So, this is my revised version of At the Mercy of the World. I started this story 10 years ago but over the years my writing style has matured and while I like the plot of the story, reading back over it during the years I felt like it was forced and that Adrian's character was a little unrealistic. And with the help of a dear friend I've started this story from scratch. I hope everyone enjoys the new version as much as I do. I'll be posting a new chapter every week, that way I have enough space between what I'm posting and what I'm still writing. So, please read and enjoy.

Chapter 1

It started as a few crazy videos on the internet. Those videos where people watch them and then play them off as a hoax. Then it showed up on the news. Stories of people eating their animals alive or biting a random person on the street. And then it showed up on every news channel. The people who were bitten would get sick. They would get a really high fever and hallucinations and then they would die of the infection. But they didn't stay dead.

The bigger cities seemed to be a battlefield. The government would send in the military to both help set up safe havens for people to go and to fight the infected. But by the time everyone understood that you died from a bite or a scratch, it was too late. The infection spread faster than anyone could have imagined. All precautions to keep everyone safe just came too late. That was when the government started to order bombs dropped into the major cities, in hopes to kill off the infected.

But it was already too late. The infected were everywhere and more became infected every day. And that how the story of the survival of the human race began.

TWD

It was just after sunrise when the rays of the sun hit her. She was perched in a tree, on a big, solid branch, about thirty or forty feet in the air. She was lucky she had made it up as high as she did. She was also lucky she hadn't fallen to her death the few times her feet had slipped as she climbed. The reason she was in the tree? To watch the people in the camp twenty yards away. It wasn't smart to be so close, she knew that, but the trees were so dense that it was as far away as she could get to see the camp but still be hidden. It was a large group, maybe thirty people. Men, women, and children. The campsite was cramped with tents, and even an RV. They seemed to all work well. They had camped close to a quarry, which was smart on their part. It gave them an unlimited water supply that was close by.

She had discovered the camp about two weeks ago, and for the safety of herself and her young companion, she decided to keep an eye on the camp and the people as often as she could spare, which wasn't too much these days. She and her companion were camped about five miles away in a small cabin that she had found shortly after the fall of Atlanta and so far they had been lucky enough to have not been found. Especially by the hunters of the camp.

There only seemed to be two of them, well one if she was being really honest. They were apparently brothers, and not very liked or sociable around the camp. One of them, the younger brother, seemed to keep to himself. But he had an attitude, and a loud one at that. He was surly and tended to hunt for their fresh meat the most. Probably enjoyed the solitude of the woods as apposed to the crowded camp.

The older brother, however, was always loud and didn't seem to hunt much. He liked to sit in a chair not far from his and his brother's tent and complain, very loudly. He also liked to get high, something that could definetly get you killed these days. If you weren't constantly on your guard, a zombie could sneak up on you and kill you faster than you cold say "oh shit".

They used the RV as a guard tower, in a manner of speaking. Most of the time there was an older man sitting in a lawn chair holding a rifle and a pair of binoculars, which was a good idea in her opinion. The women seemed to be in charge of cooking the food, washing the clothes every so often, and keeping an eye on the kids, with some help from some of the men.

Everything around the camp had been quiet and normal so far that day. But then the clouds started to roll in just after lunch time. Thunder could be heard, and it was only getting louder. When she seen the first streak of lightening light up in the sky, she had decided to officially call it a day. She wasn't know for always making smart decisions, but even she wasn't stupid enough to stay in a tree during a lightening storm. Slowly, she climbed down from the tree and high tailed it back to her cabin.

If only she had known that soon her and her companions life would become entangled with the camp by the quarry.

TWD

Adrian Hunter was humming softly to herself as she placed her third rabbit of the day into her hunting sack. She and her companion, Kale Hagan, usually swapped chores every few days, and today was her day to check their traps and snares and then skin the animals when she got back to camp.

It was getting dark but she decided to check around to see if she could find any berry bushes or anything else to bring back to camp. You could never have too much food these days. In her opinion there were three important things that kept you alive today that you could never have enough of.

Food.

Water.

And weapons.

Not necessarily in that order. To her, weapons and water were the more important of the three. You could go weeks without food, not comfortably, of course, but you could only go days without water. And having no weapons was a death sentence. Adrian herself had a number of weapons. She was currently carrying a 9mm handgun in a holster that she had looped through her belt at the small of her back, a kbar knife in a thigh holster on her right leg, a machete sheathed on her left hip, and a compound bow that she had strapped over her shoulder.

She had found a decent sized bush that was lush with blueberries and popped a few in her mouth every now and then to snack on. She had just tossed a few berries in her mouth when she heard it. It definitely wasn't a sound that belonged in the quiet of the woods. She gently placed the half full ziplock bag full of berries on the ground as she continued to listen to the noise.

She finally heard the growls and knew it was zombies. Even though she was a few miles from camp she knew she couldn't just leave it be. She had decided early on that if any zombies were found during the day while she or Kale were out had to be taken care of then. Leaving them to roam was risky. They could come back later to bite them, literally.

Adrian pulled her machete as she got closer to the noise. She crept quietly closer, not knowing how many there were, but there were a few at the very least, from the sound of the growling and hissing she could hear. She pushed through a few bushes to find the zombies she had heard, three of them to be exact, but they were all clawing at a tree.

Adrian lifted her eyes to see what could possibly have their attention. Her bright green eyes widened in surprise to find a boy, no more than ten or eleven, trapped in the tree. He wasn't up very high but it was high enough considering the zombies couldn't climb, which meant he was safe from their reach. Adrian whistled to catch the attention on the zombies, and watched as three pairs of cloudy eyes and hungry teeth turned her way.

Adrian knew better than to let them closer than she had to, so she waited until the first one got within striking distance and swung the machete at it's head. She went to pull the machete back but was met with resistance. She tried to pull again but the machete refused to be pulled away. She seen the two other zombies get closer to her than she liked and quickly released the machete and pulled out her knife just in time. She stabbed the closest one in the head and turned to see the last one too close. She took a few steps back, her knife still in the head of the second one, and kicked the last one in the stomach, causing it to stumble away, giving her enough time to pull her knife out of head of the second zombie and lunge at the last one, plunging her knife into it's head quickly.

She pulled her knife out, curling her lip in disgust at the black blood dripping from her knife, and then leaned down to wipe her knife on the clothes of the zombie she had just taken down. She put her knife away and then walked over to machete. She placed her foot on the half decayed face of the zombie and gave a few powerful pulls, finally dislodging it. She wiped the end of the machete off and put it in it's sheath.

After that was done, she finally looked over to the tree. The boy was still there, tightly hugging the trunk, his face pale and dirty, his eyes wide and frightened. Adrian slowly made her way over to the tree, seeing the boy's eyes widen even larger. She held up her hands to show she was harmless, hoping it would help him to not be so scared.

As she got closer she got a better look at him. He had short brown hair and pale blue eyes. He was wearing pants that were covered in dirt, a red shirt, and black shoes, that were also covered in dirt. Once she was close enough, she realized she recognized the boy. He was from the camp by the quarry.

"Hi, sweetie. Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?" she asked the boy gently once she got close enough. "N-no." he said as a second. "That's good. My name is Adrian. What's your name?" she asked as she lowered her hands. "Carl." he said. "Carl. That's a nice name." she said but he said nothing in return. "You're a long way from camp, Carl. The quarry is almost four miles away. How did you get way out here by yourself?" she asked him.

"We were playing hide and seek. I wanted to win, so I went farther than I was supposed to and I slipped down a big hill and see one of those things and I ran away. I didn't know how to get back so I just ran and soon more of those things started chasing me. I got too tired to keep running so I climbed up here but they wouldn't go away." he told her.

She looked up at the sky through the trees to see the sky darkening quickly. She wasn't going to leave the boy here, but it was getting too dark. She would have just enough time to get back to the cabin before it got too terribly dark. He had to be brought back to his camp but she knew it wasn't smart in the least to try to wonder the woods in the dark. Heaving a deep sigh, Adrian made her decision.

Looking back at Carl, she smiled a gentle smile. "Well Carl, it's getting dark and you can't stay up there, so why don't you come on down and I'll take you back to my camp for the night and bring you back to the quarry in the morning." she told him. "Why can't you take me back tonight? My mom and Shane will be really worried about me." Carl said, a little panicky. "It's getting dark and your camp is a few miles away. It's not smart to be walking or wondering around the woods at night." she told him.

"I promise you'll be safe. Me and my partner have a cabin we stay in. We'll get you some dinner and a good night's sleep and I'll take you back myself tomorrow." she told him. After a minute of silence, Carl nodded his agreement. "Alright, well lets get you out of that tree and we'll head back. Can you get down?" she asked him. A small blush flushed his cheeks when he shook his head no.

He wasn't up high, maybe eight or nine feet but it was high enough that if he tried to just jump he could hurt himself. "Alright, well how about you jump down and I'll catch you?" she said as she took off her bow and propped it against the tree. She was going to regret the decision, she just knew it. Carl scooped the edge of the limb he was on, looked down at her below him, and quickly pushed himself off the limb.

Adrian managed to grab him around the waist once he was close enough, but between his weight and how quickly he fell, she collapsed to the ground. She was right, she did regret that decision. The small of her back hurt where her gun had dug into her back when she fell down and Carl had pushed all of the air out of her lungs when he had fell on top of her.

Groaning, she let go of Carl, who quickly scrambled up onto his feet, and slowly got to her feet. She rubbed her back to soothe the ache while she caught her breath. After she had caught her breath she shouldered her bow and grabbed Carl's hand and headed back the way she came.

They stopped by the blueberry bush on the way back and grabbed the bag off the ground, which thankfully was left untouched. Adrian offered Carl the bag in a silent offer, which Carl accepted with a small smile.

TWD

Adrian and Carl walked into a clearing to see a cabin. There was flickering light coming through the windows, which Adrian knew meant that Kale had started a fire in the fireplace. Carl looked up at Adrian and she could see the fear and uncertainty in his eyes. She gave him a smile and gently pulled him towards the cabin.

Whoever had built the cabin had had a lot of time and money. It was a log cabin with a decent sized front porch. The porch had a waist high rail with rungs every six or so inches. The steps that lead up to the porch stopped at a gate that had to be opened from a latch on the inside of the gate, so nothing could push the gate open by accident.

Adrian lead Carl up the steps and through the gate, which she closed firmly behind them, and walked up to the door. She stopped at the door and knocked three times, hesitating slightly between each knock. When she heard two quick knocks from the inside, Adrian smiled and opened the door. Once Carl was through, Adrian closed it behind him, turned the bolt, and then barred the door with a piece of wood.

Once she turned she seen Kale and Carl looking at each other. Well, Kale was looking at Carl with a raised eyebrow and Carl tried to drill holes into the floor with his eyes. "You know, when you said you were going out this morning to see what you could find, I didn't think you meant this." Kale said from across the room.

"What can I say, I'm a magnet when it comes to lost boys in the woods." she said, laughing. "He was chased by a few zombies and was hiding in a tree to get away from them." she said running a gentle hand through his hair, hoping it would ease some of his tension. "But for right now, lets get you in front of the fire and get you some dinner. How does that sound?" she asked Carl. Carl looked up and opened his mouth to answer when his stomach growled. Adrian laughed lightly and lead him over to an arm chair close to the fire as she walked towards the kitchen.

The cabin had two rooms, both furnished, and bathroom with a shower/tub combo, a toilet and sink. The living room and kitchen were open but big enough that both were a comfortable size. Adrian walked into the kitchen and pulled out everything she needed to make Carl a simple dinner of a sandwich and chips. She had just put everything for the sandwich onto the counter when a plate appeared in front of her. She looked over and seen Kale standing there with a frown on his face.

Kale towered over her five foot four frame at about six feet, which annoyed her. No seventeen year old boy should be that tall. He had chocolate brown eyes and chocolate brown hair to match. His hair was on the shaggy side and he had put on a decent amount of muscle since she had met him. When she had met him over a month ago, he looked like skin stretched over large bones. But in the weeks that they had been living in the cabin, he had put on muscle from their daily chores. She could see the look in his eyes some times, when he thought she couldn't see it, but she was thirty years old and she wasn't going to allow anything to happen.

"What's with the face?" she asked as she pulled out some bread. "What really happened out there?" he asked, lowly so that Carl couldn't hear him. "Just like I told you. He was chased from his camp by some zombies. He roamed too far from camp, and when he seen it, he just started running and got too far." she said. "And where is his camp?" he asked. Adrian hesitated. "The quarry." she finally answered, digging out a snack sized bag of chips. "That's not good, Adrian. We've managed to keep them away from us so far, but if they come looking for him, and find us here with him, it could go really bad." Kale said whispered urgently.

"I know that. I'm going to take him back tomorrow. I couldn't chance taking him back today, it was too close to dark to make it there and back safely, especially with him. It was safest to bring him back here for the night and head out in the morning. And you know damn well that I wasn't going to leave him out there by himself." she said, cutting him a look that dared him to argue with her about her decision. "I know, you would never leave a kid, especially a defenseless kid, out there alone." he said, sighing.

"I'll take him back in the morning and then I'll leave a false trail afterwards. I don't want to lead them back here and at least one of their hunters is competent at following tracks. We'll be okay, Kale, I promise. I promised that I would keep you as safe as I could, and I don't plan to break that promise." she said, looking into his chocolate brown eyes before her eyes took on a sad glaze. "Never again." she said sadly. "I know that. I trust you with my life. I'm just worried about them, is all. I don't want you to get hurt either." he told her.

Adrian nodded her head and quietly brought Carl the plate and a bottle of water. He smiled up at her as he took the food and water and ate quietly. After he was finished she lead him to one of the rooms and handed him a change of clothes, that he was surprised fit him. "You can sleep in here tonight. I'll wake you for breakfast in the morning." Adrian told him. After she tucked Carl into the bed she gave him a small smile and walked out of the room, leaving the door open so he could out and she could see in.

He was sleeping peacefully when she checked on him an hour later, after she had skinned the rabbits that she had gotten that day. Adrian grabbed a change of clothes and went into the bathroom to wash up and change clothes. She had just finished washing up and changing when she heard a crack of thunder and heard the first rain drops hit the roof. Hopefully the rain would pass soon and everyone could go back to their normal lives, or as normal as they got these days.