Kathleen awoke at sun rise, the flicker of light from the sun illuminated her room. Charles was asleep at the foot of her queen sized bed, snoring peacefully. She smiled softly at the loud dog and climbed out of bed. Today she needed to make a run and tend to the garden on the roof. But first, she needed a shower. She padded to her bathroom that connected with her tiny bedroom and turned the shower on. Water slowly trickled out and she sighed. She'd need to fix that tomorrow.

She quickly undressed herself and hopped into the shower, quickly washing her hair and body. That was something she'd need to add to the run, shampoo. she turned the shower off and grabbed her light blue towel to wrap around herself. She squeezed all the water out of her hair, well what she could, and brushed her teeth. She stared at her reflection for a moment, cringing at the sight.

Her auburn hair layed in tangles, stopping at her elbows. her dark brown eyes were sunken in with dark bags under them. And her lips were twice the size they should be, most likely from biting them. A habit she needed to stop.

But it didn't really matter, she didn't have anyone to impress. All she had was Charles, and she was sure he wouldnt care if she walked around in a potatoe sack with messy hair, as long as she fed him.

She grabbed her brush and brushed out all her tangles before pulling her hair into a bun. She didn't want the ghouls to grab her hair, that'd be a stupid way to die. Death by throat bitten out because of hair being pulled. What a long explanation to put on a tombstone. Not that she'd get one once she's dead. A tombstone that is.

Once she was satisfied with getting all her hair up, she put on her hat that had the word CAVALIERS written in white bold letters. Her father was a hardcore fan of the Virginia football team, and almost everything she had of his had something to do with the awful team. He'd always say somethimg along the lines of "have some pride for your home state."

She chuckled at the thought and slipped on a black tank top and dark red leather jacket. It was a size to big for her, but it kept ghouls from biting her arms. She slipped on a pair of bright blue jeans and left the bathroom. Charles was still sleeping in his spot, so she shook his body gently, causing him to jump up in panic. She sighed, and went into the kitchen, pooring dog food into his bowl and grabbing a apple for herself.

Charles came rushing in, eating his food with hast. She went back into her room and shoved her socks clad feet into a pair of dark red doc martins, and laced them up. Her back pack was in the corner of her room on a pleather reading chair. She grabbed it and filled it with necasities. Ammo, a extra knife, duct tape, and snacks for her and Charles. She grabbed her manila folder off her dresser and shoved it into the pack.

Kathleen walked out into the living room and clipped on her blue belt that made it so Charles and her couldn't separate, the other end was already clipped to his colar. She gave him a small smile before putting her pistol in her holster. She grabbed her machete, sliding that in its small sheath.

The blue ford rode down the small road, heading in the direction of a shoping center. Charles had his hesd sticking out of the window, enjoying life like a dog does. Kathleen had a cd playing. She didn't know the band nor did she know any of their songs, but is was one she found on a run a while back. It was decent and kept her entertained while she drove. She turned the dial down, so that ghouls weren't attracted to her. They were in the crowded part of town. The town didnt have very many ghouls left in it, but there was still enough to over power Kathleen and her over protective dog.

While she took a left turn, she came across a ghoul, laying on the road, his legs were no longer there. She felt bile rise in the back of her throat at the sight, and was quick to speed the car up and run it over. There was a loud squish sound that made her chuck up some of her apple from breakfast, but she was quick to swallow it.

Ghouls had always had that effect on her. Just the thought of one made her want to run for miles. But this was the new world. Only the strong survived, and running away would only show your weakness, causing death to cross your path.

She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. She pulled into the parking lot of the strip mall, and shut the car down. Kathleen counted to three, her breathing at a rapid pace, and tried to think of happy thoughts. But there was none of those left. This plague that had struck, had caused more then rising the dead. It had caused happy memories and thoughts to fade. Sanity to vanish, and people into monsters.

She counted to three once more, thinking of Charles as a pup, and began to breathe properly again. She opened her car door, Charles trotting behind her and walked to the first Ghoul she saw. She kicked at its knees, and shoved her machete into its skull. She bit her lip to keep from screaming, and continued on. Jogging into a convenient store and shoving all the things she needed into her bag, her thoughts went to how she'd need to mark this store clean.. Charles walked behind her, keeping guard for the both of them.

The store was already almost empty, but she was took things others left behind. lighters, candles, stale crackers, magnets, she even grabbed expired candy. Charles pulled her to the door, causing her to look up from her jumbo packet of soap bars. A small cluster of ghouls were walking towards the store. Kathleen grabbed her gun and put the silencer on, then went to the broken windoe to shoot. There was only about five of them, but she didn't want to risk hurting Charles.

She took a deep breath, then shot at the first one. It fell to the ground immediately. Kathleen sat still for a moment, making sure it was dead, then continued. Soon all the ghouls laid lifelesly on the ground, dark red blood oozing out from their heads. Kathleen took a shaky breath and exited the convenience store.

It was almost scary how this place used to be filled with people on Saturday mornings. People came for the ice cream at the parlor. Or to shop at the few local boutiques. Hair cuts were had at the saloon, and groceries were bought at the supermarket.

But now it was eerily quiet, with the ocassional dead guy stopping by. Kathleen walked into a boutique and began grabbing everything she thought would fit. It didnt matter if it was ugly, fashion didnt matter. She went behind the counter to see if they had anything useful. Three unopened water bottles sat beside a case of black sharpies. She took the sharpies and bottles and put it in the ever growing bag. It was starting to get heavy, causing her muscles to scream with pain.

Kathleen looked up and saw that the sun was in the middle of the sky, and predicted it to be mid day. Shs deciding to leave and head back to the apartment, she still had to do some farming,

Right as she buckled herself up in the car she heard the sound of a gun shot, she froze. Charles ears perked up and Kathleens mind was racing with thoughts. Charles licked her face, taking her out of her frozen state.

She pressed down the pedal, causing the car to go extremely fsst downt he road. "please make a sound" she muttered, clutching the wheel tightly. Another shot rung through the air. It was close.

Kathleen took a left turn and sped as fast as possible, the sounds of yelling was heard. There it was. A group of people shooting a large herd of ghouls. Kathleen backed up and purposefully drove the car into the glass window behind her, causing the ghouls to turn to her.

She stuck her head out to show them she was there, and began to shoot at the ones coming at her. She rolled the windows up, unclipped the rope that connected Charles and her, and locked him in the car.

She took out her machete and ran over, killing as many ghouls as possible while holding her breath. Her chest began to tighten at the fear of being near them, but continued to kill of as many as she could. "Over here!" one shouted to another. The herd began to circle around her, but she continued shoving her machete through their foreheads and into their brains.

She began to run out of breath,, but continued, knowing she needed to kill them before panicking. Daddy taught me better than this, she thought, pushing herself to continue. She threw her arm back and threw it forward, slicing two ghoul heads in half.

Kathleen pulled her pistol out and began to shoot as many walker as she could, all of them trying to near her or someone in her eyesight. "Daryl over here!" A gruff voice shouted. The group of ghouls was thinning, but it was still a threatening amount.

Kathleen could feel her muscles scream for a rest, but she continued on. A ghoul that was nearing her had a ripped veil, and one of her arms missing. She quickly shot her and looked around, trying to find some more ghouls. She stopped in her tracks, seeing a large steel door wide open. She looked up, trying to see what this place was.

Have I cleared it? She asked herself, but soon found the answer. It was the Town Courthouse. A place were many things that included law happened, especially marriage.

She hadn't cleared the Courthouse, it was actually overrun, and had taken her group four days to contain. Kathleen ran towards the door, shooting ghouls on her way. She threw her body against it, trying to get it shut. But many types of limbs were sticking out and trying to get her. Arms, legs, heads, everything.

She gritted her teeth and planted her feet on the ground, trying to get it shut. But the limbs were keeping it from shutting, and she'd need help with it. Kathleen looked up, seeing a boy around her age running over to her aid.

He shot at the ghouls inside the doorway, while grabbing his knife with one hand. Kathleen grabbed her machete and quickly handed it to him, it'd be more effective.

He shot at the ghouls inside while tearing arms and legs off. Kathleen couldn't hold out much longer, she felt her feet start to slip. More people slammed their bodies into the door while two others helped with the boy. In no time the door slammed shut and Kthleen slid down the door, breathing heavily in happiness and relief.

She finished her mental victory party and opened her eyes to see the group of people staring at her. "Hi, I'm Kathleen" she panted.

A man with a medium length greying beard squatted down to her level, and extended his hand. "I'm Rick."