Chapter 3

Nova was walking through the city hiding behind cars, sneaking through creepy alleyways finding supplies to help stretch out the days they'll spend killing and rebuilding society. Her bat wasn't holding up from all the skulls she has bashed since leaving the barrier a few hours ago, and it was now night, the most dangerous time of day to be walking alone. Duck tape was scrapped around the bat keeping it tightly together, along with some more nails that helped keep it strong, unbreakable and dangerous.

"A big upgrade and it's night. This day keeps getting better" Nova thought keeping the bat in her right hand and the backpack strapped to her back, with some food and snacks she managed to find along the way. It was peaceful despite the nearby groaning from the walkers, but it was bearable and nothing seemed odd as Nova hadn't really been in the city properly until she the day she escaped with River.

However, the sound of something swooshing behind her caused the brave hero to stop in her tracks and glance around hope to not being in the eyes of a potential threat, or worse another survivor wishing to steal the goods she found for her sister's and Kaine's survival.

"Who's there?" she said getting out the bat ready to swing at anything that dares to attack, walker or not Nova wasn't afraid to fight. She began to circle her surroundings staring into every dark surrounding that could hide any living being, walkers included.

"It's just me, your brother... And someone else" Ace's voice could be heard from behind causing her to turn seeing him standing there, until Armaros too walk out from behind him as they made eye contact. "We haven't got time to fight. I need your help, almost everyone has been infected and you're possibly the only female human I know who could help repopulate if we don't find anymore" he explained which was odd as they seemed grossed out when he said that during their intense eye contact.

"I ain't repopulating with anyone I don't love, and for your knowledge River has a boyfriend now. They can repopulate instead" Nova replied decline on doing any nasty with anyone she didn't feel for or it wouldn't be right to carry a baby without true love involved. Ace sighed knowing this he didn't want to push the girl any further than he already has, but why is he after her?

"Now I see why your father hated you, demon" Armaros butted in causing Ace to smack him at the back of the head shutting him up instantly, as Ace was higher in the ranks compared to his one winged friend from above so therefore he had more power than him.

"She isn't a demon unless she becomes a demon... What is your choice? Accept it or become one of them" Ace asked glancing at the demon walkers her as she glanced over her shoulder spinning her bat once in response ready for a fight. Armaros was shocked by his friend's threat to turn his own flesh and blood into a monsterous cannibal.

"Look, Ace. I hate your sister more than you hate demons, but threatening to turn her into one for declining to repopulate? Isn't that a little harsh?" Armaros butted in once again for the sake of the mortal race or the entire planet if he actually goes through with his threat. Ace exhaled not liking this as he grabbed Armaros by his collar and threw him into Nova, causing them both to fall onto the ground alerting some of the walkers and began to head in their direction. "What are you doing? We're supposed to be friends, Ace" enraged by his betrayal he pulled out his pistol and tried to shoot, but nothing came out as he looked up at Ace who gave him a smug look, lifting up his closed hand before opening them. Bullets rained onto the concrete cement letting out little clanging noises leaving his 'friend' completely helpless, as Ace turned his back towards them.

"We were never friends, 'cause you forgot rule number one.. Never trust anyone" Ace lastly said before spreading his wings and flew away leaving them to die, just like the heartless beast he is.

"Get off me! You're weighing me down and we'll both die, so get off" Nova complained shoving him off and stood up, grabbing ahold of the angel and dragged him away, not knowing why, but she felt like it was the only thing to do than leaving him to die. They locked themselves in a nearby convenience store until the hoard becomes uninterested, Nova remained on edge not liking that she saved the enemy, but what other choice did she have?

"Why did you save me? You should've left me to die" He replied sounding depressed and confused as he sat down on a tiny freezer that held ice-cream inside. She took what she could putting into her backpack including bars and tinned beans, foods that were easy to eat or make without the use of electricity once it's cut out.

"I know we hate each other, but we need to put our differences aside and work together if we want to get out of here. Then we can go our seperate ways, how does that sound?" She wanted to put their hatred to one side if they want to go their seperate ways once this hoard dies down, and if not they'll have to survive this one out. Armaros gave her a weird look unsure if he wanted to trust anyone like he did with Ace, but what other choice did he have? It was either he dies or gets out of this alive.

"How do I know if you're not going to double cross me like Ace did?" he asked again interrogating Nova as if she was just like them, but really she was different way more different than he could ever imagine. She sighed in one of the aisles before emerging on the other side putting on the backpack that was full of food and supplies.

"It's simple. I am Nova Morningstar, and if I was like anyone in my 'family' then you would've been dead a long time ago, but you're not, are you? And I chose to help you cause I wanted to, you needed it than hanging around with a toxic guy like my brother. He doesn't care about anyone other than himself, if you couldn't tell" Nova answered back truthfully reminding him on their several interactions, and this one wasn't something he's like to remember, but with her saving his life just now proves that she isn't the evil her family makes her out to be.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks for saving me. That doesn't make us buddies or anything, as we both have places to be once we escape these mindless walking brandades" he thanked her for saving him from a painful demise, but he wasn't planning to trust her so quickly without proving that she is different than the others, and what makes her so special to Ace.

They spent the night there even if one of them could've easily stab the other one in the back to escape, but even they knew it was for the best to work together if they want to see the light of day again.

Armaros was the first to wake up once the sun hit his face through the store's side windows, almost blinding him. He stretched his limbs, cracking his back and stood up from the freezer he weirdly slept on that night.

"I am never in a millennial sleeping on a store freezer ever again" he complained to himself now having an aching back from sleeping on something that wasn't meant for napping on. He made his way over to the counter and peaked over, seeing Nova still sleeping on the floor not understanding why, but it was better not to ask. "How long is she going to sleep for? The hoard is clearly gone and I can't leave her alone, she practically defenceless and I can't kill her either thanks to Ace. He practically stole all my bullets" he thought and sighed leaning his back against the outside of the counter, and waited having nothing to do to pass the time.

Miraculously it wasn't long as within thirty minutes of waiting Nova lightly groaned waking up from her nap, and stretched from having such a delightful slumber.

"Finally, not get us out of here before I ditch you myself" he demanded returning back to his grumpy self as she got up equipping the back pack, all ready to go and take down some undead butt.

"Ditch me, please. If you did that then who's going to keep the walkers from getting you?" Nova cheekily replied as he growled under his breath, and turned his head when she exited from behind the counter, preventing himself from looking at her.

"Whatever.. Just get me out of here, so I can get away from YOU and this fucked up city" he snarkly said turning his attention back at her, slamming his hand against the counter whilst she casually walked past him unthreatened by him and his empty pistol.

"Yeah.. about that, pal. The entire world is fighting against these thing, so no matter how far you run, no place is safe to hide. Not even the shadows, as every place you can possibly think of is an instant first way ticket to death" her response wasn't what he expected, freezing him in place knowing that all hope is lost and everything he knows it will cease to exist no matter how hard he fights, life must come to an end at some point, so a new and far more fitting era can rise. ".. However, I have a plan to get out of her, and it involves teamwork. So don't think about backstabbing me or we'll be having some problems" Nova added stepping closer with her trusty skull basting bat in hand ready to fight him if deemed necessary, but he lifting his hands up to chest level understanding the plan and was ready to play along.

"Just get it over and done with so I can leave" accepting her terms she softly smiled glad to have him by her side than against or this would've been far tougher than she thought. They peeked outside the store's windows seeing demon walkers slowly limping around with hungry groans eager to dig their sharp teeth and claws into their next living victim.

"Not too much to be worrying about, but we can flee it back to my place for awhile as you don't have no safe place from these walkers. And before you complain, I don't care" Nova said not allowing him to die without having anything to protect himself from such a dangerous threat, and put everyone at risk if he turns out to be apart of the mutants who can use super strength to break through wood or possibly metal if lucky enough. Armaros was left unable to argue back,a and sighed giving up from getting anything past her stubbornness to help him, even if they were enemies.

She explained the simple and easy plan as they crouched and snuck out from the store's front doors to a nearby abandoned car, peaking while evacuating the area avoid anything that could attract the demon walkers to their location. Nova lead the way allowing Armaros to follow right behind her in the direction she originally came from, but a nearby can caused him to trip and fall, causing the walkers to groan loudly alerting the others of their location.

"Great job.. Mr, not stealth, and here I thought you were an assassin" Nova replied slightly insulting him as she bolting it making him panic and chase after her not wanting to die on the street where space between the dead were wider apart unlikely to block them off.

However, their luck seemed to change as more walkers blocked the way to their escape, forcing them to climb onto a nearby red Land Rover making it hard for them to be grabbed and eat, as they were back to back while the dead tried to grab them with their disgustingly, decaying clawed hands, as some appeared to have lost some muscles revealing straight up bones cringing Nova out, even if this was just the beginning of their life changing journey together. Will they escape from this massive mob? Or would one betray another for survival?

"What should we do now?!" Armaros asked in a panicked tone keeping both eyes on his side of the car, while the leader coped on her own hitting them in the head hoping to at least create an opening for them to escape, but that proved to be highly unlikely as more came filling in for the ones she killed.

"The fuck am I supposed to know?!" Nova yelled back glancing over her shoulder clearly frustrated by how much he had messed up. One of the demon walker's hands were reaching out for his right ankle while he was completely distracted, arguing with his saviour and how they're going to die, but once it grabbed ahold of him he yelped and fell onto the roof of the Land Rover.

"Help me! They've got my foot!" he screamed as she jumped into action and began to pull refusing to let him get bitten on her watch. She struggled to get the walking corpse off his foot while having both of her hands gripping onto his shirt playing a unfair game of tug of war with a mindless corpse.

"Get.. Off.. Him.. You useless walking off gone meatbag!" Nova yelled at the dead, struggling to keep ahead of this war while he held tightly on her tank top, refusing to let himself become something's dinner. She tried her best to keep him out of their mouths, until an unknown arrow shot straight through the walker releasing Armaros from its grasps, as Nova fell on her ass until more arrows rained from the sky hitting the bullseye in every head that surrounded them. "What the?" she confusingly said as Armaros looked at Nova before glanced up at the nearby building to see exactly what she was looking at spotting a human, a woman to be exact with long black hair, teal eyes, a small scar that could be seen underneath her left eye from an old zombie attack, slim body with no ass, but big tits, a black crop tank top with dark blue ripped jeans, black drop shoulder high hoodie that revealed her cleavage, black punk ear piercings, an obvious raven tattoo on the lower right side of her waist, black laced combat boots, a bearded dragon resting on her left shoulder and a solid metal green and black bow and arrow that was aimed directly at them.

"Another human. Is she a friend of yours?" Armaros asked interested in knowing the woman that possibly saved their asses from becoming zombo snacks. The new girl lowered her bow before jumping onto a nearby streetlamp and slid down in style, making herself look pretty badass in their minds.

"Nope. Doesn't ring a bell, but I do now!" Nova replied jumping off the fancy red Land Rover knowing that all the walkers were down for the count, and wanted to thank her for helping them from a gruesome fight that could've ended with both of them dead. She walked over to the girl with the sick metal bow in hand, waiting for the first time to strike.

"Don't come any closer, any one of you could be infected" she instructed aiming her loaded bow at them instantly stopping Nova in her tracks, keeping a good safe ten feet away from the lady who appeared to be around her age.

"I haven't been infected, nor was he thanks to you" Thanking the woman for her brave decision to help them as Armaros jumped off walking towards them, while brushing down his clothes or tried to 'cause of the blood Nova splattered thanks to her extra spiked baseball bat. He growled seeing his favourite shirt ruined with a massive splatter of blood that stained it beyond repair.

"You could've warned me about your messy charade, and now look what you've done" Armaros complained as he stopped beside the girl who caused the mess to begin with, until glancing over at their possibly new ally and froze in place eyes widened in shock by how stunning she appeared to be. Could this potentially be love at first sight?

Nova noticed this and turned to the girl who lowered her bow staring right back at him, as if he was some sort of graceful distraction. She then sighed and put her bow back where it belonged, over her shoulder and crossed both her arms seeing neither them as a threat to her or the bearded dragon.

"What do you think, Mooshoo? Can they be trusted?" she asked turning her head to the cute little dragon causing it to tilt its head allowing its eyes to stare at the two, before eventually licking glancing back at its partner giving her all she needed to know. "Interesting, but I agree. These idiots clearly need to be taught on how to truly survive the apocalypse. Mainly the one winged guy, he doesn't seem to be doing as well as his human friend here, and needs proper training or he'll surely die" responding to the lizards reply as if understanding the reptile as if it was human, turning her attention directly at Armaros making Nova laugh into her hand making him go slightly red and stare at her.

"Stop laughing at me!" he growled as more undead were alerted to the area, causing the ally to quickly get to a higher ground allowing the other two to follow after her, involving a lot of parkour which was no issue for them, as they got onto the roof she was first seen stood on saving their lives once again.

"Why did you yell? Idiot!" Nova scolded whacking him at the back of his head. "You could've got us all killed for that, and you know for a fact I have family to go back to, prick" adding on to her previous statement while Armaros rubbed the back of his head feeling the hurt of this one.

"We haven't got the time for your childish fights right now, and tell me who you guys are" the new ally demandingly asked as she stood up straight with arms crossed in a serious manner, waiting impatiently for their response.

"I am Nova Morningstar, and this idiot here is Armaros. The guy I saved yesterday from certain death because of an old relative of mine. Is that enough for you? As I do have a little sister I need to get back to" Nova replied sharing the same serious energy and intensity as their new friend, and

her lizard companion.

"Hm. I guess you're good to go, but I'm not going to save you a second time stranger. And the name is Bailey, Bailey Hitchcock, and this here is my beautiful Bearded Dragon, Mooshoo. So count yourselves lucky that we've crossed paths or you would've been dead if it wasn't for me" they replied remaining hostile and showed no intentions of making pals with people they had just met, as who knows what their true intentions would've been.

".. yeah.. Well it was nice talking to you, Bailey, but I have get going as they'll be needing me back at home" Nova said pointing her thumb in the direction she was supposed to be going. Bailey shooed her hand at Nova allowing her to go, leaving Armaros in the hands of a stranger.

"Eh? Why do I have be left behind?!" He complained as Nova stopped on the ladders with her upper body showing, looking at him weirdly.

"You'll be safe with Bailey, and stop getting me in trouble with these rotten meat-bags" she replied not caring about him as long as he isn't in her way anymore. He sighed not believing that she would leave him with a complete stranger.

"Also a quick tip incase things around here become even more complicated, you and your family can come to my base that not far outside of town. It's heavily guarded and safe from all walkers" Bailey said kindly welcoming Nova to their base at any given time when things start getting bad around town.

".. sure" Nova lastly said before making her way down the ladders and fled the area back to where she last saw Kaine and her little sister River.

When arriving at the apartment complex spotting that the barrier has been tinkered with. This brought big red flags as she rushed up the stairs towards her apartment, skidding when she got to the door before heading inside seeing and hearing nothing.

"River!.. Kaine! If you guys are hiding it's safe to come out now" Nova called out and still there was nothing, it was as if they were gone, but where? "I told them to stay put till I come back!" She thought in frustration checking all rooms, and it became clear that something happened here which caused the two to flee, but what exactly?

Nova noticed a little puddle of blood on the kitchen floor that appeared to be smudged, as if something was dragged allowing a horrific scene to unfold in her mind, of the two getting ambushed while she was away.

"I've had enough of this, and those who think it's okay to attack innocent people, I'll kill them and their entire group if a single scratch is seen on my little sister" talking to herself she stormed out leaving the area with the goods she found, and headed to find these ambushers to give them a taste of their own medicine. She was back into the city again unsure of where to start first, leaving Bailey out of the question, but if she was in town then surely she had company, right?

The search began leaving Nova all alone to find what has been stolen from her turf, filled her with rage to find the bastards who did this and why they were after innocent survivors. Will she find the two or will she be on an endless trail that had no end?