A/N: I have been crazy sick these last few weeks but I've attempted to write another chapter. Hope it goes alright... Writing late at night while sick is not a good combo.

I know its taking ages to introduce all the characters but it will happen. I have a plan for everyone, season one and two but its probably going to take a long time to get them all in the story haha...

Anyways, please read and review!

Bryce.

I have to escape. I have to escape right now. Two whole fucking weeks I've been trapped in this hell of a place and I desperately need a run. Sitting outside for five minutes is not fresh air. I want to complain so badly; but Lindsay is pretty much the leader of the house now. She must see that she needs to take us off house arrest now though? The food supplies are getting so low. She's going to have to send out a group party sooner or later. And when she does I'm going to run out that door so fast my feet will bleed.

She gave in quicker than I thought though. She's a hard nut so I thought she would hang on till the last string but eventually she called us all in for a meeting.

"We need to go on a group raid," Lindsay sighs. I smile in triumph. Free at last. "We are running very low on food at the moment so I don't think just me running out there by myself is going to be enough." Oh, prays the lord. I struggle to contain my excitement. I hope we get to leave today! "So two others will accompany me tomorrow on a raid."

And then my world sinks around me. Only two others. That means Cameron and Damian obviously. Fuck this mother fucking shit. Damian and Cameron are smiling eagerly like they don't know whom she's going to pick.

"Obviously I'm going to pick the most trustworthy. So in that case... Damian and Cameron," she says with a pity look in my direction. Bitch. Damian and Cameron high five and cheer completely forgetting me, who is trapped in this horrible house for another week. I feel like I've sucked all the air out of the room. I feel my checks go red with anger. I quickly walk to the kitchen so nobody can see my face. Nobody notices anyway. Damian, Cameron and Lindsay are too excited about their trip. They chat to each other, excitedly planning their mission. I rest my head against the counter and try to cool down.

But I just can't. They do this to me every time. They think they can shit all over me just because I'm the cool guy who never takes things too seriously but I've had enough. I would run away if I could. I just feel like I can't leave Emily. As much as she gets on my nerves, she's my sister and I can't abandon her.

I sigh. I guess another week of suffering isn't too bad. It could be worse.

Marissa.

Samuel creepily speeds up, the wind blowing through his dreads. He grins wickedly as the truck bumps over rubbish and the occasional zombie on the road. I wind down my window so I can feel the breeze against my face. This is something I've come to love because of Sam. I drop my tongue out of my mouth like a dog and close my eyes against the cool breeze. There is a strong smell of rubbish in the air but I'm used to it by now. I smell it everywhere. Sam chuckles beside me. I turn to see him looking down at me.

"What?" I say mock defensive. He shakes his head and turns back smiling at the road. "Ugh, I can smell zombies," I say winding the window back up, my nose curled up in distaste.

"Smells like a lot of them," Sam agrees. I hate the smell of zombies. It makes me feel sick. It's like rotting skin and burnt flesh mixed with shit. I've smelt it so much I could recognize it from miles away. Samuel swings the car around a sharp corner and sticks his head out the window sniffing. I squint in the direction of the sun. In front of us the road starts to dip down. Vaguely, I see the top of some heads, as we get closer. It looks like a crowd of zombies who have caught some sort of prey. The bodies start to get clearer as I make out a group of people enclosed in the middle of a herd of zombies. I open my door slightly and step out. I pull myself slowly on top of the car roof to get a better view. The zombies are closing in on three humans. Samuel see's this too and speeds up. As we get closer I start to make out a girl and two guys. I squint slightly and see a tall recognizable boy with blonde hair. I gasp and drag myself back inside the car.

"Pump on the gas, Sam! It's those people we meet a few weeks back!" At my words Sam speeds up, racing towards the zombies. As we got closer he drives over a bunch of zombies making a clear path for me to open the back door.

"Damian!" The Irish brunette turns in shock. His eyes quickly scan over me in the front seat then Sam at the wheel before grabbing the girl who's name I can't remember and calling over to the other boy. Sam continues to drift the car knocking zombies over as he goes. Damian and the others take a jumping leap into the car one after the other before slamming the door shut behind them. The zombies grab at the car attempting to smash the windows but Sam speeds off down the road getting as far away from the zombies as possible. I shut my door and turn to the back of the car, huffing. The three look beaten to hell. Damian looks less shocked so I speak to him first.

"Are you alright?"

He nods, "Guess we have to thank you again. I think we're all ok." He turns to the girl beside him and whispers to her, rubbing her back. She nods as tears slowly fall down her panic-stricken face.

I look at the other boy with the glasses. "None of you got bitten, did you?"

"No, we're fine," he says a little bitterly, eyeing me suspiciously. I glare at him confused and turn back to Damian.

"I don't know what happened," Damian says glancing anxiously at the others. "I guess we were causing to much noise then all of sudden one zombie was there, then another one, then another one until we were surrounded in them."

"They are starting to get really desperate," I nod. He smiles up at me with crinkly eyes.

"You always get there at the right time. We can't thank you enough," Damian says, his eyes start to water slightly. God, I really can't deal with sappy stuff. I turn back around and Sam takes the lead by turning on the back of his chair. His eyes are off the road but he still drives fine. "Happy to help. Do you get into a lot of trouble, then?"

The girl scoffs through her tears, "Hardly."

Damian knocks her, "No but whenever we do you always seem to be there to help. We owe you our lives twice, now."

Sam shakes his head and turns back to the road, "Seriously don't mention it."

There is an awkward pause before Damian speaks, "You can stop here, if you like. I'm sure we'll be fine now. Seriously, that was just a one off."

Sam coughs distractedly, "I'll drive you all home." Oh, Sam. So he does have a heart. I knock him on the shoulder playfully.

Damian looks overwhelmed with joy. "Oh thank you! That's more than enough. You know the old Wal-Mart, we live about there?"

Sam nods and smiles but only I can see his face. We sit in silence after that. They all seem pretty shaken up, too shaken up to talk. I would be too, I suppose. They were inches away from death. Death by zombie, at that. Being eaten alive would be terrible. I hear a few whispers in the back between Damian and the girl. The girl seems to need constant reassurance. I rest my head against the window and watch the road fly pass. A few awkward silent minutes later Sam stops the car in the middle of the road. I look out the window at the Wal-Mart Damian was talking about. It's sad to see what's happened to the place. The windows smashed in, paint peeling off the walls; people once came here with their families and now it's in ruins like the rest of the world. Sam gets out of the car and I follow in lead. I shut the door and turn to the glasses boy who'd just crawled out of the car.

"Lovely home you have here," I joke. He nods and walks away without looking at me. I stalk over to the other side of the car. What's that guy's problem? Damian smiles at me and glides forward with the girl clinging to his side.

"We can't thank you enough," he looks down at the girl anxiously. "You guys can come in and have a look, if you like?" The girl moans and with a stomp of her foot turns away and storms after the boy with glasses. Damian laughs nervously. "Look, your welcome to come. Forget about those two."

I smirk. Well if that girl doesn't want me to go, I'd love too. "Show us the way."

Damian looking pleased turns around and motions for us to follow him. Samuel looks at me with a 'what are we doing?' face. I nod with encouragement and grab his hand. I'll pretend I'm just interested in seeing how these people live in comparison to us. It will be a lie and Sam, of course, will see straight through it. Never mind. The real reason I'm dragging Sam into these people's home - I want to piss that girl off. Sad, but true.

There is a little but of truth to it though; we are always on the move trying to find someone or something, I don't know what it's like to live in a union. I'm never quite sure what Sam and I are doing together. Of course, I'm utterly thankful he took me under his wing; it's just the other day Sam finally found his home here in Ohio. His parent's car was there but the bloodstains down the walls made it pretty obvious they were gone. I didn't know what to say to him or how to act around him. He just turned around and we left again. He'd travelled all this way and his family was gone. The way he dismissed the whole thing makes me feel like I really don't know him at all. I don't know anything about his old life, but I've always felt like we shared some special bond and now all of a sudden it feels fake. I know when I first met him we made a pack to keep our old lives private but curiosity itches at me all the time. What made him so hard against life?

I'm dragged back out of my thoughts of Samuel when we finally reach a small door at the bottom of a long alleyway. Damian smiles at us and wrenches it open. I pull Sam in and walk down the only long dark corridor in front of me. Behind us I hear the slam and jerk of Damian pulling the iron door close. It puts the corridor into complete darkness. The place sends shivers down my arms and legs but I'm not frightened; besides I can see a little light at the end of the corridor.

"Be warned," Damian says behind us. "The others will probably get a big fright." Samuel and I laugh. It's about a ten-minute walk until we finally start to close in on the light. It's another door into another noisy room. The black-haired girl stands waiting at the door. She looks at me in obvious distaste before walking through the door.

"Where are they?" A screeching woman's voice shouts. Damian steps in front of Samuel and I. He looks at us apologetically and walks inside. Samuel looks down at me eyebrows raised. He lets go of my hand and with a sigh walks inside. I follow straight after him. The first thing I notice is a bright room with horribly clashing colors across the walls. I smile as I look from the small mattress beds to the set up kitchen in the corner.

The boy with glasses clears his throat behind me. I jump in shock; I hadn't seen him there. "Good enough for you?" he says glaring down at me.

"Its brilliant," I smile. He storms off towards his friends. Oh how he hates my cheerfulness. I do think its brilliant, though. It's like a real home. It's ugly, yes, but its warm and inviting. I walk around the room and smile at all the little knick-knacks they have sprinkled around the room. A superman bobble head, a set of cards, crane origami, a painting of some ducklings and even a super bowl t-shirt. I'm so distracted by the rooms brightness I didn't realize Samuel and I's presence had stirred an uproar.

In the middle of the room by two sets of couches, two girls were throwing their arms around shouting and pointing between Damian and I. The dark skinned girl notices me looking at her. I flash a smile and wave. This aggravates her to no end. I laugh as she storms over to me shouting crazy words I can't understand.

"Speak English-" I begin but before I get my sentence out she puts both her hands on each of my shoulders and shoves me backwards. Without thinking, as she attempts to punch me in the face I dodge it and send my own first flying at her stomach. I catch myself before hitting flesh to flesh and give her a quick shoulder shove away from me. She stumbles backwards, growling through her teeth. In the short time it took her to recover Damian had quickly wrapped his arms around the brown skinned girl. Samuel was at my side in seconds; he put himself between the girl and me his eyes burning with anger. I grab his arm and pull him back, cautiously.

"Emily! Chill, would you? Let me explain!" Damian shouts pushing, the brown skinned girl, Emily, onto the couch. A big, muscular boy who looks quite similar to Emily holds her down.

She squirms around in his arms, "Damian how could you bring her back here? This is our home!" I notice she said 'her' not 'them'.

"I think this is nothing to do with them. I think you're just being jealous!" The big boy shouts over the girl's head.

The other black-haired girl turns on him now," Jealous?! Bryce, who do you think you are? You wouldn't even be here if it weren't for Emily so, shut it!"

That comment seemed to have touched a nerve in the boy but nobody notices him drop his head. Damian throws his hands in the air with a frustrated yell.

"Lindsay, please for me, just let me talk," Damian pleads and with that Lindsay sighs and nods. Emily beside her goes slack and the fire in her eyes cools a little.

"Lindsay you were there so you know how great these guys were to have saved us! I only wanted to show them our home-"

Samuel cuts in, "Look we can leave. We're obviously not wanted."

"You got that right chica," Emily mutters with a cruel laugh.

Glasses boy crosses the room and sits on the armchair beside Lindsay. "And then what are you going to do, Damian? Take a another gun from them?" Lindsay nods in agreement and grabs the boy's leg with a smile.

"Is that what this is about? You hate me because I gave you a gun?" my voice rises so I'm almost yelling.

Lindsay stands up to retort but Damian quickly cuts in, "No of course they don't hate you-"

"It wasn't up to you! If we wanted a gun we would have one-" Lindsay growls pushing Damian out of the way.

"I was trying to help you! Zombies were going to eat you! I'm so sorry, next time I'll just sit back and watch them suck your brains out-"

"WE DON'T NEED YOU!" Lindsay has a surprising loud voice for such a smile girl.

The room goes silent. Everyone's mouth pops open in shock. I know I'm stepping it but I can't help but let out a cruel snicker. Lindsay sits down on the couch with a blank face. She even surprised herself with that explosion.

Damian turns to us with an awkward smile, "Sorry, look I just wanted to say thank you. If you need a place to sleep-"

Samuel shakes his head, "No, we're fine. Thanks anyway. Doesn't look like that would go down very well anyway."

Damian nods with understanding. I quickly speak up without thinking, "Samuel, just one night? We are always sleeping in that car." As I speak I look over at Lindsay with a smirk. She looks back at me in complete shock; I'm over stepping the mark. Really, I can't believe what I'm doing either.

Samuel looks down at me in surprise. Usually I give him time to think this sort of thing over privately before making a decision. Although I mostly just want to piss Lindsay off a little part of me really has an overwhelming urge to sleep in a house - a home. "I'm sick of the back pain from that bloody truck." Well that's what I say out loud anyway. Inside I'm smiling at the prospect of kicking Emily out of her bed.

"Its really no trouble," Damian says, unmistakably thrilled.

Samuel looks down at the plead in my eyes and finally he regrettably nods. And with that the two girls storm across the room and out the door. Damian awkwardly looks at us and back to the door the girls left out of. Eventually he sits down and motions us to do the same thing. Samuel and I take a seat on the opposite couch. I take the seat closest to the glasses boy. He looks at me bitterly and storms to the kitchen, though he still sits back and listens from the counter.

"What are your names again?" Samuel asks in his politest voice.

"I'm Bryce," the big boy says with a wave "I apologize on behalf of my sister, Emily. Honestly, she is just jealous."

I smile, of course they're just jealous.

"Damian," Damian motions at himself. "and this is Cameron," he points to the boy in the kitchen. Cameron turns around bitterly so his back is towards us.

"I'm Samuel and Marissa," Samuel introduces.

Damian nods, "I remember. Look I am really sorry about Lindsay and Emily. It's just the whole gun thing, ya know-"

"If it's causing you so much trouble, I can take it back," I offer.

Bryce shakes his head vigorously, "Don't do that. I love that gun. The girls will get over themselves eventually."

Cameron.

I know I'm being immature. I feel a little guilty being so hostile towards guests but this girl is asking for it. It's obvious she's only staying the night to get a rise out of Lindsay and Emily. Damian's sucking it all up though. He's listening intently to all their thrilling stories of different zombie defeats. Secretly, I'm listening too from in the kitchen. Some of the things they have done are literally amazing and other things - just plain disgusting. Although I'd never do anything like the things they do myself it's still interesting to listen to the situations they have escaped from. They seem to have lives jammed packed with action...

I drift out of focus from listening to Samuels story and notice Lindsay and Emily haven't came home yet. I wonder what they're doing? They're probably just sitting outside the hideout grumbling to each other about how "slutty" Redhead is. I think the girls are taking the whole insult thing too far even if Redhead is giving them reason too.

"Then Marissa - who was scrabbling around for any type of sharp object she could find - picked up this broken piece of glass and literally dived on the back of the zombie, rolled it off my body and stabbed it in the throat. The mess was horrific. If you've ever seen zombie blood you'd know how sticky it is. It was all over our clothes. It took me two weeks to get it all out of my hair," Samuel laughs, thinking back to the closest moment to death he's ever come too.

Damian and Bryce who are sucked into the story take turns at asking questions.

"How did you learn to fight?" Damian asks leaning forward on his chair, eyes wide.

"I've been in military training since I was twelve," Samuel says dismissively. "I learnt most of the basic stuff there but since then I've taught myself to put everything I've learned and change it for a zombie opponent rather than a human."

Redhead looks up at him smiling slightly, "How long we're you alone on the road for?"

"Everyone in the military discovered the whole zombie thing when an infected person wandered into our campus. Most people just freaked out and ran away in groups back to their families. I left by myself. I wasn't really sure what to do. My family had sentenced me to military school nine years ago; I wasn't too keen to see them again, zombie apocalypse or not. But with nowhere to go I eventually decided to head home. Things were really bad when I got out of camp. We were isolated through out the spread of infection so by the time I got out of camp; the world had flipped upside down completely. I still remember the last day I ever saw the world as a normal place ten years ago..." Samuel looks away from everyone in thought. Without thinking I slowly walk over to the couch and sit beside Damian. Nobody notices me come back though; they are too busy listening to Samuel. Samuel looks back over at us, his eyes shinning in the light. His eyes glaze over with the resurrection of memories.

"I can remember every detail of my last bus ride to camp. My parents had expectantly dropped me off at the bus station and sent me away without letting me say goodbye to my brothers. I was in horrible angst the whole way there. I spent the whole time thinking of ways to ruin my mother's life. I came up with burning all her play scripts then snapping her music records," Samuel takes a moment to laugh at his twelve year old self.

"If I had known then that that was my last day to ever see the world in it's perfect state I would have-" Samuel voice stops and he swallows back what is probably tears. Nobody says anything. We sit silently taking in all his words. I've never thought of the world as a destroyed place. The way he speaks; it's like he has no faith left. God will restore the world to its proper place. How can Samuel think there's no hope left? Redhead grabs Samuels hand quietly, her eyes misted over and mind deep in thought. Listening to his family life makes me feel guilty for complaining about mine. How selfish of me to think I'm the only one who's had it hard. So my parents are dead, his probably are too. At least mine didn't send me away for ten years of my childhood. Damian sits back beside me and sighs. He's probably thinking about his parents. Last I heard they were in California. Damian never got along with his parents so I don't like to ask about them. All I know about his relationship with his parents is apparently he was just a huge disappointment in their eyes. I remember his mother complaining to mine about Damian not caring about grades and his culture and instead spending time socializing with friends. Damian never had friends. He was spending every Sunday at the town library to get away from his pressurizing parents. They grounded him eventually and after that he spent every waking moment becoming Damian the doctor.

Samuel coughs awkwardly and goes on with his story to all of our anticipation, "I had no transportation to get home as I was practically in prison up till that point so I hijacked a car and headed straight for Ohio. I soon realized that I needed some weaponry so I spent a lot of time trying to find a house where a gun obsessed freak had lived. Eventually, instead, I found a truck - the one I have now - smashed up against a power pole. Inside, packed in the boot was gun galore. I guess the guy who owned her was prepared for the zombie apocalypse but chocked. A few weeks down the road I met Marissa-"

Redhead laughed playfully, "Which is a story for another day."

Samuel nodded thoughtfully, "Since then we've slowly made our way here so I could find my family-"

A high screech interrupts the story suddenly, "What are you doing?!" I quickly jump off the couch in shock. Lindsay is standing, fuming at the door looking straight at Damian. "Having a chat, are we?"

Damian stands up, "Look Lindsay they are staying here for one night. We owe them; they saved our lives. Yours too!"

Lindsay glares at Damian, like a powerful lion taking on a skinny gazelle. But Damian stands his ground. Brave boy. Lindsay sighs. "Fine," she storms to the kitchen and starts to prepare diner. Emily follows her giving Damian a quick diva glare.

They never stray from he kitchen all night. After diner everyone starts preparing for bed. It's too awkward to start up another conversation.

Lindsay, too mad at Damian to sleep with him takes the couch with Emily. Samuel and Redhead eventually end up taking my bed. Lindsay was in no way going to let them use her bed and I figured Damian was right; they did save our lives, it's the least we can do.

I roll over on Lindsay's mattress. No wonder she's always sleeping with Damian, this thing is so uncomfortable! Maybe if I had my airplane pillow... I slowly, quietly crawl out of bed. It's dark, but I can still make out my occupied bed closest to the kitchen. I wander over making sure not to step on Bryce's face. I skip all the mattresses with ease and kneel down beside my own. I silently reach out for my pillow making sure not to grab anybody's leg.

"What are you doing?" someone growls suspiciously from my left.

I drop the pillow in shock and step back. I look up at Samuels's muddled face. He's leaning up against the wall completely out of the bed.

"Just grabbing my pillow," I whisper quietly.

I look over at the top of the mattress. Redhead is curled up at the top with tears streaked down her face. Her chest lifts and drops as she breaths indicating she's asleep. Little snores can be heard silently.

"What's wrong with her?"

Samuel shakes his head. "Nothing." His voice is matter-o-factly. I stand up and awkwardly walk back to Lindsay's mattress. How weird was that...