A/N: Hi all! Sorry if you got two notifications about this chapter, I accidentally uploaded the wrong version. This is the first full chapter of the story, and I hope you all like it! Also, there's a special note at the end!

Chapter 1:
What Lies Ahead

There were a lot of roamers. A surprising amount, really, considering how deep into the woods Jamie was. His map had told him that he could cut off several hours of his journey to Newnan by leaving the beaten path, but navigation became increasingly difficult the further from the road he wandered.

He was trying to avoid killing any of the roamers. Not due to any sense of moral rightness, but because there were so many that any unnecessary attention was more threatening than leaving them alive. His steps were as light as he could manage, for fear of a snapping branch grabbing the attention of the undead.

It seemed that something else in the woods wasn't as concerned with subtlety as he was. The was a soft pitter-patter of footsteps coming from somewhere ahead of him. The roamers had taken notice too, but much like Jamie had no idea where it was coming from. The footsteps grew louder, and between the trees he saw streaks of blue ducking in and out. It was a definitely a person. And that person was running almost directly toward him.

As the person got closer, it became evident that it was a young girl, clearly afraid for her life. He couldn't blame her, because after all there were a lot of roamers.

Unfortunately for her, a few of them had seen her. Unfortunately for Jamie, she was going to draw their attention right to him.

He wanted to help her. This is my chance to redeem myself, he thought. Not that it was an entirely selfless act, if he saved her he would also be protecting himself. He couldn't let her run past him, he had passed at least a hundred roamers already, she would be running out of the frying pan into the fire.

He was hidden behind a tree and such she hadn't seen him. A small ravine caught his eye. It wasn't ten feet away and could get them out of sight of the roamers.

As soon as she was within range, he tackled her into the ravine, doing his best to cushion their fall. The moment they landed she began to scream, and Jamie covered her mouth with has hand. The action only served to make her panic more, and she started kicking and struggling to get out of his grip.

"Shhhhhh shh shh shh, shut up!" He whisper yelled to her. "I'm not going to hurt you! You need to be quiet! They're all around us!"

At that, she stopped struggling, but was still clearly panicked. "I'm gonna let you go, and I need to promise me you're not gonna scream, okay?"

She nodded.

As Jamie released her, she relaxed the slightest bit. "You good?" He asked. She once again gave a nod. "Then get up, we've got to get out of here." He grabbed the yellow and black climbing axe off of his belt and struck the top of the ravine, pulling himself out. When he had finally reached firm ground he turned to help the girl and noticed a frightful look on her face. Truthfully, it was familiar to him. It was the look that said "Please don't leave me." And he wouldn't. Not this time. Not again.

He flipped the axe and grabbed it by the serrated end, the handle pointed out to her. It was painful, the serrations were sharp, but luckily it didn't break skin. She grabbed on and he pulled her up, out of the ravine.

The panic stricken look on her face was he needed. He flipped the axe back into its proper position and turned around, preparing to fight. Sure enough, two roamers had gotten uncomfortably close, both within ten feet. He kicked the one on the right, knocking it down, and swung the axe at the left one. It made contact with the roamer's temple and went in easily, instantly killing the undead monster. As Jamie was pulling the axe out, the other one tried to stand. He quickly put a stop to it, however. With a single swing, he defeated that one too.

By now, every roamer in sight was looking at the pair. "Stay close, we're gonna have to run!" And they did. They ran through a hornet's nest of undead. Jamie didn't stop swinging or kicking for what felt like hours, but was truthfully only ten or so minutes. By the time they had all of the roamers behind them, exhaustion had set in. They took a slow pace to catch their breath.

The girl was clutching a doll. Jamie realized how absolutely terrified she must be. "My name's James. But you can call me Jamie. That's what everyone calls me." She looked at him nervously but said nothing. He waited for a response, but when none came he decided to keep talking. "What's yours?"

Once again, there was no response. She walked beside him clutching her doll, almost catatonic. "I get it. You can talk when you're ready." He didn't know how long had passed before she spoke, but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes.

"My name's Sophia." It came out tense. She was still scared out of her mind.

"It's nice to meet you Sophia. Where did you come from? Where you with your parents? A group? I can't imagine you've been on your own this whole time."

She lightly shook her head and let out a meek "I was with a group. My mom was there though."

"Yeah?" He replied. "You get along well with your mom?"

She nodded in response.

"That's good... Do you know where your group was when you got separated?"

She once again only shook her head.

"I'm trying to get you back to your mom, Sophia, but that's going to be really difficult if you don't help me out."

"We were on the interstate." She mumbled.

"Okay, good!" Jamie said, pulling out his map. "Do you know which one?"

Another head shake, "Whichever one's closest, I guess."

He sighed. "Well, that's kinda the problem. I tried to cut through the woods to take some time off my trip, but I kinda lost where I was a few days ago. The best I can guess is that it was either 75 or 85, do either of those sound familiar?"

"I think it was 85." She confirmed.

"Which way were you heading?" Jamie asked eagerly.

"Everyone kept saying Fort Bennet."

"Fort Benning, you mean? That's smart. So you were heading south, I think that tells me everything I need to know. We're gonna try to find the place where you got separated first, alright? They're probably still around there looking for you."

An almost inaudible "Okay," was all she said.

Jamie was completely lost. He had only a vague idea of where he was to begin with and their flight from the roamers certainly didn't improve the situation. The sun was setting and they had yet to see the interstate. On top of that, Sophia was exhausted and barely managing to keep up with him.

"Are we close?" She asked him for the hundredth time.

"I can't say exactly, but I'm confident we are." She nodded, satisfied for the time being. He wouldn't admit it, but he gave up looking for the highway half an hour ago. He was just looking for a safe place to make camp before their daylight was completely gone.

After another twenty minutes of searching, he finally found a suitable area surrounded by bushes and branches. Nothing was going to sneak up them there, that was for sure.

"Alright, we're here." Jamie stated enthusiastically. Sophia only gave him a confused look, waiting for clarification. "We're staying here tonight," he continued, "the sun is gonna set soon, and we don't want to be wandering around when it does."

She cautiously looked around before asking, "Is it safe?"

"Of course," he replied, "it's as safe as we're gonna get, at least. With all this brush around, nothing can get close to us without being loud as all hell. Now come on, take a seat. You hungry?"

"Starving." She answered with fervor.

"Good, I've got something I've been saving for a special occasion." He reached into his backpack and pulled out a can with a worn yellow label. "It's a can of mixed fruit. It's not the most filling thing in the world, but it's sweet and has a day worth of calories. If we split it, we don't have to worry about starving for a whole half day." He joked. Surprisingly, it garnered a laugh from the young girl.

There was a long silence as they ate.

"Jamie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna see my mom again, right?"

He gave a sad glance to the ground before responding.

"I can't promise you anything Sophia. But I will try my hardest to get you back to her."

A/N: Hey all! Thanks for reading! I have a poll posted on my page I'd like for everyone to answer if you could. Basically it's just about whether you'd prefer one update a week on Fridays or an update whenever I finish a chapter. Either way, there will (ideally) always be on chapter per week. Also, don't forget to review! I like to know how I'm doing, whether it's good or bad, so please let me know what you think!