A lone Hunter stalks along the tall concrete walls, hoping to find a way inside.

Of course, he doesn't understand. He has no idea what the wall is, how tall or long it is, or why it's there. He's simply curious...and of course, hungry.

He tries yet again, fruitlessly, to leap over. Even his impressive leaping proves unable to clear the top of this obstacle. But the hunger is so great, that he still tries. He hasn't fed in ages. His last victim was many nights ago, during the loud time. The loud time didn't last very long, only a day. That was the time when the humans ran around madly, and tried to stay alive, as many of them changed, and killed those who didn't.

But now it was the opposite. Every night was quiet now. Not a single living human has appeared in many nights, and he misses their taste. The warm blood, the living flesh, the scent of their fear. That was the best part of all. The satisfaction of the hunt, climaxing in such a raw emotion. He would always take a moment to breathe in their terror, before finally feasting on the flesh.

Suddenly, he notices something. Up the road, away from the wall. A figure. Enough to distract him from his futile endeavours, at least. The figure looks almost human, and seems to move cautiously. It even has some kind of weapon. He scrambles up a building and observes silently from a rooftop. The figure seems to be clad in the small metal things they put in their weapons, one of which is strapped to its back. Satisfied that it must be one of them, he begins to stalk. He relaxes his muscles, and crouches, letting the blood rush to the lower portions of his body. He leaps-effortlessly and silently-across the street, landing easily on the roof across. He looks again, and sees the figure, directly beneath him. And it hasn't noticed him. He takes his chance. He crouches again, a low growl escaping the back of his throat. He's ready. Full of anticipation. He leaps down to the street, landing savagely on top of the figure, knocking him to the floor with ease, pinning him helplessly beneath him. He looks down with satisfaction at the figure's face, hoping to see the look of pure terror and helplessness.

But something isn't right.

Something is missing.

Why isn't he screaming? Why isn't he calling for help?

No, no, he's not one of them. He's just another of the many. One of the weak ones. The jump had killed him instantly.

The Hunter howls in disappointment. Such a prey is no challenge for him. However, the hunger lingers still. Not wanting to waste any opportunity to feed, he feasts on the long dead flesh, though it brings such little satisfaction in comparison to a true victim. With luck, though, it might keep his strength long enough to find some real prey.

He tosses aside what remains of the corpse, and climbs back to the rooftops. He leaps away into the night, with vague hopes of a true hunt.

Julie exhaled slowly. This was the dangerous part. Her fingers held a firm grip on the window, and her feet had found security in a crevasse of some sort. She didn't look to see where; she didn't care, as long as it held her. She reached up and continued her climb. She studied the surfaces of the building as she ascended, making note of possible footholds. They were hard to decipher in the murky darkness. There were streetlights below, but they were dimmed to save on power. The generators didn't run as much at night. She looked up, and grinned. She could see her window. She moved herself into a position where she was hanging above the open window, and then kicked forward and let go of the wall, landing easily inside. She looked up into the apprehensive face of her tenant. 'God damnit girl, why d'you have to do that every time? Can you not climb stairs, as any normal person?'

She smiled childishly. 'But walls are so much fun. Stairs are boring, everyone uses them. I like walls! Especially tall walls. Those are the best kind. Like on buildings. Have you ever climbed a building? It's great fun. It's really exciting and everything. You should try it sometime.'

Mrs Atkinson placed her hand on her forehead, sighing. The girl spoke so fast, it gave her a headache. 'Calm down, girl. Look, climb whatever way you want, just don't...break anything, okay?'

'Of course not, I'm suuuuuuuuper careful.' The woman shook her head and retreated from the room, closing the door. Julie grinned. 'Mission accomplished', she told herself in her head. She wasn't really going home; she just wanted to piss Mrs Atkinson off. That was always such good fun. Silly dried up old woman. Why'd they have to make her live with her, anyway? There were so many other people with homes here. Some of the guys were pretty good looking, too. She sighed to herself-things had a habit of not going her way like that. Of course, if she could help it, they always did. But still, there was more to do this night. She lowered herself out of the window again, beginning the climb back down, imagining the fun she could involve herself in during the night. She looked down to the street. 'Oh wow, it's Dean. And he's coming here? Does he live here?' She smiled mischievously to herself. This could be fun.

Dean sighed, wishing for a release. At first, this quiet confinement had been a welcome change from the mad rush from survival that came beyond these walls; but now, he was simply bored. He wanted to explore this town that these people had made for themselves. See if it was really as safe as they thought...

'Good news!' Dean snapped around to see a figure step out of the shadows from behind the glass. It was Jones. 'You're most certainly not a zombie.'

'You're letting me out?'

'We most certainly are.' He grinned as he pressed a button, presumably unlocking the cell door. Dean picked up his swords and strapped them to his back, in an 'X' shape. Jones handed him an envelope. 'This is your new home, and the key to that home.'

'You're offering me residence already?'

'Of course! We can't afford to waste any manpower at all, to be honest. Besides, you seem trustworthy. That or you're an excellent spy.'

'Who the hell would I be spying for?'

'Exactly.' Jones flashed him a smile before turning to leave. 'I have duties to attend to', he said, walking away. 'Be sure to explore the place.' He closed a door behind him, and was gone, leaving Dean not knowing which way to turn.

'That was intelligent. Which way is out?' He scanned around the room, and noticed a large green 'EXIT' sign above a cold steel door. 'Oh.' He shoved it open-which took a surprising deal of effort-and finally, for the first time in days, found himself outside. It was night, which surprised him; he didn't know when he'd got there, or how long exactly they'd held him, but he'd assumed he'd be let out sometime during the day. 'I never thought fresh air would be such a blessing, though,' he thought. With no particular destination in mind, he began to wander the streets.

He discovered that the place was larger than he would originally have thought-at least eight blocks. Toward the center there were some apartment blocks, where it seemed he had been homed. In the very center there was a larger still building that dominated the rest of the town. Dean assumed that if there were leaders, they resided there. Behind the large building there were a bunch of wierd metal machine things, which presumably supplied the power for the town. He opened the envelope and found his way to the place it specified. There was also a key in the envelope, which unlocked the door of the building. It seemed like some sort of apartment block. He moved inside, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Before he could turn round, the person shouted into his face. ' HI!'

He jumped, and answered her bluntly. 'Christ Julie, you gave me a heart attack.'

'No I didn't, don't be silly. If I didn't you'd be lying on the ground, probably shouting 'My heart! My heart!'

'It's a figure of speech, genius.'

'Why use a figure of speech when you could use actually speech? It's so much easier to understand, after all.'

'You know, you are impossible to talk to.'

'Everything's more fun when it's a challenge,' she said, grinning madly.

'Riiiight...what are you doing here?'

'I live here.'

'Really? Apparently, me too.'

'Oh yay! Now we can be neighbours as well as super best friends ever!'

'Uh...yeah...yay.' Dean's sarcasm was hardly subtle, but Julie didn't seem to notice it.

'I knew you'd be thrilled! What room do you have?'

'24.'

'The room next to mine! Awesome!'

'Oh, wonderful,' Dean said, rolling his eyes. Right now he'd rather be out there again. Even getting your insides ripped out by a Hunter was preferable to this.