She scrambled to get back on her feet as the corpses approached her. They were growling and snapping their decaying jaws at the mere sight of her; their rotting arms reaching out. With a pained hiss she lifted herself up and grabbed her knife. Without thinking she sunk her blade into the closet one's skull and made a break for it. She ran as fast as her wounded and tired body would carry her, leaving those monsters behind her with every step.

Annabeth tried not to panic as she ran but her situation was almost suffocating her with fear. She was alone with nowhere to go. She was left for dead; no supplies and no clue where she was. So she started walking. This put her a little behind in her plan to find her family but she knows they're alive and waiting for her to return. So she kept moving. The last rays of day barely offered support as she trekked through the heavily shaded woods. Her crossbow was slung over her shoulder and her knife was tucked safely into a pouch attached to her leg. She had weapons but she was running out of time.

When a cabin came into sight she about jumped for joy; knowing that would cause her pain instead of anything else, she settled for a small, relived smile instead. After checking the area and making sure there weren't any more lurkers she hurried inside. The place was small; barely the size of a normal bedroom but it was more than enough for the night. She firmly shut the door behind her and moved the dresser to block it. There was a small window in the back of the cabin and she made sure to shut the curtains to avoid the walkers seeing her.

A twin bed was pressed up against the right wall of the cabin and she sighed in relief when it was blood-free and relatively clean. She set her crossbow on the floor next to the bed and started to look through the dresser and side table for anything of use. She hadn't eaten in twenty six hours and her stomach was cramping from the lack of food. She pulled on a light blue hoodie from the dresser; two sizes smaller then what she was months ago, and shrugged on some old jeans. They were a little tight but they were clean and free of the mud, dirt and blood of the world outside.

Annabeth pocketed the matches that were in the side table and crossed the room and over to the bed. Almost hesitantly she lowered herself onto the cold mattress and tried to contain a load moan of contentment. It was almost surreal; the bliss she was feeling just by finally being off her feet. She adjusted herself and pulled the blanket over her trembling body. With another quick glance at the barricaded door and closed window she shut her eyes and let sleep overtake her.

0~0~0~0~0

The world had changed so much in only six months. The outbreak hadn't been a cause for concern when it first started. Minimal people were growing sick and were hospitalize. They would die a few days later; leaving their doctors stumped and be sent to the morgue. It wasn't until three weeks in that things started to get bad. The government and the media had been silent on the walking bodies and left the public in the dark. When gunned down robbers and the sickly elders started walking again after their heart stopped; everything was cracked wide open.

The world was sent into chaos.

Very quickly the police and government lost control of the survivors and everyone seemed to lose their minds. Businesses were shutting down and all thought of control and order was thrown out the window. While military was trying to contain this new, incurable virus, the unaffected were free to do as they please. They were transferred into one of four people.

The first; the cowards. People were barricading themselves in their homes and blocking out any hope of escape inside and out; or at least that's what they thought they were doing. In reality they were panicking in their living rooms while the rest of the population was wreaking havoc. Afraid of both the living and undead and taking minimal procedures to protect themselves they were quickly wiped out.

The second: the looters. Seeing the new, apocalyptic world and not realizing it wasn't going to be a temporary thing, people started to steal the unimportant things. Large TVs, expensive games and clothes were all taken; never to be used seeing as the power was shut off. They died off pretty quickly too; their minds were filled with greed instead of survival. The walkers had gotten most of them.

The third; the killers. Bloodshed was something these people thrived off of. By the third month most of the world was gone; dead in the ground or dead walking among us. The killers would easily wipe out any walkers or humans standing in their way. For a while it seemed the world belonged to the deadly and unstable. But they too had fallen to the walkers eventually. Everyone does.

The last and final group is the one Annabeth Chase has found herself in; the survivors. They put surviving before anything else. Food, water, clothes and a finding a safe place to sleep is their main priority. This group doesn't have many members and it's hard to tell just how many of them are still out there but they are strong and determined. They keep fighting until the last breath and that's the only thing that's kept them alive this long.

Annabeth stirred and her eyes pop open as she quickly sits up in bed. She frowned when she heard the growls and banging on the door; they've found her. She jumped out of bed and grabbed her crossbow off the floor. She didn't know how many are on the other side of the wood but by the rattling of the hinges she can guess too many to take down by herself. Quietly she creeps over to the window and pulls it open. Walkers, thankfully, aren't on this side of the cabin. With tired limbs she hoists herself through the window and out into the unknown.

This is her life now; constantly running away trying to find a safe place to lay her head for the night. For every one survivor there seems to be hundreds of walkers. The world is theirs now; she's simply looking for her place in it.

Hey guys! Welcome to my newest story! Saudade is my new zombie apocalypse story. When looking for a title I stumbled across the word Saudade. If you look it up it says;

"Saudade is a word in Portuguese and Galician (from which it entered Spanish) that claims no direct translation in English. It describes a deep emotional state of nostalgic or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one loves. Moreover, it often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never return."

And if you read the summary and know anything about me you'll know this is a Percabeth story. What word could be better to describe what's going to happen in this story? They're struggling to find a safe place to live; something they don't know is possible. And they long for the life they had before; one without walking monsters trying to eat them; but they know that will never return.

Ehhhh? Eh? C'mon good right? :D

So let's review it up huh? I already have the first five chapters typed up ( I was excited) so I'm only asking for ten reviews before I update it again. As soon as I hit ten reviews I'll update. Deal?

Be sure to check out my other stories! I'm actually updating again! :D

Hope we can have another fun ride together guys.

-Katie