For those who are actually interested in reading this story I should be able to update once a week. However, at the moment I am preparing for my GCSE's (final exams in year 11 in the UK) and I need to revise for it as well as trying to complete all my art work for the final project I have to do. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

3 months later

"Would you rather eat shit or drink piss?"

"Jesus Nick, what kind of question is that?" Luke responded to the mans unusual but inventive question. "I'd drink piss. Apparently, if you boil it for a certain amount of time you can drink it."

"I'd do the same, hell if it comes to the point where we have to be drinking our own piss, put me out of my misery."

"Don't worry. This will be over in a matter of weeks." Well, that's what he hoped would happen, wouldn't it? Soon, the government would be driving through, eradicating all these ghouls roaming the streets. It wouldn't be long now. All they had to do was be careful and try not to get bitten by one of them, sounds easy enough.

Pretty early on they'd made the link between being bit and turning into one of those things. It came with a cost though. Carolyn, Luke's mother, was the first of many to turn. Only a few days after their first encounter with the dead was she bit by Joe Mclaggen. He was the owner of the diner Luke, Nick and Matilda would go to every Sunday at three in the afternoon to get ice cream sundaes with a plate of pancakes drizzled in syrup on the side. He was a beefy man and looked intimidating, but was a gentle giant. He took them by surprise when they were searching around in his much-loved diner. He reached over the counter and ripped out the side of her neck, it wasn't long before she turned as well.

Jesus. What the hell caused all this to happen; was it some chemical spill? Was this the government's way of decreasing the population? If it was the latter it was a shit way of doing it.

"I think we should head north," Luke suggested. Travelling North did seem to be a good idea; there wasn't much in the town they lived in so venturing out would make it easier to find supplies, just in case it would take a little while longer for it to end.

"That would be a good idea, think about it, more supplies and maybe we could find some more people. Doesn't some of your family live up there too? We could meet up with them." Nick's response to his suggestion was definitely supportive. "I have always wanted to visit New York."

"Well, we can make a detour so you can do some sightseeing." He replied jokingly. The humorous atmosphere soon dispersed. Rustling interrupted the two men from their conversation as they drew closer to a lurker stumbling into a bin tossed onto the road.

"Do you want it?" Luke asked the taller man. Nick smirked back at him and cocked his eyebrow.

"Too difficult for you to handle I presume?" He walked over to the lurker, knife readied in his hand. He gripped its shoulder and as it turned around to lunge at him, sunk the blade into its head. It hit the ground with a thud. Nick turned back to his friend, the cocky smirk adorning his face that blood had splattered onto. "Seriously Luke if it's too difficult for you I don't mind having to kill every one of these fucks if you're too incapable of doing it."

The pair often teased each other, even while surviving in the apocalypse.

"Shut up! I could have easily got it." The man sighed in annoyance, "you just didn't give me the chance to." He started back towards their residence in which the rest of their family was waiting for their return. "Come on, we're burning daylight."

Matilda was always denied the chance of being able to scavenge with the rest of her family, citing the reason that she was the youngest and was too small to fend off the lurkers. She often mentioned the fact that she was right next to Carolyn when she was bitten. Huh, bitten. More like devoured.

"Could you teach me to shoot a gun?" She inquired to her uncle. She had always had him wrapped around her finger so maybe he would give into her this time around.

"Well, why would you need to learn how to do that?" Pete responded to her. He had his rifle on the table and the younger girl couldn't deny that the idea of being able to shoot a gun wasn't appealing to her.

"What if I need to defend myself when you all go scavenging? The first lurker we saw was right near the house and what if they get in the house. How would I be able to defend myself then?"

She was right. Hell, she was always right. Matilda was always a smart girl and often displayed a maturity way beyond her age, more than Nick. Well, especially Nick.

"Fine, I'll teach you. But you must remember everything I teach you. I don't want anything bad happening if you get trigger happy."

He leads the girl out into the garden and lines up a row of cans they'd emptied a while ago. He pulls out a smaller gun, as the rifle would probably be too big for her, and shows her how to hold it. "Relax your shoulders; keep your finger off the trigger unless it's to defend yourself at that moment." She followed his orders and looked up at him for further instructions. "Now I want you to shoot them cans over there. Line the gun up with them and take a deep breath before you shoot." She inhales loudly.

"Not that big."

She exhales and lines the gun up with the cans. Finger ready on the trigger, she takes a small breathe and pulls it. The bullet zooms out and hits the cans, knocking them over.

"I did it! I hit them!" The girl turns to Pete with a grin on her face. He smiles back at her and pats her on the shoulder.

"Good job. With a bit more practice you'll be able to shoot lurkers from a mile off."

"What the fuck was that noise?" Melissa stormed out the house, a gun ready in her hand. Her eyes scanned the possible source of the racket and landed on the gun in Matilda's hand. "What the fuck do you think you're doing giving her that thing!"

"I was teaching her to shoot a gun. She needs to know how to defend himself."

"She's too young to be able to know how to shoot!" She shouted at him, creating more noise that would attract nearby lurkers. "She's a little girl!"

"Hell, Nick could shoot a gun at her age and that wasn't even to defend himself." He argued back. In truth, Nick had been able to shoot a gun at her age. Pete and his nephew would go out hunting deer when he was younger.

"Mom, I was just learning how to defend myself." The girl piped in.

"Matilda, go to your room now." Melissa told her daughter, "your uncle and I are talking at the moment."

I know that nothing much happened this chapter but in the next one there will be more action.