Summary : The world ended, the dead returned, and now Hannah has only one concern and it is to protect her little sister. She'd do anything for the little girl, even if it means stealing from some country hick while he took a piss in the woods. Her life had changed once, twice, and a few times following that so she shouldn't have been surprised that when she got tackled and it resulted in a wrestling match that her life would be altering once again.

Chapter One

Hannah didn't like the word stealing. It was such an old fashioned word, tied up with notions of property and ownership. She didn't care for what the dictionary defined it as, or what the authority named it as. Stealing was still stealing, period. Taking what does not belong to you through force or an unfair situation. Hannah preferred the term extensive borrowing. By doing this she would always have the choice of returning said item, or in this case items. That was then though, before the world turned to shit and the dead returned to eat you.

She wasn't sure what to consider it now, other than a sensible way to ensure survival. Maybe, if he hadn't set down his crossbow and string of squirrels she wouldn't have been tempted. They needed weapons and game was becoming harder to find lately.

Hannah panted as she sprinted through the forest, avoiding roots and the thicker brush in her path to the best of her capabilities. Her calves were throbbing and her lungs burned as she tried to outrun the livid man chasing her. So far he had only managed to throw colorful words her way. Her mind too hyped on adrenaline to comprehend the full danger of his threats, and she had no interest in finding out which of them he would follow through on.

Though could she blame him? Times were harsh and resources were to be guarded. It wasn't like she was upset with him being angry either. Hannah would have also been vexed if some stranger had stolen her things while she was taking a piss. If it would make him feel any better his crossbow was heavier than hell and made it slightly more difficult to run, or dodge the trees she so diligently was narrowly missing colliding with.

Hannah's feet stumbled as her left foot caught on something, and for a second she glanced behind her. She was lucky her feet hadn't slid out from underneath her, but not so lucky to see a giant inches away with his arms out towards her. Then, he was on her and body parts were flying.

It had happened so quick, and there had been no way of simply avoiding the attack. Yet, Hannah still couldn't believe that he was going to - no, was - he was tackling her. There was no going to with his whole body connecting with hers right that second.

The crossbow flew from her right hand, freeing it to shield her face before she hit the ground, while her left still clung tightly to the squirrels. If the ground hadn't come up on her so fast Hannah might have been able to greet it with a scream, but she hadn't. Her breath, her scream, and cries of pain were locked away in her chest from the impact of the ground and the man who had landed on top of her. There had even been an unsettling amount of popping from her joints in her back.

Unlike Hannah, who was too immobilized by the blow to move or breath, he didn't waste any time. His breath came in small spurts, hot and jagged against the nape of her neck, as he took to restricting both her arms behind her back. Pain shot through her arms and lower back and her vision tunneled.

"Who the fuck're you?"

'Shit.'

Shit was right if the indicator of his tone was any indicator.

'Shit. Shit. ShitShitShitShitShi-Shitting motherfucking butterballs!'

Small hands clung tighter to the rope fastened around the tree as her small body tried to practically sink into the bark of the big old tree. She was good at waiting, being patient and quiet, but a terrified whimper couldn't help but slip out.

She had done as she had been told. She had stayed up in the tree and tried to not make any noise, but her shoe had become untied and Riley knew she needed to tie it to keep it from falling off. Then, the monsters had come and they had startled her.

In her fear Riley had accidently knocked her shoe off, and it had bounced off the head of a monster close to her tree. It was scary, like Bradley at daycare who pulled on her pigtails, and when it had looked up Riley had cried out in fright.

Growing growls emitted from within the thing as it began to claw at the tree. Fat tears made her vision blurry as the idea of the monster crawling up the tree spiked terror in her little heart.

"Hush… quite…. monster leave alone…" Her voice was raspy and her sentence broken, but Riley knew that if she stayed quiet then they would go away. She just had to be a good girl and listen to what Maverick and her sissy told her, and even if the monster didn't leave right away one of them would return and take care of it and help her.

Until they returned Riley would just have to stay quiet, not look at the monsters, and think of things she liked so as to keep the scary thoughts away.