Chapter 1: Meet and Greet
Her breath tore from her throat in gasps as she fled down the abandoned street. She stumbled over a crack in the sidewalk. After regaining her footing she glanced over her shoulder. She was still being hunted; only now, instead of five followers, there were around fifteen. And they were gaining on her. She was slowing – her legs were tiring.
It had started off as a normal supply run for her family that was sheltering about twenty minutes outside of the city. Atlanta, a once bustling and noisy metropolis, had become a barren wasteland, silent, but for the groans and shuffles of the city's remaining inhabitants. The reawakened dead ruled.
She continued to run, her backpack bumping against her back. The groans of the walking dead behind her intensified as if they could sense she was weakening. She knew if she could not find somewhere safe soon, she would join the herds preying on the living.
Up ahead she glimpsed an alley off to her right. She decided to take a chance and darted into the shadowed passage. Luck was with her for the moment as the way ahead was clear of any walkers. She saw a fire escape, and leapt for the ladder. Scrambling up the rusted rungs, she barely avoided the grasping fingers of the dead as they finally caught up to her. Trying to catch her breath, she leant against the brick wall of what must have once been an apartment building. The landing gave a shuddering jerk. She groaned as the bolts that attached the landing to the bricks screeched and started to pull away. Looking down, she saw the cause. Her pursuers were not going to give up their fresh meat that easily. They were pulling on the ladder. While they were unable to climb, their combined weight was enough to compromise the already weakened supports of the fire escape.
"You have got to be kidding me!" She muttered while raising her eyes to the sky.
As she stared upwards, a dark shape leaned over the edge of the building. Her body tensed. A whistle from the mysterious form eased her nerves slightly. It was not a walker. It was another living, breathing person. She turned to run up the stairs when the landing gave another jerk. She stumbled into the railing and stared down into the horde below her. It was not that hard since the platform was now leaning at a severe angle. Another whistle from above caused her to glance back. A grimace crossed her face when she saw the rope dangling within reach. A few weeks ago, the rope would have been of no use to her, but now, in a post apocalyptic world, it was her salvation. Running for a living and learning to protect herself and those around her had transformed her body from slightly out of shape to toned and much more physically capable.
She wrapped her hands around the rope just as the fire escape peeled fully away from the wall. Her left shoulder slammed into the wall and screamed out in protest. She hung for a moment while she gathered her strength, then she started to climb. As she ascended, the mystery person doubled her progress by pulling the rope upwards. Her fingers were cramping by the time she came to the lip of the roof. She scrambled over the edge and lay on her side for a moment catching her breath yet again.
The sun shining on the back of her eyelids was blocked by a shadow caused by someone standing over her. Her eyes snapped open and she jerked her body into a sitting position. Further progress into a standing position was halted by the sound of a gun being cocked. She froze and looked in the direction the sound had come from. Staring down the barrel of the gun, her gaze followed the length of the arm to the face of the holder.
She met the steely gaze of the blue-eyed man in front of her. He was wearing a plaid button-up shirt with the sleeves ripped off and a crossbow across his back. She shifted her gaze to the two people behind him. An Asian man was looking incredulously at the man holding her at gun point, while his companion, a black female, was shaking her head with her hands on her hips.
"Really Daryl? We just put all of that work into saving her and you want to point your gun at her?" The Asian man was practically growling.
She shifted her gaze back to blue-eyes, or rather Daryl. He grunted and lowered the weapon. "Ya stay right there. Don't cha move a muscle. Ya hear me? Ya move and I shoot ya, understand?" He threatened her.
She nodded slowly, her gaze flickering back and forth between everyone. She did not blame him for being mistrustful. In this new world, it was how one stayed alive.
"Honestly Daryl. Let the poor girl alone. I'm Jacqui, honey," the black woman stepped around Daryl and helped her to her feet. "That's Glenn over there. He's the one who saw you runnin' from the walkers."
She glanced at Glenn then looked back at Jacqui. "Thank you all for helping me. I'm Katie."
Daryl grunted and stalked over to the edge where she had climbed up from the alleyway. He spat over the side and looked back at everyone.
"We're gonna have to find 'nother way to get down. There's too many of them fuckers over here," he grumbled.
"There's another fire escape over here," called Glenn from the other side of the roof. He waved them all over.
Katie set her backpack down and pulled out her bow and arrows. She strapped vambraces onto her wrists to protect them from the snapback of the string caused from releasing an arrow. Then, she stuffed a handgun into the back of her pants as a last resort. Glancing up, she saw everyone staring at her.
"What?" She asked defensively.
"Why didn't you use those earlier when you were being chased?" Questioned Glenn.
Katie rolled her shoulders uncomfortably. "There wasn't really time," she stated. "I didn't want to use the arrows because I wasn't sure if I would have enough time to collect them. And I wasn't about to use the gun. That would have been more of a death wish than running. By running away, I only had to worry about a few. If I had used the gun, I would have had the whole freaking city of walkers chasing my sorry ass."
"'Nough chatter. Time ta go 'fore any walkers come down this way," Daryl snarled and clambered over the edge onto the remaining fire escape.
Glenn went next, then Jacqui with Katie bringing up the rear. Katie released a sigh after her feet hit solid ground. Glenn grinned at her correctly guessing she had been worried about the same mishap with the other fire escape occurring again. They lined up against the wall at the mouth of the alley in the same order in which they had descended from the roof. Daryl peered around the corner. He held up three fingers. He pointed two to the left and one to the right.
Katie nodded. Daryl signaled he would take the two walkers to the left. Katie volunteered to take the one to the right. He paused and glanced at the bow in her hands. Then he looked at Glenn and Jacqui who only held a baseball bat and crowbar respectively. Begrudgingly he nodded he head at Katie. She moved up to the right corner of the alley and knocked an arrow. Daryl counted down from three with his left hand. They moved simultaneously taking out their designated walkers with practiced ease.
Both moved to collect their projectiles. The arrow made a squelching noise as Katie pulled it out of the walker's eye. She turned to look at the group. They moved towards her in a crouch, ducking behind cars in order to avoid being seen. The four slowly made their way to the outskirts of the city. Daryl and Katie silently taking out the walkers that crossed their path.
They reached and intersection and Katie made to go straight while the other three moved to the right. They paused and glanced at each other.
"Our car is this way," said Glenn.
Katie nodded. "Mine's this way."
Glenn glanced at the other two, obviously considering something. Jacqui just rolled her eyes while Daryl made an impatient gesture telling Glenn to hurry up.
"You could join our group," Glenn paused. "Safety in numbers right?"
Katie mulled it over. She and her family had tried to join a group before. That had not been a good experience for anyone involved. She bit her lip. These people had helped her when she had been corned. But would their good will hold when they saw what asking her to join them would bring? Finally she nodded her head, willing to take the risk.
"We're holed up at the quarry about twenty minutes that way," he smiled pointing to the east.
Katie nodded. "I know where that is. I'll meet you there before dark."
"Now we got that figured, it's time ta move it fore we start 'tracting any u'wanted attention," Daryl snarled.
They parted ways. Katie heading towards her family and the others towards the quarry to let the rest of their group know about the additions that would soon join them.