CHAPTER 1

"Hey! Wait up!" Glenn yelled after the tall thin girl running to the large black truck parked about 20 feet away. She continued running and waved at him to follow and then turned to show him her finger on her lips hoping to silence him.

Damn, she thought, this kid has a big mouth.

He had been making a solo supply trip into the city when he ran into some trouble. Dead, moaning, hungry, walking trouble. He thought he was dead until he heard the soft shots of a gun, like one with a silencer.

Smart, he thought. He looked around the street he'd just walked onto to see about twelve dead walkers with bullets in their brains. A young woman made herself seen as she emerged from her hiding place.

"Hey! Thanks!" He yelled. "Thought I was dead there for a second." She scoffed.

"Yeah I noticed." She said quietly as she made her way over to him. She looked him up and down and noticed what he was carrying. "Where you headed with all that?" She mumbled quirking an eyebrow.

"My campsite. I've got a group down by the quarry off of the big highway just south of here." She just nodded and started walking away. Noel didn't need a group. She didn't really play well with others and they'd be just more mouths to feed. "Why don't you come with?"

"No thanks." She said turning to face him as she paused. He looked confused. "Don't really play well with others…" She said shrugging. He noticed her accent was clearly not southern and was about to ask when she made a face.

Noel caught movement in the corner of her eye. "Better get out of here. Don't want to have to save your ass again." She muttered before she turned and took off in the direction he wanted to go.

Glenn looked behind him and saw an even larger group of walkers then the ones she had just destroyed, headed towards him. He ran after her and tried to keep up but she was fast. "Hey! Wait up!" She didn't slow down but she turned slightly to motion for him to follow her. She looked him in the eye; she looked annoyed, and pressed her pointer finger to her lips signifying for him to shut up.

They made it to her truck in a few short moments. She got in the drivers seat and him in the passenger seat. "You got a car around here?" She asked while starting the engine.

"Uh… no." She took off and raised an eyebrow at his response. "It's quieter on foot." She looked back to the road ahead of her and just nodded. She looked like she was deep in thought so he said nothing.

Maybe I should join his group, she thought to herself. They've survived this long haven't they?

"How many?" She asked. "In your group. Are there just men or women too? Any kids?"

"There are men, women and children. Families. There's about twenty of us all together." He watched her as she thought about it.

That doesn't sound so bad. Maybe if they've been together long enough they'll just ignore me as an outsider. That would be best, she thought.

"Okay. I'll take you back to your camp." She looked at him as she spoke and his eyes lit up. She just smiled and shook her head.

"Really? That's great! Thank you so much! You're more then welcome to stay. I'm sure Shane wouldn't mind." This caught her attention and she looked at him.

"Who's Shane?" She asked easily masking her concern with a nonchalant look. Glenn didn't look even slightly concerned as he spoke.

"I guess he's like the leader of our group. Used to be a cop. Still thinks he is. Not a bad guy. He just looks out for us." She stared at the road in front of her as she mulled this over in her head.

"Alright." She said with a shrug.