A/N: Sorry the second chapter took forever to put up! Not a writing issue, more of an beta reader issue. (hint hint, if you want the job, contact me! I have a guy who goes through my grammatical mistakes, but I need someone tell me how the story is flowing! :)) Anyway, this chapter is more of an meet and greet. More action in chapter number 3!

Chapter 2

Jim could have stood there all day watching how the situation unravelled, but he needed to get to Dwight. Dwight needed to know what Jim had stumbled upon. These were actual human beings. Human beings who were actually alive and not just drooling, flesh eating monsters. Without caring about anything, Jim turned around and sprinted back to the car. He was gone so fast that he missed the spooked jumps of the two women and their scared eyes scanning the forest patch he had just left.

Jim could barely see the car when he started yelling.

"Dwight! Where are you? Dwight!" he was excited and a little bit panicked all the same.

Dwight appeared from behind the car, first looking worried but after seeing that there was no one on Jim's heels, he looked mad.

"Stop yelling you idiot. Do you want to get eaten? If you do, fine by me, but I have gone to extraordinary lengths to keep you alive – not to mention that I've been sharing my food with you—"

Jim wasn't listening anything that Dwight said. He grabbed the other man's shoulders when he got close enough and shook it a little, just out of pure excitement.

"I saw other people. Women, by the water!" Jim blurted out. It had been so long since they had seen anyone else. So long in fact that it had entered both of their minds, and once even to their conversation, that maybe they were the only ones left.

Dwight didn't seem to be as excited as Jim. He looked worried.

"People? You sure?"

"Dwight, it might have been a while since we have seen anyone else, but I do recognize a human when I see one."

"Last time we saw someone it didn't end well," Dwight reminded Jim, and managed to make his excitement fade a little.

Jim acknowledged that Dwight was right. Last time they saw a group of others, and carefully tried to get closer to them, they had attacked. They had not cared that both of the men were very alive and not bitten. They were paranoid and sure that Jim and Dwight were out to get them.

"I know that Dwight! I was the one who almost got shot, remember? But I don't think it will do us any harm to try to get closer to these people," even as the words left Jim's mouth he didn't trust them. Trying could do them all kind of harm. Dwight rolled his eyes and pushed Jim's hands off his shoulders.

After last time they had agreed to just survive on their own. The walkers were bad enough, and neither of them felt that it was worth the risk to try to get close to other humans. But Jim was so hungry for human contact; he wanted to have a conversation that wasn't laced with sarcasm and full of digs at the other person.

"That is what you said last time as well. I don't understand why we need any other people to make things more complicated," Dwight didn't look very convinced.

Jim took a deep breath and put the knife back on his belt, while he was thinking of an answer. Dwight had a point. It would be safer and smarter for them to just get into the car and choose another spot for a break. But Jim felt the need to at least try with these people. In the world, with what it was now, it was easy to forget how nice it was to meet new people, shake hands, and maybe make friends.

"Yes, I know. It might complicate things horribly, and they might be those kinds of people who want to kill us. But they might not be. They might be that kind who will invite us to sit with them around the fire, and we could safely have some hot food for once," Jim knew that Dwight craved for a hot meal; he always talked about how easy it would be to find some eggs in the forest and ready them on an open fire. But they never felt comfortable staying put and in the open for long enough to set up a fire.

"Fine. But you will walk directly in front of me, so if they start shooting, you will be the one almost getting shot this time as well," Dwight finally said after a short period of silence and without further discussion he pulled more guns out of the car.

He put a machete on his belt, to the left side and placed a handgun on the band of his jeans, hiding it with his shirt.

Jim hid his smile and just took the shotgun and the machete Dwight was offering.

"I hope you know how to use that," Dwight mumbled as he readied his crossbow.

Jim nodded, placing it on the same spot as Dwight had put his; it really was a miracle that neither of them had managed to break their belts yet. The sharp edges of the knives were constantly rubbing against them, and Dwight kept reminding himself that they needed proper sheaths for them, but thus far they never had remembered to search for them, or more likely never had time.

With extra care Jim made sure his gun was in good condition and fully loaded. He also pocketed more ammo, just in case. He might be hopeful about these women, but he wasn't stupid. It was very likely that the two Jim saw wasn't the full group, and it might be that the group as a whole wanted nothing to do with intruders.

"Okay, lead the way," Dwight said after he felt like he was carrying enough weaponry. He had slipped tiny knives into his socks and a few throwing stars into his pockets. He was holding his crossbow firmly on his hands, as he nodded to Jim to go on. And Jim did.

Dwight actually made Jim walk directly in front of him and he kept his crossbow raised at all times. Jim was taking it a bit easier, maybe just to try to show to Dwight that he was not scared or nervous, although the closer they got to the place where Jim had seen the women, the more panicked he felt. He tried to hide that from Dwight who seemed to be more jumpy than when they were attacked by walkers.

Jim was so nervous about all the aspects of this meeting. What if they tried to kill them? Or what if they didn't? He wasn't even sure if he knew how to have an actual mature conversation anymore; what he had with Dwight couldn't really count as normal conversations. They mostly just barked at each other.

"I think I was about here when I crossed into the forest," Jim said sounding confident, although he was everything but. He hadn't been exactly studying his surroundings the first time around. He had just dived in to the forest, driven by the surprised caused by them two ladies.

"You think? Good, I feel safe," Dwight sighed as he followed Jim into the forest.

"I am pretty sure. If you don't want to come, just go back to the car," Jim snapped.

"And leave you alone? You need someone to talk to them if you find them."

Jim saw the pond glimmering few feet away, and without a warning he stopped, so Dwight walked into him.

"Idiot."

"Okay, Dwight, I am going to do the talking. You would just ensure that we will get shot," Jim said, and started moving again before Dwight answered.

Jim walked out to the clearing, but instead of seeing the women, they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

It was nothing more than a small pond, approximately 31 feet wide. The water seemed shallow enough that a person could walk across it quite comfortably. There were no roads that lead in or out; just thick forest that began only six feet from the shore line of the pond.

Quietly, Jim sighed. He was sure that the women had been on the exact same spot that he was standing right now, but there was nothing left of them now.

"Your mind is starting to crumble," Dwight remarked as he walked to the water. Jim took a double look around himself, but he could see nothing that pointed out that there had been humans. He hated to think about it, but maybe Dwight was right.

When Dwight crouched down to study the water, Jim walked along the shore away from the direction they came from.

Jim didn't feel crazy, and he would be damned if he left here without proving to Dwight he wasn't. He also would feel better if he knew for sure that he still had everything in order in his brain. He wanted to at least try. It was obvious that where ever these two people were permanently located wasn't here; they had to have a camp somewhere. His eyes studied the scenery, that wasn't really anything else than thick forest, when he suddenly noticed a small path that curved to the left; it had been covered by some bushes so Jim couldn't see it from where he had been first standing, but his current standing point he could clearly see it. It would take them further away from their car and most likely further into danger. But Jim approached it with steady steps. It went uphill and it looked like there might be something at the end of it.

Maybe a suitable place for a camp.

"Where are you going?" Dwight's voice came from far behind Jim, and he didn't even bother to answer. "Jim?"

Jim kept walking and was pleased when he heard Dwight quickly catching up. They were good together, even though Jim hated to admit it. They had survived some dangerous situations because of each other.

"Jim, what do you think you are doing?" Dwight asked with a strained voice, but was smart enough not to yell anymore. Forests were hard places to fight; they had learnt that the hard way.

"Shh!" was Jim's only response when he was sure he could hear voices. Dwight made a sound that indicated that he would talk again, so Jim turned around keeping his finger on his lips. And sure enough, when they stopped and waited they could hear talking. They weren't that high yet, but Jim could already see a bit of a clearing ahead of them.

Jim raised his eyebrows at Dwight, and gave him a little smug smile, letting him know that he was not crazy. Dwight just answered with a small shrug. Jim turned back around and was about to walk straight to the clearing, but Dwight's hand on his arm stopped him.

"What?" Jim hissed as he turned to face Dwight once again.

"Raise your weapon and walk slowly. We need to surprise them," Dwight whispered back.

"What? I am not going there with my weapons raised!" Jim had difficulties keeping his voice down.

"We go unarmed; they will kill us in a second."

"We go armed; they will kill us in a second. Just calm down, hold your crossbow but do not point it at anyone," Jim exclaimed and walked away. Dwight's footsteps joined Jim's, although he was clearly unhappy.

There were several voices they could hear, and Jim felt butterflies forming in the pit of his stomach, the closer they got. It would be a lie to say that he was not scared to take this risk with these people. But he needed to believe that there was some good left in the world.

He was also nervous that these were completely nice people, and Dwight would ruin everything by waving his crossbow at their faces. Jim knew Dwight was just scared and didn't want to be surprised by anything, but he surely hope he would be able behave this time.

Dwight was close behind Jim, and they walked to the clearing together. Jim held on tightly to his shotgun, still trying to look like he wasn't a threat. Dwight wasn't taking Jim's orders: he kept his weapon up and ready to fight.

"Put it down!" Jim hissed, but it made Dwight only raise the bow a bit more. Jim swore under his breath, but let it go. He would then later blame Dwight, when they were figuring out how to get bullets out of their skins.

When they got a better view of the clearing, it made them both halt. It looked like a tiny village that had unexpectedly just sprung up. There were at least ten tents, and one van behind them all. They noticed a small dirt road leading up to it, and they exchanged looks. It would have probably been the next one, from where they came up.

But it wasn't only tents and a car, but people. A lot of them! Well, maybe ten or so, but more than Jim or Dwight had been expecting. No one seemed to pay any attention to them. Jim snuck a little look towards Dwight, who happened to be glancing at Jim at the same time. It was weird that two people could sneak up to the camp without being noticed; especially since they weren't even trying to be clever or tried to surprise them. It all screamed about bad security and it made Jim fee uneasy. Bad security was the biggest mistake a camp full of people could do.

After they had stood there for a minute, Jim took a big step forward before he could actually think it through, and spoke up:

"Excuse me for—um, disrupting your peace, but we," Jim awkwardly pointed himself and Dwight who was staring at the people, "happened to wander to your camp, and where just wondering if we could, maybe— stay for a while?"

Everyone at the clearing stopped, and turned towards them. Some of them looked scared, and spooked out, but Jim only saw the woman he had seen at the pond. Her hair caught light just right, making it seem redder than it was and for a second it became hard for Jim to concentrate. Then she was pushed behind a man who was a lot bigger than her, and Jim wasn't sure was he being protective or possessive.

"Who are you?" he barked, and Jim turned to look at Dwight, just in time to see him take aim at the man. The man took a step forward and pulled a knife from his belt.

"Okay, easy now!" Jim tried to calm the situation, and pushed Dwight's crossbow down a bit.

"How can you not expect them to kill us when you do that?" Jim hissed between his teeth, and then turned around to meet the man.

"We don't want any trouble. We just want to spend a few moments with other people. We haven't met anyone in such a long time. We are not bad people, I swear, and we don't seek to harm you. I'm Jim. Jim Halpert. This is Dwight Schrute."

"Okay. Now you can get the hell out of here!" the man started to raise his voice, which made everyone around him uneasy. They glanced around themselves to the woods, hoping that no walkers were around to hear them.

Jim's eyes automatically looked for the woman, and to his surprise she was looking at him. He locked eyes with her for a second – he noticed the amazing colour of green they were – and she didn't look scared. She looked like she was a bit sorry.

"Well, I get that you don't want strangers wandering into your group. I understand that completely. But all I am asking for is few minutes so we can rest," Jim tried to reason with the man, who he assumed was the leader.

"Roy, maybe we should let them. They don't seem evil," the redhead said and took a step closer to the man whose name was Roy. She did take a curious look at Dwight, who still hadn't said a word, but had just stared at them.

"Pam, stop it. You wouldn't possibly know that," he said without even really looking at her, and the said louder again, "Go away!"

Even Jim looked around a little worried; it seemed like this guy had no idea where they were or how much of trouble he could be getting everyone into.

"Please, don't yell. If you really want we will go, but we are asking you to reconsider," Jim said and tried to sound calm. He was nearing a panic now. Dwight wasn't helping by just staring at them, and pointing his arrows at them.

"I said; go away!" Roy yelled.

"Roy!" the redhead exclaimed in fear and anxiously looked around.

"What is going on here?" a man suddenly emerged from one of the tents. He had black hair, and he was wearing a worn out Hawaii T-shirt, with beige shorts and flip-flops. Jim couldn't help but to raise his eyebrows. That was the worst outfit one could wear in a post-apocalyptic world.

The whole group seemed to collectively groan a little, and the woman, who Jim now knew was named Pam, stepped forward.

"Oh, Michael, umm, these men stumbled through the woods to our little clearing and asked to stay with us for a while," she explained smiling, and motioning towards Jim and Dwight. Jim waved a little, and Dwight seemed to be having a hard time deciding whether he should be take this new man into his aim instead of Roy or not.

"Well, what is all the yelling about?" Michael asked looking around the group.

"They are strangers. And possibly dangerous. I told them to beat it," Roy answered.

"What is wrong with you? That is not how we treat people around here!" Michael sighed and looked very exhausted to the way things were handled.

"I take a short nap, and everything falls apart without me. Well, I am here now!" he declared and clapped his hands together. Jim couldn't help his frown as he glanced at Dwight. Obviously Roy was not the boss, but instead this crazy man in a flowery t-shirt was. But Dwight wasn't looking at Jim, he was studying this new man, and surprisingly, letting his hold of the crossbow slip.

"Sir, we were just wondering if we could just stop here for a while, and see how things go. I know we are armed, but I think it is stupid to be unarmed in this world," Jim tried to sound calm, and he even smiled a little, looking around him. He actually got a few agreeing nods from the crowd.

Suddenly Dwight pushed past Jim, and walked to Michael.

"I am Dwight K. Schrute and this is my humble servant-"

"Not his servant, though."

"-Jim Halpert, and we would love to stay and mingle with your people for a while."

Dwight took a little bow, and Jim had to pretend to cough to hide his laugh. He had not seen Dwight behave this ridiculously since the CEO of Dunder-Mifflin visited their branch, and Dwight had tried to make him replace Karen with him. Jim realized fast that Dwight wanted to rise in the hierarchy of the camp and that was probably why he behaved so ridiculously around Michael. Just like during the good old times.

Jim caught Pam's eye which was also looking away and biting her lip, trying not to laugh. Jim raised his eyebrows at her a little, and she covered her mouth, but her eyes gave her laughter away.

Michael did a little dramatic bow as well, and answered with a weird accent:

"Well of course my friend. I am Michael Scott, and I will be your host this evening."

Jim eyes travelled to Pam, to see her reaction, but instead he saw Roy turning to her and grabbing her arm; "Come on, Pam."

Awkwardly, Jim turned back to the weird play unravelling before his eyes. Michael had now finished with his bow and was walking towards Jim. Michael extended a hand, and Jim grabbed it gratefully.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Jim, and thanks so much for letting us stay. Really appreciate it," Jim smiled and was a bit surprised how skilfully he still knew to talk.

"No problemo, my new friend. I am so sorry for that idiot yelling at you. He is not the smartest," Michael said, and Jim just awkwardly nodded and smiled. He didn't feel like it was his place to voice out his opinions of anybody. But yes, he did think that Roy was a bit of an idiot.

"Okay! C'mon, let's meet everybody!" Michael turned around to meet the people that were still there to watch what was happening, "Okay, you already kind of met Pam and Roy. Roy was the grumpy mean guy, and Pam is the group's hottie."

"And here we have Creed," Michael led Jim and Dwight in to the group of people where Roy and Pam had just been. Creed was by far the oldest in the group, but he seemed to be a mellow guy. He was smiling when Jim grabbed his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Jim said politely and tried to smile a little.

Dwight made absolutely no effort of being polite. He had thrown his weapon on his shoulder and was still holding it with his right hand. His left hand was firmly placed on his hip, as he looked Creed up and down.

"What's up?" Creed greeted him, but Dwight just lifted his head a bit higher without an answer. Jim couldn't stop the eye-roll. He was so sure that they would be thrown out of the camp by tonight, because Dwight wouldn't be able to behave.

Michael on the other hand wasn't really paying attention to anyone. He seemed to enjoy being the host as he did a little skip when they walked to the person a few steps away from Creed. The man they met next was Hispanic, and he was smiling to them before they even reached him.

"Hey," Jim said and extended his hand to the man.

"Hey, I'm Os—"

"This man is Oscar and he is Mexican. Also he is gay, so better watch out boys. He might have surprise for you," Michael said and laughed. Jim glanced at Michael and then back to Oscar.

"Nice to meet you. Um..," Jim said. Struggling to find something else to say, Jim just let go of Oscar's hand. Michael had made sure that everybody would get uncomfortable – except for himself of course.

"Yeah. Nice to meet you too. It is great to know that there are still people out there," Oscar just answered trying to fight through the embarrassment Michael managed to cause, "Most of us don't mind new people at all, since only a small part of the people here were in the original group, that consisted of…"

"Blah blah blah! Booring!" Michael yelled interrupting Oscar and pulling Jim with him. Jim threw a glance behind him to see that Oscar had extended his hand to Dwight as well, but Dwight was ignoring it.

"Just remember not to try any funny business with me," Dwight remarked as he walked past Oscar. Oscar looked after him and shook his head a little.

"Oh hel-lo!" a female voice said, and Jim snapped his head to that direction. In front of him was standing a redhead, who was immediately eyeing him up, and giving him a wink.

"Hey..," Jim answered, and swallowed. He was already a bit worried about the mix of people in here.

"This is Meredith. She came to us when Roy and Darryl found her on one of their runs. Apparently, she was passed out in a closet at Wal-Mart with Jack Daniels bottle," Michael introduced the redhead, and Jim couldn't understand why that man felt the need to give so much information during the introductions.

Meredith didn't seem to care what Michael said about her. Instead she just shrugged and asked:

"You wouldn't have any booze on you, would you?"

"Um, no… Sorry, it's not really something we deem necessary…," Jim answered and tried to smile apologetically, although he considered briefly turning around and just walking away. Why would anyone want to get drunk, when it would probably get you killed?

Michael was looking around himself and suddenly said:

"We are missing someone… Hey, you guys mingle! I'll be right back!" and was off. Jim looked after him, but was pulled back to look at Meredith when she talked:

"It's alright. Maybe I can get some on the next run."

"No one would waste their precious time getting alcohol for a lousy bum," Dwight scoffed and walked past Meredith without a second glance. Jim locked eyes with an offended Meredith and just made a small shrug.

"God, Meredith! Stop being such a drag. These guys don't want to hear about your alcohol addiction! Go away!" an Indian woman yelled as she was walking towards the new comers, with an African-American man in her tow.

She looked very angry at Meredith and as she walked towards Jim, she pushed Meredith out of her way with one smooth movement.

"Hello. I heard that we had new people here. My name is Kelly, and this is my boyfriend Darryl. I am so glad that we are finally getting some new people in here! It is getting so boring with these same people to talk with everyday, and everyone is so gloomy all the time. I get it that it is hard and that people are dying left and right, but come on! Is it really worth it to just mope around all day?" Kelly said.

Jim opened his mouth to say something, but then she started again.

"I hope you are more interesting than the last new person we got," she glanced at Meredith who had now wandered to Creed, "I mean yes, I get it, she has had a hard life, but no one cared whether or not she had an alcohol problem. The day she got here she tried to sleep with Darryl, and I was like no way, bitch."

Dwight appeared next to Jim, and looked at Kelly for a long while, then interrupted her:

"Do you ever stop?"

Kelly turned to look Dwight.

"What?"

"Do you ever stop?"

"I heard you! Who do you think you are? You just got here, and you are already making enemies. Darryl, get him," Kelly crossed her arms, and the man behind her sighed.

"Kelly, calm your crazy," Darryl said and then extended his hand first to Jim and then to Dwight, "I'm Darryl. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Jim. Nice to meet you too," Jim smiled and let out a sigh of relief for meeting someone who seemed to be relatively normal in this camp.

"Darryl! Argh!" Kelly yelled and stomped away.

"Sorry about that. She is crazy," Darryl apologized.

"No worries," Jim smiled.

"You should control your woman better. That way she is going to get you into a lot of trouble with the dead and the alive," Dwight remarked.

"Darryl, my man!" Michael yelled from behind them, and he was ushering the petite blond woman in front of him to meet the new men, although she looked like she would rather be anywhere else than there.

"Michael," Darryl answered.

"I am glad you met Darryl. He is my brotha! We use to work in the same place. Kind of, and we have been together from the start!" Michael explained. Darryl gave a forced smile.

"Yeah… I better go check on Kelly so she doesn't do anything stupid," Darryl said and left the scene quickly.

"Catch you later, my man!" Michael yelled after him, and then he grabbed Angela's shoulders from behind moving her in front of him.

"And this eye-candy is Angela."

Now Jim finally knew the name of the other woman who had been at the pond. Jim politely greeted her, and he also noticed that Dwight's greeting was a lot warmer than it had been to anyone else. Angela, though, only gave them a hard look and then turned to Michael.

"Michael, I really think we should talk about this. As a group, and take a vote. You can't let two strangers in here. Who knows, they might murder us in our sleep!" she talked to Michael like Jim and Dwight wouldn't have even been there.

"We will not-," Jim started, but Dwight cut him short.

"I guarantee to you, we will not be murdering anyone. If I needed to murder anyone from here, I would murder Jim," Dwight promised.

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Jim. If killing you means I can be part of this, I will do it."

"No one is going to kill or murder anyone. We are a mellow bunch, so just cool it," Michael said, "And Angela, calm down. Don't get your panties in a bunch over this."

Angela gave Michael one last evil look before turning to the new comers.

"I do hope you are not bad news. We have it hard enough as it is," Angela informed them before leaving. Jim felt like yelling after her, that none of the people left in the world had it very easy, but he knew he wasn't there yet. If they were to stay with this group, maybe he would get there.

"Who is that?" Jim suddenly asked as one more man emerged from one of the tents.

"Ugh. He is the reason all of this is happening. He is the worst. He is the one God tried to wipe off the Earth with this disease, but has so far failed. I will throw him to the zombies one day," Michael's voice was laced with disgust.

"Ummm," Jim had no idea how to respond. It seemed like Michael was being too harsh, but then again Jim didn't know this man, who was now approaching them.

"Oh, hi. I heard that there were some new comers in town. My name is Toby, nice to—," the man started, but Michael started to yell over him, which got yet another eyebrow raise from Jim.

"Blaah blaah, Toby. No one cares! Go away!" Michael yelled, and Toby looked at Jim apologetically, before shrugging and leaving.

"Okay then… I think we should go and fetch our car, so we have it a bit closer in case….," Jim let the rest of his sentence hang in the air, because he was pretty sure everyone knew what he was referring to.

"In case of what?" Michael asked instead making Jim once again wonder, how these people had chosen this guy to lead them in a crisis like this.

"In case we get attacked."

"Attacked by who…?"

All Jim could do was stare. This guy was unbelievable. After a short silence, however, Michael gasped in understanding and laughed.

"Oh, in case we get attacked! I get it now. Blaah! I wouldn't worry about it too much. We haven't had an attack in quite some time."

Jim found that hard to believe as he looked around himself and saw raw sadness in people's features, and a few very mean stares from whoever heard his comment.

"Anyway, I think it would be better if it was closer. Coming, Dwight?" Jim started to move towards where they came from.

"We will be right back," Dwight informed Michael before jogging after Jim.

"Oh hey, thanks for volunteering to sacrifice me for your own personal gain. That was very nice of you," Jim said after Dwight caught up with him.

"Yeah, no problem. Anytime."

A/N: Just to remind you, if you read this, please leave a word to tell me what you thought about it. Also I totally love all of my readers and we should be friends 3