Hi ! Okay so this is my first ever fan fic (that I've ever posted, anyway) so hope you like it :) Please feel free to criticize... it's the only way we grow as writers, right?

It doesn't hurt to review review REVIEW ! :)

I woke up to gunshots.

I'd fallen asleep on the roof, radio skittered off to my side and gun clasped tightly in hand. I didn't know where the shots came from but I heard distinctive moans on the streets below and decided not to look. Some poor guy probably trying to get out of the city. But there were just too many... I'd tried enough times myself to know that there are at least a few hundred Vics down there just waiting to pick me up and slap me on a dinner plate.

"I'm back," Someone's voice crackled through my C.B. radio. "Got a guest. Plus four geeks in the alley."

What? I grabbed my radio and just stared at it in disbelief. Gunshots is one thing... I hadn't heard any chatter for weeks. Atlanta hadn't exactly been the 'beacon of hope' that everyone said it was. No refugee center. No survivors. Just a hell of a lot of empty buildings and streets full of Vics. I'd been hiding out on the upper levels of an old apartment building, the stairs to the bottom blocked off from an explosion and no way out unless I wanted to climb down to the alleyway and get myself eaten. I only had one round left on my Magnum and I was carefully saving bullets... just in case.

"Hello?" I clicked on the radio. "Anyone there? Hello?"

Crackling. And then-

"Hello? Who's there?" A female voice came over the receiver this time. "Where are you?"

"My name's Nicole. I'm stuck on a damn roof. Can't get down."

A pause and then, "How old are you?"

My voice always failed me. I may look older than I am, but I still sound young. I lied and said, "Eighteen."

I could get away with eighteen if I kept my hair down and kept an eyeliner handy. They wouldn't know the difference.

"Alright, Nicole, sweety, I'm Jacqui, okay? We can come and help you."

"We?" I became sceptical. Survivors on their own were trouble enough. I'd learned to not trust anyone. But survivors in a group? Who knows what could happen?

"Yes, my group, there are a few of us. Listen, we have a camp, it's safe, if you let us help you."

I sat back against the railing on the roof and leaned my head back. A chance to get off this damn building I'll take, hands down. But I don't know if I really favor jumping in tents with a bunch of strangers. I sighed and shook my head,

"Okay," I said. "I'm just on the edge of the city, on the roof of this old apartment complex." I paused and then, "I have no idea what else to tell you."

"That's okay, that's okay. Now listen, look around, can you see any types of landmarks?"

I did as was told and turned around, eyes scanning the streets below.

"Holy shit." I muttered. There was that tank I'd seen a few days ago, except now, next to it was a huge huddle of those freaks, feeding on what used to be a horse. At least I guessed it was a horse. It was kind of... eaten.

"Uh, you see that feeding frenzy by the military roadblock?"

"Yes, yes!" Came the reply. "We're at a department store a block to the north."

"Oh, I should just be-"

I was cut off by the unmistakable sound of gunshots.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Hold on, I think I know."

The radio went silent and another gunshot made me jump out of my skin. It was nearby. I stood up and shuffled back to the edge of the roof, looking over towards the sound. Then I saw the source of the sound, on the roof of the building next to me. It was a biker-type-looking guy with a rifle in his hands, picking off Vics from the street. I felt like screaming. Haven't we had enough gunshots for one day? Does he want to attract every Vic in the god damned city to the bottom of my building? Did he want to get my foot shoved up his ass?

Suddenly a door slammed open on Captain Idiot's roof and several people poured out, all screaming at him. I squinted my eyes, hardly believing the scene playing out below me. There were survivors. A lot of them. Suddenly I didn't feel so alone.

Except from the fact that a few of the guys on the roof were now preceding to beat the tar out of each other.

I glanced furtively towards my magnum but shook my head, there was nothing I could do from here except let them play it out. Captain Idiot got the upper hand and pulled a gun on the guy, just standing there with the barrel pressed to his face. I tensed. I had had my doubts before about joining a group. Now I was really starting to question this clan's morals. I watched as a guy dressed as a cop slowly snuck up behind Captain Idiot with a rifle in hand. I saw what was coming even before he smashed it over Captain's head and handcuffed the guy to a pipe on the roof. Everything seemed to calm down and I guardedly reached for the C.B.

"Hey, Jacqui?" I said, clicking the button. "You wouldn't happen to be on that roof, would ya?"

I saw a dark-skinned woman look down and a radio and knew my answer.

"Can you see us?"

"Yeah." She started looking around her, searching for me. "Look behind you."

She spun around and looked up to my roof. I waved and she returned it. "Can you get to us from here?"

I expertly scanned over my options. There was a ladder to my left that went straight down to a fire escape platform where I could jump to their side and climb up, but three Vics were on their fire escape, clawing at the windows on the building.

"I think so. But I'll need some help."

"What can we do?"

"Go to the edge, there's a fire escape about halfway down. I think I can jump between buildings but you're going to have to take out the Vics on your side before I can do it."

"Vics?"

I sighed. I figured everyone had a different name for them. "Short for victims. The dead things."

She reached the side of her building, about twenty feet below me, and now I could hear her voice normally as well as through the radio.

"We can do that. I'll get someone on it and we'll have you safe in no time, sweety."

"Okay." I said quietly over the CB. She nodded up at me and I ran back to the door of my roof to grab my bag. I didn't plan on coming back. Ever. Even if that group ended up being worse than they already looked, I wasn't going back. I'd figure something out.

I ran back out to the roof just as two of the guys from the roof took out the Vics with baseball bats. They looked up at me and waved me down. I grabbed my radio and took a deep breath.

"Hey, Jacqui," I said, "If this doesn't work... thanks for trying."

I clicked the radio off before I could hear a reply and stuffed it into my bag before I could regret my decision. I dropped my bag over the edge to the fire escape and followed it down, sliding my hands down the sides of the ladder and getting down as quickly as possible. My feet hit the metal grate at the bottom and I turned to see Cop-Man and the guy who'd got his face kicked in by Captain Idiot. They waved me over and I took a deep breath, tossing my bag over to them and warily stepping to the edge. I mentally braced myself for the jump. There were so many ways this could end badly. I could miss the platform and die from the fall. I could miss the platform, survive the fall, and get eaten by Vics. On the other hand, I could get to the platform and find out my new friends were going to turn on me and steal my weapons and supplies and leave me to die.

I squeezed my eyes shut and took the jump.

Ah, screw it.