CHAPTER 1

They could hear the screams before they made it into the clearing. Running into the open they saw a man being overwhelmed by a pack of walkers. They were standing on some railroad tracks. The sun glinted off the mans knife as he buried the blade into another skull. Joel knew there was too many of them and the man would soon be overwhelmed. He gave a knowing look to Hannah.

"We only have four rounds left," Hannah said. She loaded the rifle.

Joel pulled a machete from his back. "I know. Just make sure I don't get flanked."

"What if we're too late?"

"Just cover me."

Joel ran towards the pack with Hannah following behind and with a crunch he drove the machete into one of their heads and blood splattered on his shirt. His machete ripped through another head. A few other walkers took notice and turned around. One of them caught a machete through an eye socket and slumped to the ground. A shot rang out and a walker fell at Joel's feet behind him. He turned and smiled at Hannah.

"Look out!" she said.

A walker lunged at Joel, knocking him to the ground, its mouth gnashing and biting as Joel held its throat. His thumb ripped through the rotting flesh and putrified juices dripped onto his face. Hannah raised her rifle and took aim, slowly squeezing the trigger. A knife lodged into the top of the walkers skull as the unknown man was now standing over Joel, dripping with sweat. Hannah released the trigger.

There was silence. The wind swept through the trees and birds twitted away in the distance. Hannah kept her rifle pointed toward the man. "Joel," she said, "you alright?"

He stood up and bent forward, placing his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He had been in a few close scrapes with the walkers before, but that was back when he was with a group. Now the only person in this world who had his back was Hannah and they had only been together for a week. He was thankful it worked out. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, looking at the man who was now covered in blood. He was older than either of them. He looked at least into his fifties possibly early sixties but he his muscular frame hinted that he wasn't afraid of hard labor. His grey beard was scraggly and his button-down shirt was torn in a few places. "Are you alright, man?" Joel said. "Were you bit?"

The man winced and rubbed his shoulder. "No, I'm good." He motioned to Hannah. "Is she going to shoot me?"

Hannah had kept her rifle ready, now trained directly at the man. The walkers were dangerous but they were just a nuisance compared to desperate people with nothing to lose.

"Depends," Joel said. "Give us a good reason why we shouldn't shoot you. Maybe you deserve to be shot. People these days fall in one of two categories. Either they're good folk looking to survive with other like-minded good folk..." Joel squinted into the noon sun. "Or they're bad folk looking to survive on the blood of good folk."

"I'm good folk," said the man. "Name's Jessie. I'm out here doing the Lord's work. Marking the path to salvation."

"Lord's work?" Joel said. "I don't know if you've looked around lately, but the Lord aint doing much for anybody and don't talk to me about salvation, cause there isn't anywhere you can go where you won't get eaten by walkers or killed by your fellow man." He turned to Hannah. "...or woman."

Jessie stepped forward. Hannah tightened her grip on the rifle. He spoke very softly as if what he was about to say was blasphemous. "There is a place where all who arrive..." He fixed his gaze on Hannah. "...survive. A place where all are safe and everyone is welcome. A community for the new age."

"Where?" Joel said.

"Precisely. That is God's plan for me. See, over there..." He pointed to a railroad switch that had a sign attached to it with some wire. It looked like an old railroad map with the word 'TERMINUS' written in large letters above it.

"You're putting up directions to this place?" Hannah said.

"God requires me to show those who are lost the path to salvation."

Joel wiped the blood from his machete. "Oh yeah? Does he require you to die out here all by yourself with just that tiny knife? Didn't look like God was helping you out back there."

Jessie smiled, showing off his yellow teeth and the deep wrinkles in his skin. "Who do you think brought you two?"

Joel sheathed his knife on his back and nodded at Hannah. She lowered the rifle and sat down on a fallen tree beside the tracks. Hannah had been part of a larger group before she was separated by a herd a week ago. She had a red t-shirt and ripped jeans and always had her rifle slung over her shoulder. Her skin was tan and she kept her black hair up in a pony tail. Joel wondered if she had had a family before the outbreak, but sometimes he thought she seemed too young.

She opened her canteen and poured a little on her neck before taking a drink. Joel sat next to her as she handed it to him. They watched as Jessie retrieved his knife from one of the walkers, mumbling to himself.

"You think it's for real?" Hannah said.

Joel took a drink. "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. This guy doesn't seem to be firing on all cylinders. For all we know this Terminus might be all in his head and there will be nothing there."

"Or maybe he's telling the truth and there really is a safe place to stay. It's not like we'd be worse off than outrunning the walkers around here."

"Yeah well we said the same thing about the prison, didn't we? We heard it was a safe place run by good people and we lost half our group trying to get there and when we finally arrived it was just another burned-out walker nest."

"People were there, Joel. Something bad happened there. For God sakes there was a tank in the courtyard."

"Exactly. That is the world we live in now. Any place that's safe doesn't last very long. Something always happens. No one is ever going to grow old and die peacefully in their sleep anymore. Once you start thinking someplace is safe, you find out quickly how fast safe people die."

"Then lets at least make our way to some place that has a chance. I know you think it may be a small chance but if we stay in these woods, sooner or later we'll both die in these woods. There is still safety in numbers."

Joel stared at the ground as a line of ants were making their way around it.

"Look," Hannah said. "There's a town just south of here. We need more food and a place to sleep. Let's head that direction and if we decide to go with him, we will. Either way we need supplies."

"Fine," Joel said. "But if we find a good temporary location in this town, I'm not leaving, and neither should you, especially not with him."

Hannah smiled. "Why? Because you'd miss me?"

Joel tried to keep in his happiness at having Hannah with him, but he couldn't do it. "Well," he said. "I can't shoot the rifle and wrestle the walkers by myself." He stood up and walked toward Jessie, who was straightening his sign. "Jessie, you heading south?"

"Yeah, I need to return and get more signs," he said.

"So are we. Another pair of eyes is always good."

"I think that'd be fine. You never know where the will of God will lead you."

They began to walk together. Hannah looked up into the blue sky and said, "Ya know, some chocolate would be nice!"

Joel and Hannah laughed and Joel said, "And some ammunition wouldn't hurt either!"