Chapter 2:

"They're here!" The news report was suddenly drowned out by my panic stricken roommate, Ally. As she entered my bedroom, where we had been holed up for the whole week, I could clearly see the terror in her eyes. "Oh my god Beau, they're here!" My heart stopped and I looked at the TV again.

"The military is urging the public to stay in doors! I repeat, stay in doors." The look on the reporters face was just as frightened, just as fear struck as Ally's. "They are…" He struggled fro words. "They are suggesting you take up arms. They... they…" The screen went blank with the colored bars that typically appear when service is lost.

"We're all gonna die!" Ally began to cry hysterically, trembling. I stared at her in disbelief. We need weapons? I thought they were just sick? Thoughts began pouring into my head, so many that I couldn't even keep track of them.

"We need weapons." I thought out loud, bringing her back from her hysterics. "We need weapons and people." I looked up at her, wide eyed. "Go and get anyone you can find who is still here,"

"And what will you do?"

"I'll get the supplies together. We need to leave." A scream came from outside of our window. We both rushed over, looking down at the scene that unfolded. Two co-eds had been taken down in the quad and were ferociously being ripped apart by two of the sick. With a gasp I brought my hand to my mouth.

The human in me wanted to look away, but it was some other part, some sick, perverted part of me that couldn't.

"Oh god." Ally turned away from the window, grabbing for the front door. "I'm getting others, wait for us to come back!."

I ripped my eyes away from the quad and watched as the door shut behind her. Springing into action I ran to my closet, furiously going through box after box of old high school memories. Pom poms, cheerleading skirt, yearbooks.

"Why did I keep all of this useless shit!" I growled to myself, slinging another box on the floor. It landed with a loud clunk and my heart skipped a beat. Running over to the box I flipped the lid off. With a smile I ran my hands over the smooth metal of my Diamond Air Raid SC Pro Compound Bow and Quiver. Underneath the bow sat my hunting knife, which I grabbed and tied it to my belt…

We had been walking the better part of a day, the sun was going down, and much to my dismay, I wished we'd caught up with that buck. I was starving, going on my second day without eating more than a granola bar. I felt my stomach rumble and my face flushed with embarrassment.

"I'd kill for a cheeseburger." I joked. Daryl flashed me a look that was somewhere between amusement and annoyance, and unshouldered his crossbow. Feeling awkward I followed his lead, placing my weapon gently on the ground. A good hour of silence ensued, we chopped wood to make a small fire and set up a small tripwire around camp. I rolled up two logs, one on each side of the small fire, for us to sit on.

"Here," Daryl reached for his belt, pulling at some trappings he had hanging there. He held it out to me silently, and with inquisitive eyes I took it from him. The first thing I noticed was the bushy tail, and I felt a small grimace come across my face. "It's not a cheeseburger, but if you'd like you can pretend." A mischievous glint played across his face, something of a smile and I snickered.

"I haven't had squirrel in forever." It wasn't a taste I can say I'd missed from the back woods of Georgia, but anything was better than another granola bar. "I don't even know if I remember how to skin one."

"Nah, it's easy, watch." Daryl leaned closer to the fire from his seat on the log and got quickly to work. It took him a mere 5 minutes before the small animal was stuck on the spit he had been sharpening. I sat awestruck and he held his hand out to me. "I gotta catch 'em and skin 'em?" It seemed to be a joke, so I smiled and handed it over to him.

"Thanks." I watched intently as the man put his knife to work. He seemed to know what I was doing, obviously he had been skinning animals and tracking deer since before the outbreak.

His eyes were focused on the dead animal in his hands, so I took this time to get a fairly good look at him. He seemed more muscular than he had earlier, more… I don't know. His head snapped up and I looked at my hands In my lap, but I knew it was too late.

I looked back up at him slowly and now he sat with a smug smirk as he finished skinning my dinner.

"So," his eyes flicked over to me for a second, acknowledging I had spoken. "Earlier you said 'people.' How many people?"

"A few."

"Ah." I nodded my head and looked at my hands again. A stick found its way in front of my face, he had sharpened another stake for me. "Oh, thanks." I smiled and held my squirrel out to the fire.

After a silent dinner we had decided it best to take shifts, one slept while the other watched over our well being, made sure the fire stayed lit. Like a gentleman, he let me sleep first. Sleeping under the stars used to be a favorite past time of mine, however when I was younger zombies had yet to walk the earth, there was no fear of being eaten alive by the dead.

I awoke with a start in the dead of night. The fire had burnt out, no, someone had put it out, and not long ago, judging by the fizzle of smoke still swirling above it. I gasped at the sound of cracking branches behind me and sat up quickly. There was movement in the bush and I went to cry out when a finger covered my mouth.

My eyes met Daryl's deadly serious gaze, and slowly he pulled his finger away. Groans and moans could be heard, snaking their way through the trees, and I felt my heartbeat racing in my chest. My breathing became stressed and I could feel my panic rising. Before I fell asleep I took off my knife and my bow, and now in the dark I scolded myself for not keeping them closer.

"Just lay back, they don't know we're here yet." Daryl's eyes darted around at a mile a minute. "An' if we keep quiet, they'll move on." Reluctantly I settled back into the grass and just listened. Listened to the wind, listened to the crickets, listened to the sounds of the dead, creeping through the foliage.

The night passed slowly into morning. Needless to say I didn't fall back asleep, I just laid there, incredibly awake for not sleeping very long, and as soon as morning reached above the trees, Daryl was up an at 'em. He quickly packed up the small amount of things he'd had, a metal can for water, his carving knives, and extended a hand to me.

I took it graciously and pulled myself up out of the dirt. Dusting myself off I watched the woods around me. I knew the walkers had cleared off hours ago, but after a scare like last night I wasn't going to let my guard down.

"So now what?" I asked absentmindedly. Daryl had already begun walking, out of earshot of my last comment, and briskly I walked to catch up to him. "Are we gonna pick up the buck again?" Daryl nodded, rubbing his thumb on his bottom lip. I'd noticed he did that a lot, sort of a tell for him, something he did when he was thinking.

"Prob'ly pick him back up down at the creek. If we're lucky, the walkers didn't get 'em." It was a concept I hadn't ever really thought about, what do walkers eat when human flesh isn't abundant? "Been tryin' to chase him back towards camp."

"So you don't have to drag him as far?" I teased and looked at the ground, tying my hair back with the only hair tie I had left.