"Lyla! Get yer ass up!" my best friend Autumn called, walking in the room.

I looked at the time; 7 am.

"Nope." I said, rolling over and attempting to go back to sleep.

The lil bitch laughed at me, then ripped my covers off.

"Fuck! Gimme the damn covers!" I growled, irritated.

Again she laughed. "Breakfast will be ready soon. Get dressed."

I uttered several more expletives and finally mustered enough energy to get dressed.

Without much thought, I grabbed a tank top that was lying around and some comfy jean shorts. I rummaged up some clean-ish socks that in no way matched, and put on my converses.

Once I finished my morning routine, I went to the kitchen. Autumn and her mom were sitting at the table eating already.

"Morning sleepy head." Barbara teased. I laughed and took my seat, plopping two pancakes onto my plate.

David, Autumn's dad walked in and asked how me and Autumn enjoyed our new piercings and tats we'd gotten for Autumn's birthday. She'd just turned 21 and to celebrate, Autumn got her belly button, septum, and cartilage pierced. Her parents also paid for me to get a nose piercing and a second cartilage piercing.

And since David was a good friend of K-No, the guy who owns the tat shop we went to, he gave us half off any tat we wanted.

Autumn got a 3d Cheshire cat on the back of her left shoulder, while I got a winged heart on my side, near my rib cage, with the words, "If I got rid of all my demons, I'd lose my angels" around it. It was beautiful and it hurt like a bitch, but I loved it.

We then heard the TV turn on. Austin was still in his pajamas and was flipping through the channels.

David stopped him on the news channel.

Again, the were showing the same reports they'd been showing for weeks.

"We are urging the public to use caution when in an open and exposed area. At least 1,000 reported cases have happened in the Henry County area alone. Larger populated areas have reported at least 40 times that amount.

The CDC wants to remind everyone that they are working on a cure, and as always, urge you to keep away from anyone bitten, or scratched. If at all possible, just stay home. We will have more on this story at 11 tonight."

I stared at my food, getting that nervous pang in my stomach that I got every time the news ran this story.

"David, don't worry. Your brother will be fine." Barb assured her husband.

"You don't know that Barbara. Hell the government hasn't even come up with a cure yet!"

Autumn and I sat quiet. So did Austin.

"Just calm down, okay. We'll go this evening to visit him, after we drop Lyla off at her house."

David lit a cigarette and grabbed his car keys, leaving the house. "I'll be back later. I'm going to see him."

Barbara sighed, and I scrolled through my Facebook timeline on my Ipod. I'd suddenly lost my appetite.

It was about 3 pm and I texted my mom, asking when she wanted me home. Yes, I was almost 21 and still living with my mom and dad. Don't judge me. I was going to my local college and didn't have the money to get my own place yet.

Autumn however, was just lazy and didn't wanna leave her parents.

I received a reply from my mom, saying…"don't come home"?! What the fuck?!

"The fuck is she on about?" I mumbled.

"Huh? You okay, Ly?" Autumn asked, setting her phone down.

I growled internally and read the message. Just then I got another one.

"Baby I'm sorry but things are bad. Your dad and I are heading to Atlanta. Meet up with us there. Be safe. We love you."

I was so confused and decided to just call her.

Several rings later, she finally picked up. "Mom?"

"Lyla, baby are you safe?"

"Yeah mom, we're fine. We're not sick or anything."

"Good. Get Autumn and her family to take you to Atlanta. We'll meet up there at the refugee center."

"Why all of a sudden you freaking out? It's just like the flu. You weren't scared of the flu mom."

"The news lady…she told people to evacuate to Atlanta…just before she was…attacked."

The line went dead for a while.

"Mom!"

"Just get to Atlanta. Everyone in this part of the county's being evacuated there."

"Mom, stop just—."

"Just get there."

Then she hung up. I felt extremely worried.

"Lyla, the hell was your mom talking about?" Autumn asked.

"I—she—just pack your bags. I'll be back." I said, getting up to talk to Barbara.

It was pure chaos outside, closer to town. People were running around, harming each other, and traffic was a fucking bitch! But we had to go into town to get David. He was still at the hospital with his brother.

We neared the place and saw military vehicles surrounding it. Never in my life had military vehicles visited my tiny town of Martinsville.

Barbara and Autumn began freaking out big time. I just watched the scene outside.

Then suddenly, I swear I spotted David leaving the place through the emergency room area.

Barbara noticed as well. We attempted to get to him, but were cut off by like…insane people! They had cuts all over them…and they didn't speak. They just growled and scowled at us. I gripped Autumn's hand and let a few tears fall.

But then, the freaks lost interest in us. They turned and spotted David, as well as some military guys.

Barbara screamed at her husband to run, but it did no good. The freaks were on him in seconds and one actually bit him!

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, not being able to tear my eyes from the gruesome scene.

Autumn and Austin started crying, while Barbara began driving away.

The sight of all that blood coming out of David's body burned in my mind. It was like a hellish nightmare.

An emergency broadcast came on the radio, telling us where to go. Apparently there were buses that would take a majority of the population to Atlanta.

"I have to go home." I mumbled, feeling numb.

Barbara and her children looked at me like I was crazy.

"I have to! I have to see if my mom and dad have left yet! And I need to get my things; my clothes, my toothbrush, stuff like that."

Barbara finally relented and took me to my house.

The road I lived on was eerily quiet when we got there. I scrambled out of the car and ran to my house.

The gate to it had been left open, but my big dog Kala, a husky/wolf mix that I'd rescued when I was a teenager, was still in the yard.

"Kala! Come here girl!" I shouted to my dog. She quickly bounded to me, clearly happy to have me home.

"Come on girl, let's get our stuff, okay?" I continued talking to her.

Autumn hopped out of the car too to help me gather up everything.

The inside of the house looked horrifying. The place was trashed, and it smelled.

I started gagging and continued to my bedroom, which was downstairs.

Autumn followed, however Kala stayed upstairs, even though I knew she could come down on her own.

I opened my closet and grabbed a large duffle bag. I found some clothes that I wore the most and stuffed them in the bag, along with a blanket, my wallet, and even some pictures I'd tacked up on the walls.

Just before I left my room, I grabbed my Game of Thrones novels and my teddy bear, and threw them in my bag as well.

Autumn helped me carry every thing up the stairs and threw it all in the back of her mom's explorer with their things.

Kala jumped in with us, and soon we took off, heading to the outskirts of the city to (hopefully) get on a bus and get to Atlanta.

Twenty minutes passed and we made it to the "bus station". Really, It was just a shit ton of buses in the old Win-Dixie parking lot. People were going mental just trying to get a spot on a bus!

And that's where we killed the most time, just waiting to get on.

About 2 am, the crowd had thinned out enough that we could get on one of the last buses. We boarded and found some fairly comfortable seats. I was really happy they let me take my dog.

The bus pulled out of the parking lot, and left the madness that was my town, behind.

"Hay, you okay?" I asked Autumn, who was crying. I noticed she was listening to her Ipod.

She shook her head and went on about missing her dad. I felt bad for her, and gave her the best comforting hug I could.

"You'll get through this, okay? You're strong, and you can make it. When we get to Atlanta, you'll meet up with Billy and he'll be there for you, just like I am right now." I told her.

She nodded, hugging me back. I wish I could have done more to help her.

As we traveled, I glanced around at my fellow passengers. I didn't really notice anyone I knew in the front, but in the back, I spotted one of the few people I gave a damn about—my little cousin, Sena.

"Sena!" I shouted quietly. It got the nine year old's attention and she immediately ran to me.

I hugged the child, thankful she was safe and hadn't been bit or infected.

"Who brought you?" I asked her.

She pointed back to a kinda short looking guy in a dirty gray hoodie. That had to be Chris, Sena's mom's boyfriend.

"Chris brought me. Mom's in the hospital, but he said that she'll meet us there." The child told me.

I bit my lip to keep from saying anything bad, or upsetting. "Baby sit here. I'm going to talk with Chris okay?"

She nodded and took my seat as I went to speak to him.

Chris acknowledged me as I neared his seat.

"Chris, is Susan…"

Chris grunted and looked away. "Yeah. Last night. Doctor's said it was too late."

"So you just lied to Sena about it?!" I hissed.

"I didn't want to! She's just a kid, what do you expect me to say?!"

"The truth." I retorted.

"I couldn't do that, Lyla. She's just a kid. How d'ya think a 9 yr old would take that kinda news?" He asked me.

"Bout as well as me. By the time I was her age, two of my grandparents died and I handled it fucking well!"

He rolled his eyes. "Sure you did. Got all your shit together don't ya?"

I gritted my teeth in anger. "Damn straight I do! Now stop dragging me into this. When we get to Atlanta, you're telling Sena about her mother; not me, not my friend, you."

He scoffed. "If we make there in one piece."

I flipped him off as I walked back to my seat. Autumn was asleep and Sena was on her Nintendo DS.

I turned my Ipod on, and slowly I fell asleep to the soothing sound of Austin Winkler's voice as he and his band Hinder sang "Far From Home".

Time Lapse: 1 ½ months

It'd been at least a month since I got on that bus. It'd been at least a month since I lost everything, well almost everything.

I glanced at my three exhausted companions. Autumn looked around, weary of those…things. Austin was behind her, ready to kill anything that snuck up on us.

Kala was on high alert as well.

"We should get off this road. A crowd of them fuckers could come through here; catch us off guard." Autumn advised.

"Sounds good. Let's find a place to stop and regroup; look at our map; figure out where to go from there." I told her.

To be honest, I had no idea what the terrain of Georgia was, and I didn't know what we'd do if we found other survivors...or another horde of those...monsters.

Since Atlanta fell we'd been on the road for a little over a month, staying the hell away from the city. It was pure luck we'd gotten out of there at all. Things got bad. People turned and they ended up bombing parts of the city before everything went to hell.

Of course, we didn't get away unscathed. Autumn and Austin's mom paid the price that allowed us to get away from the city. The dead were too busy eating her to even notice us.

I'd lost track of Sena and Chris when everyone started trying to leave. I only hoped they were still alive and had made it out like we did.

"We need to head to the CDC." I told our small group, scowling at our map.

"D'ya think it'd be overrun?" Austin asked.

"Dunno, but it's worth a try." I told him.

"If it is, we'll just keep moving, right?" Autumn said, backing me up.

I nodded. "So we'll just follow the highway a little farther, then take the exit 89. From there it's just a bunch of little streets to get to it."

"Do you really wanna risk going into the city? We don't even have any proof it's still up and running." Austin said.

I frowned. He had a point.

"I know that, but it's a chance we have to take. We've got weapons, a small amount of food, and wits. We're tired, but just think, if the CDC's up and running, we'll have refuge and maybe others will have the same idea. Isn't that what we want?" I asked.

They seemed to agree that this was the right choice.

"Alright. We'll head out early tomorrow." I told them.

Autumn looked around. "Looks like we'll be sleeping in the trees again."

I grumbled. I hated sleeping in trees!

It took us the better part of two days to get to the CDC, and even then, it was almost dark by the time we got there.

"Ly, I'm not liking this." Autumn whispered, seeing all the dead bodies.

I bit my lip and felt the smooth lip ring clink against my teeth. I didn't like this sight either.

We got close to the door and tried to open it.

"It's not opening!" Austin exclaimed.

"No shit, Sherlock!" I retorted in anger and fear.

I looked around and saw more of those things rising up, ready to kill us. Kala was barking, going mental.

She circled around and jumped on one who was getting too close to us. Thanks to her being almost all wolf, biting through to the brainstem was a piece of cake.

Kala 1, zombie freak 0.

But that didn't help much since we had about twenty of those fuckers rising up and after us.

Austin beat on the door and Autumn screamed while she shot off her gun.

I called Kala to my side and shot some of those dead freaks. But the thought crossed my mind—maybe I should end it all.

"Lyla we gotta go! It's too dangerous here!" Autumn cried, still shooting.

I grumbled and shouted for her to cover me. I was gonna get us out of here; not sure how, but I would do my damndest to make sure my best friend and her little brother were safe.

Just as I started for one of the vehicles, attempting to see if it was in working condition, the door to the place flew open. Bright, blinding light shone through the darkness. It was welcomed light.

We ran into the building, not caring what was waiting for us. We knew what was out here and we'd rather take our chances with whatever was inside before fighting our way out of the city tonight.

As our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw several people standing around, holding guns (and one guy had a badass crossbow).

"You government people like shoving guns in people's faces, or is this a special occasion?" I asked sarcastically.

The dude with the crossbow scoffed and lowered his weapon. Some pale guy with nasty yellow/blonde hair just looked at us.

"Any of you bit?"

I looked around at us. "Nah, we're whole."

"What about that dog? She whole too?"

I nodded. "Kala won't be a problem."

"You guys mind getting those guns out of our faces? We're not going to kill you or nothing." Autumn asked.

"You can never be too careful." Mr. Blondie said, lowering his gun.

"Look, it's bad out there and we need a place to stay—ahh." I groaned out as my head started pounding and I felt the world spinning.

Before I could fall to the ground and bust my head open, Autumn caught me and supported my weight.

"You sure she isn't bit?" I heard someone ask angrily.

"No, none of us are! We haven't slept good or eaten properly in days. She's exhausted. We all are."

I started regaining my vision and the world steadied itself.

"I can walk. I can walk. I'm good." I told my friend. She released her grip on me and I was able to stay upright.

"You'll submit to a blood test. If you do that, you can stay." The guy told us.

"We can do that." Austin spoke up.

Blondie lead us away to a medical area where he'd take our blood.

I went first and again almost passed out.

"I'm anemic." I mentioned between labored breaths.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You should have told me and I wouldn't have taken as much blood." He told me.

I attempted to stand up and looked at him. "Didn't want you to think I was weak."

I sat down while Autumn and Austin had their blood taken. Apparently that gave Mr. Sheriff the opportunity to talk to me.

"You're looking a little rough. Here's some water if you want it." He offered.

I took it and drank greedily. Never had water tasted so good.

The guy looked at my dog.

"May I?" He asked, wanting to pet her.

I nodded and watched as she warmed up to him.

"Her name's Kala. I'm Lyla. The girl I'm with, her name's Autumn. Austin's her brother." I informed him.

"I'm Rick."

"You some sorta cop here, Rick?" I asked, eyeing his uniform.

He actually smiled a little. "No, not any more. I was though. Lived up the road a ways till all this happened."

"You got a descent sized group. Ya'll leave the city together or did you relocate here when everybody was evacuating to the refugee centers?"

"I found them." He told me. "I woke up from a coma back where we lived. A guy and his son rescued me from a walker and—."

"A walker?" I asked, cutting him off.

"One of those things that your dog killed out there." He informed.

"You saw us?"

"Jenner did." He told me, pointing to the man taking Austin's blood. "Just like he did with our group."

I took a good look at everyone in his group. From what I saw, he had two black people (a woman and a guy); an old guy, an Asian, some buff guy with the crossbow; another really built guy with army pants and tightly curled dark hair, a couple kids and some white girls. I think one of them was holding onto a kid too. They all looked like they'd been through hell.

"Pretty diverse group." I commented.

"We're about ready to eat dinner. If you want, you and your friends can join us, meet the rest of the group." He offered.

I thought about it. My stomach growled hungrily.

"Sure. We'll be there."

"Lyla, I don't trust these people." Autumn whispered.

I acknowledged her comment.

"I don't either, but so far they're doing right by us." They hadn't tried killing us, or forcing us away.

"We should leave."

"And go where?" I asked harshly.

She stuttered.

"We stay put for now. As soon as things seem off, we'll high tail it out of here, but not right now." I told her. In truth, I was really looking forward to eating a real meal tonight.

I watched everyone sit down. The lighting let me get a good look at their faces. I saw the children get served their food by the parents. But one kid stood out from everyone. I recognized her. But...No, I didn't believe it. I couldn't believe it!

"Sena?" I wondered aloud. Everyone turned to me and the kid stared me in the eyes.

Tears threatened to fall. "Sena? Sena, it's me." I told her.

Before I could say more, the child got up from the table and ran to my arms. I couldn't help but hug the child tight. I had found my little cousin.

"Lyla! I thought you were dead." She admitted.

"No, no baby," I mumbled, sniffling away the tears. "I made it out. I thought you were dead too."

"Wait, so you know this kid?" The old guy asked me.

"How?" The woman with long brunette hair questioned.

"She's my little cousin. I got separated from her in Atlanta." I told them.

"You guys were in Atlanta?" The Asian asked, shocked.

"Of course we were." Autumn informed them.

Sena took me to an empty seat at the table and we started eating. I glanced at Autumn and she smiled. We were safe, at least for right now.

"So short stuff, you gonna tell us your story or what?" A pretty blonde woman asked.

"Andrea, not now." Rick told her.

"No, it's okay, really." I told him. "Autumn, Austin, Sena, and I are…were from Virginia, a small town there. I was staying with Autumn when shit hit the fan. The town rallied some buses to take everyone to Atlanta, to the refugee center…but it got overrun. I'm not sure how, or what exactly happened but it did. I lost Sena in the crowds. We made it out, mostly cuz the dead were feasting on everyone they'd taken."

"My mom…" Autumn mumbled.

"And dad." Austin finished.

I looked to my friends sympathetically.

"We figured the CDC was the best choice. If any government or order was left, it'd be here. Guess we were right." I finished, sipping on some wine.

The guy Rick called Shane started asking Jenner questions about what happened. Apparently almost everyone killed themselves, and he "just kept working".

"Dude, you're such a buzzkill." The Asian guy Glenn muttered.

"If you shower, go easy on the hot water." Jenner told us as he led us to where we'd be staying.

Glenn and T-Dog's faces lit up in happiness. Mine did too.

"Are you shitting me? A hot shower?!" Autumn freaked.

I smiled like a kid. "Damn right! I call dibs!" I yelled running towards the showers.

Sena ran and caught up to me at the shower stalls. Apparently it was split up into two sections—women and men.

Everyone in Rick's group caught up to us, and soon most of the stalls were full.

"Hay, Austin how many stalls left in there?" I asked as my friend's brother walked out, hair soaking wet.

"A lot. Why, there not enough stalls left in the girls shower?" He asked.

"Nope. There's eight stalls but the only one available is out of order." I told him

He chuckled. "There's two open ones in there."

I grabbed up my things and thanked him before walking into the men's shower.

Hi guys! :D Soooo yeah this is my new TWD fanfic :O I really hope you take the time to read and review it, and also check out my other TWD fanfics entitled "I Walked Through Fire And Didn't Get Burned" & "When It's Darkest Men See Stars". It'd mean the world to me if you checked them out and reviewed them as well :)