Chapter Two

Two walkers were walking in the street. Their smell hit me as soon as I noticed them. The smell of death and decay.

The one closer to me turned to look over it's shoulder. It made a snarl and started walking towards me. Most people think they are slow. Those people are most likely dead. These walkers can run. Not too fast, but they aren't slow sometimes. The other one noticed me and followed behind. The growls they made are noises I'm familiar with. Everyone who's left knows the noise and what it means.

I hold up my metal bar as they get close. It was over my shoulder like I was about to swing a baseball bat.

When the first was close enough I swung it. I felt the impact when it made contact as it smashed into the side of its skull.

The walker fell to the pavement and I stuck the pole right through its skull. It goes limp.

Always safe never sorry.

I look up as I yank it free. I was face to face with the other walker. I jump back and nearly loose my balance in desperation to put some space between us.

The walker scratched at the air where I was standing just a second before.

I keep moving my feet back and I held the pole back up over my shoulder. I was about to swing when an arrow impaled it in the head.

As I fell alongside the other walker I looked around.

A young man stood in the alley on the other side of the street. He looked younger than me. About eighteen, nineteen maybe. He has orange-red hair that sticks up in all directions.

"Who are you?" I ask, out of breath.

He was walking across the street, keeping watch for more walkers as he did, "My name is Noah Berkinley"

"Thank you, Noah. You really did save me there. My name is Nico Abernathy."

"You used to be a cop or something?" Noah asked, seeing my uniform.

"Yeah. Still am, kinda."

"So, Nico. I say we get back in a shelter before more come around. Preferably yours. They found mine. That's why I was on the streets today."

"Follow me. I'll take you to my home."

We talked on the way back about what our life was like before this all happened.

"I used to have a wife and son," I say.

"Did they...." Noah trailed off.

"I'm not sure. They were talking about going to Atlanta. There supposedly a camp there with other survivors."

"Atlanta?"

"Yeah," I say.

"Some of my friends and family went down there. Not to far away, you know. They had heard about there being a lab there where working on a cure or something."

"Why didn't you go?"

"I could ask you the same. I didn't go because I was staying with my father in his last few days. After he," Noah stopped, searching for he right word, "changed I put an arrow in his brain. At least I was there for him."

"I didn't go because I was out in another town when they left. I'm not sure why they didn't tell me, but I was gone for a while. Trying to help the survivors there in the other town, didn't really go to plan."

"That stuff happens sometimes. You never know what's gonna happen until it does."

"You're a smart man, Noah. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Wow. I was close. I was thinking nineteen."

"People use to say that to me. I seem a bit older than I am."

By now we had arrived at my house. We walked in and sat in the living room.

"You still planing on going to Atlanta?" I ask as I sat down on the couch.

"Yeah. We had radios we would talk to each other on but they never did answer me when I tried getting a hold of them. We agreed to talk at sunrise everyday."

"Let's go down there. Anywhere can be better than here. You're the only person I've seen here. The streets have gotten worse during the day. Even worse at night. Those two walkers this morning were early. Even if I did get up late."

"When would we leave?"

"Either tomorrow at sunrise, or now. We can go down to the police station and get supplies, radios, and guns and ammo if we need them. Then we can leave in one of the cars."

"How far away is the station from here?"

"Four blocks."

"Not to bad. I'm ready to leave as soon as possible."

"Then I'll get my stuff and we can go."

My backpack of supplies was already full where I left it on the couch. I walk into my bedroom and get other outfits and the rest of my ammo for my glock. When I return downstairs, Noah is waiting by the door.

"You ready," I ask.

"You bet," he nods. His red bangs just almost reaching his left eye.

I grab the bag of food and water and we leave the house. I take one last look inside before I close the door.

"Let's get moving. I don't want to spend more time then I have to here."

We once again talked on the way to the station. I learned that Noah has a sister. She left with their mom to go to Atlanta along with his younger cousin. His cousin's parents were bitten and he went to stay with Noah and his family. Then his dad was bit and the three left and Noah stayed behind.

I told him about my friend at the station. We grew up together. His name was Liam Jackson.

We ran into one walker on the way there. How we didn't run into more, I don't even know.

When we saw the walker Noah drew his bow back and shot him through the head. You have to hit them in the head for them to actually die. Anywhere else and they'll still be alive.

We had the station in view now. No walkers in sight, luckily.

I open the door, staying alert for any walkers. When I saw it was clear I motioned for Noah to come inside.

I got the key out of my pocket and lead him to the back. Once I unlocked the door and we were inside, we got what we needed. Guns, ammo, radios, and some other things we might need.

"You ready to leave?" I question.

"You bet," the red haired male replied.

We walk out where the cars are kept and put the bags in the backseat. We would keep a gun for each of us up front just in case.

Noah was looking at something behind me. I turn to see a walker in an old, torn up police uniform. I can tell who it is- was -just by looking at it. The walker was on the other side of a fence.

"You know who that is?" asked Noah.

"Used to be a real good cop. His name was Ethan," I walk over to the fence and they tried to claw at me through one of the holes, but failed.

I stick the barrel of my glock to their head and pulled the trigger.

I get behind the steering wheel with Noah in the passenger seat. Off to Atlanta