Deuce and his group were walking down the road, trying to find a way to get to Atlanta.
'Hmmm…I don't think we'll get to Atlanta for a few weeks or so.' Earl said.
'We might get there quicker if we split up.' Deuce suggested.
'Are you sure?' Eric asked Deuce.
'It's just a suggestion.' Deuce said.
'He may be right. Let's split up.' Earl said. 'Eric, you're goin' with Deuce, Pacifica, Toby and your wife Casey. I'm taking Ciara and the rest with me.'
'Okay. Good luck, brother.' Eric said as he hugged Earl.
'You too.' Earl said as he and his group started walking sideways into the woods. Soon, they were out of sight.
'I hope they'll be alright…' Pacifica said, a bit worried.
'I'm sure they'll be fine.' Casey said.
'Casey's right, Pacifica. They'll probably be fine.' Eric said. They then continued walking down the road. They walked until they came into a deserted town.
'Looks like we found another town.' Pacifica said.
'Sure looks like it.' Toby replied. Suddenly, the group was ambushed by three walkers.
'Eric, Toby let's take these walkers out.' Deuce said. Eric and Toby nodded and got their guns ready. They aimed for the walkers' heads and shot. The three walkers dropped to the ground, dead.
'That'll teach them.' Toby said.
'Keep on practicing your shooting skills, son. You're gonna need it.' Eric told Toby. Deuce nodded in agreement.
'He's right, Toby. We're gonna need to train you some more when we get the chance.' Deuce said. He then looked at the town.
'Let's see if we can find some more survivors here.' Deuce said.
'We gotta be careful, though, because there might be hostile survivors around.' Casey said. Everyone nodded and walked around with their weapons raised. They checked buildings for loot and things to hold supplies in. Toby found an orange backpack in a broken down car.
'Look, this backpack might come in handy.' Toby said.
'Great job, Toby. Let's see if there's anything in the backpack.' Deuce said as he took the backpack. He zipped it open and looked inside. It was empty, there was nothing except for a map.
'There's a map in this backpack.' Deuce said as he took a look at the map. It was a map of the state they were currently in.
'It's a map of the current state.' Deuce said.
'Well, let's keep it, because it'll be one of our only ways of navigating in this dismal world.' Pacifica said. Deuce nodded and put the map in the backpack and zipped it closed. The group continued walking through town. They found no other survivors, but did find some food and drinks in an abandoned house. They took them and put them in the backpack. They then left town and continued walking. They spent the next few days walking from town to town, occasionally stopping to rest, sleep and eat and drink. After another few days, they arrived in a town where they heard gunshots.
'There's gun shooting. That means there's more survivors!' Pacifica said.
'Hey, is someone there?! Help me, please!' A male voice called out.
'Where did that come from?' Casey asked.
'I think it came from that car over there.' Deuce said, pointing to a red car. He walked over to the car and found an Asian man trapped in the back of the car.
'Thank heavens that somebody found me!' The man said. 'Can you please help me out of the car? I'm cuffed up back here!' He asked Deuce.
Deuce thought about it. 'Okay then.' He said. He opened the back door of the car and pulled the man out of the car. He had handcuffs around his wrists.
'What happened to you?' Deuce asked.
'Some hostiles handcuffed me, robbed me of my stuff and trapped me in this car. My group is in this town. If you can find the key to the cuffs I'll introduce you to my group.' The man said.
'I found the key! They threw it here on the ground!' Eric said as he handed the key to Deuce. Deuce unlocked the man's handcuffs and tossed them on the ground.
'Thank you for your help.' The man said. 'My name is Buford.'
Deuce smiled. 'I'm Deuce Madden, this is Pacifica Bradshaw and her son Toby, this is Eric Rogers and his wife Casey.' He introduced everyone.
'Okay, I'll bring you to my group now.' Buford said as he guided Deuce's group to his group, who were up on a rooftop. Up on the rooftop were 3 men and two women. One men was black, the other two were white. The two women were white too.
"Hey, Buford, who did you bring with you?" The black man asked.
"This is Deuce Madden, along with his group. This is Pacifica Bradshaw, with her son Toby, and that's Eric Rogers with his wife Casey." Buford told him.
The black men nodded. "Alright. My name is Kevin." He told Deuce and his group. These white men are Gary and Thomas, and these women are Joan and Tracey." Kevin told Deuce's group.
"Yep. Together with Buford, we are The Roamers." Joan replied.
"It's nice to meet you." Tracey responded.
"Agreed." Deuce replied, smiling."
"Yeah, it's good to see there's more friendly survivors here." Gary replied. Thomas just remained silent.
"Why doesn't Thomas say anything?" Deuce asked.
"He's a bit hostile towards other survivors he meets, and when he meets other survivors, he gives them the silent treatment." Kevin explained. "Once you're around him for a while, he'll open up. When we first met him, he just told us his name and didn't say much afterwards."
Deuce nodded, understanding that.
"So, who's the leader of the group?" Deuce asked.
"That would be Kevin." Tracey replied. Kevin nodded.
"Yes, I'm the leader of the group." Kevin replied.
"Okay. Do you happen to have a mode of transportation?" Deuce asked.
"Well, according to Gary, he found an abandoned military checkpoint with some wagons while scouting the area. We could head there and then travel towards Atlanta." Kevin said.
"Alright. Let's go." Deuce said. Kevin nodded and he guided his and Deuce's groups towards the nearest exit to the ground. Once that was done, the groups made their way towards the military checkpoint. Once they got there, they saw 5 military men walking around the checkpoint. The groups go tinto cover, not knowing if they were hostile.
"Hey, those are military troops, like me!" Deuce whispered.
"I'm not sure if we could trust them, Deuce. Like they said on Post-Apo Radio, not all survivors are friendly." Eric told Deuce.
"That is true…" Deuce replied. Suddenly, the groups were ambushed by two walkers. Deuce and Toby reacted quickly and shot the two walkers dead before anyone got hurt. The military men heard the shots.
"Did you hear that, Roman?! There's more people nearby!" One of the men said.
"Well, if they've come here to steal our vehicles, they can't have them! Barry, Tom, Pascal, Melvin, let's get them!" Roman told his comrades. They got into battle position and began firing at the two groups.
"Shit, they know we're here!" Joan said.
"Deuce, Buford, Eric, the four of us will deal with them! Let's do this!" Kevin told them. The three nodded and they began shooting at the hostile soldiers. They were all shot in the head, and died instantly. Deuce, Eric, Buford and Kevin sighed in relief.
"Thank goodness, they're dead…" Buford said. He then turned to the rest of the group. "No one got shot?" He asked. Everyone shook their heads.
"Good. Well, let's get those vehicles and move for Atlanta." Buford said.
The groups nodded and made their way over to the vehicles. Deuce, and Eric got into the front passenger seats. The rest all got into the back of the vehicle. Toby noticed a horde of walkers coming their way.
"Deuce, there's a horde of walkers coming our way!" Toby told Deuce.
Deuce looked and nodded. "We'll move quickly, and then we'll lose them." He replied. Deuce quickly started the wagon and he drove off with it. As Deuce was driving the wagon down a long road, the other survivors were telling each other stories in the back.
"So, Pacifica, what was your job before the apocalypse?" Kevin asked.
"I was a personal trainer, so I'm quite athletic. My husband Wendell was a gun store owner, and I'm sure that he has some guns to defend himself out there. We're currently looking for him." Pacifica told Kevin.
Kevin nodded, being very interested in the story. "And what about you, Toby?" He asked Toby.
"I was in 5th grade in middle school." Toby replied. "My teacher was nice and I had some good friends. I'm afraid they are no longer with us, however…I just hope my dad is okay…" He said with a little bit of doubt in his voice.
"I'm sure your dad is alive and looking for you and your mother too." Kevin assured Toby. Toby smiled at that.
"What kind of you job did you have before the apocalypse, Kevin?" Pacifica asked.
"I was a car mechanic, so if we find a broken down vehicle, I could fix it in a jiffy." Kevin told Pacifica.
"I was a delivery man, so I'm a perfect partner for going on supply runs." Buford said.
"Supply runs?" Pacifica and Toby asked.
Buford nodded. "Yes, supply runs. I mean, in an apocalypse, you don't have the luxury of going to a supermarket or shopping mall, so looking for supplies will become a weekly, if not daily routine." He explained.
"Yes. We've already gone on a few supply runs ourselves. We're almost out of supplies, though. We should tell Deuce to stop somewhere so we can loot some abandoned stores." Gary said. "Anyways, I was a bus driver before the apocalypse, so I'm a pretty skilled driver." He continued.
"I was a sheriff deputy before the apocalypse, so I have some experience with guns." Joan said.
"I was a sheriff deputy too. Joan and I were actually colleagues." Tracey said.
"I was a cook in a school, so I have experience with making food." Casey said. She then turned to Thomas. "What about you, Thomas?"
"…" Thomas just remained silent.
"Once he opened up to us, he told us he was a soldier in the U.S. Army, like Deuce." Kevin told Casey. "What about your husband?" He asked her.
"My husband Eric was a firefighter." Casey told Kevin.
Everyone nodded as the wagon continued to drive down the road.