The Walking Dead: RPG

Chapter 1: Idle Hands

The sun peeked over the evergreen trees and an old white pickup rolled down the road. The truck drove into town as the shops and restaurants started to open. Not much happened in this town aside from the mall. The driver took a turn and drove up to his house, parking in the driveway. He set a heavy boot down on the cracked cement and stepped out, slamming the door to his rusty old truck behind him. He was tall and a bit overweight with grey and black beard. He wore a tan fisherman's hat that matched his pants. Levy Jack Krohl was his name, a Vietnam veteran and disliked by most of the community. Walking around to the tailgate, he reached in back and grabbed a compound hunting bow and quiver of arrows. He slung the quiver over his shoulder and walked up to the house. Setting down the bow and arrows down on the porch, he opened the door and walked inside, wiping his feet on the mat.   
 
Levy looked to the end of the hallway and saw his wife standing at the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee. "Mornin'." He said as he set his hat on the rack. He walked into the kitchen and Sindy smiled warmly. "Morning." she replied, "Tommy's comin'  later today." Levy ran his fingers through the coarse hairs on his chin. "It'll be good to see 'im again. Haven't seen him sense we went up to Chicago in... what was it... '97? He was real little back then."  Sindy chuckled, "It's a long time to be away from family." she said. "I can't stand the city." he grumbled, "Don't like to feel closed in like that." 
  
It was later in the morning when Levy drove up to the bus station. He rolled up and saw his nephew Thomas, a tall, skinny teenager who looked out of his element. Levy kicked open the door. "Hop in." he said. Thomas tossed his luggage into the back and climbed in the passenger seat. "Hey, Uncle Levy." he said. "Hey. You went n' got big on me!" Levy said jokingly. Thomas laughed along nervously, glancing at the knife on his uncle's belt. They both went silent and glanced in the same direction when they heard the sudden crack of gunfire. Out on the other end of town, a pillar of black smoke ascended into the sky. "Now what the hell issat all about?" Levy asked under his breath. The gunfire continued and Levy pressed down on the gas, driving back towards his house. They glanced out onto the sidewalks to see people walking down the street, limping, blood running down their arms and legs. "What in god's name...?" Levy picked up speed. The sights only got more grotesque as they went, a complete row of houses burning to the ground, people taking broom handles and bats to the injured folks on their lawn. Why? What was happening? They took the road up to his house and saw a large group of injured folks together, piling on his front door! There must have been between fifteen and twenty. Levy parked his car and jumped out. "Stay in there!" he ordered Thomas. "Hey!" he shouted to the trespassers, unsheathing the hunting knife on his belt, "Get the hell off my property or I'll skin you alive!" Suddenly, one of them tried to tackle him. Levy pushed back and tried to twist free of his grip. The attacker's eyes were cold, his pupils were glazed over and milky white. His skin had gone pail and clumps of hair had fallen from his head. Levy put his knife to the man's throat and gritted his teeth, "Don't make me..." he growled, "Don't make me, you son of a bitch." The man opened his mouth, bellowing a long, terrifying moan through a row of splintered and decaying teeth. Levy immediately ran the blade cross his neck, slitting his throat. A moment passed and only then did the blood slowly begin to trickle out. Still, the man stood and stared at Levy, "Brrrrrr..." he moaned, blood staining his clothes. Levy was perplexed and quickly jabbed his knife into his temple. When he yanked the blade out, he finally fell to the ground dead. When he turned to the crowd, they began moving into the house. "AAEEEEIE!"came a woman's cry from inside. "LEEEEVY!" Levy's eyes went wide and he ran around the side of the house as fast as his old joints could carry him. "Sindy!" he shouted, racing up the staircase to the screen door leading right into the kitchen. He could already see the attackers moving around inside.  
 
Levy kicked in the door and quickly stabbed a nearby man in the head. He glanced to his right to see the others swarming around Sindy who was backed up against the counter. Blood stained her clothes as they ripped at her. Levy reached for her. "Sindy!" he shouted, "Baby take my hand!" She reached as tears streaked her face, but she couldn't reach. "TAKE MY HAND!" He cried desperately. She reached for his hand, but with a cruel rip from one of the men, her eyes widened in shock and then drifted shut, her hand falling to her side. "Baby! Baby, no! No!" Thomas ran up behind him and grabbed his shoulder, "Uncle Levy, we gotta go!" he begged. "NO!" Levy cried, thrashing violently as his wife lay dead on the floor. "NOOOOOO! NOOOO!" The attackers slowly began to turn their attention to him. "Come on, Uncle Levy!" said Thomas, pulling him out of the house. Levy held his fist tight around his knife and stared with malicious intent to the horde inside the house. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"He roared, finally running towards the truck, making a stop to grab his bow and arrow by the front door. The two drove off through the town, Levy not saying a word, choking back tears. They drove through the town, down every street and every road for nearly half an hour. Finally, Levy looked over to Thomas who was frightened and curled up in the passenger seat. "Open the glove compartment." he said. Thomas opened the compartment to find a 1911 Colt pistol and a box of ammo. "Load that gun." he ordered. Thomas, sniveling and wiping his eyes, did as his uncle told him, trying to figure out how to load the bullets into the clip. "Good." said Levy, "And sit up straight, dammit. At least act like you've got a pair." He steered the truck down the road heading towards the mall. There were already over a dozen of them standing around the parking lot. Several stood at the end of the lane in which they were driving. Levy stared them down but they didn't move. "Hold on." he said, flooring the gas peddle and ramming into them. He brought the truck to an abrupt halt and they both jumped out. "Go, go, go, go, go!" Levy shouted, grabbing his bow and arrows from the back. When they got to the door, they saw that it was barricaded. Levy smacked his palm against the glass. "Hey, open up!" he shouted, "Open up, god dammit!" Meanwhile, the mysterious attackers, who had suddenly gathered in number, began to close in all around them. Someone finally came and threw aside part of the barricade and let them in. It was a man in a white dress shirt and slacks. "Get in!" he shouted. Thomas and Levy ran into the mall and the man tried to shut the door, but not before an arm reached through and grabbed him. Another grabbed his ankle and they pulled until he fell to the floor. "AAGH!" he cried as their teeth sank into his calf, gnawing and ripping away muscle. He stretched out his hand, begging someone to help him but they pulled him the rest of the way out the door where the others piled on and ate him alive. One stood in the doorway, about to advance on them when an arrow shot dead center through his skull and he fell to the floor dead. "Close up that damn door!" Levy ordered. 
 

Two Months Later

 Everything happened so.. fast. The next thing i knew there was nothing but Hell everywhere i looked. I'm.. not even sure if anyone is even left besides the group that i'm with.. The reason why i'm a survivor is because of my obsession with zombie stuff. My older brother Edward had these books and video games that he used to have, when he moved to college i took them, and that's how i became knowledged in these things. It's simply easy, don't make a lot of noise, shoot them in the head, and your good.
 
 It all began at lunch, I was sitting with my boyfriend Alex, and my two friends Katie and Evan. Alex has short brown hair, he wore a black t-shirt with blue jeans. Katie is a short blonde girl, that was incredibly funny. She wore a purple tank top, with faded jean shorts. Evan has long blonde hair, he wore a green shirt that matched his eyes, and some black skinny jeans. 
 
  It was like everyday, until a student who had been lying down at his lonely lunch table rose from his seat. The four of us watched him as he walked to the table across from his, when he black hood fell down we could see how pale his skin was.. how lifeless his eyes were. The group of preppy students stared at him, each of the idiotically swearing at him, so he could just go away and leave him alone. Looking at the kid's clothing i could see that he didn't have an ID, which showed he must have either been to lazy to wear it, or he didn't go to the school. I'm going with the second one.
 
Once the strange kid took a bite of this one blonde kid's arm. It was like someone had literally released Hell in the cafeteria. Looking around i saw that there had been these two large doors that had been opened, now anyone could just walk right in. Evan pointed out that there had been more like that guy walking around slowly, like they were waiting for the right moment to attack. This was going to fucking suck. Katie pulled on my long white sleeve, wanting to leave the school. We as a group stuck with her decision. Grabbing our lunch trays we ran to the doors, figuring that the students who've already ran out of the building had already been attacked the walkers, it gave us a chance to get farther from the school, and it did. Hoping into Alex's car, we drove as far as we can.  
 
We drove to each of our houses, hoping to see our family members.. sadly none of them were there.. The last place we went had been my house, and since it was no close to night time we decided to crash there for the night. Tomorrow was Saturday, and we set out for some place new. Since we couldn't exactly live at my house forever, from watching movies i knew that there had to be others heading to the mall.

When we got to the mall, it was literally right before lock down had occurred. When walking inside the four of us sat in a little circle, without even knowing it.. waiting for the worse to happen. Alex pulled some weed out of his pocket, before i knew it he was already smoking it, i knew by just the look of his eyes that he thought he might as well since we were gonna die. I planned to prove him wrong. Katie, Evan, and i were luckily smart enough not to take a hit.
 
When looking towards the others that had been in the mall, we all stood up. Alex, stupid and high stood as close to me as he could. Katie and Evan were standing towards my right. We were in now safe from all of those creatures outside. Walking closer to them i could see that some were bitten. It was to late for them.I wasn't sure what to say.. There was a little kid, that had been bitten. Should i tell his family that when he dies he'll become one of the undead? Or wait for him to turn on his family..  
 
As i was about to i was caught off guard when Alex yelled. When i turned around i saw one of the walkers biting him in the right side of his neck. There must have been one last one that had been walking around when we least expected it, they're silent. Now my boyfriend is gone, there is nothing i could do to even save him now.. 
 
I screamed, and it was like it had caused a domino effect. The injured who had passed away were now coming back as the walkers. Sh!t. Evan did a spin kick type of move that knocked the walker off his feet that had bit.. Alex.. The three of us ran from his corpse.  
 
After we lost over half of the group, i watched Katie as she helped them throw the bodies through a window. To be honest, it was better to not have the corpses anywhere near us. While my two friends were asleep, i would go by myself looking around the mall. It was kinda cool that i was able to find a drug store. I carried this purse with me that i found in one of the stores, and i loaded it up with as much medication as i could find. If someone needed it, instead of searching for this place, i could just hand it to them..  
 
I'm currently writing this in a cool looking diary i found, it had actually been two months since then. Nothing too big had happened since around that time, besides a shortage in water. I also forgot to mention this. My name is Brooke, right now i'm a survivor, and i plan to keep it that way.
 

Present time 

“Feeling pretty psyched. It's the end of the world as we know it. It's the end of the world as we know it. It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine .” The song blasted from the cabin of the helicopter as it soared through the skies over the crowds of the undead. Inside three soldiers sat behind the two pilots, one of them held onto the seat of one of the pilots as he looked out the window, the other two sat in the back. “You know your chose of music seems a bit too much private,” the one looking out the window said to the other soldier in the back as he tapped on his rifle and bobbed his head back and forth. The other soldier who sat next to him sat there quietly he seemed troubled by the thought of even being near the undead.

“Hey Viper maybe you should learn to accept that the world’s gone to shit,” the soldier responded as he turned off the radio. “By the way Viper why did command take us out of our comfy underground safe haven and send us all the way to some mall?”

“Because they believe there may be survivors who need to be escorted out of there,” Viper as he was nicknamed moved back towards the other two soldiers. “So that’s why they only sent three of us in case well they turn out to be like those freaks who offered the last group to search for survivors as a sacrifice to the Walkers.” Viper grabbed onto the strap on the roof of the cab and leaned outside and saw a huge amount of Walkers crowding around the mall where the message was from, “alright it’s show time gear up, try and touchdown on the roof and if you don’t hear from us in ten then head back.”

Suddenly Viper felt himself get pushed aside to the point that he almost fell out of the door, then he saw the new guy holding a gun to one of the pilot’s head. “Turn around now I ain’t risking my life for some dumb civilians!” The other soldier pulled up his rifle and took aim at the crazed new guy, but swiftly he was shot and his rifle sprayed bullets throughout the inside of the chopper hitting everyone inside except Viper who was hanging outside by the strap attached to the inside. The chopper entered a spin and Viper barely managed to crawl back inside and towards the now dead pilots, he grabbed the stick and tried to avoid crashing into the many buildings as the helicopter plummet towards the horde of Walkers. When it slammed into the ground Viper flew up and his back smashed into the ceiling of the inside, he saw that he had crashed right in front of the mall doors and was about to make a dash for it.

Viper spat out some blood from his mouth as he stood up but he fell to the ground as he turned around a walker clung onto his leg. The Walker tried hard to bit him Viper shook his leg back and forth in an attempt to shake it off, finally with his free foot he crashed his boot into it’s head so hard that he heard it’s neck snap from where he sat. More Walkers poured into the helicopter as Viper drew his handgun and began to shoot at them he managed to stand up and swiftly took headshots at every Walker that approached him until his back was against the mall doors. Felling trapped Viper reached for his grenade belt and readied to toss it into the horde and kill himself along with them. But he was tripped again by a Walker and his belt was sent into the chopper, it exploded and a stray piece of scrap metal flew in and hit Viper in the head. Blood began to cover Viper’s eyes as they closed soon it would be over for him.    

If she was the only one having nightmares, then everyone else was psychotic. Ash had always been a heavy sleeper. Her family had always nagged her about how she slept through everything, especially her alarm clock. Now, when the nights were the worst time to be awake, her ability to sleep soundly evaded her. It seemed she couldn’t sleep more than a couple of minutes without some horrible image slipping free of her subconscious, sending her jolting upright. Most nights she was happy for the privacy of her tent. She hated the idea of anyone else seeing her cry.

It wasn’t the zombies that scared her. It was the idea of losing everything. The living corpses, the monsters that had trapped her and the small group of survivors in the mall weren’t nearly as terrifying as the panic they brought. Only two months ago Ash had lost her sister, Holly, in the chaos while escaping an airport. They’d been on their way to visit their parents in Florida. One stop on the way, one plane change. It made her sick just to think about how simple it should have been. And now it was all hell. Two whole months of hell. Of having to deal with the loss of total strangers who somehow meant as much to her as her sister. It wasn’t fare.

Sick of tossing and turning and hiding under her pillow to drown out the snoring of her fellow survivors, Ash tossed aside her sleeping bag and quietly slid out of her tent. Usually she only ever went for walks during the day, to clear her head and get some breathing room, but she’d get more privacy at night.

The little glowing numbers on her wristwatch informed her that it was 5:30. Way too early to do much else but take a stroll. She had no place to be until 7:00 when she and Kingsley unfroze the food. It was funny. Ash had always had a knack for cooking, but other than a few batches of cookies here and there she’d never really explored her abilities. Now she was preparing meals for a bunch of people she hardly knew on a daily basis. It was nice to have something to keep her idle hands busy. God forbid she take up knitting again.

With two and a half hours to spare Ash slipped past the dosing night watcher. Whoever it was, they were too bundled up in blankets for her to recognize. She admired the person, though. Night watch was always horrible.

The mall was big but Ash had explored nearly every corner at least twice. She had always been restless, hating the indoors. Being trapped inside day in and out was torture. Stretching her legs on her walks was all she could do from going insane most days. She was pretty sure she was one of the only people to have investigated the mall so thoroughly. Most of the other survivors liked to stay closer to the food court, though they all valued their own personal space. The deep, dark depths of the mall weren’t exactly all that welcoming either.

Ducking under a hanging security gate, Ash wound back into the recesses of the mall. She wasn’t sure how much of her knowledge of the backdoors in this place she wanted to divulge. It didn’t feel right keeping things from the group, especially Kingsley since he was pretty much in charge, but it was nice to have a place she could slip away to for ultimate privacy. Well, almost ultimate privacy.

“Psst, Holly. Come on sweetie. It’s okay. I brought breakfast.” Ash pushed open the door to a storage room. It was located in one of the back halls in the mall, the kind that employees, maintenance workers and security personal used to navigate the place more smoothly. This particular room only housed a few empty boxes.

Kneeling down Ash set down the bowl of food she’d picked up on her way. The boxes at the back of the room stirred and there was a squeak from a toy. Then a small Labrador puppy trotted out and excitedly licked Ash’s hands before turning happily to its breakfast.

“You’re lucky you’re so small or we’d have to worry about the pet store running out of food.” Ash smiled, patting the puppy on the back. “We’re already so low on water.”

Leaning back against the door Ash found her eyelids getting heavy for the first time in months. Holly finished eating and curled up on her lap, giving a contended yawn. It felt bad to keep secrets from the rest of the survivors, but Ash couldn’t help enjoying having something to herself after having lost so much.

On her way back to the food court Ash stopped by the fountain in the centre of the mall. It had been long since pumped dry and filtered for its precious water. Still, the skylights above made it a wonderful place to be in the morning. With a sigh Ash shone her flashlight on the glass tile basin that shimmered during the day. It didn’t have the same effect. But something else glistened brightly in the light, something that caught her eye. Stepping into the fountain Ash picked up the small object, a key marked with the letters MK. Finding a bench she sat down and rolled the key around in her hands. She’d been by the fountain hundreds of times, but she’d never noticed a key before. None of the group had the initials MK.

"Word around camp is you didn't sleep much last night." Ash nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up to find Kingsley watching her closely, chewing his thumbnail. That habit always annoyed her. "What's the matter, Ash?"

“Actually haven’t been sleeping well most nights,” she shrugged, getting to her feet. “Not really that out of the ordinary. This, however, is a little weird.” She handed him the key, smoothing her thumb over the engraved letters. “I found it in the fountain. And trust me, it wasn’t there before.” 

Lying in a hammock suspended twenty feet in the air was a seventeen year old girl. Two ear buds, one in each ear, were plugged into a small radio. Next to the radio, was a flashlight that was turned on. She listened to static as the radio cycled through the stations in a loop, in hopes of finding one that showed signs of intelligent life. Dark, straight hair covered the right side of her face, hiding her right eye. Shifting back and forth, her gray left eye read tens of words per second from a book on computer hardware. Everything that she read she remembered. Finishing the book, she set it down at her side and closed her left eye. Sweeping her fingers along her forehead, she brushed the hair from her right eye. Closed, she slowly opened it. Trying every day, praying that one day she would be able to regain her... Black. Blind completely, from birth, in her right eye. Today, was going to be the same as any other day. Her name was Cohcoa Fisher, and she was the last survivor in her family. Her old life as a normal person was gone, she was now one of the few survivors. Trapped in a shopping mall along with a small group of people, she had held out for two months, but she didn't know how much longer some of the people would last against the walkers.

Analyzing the sunlight, Cohcoa could tell what time it was, time for the daily email with Kingsley. Bringing a small smile to her face, she untied the rope that was in a knot below her and slowly let the it slip through her fingers. This action would lower her hammock down towards the ground until it was only a few feet above the ground. Wearing a pair of Converse shoes, a knee length black skirt and a red short sleeved shirt, she slipped away from the main open area of the mall to the computer store. Inside, she met up with Kingsley. He was like an older brother to her, she was closer to him than with any of the other survivors. "Hey Kingsley." She gave him a hug. "We survived another night." Looking over her shoulder, as if someone was watching, she turned back towards her friend. Booting up one of the many computers, she input a pass-code to log in. Letting Kingsley take over, she watched over his shoulder as he typed out a message on a website she had made for the survivors. The internet was still working, and the electricity to power it was available in small quantities through rechargeable batteries charged with solar panels. After Kingsley had finished, they left the store and made their way back to the main gathering area.

Cohcoa was the one who had found the cache of solar panels and had climbed up to the roof to rig them. She was able to construct a large enough solar panel to provide enough power for half of an average household's electricity usage, at the cost of a full day of soaking up sunlight. There was a reason behind all of this, one that she had kept secret, except from Kingsley. Keeping her heart beating, is a pacemaker that requires her to continually replace the rechargeable batteries. Keeping extra batteries in case of a period without sunlight, she is reliant on the sunlight more than almost everyone knows. Along with the solar panels, Cohcoa has set up ten cameras around the outside of the shopping mall, each turned off most of the time, but able to be activated remotely every once and a while to check on the situation of the zombies. As the main defense, she has strung copper wire throughout the entire exterior of the mall, making a closed circuit, allowing any break ins by the walkers to open the circuit and sound an alarm. The mall was wired. Grabbing her breakfast, she sat down at a table with the others and quietly ate her food. Cohcoa had gotten used to the daily routine at the mall, the food, the conversations, the reading, etc.

 A figure was looming in the dark corner of the abandoned mall. The moonlight shone bright casting an eerie glance over half of its face. The cap hiding the intense glare of the figures eyes. Heavy breath could be heard from him. As the figure turned his head to his right and looked up, the moonlight covered his whole face, the slight slant of his eyes gave a hint on his Asian Chinese heritage, raising his cap to get a glance of the figures hair, his short black hair.

The looming figure was the 26th year old, Colin Grant. He glanced at his watch on his left wrist and sighed, while standing up Colin took a tight grab on his flashlight that was on his right side and stood up grunting. He walked briskly towards WHSmith, where he spent most of his time during the day, reading strategies books and more. Colin took a peek in the bookstore and then continued his routine. As the night became darker and the moon started to move away from the mall it was harder for Colin too see, bumping into things and cursing something on Chinese. The chattering of people started to get louder as he quickly paced towards it. A light could be seen from where Colin was standing. As he walked inside where people slept and hang around most of the time, turning off his flashlight, Colin looked around as he was walking towards his bed, his comfortable water bed.
 
When reaching his bed, Colin was few minutes sitting at the bed side. His head covered in his hands , thinking about what is left of the outside world.
“Oh my god.” Colin said, it could be heard in his tone that it wasn´t all that good tone. As a tear fell down his cheek and then more and more.

Colin put his head on the pillow and then the rest of his body he had lying on top of the white sheet. Closing his eyes as more tears fell onto the pillow making a dark stain that would disappear in a hour or two. Then...silence. Colin shut his eyes closed and tried to think about something good, but the harder he thought the louder the noises got outside the mall. The roars, bashes and clawing from the Walkers that were outside...waiting. Then he fell asleep.  
 

4 hours later

"Actually I haven't slept much most nights, not really that out of the ordinary." Ash replied grimly with a shrug. Kingsley quickly stopped chewing his thumb and let his arm fall to his side as he remembered how much she hated that habit. "This, however, is a little weird." Kingsley frowned as he took the item she was offering him and held it close to his face, inspecting it... A key, marked 'MK'... Initials? Off the top of his head, he couldn't recall any campmates with those initials. Kaine was his own surname, but he had no relatives whose name began with an M. "I found it in the fountain. And trust me, it wasn't there before." 
 
"Huh." Kingsley scratched his head. This was quite the mystery, but it was nice to have a distraction from the norm. It was just a key, so he wasn't too worried. "And there ain't no 'MK' in our camp. Could stand for somethin' else, but what?" He pondered the matter for a while, before handing the key back to Ash with a smile. "I'll bring it up in camp later. You keep it for now, let me know if you've got any ideas on what it is. Now, come on, we got food to prepare." And with that Kaine stood up, slung his shotgun over his back and led the way to the MegaStore. Once there, they both grabbed their usual carts and made their way to the freezer. After wandering through it for a little while, rubbing their arms and chattering their teeth in the cold, Ash decided what the lunch menu would be and the two of them set the food outside the defrost. Meanwhile, Colin, who was on night watch duty, had picked out breakfast earlier. "Bacon!" Kingsley exclaimed with a grin as he shovelled the meat and the loaves of bread which accompanied it into the two carts. "Didn't even know we had any of this stuff, makes a nice change from spam." 
 
The duo pushed their loads back to camp, and while Ash fired up the grill and started to cook the bacon, Kingsley headed over to his tent. Right outside of his tent was Brooke, offering a box of cigarettes to Evan. His nostrils flared in frustration as he strode between the two campers and snatched the box right out of Brooke's hands. "We've been over this already. You want to keep killing yourself with these, go ahead." Kingsley growled, not loud enough to attract much attention. "But you don't smoke in camp. And you most certainly don't do it when my baby is in the tent next to you." He threw the box back to the floor in disgust and opened up his tent flap. His face instantly softened as a kind smile replaced his grumpy frown. Back arched, he shuffled into the tent until he made it to the crib where Rosie lay. She had clearly woken up a while ago and was rolling around, chewing on her own fist with the few teeth she had. Rosie had given up on crying a long time ago, it was almost as if she knew that the walkers reacted to noise the way they did. Picking her up slowly, Kingsley then suddenly pretended to drop her as he quickly lowered the baby through the air. As usual, this caused his little girl to go into a laughing fit. After a few repetitions of this routine, he decided to venture outside and get some breakfast. By this point it was 7.35 and most of the bacon was cooked and ready. 
 
Kingsley placed Rosie in her usual seat, a fuzzy pink beanbag he'd found in a furniture store, and gave her a bread roll to chew on. As part of the new water system implemented last week, King and Ash had also brought back a number of bottles of water, one for each camper, plus a bottle of milk for the baby. This had proven to be the most successful way of rationing the stuff. Grabbing a water for himself and the milk for his daughter, Kingsley made himself a bacon sandwich out of the bread and meat and tucked in. 
 
"Anything going on lately?" A voice asked, as Kingsley turned around to see Colin, wearing the same baseball cap he always did, with a tiny portion of food. 
 
"Yeah, actually." King replied after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. "Ash found a key in the fountain, initials 'MK' were on it. We got no clue what it means, but apparently it wasn't there before today. Nice choice with the bacon, by the way." 
 
Then, suddenly, an explosion sounded outside the front doors, and an ear-splitting alarm erupted throughout the mall. Kingsley immediately leapt to his feet. A few members of the group knew what this meant and Kingsley was one of them. Cohcoa had long ago set up tripwires around the perimeter... And someone, or something, had just broken the circuit. "WALKERS!" Kingsley bellowed. Everyone, whether they were aware of the alarm or not, knew the drill when it came to an attack by the walkers. Anyone who was armed and knew how to handle their weapon would follow Kingsley, everyone else would congregate at the food court, which offered the most strategic view of the entire mall. (which is why it was where the main campsite was set up) Turning to Colin, Kaine gripped his friend's shoulder and said: "You sure as hell better look after my baby!" and then sprinted off to the front doors, pulling the shotgun off his back. 
 
Looking through the windows on his way to the entrance, Kingsley was able to assess roughly what had happened. There was the smoking wreckage of a helicopter in the middle of the parking lot, which had not been there before. The doors had not been breached, but clearly someone had broken the perimeter... Maybe someone from the helicopter. Maybe someone from the outside world. "There's someone out there!" His heart flooding with hope, Kingsley, with the help of those who had followed him, began to remove the various locking mechanisms which held the door shut. These varied from some rather advanced digital locks to the mundane heavy furniture pushed against the door. Once all the barricades were removed, the door was hauled open. It was an interesting sight outside, to say the least... The helicopter had apparently exploded and taken a large number of walkers with it. That would have been good news, as those walkers had been wandering the parking lot ever since the event, but the noise of the explosion had brought more. Shuffling towards the mall with hunger in their eyes, the walkers made their way towards their target. 
 
Their target was a man, who fell backwards over the entrance once the doors were pulled open. He was bleeding badly from a head wound and the walkers were fast approaching. "Somebody take him to Raide!" Kingsley roared, as he fired a blast from his gun, blowing the head off the nearest monster. His next shot wasn't so accurate and obliterated the zombie's ribcage. Someone else finished the job with a shot to its head. "Hold them back! They do not cross this line, do you hear me?!" Kaine yelled to his comrades at the wounded soldier was dragged into the mall.

Tom raced down the hall. The place was practically silent and his footsteps and frantic breathing were all that could be heard. He shouted as he ran. "Uncle Levy!" he cried out, "Uncle Levy!"  Levy growled under his breath and set the bottle of Jack Daniels' down on the bench. "What is it, boy?" he asked impatiently. Thomas came to a stop, bending over and gasping for air. "There's... w-walkers! Down at... the front door!" Levy's eyes went wide and he jumped up, grabbing his bow and running down the hall, leaving Thomas still trying to catch his breath. "Get th' lead outta yer ass, boy!" he ordered.  
 
Levy raced down the stairs, Thomas beginning to catch up to him. He saw Kingsley, the guy whose hands these bastards had put their lives in. From his time in the war, he knew that kind of responsibility can do terrible things to a man. Others were running in a panic, some moving away from the door as fast as they could, mostly sick and injured. The others were running to the door as Kingsley barked orders.  "Hold them back! They do not cross this line, do you hear me?!" Levy reached the bottom of the stairs and came to the mouth of the door, standing alongside Kingsley. "How the hell'd this door get open?!"  he asked, reaching for an arrow. Thomas ran to his side, holding the pistol his uncle had given him. "Get back, boy."  he ordered, firing an arrow into a walker's head a few yards down. "But Uncle Levy, I-"  "NOW, BOY!"  Levy  interrupted . "When they get closer, we're gonna fall back and we're gonna need supressing fire from up there!" He gestured to the catwalk on the second floor from which they'd just come. "Now get up there!" he ordered. Thomas nodded reluctantly and raced up the staircase, taking his position, gun aimed down towards the doorway. Levy reached for another two arrows and shot. One of them hit dead center between the eyes, the other grazed the side of the walker's head. Just as Levy was about to curse his luck, the arrow shot into the eye socket of another walker. If they were that tightly packed, then Kingsley and his men were in for one hell of a fight. 

Looking over towards Katie she began to nudge her shoulder. "Katie.. It's time to wake up now." Katie turned over with a tiring yawn, opening her eyes to see the two of her friends staring right at her. "Alright.. okay.. Is Ash done with the food yet?" Katie said as she sat herself up. "I don't really think so, otherwise Kaine or her would have told us it's ready."  Said Evan. "But before we even eat, you need to make sure to through some clothes on." Brooke said while throwing a sweater and jeans at Katie when she noticed that all she had under the blanket was just a tank top and underwear.    
 
  Looking up Brooke saw Kaine standing over her, the next thing she noticed was him snatching the box of cigarettes out of her grasp.   "We've been over this already. You want to keep killing yourself with these, go ahead."   Brooke wasn't too happy.     "But you don't smoke in camp. And you most certainly don't do it when my baby is in the tent next to you."  Watching him throw her pack on the floor made her even less happy. "I wonder if he thinks i even care?" She told Evan with a calm look on her face.  Pulling out her Diary she began to quickly write some of her thoughts. 
      

 Some thoughts

 Back to.. that.

  As the head cook (actually the only real cook) of the camp, Ash was beginning to get worried. They had finally run out of “fresh” foods and were now left with canned and preserved goods. All the fruits and veggies were gone, and the last of the meat was gone now. Ash had made sure to make good use of the perishables before the all went bad. They barely had enough power to keep the freezers they had going on for much longer, especially since they were also using the energy for other things. There wasn't very much she'd be able to do with canned items, but at least the mall had a lot.  

She was mulling over the possibility of making some neat dessert for everyone with the couple of cartons of ice cream she'd hidden away at the bottom of the big freezer. It might make for a nice surprise. 

At that exact moment there was a booming explosion outside and Kingsley was on his feet, barking out orders. People scrambled into action instantly, each running around to do something useful. For a moment Ash was too stunned to do anything but stand, spatula in hand, watching the chaos around her.  

She'd done her best to stay away from the Walkers recently, her nightmares were bad enough. She closed her eyes passing by windows and doors, held her breath whenever she heard a noise at night, and sometimes even shoved cotton up her nose to block out the horrible rotting smell that sometimes seeped into the bowels of the mall.   

Someone screamed and Ash was jolted back to life. She dropped the spatula and ran for the door, picking up a frying pan on her way. If anything she could bash in the brains of a few Dawn of the Dead extras before lunch. 

She arrived at the door in time to see a man she didn't recognize being carried away. He didn't look in good shape and when Ash looked outside she could see why. Not only was there a massive horde of the undead heading their way, but a horribly mangled helicopter was burning in the middle of the parking lot. But it wasn't the zombies or the wreckage that caught Ash's eye, it was the girl that was speeding through the parking lot screaming so loud she could be heard over the blaring alarms. If the zombies weren't already interested in the mall entrance, they were now.   

Ash glanced at her frying pan then back up at the quickly growing crowd of Walkers. And then she spotted her. The pan slipped from Ash's grip and clattered to the ground, the sound ringing in her ears. Pamela, or something like that. An older woman she and Holly had met when leaving the airport. She was now missing an ear and half her jaw, but Ash recognized her. Pamela had been with Holly when they had gotten separated. If she was a Walker now, what did that mean for Holly? 

A groan brought Ash out of her trance and she realized in utter horror that she had somehow left the doorway and walked towards the zombies. Next to her one of the creatures gnashed its teeth menacingly and stumbled at her. 

"Oh, fu--" Ash did the only thing she could think to. She punched the Walker in the head, disgusted to see the thing snap and flop to the side.  

Turning to run, she cursed loudly as she pulled a classic B-movie, ditzy blonde move and tripped. Or was tripped. She hadn't noticed the zombie torso dragging itself along the ground.  

She kicked it away and stumbled to her feet, sprinting for the door. At the last moment she looked up and thought she was a figure on the roof. Something flashed above her head. A camera? 

Ash slipped through the door and in between the people firing off weapons. Now she felt really bad for just having a frying pan.  

"Who...who's on the roof?"She gasped, looking around and making a quick head count. "Or am I just going crazy?" 

Before... 

Now... 

"You sure as hell better look after my baby!" Kingsley said towards Colin, when an explosion could be heard not far and not long ago. People started to scream and little kids started to cry, Kingsley ran off towards the explosion taking his weapon off his back. Colin glanced at Rosie and chuckled. Colin finished his bacon and put the dish on the nearest table and then took Rosie up and set her beside him when he took a seat on Kingsley´s bed. He reached for both guns that were fastened on his back and laid them on the opposite side of Rosie.  
 
As he laid the guns down Rosie started to whimper he looked at her and tried to get her to laugh. Rosie was not happy and she definitely wasn´t not getting happier, because the stench in the air told a very clear story. This was a first time for Colin in a long, long, long time and even though this should have been something that wouldn´t be difficult to forget after his own baby died he did try the hardest to forget, so this was like a new experience.  
 
He knew eventually he would get it right, but at the moment his mind was blank. He looked at his clock realizing that he couldn´t wait for somebody else to fix this problem. He was very efficient in cleaning house when zombies were involved and he needed to view this in a similar manner.  The only thing he needed to keep in mind was trying to keep Rosie alive. Colin grunted and picked Rosie up, keeping her arms length away and trying to coo her and getting her to smile and finally a little smile was seen from Rosie, he walked over to the children´s isle knowing that there would be diapers still around and he grabbed one. And then hurried over to the toilet. 
 
He went to the ladies toilet because he remembered seeing a children´s changing rack or whatca ma call it. He opened it and put Rosie down, putting the diapers on her side and handing her his key chain, rattling it infront of her face seeing her whimper changing into a tiny little smile and the giggle, her little hand reaching out and grabbing the key chain and start flicking it around and he knew he had a winner. Rosie zero Colin one. 
 
Reaching down and taking off her dirty nappies, Colin was charged with his most difficult task of his life, he really wanted to bolt and leave Rosie there, he couldn´t imagine that a child could ever lay this devastation in one...tiny...little...nappie. He took a deep breath and immediately he knew that it had been a mistake, because the stench so foul- was trapped in his noise. He knew that this day would be forever firmly in his mind for his most heroic day...yet.  
 
 Taking the diaper off Rosie, nearly vomiting and trying his hardest to miss the baby, Colin held his breath and ran for the nearest garbage and threw the diaper in there, Colin exhaled and focused on Rosie, who was having fun with the key chain. Colin took some tissues and moistened them allowing just few drops of water and then tried to wipe the little girls butt clean. He knew that he wasn´t doing a very good job, but heroics come in many sizes, this little hero not very big, but the heroic part felt enormous to him. 
 
Taking the diaper, opening it, he realized that this might not be a very simple thing to do, but an old memory from taking care of his own child, helped him along. Before he knew it, Rosie had a fresh nappie and was immediately giggling when he picked her up and Colin began to wonder why all his tasks weren´t as nice. He took her and placed her lying down in one hand, taking hold of his two guns and placing them on his back again, he started his usual routes in the mall feeling little Rosie falling asleep in his arms, holding firmly to his key chain.  
 
Colin made his way towards Kingsley´s `pad`, he placed sleeping Rosie into her cot and then he sat next to her in a uncomfortable stool, relaxed, smiling, and inhaling fresh air.

Raide was amazed. Bacon. Real, genuine bacon with breakfast. She absolutely loved bacon. Before the end of the world had come about she had bacon with breakfast every morning. This was the first bacon she'd had since the first weeks in the mall. Her mouth was watering as she made her way over to a quiet place and prepared to devour the plate of food in front of her. Sitting at the table the farthest away from the others Raide was taking her time, and enjoying the full aroma of the bacon before eating it. Raide picked one crispy piece out from the rest and slowly pulled it to her mouth. 
 
Then there was an incredible explosion and an earsplitting screeching noise. Nearly jumping out of her skin in fright Raide dropped the piece of bacon she had been obsessing over and looked around. Kingsley had sanpped to attention and had started barking out orders, the other survivors all rushing to do as directed. Raide leapt up from the table and hefted her fireaxe in both hands, checking the mall around them as if the walking dead would start pouring in from every direction. Kingsley and a band of his gun-toting compatriots charged off in the direction of the disturbance, instructing the rest of the less combat worthy of them to stay in the camp. Raide, realising that the danger wasn't yet immediate, took the time to double check her Med-kit. Satisfied that she could handle any potential injuries with it she turned her attention back to the tent city her and most of the other survivors were standing in. They had all assembled in a rough circle, everyone watching for any signs of the dead.  
 
The smell of wonderful bacon drifted back over and made it's way into Raide's thoughts. She glaced over to her plate still sitting where she left it. If the dead were going to come and eat them all she might as well have a full stomach herself right? Raide slowly edged her way back over to her plate. Taking another long breath of the bacon scent she reached out with one hand.   "Somebody take him to Raide!" 
 
She froze in place, Kinglsey's voice clearly audible from the hall he had run down. Regretfully turning to run after the others, Raide started unzipping her Med-kit and digging through it for gloves.    Raide sighed at the unfairness of it all. Her favorite food right there in front of her and yet she just couldn't have it.  She then realised with some amusement that this was probably how the walking dead outside felt. The amusement vanished as the realisation struck her that she was thinking about them eating her like she ate bacon. 
 
Racing down the long hall towards the doors a bizarre sight greeted the young medic. Kingsley and several of the others were jammed in the doorway shooting and bashing at a tide of the dead. A survivor that Raide recognized as Evan dragged an unconscious man away from it all. Ash seemed to be wandering out the doors and into the horde of zombies without even realising it. Through the chaos at the door Raide could barely make out what looked like the flaming wreckage of a helicopter in the middle of the parking lot. Focusing on the injured man she grabbed him and with the help of Evan dragged him safely back into camp, where she shoved everything off of a table, the plates of food clattering across the floor, and lifted the man on top of it. 
 
He was bleeding heavily from a head wound, and had numerous other minor cuts and scrapes. Snapping on a pair of gloves she dove into her bag for disinfectant. She carefully began cleaning the wound and then comannded Evan, "Look in my bag for some stitches, it'll be a hooked needle with a piece of thread--" she was cut off by another screeching scream. Glancing up from her patient Raide observed a girl wielding a baseball bat come flying down the hall faster than Raide had ever seen anyone go. The girl ran straight past everyone, and didn't stop screaming until she slammed into the wall and collapsed over backwards. "Oh hell, nevermind, go make sure she's ok, and if she's conscious give her one of these." She tossed a small bottle of pills to Evan. "It's a mild sedative, anyone that's so worked up they blindly run into a wall is probably in shock, we don't need the girl giving herself a heart-attack. She'll be a little loopy for a while but that's better then death wouldn't you say?" Turning her attention back to the man on the table she quickly picked out where she left the equipment for stitches in her bag. Turning to the work of sewing the gash in the man's head she muttered "It's a good thing you're unconscious or this would hurt like a b!tch."  
 
Quickly finishing up her work Raide noticed that her plate of bacon was still sitting untouched on the table behind her. Surely saving a man's life was worth a bit of a bacon reward right? Ripping of her blood covered gloves and hastily cleaning her hands with a bit of hand sanitizer and paper towels Raide reached out for her well earned breakfast. She was finally moments away from crispy grease covered bliss. Then Kingsley came running in out of nowhere and snatched up the entire plate of bacon, along with all the bacon Raide had scattered across the floor when she had cleared the table. Stunned, Raide watched in horror as Kinglsey sped back towards the doors, and hurled to bacon into the walker hordes. The undead quickly began fighting in a feeding frenzy to get at the precious strips of meat. 
 
Raide watched, shocked at the loss of the breakfast she had been looking forward to so much. Raide glared angrilly at Kingsley's back before turning back to check on her patient once more. Muttering to herself about all the dire acts she would enact to avenge this crime against bacon she set about digging an IV out of her bag. Raide's stomach grumbled in complaint.

Two Months Ago- Zeus' Temple

Now- The City Mall

Two Months Ago

"Mom can I go with you and dad? Please, please, please'." These were the words of Amelia only six years old her eyes a light blue hair a ravenous black like her mothers. She was short but her strength was apparent in every action. She was the pride and joy of Selene and Jack Celist. So when they looked in the crystalline eyes of the young girl in black they couldn't manage to even think of saying no. Selene smiled as she put away the dishes from her breakfast as the others finished. "Why can’t you be a normal brat finish cereal and go to school? Would also help if you stopped stealing my IPod I use it to you know" she teased. The child giggled before continuing to nag. "Oh come on you know where doing nothing today let me go." The others smiled they couldn't resist and all of them knew it, Why Amelia wanted to go on a ride along they really didn't know. What harm was there in letting her have her way however. The city was usually rather quiet and there wasn't much trouble to get into when around to officers. An hour later and they were on their way to the HQ.

Jack would ride beside the car while Amelia got shot gun and as of yet things had been uneventful. Then came the screams of what Selene predicted was an elderly man coming from the nearby gas station. She pulled in Jack right behind her. "Honey wait here, dad an eye got work to do" she remarked with confidence in her voice and a wink. Giving her daughter a reason to fear was never her way. The two ran into the small store hands on their gun holsters just in case. The bell rang as they entered. Various items, candy bars and bags of chips littered the floor. Obvious signs of a struggle. They continued and found the source of the problem. In the middle isle were two people one hunched over the other. A trail of blood ran down the tile leading to where the supposed clerk rested his lifeless left arm. A gaping wound marking the wrist tendons beneath exposed. The other man was obviously the cause to blame. Blood trickled to the floor a sickening blackish red drool. The man had eyes glossy white and looked as if he had been to hell and back. His movements as he got up were sluggish and abnormal. His haphazard walk led him towards Jack. A turn of his heal and thud of a nightstick and the man dropped. The strange part was that in bleeding from the head and supposed to be out cold he still moaned.

A short drive and they were at the head quarters for some relieve and of course to get Amelia food. The building was pristine mostly tile and glass aside from seats and the wooden desks. The smell of sweat and coffee hung in the air from the hub of officers at work. Meandering typing and the occasional conversation here and there. It all had a normal feel to it aside from one thing. Every individual cuffed and brought in was the same as the one Jack was bringing in. There was a sea of pale sick looking figures stained in blood. She didn’t know if it was just freakish coincidence or some virus but either way it had a disturbing effect. Hopefully Amelia was focusing on something else. Seeing a man who acted like a dog with rabies wasn’t exactly the best thing to witness. Selene turned her head back to her child giving a slight nudge with her elbow. She had removed everything but her glock ammo and badge and removed her jacket. Sitting on the bleacher in a deep blue tank top and black cargo pants. The little one was a mirror of her mother with a plastic badge and all well minus the loaded weapons. The two continued to tease each other before a scream tore through the room.

The two turned in unison eyes widening in horror. Just outside the door stood Jack the very same man they had arrested clamping down on his neck. Arterial spray shot outwards for a second as the teeth dug into flesh. As the cannibal parted the body fell. Selene watched in disbelief as he tried to speak his words cut off by the fact that he was drowning on his own blood. His cries coming out as gargling sounds and fountains of blood. To her further shock however her husband was not the only victim everyone shackled in chains was acting this way as well as a couple random officers. A calm station had erupted into panic without warning or cause. “Love get down” she yelled pointing underneath the desk. As the young girl did so she removed her pistol and took aim. A round into the heart and the man still inched forward. A second shot and he was still unphased. It didn’t seem real to be faced with such monstrosities; she looked it in the eyes. There was no eyras or pupil just what appeared like a white haze. The life and spirit stripped away reduced to a glossy stare. She hesitated a moment before spending her next round. A bit off mark it went into the eye and penetrated the skull the man falling to the earth clotted blood seeping from the gun shot.

A large barrel of a man tossed Selene an ar15 as they fought their way out. His name was Victor Gonzales a fellow trainee in the academy. It was a comfort to have him at her side. The numbers made them a threat but get used to their behavior and it was easy to put the goals back to rest. While it may have been minutes it felt like reaching the garage had taken hours. The doors were still shut making the lighting dim. The white of the police vehicles standing out against the rest of the dim location. About a dozen cars still remained it wasn't too hard to grab a few Selene rushed to the nearest one and opened the door for Amelia. She then turned to the others; she expected to see a strong majority alive. Head shots were not too difficult for anyone who knew their way around a gun at least as much as they were least that’s what she thought. What she found however was Victor was the only one left. In the mad rush to keep her child safe she had failed to see that the others had all had their down fall. The large man stopped and sealed the door dropping to one knee a few steps in. "Vic what the f--k do you think you’re doing?" she remarked. "What the hell does it look like I’m making sure you two get away from this s--t" was the response as he hit the garage door opener. The beating on the door from those things disturbing the silence. She smiled thankful but not bothering to spend any more time here. Losing one loved one was enough she had no intent on loosing another.

Selene drove off as the doors opened enough to pass through. Heading away from the city sounded like the best rout on instinct. To get away from this horror but it wasn't in the long run. The horror that had transpired didn't seem like it could be by means of just one town. Best place to go was somewhere where others would be. Food and security was priority over the ideas of heading to the unknown. The mall was the closest place to go it wasn't the most secure place to go but it sounded better than the other options. The drive didn't provide much trouble a few cars to go around but that wasn't much. It was a strange trip the serenity of the city tampered by the apocalyptic atmosphere presented by these monstrosities. Fires and corpses ruined the usually calming surroundings. "Uh mom instead of fiddling around with the radio could you focus on going around the car driving in are way on fire." She smiled glad she was holding herself together. Both were fighting their sorrow to hold together for the other. She looked up to find it wasn't a joke as she thought.

Swerving to try and dodge out of the way didn't prove fruitful. At the last moment they were struck by the oncoming car. The man driving had bled out and kept going while not remarkably fast yet it did hit reasonably hard. The police car knocked into the creek bend on the left. The engine was shot and tires flat from the accident. Luckily the collision wasn't much Selene sighed in relief as she went to get out and help out Amelia. Then her composure dissolved as she found a walker heading towards her child Amelia stumbling backwards trying to get away. Then it was pointless the walker fell and bit deep. Blood pooled off Amelia’s leg the girl biting her tong to avoid screaming. Nine of her ten rounds were spent firing into the head of the walking corpse Selene giving into a moment of wrath. Dropping to her knees the two hugged both knowing what had to be done. Tears ran down her cheeks as her left arm held tightly around her baby as her right raised the gun. She placed it at the base of the skull where the spine ends. It wasn't much but it did limit the bloodshed which was a comfort. "Mom you and I both" Amelia started chocking down her pain and remorse. "Hush" Selene responded trying to savor the time she had left. Then she pulled the trigger to put an end to the suffering. It was unsettling her life had lost all she held dear. Over the years she had placed life as the most important thing to keep safe. Now that was lost at least for herself.

Before she left for the mall she placed Amelia now on the stopped burning car. The flames provided her to be cremated, wasn't too much finesse to it but was better then knowing she was going to be a meal. It took an hour walk to get to the mall and by the time she got their most of her rifle ammo was gone she would have to save it for a rainy day. Upon arriving at the mall she set a rule for herself. All those around her were to be kept safe. None of them however were to become too special. She couldn't take a loss like her child again.

Present Day

"NOOO" Selene sat up from where she slept screaming. Nightshift was her post and she had normally slept through breakfast and skipped lunch. The crashing sound and gun shots woke her. "F--k it's like waking from one nightmare and into the next" She cursed under her breath as she tossed a hood on and exited the tent to lend a hand.