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Chapter 1:

The world had been over for about 5 months. The infected wandering around, hungering for flesh. Flesh they do not need to survive, but enjoy none the less. Bits of skin missing or hanging off loose from their bodies, just like much of their clothing, if any was left. Survival was key, the only thing that mattered any more, not which movie was number 1 in the box office, not which actors and actresses were in the news. Knowing how to be alone, hide from civilization, and provide for yourself, not to mention self protection to the extreme.

None of these things were an issue for dark brown haired and green eyed Esmeralda Neal. Raised in a ranching family in the mountains of Georgia, Esmeralda was used to a solid days work between herding cattle, working in the large gardens, and working with the horses, it never left much time for her to leave the mountain and make friends. Not that Esme would have anyway, she greatly preferred being alone, the only company would be the local vet that would come up the mountain with his family once in a while to help with the cattle and horses. Since the infected started walking Hershel came up about once a month to check on Esme, get some provisions from the 26 year old woman who hid on her mountain.

September 2011

The heat was still present during the day, but the night was cooling down. Esmeralda was able to start noticing the signs of fall coming. With fall would mean limited supplies, more work to keep the farm from falling apart. Fall would then lead to winter, cold days and even colder nights trying to stay warm and occupied.

Esmeralda loved the beginning of fall. The scents were changing, sounds were different. It was like being somewhere completely different, and the best way to enjoy was on horseback. Which is exactly what Esmeralda was doing that fateful day when she found a rider less horse and a wounded redneck with attitude to spare.

With the sun barely at the highest point of the sky, Esmeralda started to move from the open fields of her property to the mountain trails hidden amongst the trees. Enjoying the moment of normalcy with her black Percheron draft cross gelding, Dodge. When suddenly, darting out of the trees, came Nelly, one of Hershel's horses from down the mountain, fully tacked up and rider less. Nelly came over to Esme and Dodge, Esme reached over and grabbed Nelly's reigns and lead her back into the forest following the trail that Nelly's hooves left in the ground, hoping to find a sign of where the fallen rider might me, praying that Hershel and the girls are safe.

After an hour of following Nelly's hoof prints Esmeralda heard a cry of pain, movement on the brush that led down to the river bed and a grunt of pain. Esme dismounted from Dodge and carefully looked down the embankment to see the source of the sounds, to see in enough time a man fall back down the side of the embankment. Once he hit the bottom Esme saw the tell tale colours of the feathers of an arrow pointing out his side

Esme knew she had to hurry and get to him before the hungry ones did. His blood was in the water and in the air now. It was like a dinner bell at dinner time when the guys would come up the mountain to help herd the cattle and do vaccinations and branding. Urging Dodge and Nelly on, she followed the trail a little farther till she found the path that led down the embankment to the river bed. Turning around she hurried the horses up to the man, hoping he was still alive. Esme quickly dismounted and grabbed a first aid kit and rag from her saddle bag and moved over to the unconscious body of the man. She started to clean the blood and dirt away from his face and the wound on his head that he must have received from falling down. She noticed he was a handsome man, looked a little rough for wear, but who didn't now. Undoing his shirt she checked the arrow wound in his side. With some feeling around the arrow hoping for no swelling or distension of the belly that would indicate internal bleeding, she decided the only way to get him back to her ranch was to lay him over Nelly's back, and to do that the arrow needed to go. As quickly and gently as she could, she grabbed the head of the arrow and slid it the rest of the way out of his body, thankful for minimal blood flow. She quickly dabbed some antiseptic over the front of the wound and placed a compress over it and taped it on, rolling his body over some she did the same for his back.

She brought Nelly over closer to the man, wondering how to get him onto her back. As she was trying to figure out ways to do this, the man started to regain consciousness and looked at her. The blue of his eyes showed nothing but emotional pain and anguish.

"Please, you have to get up, I know you are injured, but I need to you get up." Esmeralda begged kneeling over his prone body.

"If yer an angel, ya sure picked a shit time to come" grunted the man on the ground.

"Cute, but I'm no angel. Now get your ass up and on the horse"

Esme helped the man get up and as she started to help him onto the horse, a twig snapped behind her. She shoved the man onto the horse as quickly as possible and grabbed the knife in her pocket as she turned around. One of those things was slowly coming their way. Suddenly she heard a 'thwack' as the cross bow the man had on his back released an arrow into the head of that thing. Esme looked around to make sure no more were coming, then went over and grabbed the arrow from its head and quickly washed it in the water before grabbing the arrow that had been in the man's side and returning them to him.

Walking over to Dodge, she quickly mounted him and grabbed Nelly's reigns.

"Come on, we got a bit of a hike back to my house, but you'll be safe there. Some rest and medicine, put some food into you and you'll be right as rain"

"Who the fuck are ya?"

"Okay...you'll be right as ornery rain. I'm Esmeralda Neal. I own a ranch up the mountain."

The only reply the man gave a grunt. Esmeralda just rolled her eyes and urged the horses forward.