Hey guys! Brining the next chapter early to ya! I just felt like writing right now so I'm just "Well, why the heck not?!" I can just see the joy on your faces. I'm going to have one more OC appear in this chapter, and also, diving in after the guy is a double edged sword, if ya know what I mean. Thanks for paying attention to this story readers and without further ado, THE STORY CONTINUES!

Drew's POV

I had to help the guy, infected or not, Cristina might die if I let her go.

"I'll get him! You stay here!"

I shouted to Cristina, making her smile and pulled back on her backpack. I quickly took off my backpack with the supplies, taking off anything that could way me down and jumped in after the man. The water was cold, really cold.

Cristina kept shouting words of encouragement to me, urging me on until I reached him.

The man had short brown hair and a stubble on his chin. He looked Caucasian and I couldn't tell what his eye color was, his eyes being closed and all. I attempted to pull him back to the bank but I couldn't, the man was just too heavy for me to make it back.

I tried to call out to Cristian but my voice was muffled by the stream pulling me in, the last thing I saw before blacking out was Cristina jumping in after us.

*Unknown time passed.*

I woke up to crackling fire. I slowly opened my eyes, my head felt like crap. It took a while to adjust to the light but I eventually could see the world again. I looked around, Cristina was huddled over the fire with the guy, I could see them talking, until the guy saw me wake up and called to me.

"Hey, you okay there kid? Pretty risky thing to jump in after someone like that."

Oh come on! I just saved his good for nothing life and he's telling me to stop being so reckless? I sat upright and rubbed my eyes, they itched.

"Uh, don't do that Drew, there's medicine on them, you're eyes kind of got messed up."

That's why they itched.

"What's your name?" I said, ignoring what Cristina told me to do.

"Me?" The man said, forgetting there were other people there. "Name's Sal, born and raised with the name. Gee, how much I miss mother right now." Sal said standing up.

"We should stamp out these flames, it'll attract walkers." I nodded, agreeing with Sal.

Cristina bit her lip and said nothing.

"How long have I been out?" I asked. "Around two days, almost three." Cristina said.

Sal stamped out the flames. "So, who wants to talk" I asked, might as well have some conversation while I can.

"So, where are you from Sal, never mentioned it." Cristina put in.

"Well, I'm from down south; I'd rather not get into details. So what about you Cristina?"

Cristina looked away before saying. "Raised in the streets of New Jersey, I was, it was hell when the walkers came. By the way, how did you end up in that there river?"

Sal's face grew dark and he looked down. "I had a brother, Lex, he crossed but I fell in. haven't seen him since." Cristina pat him on back.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find him, but for now you got us right?" Sal smiled.

'Well, you're right about that but I can't shake the feeling that Lex is going to get himself into trouble like he always does. Say Drew, what about your family?"

My face darkened. "Nothing! We just got separated. I feel tired, do you? I'm going to sleep. NIGHT!" I said in a rush and went over to where it looked like we set up places to sleep.

*1 Day later*

The next day, we headed west. Following the river as Sal insisted. He was bent on finding his brother, Lex. The guy sure is devoted to fining him. Couldn't argue with him though, if Susan was lost, I would make sure to go find her my top priority too. I was pretty tired; recovering from the river takes time. I didn't like our position, a river on our right and a forest on our left. Suddenly, as we continued our trek, we heard a scream come from the forest.

"What the?" Cristina said.

"That sounded like a little girl, we have to check it out!" Sal insisted. I nodded agreeing with Sal. We took off through the forest until Sal stopped and motioned us behind a bush. I peeked out to see a kid, most likely around 10 or so, standing in front of three bandits. I looked behind the kid to see a toddler, hugging what I assumed was her brother's leg tight. I looked back at Sal.

"What do we do" I asked.

"We have to get of here!" Cristina said, looking scared but almost in shock by her own words. Sal whipped around.

"And leave some little kids to DIE? What are you thinking? We should use the advantage we have now to surprise them!" I looked back to the bandits. They were heavily armed, with grenades and everything.

"Imagine if we could get those grenades!" I said.

Cristina's eyes widened. "Grenades are bad! What if one went off in our hands? Plus they make a lot of noise!" They both looked back to me to break their argument. I looked back at the bandits. One began advancing toward the children, finger on the trigger. The kids backed away, stumbling over their own feet.

[Surprise bandits]

[Run away]

Well there we have it! Our first human threat! As always, follow, fav and review!