn't think anything of it.

When we stepped through the door way and immediately froze.

There on that roof were four guys, an Asian, an African American, a cop, and a redneck. And they were all staring at us.

"Howdy there…" Shelly greeted calmly as she was slowly raising her gun.

"We just want to get our stuff and leave…" I said walking towards the pipe that held all of the things I was looking for.

"I wouldn't move, missy," the redneck said pointing his crossbow at me.

I rolled my eyes but didn't stop moving. "Uh, don't tell me what to do…"

Quickly I got to the pipe. I cursed loudly at what I found.

There were handcuffs attached to the middle of it and apparently someone yanked too hard revealing most of the supplies.

"What happened?" Shelly asked.

"Someone fucking found them!" I growled. I took out my brother's bowie knife from my waistband.

"Whoa!" the black guy said raising his gun. "Calm down!"

"Don't flatter yourself…" I grumbled annoyed shooting him a glare. I stabbed through the thin part of the pipe which was a little farther than a hand could reach opening it up. I spied down the new hole and saw that there were a few supplies he/she missed. I yanked them out. In all I had six water bottles, a belt full of throwing knives, and a huge pack of jerky.

"AH!" shouted Shelly behind me. I spun around bow ready. She was being attacked by a biter.

Just as I did with the squirrel, quick as lightning I shot an arrow in its eye.

"Whoa," breathed the Asian obviously impressed. I shrugged.

"What's your name?" the cop asked me slowly walking up to me, like I was a cornered animal or a victim from his past life as a cop.

"Why do you want to know?" I narrowed my eyes at him and white-knuckle gripped my bow.

"Because I believe we could work something out…" He was now an arms distance away from me.

"What is there to work out?" Shelly asked winded from her struggle. She hopped down next to me. "You let us go, no questions asked, and she won't put an arrow through your eye." She put the arrow I killed the biter with back in my quiver.

"I'm Rick Grimes."

I stayed silent staring at him. I didn't blink. I didn't move. You could tell that I was intimidating him.

"Ellie Stevenson. This is my friend Shelly Rudi"

"I'm Glenn," said the Asian. "That's T-Dog and Daryl Dixon has the crossbow."

"Are you apart of a group?" T-Dog asked stepping a bit closer.

"Were," Shelly answered lowering her gun. "Ellie was always made to do the dirty work, hunting, making runs. If she was running so was I."

I looked down at the ground beside the now shredded pipe. There was a severed hand with a pool of blood around it. There wasn't a lot of blood after that on the trail so I knew he must have used a tourniquet.

"Your buddy used a tourniquet." I stepped over and bent to examine the trail. "Would have been a bloodier trail if he didn't."

"You track?" Daryl asked huffing.

I looked up at him like he was an idiot. "Of course I do. Didn't you hear Shelly? I hunt. If I couldn't that would be hard to do, now wouldn't it…"

Daryl scoffed but didn't answer.

"I like her. Can we keep her?" T-Dog said with a chuckle.

"Now that we're best friends!" Shelly broke out into a fake smile. "Why don't we go watch Mean Girls and braid each other's hair?"

"What's a Mean Girls?" Daryl scratched the back of his neck impatiently.

"See?" I murmured to myself. "I'm not the only one who hasn't seen Mean Girls…"

"Why don't you come with us?" Rick asked breaking the silence. "You're good with a bow and you can track."

"Um, I just got out of a strenuous relationship with my group. I'm not emotionally ready to jump right back into one…" The sarcasm in my voice was evident.

"Our group is different," Glenn caught in. "We have another hunter so you wouldn't have to hunt all the time. And we have others, back at camp, with food, shelter. Plus, I usually make the runs so you wouldn't have to."

"We don't have a lot of resources, El. They think we're on a run so we only have what you packed in your backpack." Shelly was right. We wouldn't last a week with these rations.

I sat on the pipe and contemplated their offer.

They seemed nice enough. But I didn't know who the rest of their group were or how they acted. But I didn't think they were bad people if they live with these guys… We need the supplies and the support.

"If we come with you…" I said from the pipe. "I'm helping. Now c'mon. We need to find this guy before he bleeds out."

There you go guys, the first installment. Hope you liked it!