Quick note from the Author: This series will feature violence, gore, sexual themes, vulgar language, and themes meant for a mature audience. Reader's discretion is advised.

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No matter where you go, no matter how far you run, they will always find you. Running keeps you alive, so you never stop; because that is how you die.

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Sam

It had been cold that night, and Sam knew she had made a terrible mistake. Thinking it wouldn't take all day to get to the camp, she hadn't taken her coat with her when she left the cave, but that didn't matter now that she was here.

"Damn." She muttered to herself, rubbing her arms to try and keep in some warmth left from the fading sun. The cold wasn't her only problem though, there were more men guarding the place than she last remembered. But neither of these things discouraged Sam as she smiled to herself in the pale moonlight.

As she lay on a ridge just south of the camp, she ran though the plan one last time before going in. It was a simple one, sneak in, grab as much food as she could get her hands on, and get the hell out of dodge. Maybe if she found any, she may also take any extra weapons she found laying around. This plan wasn't new to her, as she had done the same many other times before hand.

Although something was different about this one. She had snuck into places more dangerous than this one, but something just felt off. She almost didn't even go through with the heist, but she was dangerously close to running out of food, so she went anyway. Little did she know that she would remember this night for the rest of her life, the night that everything changed.

Sam stood up from where she was kneeling, and checked over all of her stuff. She pulled a smaller bag from the one she carried with her and took out her other things. She was going in with her machete that she always carried, her Beretta 92 pistol for is things get hairy, and a quick release knife strapped to her side. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail, and covered her mouth and nose with a black bandana, and slipped into the dark.

She approached from the left side, ducking behind one of the many set of tents that were set up around a campfire. She knew that the tent to the very north was their supply tent, and that's what she aimed for. There were three large and brutish looking men standing around the campfire, joking about while drinking men looked like they were mercenaries, bought by the traders to keep them and their shipments safe as the travel the Ruin. This was the perfect time for Sam to easily walk around the outskirts of the encampment to make it to the other side.

Many of the other men, mostly the traders and the mercenaries who passed out drunk on the job, were asleep in the other tents around. She was fairly confident no one would she her as she stealthily made her way past the men. She stopped behind the tent nearest to where the supplies were being held. She peeked out cautiously around the corner, looking for any signs of alternate entry, or possible escape. She couldn't see anyway in but the front door, which to her is never the smart option. So, she took a chance and crawled to behind the tent, moving slowly as to not attract attention.

She made it behind the tent with ease, and found what she'd been looking for. There was a small indent in the ground, that was just big enough for someone to crawl under. So she made her way over, lifted the fabric, and made her way inside.

She came in just next to a big bag of random items, books, tools, clothing, there was more in here than she had originally thought. Suppressing the urge to take everything in sight, she started only looking for food. She was so busy picking up handfulls of potatoes and carrots and anything else that was within grasp, that she almost didn't notice the hulking man sleeping in the corner.

The man startled Sam for a moment, but relaxed when she noticed he was still asleep. He looked around six foot three, and had to be at least three hundred pounds of what looked like pure muscle. Luckily for Sam, the man slept like a rock, so she continued stuffing food into her bag.

Only until she heard yelling coming from outside did she stop; she set down her things and gently parted the flap of the door to look outside. She could see one of the two men walking back from just outside the woods holding something in his hands, her bag.

"Look what I found as I was taking a piss," the man said holding the bag up for the friends to see, "I thinks' we have company." The southern twang in his voice didn't help the fact that Sam was losing brain cells by the minute as he spoke.

"Looks like it," said one of the other men of the group "How's 'bout we take a look around, see if we can find friend of ours," He put a lot of emphasis on friend. This was getting really bad, really quickly, but Sam stayed calm as she thought of what to do next. It was only then that she noticed that the huge man was behind her as he threw her through the door of the tent.

She spun as she fell, and landed hard on her back, hitting her head against the cold ground. Black poppies blossomed in her vision as she tried to stand, only to have the the big man grab her by the scruff of her collar and yank her towards the campfire and the other men.

"Hey boys, lookie what i found." the big man said with a bellowing laugh "We got ourselves a thief trying to make off with our food,"

"Let go of me!" Sam screamed as she struggled to break his grasp on her to no avail. The other men walk up to Sam and the big man, and the man threw her to the ground once more, landing on her hands and knees.

"Nice catch Amos, glad to see that my hunch was correct" said the man holding Sam's bag "Now what should we do with her?"

"We could kill her, make her pay for trying to steal from us." one the other men suggested.

"No," said the first man "that would be much too simple. I was thinking since we have the bitch, we should entertain ourselves." He gave Sam a disgusting look over with lust in his eyes. Sam didn't want to even think about what this man had planned for her, so she was looking for ways to get out of this. Before she could even think, the big man pick her up by her arm, and held it behind her back.

The first man come up to her and put his hand under her chin, slowly moving his way down, tugging at her shirt. In a moment of fury, with as much strength as she could muster up, kicked behind her into the big man's crotch, dropping him to his knees. She then unsheathed he quick release knife she had under arm, and sliced a large arc towards the first man. The blade caught him across the face, and he and Sam were splashed with blood. She dropped down into a low crouch and kicked his feet out from under him, sending the man flat onto his back.

As the man fell, Sam grabbed her bag and rushed towards the right side of the camp. She was not even a few feet out when she heard gunshots going off behind her. She rolled out of the way of her current path to try and avoid the fire, but one stray bullet clipped her left shoulder, and sent her spiraling downward. The men were advancing quickly behind her, but Sam tried gathering herself up as they approached where she lay, hate filled their eyes. She tried crawling away from the spot, but the closest man kicked her square in the back, sending her back to the ground. The kick had knocked all of the wind out of her and any strength she had left was gone.

She could hear the men laughing as the sound a pistol's slide being racked, Sam knew this is where she would die. Then a shot rang out. The shot wasn't however from the man standing over Sam, it was from in front of them. Sam looked up at her attacker to see a wet hole in the middle of his forehead, as he stood slack jawed. After a moment he fell to his side, and everyone looked forward at the man who stood before them.

The rest of the men took one look at him and were filled with terror, many were frozen in place, but after a few seconds, they all ran for their lives. Sam would have ran too if she could, but in the shape she was in, it wasn't going to happen. The man was dressed in a long black coat that came down to his mid thigh, with a hood pulled over his head. He held what looked to be a revolver in his hand, but she couldn't tell with how much her head ached. It wasn't however the gun that had scared the men and Sam, it was the grey gas mask that he wore over his face that made him look inhuman, like a monster even.

It was when Sam was most scared of the man, that the darkness crashed in around her.

Hey everyone reading, my name's Tyler. This will be my first real attempt to write a fanfiction so bear with me as i'm not a "professional". I might have to clarify that this is a fanfiction inside the world of the "Rot and Ruin" book series written by Jonathan MaBerry (Which is a post-apocalyptic zombie series). So leave a comment and tell me what you think you the story so far, i hope you stay tuned for an update in the future.