I'm glad everyone...well almost everyone enjoyed the first chapter. I hope I can win those of you back who don't like where Spencer and Ashley's characters are going.

"Is this the place?" Tim asks, pulling up next to me.

"Yeah." I nod and look at the building where I got my start.

Where this all began.

Where I am became this Ashley...the Ashley I barely even recognize. The Ashley I wish I could turn back everyday. I told Spencer that I wanted to come here to mass produce the cure, which is true in a way, but what I didn't tell her is that I'm also looking for a cure for myself. Something to change me back to the Ashley I was before all this.

I just want to be normal again.

"I'm not sure if this building has been cleared yet so we better tread quietly." I tell him and he gives me a stern nod.

"We'll pull up closer to the building and go the rest on foot." He says and I nod.

"There's a parking deck about a block down, if we get in deep sh...stuff" I correct myself, remembering that Tim's an adult. "...then the garage is directly connected to the building. It'd be a quicker and easier exit." I say and he nods and smiles.

"Good thinking, Ashley. Lead the way." He gestures towards the building. I put the car in drive and head towards the parking garage. After parking we all loaded our weapons and readied ourselves for entry.

"Are we ready?" I turn and ask the group. This is my land, my territory so Tim doesn't mind me taking point on this. Everyone nods as I open the door from the parking garage that leads into the building. I'm in the front with Tim and Aiden on my left and Glen and Spencer on my right. Everyone else is closely behind us the the three kids in the middle. Yes, I included my sister in that group, even though her and Spencer are the same age... logistics.

"What floor is the lab on?" Tim whispers on my left.

"Fifth." I answer just as softly.

"This place is creepy." Glen says and shutters for effect.

"I think I'm gonna have to agree with my brother on this one." Spencer chimes in.

"Well it is a lab, all labs are super creepy." Aiden pipes up.

"Guys we should keep really quiet..." I turn and say to the group, "...we don't know if there are-"

"Too late." Glen says as his eyes go wide and he nods behind me.

"Great!" I half shout as I turn around and load my cross-bow. I take a shot and hit three zombies at once but that means nothing when there are over two dozen running towards you at full speed. Now that I think about it... why do we call them walkers?

"Let's go!" Tim bellows out and takes off to my left where the stairs are. I let the rest of the group follow him, opting to be the last one up. I have the best shot at taking out more walkers. Once the group is in the stairwell I reload my bow twice, taking out four more walkers then take off up the stairs behind the group.

"Ashley!" I hear Spencer shout from somewhere on the stairwell, I guess she didn't realize I'd stayed behind.

"I'm here!" I yell up to her.

"You two are pathetic." Glen says and laughs.

"I will push you down the stairs." Spencer retorts.

I inwardly chuckle as I run up the stairs to catch up with them as fast as I can.

"The door is locked from the inside." Mr. Carlin says in almost a panic. I look down the stairs and see the zombies still hot on our trail. I throw my bow over my shoulder and take a pin from my pocket.

"I can open it." I say, once I reach them. Everyone moves aside to let me work as Tim, Mr. Carlin, Glen, Aiden, and Carmen all post up in case they have to take out some zombies. I stick the pin in the lock and spin it around once, then grab the needle from my pocket and stick that into the lock and lift up and down, then I spin the top pin once more and the lock pops. Spencer looks at me and smiles.

"You're very good at that." She says.

"Lots of practice." I shrug and smile.

"Well it's really—"

"Will you two stop making eye babies so we won't get eaten by zombies please." Kyla speaks up and Angel giggles. I roll my eyes at my sister, as Spencer turns a deep shade of red. Her parent's are right behind us. I guess Kyla forgot about that...or maybe she just didn't care.

"On my count." I tell the group.

"Hurry they're coming." Glen squeals as the zombies climbing the stairs get closer.

"One..." I start the count, readying my knife instead of my bow. "Two...three." I say and yank the door open. I'm usually quicker on my feet, only once has a zombie gotten the best of me. The night Aiden had to save my life.

–

"Ashley there's walkers over there too!" Kyla shouts to me as we run through an abandoned warehouse. Well, what we thought was an abandoned warehouse.

"Kyla keep up!" I shout back to my sister. I'm faster, stronger and more skilled than her so running is easy, fighting is even easier, but keeping her alive for these past couple of months has been not so easy for some reason. Kyla's kinda accident prone. And it's hard to outrun zombies carrying and one hundred pound girl over your shoulder.

"Slow down, Ash!" She shouts back up to me. I turn and see that she's winded. We're not gonna outrun them if we stop.

"Come on." I tell my sister as I throw her over my shoulder and take off running again, much slower than before.

"There's no way out of here." She says looking around.

"We're gonna be fine." I assure her confidently. There hasn't been a situation I haven't been able to get out of.

"Ashley!" Kyla shouts, I turn around with her still in my arms and realize the walkers that were behind us have gained on us and there are two more herds coming from both sides of us.

"Ky I need you to run. There's a window over there, climb out and run to the nearest house and hide I'll be-"

"I'm not leaving you Ash." She says shaking her head.

"I don't have time for this, just go." I tell her and nudge her towards the window. At least one of us can make it out of here alive.

"Ashley, please-"

"Ky go, now!" I shout and she takes off towards the window. A few walkers watch her but none follow. They all have their eyes on me. Wanting to devour every piece of my flesh. "Come on you pieces of shit." I mumble as I load my cross-bow with an arrow. I shoot two of the walkers closest to me and then take off towards the window, with them all right on my tail. I just wanted to give Kyla a head start. Once I reach the window I toss my bow over my shoulder and ready myself to jump through when the unthinkable happens...a walker was closer than I thought. He grabbed my leg and bit it. The scream that erupted from my lips was screeching. The worst pain I've felt in my life. "Shit!" I mumble as I fall through the window. The walkers inside all bang on the glass as I lay on the ground just below the windowsill. I can't make it back to Kyla like this.

All those months in a lab, gaining strength, survival skills and smarts...all for nothing.

"Need some help?" I look up and see a brown-haired boy standing over me with a wide smile. He holds his hand out for me to take. I quickly cover up my bite mark and take his hand. "Are you okay?" He asks, nodding to my leg.

"Yeah." I nod coolly. "Just cut it on the glass." I tell him and he nods.

"You got camp around here somewhere?" He asks, throwing my around over his shoulder for balance.

"My sister should be in one of these houses."

"Ah! I saw her. She's over there." He says and points to a dark green house fairly close to us. We hear the glass shatter behind us, we both turn around and see the walkers falling over each other to get out of the warehouse. "Looks like we better hurry." The boy says and chuckles. I give him a sideways glance. "I'm Aiden by the way." He smiles down at me, towering a good foot over me.

"Ashley." I say and return the smile.

"Nice to meet you, Ashley."

–

"Ashley watch out!" Spencer shouts as she stabs the zombie in the back of the head. The blade of the knife came through the other side and landed right between the zombies eyes. Brain matter and blood dripped on my face as Tim and Aiden lifted the lifeless corpse from me. I close my eyes for a moment and sigh. I can't die but I've been bitten before...it doesn't feel good. "You were distracted just now...why?" Spencer asks as she helps me from the ground.

"I was thinking about kissing you." I whisper in her ear. Not a total lie.

"Yuck, you smell like brain." She quips and hands me a towel from her bag.

"How would you know what brains smell like?" I question with a raised brow.

"Cause, you have some right there on your nose." She smiles and takes the towel from my hands, wiping my face for me.

"Is everyone okay?" Tim asks as he shuts the door to the stairwell and locks it back. The zombies on the other side bang and grunt, trying to gain entrance.

"We're fine." I nod, knowing he was asking me in particular.

"Good." He nods. "Now, where is this lab?"

"Down that way." I point down the hall towards a large room covered in plastic.

"Lead the way." He gestures for me to start walking. I nod and head towards the lab, pulling my bow back over my shoulder in case I need to use it.

We all walk down the hall slowly towards the lab, looking out for any stray walkers. Although I seem to be the cure, we don't want anyone becoming an afternoon snack.

"This is it." I say stopping in front of the lab that started this mess. The things they made my mom do...she blamed herself for what happened. I tried to tell her it wasn't her fault that she was just doing her job. But I know deep down she couldn't live with herself for creating this world...for killing so many people.

"You wanna..." Spencer trails off and nods at the door handle. My hand is just sitting there.

"Yeah, I got it." I nod and smile at my girlfriend. I turn the handle on the door and open it. Red eyes shoot to me. A deep snarl escapes her lips as she stands slowly and begins her trek towards me. I see Spencer lift her gun beside me. "No!" Rips from my lips as my hand shoots up to lower Spencer's gun. She looks at me and steps back. The girl continues to slowly make her way to me, dragging her left leg behind her. I look around her and see a body laying on the floor, blood and guts oozing from it. That body is fresh, no more than a few hours old which means there were other people here...still could be here.

"Ashley what are you doing?" Spencer questions softly behind me. I can hear the group starting to become uneasy with how close she is to us now. "Ashley..." Spencer calls my name again. I snap out of it and raise my bow, I close my eyes and release the rope, hitting the girl in the shoulder. I hear collective gasps behind me, I never miss my target. I reload and release the rope again, I hit her in the stomach. She stumbles back before shaking it off and walking towards us again.

"I can't do it." I shake my head as the girl growls and reaches her hands out as she walks towards us.

"Who is she?" Spencer asks.

"Rebecca." Kyla comes from the back of the group and answers for me. "She was... she was a really good friend of the family" From the corner of my eye I see Spencer's face change.

"Glen help me." She says to her brother who doesn't hesitate to help his sister. She walks forward and raises her weapon, shooting Rebecca in both legs causing her to hit the ground. She grabs the towel she'd given me and wraps it around Rebecca's face, before her and Glen lift her up and put her in a chair. "Give me your belt." She tells her brother as she takes off hers and wraps it around Rebecca's right wrist. Glen takes off his and does the same to her left wrist.

"What are you doing?" Angel asks.

"We're gonna cure her. When we figure out how to make the cure we're gonna give it to her first." Spencer tells the group who I'm sure all have look of confusion on their faces.

"Spencer it's dangerous to keep a zombie around, you know that." Mr. Carlin tells his daughter. "What if she breaks free and makes one of us her dinner?" He asks a valid question. I continue to stare at Rebecca; kicking and trying to break her hands free to get a taste of each of us.

"She's like family to Ashley dad, if Ashley is gonna cure everyone else, why shouldn't she be able to cure her family?" Spencer asks and I turn to her, finally breaking my gaze on Rebecca.

"What if it doesn't work on people who've already become zombies?" I ask in a low voice.

She moves closer to me and grabs my hands. "Then we'll figure something out."

"Okay." I nod.

"We should clear this floor at least, so we'll have somewhere safe to stay tonight." Tim tells the group and everyone nods.

"Glen and Aiden come with me, Ashley and Carmen you clear those rooms down there and Spencer, Angel, Arthur and the rest of the group clear through there." Tim tells everyone their assignments and heads off with Glen and Aiden.

"Are you okay?" Spencer asks, turning back to me.

"Mhm." I nod.

"Okay." She says and gives me a small smile before heading off with her group.

"Are you gonna tell her?" Kyla asks me softly as everyone heads off to their designated areas.

"I don't know if I should." I shake my head.

"Better she find out from you then from someone else." Kyla shrugs.

"You're the only other person who knows Kyla, and you're not gonna tell her right?" I question my sister who chuckles.

"And why would I do that?" She asks, before running to catch up with her group.

"Ready to head out Ashley?" Carmen asks from behind me.

"Yeah." I nod and go gently take my bows out of Rebecca. "I thought you were dead beccs, I'm so sorry for leaving you." I whisper to my ex-girlfriend before jogging and catching up with Carmen.