An: The first chapter was almost identical in on the original author's work just a bit edited. This chapter's beginning half will be almost the same, but the second half will be a little bit different. Then after this chapter I will go my own way. Let me know what you think of this and keep on voting on who you want Tommy and Hunter to be with.


Eliza couldn't breathe, couldn't move. She was completely frozen with fear. Had been for the past five hours, but it felt like forever. She had watched her family be eaten alive by the walkers, while she had gotten lucky. She had opened her eyes by chance. She had heard what sounded like the crunching of bones and the sickening sound of brain and juice. She hadn't expected someone coming upon the clearing, but when she opened her eyes she met the most intense blue eyes that she had ever seen. They were absolutely breathtaking. The two eyes were like ice being struck by blue lightning in the middle of the ocean. Three shades of blue, battling for dominance and mashing together to create what is now looking down upon her. It was truly stunning.

The man cocked his head to the side and stared her down. He was like nothing she'd seen before. A solid body of muscle with not an ounce of fat on him. Dressed in ripped jeans, bloodied boots, and a muscle shirt that exposed his burly arms. His hair was combed back and drenched with sweat. His entire body was covered in drying mud. He was a complete mess. He looked savage and monstrous. Eliza didn't even have to think about it. If this man wanted to, he could kill her with just a flick of the wrist. He still held his very large knife above her head. Her eyes stared into his, fearful and sad. She didn't want to die, but she had nothing to really live for. Her family was dead and even if this man spared her, she had nowhere to go. Her supplies were low, her car was useless, and she was suffering from heatstroke. She wouldn't survive. It'd be a mercy kill if the man took her life. With that thought in mind, she closed her eyes and gave into the uneditable.

"You're just gonna lay there all day or are you going to get your ass up?" Eliza's eyes snapped open at the sound of his deep husky voice. He raised a dark eyebrow and pulled his eyes finally off her and scanned their surroundings.

"You're not gonna kill me?" She whispers, causing his eyes to snap back down to hers.

"I don't kill what doesn't fight back. Ain't much of a hunt if they just lay there accepting death." He stood and held a hand out. "Either get up or take yourself out. I don't got much time for weaklings." She took his hand and allowed him to help pull her out from under the walker. His hands were calloused and rough from years of hard work. He wasn't any city man, he was a country boy through and through.

Eliza lets his hand go and scanned around them, her heart ripping right apart in her chest. She couldn't even recognize her family from the walkers. She had no clue who was who. "How'd you live?" Eliza looks back at the man only to see he was no longer standing in front of her, but by the car, searching through her family's things. How did he move so fast and quietly?

"I…" Eliza swallows. "My father told me that the walkers don't go after their own. If you smell like a walker then they think you are one. I pulled the walker on top of me when the horde came. They left me alone." The man hummed in response and continued to dig through the bags. "What's your name?"

"Parker." He held up Louis' stuffed bear with a raised eyebrow before tossing it into the car.

"Hey, that's my family's things. You could at least show some sympathy." Parker turned and looked at her. She didn't like the look in his eyes. It seemed cold and empty. It scared her how indifferent he truly seemed. It was gone within a second though. A mask slipped into place and his eyes filled with warmth and sadness.

"I'm sorry." He said and he sounded completely sincere. If it hadn't been for his earlier slip then she wouldn't even question him. "It sucks to lose family. What happened?" He asks, leaning against the car. His mask was very well in place. Eliza couldn't tell if he truly wanted to know or was just asking because it was expected of him.

"My family was heading to Birmingham to find the rest of our family. The car ran out of gas and so my dad decided we would camp here."

"Out in the open? In the middle of nowhere?" He asks before scoffing. "That was a good idea." He mumbled under his breath before getting back to searching.

"In case you were wondering, all of my family is dead. We never made it to Birmingham, but I know they're gone. None of them could have survived."

"At least you ain't as stupid to believe in pipe dreams."

"I…" Eliza swallows and looks away. "I don't have anything to give you. We ran out of supplies. We have a couple of water bottles and a bit of food, but just enough for a day or two. Dad used the last of his bullets." She could feel his eyes on her, but she wasn't looking at him. She was too busy trying not to cry. Her family was gone and she was all alone. She had no one. She bit her lip, trying to not show any weakness in front of this man. She could tell he would only think less of her if she cried.

"I was raised to never just leave a girl to die." He spoke up, surprising her. "You got anyone or did they all die?" Her eyes flickered to his briefly before looking back down at her shoes.

"No. I'm all alone." He sighs and slams the trunk of the car, startling her.

"Then it looks like you better stick with me. You're as good as dead out here. Ain't nothing for miles. You'd be dead before you made it to the nearest structure or waterhole." He put his crossbow on his back. "Get what you want, but nothing more than you can carry. I ain't carrying your shit." She blinked owlishly at him as he started back towards the treeline. He turns and looks at her. "Are you coming or not?" Eliza quickly moved in gear. She grabbed her duffle and stuffed a few of her family's mementos in it before hurrying up after Parker.

"Where are we going?" She asks.

"I got to get this buck and then I'm taking you back to my camp. Try not to sound like a hippo in these woods. I rather not have you scare off the game."

*TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD*

Tommy leans against the chimney working on the walkies. Doc was down below splitting firewood. Tommy had the screwdriver in between his teeth as he placed the circuit board inside, holding it in place as he grabbed the back panel of the walkie. He places the panel down and took the screwdriver out of his mouth. He places the screwdriver down, holding the panel down with his fingers, and grabbing his burning cigarette with his free hand. He took a deep inhale of smoke, closing his eyes briefly as he enjoyed the nicotine before placing the cigarette back down and screwing the panel into place.

He turns the walkie on and tests it out, hitting the emergency alarm button. The other walkie lets out a series of beeps before silencing. He switched to the other walkie and hit it's emergency button, causing the previous walkie to let out a series of beeps. He runs a few more tests, which takes only a few extra minutes. Tommy took another quick inhale of smoke. He places the walkies down and moves onto the cb. The cb was old and it was beginning to shut down, but Tommy was good at fixing up old dinosaurs. Tommy replaces the wiring in the cb, hooks up a new mic and screws on some new tuning knobs. He has to fix the plug in for the mic, but that was an easy fix. He replaces the battery and reworks the circuit board. All of this takes about thirty minutes and he has it all put back together in another thirty. He turns it on, circling the channels. All he hears is static, but it isn't unusual with more than half the population dead. He turns to the channel with the Atlanta broadcast. "We have food, medicine, and water. Soldiers are-" Tommy switches the channel. He must have heard that broadcast more times than he can count. It was all bullshit though. Atlanta fell just like all the other supposed safe zones. There is no such thing as safe zones. It's just a pipe dream.

Tommy moves to the edge of the roof where a pulley system was set up. He pulled the rope up until a bucket appeared. He grabs the bucket, unties it from the rope and grabs the walkies and cb. He gently places them into the bucket, reties the bucket to the rope, and slowly lowers it to the ground below him.

Tommy climbs back through the trap down and inside the house. Tommy didn't look like his family. He was a small teen of nineteen. He was very thin and tall, like a beanstalk. He had muscles, but you'd never be able to tell with his lean figure. No matter how much time he spent outdoors Tommy remained as white as a ghost. He was extremely pale. He didn't have the blue eyes of his family, but rather dark green emerald orbs. He had black hair that looked like raven's feathers, ruffled and dark. When the light hit his hair in a certain way you could almost see a bit of red mixed into the black. He took more after his mother than his father.

He made his way through the house and headed outside to the garage. Each of them had their own bike, except for Tommy. Tommy knew how to drive just about anything, but he preferred not to unless he had to. Noah also had a black four door truck, Bow had a dark green small pickup, and Parker… Parker had his apocalyptic suv.

The suv was a military off road vehicle that Parker had stolen a week ago. It was an armored vehicle with eight seats and four doors. Parker had made some upgrades to the car. He put bars on all the windows, lights, and windshields. He also mounted spotlights surrounding the roof of the suv, pointing out and giving more light. On top of the roof was also a mounted gun, which you had access through the sunroof that Parker had put in. He also put a steel plow on the front that is good for smashing walkers down. The vehicle was a beast and was built out of the same steel that they made tanks with. It was Parker's baby and could handle all terrain.

Parker and Hunter never liked when Tommy or anyone touched their vehicles. They were the type that didn't want their shit messed with. They did it themselves or killed anyone who dared try doing it for them. Tommy didn't dare test their patients and left the two bikes and suv alone.

As Tommy works on the vehicles Doc finishes splitting the wood and begins to repair the coops. They had three coops. One coop was for the laying hen, another is for the meat chickens, and the third was for the turkeys. They all needed to be repaired and reinforced for winter to keep the little poultry from freezing. They used to have pigs, but when the world ended Doc decided to kill all the pigs. Pigs carried diseases that could be passed onto humans. Medicine was hard to come by and they didn't want the added risk that pigs would bring.

Doc was a big man. He was the tallest in the family, standing at exactly six feet and was wide with broad shoulders and muscular arms. He had a strong burly frame. He had very short chestnut hair, a short graying stubble, and bright blue eyes. He was tan just like the twins and Hunter from hours beneath the sun. He had a sharp jaw and a broad nose.

Doc looks up as Tommy stops beside him. None of them make a noise, their family has learned how to become silent, but they're also very intuned with their senses. Doc doesn't need to hear to know Tommy's there. 'I finished fixing the cb and the walkies. I put them back in your office.'

"That's good, we can start using them when someone leaves the compound." They had a total of five walkies. Tommy fixed the other three the other day, but they wanted to wait until they were all fixed.

'I also washed the vehicles.'

"You didn't touch Hunter's or Parker's did you?" Tommy gave him a pointed look. "Just making sure." Tommy nods and stands there as quiet as ever. "Did you want to help me with this?" He motions to the chicken coop he's repairing. Tommy looks at it briefly before looking at Doc.

'I need to check on the solar panels and the batteries. Then I also should check with the generators.' Tommy says. Doc sighs, feeling bone tired. He was getting old.

"Okay, sounds like a plan."

'Did you need help?' Tommy asks, eyeing over the building.

"Nah, I got it. You go ahead and do what you got to." Tommy nods and heads off. Doc runs a hand down his face, sighing heavily. He wasn't as young as he used to be. He was starting to feel his age. He worked his ass off all his life. Running himself into the ground and it was starting to catch up to him.

Doc got back to work.

*TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD*

Noah drove his truck through the town slowly, on the lookout for any walkers that could be in the area or worse yet another group. He and his family have been lucky to not run into any groups and Noah wasn't naive enough to think running into another group would be a good thing. In the darkest of times people show their true colors. With no law, no structure, and no hope people give into the darkest of desires. Noah didn't want to chance his luck when it came to other groups.

He parked the car outside the clinic. The place looked to be ransacked already, which wasn't a surprise. The windows were smashed and the door was smashed open. He turns his truck off and gets out. He glances around cautiously before heading inside the clinic. He had his rifle raised and loaded. The gun was a m16 semi automatic with a silencer and scope. It was completely black and made completely of metal, making it heavy but more durable. He had two extra clips clipped to his belt on his left on his front. On his right side he had his hunting knife inside its sheath and clipped to his belt. He also had a pistol tucked into the back of his jeans.

He walked slowly in the clinic, his body low with his knees bent slightly and his gun study. He walked like a trained soldier heading into a hostile building. He searched the clinic for any hostiles, checking every room before deeming it secure enough. He switched the safety on his gun and put the gun into his back, pulling off his backpack and his pistol. He needed his hands to search for supplies and the pistol was quicker. It also had a silencer on it. All their guns did because of the walkers. Their uncle was a peaceful man since his time in the war, but that didn't change the fact that he enjoyed his toys. He had an entire room dedicated to guns and add-ons. It sure came in handy for the end of the war.

Noah moved quickly, working his way down aisle by aisle. He grabbed everything that could be useful for the end of the world, even things they currently had no need of. One such item being pregnancy vitamins. The end of the world won't change the fact women still could pregnant. Of course they had no women in their group, pregnant or otherwise, but this end of the world thing wasn't temporary, he had to think years in advance. Grab what he could before he needs it because by the time he needs it it may just not be there.

The clinic had all its heavy meds behind the locked room, but there was plenty of goods in the store itself. Once he completed scavenging the main part of the store he moved towards the locked room. The room could easily be picked, but he knew on the other side was an alarm and without the code then it'll go off. He didn't want to attract attention, living or otherwise.

He made a promise to himself to come back if he had time and say fuck it and break in. He slipped back out of the clinic. He tosses his bag into the truck now that it's full and grabs an empty one. He drives the truck over to the back of the grocery store and hops out. Much to his shock the store was completely locked down. There was no way in, which means there was a good chance it was full. All he had to do was break in.

The building was very secure. The windows all had metal shutters that wouldn't open unless you knew the code to the padlock. Not many would have the patience to try and unlock it. The doors have the same shutters and locks. Each lock no doubt had different combos. There was also a chance there was an alarm, but places like this would have a silent alarm so to keep the burglar in none the wiser while the police arrive.

"Four digit combo. Easy enough." Noah whispers as he gets to work on the door lock. He was good with locks. Locks came easy to him. He had it open in less than a minute. He quietly opens the shutter on the back door and opens the door. The place was pitched black. He grabs his rifle and switches the light on that rests on the side of his scope. With a deep breath he entered the darkness.

The building was dead silent, causing a ringing to start in his ears. He stuck close to the wall, his flashlight scanning the area around him. He made his way to the security room where the switches for the lights would no doubt be. He limped quietly, not making a sound. His ears strained for walkers. He reaches the security room and opens it.

Inside was a man or what used to be a man. His bottom jaw was missing, one eye hung out of the socket, his skin was sickly gray with blood coating it. His clothes were torn and faded. He had a vest on that had the store's logo on it. The bastard had locked the store when this shit hit and locked himself inside. No doubt not realizing what a bite could do to you. He had a rather nasty bloody bandage wrapped around his arm. Noah fires his gun and the walker fell, fully dead and leaving a bloody pool beneath his bullet pierced skull.

"I'm sorry." Noah says in a soft voice. Even if the guy did lock this place down and kept all the good to himself, nobody deserved to become this. Noah stepped over the body and turned the lights on. When he walked out into the store he saw shelves upon shelves filled with food. "Holy shit."

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Eliza had no idea how he did it. He must have weighed double her weight with all that muscular and height, but he walked as if he was as light as a feather. He made not a single noise. Not even his breathing could be heard. She sounded like a rhino compared to him. She huffs out in frustration, trying to copy his movement. "Don't put your weight onto the soles of your feet. Walk more on your toes and try to distribute your weight throughout your body." Her eyes shot up to Parker, who was looking at her with that empty face once again. She gives a nod of understanding. She focuses more on her feet, stepping where he steps and putting as little weight on her feet as possible. It took a bit but she slowly figured it out. She still wasn't silent, but it was better.

They entered another clearing where a large buck was laying. Parker moves towards the deer and crouches down. He takes some rope out of his bag and stabs his knife through the thin skin of the buck's legs. "Do you need help?" She whispers. He glances at her, his expression unreadable.

"Can you climb?"

"Climb?"

"Trees. Can you climb?"

"Yeah, I mean I can try." He nods and motions to a nearby tree.

"Climb up to the fifth branch." She does as he asks. The tree wasn't too easy. The branches were a good distance apart, but she didn't want to disappoint her savior and have him change his mind and leave her behind. She takes the rope he hands her and begins the climb. She dug her nails into the bark, causing her skin to bleed and her nails to throb, but she pressed on. She grunts as she jumps to get the next branch, her legs kicking as she pulls herself up. She uses one leg to swing over. She took steady breathes and kept going. The next branch is harder, but with a deep breath she jumped with all her power and grabbed the branch. The air wished over her as she hung limply from the branch. She stared purposely up and not down at the ground below, which was a good distance down at this point. One more branch to go. She took another deep breath, focusing on the branch. She got this.

She jumped. The air left her lungs in a wish, she grunted in the pain of her chest as she hung over the branch. Her body aches and trembles, but she forces herself to pull herself up. She sits her back against the trunk of the tree, panting from the exertion and pain of the exercise. "You good?" Parker called. She gave him a shaky thumbs up. "Good. You need to jump, I'll catch you." Her eyes widen.

"What?"

"Just do it."

"I'm not jumping out of a goddamn tree."

"I'll catch you."

"I'm like fifteen feet up."

"Just do it."

"No."

"You either do it or I'm leaving your fucken ass." She pales.

"O-o-okay. Just-just give me a minute." She swallows thickly, staring at the ground with a queasy feeling.

"Just jump, I'll catch you." She took a deep breath. "If I wanted you dead I would have killed your already. Jump." She slides off the branch. The air whips around her like sharp knives, the feeling of falling making her stomach roll, she feels queasy. She kept her eyes closed, too afraid to look. She grunts as she lands hard. Talk about trust fall. She opens her eyes to find herself in Parker's arms. His arms held her bridal style. The impact knocked the air out of her and made her cry out in pain, but he did it. He caught her and ensured she was safe. His arms were strong and sturdy as he held her. Not faltering for a second. She stares up at his beautiful blue eyes. He was beautiful. Maybe beautiful isn't normally a word to describe a man, but it was all she could think to describe him. She raises a hand to touch his cheek before he let her go. She grunts at the impact of the ground. He holds the rope and steps over her to tie it off. He moves around her and begins to skin and gut the deer.

What the hell just happened?