Hey dudes, just wanted to say this is my first. So, y'know, feel free to rip it to shit if you have to; but I'm pretty good at taking constructive criticism anyway. Whatever, lets get this show on the road!

Chapter 1: A damsel in distress

The night was cold and wet; thunder boomed overhead and lightning could be heard striking buildings in the deserted city. Zoey shone her torch in front of her, making her way carefully through the narrow alley, pistols at the ready and her clever eyes scanning the ground before her. The torrential downpour made it difficult to see further than a few feet, but infected always made the tell-tale sounds that signaled when they were drawing near. Zoey heard a growl behind her - just in time, she whipped round to see a black shape glide smoothly through the darknes towards her. She shot blindly at the hunter, in a state of shock. Louis was usually the one trailing behind in situation like this, but Louis wasn't there to defend her any more; the rest of her team took different rescue helicopters. Just her luck that the one she took was driven by a changing pilot.

Zoey pressed on through the alley, eager to be away from the fresh corpse of the hunter. The complete quietness of the night pressed around her, almost suffocating her with its eerie stillness. Her breath misted the air in front of her; she shivered, not so much from the cold but from the feeling that something was always watching her back, staring at her as she made her suicidal journey to doom.

A sudden sound cut through the silence like a knife - a scream. Not a war cry of a jockey, but a human scream, a man. Zoey shuddered. As much as she'd like to help, if a fully grown man couldn't take on whatever just caused his distress, she wouldn't stand a chance - and she wasn't going to risk her life for matyrdom over what was by now swiftly becoming one of the horde. Nevertheless, she walked with urgency towards the mouth of the alley, eager to find the next safe house - which seemed to be the same direction the scream was coming from.

As she stepped out into the parking lot, she saw the warm, comforting glow of the lights of the safe room. Relief washed over her as she started to sprint towards the big red door; she could see people moving around inside through the barricaded windows. More survivors meant a better chance to live, and more people to take the stress off during a difficult horde offensive. With a disregard of her surroundings, she smiled as the lights grew in front of her eyes, calling her to a good night's rest and a full stomach. Halfway to her destination, a noise halted Zoey in her tracks. She stopped dead as she heard the coughing assossciated with smokers; but this was no smoker she could hear, this was a person. She urgently shone her torch around her, searching for the source of the coughing and possibly of the scream she had heard earlier. She pointed the beam of yellow light towards the source, what looked like another corpse.

The dead body lay bathed in the pool of light, seemingly still, until it shook with another cough. No longer startled, Zoey rushed to help. Even if this was a person turning into an infected, she felt pity for him and her conscience refused to leave him alone where he could get mauled to death; but it looked as if he'd already been through that and more.

Letting the medipack down from where it precatiously balanced on her shoulderblade, Zoey almost tore open the red kit and reached for the bandages. Expertly, she knelt down by the man to assess his injuries. He seemed to have had his back nearly ripped open by the zombies, and his left side was no better off. Bending down, she started her work cleaning and bandaging the wound. As much as this bloody work would make others gag, Zoey had had to do this to herself more than once, and was unfazed by the deep red staining on the man's yellow t-shirt. After she'd patched him up, she sat back, happy that she'd helped save a life. He was still bent over, hands and knees on the ground, but his breathing had slowed and he seemed calmer. Slowly, he straightend himself, and sat up balancing on his knees.

He had a handsome face - as handsome one can be while covered in bile and blood - and dark brown hair, ruffled and messy. His blue eyes shone like beacons, and as he faced her he smiled lopsidedly to show his thanks for being rescued.

Zoey smiled in return, locked in a gaze with his happy eyes; seemingly obvlivious he had just gone through a near-death experience. 'I'm Zoey,' she started, 'And it's time we got to that there safe house.' Zoey stood up and walked towards the safe hourse, thinking the man was following her.

'I'm Ellis,' he piped up in a southern drawl, poorly impersonating Zoey's more formal introduction, 'And thank you for saving me miss, but I think I'll be needing assisstance in getting over there with you.' Zoey tuned. His eyes were sparkling, laughing, but the goofy smile remained in place.

She hurried over to Ellis, and putting his left arm around her right shoulder, they limped awkwardly towards the orange glow ahead. He was so much taller than she'd anticipated, and much more heavier, but eventually they reached the barricaded red door, grinning at their futile attempts to walk with only 3 feet between them. Zoey started to bang on the door, hoping someone inside would hear.

'Let us in! We're not infected!' Zoey shouted. She knew she was attracting the horde, but the people inside would allow her and Ellis to accompany them soon. Alas, this seemed not to be the case. A rifle was cocked between the bars of the door, almost immediately.

A low voice grumbled, 'We ain't accepting no more survivors, immune or not. Sorry, but we've lost too much already.' Zoey started down the barrel of the gun, taken aback by the unanticipated response. As she opened her mouth to retaliate, Ellis cut in.

'Coach? Is that... Is that really you?' There was a note of startled recognition in his voice.

'Ellis? Ellis! We thought we'd lost you!' The door opened, and Zoey almost fell through carrying the weight of Ellis. The owner of the low voice was talking to the rest of the survivors. Zoey took this as an oppurtunity to survey her surroundings.

She found herself in an open room, with white plaster peeling off the walls and dusty laminate flooring underfoot. There was a battered green couch in the middle of the room, opposite a high table which was the storing place for a stash of ammo and numerous powerful weapons, pushed against the wall with medical equipment, pipe bombs, and syringes piled up underneath. On the couch, a man was sprawled; he wore a once-white suit, and he had dark hair, slicked back but messy in places. He wore a grim expression, and Zoey got the feeling he was the pessimist of the group. On the other side of the room, there was a kitchen unit inset into the wall, with a broken oven and smashed cuboards contrasting with the gleaming white fridge and worktops - in most safe rooms, the kitchen area was kept sterile in respect for those who may pass along later, needing to heal or prepare food. At the kitchen, turning round to face the distraction at the door, was a young, beautiful dark-skinned girl. Zoey took a liking to her instantly, since she seemed like the type of person with a smile always on her face (as was the unconditional welcoming smile now; directed not at Ellis, but at Zoey herself), unlike the man in the white suit. The girl wore a pink t-shirt and slim jeans along with high-heeled boots, and was busy making three mugs of hot chocolate. A door led off to a dark room Zoey assumed was the bathroom, and the standard pile of sleeping bags were rolled up in the corner. She turned to face the man who had opened the door for herself and Ellis. He was a large man, and seemed to be in his mid-forties. He had dark skin and although he was bald, sported a thin coating of black stubble. He wore a yellow and purple polo shirt and brown trousers. For now he seemed pleased at Ellis's supposed return, but his voice directed at Zoey earlier told her that he could be assertive if he wanted to; if, apologetic.

'Nick, Rochelle, look who's back! And bless him, he's brought back a damsel in distress!' The large man who Ellis had called Coach adressed this to the other two.

Nick looked up from his position on the couch in disgust. 'Oh great,' he said sarcastically, 'Now there's two of them. It's a wonder Ellis could look after himself out there, let alone rescue a girl on his own - what did he rescue her from anyway, his own stupidity?' Nick's scorn didn't faze Ellis, but the corners of his mouth twitched at insulting his ally, as if it were a personal joke between them.

'Oh c'mon Nick, you know we all missed him!' Rochelle laughed and walked over the ruffle Nick's hair, despite his attempts to bat her hand away. 'Hey Ellis,' she contrinued, 'I have something of yours.' Rochelle walked over to the table and produced from within the mass of ammo a small crumpled blue and white object which she threw at Ellis. He caught it expertly.

'My cap!' He said in amazament. 'Thanks Ro, I thought I'd lost it for good when I got seperated from you guys!' He firmly pulled the hat over his messy hair. 'But I gotta say, I owe it all to this here girl that I can be talked to you guys right now.' The others looked down and noticed that Ellis was the one supporting his weight on Zoey, instead of the assumed vice-versa.

'I'm the damsel in distress here' he grinned. 'If it weren't for Zoey, I'd be out there getting mauled by hunters and chargers right now.'

Rochelle smiled at Zoey in thanks, and led her to the couch to sit, handing her a mug of hot chocolate while Coach closed and barred the safe house door. Nick seemed disgruntled at losing his territory to two girls.

'Drink up Zoey,' said Rochelle, 'And you can tell us more of what happened in the morning.'

As Zoey drank the warming delicious fluid and settled deeper into the suprisingly comfortable couch, her eyelids started to droop. She had reached the safe house and met new survivors, and had a mug of hot chocolate in her hand and a warm, safe place to sleep. Slowly, she lasped into oblivion, while the others asked Ellis questions about what exactly had occured.

Smiling, she fell into a deep, welcoming sleep.

A/N: So, first chapter. Yaay. Sorry it's so long. Well, at least I think it's long. I coulda gone on a lot more. But tell me what you think in the reviews, and I'll have more up ASAP, my promise to you. :)

-Frankie