AN: Welcome to my first Walking Dead fanfic. I hope you can realize what's mine and what's not, but if not here's the list of what I do own: Erin Coltz, Ayla Wolfe, Jake Whistler, Chris and his family, and the yet to be named other OC. All others belong to AMC unless I state that they are one of mine.

Raising Dead

Chapter One: Some Things Never Change

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

-Robert Frost

I sat crouched in my back yard trying to decide if I really wanted to get out of the heat. I loved days like this, where most people were inside enjoying the AC. I turned to look behind me as I heard the dirt shuffle, only to see my brother standing there looking rather grave.

"Be careful around sick people. There's another virus spreading and they're saying it's 100% deadly." Chris turned to walk back to the house. He normally would have stood and talked to me, but something was up.

"You don't think it could be what I think it is, do you?" I asked, sounding uncertain, even to myself.

"They haven't said much about it. It's not like when Bird Flu and Swine Flu started up. They aren't telling much about this." He looked at me and I knew he was worried. Chris had a wife and two little girls to think of and then there was me. His only family member left.

"Shall we go over the plan again? With Krystal in the room this time? Just in case." I questioned.

"Yeah. I think we should. You gotta collect eggs first." With that he walked off, headed for the house. I stood up and followed after him to grab the basket I collected them in. Damn, this was looking ugly and it hadn't really even started good yet.

There are some places in this world that a person trying to look out for their family should never live. There are places where the worst can happen from one small incident. This wasn't one of those small things. We could see it getting bad right before our eyes, but we had to wait the first wave out. We went over our plans as things got worst.

The broadcasts were vague at first. Then people started acting crazy, like it was the end of the world. We had told ourselves that we would never become victims of our world, that so long as we stuck to the plan it would be ok.

That was what I had thought. Well, up until it came time to part ways.

My brother had decided it was time to split up. He was taking his family north of our infested city. Montgomery was a death trap for us and since we lived too close to the already over run airport and air force base, it was time to move on for the time being and look for greener pastures. Two broadcasts kept overlapping on the radio. One from Birmingham, the other from Atlanta.

"I'll take the one in Birmingham. Since you've been to Atlanta on the bus, you take that one. Just be careful, Erin." My brother squeezed my arm, something he never did. He was scared something bad was going to happen to me.

"Go on. Krystal's getting impatient. I guess there are some things Zombies can't change. I'm gonna go check next door and see if anyone's home and see if they want to come along. I'll be ok, Chris. Don't worry." With that I smiled and walked to the fence. I had two of them to go over and I would be in my friend's yard. No walkers could get into the yard between her's and mine without doing a lot of work. Creepers weren't anything to worry about. An infant could out-crawl them.

I walked to the front door like I always did and raised my hand to knock. Fuck, that was a stupid idea! Knocking would just draw attention. I decided to use the stupid route and go through the window in her parents' room that was never locked. Once again, it wasn't locked.

I slid it open as silently as I could, trying hard not to make it sound like a walker trying to get in. Of course, that's easier said than done when you're five two and the window is at five foot. I crashed to the floor and heard her shriek from her room. Great, so much for that plan.

"Ayla, you ok?" I called, hoping it would keep her from freaking out any worst.

"Erin? Is that you? Please tell me it's you!" She hollered back at me.

I stood up and shook myself off while calling a quick 'yeah' to her. Shouldn't her parents be here? I walked to her room in the back of the house and stood in the door way.

"Shouldn't your mom and dad be here?"

"They left a couple days ago to see if the base was safe. They haven't come back yet. Is it really happening, Erin? Zombies?" My 16 year old friend was shaking. She hadn't had the time I did to adjust.

"Yeah it is, but everything's gonna be ok. You're like my little sister. Ain't shit gonna hurt you." I walked over and gave her a hug.

"You're southern is showing, Erin." Ayla snickered.

"Shh, you didn't hear that." I laughed lightly. I wanted to make as little noise as I could.

"So, you want to go to Atlanta with me?" I asked.

"It's time already?" I nodded at her question. "It doesn't look like they're coming back. Alive that is."

"If they've been gone this long, I don't think so. I'm sorry Ayla, we have to go." I said, walking to her bedroom door.

"It's ok. You got everything you need packed?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I just need to find a safe way into Wal-Mart for some camping gear. My dad's stuff won't do us much good. Plus the truck will never make it to Atlanta, so we gotta find something better. I also need to see if the military surplus store has been raided. You know how Chris and I are about silenced firearms. If you want, we can cut the fence between the houses so your horses can get to the cow field."

"Yeah, sounds good"

The fences had been cut and everything that could be salvaged from Ayla's house was packed away in the back of my beat up little truck. We'd managed to come up with enough water, sodas, and prepackaged food to last us a few days, but we still needed to collect more. We gathered up more clothes since washing machines were out of the question. All in all we were ready to start 'looting'.

"So," I said looking over at Ayla as she climbed in the truck. "I think we should head for the military store first. We need silenced guns. Two machetes and my knives won't cut it. Pun not intended."

"What is it with you and silenced guns?" Ayla asked, looking confused.

"I've told you this before. If you shoot a gun that doesn't have a silencer on it you're pretty much ringing a dinner bell for every zombie within a mile. With a silencer you can take out your target and the ones around it won't even notice. Good enough?" I eyed her like I always did when I had to explain something to her more than once.

"Yeah," she said. "Good enough."

We got off to a slow start since my truck was such a piece of shit. It shuddered along slowly at first before picking up speed half way up the road. The gas station at the end of the street had zombies milling about. There was no way I was stopping there. I drove out onto the highway that our road ended at in hopes that it would be a quick way out to where I was going.

As we passed by the final stretch of fence at the airport Ayla let out a gasp. I looked over just long enough to see the hundreds of zombies that were pushing at the fence and trying to get to the truck. The fence almost looked ready to give out, but seeing as it is the airport I knew it wouldn't fall any time soon.

"Don't worry. They set it up so that a semi couldn't tear through the fence." I said, eyeing her from my seat.

"Are you sure?" Ayla asked, her voice shaking with worry.

"Trust me. I almost got into a wreck when I saw the semi hit the fence going about seventy." I said. She looked over at me like I had lost my mind, but said nothing else about it as we left the airport in our dust. We took the ramp heading onto interstate 65. I normally wouldn't take the main roads into town, but I had the feeling that if I took the right ones we'd be taking the path of least resistance. I was wrong.

The interstate was packed with cars and I wasn't taking my chances with trying to walk through it. Every car could have a zombie in it and we wouldn't know until it was almost too late. I turned the truck around and head back towards the way we'd come, cut across the grass onto the other side of the interstate, and headed down Mobile Highway. This was a fast shortcut that would take me under the overpass I'd just tried to take. I suddenly thought of something and started laughing like crazy.

"What's wrong with you?" Ayla asked, looking at me like I was gonna kill her.

"I was laughing at myself. We needed to go this way anyways because the military store is this way." I snickered again before continuing. "It's near Maxwell."

"Hey! You told me it wasn't." Ayla glowered.

"Sorry!" I laughed. "I just thought about it."

We stood outside the door to the military store staring at the sign hung on the door. 'Trespassers will be shot, survivors will be shot in the head'. Something told me I should take it at face value and walk away, but at the same time I felt like we'd be ok. I opened the door and we stepped inside.

"HEY! Can't you read?" Someone yelled at us from the back of the store. Ayla ran for the door and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry. I honestly didn't think anyone would still be here. Ya know, zombie apocalypse and all." I walked a little further in, pushing my luck.

"Damn, look at that. I thought it was gonna be some damn redneck asshole trying to raid my shop." A man stood up from behind a clothes rack. He was an old grizzled cowboy. In all honesty he reminded me of Kris Kristofferson.

"No, just me and my very young friend trying to survive this crap." I said with a sigh as I took a step closer.

"Hey! I'm not that young!" Ayla said with a hint of sass her voice as she walked to join me at my side.

"Young enough." I said with a triumphant smirk.

"Well, ladies both of y'all are way younger than myself." The old cowboy said with a grin on his face. "The names Whistler, Jake Whistler."

"That's quite the name you've got there old man." I grinned. "I'm Erin Coltz and this is Ayla Wolfe. You don't plan on shooting us do you? We are pretty harmless after all."

"Well, Erin, I think we're past the need to shoot anyone. Help yerselves to whatever you need."

"Got any silencers?" I said as I was looking around. "My brother and I always were big fans of silenced weapons."

"What kind of guns do you have?" He asked looking concerned.

"At the risk of sounding stupid, nothing but two machetes." I sighed.

"Well, that is a problem. I think I might have something for you." Jake headed over to the counter and pulled out a hard plastic case. "I originally got these for my granddaughters, but the virus got to them before I could." He opened the case and turned it around for us to see what was inside. "These are Beretta PX4 Storms Type F. There are two for each of you. They're modified for silencers and I have a few that are small enough to fit them. They each have custom leg holsters to fit them and two extra clips for each gun plus the ones already in them. Each clip fits 20 rounds in 9mm and seventeen rounds of .40 caliber Smith & Wesson. They're light enough that you ladies should have no problems with them."

He handed them over to us and I couldn't help but marvel over the weight. They only weighed around two pounds each and they were beautifully balanced. I didn't know much about guns, but I did know when the balance sucked, how to shoot decent, and how to clean them.

We collected up a few more things we needed like ammunition, food, and a few bits of body armor. I had outfitted myself so that my back and shoulders were protected well, with medium protection in the front. I opted for a pair of comfortable and light weight steel toe boots, rather than my moccasin boots that had no foot support. Ayla decided to walk behind me and grab all the same stuff. Knowing that I knew what I was doing.

"So, tell me again why you're giving us all of this and not keeping much for yourself?" I asked as I laced up my new boots.

"Well, as smart as you are, I'd never forgive myself for letting a 22 year old and her 16 year old friend go out there alone. I just completed your list in one stop." Jake said. I had to admit he was right. We did need someone to help us out along the way and watch our backs. I can't watch Ayla's and my own at the same time.

"Ok then. We ready to go?"

We had gotten off to a great start. Jake had a slightly older dodge pickup, but at least it was in far better condition than my beat up little Mazda.