Chapter 1

It had just been a normal day, no one had ever suspected that the flu would turn into the apocalypse. But it had. When I went to work, and saw what some colleagues were showing, I couldn't believe it. Cops shooting an unarmed man... That wouldn't die. Till they shot his head. But then I heard my sister's boyfriend talking about something he had seen on the street, a homeless man eating the flesh of another human. But how he described his eyes, that's what sparked my attention.. They looked dead. But then the news reports came out, and told everyone to go to the nearest refugee center, and then I knew shit was serious. I had packed up both mine, and my sons stuff and when my sister got home with her boyfriend, told them to do the same. But that was a few months ago, and Atlanta had been a bust. They had bombed the city, and obviously hoped that would kill most of the infected. But it hadn't. And now the four of us were left surviving, against the dead. It was human instinct to at least try to survive. To protect the ones we love.

My eyes scanned the town we were currently in, for a supply run. Food was running low, and we barely had enough to last us the week. Natasha and Carson stayed in the car, while myself and Caleb ran to the store. It was a small town, but it wasn't that far from Atlanta. It looked mostly untouched, except for the few infected that walked the streets. Both Caleb and I had magazines duck taped to our bodies, it made it harder for the infected to bite us. We took down the few dead that were walking over before pounding on the door of the store, hoping to catch the attention of any inside. We waited a few minutes before we went in, doing a quick search of the place. When we found it was empty, we started raiding the shelves for canned goods.

"Harley, hey. This any good?" Caleb whispered to me, holding up a few boxes of cereal.

"Yeah, I'm sure they will be," I nodded to him before going back to my bag.

I searched round the store for some toys for Carson, as he was lacking entertainment and constantly complained about being bored. If we were still in our normal lives, he would be playing video games, and the like. And while he had my old gameboy, the batteries had run out and we were struggling to find some. Caleb walked over, holding up exactly what we needed and I grinned.

"He's gonna love ya for finding them," I said, gesturing the 18 pack of batteries as I heard a female scream, and a shout of 'mommy'. "Carson!" I shouted as I ran out of the store with my bag on my back, crossbow in hand.

More vehicles had pulled up, and three people were aiming at my car. Carson was crying, clinging to his aunt. People are more dangerous than the infected, I thought to myself, slowly walking closer to them.

"Put your weapons down, and I won't hurt you," I growl at them, sensing Caleb behind me. I kept my eyes on the three, waiting for them to turn around.

They did, and I quickly took note of their appearance. One had a sheriff's hat on his head and was holding a Colt Python, while the second man was carrying a shotgun and the third was covered in blood and mud, and carried a crossbow.

"Back away from the car," I barked, gesturing with my crossbow in which direction I wanted them to go in.

"We don't want to hurt you, or your people," Sheriff hat said. "We're just looking for a place to stay."

"If you didn't want to hurt us, why did you have your weapons on them? On a nine year old!" Caleb yelled, and as I glanced, I noticed he had his assault rifle out and pointing.

"Can't be too careful these days," shotgun chuckled, staring at them.

"If you want to laugh, I can give you something to laugh about," I smirked, pulling out my pocket knife from my boot. "I can even give you a permanent smile.."

"Oh, come on, Harley. This isn't the time for that," Caleb laughed, walking over to the car and opened the door, as Carson and Natasha climbed out.

"Yeah, sis. Stop channeling your lover, and just kill them. Quick and easy, ya know?" Natasha said, walking over.

"'Channeling ya lover?' What the hell does that mean?" Crossbow frowned, looking between us.

"Oh, well.. My parents named me after Harley Quinn for a reason.. And I really wanna get back to my puddin'," I smirked.

"Woah, you know The Joker?" a young child's voice came out from behind them, and my expression changed. He looked a little older than Carson, and I looked up at the men.

"Carl, get back to the car," Sheriff hat ordered him.

"But, dad! You know-"

"No, buts. Go!"

The child frowned, looking up at Shotgun before going back to the cars.

"How many you got?" I asked, gesturing to the kid with my crossbow.

"Two kids, nine adults. You?" Sheriff Hat replied.

"Exactly what you see here. No more, no less. Except one of us is carrying, so she's plus one," I stated, looking at my sister then down at her growing bump.

Caleb wrapped his arms protectively around Natasha and her bump, glaring at the men. Carson took my hand, staring at the crossbow the man was holding.

"Look, I know you probably have a plan or something but.. Strength is in numbers, and I'm sure you guys are looking for a place to stay too-" Sheriff Hat was saying, till Caleb interrupted him.

"How do we know we can trust you? Any of you? I mean, your shotgun friend looks a little trigger happy," he nodded the to middle man, frowning.

"Ya leader looks a little trigger happy too," Crossbow snapped.

"Can't be too careful these days," I smirked. "People are worse than the infected."

"I'm Rick, and this is Shane, and Daryl," Sheriff Hat spoke, gesturing to his fellow men.

"Harley, Caleb, Natasha, and Carson," I replied, lowering my crossbow. "You guys might wanna raid this store before you leave, looks like we were the first to touch it so there's still a lot left." Rick nodded his thanks, just as Carson caught my attention about an infected in the street. "Yeah, go ahead, little man. It's your turn."

Carson grinned, as he grabbed his own crossbow from the car and took aim at the infected being. We all watched as his arrow flew through the air and broke through the flesh of the infected forehead.

"Booyah, go Carson!" Caleb laughed, congratulating him on his kill.

In the end, we decided to tag along with this group. We didn't have a plan, and neither did they. But the key to surviving was together, and although I didn't trust Shane, Rick seemed nice enough. Of course, I didn't fully trust them yet, neither did Caleb. But what was the harm in joining together, even if it was for a week or two?

A/N - Thanks for reading, and I hoped you enjoyed. Leave a review for where you think I could improve, but I have several plans for this group.