Fujiko had just finished zipping up a few bottles of warm soda into her bag, when she suddenly heard the voice of a man, sounding slightly deranged.....and singing a song she couldn't identify to save her life, at the top of his lungs.
"What the hell....." she whispered to herself, before slinging her backpack over her shoulders, and quickly making her way behind the abandoned register in the front of the store, JUST as the man entered the Deli......with of all things - a spatula, in his hands.

Fuu simply stared, intensively. Attempting to figure out what exactly was, wrong, with the man.

"Is he....dead?"

"No, maybe he's....crazy?"

"Or...both? I mean, there's a fine line in some regards."........
were all thoughts that ran through Fuu's head, but she eventually settled on the fact that the man wasn't infected, just a bit....bizarre. So as he made his way into the food isles, she decided to grab her skateboard and jet.
But just as her arm reached up for the board, her heart dropped.......as three walkers began making their way across the street & towards the Deli.
She instantly froze....cursing under her breath, and hoping against hope that they weren't heading into the store.....but it soon became evident they were heading for the door to the Deli, in a rush.
"Dammit! It was him...." she whispered "....and his fucking singing!! Tracked them here like a beacon......"


Fujiko would hurriedly swing the backpack off her shoulder and in between her knees........where she'd work feverishly to unhook the bow from her bag.....getting it off JUST as the first walking corpse would reach the sidewalk, mere feet from the open door.
She knew she couldn't handle a storming of all three, so seconds before she tried to jump atop the counter and begin firing like a wild woman, she stopped, and decided to wait and see where they'd go inside the Deli.



It wasn't long before the first walker made its way inside, and started to head left towards the food isles, clumsily......while the second one entered, and went to it's right, causing a knot to well up in Fuus throat. For all that second walker had to do was look down, and he'd spot her..........but luckily as he moved passed her register, he seemed completely unaware of her presence.

"Where's the third......where did it go.... she wondered......until finally spotting it in between the door frame, apparently not sure of whether or not it wanted to come in or not.

"They're no longer in a group......this....is my chance!" she thought nervously. "I'll shoot the one in the doorway, and then, by the grace of God, i'll have enough time to take care of the others......right?"
Fujiko didn't believe her own uplifting words.....even though the plan sounded good in theory.
Sure, she was a decent shot in archery during summer camp, and she enjoyed shooting with a bow when she'd go hunting with her friends upstate.........but this wasn't a normal draw back hunting bow.........it was just some collectible her family overseas had sent her, along the a handful of swords, pocket knives, and old paintings. The thing had never left it's case for more than fifteen minutes, until six days ago. So to say that she wasn't too confident in her efficiently using it in such a dire situation, would be putting it lightly............but she had no other choice, and after closing her eyes and meditating for a brief moment, she slowly stood.....making sure not a single sound was made, until her first arrow came in contact with the third walkers forehead.
As soon as it did, the one that had walked beside her moments earlier snapped around.....just as Fujiko turned to face it.......and began to make his way towards her, quickly.
She went to jump on the counter, but instead fell on her back as the cheap shelving she had tried to use for balance, broke underneath her boot.
With the walker just a foot away from her, Fuu knew she wouldn't have enough time to get up.....so she instead grabbed a small metal trash can beside her on the floor, and threw it with all her might, at the walkers head.
It was far from enough force to harm the thing, but it distorted his focus long enough for the young woman to crawl to her feet and then run towards the doorway.........where she quickly took note of the other walks absence, before yanking out the arrow from the fallen corpses forehead, aiming it at the one coming towards her, and shooting.

Her shot had hit the walker with enough of a punch to send it back a few feet and then to the ground. But it wasn't dead, since the arrow simply hit the thing in the shoulder.
"Fuck!" she snapped, before walking over towards the struggling monster and attempting to pull out the arrow.........however her actions were foolish, because it quickly grabbed her leg......and in the struggle to free herself, Fuu once again fell to the ground.......this time, sending the bow out of her hands and clear across the store floor.

"Let......go......of.......me.....you FREAK!" she said furiously, in between harsh kicks to the walkers head & neck.
It took just a few good swell kicks underneath the walkers chin, to snap it's head back, and force it's grip to loosen just enough for her to slip free.....and without looking back, she ran over towards her bow, pulled a new arrow out of the pouch on her hip, and aimed it at the walker, who had just made it to his feet.

Much to her shocked annoyance though, there was no where for her to aim........seeing as how his head was snapped clean against his back, as he began coming for Fuu again, much slower this time, and obviously disoriented.

"Stupid waste....." she spat under her breath, before slowly making her way around the confused freak, until his upside down forehead was in view..........once spotting it, she quickly raised her bow, closed her right eye, and shot......the arrow landed in the top of the walkers forehead, and sent it crashing to the ground.
There was no time to be happy however....for she knew there was a third one inside the Deli........but where?.



Fuu would spend only seconds retrieving her two arrows from the fallen bodies, before slowly walking over towards isle one........spotting nothing.
Isle two........nothing
Three, four, five, nothing........

But as she approached isle six, of seven total, she heard staggered footsteps, and quickly placed one of the arrows into her bow......before hoping out into the isle, just in time to catch the walkers back turning the corner.

"That man!" she thought, as she quickly ran to isle seven.
Sure enough, in the snack isle, the walkers pace began to suddenly pick up as he spotted the older deranged man in the middle of the isle.......but just as the freak approached him, with arms stretched inches from touch, Fujiko landed an arrow, off-center, in the freaks forehead........sending it to the ground.



After the body hit the ground, the young woman couldn't help but fall into the shelf to her left, as she took a deep breath and began to try and calm her nerves.
However she didn't get far in her deep breathing before holding out her finger towards the man.
"If you want to die, that's fine by me! But next time, try and be a bit more quiet when you enter a building! There might be people who want to LIVE inside it!!!!" she snapped..........before dropping her arm and pushing herself off the shelf.

She didn't want to wait around in the isle for him to respond......and instead, started to make her way back to the register.......but she'd only walk a few feet before hearing what sounded like an engine, roar around the corner and down the road.

It took Fujiko only seconds to recognize the familiar engine sound.
"A Harley!!???" she wondered aloud, before turning back toward the man for a second....and staring at him with an expression that asked "Did you hear that too!?"

Instead of waiting for him to answer though, she ran back to the counter, grabbed her board, and then walked out into the street......parallel from the Deli door.

By the time she arrived outside she was JUST able to catch a glimpse of a young woman and boy entering the gas station at the corner.
Fujiko couldn't help but a feel a bit happy, to find not just one, but possibly three, uninfected people so quickly......it was almost like a sign of hope from above, even as she took note of the few dead walking up the road. But even more worrisome to her in that moment, was a gang of five individuals, wearing leather jackets and dirtied jeans, heading into the station behind the woman and boy......with riffles and and guns drawn.


"Oh gees......." she whispered, knowing whatever was about to go down, wasn't going to be good.
Without much thought, she ran back towards the door and stuck her head inside it...
"I'm leaving...for the Gas station........if you're of any use, come help....if not...." her voice trailed off, as she couldn't find the words to finish her statement. Fujiko didn't bother to try though, before throwing her board on the sidewalk, and taking off down the hill towards the gas station.






She spotted movement of the people in the door before she rolled up to the window on the side of the station and ducked down.

Finally having enough courage to slide her head up ever so slightly, she saw a stand of.........one of the leather-glad men was on the ground, and the woman and boy stood alone, against the four others.

"Gees, what the hell can i do?" she wondered.......before she remembered the soda in her bag. Most were in plastic bottles, but she had scarfed a couple in cans too, and quickly took them out.
Fuu knew she'd have only one chance to get this right............so with after a deep breath, she threw a can against the half broken glass above her and shattered what was left of it, before standing, and with all her might, throwing the other can directly at the head of one of the men with a rifle, causing him to drop to his knees, while the rest of his people had confused written all of their faces.


"Don't shoot!" she called out to the woman with the boy behind her. "Knock them out! Use anything, just don't shoot...we'll be surrounded!" Fujiko said, before reaching into the window, grabbing some kind of metal remote, and throwing it at the end of the man already on his knees......sending him to his side.
She'd quickly dunk back down, grab her board, and make her way around the back of the station, hoping that the woman would heed her advice.......as she tried to enter the store from the back, before one from the group, decided to follow her outside.

Once Fujiko made her way to the rear of the gas station, she pressed her back against the building and clenched her skateboard tightly against her chest.
"Calm down Fuu......it's okay, you haven't died yet, you'll be fine" she whispered to herself, before gruesome screams could be heard coming from inside the station. "Walkers?!" Fujiko assumed, and she slid to the ground even more unsure of what her next move should be. But within seconds she made her way back to her feet, and went to open the rear door to the gas station.......she knew she couldn't just leave.
Much to her chagrin however, the door didn't seem to want to open.
"Dammit!" she spat under her breath, before dropping her board, taking a step back, and side kicking the door........multiple times, until it swung open.

She didn't make it more than a few steps in before nearly running into the young women and the boy. "You're.....okay?"
Fujiko looked beyond them confused, but relaxed a bit when she saw that the screams weren't from walkers, but instead from the two bodies now on the floor........would had quite obviously been stabbed by the same bizarre man she had her own unpleasant encounter with in the deli only moments ago.
"Him again!" she whispered, before turning back to face the two woman and boy. "Don't ask me, i have no idea what's wrong with him..........but i do know we can't stay here long, all that noise........probably attracted every freak within a mile.........we've got to get out of here."


Without wasting another second Fujiko walked back out the door and picked up her skateboard. But she quickly froze......as a sudden realization hit her in the head.
Just how in the hell did she expect to flee this place? On a skateboard???
"Shit!"
Fujiko turned around and placed her free hand on her hip, as the other hand held her skateboard loosely beside her leg. "That loud freak-attracting motorcycle of yours.........can't fit three can it?" she joked, before turning her head from side to side, looking for anything they could use for better transportation.
To her right she spotted a broken bike rack, two downed bikes, and an old beat up sedan. To the left, she saw the hill she had just came down, lined with a few random cars, but also filled with straggling walkers......that she knew within under a minute would likely spot the group if they stayed outside for long.
So she again cussed under her breath as the Sedan was beginning to look like a prized Lexus.......however when she turned to walk towards it she caught a glimpse of another vehicle several yards away, in the back of the station, up against the edge of wooded area.
There stood a minivan....in much better shape than the Sedan. But it wasn't alone........there was also a pick up truck w/ "Huey's Electrical Work" on the side of it, and of all things, a sheriffs car...........all rammed behind the station together, with the doors wide open.

Fujiko couldn't help but laugh softly to herself..........before turning to face the woman again.
"What's the likelihood that any of these start up?" she said with a smile, before catching a glimpse of the walkers up the road, which wiped the smile clear off her face. "You try the sheriffs car, i'll take the pick up...........both are more likely to have CB radios vs. a minivan.




Sure enough when she hoped up into the cab of the metallic-red GMC Sierra, she spotted the walk-talkie piece of a CB radio laying on the seat........which was covered in wrappers and blankets.
[color=Red]"Somebody must of been staying here......." she whispered to herself, as she began to search for keys.
But as her head pop up from underneath the steering wheel, her head hit a pair of dangling keys............they had been in the starter the whole time.

"Please God, let this work"

Her short prayer was answered when the truck started up, and she quickly threw her board and bag onto the cluttered passengers seat. "We've got a winner!" she yelled out the door, before staring at the fuel gauge. "Come on baby, rise some more!!" she said, as she watched the arrow go up, and up, and up, until it stopped only a few notches below the "F".
"YES!" she said gleefully, before closing the door......astonished at her own luck.

"Does the police car start?" she yelled out the open window, before waving the walkie part of the CB radio around. "We can talk over this if it does......just hurry up, i think the freaks have spotted us!!"

Fujiko was ready to drive out of the parking lot ASAP.........but she would wait until the girl was able to either start the police car, or make it to the truck's backseat door.
"Oh dammit......what about, him." she said to herself, unsure of whether or not she should even bother...............but a life is a life, even if it's a bit.......crazy. So she stuck her head back out the window and yelled out to the man. "YOU! IN THE GAS STATION! WE'RE LEAVING...........YOU'RE EITHER COMING, OR STAYING! BUT YOU BETTER MAKE UP YOUR MIND......NOW!" She'd then turn her head back towards the young woman and boy, as she put the truck in drive.
"Let that car start please.....so we can place Mr. Crazy in the back seat, behind a barrier..........instead of crammed in a truck with all of us......." she whispered to herself, knowing most, if not all, NYC Sheriff cars had either bars, or a glass barricade, up to block the front seats from the back.

“If he doesn’t come out of the station in the next ten seconds we are out of here…” said the woman, as she pulled up beside the truck.
Fujiko couldn't of agreed more, as she spotted a horde of walkers running clumsily down the hill towards them.

"Look Mister, You've got eight seconds!" she yelled out the window. "8...7...6...5...4...3...2........." Fujiko threw the truck into drive after "2". "Okay, lets jet!!" she yelled to the woman, before peeling out the gas station JUST in time to miss the horde of walkers.


She thought she was home free once she pulled out of the station, but the truck only got a few hundred yards, before a group of at least twenty infected walked into the middle of the street. "Damn it!" she yelled, before slamming onto the breaks - sending the truck to a grinding halt. She didn't know what to do, seeing as how the hill behind them was crawling with walkers last time she looked......but much to her surprise, when she looked again in her rear-view mirror, all the walkers from the hill were now mostly making their way about the gas stations parking lot.........
"I-if we drive fast enough, we can make it!" Fujiko whispered to herself, and then placed the truck in reverse, backed up enough to spin the vehicle around, and started to head back in the other direction.
She then began to fiddle with the CB radio, until hitting a channel that sounded clear. "If you can hear me, what do you think about crossing the expressway and going into-"
The channel suddenly cut out on her, and she cussed under her breath, as she continued up the hill - spotting the Sheriffs car behind her. Fujiko randomly punch radio out of frustration a few minutes later, and it seemed to knock some sense back into the thing......as the channel once again cleared up, and she picked up the receiver once again.
"Hey, i think this thing is working again. The city....it's over-run................we'd do best to try and avoid it.............if you can hear me, i'm going to try and make it to the Bronx via the Expressway before the sun sets.........the clock in here says 4:22.......means we have a little over an hour before the sun sets.....we can make it to the expressway in about 15 minutes if we floor it........over?" Fujiko threw the CB device onto the seat, waiting for a response, as she gripped the wheel tightly. Two walkers had just made their way into the middle of the road, and she knew she had to brace herself for impact.
When she hit the monstrosities however, it was like she had hit a bug.......because besides a few smudges of dirt and blood on the windshield, the impact didn't seem to phase the truck one bit.
"Thank god for Chevys!! Wait, what am i saying....this thing is actually a GMC......"
She laughed at herself for a moment, remembering how much she use to swear she'd only drive Chervy's if she ever bought an American made car.



If the radio would allow it, she'd converse with the woman hopefully still behind her throughout the fifteen minute journey.


"We've got to find somewhere to rest after we cross this thing............those beast are always more active at night..........we'll be a traveling buffet if we stay on the road for much longer." she whispered to herself........seconds before slamming on the breaks.

"Oh great....just fucking great!" she whispered, as she stared ahead at the mess of piled/backed up cars on the expressway.........there was no way they'd be able to cross it successfully. But that was the least of her worries, as a loud voice suddenly rung out......from where, she wasn't quite sure.
"Please move away from the expressway........the area has been Quarantined, you are not allowed to pass!"
The voice sounded as if it was coming from what Fujiko assumed was some sort of Military megaphone.

"You've got to be kidding me! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME DAMMIT!!!!!!!!"
She couldn't believe the Military of all people would really try and force survivors back into the hell hole they knew the city was........and so out of pure anger, she began to pound her fist into the steering wheel furiously, before finally stopping at the sound of a small military-grade helicopter flying over towards her from The Bronx.

"This is your last warning, move back from the expressway!"
They didn't give her much of a chance to move back, before they began to fire wildly around the truck.
Astonished, and suddenly fearful of her life, Fujiko quickly threw the car into reverse.........and eventually turned around to head back in the direction of the city, the last place she wanted to go, as the helicopter circled over her once before making its way back across the water.

As it did, Fujiko angrily picked up the CB receiver.
"Can you beleive that?? They tried to shoot us.........i know fear causes human beings to act irrationally but that was just.......insane." she yelled into the device, before she began to wrack her mind for a place they could possibly stay.
Finally, after a few minutes, it hit her.....Gramercy Park.

"Hey, i just thought of a place we might be able to lay low if your interested........Gramercy Park. It's a half hour away, and was pretty deserted when i made my way past it last.....most the houses there are empty a lot of the time, like the 19 Gramercy Park South one. I had a girlfriend who did house cleaning once a week there, she said the owners where never around, and that it was just her and her co-workers most of the time, so........maybe we can try there!?" Fujiko would hook the receiver back up to the CB but keep the thing on, so she could use it hands free. "It's the large brick house, i don't know much about the place, but the owners don't live in the city, so it's likely empty....and maybe we could lock ourselves up on the top floor....it's probably a safe choice to hide from the learners that like to hunt, i mean owner the damn city, at night...... since the windows have dark indoor shutters on them that we could close"


They were only five or so minutes out from Gramercy Park now, and Fujikos nerves were beginning to run wild as the sun was only twenty minutes or so from fully setting...