A/N: The official characters I've chosen to list in the description aren't the only ones that'll appear, and even though they haven't appeared in this first chapter, they will appear in later ones.

Thunk! As he landed face-first onto the hard pavement, he realized just how loud that sounded. Especially in the silence of the night.

He got up his feet, though only partially, as to not be seen from behind the car next to which he landed. He looked over the upside-down vehicle, scanning the street for any eventual enemies. Only a few normal, shambling corpses.

'Only normal corpses', he thought, then paused for a second.

'Normal my ass', his train of thought continued.

'Though this is the norm now in this god-forsaken hell-hole of a city...'

Looking up to the roof off of which he fell, he could hear his brother, first sighing in relief and then struggling to contain his laughter. This was, however, no laughing matter. Being outside in Harran was bad enough, while doing it at night was close to suicide. One wrong step, one loud slip of the foot or a bad landing was all it would take to potentially attract the attention of half the volatiles in the city. Before they'd realize it, those monstrosities would tear them apart in a blink of their undead eyes.

'Welp, time to get back up there. We've got no time to lose...'

A short climb was all that separated him from the relative safety of the rooftops. Not even up there was he safe though, as these corpses were like vines, able to crawl up on anything they could grip. The high ground was, however, better than the streets. At least up there, the little annoying fuckers were inexistent, or at the very least rare. Down on the streets, getting overrun was not only a possibility, it was the most likely outcome.

So he got up off his ass, and with a quick hand gesture he told his brother to help him get back up the roof.

Yet, just as his brother had leaned down and stretched out his hand for him to grab it, a sharp howl sent both of them back on their bellies.

Embracing the cold, hard pavement once again for the low profile it offered, while his brother did the same to the steel sheets that covered the roof, he struggled to lower his breath as much as possible, while also straining his hearing.

As almost complete silence engulfed the street once again, he could hear heavy footsteps approaching, accompanied by a shrieking breath.

From his higher vantage point, his brother could see more clearly the events unfolding below. A volatile got blinded by someone's UV flashlight, which made it scram. Towards them.

Emerging from behind a street corner, it began shambling around, flailing it's arms in the air. After knocking down a trash can and one of the zombies on the street, which approached the noise hoping to find a meal, it started running it's blood soaked hands across it's face, as if trying to get something off of it.

'Poor, confused fucker...'

A few seconds later, realizing the futility of it's efforts, the volatile gave up and accepted it's fate. Letting it's hands dangle besides it's body, it moved it's distorted and broken jaw, gaping it's mouth.

Looking through the broken windows of the upside-down car, onto which's shards he was lying right now, he could only see the feet of the monster. But he could hear it loud and clear, seeing as it was now only 10 to 15 feet away from him. Then he could feel goosebumps rising on his skin, as the creature began gasping for air.

The swirling sound of air being forcefully sucked into dead and decomposing flesh was scary on it's own, yet what was about to be unleashed from the rotting lungs of the volatile was terrifying. A most frightening howl, not unlike those you'd imagine are being heard in hell, followed only moments later, sending ice cold chills down the spines of both brothers.

Aimed at the nothingness of the sky above though, it was only a howl of anger, not a call to feast. Not any less scary though, as it was still capable of attracting a viral or two, which were far more nosy than the volatiles, and would search every inch of the street.

10 seconds passed, with no virals showing up. The volatile calmed down now, and began sniffing the air with a sound which could only be described as that of a drowning dog breathing water through it's nose. That was bad news. Even though they didn't need to breathe anymore and only did it as a remnant, a left-over reflex of their once-alive selves, their sense of smell was still intact. Enhanced even. And now, it was using that sense to find them.

Still laid down on their bellies, both brothers were praying not to be found. But, as the volatile approached the car, they realized it was to late for that. Just as it regained some of it's sight, the volatile got blinded again by the UV flare which suddenly landed on the car, thrown from the roof above.

"Quick, grab my hand!"

"On it!"

Now back on the roof, the two brothers began sprinting at full force. Just as so many times before, the blinded volatile began howling. This time though, it was a "call to the feast" type of howl, which would bring about all the volatiles and virals that would hear it.

"What have we thrown ourselves into..."

"Stop being such a wuss, big bro. It's for a noble cause."

And the only thing separating them from the cause to which they committed were a few streets, filled now with overly paranoid volatiles and virals looking for them. It was only a matter of time until they would be found, as they threw all caution aside and were now just running for their lives.

One loud landing on a dented sheet of metal covering one of the roofs, that's all it took to spark the chase. First a viral, then another, then a couple of volatiles. Slowly but surely, or rather fast actually, the pack of crazed zombies was catching up to them, only growing in size as they approached the safe house.

Yet, even with their superior speed, the corpses had a hard time keeping up with the brothers, whose movements were much more graceful and controlled, compared to the almost spastic running of the zombies, which frequently tripped or even fell off of the roofs.

"Are we getting close to that god damned bazaar?"

"We're almost there, only a few rooftops left!"

Reaching the homestretch, they were now faced with the difficult but unavoidable need to face the corpse-filled streets. Jumping off of the rooftops onto a bus, then a car and finally on the hard ground, they managed to attract the attention of every living corpse in sight.

"I'll go first, you'll follow close behind."

"Got it."

Letting his younger brother charge in front felt wrong, but he knew it was the right thing to do. He was stronger than him, and he also happened to be much better at tackling zombies. Experience he gained as a quarterback in their high school football team, no doubt.

Even though he was not a mountain-sized meathead, combining his huge momentum with proper tackle technique meant he could get through a fairly large group of zombies with relative ease.

He approached the small hoard, whose members were scattered at random all across the street surrounding the bazaar, and began his charge. And one after another, the zombies began biting the dust, hitting the cold hard pavement as they were pushed out of the way of the brothers. It didn't help them that they were clumsy beyond any reasonable measure, but the brothers were perfectly fine with that.

During their crazy dash through the hoard, occasionally stomping the heads of zombies that happened to fall in their way, they could see the gates of the bazaar getting closer and closer. Two signs were hanging above it. A wooden one reading Black Serpent Bazaar was hung there since before the outbreak, while the other was a bed sheet flailing in the wind, with the words SAFE HOUSE smeared onto it with green paint. That, along with the powerful, almost blinding UV lights surrounding the yard was a telltale sign that this was a safe haven during both day and night, probably teeming with survivors right about now. And it was their destination.

Finally within reach, the young brother climbed over the fence, reaching his hand out to help his sibling. Yet, just as the older brother grabbed the fence, something grabbed him by the leg and pulled him to the ground. One of the volatiles, which was now on top of him, managed to catch up to them on the street. Even though they were slow and clumsy on the roofs, no human was a match for the speed of a volatile on the ground, especially in a straight line.

He tried punching and kicking it off of him, while it tried to sink it's teeth into his flesh multiple times, to no avail. Suddenly, the entire weight of the volatile simply vanished, while it flew a couple of feet and finally off of him. Yet, as soon as it hit the ground, the damned thing got back up it's feet and charged him again, only to be blocked by an immense shadow posted now in front of him.

"Climb inside! Now!"

"But..."

There was no time for buts though, as his brother could only hold the volatile for so long before being overpowered by it's immense, inhuman strength. Going against his will to help, he quickly climbed over the fence and watched his brother struggling against the mass of rotten flesh on the other side. He pushed the volatile away, then pulled a hunting knife out of his pocket, stabbing it in it's left shoulder during it's next charge. The pain made the creature jump back a few feet, with the knife still embedded deep within it's flesh. Confused by this unusually strong human, it didn't see what came next. It received a facefull of blinding UV light from the pocked flashlight, getting blinded momentarily. That bought him enough time to jump over the fence, and join his brother in the safe zone.

Now inside and out of the reach of the flesh hungry corpses, they could finally relax.

"Oh man, that was madness. The tower isn't even that far away from here, and yet we almost got killed."

"Again."

"I hate the night..."

As they tried to pass through the crowd gathered around them, one of the men finally stepped forward and addressed them.

"Excuse me, strangers, but who are you?"

"I'm Apollo." Replied the older brother.

"And I'm Hermes. We're brothers." Replied the younger brother.

"So you're not from around here, I gather."

"You're very perceptive, old man. What gave us away?" Apollo asked, on a sarcastic tone. Of course, in reality, everything gave them away. From their looks, to their names, to their accents, they were clearly foreigners.

Apollo was the tallest among the two, a little over 6 feet, with black hair, yet deep blue eyes. He wasn't huge, but he was well built none the less. A definite side effect of his new life style.

Hermes on the other hand was a little shorter, though not with much, as he stood only a couple of inches lower than his brother. His hair was dark blonde, and his eyes were the same deep blue as his brother's. He was however well built, compared to Apollo. He was a bit on the bulky side, though not enough to hinder his movement or lower his agility. Or else he wouldn't be a runner.

Apollo looked at the annoyed, old man, and asked him, while looking around the yard.

"Listen, we're not here for trouble, if that's what you're afraid of. We're here..."

He couldn't finish though, as the ever-enthusiastic Hermes had to cut in.

"We're here to help. We heard your radio message back at the tower, and we came as fast as we could. Now, where's the girl?"

Apollo turned his gaze upon his brother, as the tone of that last part sounded a bit to perverted for his liking. In return, his brother cracked a worried smile and waved his hand in his "it's just a joke, bro" fashion. Apollo sighed, and turned back to the old man.

"So, where's the girl?"

"Dude, you get mad at me, but your line sounded even more perverted..."

"Shut up, Hermes!"

"You shut up, I'm the player in this group!"

The men were now watching them butting their heads together, unable to believe that two morons such as these could survive a night run. The old man dispersed the crowd through a hand gesture, and then addressed the two brothers, which were still going at each other's throats.

"Listen, strangers. If you want to help, follow me. But please keep quiet. The people here are trying to rest."

The brothers looked at the old man, then back at each other, then they let out a half-assed sorry. In reality of course, they weren't sorry for anything. In fact, this was their routine, their way of showing their affection for each other. Anyone that knew them, knew that. And actively tried to avoid them in such moments, as they would escalate quickly into full-blown fights. Sparring matches, or training as they'd call it.

The old man took off, walking softly towards one of the make shift tents in the yard. Following him inside, the brothers saw a heart breaking scene. A young woman, no older than 30, was sitting on her knees at the head of a child laid on a mattress and covered with a ragged blanket that's seen better days.

Upon hearing the three men entering her tent, she lifted her head, revealing the exhausted and desperate look in her eyes.

"Erva, these two boys are here to help Aylin."

Tears began running down her cheeks, as she tried to mutter thank you between her sobs. Apollo approached her, kneeling down besides the mattress, while Hermes had stayed behind with the old man. He checked the young girl's temperature by pressing the back of his hand against her forehead, and found out that her reddened face was telling the truth: she was burning with fever. Then he uncovered her, and checked her breathing by placing his ear on her chest. Her breaths were deep and heavy, though rare. Having no time to lose, he busted out a small pouch, which once opened was revealed to be filled with medicine. He then began questioning the woman.

"On the radio, you didn't mention much, only that your daughter needed medical care as soon as possible. I need to know a bit more though, so I can treat her properly."

"She began having seizures two days ago, and it's gotten worse since then. She passed out in the morning, with this high fever."

"Has she been bitten, or does she suffer from unrelated seizures?"

"She's been bitten, yes."

"Recently?"

"No, it's been a few weeks now. Our money ran out some time ago though, so we couldn't afford much antizin."

The old man was looking at the scene, impressed by what he was seeing.

"Is your brother a medic or something?" He asked eventually.

"No. Not yet anyway. He was in his last year at the medical college though, so he knows what he's doing. Mostly anyway."

As Hermes was talking to the old man, Apollo turned towards them and said.

"Hey, bro, hand me your vial. I forgot mine back at the tower."

"Sure, just give me a sec..."

Hermes proceeded to search his pockets for a few seconds, and then his hand emerged out of his back pocket, holding a small, gray vial which he tossed to his brother. He caught it, and took out an injector from his little pouch, into which he inserted the antizin vial. Upon lifting the girl's sleeve though, her mother stopped him with a hand gesture.

"Listen, stranger. I'm grateful for your help, but as I just told you, I don't have any money."

Apollo turned his gaze upon her, then removed her hand, which was in the way of the injector, and administered a dose of antizin to the sleeping girl, which frowned for a split second before returning to her calm expression. He then tossed the injector to her mother, while muttering to himself.

"What kind of shitty world we live in..."

He then proceeded to search his pouch further, and got a few pills out, which he gave to the woman.

"Give her half of these right away, and if the fever isn't gone by dawn, give her the other half."

After zipping his pouch shut and hiding it in his clothes again, he got up and grabbed his brother, ready to leave the tent. He turned towards the woman, who was clutching the injector, and told her.

"We'll be back tomorrow with another vial or two of antizin. That should last you for a while."

They then proceeded to exit the tent, followed closely behind by the old man.

"Thank you so much for helping Erva and her daughter. How can we repay you?"

"A couple beds for the night should do." Was Apollo's reply.

"And the number of any hot girl that passed by..." But Hermes didn't finish, feeling his brother's stare falling upon him.

The old man pointed them towards an empty tent, with a couple of spare sleeping bags on top of old mattresses inside. Nothing to fancy or special, but welcomed by the two exhausted brothers. As they entered the tent, intending to get a good night's sleep before venturing out in the city again in the morning, the old man couldn't help but think.

"They're a strange pair, these two..."