Oh my goodness, I apologize for this taking soooo long to upload. School has been kicking my butt and I just haven't had time to work on it. Not to mention incredible writers block, boo. I hope you like this chapter there is a lot of action and it finally introduces the Hunter which is good. It's a little long however so sorry about that. Anyway, happy reading! And again thanks for being so patient and awesome everyone!

Zoey awoke from another one of her repetitious nightmares, yet instead of all the people she once knew coming back from the dead to feast on her flesh there was nothing. It was an absolute emptiness that consumed her and filled her with the sensation of isolation. It haunted her dreams and followed her through into the waking world.

She turned onto her side and faced the exit where he now dead companion laid. Tears began to flow across her face; dripping quite plops onto the mattress. Her heart felt heavy and her body was numb. With a sudden start she sat up turned away from David's body and threw up onto the floor. She continued until nothing was left and her dry heaving subsided. There was no one around to hear her cries, save for the walking dead outside. Her whole life was gone and its weight bore down onto her at that singular moment.

Eventually she got up from the mattress and headed towards the countertop where her pistol laid waiting for her. With swift movement she grabbed the gun and placed it against her head. Its cold muzzle made the ever present ease of her demise even more gratifying. Zoey relished in the thought of her death, how simple it would be, how painless. Her finger coiled around the trigger slowly closing the gap between life and death. Abruptly, the gun fell from her grasp and clattered to the floor with an audible crash.

Her whole body was shaking, she couldn't do it. She couldn't end her life, why she had no idea but for some god forsaken reason she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger its entire length. She had promised herself it the time came she would do it and she didn't. It wasn't that Zoey feared death; it was more that she feared the disappointment of the efforts from everyone that had died to save her. Their ultimate sacrifice and how she was so willing to throw it all away in one second.

Zoey stared long and hard at David's lifeless body as she held onto the necklace around her neck. She thought about all the people that had died at the beginning of the outbreak and how they never had the chance to fight back. Her tears had diminished and her resolve was refreshed, damn-it if she was offered the position of revenge she wasn't about to give it up now.

Zoey gathered everything she could, a backpack stashed at the back of a cabinet made perfect use for storage. She packed all the ammo she could find, a few water bottles, a stale bag of chips and first aid. Followed that with the three weapons she acquired and holstered them against her body. She gave one final sweep to the room before heading towards the exit and as respectfully as she could, removing David from the door. Unhinging the barricade Zoey opened the door and took her first few steps outside.

She made her way down the street while checking buildings for food, water, ammunition and other useful items. Her fearless determination to continue moving drove her through the city, with crumbling buildings toppling onto the abandoned cars and rotting dead bodies. The remnants of fires scorched the ground and crawled up the sides of adjacent buildings like obsidian waves. She rounded a corner and noticed that the street was eerily empty. A wet plastic bag blew across the road in front of her tumbling quietly on its way. She removed her gun from her back and continuing down the street with caution.

Unexpectedly she stopped, her face paled and she shifted her gaze in the direction of an open doorway. Inside the archway sat a sobbing bone thin creature its body swaying with a covered face. Zoey slowly began moving backwards away from the Witch but stumbled off the curb and into a damaged car. Its body creaked on impact, toppling in on itself before coming to a deafening stop. She cringed against the sound and nervously opened her eyes to see the once sitting Witch was now fully erect, perfectly quiet and staring right at her.

Bolting behind the car Zoey took off down the street with the Witch in hot pursuit. Ducking into the nearest alley Zoey tried to lose the Witch in the maze like structure of the city. She ran deeper into the confines of the bleak alleyways until finding herself at the mercy of a dead end. Breathing heavily she looked everywhere for an escape but there was none, the Witch was rounding the corner on her location and there was no stopping it. The Witch came sprinting at her with arms outstretched and just when Zoey thought her life was about to end a ray of hope appeared. A giant muscular ray of hope, a tank burst through the wall to her left smacking the Witch directly in the chest and sending it flying. She dodged the tanks massive body and maneuvered herself behind it as it tore apart the alleyway. As quickly as she could she disappeared into the opening the tank burst through and continued running for her life in the opposite way of destruction. As she passed through the void and into the light she found herself standing the middle of infection central. It was the calm before the storm, nothing moved and then everything did.

Her lungs burned with every breath while she sprinted up the steps away from the flood of infected. Her heart was pounding with adrenalin sending hot blood throughout her body. Zoey turned sharply, losing her footing and falling face first on the steps. She smacked her head against the stone steps cutting her lip and making her head to spin. Zoey's mind was clouded with the screams of her dying friends coming back to feast on her sanity. It felt as if the images were under a thick liquid, all sound and movement was heavy and sluggish almost like they were under water.

"Run." Screamed the harmonious voices, "Run, run!"

Her mind cleared allowing her to hear screams from below. She crawled up the stairs disoriented but forcing the movements to occur. She used the hand railing to pull her body upward away from the thundering horde. The groans grew louder, as if they were below and then behind her. With shaky eyes she leaned over the railing looking at the lower levels with horror. A river of infected were driving up stream towards her. Her heart raced compelling the adrenalin through her veins again, moving her legs faster and faster. Zoey reached the last door which read Roof Access and eagerly rushed outside.

The light blinded her causing her to squint and turn away from the sun, back down the stairwell. As the infected rounded the final flight of stairs Zoey closed the door pulling the first thing in she found in front of it. Turning around to find something else to slow them down she spotted a chain to her right. Quickly she closed the gap between her and the chain sliding on the gravel while backtracking towards the door. She wrapped the chain tightly around the handle and a fixture jutting from beside it. The door snapped open at her with a forceful bang triggering Zoey to jump back.

Breathing heavily she stared at the door way waiting for the infected to push their way through. As the minutes past her anticipation rose causing her breathing to become more erratic, the sounds from inside the stairwell were almost as loud as the one behind her. Behind her?

Her heart skipped a beat as she slowly turned around to see a tall gangly creature at the edge of the roof. Its body oozed dark smoke and its tongue lapped about its face, she faced the Smoker slowly and positioned the gun at its head. Just as she was about to pull the trigger the Smoker beat her to the chance. It tongue shot towards her wrapping itself around her leg and pulling her to the ground. The gun escaped her grip as she clawed for something to grab onto. Within inches from the Smokers grasp she flipped onto her back lifting her legs hitting the Smoker directly in the chest. It faltered for a second trying to regain its balance allowing Zoey the opportunity to kick at it a second time forcing it off the rooftop and over the ledge. Unfortunately for her however its tongue was still tightly wrapped around her leg, the Smoker's dead weight pulled her further to the ledge cutting off her circulation in the process. Pain shot through her stimulating a scream, she needed to get the thing off of her leg before it drug her to its doom. Frantically she searched for something to use seeing as her gun was too far away when her hand discovered a large rock. With excruciating swings she smashed the rock against the smoker's tongue ripping away at the muscle till it finally snapped.

The weight was gone instantly and a rewarding thud was heard below her, she breathed a sigh of relief and ripped the tongue from her leg. She fell onto her back breathing deeply, feeling her body sink into the ground becoming relaxed. Her reprieve however was taken immediately as the horde of infected began to push their way through the door. She rolled onto her stomach watching as the door burst open and let loose a torrent of infected. Zoey reacted quickly, running across the roof top searching for a way to escape. When she reached the edge of the roof she peered over its side. It continued but did so with an eight foot drop. Looking behind her she saw the infected closing in on her and did the only thing she could think of, jump.

Zoey landed onto the roof feet first twisting her already bruised ankle on contact. Pain shot up her leg making her light headed but she kept moving. Dragging herself away from the adjacent building she could hear the sickening thuds of bodies hitting concrete. She didn't turn to look however for her sights were set on a particular section of the roof. An open metal latch poked upwards towards the sky revealing a dark narrow hole in its wake. Zoey picked herself off from the ground only feet away from the opening clearly hearing the frantic scramble behind her. She reached the hatchway and hastily lowered herself into its depth closing the lid and locking it tightly. The infected were on her location within seconds but unable to claim their meal.

She was standing on a ladder holding onto the bars for dear life as she descended into the unknown. Once onto the floor she found herself in a small and almost empty room. In the corner lay a beaten mattress with a few tattered blankets thrown across its face. The walls were mostly bear with a lonely window covered in blood. Broken glass lay strewn on the floor beneath the shattered window, plastered with bloody handprints that disappeared just before the mattress. Zoey noticed a door across from her and headed towards it. She tried to open it but it was sealed tightly, she pushed against it trying to break through but without luck. Examining the door she found tiny holes and nails poking their way through along with long scratches, tracing her hand over the streaks she deciphered that they were instead claw marks.

Still facing the door a gentle crack sounded behind her followed by a deep long rumble, her heart began to pound in her ears drowning out all other sounds. Slowly she turned only to find herself facing the crouching figure of a Hunter.

They stayed in tense confrontation, neither moving a muscle. But when Zoey finally decided to move by reaching behind her to grab her gun the hunter sank closer to the ground, growling threateningly. She hesitated for only a second and the Hunter launched itself at her and she reacted with a pull of the trigger. Her bullet missed its target allowing the Hunter to collide with her body ripping the gun from her hand. They landed on the bed forcing the mattress upwards to the celling. The Hunter scrambled to pin her down while Zoey held its wrists and bringing her legs to her chest to keep it from clawing at her torso.

The Hunter's brute strength overwhelmed her in her weakened state causing her arms to give way under the pressure, tears poured from her eyes at the realization that she was about to die. She was heartbroken to think that this was the end, after everything she just went through, this was how she would die. She closed her eyes as the Hunter leaned closer towards her face feeling his hot decomposing breath on the nape of her neck. It was savoring this moment, taking its time to kill her. She prayed for a quick death when her body was suddenly thrust backwards even further into the wall. The weight of the hunter vanished followed by excruciating screams and howls. Zoey snapped her eyes open and saw with astonishment as one Hunter was not replaced by two. The impact of the second hunter had caused Zoey's head to slam against the wall making her already fuzzy world even more so. The two bodies were more like black blobs hoping back and forth within the room each struggling for dominance.

Her body was heavy and it took most of her strength to even keep her eyes open to watch the strange scene in front of her. They were tearing one another apart, like two wolves fighting over the same scrap of meat. They crashed against the walls creating large body sized indentions and carving the floor with deep scratches from their searching claws. Through her blurry vision she could tell that one was bigger than the other and most definitely stronger, for its muscle mass was bursting through its clothes. The fight seemed to last hours to Zoey as her world began to fade in and out, slowing down through sheets of thick blackness. Her head dropped onto the mattress, making her eyes come in contact with a shiny metal object. A clear thought flashed in her mind, fading away as quickly as it came. She turned her attention away from the object to see that the larger hunter was now positioned onto of the other and about to take its victory blow. With the final ounces of strength she had in her body Zoey grabbed the pistol and fired.

Woo. I'll be working on the next installment soon, the next one wont take as long as this one...I hope. Thanks again for reading! :}