Chapter 2

I woke to the sound of crackling as my eyes fluttered open to a campfire. I watched the flames dance all around as the heat warmed my chilled body. I let out a heavenly sigh for this campfire before suddenly realizing that I didn't build a fire so that meant SOMEONE else was in here.

My head snapped upright and looked around to see the same figure I encountered in the street sitting on the opposite side of the flames, quietly observing me. My hands flew for my survival pack before I pulled out my Glock 35 and pointed it at the figure. Even though it was unloaded, the figure didn't know that.

"Don't freaking move!" I hissed in anger as the figure slowly put its hands up in surrender. "What are you doing here, huh? Food? Shelter? To kill me for my supplies?" I kept pressing questions onto the figure, trying to break him/her to talk. The gun trembled in my hands from fear and I just hoped they don't see it.

The figure slowly reached for his hood before pulling it back, revealing a boy underneath. This boy had to be around seventeen or eighteen with short, spiky brown hair, emerald colored eyes that glistered in the campfire, a small but noticeable scar on his right cheek that looked like a knife or animal has done it.

"W-who are you?" I asked, a little shocked on how much of a hunk he looked like...

I shook myself out of my inner emotions before getting serious again. "I'm not going to ask again, who are you or I'll be painting your brains all over this area!" I threatened before the boy began doing something with his hands that I immediately recognized it as Sign Language and thank god that I know it too.

"Your deaf?" I asked, lowering my gun a bit. The boy nodded which only told me that he can read lips as well.

"What's your name?" I asked this time as the boy grabbed a broken piece of a pipe before writing something on the ground. As soon as he was done, I shifted myself a bit to get a better look at it.

"Jade Dymott?" I read as 'Jade' nodded in response. I guess I could trust him...for now, I thought as I put my pistol down but kept it at my side because I didn't trust him well enough.

Jade let out a sigh of before putting his hands down and began to sign, "Oh, thanks for not shooting me, I really appreciate it. Anyway, I never caught your name."

"It's Joyce. Joyce McCullough." I introduced myself as Jade nodded his head in approval.

"Joyce, huh. That's a neat name." Jade signed, making me blush a little at his comment. I've gotta stop that, I barely know the guy, let alone even trust him.

"Well Joyce, you'd better rest up a little long, it's still crappy out there. I'll wake you when things have cleared up." Jade explained as I gave him a unconvinced expression.

"How do I know your not just softening up so I can let my guard down and you can kill me?" I asked bluntly as Jade let out a shrug and signed once more.

"You don't. You've just got to trust me."

He had me there. There was no way I could figure out how I should trust him, so I'll just need to trust him.

I shuffled around before I finally get comfortable again. I let the sound of the flames crackle to send me back asleep before my eyes slowly closed and I'm enclosed in a world of darkness.

4 hours later...

I was awoken by someone nudging me. My instincts kicked in as I quickly reach for my gun but before I could grab it, a hand stops me. I was about to swing my free hand at my attacker but stop myself when I finally realize that it was only Jade.

"Whoa, whoa, its only me. There's no need to fight." Jade signed before gently letting go of my hand. I guess I haven't fully adjusted to traveling with another person.

"Sorry about that, instincts." I said as Jade nodded his head like he understands why I did it. Traveling with a new companion will be a big adjustment to me and I'm not sure how well this will turn out. I slowly rose to my feet and stretched before grabbing my stuff.

I watched as Jade began to snuff out rhe campfire as it slowly died away, leaving us in the dark. Suddenly, a light flickered on from a flashlight and felt Jade's hand grasping onto mine. I tensed up a bit as I fought the urge to smack him as he led the way out of the basement. As soon as we reached ground level, I shielded my eyes from the sunlight since I've been down there for quite awhile. When my eyes adjusted to the light the sun, judging by high the sun was, it had to be around high noonish. Me and Jade slowly made our way out of the rubble to the streets.

Jade suddenly stopped me before turning to me and started signing. "Careful now, we don't know who or what's roaming the streets now. Follow my lead and keep your head down." I nodded in response as me and Jade quietly dashed into an alleyway towards another street.

Jade stopped me once more before peeking around the corner. Jade's hand clutched into a fist as he trembled a bit. What's wrong with him? I thought curiosity before Jade looked back at me with concern.

"There's three Bandits sitting near the end of the street. We're going to have to be stealthy to get past them. I would take care of them but I don't have my necessary equipment with me." Jade quickly signed.

"Where is your equipment?" I quietly asked.

"There back at where I made camp, just a few streets up. Come on, let's sneak past them." Jade signed before he motioned me to follow and we both raced to our nearest cover which was a car.

I quietly pressed my back against the car before taking a quick peek around the car. Jade was correct, there were three Bandits with tattered clothing, one of them had a hunting rifle with them and seemed to be wearing odd looking mask.

I duck my head back around and look at Jade who was fidgeting as his hands clutched in anger.

"What do we do now?" I mouthed as Jade looked around, possibly looking for something to distract the Bandits, but he just fiercely shook his head.

"Alright, alright. This is what we're going to do, I'm going to open this car door up and hopefully the alarm doesn't go off and I'm going to see if there's anything we could use in there." Jade signed before I nodded in agreement with his plans.

Jade slowly adjusted himself before silently opening the car door up. The good news is that the car alarm didn't go off, but the bad news is that a decomposed corpse landed right on top of me.

Just the sight of the corpse that was decomposed beyond recognition with hanging dead skin inches from my face wanted me to puke. The smell of it wasn't helping my case either as it smelled like spoiled cheese left out in the baking sun for weeks at a time. I also noticed a bullet wound in the corpse's head, which meant whomever it was took their life to either escape this new reality or stop him or her self from becoming one of them.

A scream began to build up within me but before I could let it out, Jade's hand slapped over my mouth, preventing me from making any noise. Jade put a finger to his lips to indicate me to keep quiet. Easy for you to say! You don't have a dead body laying on you! I thought angrily to myself before there was a sudden clash of something metal hitting the pavement.

I darted my eye to the side to see a 9mm Winchester Magnum pistol laying right next to me. Oh, crap! I hastily thought.

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" one of the Bandits asked, possibly looking our way. Please don't see us, please don't see us l, please don't see us... I kept pleading as the Bandit who must have heard us came walking this way.

I could visibly see beads of sweat begin to form on Jade's forehead before he reached for an object nearest to him which was a broken piece of wood. Jade gripped it like a stake as he readied himself to stab the Bandit. I was especially trembling more and more with anxiety with the Bandit's every step forward. But before the Bandit could get close enough to discover us, a sudden voice called out, "Hey Matt! Enough screwing around, we gotta go meet the others now."

I watched in relief as the Bandit known as Matt walk back to the others before they hopped into a car and sped out of town towards the freeway. Jade let out a sigh of relief before removing his hand and throwing the corpse off of me.

"Are you okay?" Jade asked as he helped me to my feet. Even though I'm disgusted and on the verge of vomiting, I just nodded my head.

"Alright, let's be off before anything else happens." Jade signed as we took off down several more alleyways before we reached a reddish brick two-story building that looked like a local mechanic company. The sign was too eradicated to read and the windows and doors were boarded up tightly, meaning there is no way of busting through those barricades.

"How are we suppose to get in there?" I asked as Jade gave me a sly smile and guided me to the side of the building. Jade began to feel around each of the bricks as I half expected him to pull a hidden switch or something but instead, he half pulled out a brick before grabbing another and doing the same.

I didn't quite understand what Jade was doing before seeing that he was making a brick climbing wall to the roof. I had to admit, that is one damn clever idea.

"Your turn. Now remember, kick the bricks back in as you make your way up." Jade signed as soon as he got up as I nodded and began pushing myself up as well. Doing as I was told, I kicked the bricks back in place before making it to the roof which was covered in tarps. Jade guided me once more to the middle of the building before he pulled a certain tarp away, revealing a hole.

We entered and fumbled around before Jade found the door that lead right into an actual house. This must be the home proportion of the building, I guessed before following Jade downstairs and into the garage. The garage was pretty much empty with only several cabnits and a lone motorcycle. I made my way over to the motorcycle to inspect it only to find that the motorcycle was in perfect shape.

"I see your admiring my Kawasaki Ninja 250. Its a beauty, built it myself." Jade happily signed as I stared surprisingly at him.

"You built this all by yourself?!" I asked, shocked. Jade lightly chuckled before giving me a warm smile.

"Well, not exactly. I found this bike laying underneath a bunch of rubble two months ago. It only needed a few minor repairs. I finished repairing about five days ago." Jade explained as I let out a little giggle for being unambiguous.

I continued to look over the bike, admiring the handiwork Jade had put into it this bile to bring it to its original state. I had to admit, he knew exactly how to fix this bike up.

"Can I see your backpack for a moment?" Jade asked me as I looked at him with confusion and distrust. We've only known each other for a few hours and he suspects me just to hand over my supplies to him? Not even when he asked nicely.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to steal anything from you. I'm just putting a few more stuff in it." Jade signed as I was still a little skeptical about it. But I eventually handed Jade my backpack, receiving a pleasing smile before he walked back into the house.

I decided to take another look around the garage to find several pictures pinned to a billboard. I examined them further to see that it was a picture of a family of three; a father, a mother, and a son, standing in front of what looked like Mt. Rushmore. Each picture showed a different timeline and a different setting. I couldn't really make out who the son was but I had a feeling that it was Jade for some reason.

Could this have been Jade's family and this is where he lives? I questioned to myself before I heard footsteps coming this way. I turned to see Jade walking back in with a totally different outfit. A dark brown leather trench coat, navy blue sweatpants, still his military backpack, black combat boots and a red bandana around his neck.

He stopped several feet away from me before he looked between me and the pictures, quietly surveying the scene in front of him.

"Don't worry, this isn't my home, I'm just been camping here for awhile. So that ain't me or my family in those photos." Jade explained as I let out a sigh of relief that we wouldn't be getting in a sympathy session...for now.

"So...who taught you how to fix things?" I asked, trying to get off the topic.

"My father was was a mechanic and an engineer. He taught me how to build and repair things when I was five years old. And I've loved it ever since. It's funny, that I've chosen this place than all the other places. I guess I just feel safer where its familiar..." Jade said as he let out a heavy sigh.

Crap! Come Joyce, think of something else to say, I fustratedly said to myself, trying desperately to avoid anything that could resurface memories of our normal lives before the epidemic.

"So...where are we headed now?" I asked again, hoping to avoid it this time around. Jade looked at me with a bit of sadden eyes like he was saying that there is nowhere to go anymore, that everything we fight for is lost in the darkness forever.

"Atlanta. The last thing I heard, some survivors are camping somewhere within the city. If we can get there, maybe they could be a great asset to us on getting to Oregon. Oh yeah, here you go." Jade explained before handing me my backpack which felt a bit heavier than usual.

"Thanks, but why Oregon?"

"Rumors have it, there's still an operative CDC there and hopefully they have a cure for this whole mess. So what do you say, are you in?" Jade asked, extending his arm out towards me, awaiting my decision.

I thought about it for a moment. Maybe the western coast is cooping better with this disaster better than the eastern coast is. But then again, it is a long way to Oregon, and many dangers could await for us, that includes my Schizophrenia.

"Eh, why not. Okay I promise to go to Oregon with you." I decided before shaking his hand.

"Alright, its a promise then. Saddle up now, we're going." Jade signed before letting go of my hand and reached over to a table with two helmets.

"Ready to go?" Jade asked as I nodded and put on my helmet as me and Jade opened the garage door before we hopped on the motorcycle. Jade kick started the bike to life before tearing out of the garage and onto the streets. I held onto Jade for dear life as I could feel him chuckling. Remind me to smack him when I get the chance.

Jade was constantly avoiding objects for awhile before taking a turn on an empty road take hopefully took us to Atlanta as I watched the world come and go in a blur.

6 hours later...

The sun was just barely touching horizon before Jade eventually began to slow down before coming to a complete halt. I guess I was a little fatigued from the motorcycle ride because as soon as I hopped off, I collapsed to my knees.

"Are you alright?" Jade asked, kicking the kickstand on the motorcycle and rushed over to my side.

"I'm fine. Just a little fatigued from the ride..." I said as Jade helped me to my feet and I turned to see Atlanta about a mile away from us. The city was a little more destroyed than I expected as it looked like a war took place there with half-destroyed buildings.

"Alright, let's go." Jade signed before he began walking towards the city without the bike.

"Wait, why aren't we taking the bike with?" I asked as soon as I reached him, making him stop and stare at me with a are-you-kidding-me look on his face.

"Do you really want to take a roaring hunk of metal into the city? We'd attract every Deado in the whole city."

"Deado?" I asked confusedly.

"Yeah, that's what I call these walking nightmares." Jade explained, giving me a slight smile.

"That's a stupid name for them." I blurted out as Jade laughed at my comment.

"Well, its better name than not calling them anything at all." Jade signed back, actually getting me with that.

"Hey, did you see that?" Jade asked as he pointed towards the city. I looked at where he was pointing but saw nothing out of the ordinary before a light flickered in the air like they were signaling something.

"What is that?" I asked as Jade just shook his head, probably indicating that he doesn't know.

"No clue, but we're going to find out." Jade signed before we heard distant gunfire coming on the other end of the flickering lights.

"Those people firing their weapons could be in trouble. We've gotta help them!" I said as Jade looked between the two choices in front of us before looking back at me.

"Yeah, but we can only investigate one of them, so which is it going to be?"

[Investigate flickering lights]
[Investigate gunfire]

Decisons, Decsions, what will you choose? thats up to you. Also, the decisons you guys make throughout the story will ultimately affect the characters for better or for the worst. So in other words, you have the power to save a character's life or end it. Anyway, here's an offical OC submit if any of you wanna make a character for this story:

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Looks:

Skills:

Strength:

Weakness:

Background:

Has with them: