Two days later, we packed up and continued west, moving considerable slower than usual due to Andy's lingering injuries.

We choose to try to travel through the forest as much as possible to avoid major roads that the Raiders might be traveling on. The longer we stayed in the trees the longer we could stay out of sight. As we picked our way through the trees, the dry bedding of leaves that blanketed the ground crunched loudly with each footstep we took.

We hadn't talked much that morning aside from a few words here and there. Because of this, I was buried deep in my own thoughts when Andy's voice sliced through the fog of my thoughts.

"Hey, Lauren?" He asked.

"Hmm?" I replied without looking up.

"What's kept you going all this time?"

I glanced over at him as he ducked under a low-hanging branch. His movements were slower and almost robotic as he moved. His injuries must have still been bothering him quite a bit

"What's kept me going? What do you mean?"

"Well...," he paused. "So many people just gave up, just let themselves wither away. Why didn't you?"

I hopped over a fallen tree in the middle of my path as I considered whether to answer him or not. It was a rather personal question in my opinion, but, what harm would it do to tell him?

I let out a sigh before answering. "I don't know I guess I just... I didn't feel like it was right, you know? It felt like it would be cowardly to want to give up, to just throw away your life like that." I shrugged. "I guess I'm just scared."

"What could you be scared of?" he asked. "You're the bravest person I've ever met."

"A lot of things scare me, Andy. There's a difference between doing something brave and just doing what you need to do to survive." I had seen brave people, people who gave away their lives for someone else, and that wasn't me. "I'm not brave," I said finally.

Andy didn't have anything to say after that.

We continued in an awkward silence, heading west through the forest until we came to a road. It wasn't your average backcountry road, it was a large four-lane highway that was littered with cars.

I stopped at the edge of the road, where the pavement touched the grass, and looked as far as I could down each way. There was nothing but cars and rubble as far as I could see. "Do we follow the road or stick to the trees?" I didn't actually mean to say the words out loud but Andy replied to them anyway.

"Well," he said taking a deep breath. "I don't think the raiders are going to keep looking for us forever and this road should be far enough out of the way that we should be fairly safe from possibly running into them again. Besides, if we're on the street we can see anything that comes from the road, and hear anything that might come through the trees."

I turned to look at him in surprise. That had to have been the most logical thing I had ever heard him say. Perhaps the reason Andy had managed to survive so long was actually skill and not just luck.

I nodded. "Road it is then."

We didn't speak to each other again for the next few hours as we silently walked down the highway still heading west as much as possible with the way that the road would occasionally twist and turn. I didn't mind the silence at all, I had spent the better part of five years in silence and it always seemed more comforting to me.

As the day drew on, we began to pass a few houses that sat near the highway. It was well after noon when the highway curved slightly south. After we had rounded the bend, what we saw that the highway lead to stopped us dead in our tracks. Where we stood was at the top of a small hill and, looking down, we found ourselves staring at the expansive reaches of a huge city. The horizon was blocked out by massive skyscrapers and, even from the distance we were, we could see that the streets were dotted with the lumbering forms of hundreds of thousands of zombies.

I never liked big cities, even before Day Zero. After Day zero, my dislike of them was justified even more. Large cities were zombie heaven. A large number of human inhabitants meant a large number of people turned into zombies. They were more than a little dangerous and I usually avoided them as much as possible.

I considered our possibilities. If we turned back we would risk running into the Raiders again, and besides, if New Eden really was in the west, then the large city was in the way of a straight path. That left two options, we could either try and skirt around the city, avoiding it altogether, or we could try and cut through the outskirts. Moving through the outskirts would be safer than going through downtown and faster than going around the city.

Andy hadn't said anything at all since we had stopped walking. He simply stared out at the city with a blank, expressionless face that was a bit paler than usual. The day's walk must have strained him more that I had thought.

I voiced my idea of cutting through the outskirts of the city to him.

"Yeah, ok," he said half-heartedly.

"Hey, are you doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said although it was clear that he was lying. His eyes had started to go a bit distant again. He was probably trying to stay in control over the pain he must have been feeling.

I decided that it would be better if we found a place somewhere to stop for the day. Andy probably wouldn't last much longer anyways.

I looked around the area again, focusing more on the buildings on the edge of the city than anything else. There were quite a few small shops and miscellaneous houses of varying sizes. I could also see a trailer park, several storage facilities, and a few random shops. Then I spotted the perfect place, a gas station that sat at the corner of a four lane intersection. It's spot on a four road intersection would mean that we would have a good vantage point from multiple angles. I pointed to it.

"See the gas station over there? That would be a good place to stop for the night. If we can get onto the roof, we'll be safe from zombies and can get a good vantage point of the area."

Andy's eyes scanned the area before stopping as he saw the gas station I had been talking about. "Sounds good to me," Andy said and started walking towards it.

I fell into step beside him. It took fifteen minutes for us to reach the gas station. Surprisingly, there weren't any zombies around, and we made it without any incident.

The gas station itself was still in fairly good shape. The attached convenience store was dark and every bit of glass from both the windows and the doors had been smashed. Every single gas pump was ruined, the hoses ripped free and they were battered like someone had taken a baseball bat to them, most likely from people who had been trying to get free gas from the pumps not too long after Day Zero. On one side of the building, next to what had once been a tire refill station, was a rusted, green dumpster. Perhaps I could use the extra height to get to the roof. I walked over to it and climbed on top. The rusted metal screamed in protest under my weight but held firm. The edge of the top of the building was still a good two feet above my head. I quickly bent my knees and jumped. The metal of the roof buckled a bit under the force but I managed to get enough height to grab the edge with my fingers. Once I had a grip I used the wall and the strength of my upper arms to clamber on top of the roof, scraping the palm of one of my hands in the process.

Once I was up and turned around and knelt down holding out a hand to help Andy onto the roof. I didn't think he would be able to get up on his own with his injuries. Andy climbed up onto the rusted dumpster, adjusted the string of his bow across his chest, then jumped grabbing onto my hand. As I helped pull him onto the roof I could see the pain twisting his features ever so slightly. Once Andy was up on the roof in once piece I stood up and looked around.

The city was even larger than it had seemed from the ground level. Skyscrapers lined the far horizon and there were thousands of houses and hundreds of commercial buildings, and that was just what I could see from my vantage point.

When I looked to the left I spotted two forms moving down the road I squinted my eyes trying to make out exactly what they were. Human or zombie? Two living people were walking down the road and heading straight for us.

I felt a surge of fear and ducked down flattening myself against the roof. Andy, who had stood up next to me to look around, looked down at me a mix of confusion and amusement on his face so I grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him down with me.

"Ow, Lauren, what the hell?" He complained loudly.

"Shh! There are two people heading this way." I hissed at him, trying to keep him quiet.

"What?" he asked lifting his head to look out.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I hissed.

He pulled his head back down. "Those aren't Raiders!" he said with a spark of excitement in his eyes.

"How the fuck would you know if they are Raiders or not?" I whispered.

"I just do," he replied. "We should talk to them."

I just stared at him for a moment my mouth hanging open. "Are you crazy? Raiders or not we have no idea who they are and just because someone isn't a Raider it doesn't mean that they're good."

"Just look at me," I thought.

"Just trust me," he said with the first smile he had made since he was tortured. He stood up, slowly.

"Andy!" I whispered loudly.

"Don't shoot!" He called out. "We're friendly."

I slowly lifted my head to look out. By then two people had reached a spot just in front of the gas station. From what I could see, there was a guy and a girl, both in their early twenties.

The girl had long, wavy, dark brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. She had dark eyes, a long face, full lips, and a small nose. A long scar ran down her face from her temple to her chin, cutting across her cheek bone. She wore a black tank top and tan cargo pants. She stood slightly behind the guy that was with her, who was aiming a pistol straight at Andy's face.

He was tall, thin, and had shaggy blond hair and blue-grey eyes. His nose was slightly crooked as if it had been broken before and not set properly. He wore a gray t-shirt and blue jeans. As I watched, he slowly lowered the gun. "We?" he called up. He had a deep voice that didn't seem to match his face.

My cover was blown anyways so I stood up next to Andy. As soon as the guy saw me, he pointed his gun at me. "Yes, we," I said in a harsh voice crossing my arms over my chest. I regretted my decision not to keep my own pistol out at all time, from the distance we were at, I had no way to defend myself if the guy decided to start firing.

The girl watched us carefully and then leaned forward to whisper something into the guys ear. He glanced at her and nodded before lowering the gun.

"You guys aren't Raiders, are you?" He called up to us.

"I could ask you the same thing," I called back, glaring at them.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?" The girl piped up for the first time.

I open my mouth to say no but Andy beat me to it. "Plenty, why don't you join us?"

The two exchanged another glance before the girl smiled slightly.

"How do we get up there?" the girl asked.

"Over there." Andy pointed to the side of the building the dumpster had been on "There's a dumpster that you can u-"

I quickly grabbed his shoulder cutting off his sentence and roughly turning him to face me, not caring if I accidentally hit any of his injuries. "Have you lost your fucking mind? Didn't I already say that we have no idea who these people are?"

He shrugged, "We should help people that need it. If you were in their shoes you would want someone to do the same thing for you."

My mind flashed back to all of the people I had done the complete opposite with. All the people who needed help that I had just left to die. "Stop it, if you had helped everyone you met you wouldn't be alive right now," I thought. "That doesn't make what you did right." another part of me said. I shook my head chasing away the thoughts. The past was the past and there was nothing I could do to change it.

"They could be dangerous," I argued, weakly.

"I'm betting they're not."

By then the two strangers had found their way onto the roof with us. They stood close together, awkwardly, by the edge of the roof, watching us. I glared at them and walked to the farthest side of the roof sitting down and letting my legs dangle off the edge. There was nothing I could do to change the fact that they were there, but I didn't have to be happy about it.

"Sorry about her, she, um... she takes a while to warm up to people," Andy explained. I shot him an angry glare. "Anyways, I'm Andy and that's Lauren," he said jerking a thumb back at me.

The two appeared to have relaxed, calmed a bit by Andy's friendly attitude. "It's nice to meet you, Andy. I'm Tim and this is Audrey," said the guy.

"Well Tim and Audrey, we were just about to set up camp for the night, would you care to join us?"

"We'd love to," Audrey said smiling.

Half an hour later we were all sitting in an awkward circle. I had given up my attempt at sulking and had decided to join them at least somewhat. I still refused to speak to any of them, including Andy. Tim and Audrey both wolfed down the cans of food Andy had given them, from our supplies. They sat very close together and I had a feeling that they were a bit more than just friends.

I scoffed at the thought. Love gets you killed, it makes you stupid and careless. I had seen so many people die unnecessary deaths to try to save someone they loved, even if that person was already beyond saving

After they had both finished their food, Andy started up a conversation with them.

"So, what are you two doing out here?" he asked. "This can't possibly be where you both live, this place is absolutely crawling with zombies."

The two exchanged another glance, something they seemed to do quite a bit. Then, Audrey spoke up. "Can you keep a secret? We're looking for a place called New Eden. It's supposed to be the last safe zone left."

"We were just passing through to be honest," Tim said

I say up straighter my full attention on the conversation. It was Andy and I's turn to exchange a glance. "That's where we're going," I said, speaking again for the first time since they had joined us that evening. "Do you know where it is?"

They both looked at me in surprise, probably shocked that I had chosen to speak. "Uh yeah," Tim said. "It's supposed to be in Houston."

"Well if that's the case then you were heading the wrong way," I said bitterly but inside I was a jumble of emotions. We had a destination. We knew where to go.

Audrey elbowed Tim in the ribs. "I told you it was the other way," she whispered loudly.

Andy watched them closely. "Are you together?" He asked.

Audrey nodded, "Yeah, we've been together since the beginning." she smiled at Tim and he smiled back wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

I held back a look of disgust but Andy smiled. "That's impressive," he said, then quickly added, "I mean, that you managed to survive together this long."

The sun was setting quickly casting everything in a red glow filled with deep shadows.

I stood up quickly and everyone's eyes turned to me. "I'm going to sleep," I grumbled to Andy. I still wasn't happy that these people were with us and I wasn't going to change my mind and start getting all buddy-buddy with them just because they were here.

I walked to the far edge of the roof and laid down. The three of them continued to talk for several hours, long after the sun had fully set. I tuned out the sound of their voices although I honestly had no intention of sleeping, not with a couple of strangers so close. I wouldn't give them a chance to catch me off guard so that they would be able to slit my throat in my sleep. However, as the night drew on, I couldn't keep my eyes from slowly drooping shut and the next thing I knew, I was asleep.