I stood there, rooted to the spot; my heart was racing a million miles an hour, like any person would if they had four murderous looking strangers pointing guns at their chest. My eyes darted from person to person, from my left the old war veteran, right next to him stood what was obviously a rugged biker, what told me was the leather vest, the tattoos sprawled all over his arms, and his fingerless gloves tightly gripped around a shot gun that along with the rest of the group point to some part of my body I'd really love not to get shot off. Both the biker and the war veteran trained their eyes on me with looks of absolute suspicion and a hint of malice. I looked over to the other two members of the group one member was dressed in what used to be a white shirt however after who knows how long the whiteness was replaced with multicolored stains freckled with red blotches of blood. Around the neck of his shirt hung a red tie loosened making him look like a disheveled office worker. Before I could get a back look at the fourth member the Veteran cleared his voice and asked, "I said, who the fuck are you." I turned my attention back to him, my voice threatened to catch in the middle of my throat, but I managed to choke out: "R-Ryan... Ryan Kendrick." As soon as I had said that the fourth person bounded towards me. I cringed in fright, thinking that I was about to be pounded into the road, however I found my arms were bounded together as someone pulled me into a hug.

Momentarily dumbfounded I felt the blood rush into my cheeks; I finally managed to squeeze an arm out and awkwardly patted them on the back. The person eventually let go and stepped back, giving me a clear look of their face. My heart momentarily skipped a beat, as thousands of pounds of pressure fell off my shoulders. Standing before me was "That Girl" wielding two pistols, a smile was stretched across her face; she looked nothing like the broken being, lying on the floor of an abandoned hospital. Before I could say anything and probably make a fool of myself the biker piped up and asked: "Zoey, you know who this person is?" That Girl or "Zoey" turned on her heels and glared at the biker, her smile completely disappeared. "Yes I do actually; this is the person who saved me from that hunter." She announced, placing a firm hand on my shoulder. An awkward silence passed through the five of us as the three other members of the group scanned me, as if looking for anything that said: "Hey! I'm tough, I eat hunters for breakfast." However sadly from what I could guess I pretty much looked like a scraggily bloodied kid with a trench coat.

Another few minutes passed by before the dark office worker glanced at the collapsed JustFab then turned back to me. "What were you doing in there anyway?" He said gesturing towards the pile of rubble. I looked in my hand that what I thought was only my revolver, however clenched in three of my fingers was a black running shoe. I had nearly forgotten that I was in the middle trying on pairs of shoes right before a cashier's desk flew over my head. "Shoes." I muttered holding up the one shoe I hadn't gotten on my foot yet. The biker chuckled to himself as if remembering a really good one liner he picked up a while ago. "Wanders into a dark abandoned shoe store, collapses the entire building on top of a Tank-nearly killing himself in the process, then walks away like nothing happened." He said walking towards me. "I like this kid." The biker added while patting me in the back so hard it nearly sent me face first into the asphalt. "W-wait-wait-wait, did you say a tank, you're talking about that chiseled chimpanzee look alike?" I asked my voicing rising slightly from the support. The biker made a finger pistol, pointed it at me and fired, making a little pew sound affect. "Bingo" He said. "Also you said a tank, you mean there's more than one?"I continued. The biker yet again chuckled to himself before responding. "I'm guessing you must be really new here kid"

"Francis, stop." The old war veteran ordered stepping forward and turning his steely gaze towards me. He spun his cigarette between his teeth as if he was contemplating something, his face frozen in thought-well except for his jaw of course. However this immediately stopped as we saw multitudes of infected come out from the darkness, just realizing that the huge threat was buried underneath two tons of rock. This wasn't like them; usually they would come out once the sun had disappeared below the horizon, only to cower back at the break of day, leaving behind a couple of stragglers to finish their meals before rejoining them. Now here it was with the sun shining brightly high in the sky and hordes of infected slinking out of the shadows.

"Shit" Francis muttered, completely baffled by the turn of events, his grin gone. "Everybody, run!" The old war veteran yelled as the horde came running at us. I tried stepping forward onto my left foot but as soon as it had touched the ground pain shot through my ankle and up my thigh. I would have collapsed from the pain if Zoey hadn't been there to catch me, wrapping her arm around mine and hoisting part of my weight to her shoulder. Together we began to run away from the infected, with Zoey supporting my left side; I used my only good leg in an effort to hop for my life. The infected cries must have intrigued more for soon enough groups of them gathered in the road in front of us. "I remember there's a safe house just down the road, we just have to get through." The veteran yelled. "Bill; are you sure about this?" Zoey asked, from my left. Bill rolled his cigarette between his teeth, his face trying to hide his uncertainty but his eyes betrayed him. "As sure as I'm ever going to get." He concluded, spitting out the cigarette and stamping on with. "Louis you take the left." Bill ordered, the office worker simply nodded and took position. "Francis you take the middle, and Zoey." He said turning to the both of us. "You see to it that your friend here makes it out alive, you got it?" He asked, glancing at me for a second before turning his gaze back to Zoey. She nodded, pulling out one of her pistols; her eyes gave off a deadly glint as she turned to me and gave me a nod. I nodded back, and together, with Francis, Louis, and Bill in the front, while Zoey and I took refuge behind them, we all charged into the horde.

The three men in front of us discharged their guns into the groups of infected, essentially mowing down the groups as they got close. As Zoey and I passed the fallen infected I could see their cold, grey eyes scowl at the sky with large bullet holes in their bodies. Despite how many Louis, Francis, and Bill shot down some had managed to get through or come up from behind, however these were quickly taken out by Zoey who pushed forward, almost dragging me along, but I managed to pull at least most of my weight with my only good leg. The gunshots were almost deafening, I nearly didn't hear Zoey shout for me to shift as she pointed her pistol to the side of me and pulled the trigger, capping one of the infected that manage to pass by that would've tackled me to the road. The five of had nearly managed to get through when another infected came up from the side, staggering towards Zoey. She directed her gun at its head and pulled the trigger again.

Click.

Without a second thought Zoey holstered her pistol and reached for the other. However it was too late, the creature had already tackled her to the ground before she even aim her gun, bringing me down with them. The pistol fell out of Zoey's hand, clattering out of her reach. As I landed my back hit the asphalt, sending threads of pain up my spine. The corners of my vision grew dark; I shook myself awake, trying my best not to pass out. I got up onto my feet, my vision shifted and the world seemed to spin around me, I couldn't necessarily see the crowd, but I could feel them closing in. I stepped forward, ignoring what seemed like waves of fire crashing over my left foot, as got I to Zoey. The infected was still tackling her, but she managed to keep it away and partially pinned to stop it from doing any real damage. I swung the butt of my revolver and struck the creature's temple, sending its now crumpled form to the ground. I gave my hand to Zoey and pulled her back up.

I tried to focus on Zoey but whenever I tried staring at something for too long my vision would again blurred and shifted around. However what scared me the most was that I wasn't sweating. I had been hopping on one foot for half a mile, my body felt as if it was on fire, and the afternoon sun was beginning to get to me. I fell onto Zoey's shoulder yet again, "Zoey, I-I can't see straight." I gasped; panic began to creep into my voice now. "It's going to be okay, we're nearly there." She reassured, but I could hear the uncertainty in her voice. We trudged forward as fast as our bodies would allow us; it wasn't long before we saw Bill, Francis, and Louis running towards us, just noticing our absence. "Where were you?" Francis yelled his voice full of rage. "Just got a little tangled up, that's all." Zoey responded through her teeth, as her grip on my shoulder tightened. "We found the safe house." Bill interjected, turning the attention of Zoey and Francis to him. "It's just around that corner." He said, pointing somewhere off in the distance. "Well then, let's get going." Zoey growled, trudging forward at a break neck speed for someone who was carrying my weight. We soon reached what seemed like a tall apartment building, however it didn't look very safe; the building was old and had occasional cracks the walls. At the front entrance was guarded by a steel gate, conviently left open. We all rushed inside the dark lobby, with Bill shutting the gate behind us.

Inside it wasn't as nearly as bad as what front of the building was, after a couple of minutes my eyes adjusted to the dim area but it didn't help much my vision still swam whenever I tried focusing so I just shut them and let Zoey guide me someplace. It wasn't long until we stopped and strode into a room, as I heard a metal door slam. I opened my eyes and looked around me, the room was a cozy, yet somewhat decrepit TV room, the area was lit by a faint green glow of the Exit sign, with an arrow pointing to the door we just came in from. The room we were in had cots and sleeping bags shoved into one corner while on the opposite side of the room had a table with multiple guns laid on top. Zoey dropped me off onto a tattered couch before tossing her bag against the wall and slouching to the floor in exhaustion. The others followed suit, all three men threw down their bags (except for their guns because of obvious reasons) Bill even set up a cot before crashing. I immediately opened my bag and guzzled down what was left of my water, so at least I wouldn't die of dehydration then. I tried to get back onto my feet but I could barely stand anymore, let alone walk.

Zoey, suddenly remembering my condition jumped to her feet and grabbed her medical pack before walking towards me. "Sorry, sorry, I-I just needed to sit down for a second." She said, opening her medical kit and pulled out a pair of tweezers. Only then did I notice the bags underneath her eyes, the slow way she moved, and sometimes randomly jerking herself awake. I felt guilty, guilty and ignorant, how did I not notice her condition, she was exhausted, and here I was completely useless, with shards of glass in my foot. Cursing myself in a thousand different ways I didn't notice Zoey had begun her work until she pulled a piece of glass out of the bottom of my heel. Yelping out in pair I nearly jumped off the couch, startling Zoey who mind was already beginning to pass out. "God damn it; sorry, I just didn't expect it to hurt that much." I said. Zoey simply smiled kindly towards me before reaching in with the tweezers again. "This time, trying not flying off the couch that much." She responded, pulling off a pretty good impression of me. "Cause this is going to take a while."

In what felt like hours of throbbing pain, Zoey had finally managed to pull all of the broken pieces of glass of out of my foot, before drenching it in hydrogen peroxide. It felt as thousands of little needles pricking and digging into the cuts, but I sat there, clenching my teeth together and took the pain, trying to hide how much of a giant wimp I was, knowing that the bacteria of the cuts of my feet were having a really less fun time than I was. "Done" Zoey announced, trying the last knot of the gauss that was wrapped tightly around my foot. "See that wasn't so bad." She said, pulling a tired smiled. I sat up, the foot still stung but not as much as few hours prior. "Thanks, I owe you one." I said, scooting myself backwards so the arm of the couch supported my back. Zoey shook her head and looked at me, her eyes glistening. "Not at all, you saved me back at the hospital while any other person would have simply walked away, thinking I was good as dead." She responded a mixture of gratitude and hurt was mixed in her voice. I hadn't thought about that, the memories of the horrible eyes of that hunter still haunted me. "Yeah…" I said absent-mindedly, my thoughts still lingering on the moment that hunter had Zoey pinned to the floor and was viciously slashing away at her torso. "Ryan." Zoey called, snapping me out of my daydream. I turned my attention back to her but she didn't look back at me, her eyes shifted away and she moved uncomfortablely where she sat. "Why did you save me back at the hospital?" asked Zoey, her voice small but curious. That hadn't occurred to me, back then at the moment it was happening the answer seemed so simple, however now as I grew more and more accustomed to the world, it seemed more ludicrous than sane. "I…I did it because it was the right thing to do." I answered slowly, the more I said the stupider it seemed. Zoey simply nodded and got up and onto her feet, she then dragged a small cot besides the couch and lied down on top of it, facing towards me, her eyes were quizzical but sympathetic at the same time. After a while she sighed and rolled over to face the opposite direction. One question still bugged me, something that particularly haunted me if I didn't ask it. "Zoey?" I asked, seeing if she was still awake or not. "Hmmm?" she hummed in response. "You said that anybody else would simply leave you to die….Is that the kind of person we become in this world?" I asked, my voice nearly cracking in weariness and concern. She didn't respond, I wouldn't know if she'd had fallen asleep or didn't want to answer but after a while I couldn't hold on any longer and my mind drifted into sleep.

AN: So, So, So, So sorry. I don't really have any excuse besides school and family matters, so I will try to the best of my abilities to post the next chapter on the next weekend, so until then, Good Bye.