Alex Rider's Story

Alex walked slowly through the ruins of Atlanta city, groans could be heard from nearby undead along with the occasional scream. Silently he peeked around a car to discover a grim site, three walkers feasting on the corpse of a women. With a grimace Alex turned back around and moved towards a small store, walking inside he carefully closed the door and spoke in a whisper. "Report." A female dressed in all black and carrying a large bow appeared at his side.

"We got everything useful, time to get out before we get noticed sir." She said, matching his tone. He nodded and moved towards the back, where another man was knelt down with a map spread out before him. "thirty first is crawling, wee need a new route." Alex said to the man who nodded. A static sound erupted in the silent store, surprising them all. The female took out a walkie talking and messed with the buttons. "church in Atlanta, anybody? I'm running low on supplies, please..."

"Map out a path Jake." Alex said to the man by the map, then turned to the female. "another survivor sir?" She said. He nodded, then checked his ammo supplies. "See if you can get a message to her that help is on the way Jess, Jake you got that route yet?" He demanded.

Lydia was panicking. She wondered if she was going to escape Atlanta. The walkers were furious to get to her... Like they could smell her fear. She spoke into the radio again "Please! Help!"
She heard somebody on the other side saying they were going to help her "Where are you?". Lydia shook her head and left the radio, she shoved her backpack over her shoulder and armed her gun. Somebody was coming to get her.

Lydia decided to do something she forgot when she came to the church - scavenge. She looked around with her gun pointed down, there was a door, with white paint that read 'Alive Inside'. But she knew there wasn't, because there was no noise coming from the room. She put her ear to the door and twisted the knob. Locked. She sighed, what hope was there? Who could actually help her? Suddenly she rushed back to the radio to see if anybody had talked to her back.

"Please, hurry..."

Alex and his team moved systematically through the city, staying silent and stealthy as the moved through back allys. Stopping only to check there location. Holding a hand up for the others to stop Alex peeked out from around the ally, a single walker stood there with its back to them. He nodded to Jess who pulled out her bow and locked an arrow at it. The sound of it firing was quiet as the night when the arrow plunged into the walker's skull dropping it instantly. Alex gave the sign to move forward and they continued.

Reaching the church they took cover behind a car and Alex held a hand out for binoculars. Using them he quickly surveyed the scene. "The church is completely surrounded, there has to be two dozen or more of them. Have you gotten any other transition since the last one?" He asked Jess who shook her head. "Damn, I wonder if she's still alive..." He handed the optics back and leaned against the car. "Alright, ammo check. Were going to try."

"Sire, odds are shes dead, we should keep moving." Jess said somewhat shyly. Alex gave her a cold stare. "I know the risks, but we told her we were coming, as long as there is a slight chance we have to try. You don't have to come Jess. Neither of you do, if you leave now...I won't think any less of you." He looked at there faces, clearly determined to stay. "Alright then, get me a decoy."

Lydia screamed, a walker had ambushed her. She fired her gun in fear, but after she emptied her barrel, not a single shot had hit the undead. As the gunfire echoed through most of the city, she whacked the walker's face with the butt of her gun. In a brief moment she took ammo out of her pocket and reloaded her revolver.

Running back to the radio, she turned the frequency knobs and spoke into it desperately "Hello? Please! More and more of the dead are at my door, and I'm not alone in the church." She looked up and hunched over to hide from any dead still in the church, her head patrolling the room. Moans of the dead were coming from outside, but softer growls also came from inside. She looked at her gun in desperation, and pointed it to the bottom of her chin, shaking. It had to end for her.

Shaking her head, Lydia took the gun away from under her chin. If anybody was out there they would have heard her gunshots. And so would've the dead.

Gunshots echoed outward from the church, loud ones. Seconds later a frantic voice came over the walkie. “I’m not alone in here!” Alex gave the go ahead and Jake threw a small grenade looking ball into the horde around the church. It erupted into loud noises and began sparking and spinning. One by one the undead began to clutter around it, attracted by the commotion.

“Alright, quit your grinning and lets move!” Alex called out, the three formed a triangle with him at point and started pushing there way through the horde, a dangeres maneuver but few undead happened to notice them thankfully. The ones that did were easily put down with a mele weapon. They reached the door and Alex tried to open it, finding it locked or barricaded. “Open it, now!” He yelled as loud as he could.

Then the decoy went silent. Alex turned slowly and looked at the undead refocusing there attention on him and his team.
shit,Hope she opens up fast he thought as he put a bullet into the undead.

Lydia heard gunshots, whizzing, yelling, and growling. She was horribly confused yet delighted. As she rushed to unlock the door she tripped and screamed in pain. Reaching her feet she put her gun in her back pocket and unlocked the door and opened it, then ran as fast as she could to the back of the church and whipped out her revolver. "Get in!" she called to the group she layed eyes on.

While she yelled to the group to get inside a whirlwind of emotions ran inside her, fear, anxiety, and hope. Don't leave me... Please... she prayed to herself. She aimed down the barrel of her gun and shot at some of the walkers in desperation, while yelling.

Alex and his two teammates flooded in through the door, then grabbed it and began forcing it shut aginst the mass of undead. "Jake help me out!" Alex yelled, Jake moved to the door and helped push it closed again, re locking it in the process. While they did that Jess found the walker in the church and put an arrow through its skull, then prodded the body a little before pulling the arrow out and wipeing it off. Alex turned to the girl they had come to rescue, she seemed horribly terrified. Cautiously he brought a hand up and put it in the top of her gun, lightly pushing it down. "Calm down, your okay now." He said sternly, holstering his own gun. Jake and Jess began searching the perimeter, looking for any weaknesses.

The last thing we need is her accidentally shooting someone.. "Lets start simple, whats your name?"

Lydia looked shocked and scared. She spoke softly, "I'm Lydia... Who are you?".
She looked at the mans uniform and assumed he was a millitary of some sort. She clenched her eyes shut and opened them, was this an illusion? She lowered her gun further and gently put it into her pocket. She managed to pull together a smile, and stood up tall.

"So who are you and what's your group?" she said, "And what are you doing in At-" she was interrupted by walkers banging at the door even louder than usual. Once they settled down more she sighed, walked down and sat on a bench. "What are you doing in Atlanta?" she finished her sentence.

Lydia trailed after Alex to the door, wondering about what he said about his group. Ever since the government broke the promise of sending millitary help to fight the undead, she didn't like any government group now. But survivors were survivors.

"I don't know, nothing I think. I imagine whoever was inside that room are either walkers, or they have left." she shrugged and smiled at Alex. "So, where do you suppose we go now?"

“first We find out if there are any supplies…this is a church, which means they may keep canned food donations in the basement. Which is where I’m assuming this door leads.” Though he wished they could leave immediately, he also knew that without supplies they were not long for this world. He gave a crooked grin back.

“Don’t worry, just stay close and stay calm. Well get out of here alive.” He nodded too Jake and Jess who lined up next to the door, weapons at the ready, Alex backed up a couple inches and drew his own gun, turning on the under barrel flashlight. Holding out a hand for Lydia to stay back he kicked the door, it took three tries but it gave way finally with a crush. Slamming into the wall to reveal a set of stairs descending down into darkness. Alex gave Lydia a reassuring nod then began descending.

Lydia waited for his group to go down, she took a deep breath and followed them. Whilst going down the stairs, guided by Alex's flashlight, she armed her gun and got ready to shoot any walkers down in the room.
Once they all reached the bottom there was a small flashlight that was still on, lighting the room slightly. There was blood all over the floor, and 3 dead bodies. Lydia turned away, she was almost sick in horror.

By the looks of the room it was a basement, and there was lots of canned food. However half of it had been devoured, or had gone missing. The bodies were of a male and female and a young girl, probably around ten. There was a gun by the father. Lydia couldn't make out what the gun was, but she didn't want to know what it was or how this scene happened. "Holy shit... That's... Disgusting!" she said in a quiet voice.

Upon closer inspection they all had bullets in their heads, and the girl was bitten in her neck. Lydia ran back upstairs, she hated the sight of dead bodies. She hated this new world. From upstairs she softly wept, she tried to wipe tears from her eyes but they kept coming. This is so fucked up...

Alex looked upon the grim site with sadness in his eyes, as best as he could figure the family had taken sanctuary down here, but the girl had been bitten. Odds are the father kill her, than his son, then saved a bullet for his own head. Alex felt like vomiting, Lydia ran back upstairs and he could hear her sobs. He turned to Jake and Jess. “Gather up the supplies that are left.”

They nodded and started too, meanwhile Alex when over to the bodies and kneeled down, he moved the fathers arm out of the way and picked up the gun. It was a 32. Revolver, with three shots left. He found a holster on the father and quickly took it off, strapping it onto his own leg. “Waste not…” He said in a whisper.

Standing up he checked Jess and Jake’s progress, they obtained three cans of food that were safe to eat. Not much, but better than nothing. With them at his feet they preceded back upstairs and closed the door again. Alex patted Lydia’s shoulder sympathetically. “You ready to get out of this hell hole?”

Lydia wiped away her tears and looked up at Alex, she managed to crack a brief smile to his talking. But it soon faded "But... How will we get out if there are walkers at the door?" she questioned. She stood up and said "I'll go look to see if there are any more exits."

Lydia searched around but found nothing, she wasn't familliar with the church, so she didn't know where to go. She searched top to bottom, but couldn't find another exit. Anywhere else she couldn't see she daredn't go, because of walkers that could lurk in the darkness. She trudged back to Alex with the terrible news "Nothing I can see, not a single exit out of here. What do you suggest?" she asked. She looked at him quizically, wondering if he actually knew what he was doing.

Lydia opened her backpack and took out a bottle of water, unscrewed it and drank from it. She closed her backpack and offered Alex some water.

When she got back from her search Alex and Jake were siting across from each other with some equipment layed out before them. Jake was talking. "We have some smokes, an incendiary and one decoy left...not good odds. I had a bottle of blood bait around here somewhere..." He pulled out a bottle filled with bright blood. Alex was about to speak when Lydia arrived. "Nothing I can see, not a single exit out of here. What do you suggest?" She asked. He looked up and accepted the bottle of water, taking a few small sips from it.

"Were going to walk out the front door." He said simply, his face was set in stone and determined. Briefly he wondered if she was up for it, then decided that if she survived this long she could be brave enough to go on a little longer. "Jake, use the fuel from the incendiary to boil the blood so its nice and warm, then take apart the smokes and insert the explosion triggers from the incendiary along with a small amount of warm blood. Reassemble and we have a couple of blood grenades. Those will help draw the horde off us, then we save the decoy as a last resort." he turned to Lydia. "Any questions?"

Lydia was stunned at this tactical thinking. She blinked and shook her head "No, no questions. But, will it work?" she questioned. All over her face was curiosity, her forehead crinkled as she asked the question. Once Alex had taken some sips she accepted the water back, and re-screwed it to put it back in her backpack.

Clearly there was no reasoning with this crew, Alex was certain. Lydia was put off by his high levels of confidence, but went along with it. She knew it would be suicidal, but either way she would die. Starve in a church, or get eaten?
"I'm ready when you're ready," she said, but she was uncertain, it was clear. She pulled out her gun and got ready for when the doors were to open "What do we need for supplies? And where will we go once we are out of here?" she asked, "I need bullets for my revolver, it's a .44 magnum. I also need more food and a battery recharger, because I have some rechargeable batteries. Preferably one that runs on solar power."

Her list was certain, she wasn't leaving Atlanta until she had found those things. While they were preparing the blood grenades Lydia walked around the church to scavenge anything left. She yelled to Alex if that dead family had anything on them, Lydia spoke in an emotionless voice. Right now she had learned emotions would slow her down, so she had to shut as many down as she could, no matter how hard.

Lydia instantly rushed into the center, she refused to holster her gun, but didn't shoot. Honestly Lydia didn't feel safe, but she ran with them.
As they moved through the horde Lydia was almost sick at the sight of them eating eachother, it was vile. She whispered as not to attract much noise "Where do we go now?".
Instead of asking more questions she just followed Alex, he knew what he was doing. Some of the undead cranked their necks at the group, but continued feeding.

Lydia's eyes brightened up as they got halfway through the chaos, it worked out better than she had expected. Yet what about the other walkers in the city? They weren't safe yet.

Alex led the group through the horde, the three kept a tight formation around Lydia. They were halfway through when it happened, Jess shot an arrow into one and its blood splattered on her. A small group turned and moved towards her, Alex did not see until it was too late, the undead were all over her. Her screams reached Alex's ears and he turned suddenly, five of them were pulling her to the ground. "Jess!" He yelled and drew his gun, putting bullets into three of them, he knew it was already too late. More of the horde were noticing them now, Jess looked at him with pleading eyes. Alex took out the 34. and took careful aim, firing a single shot between her eyes. A single tear falling down one eye as he fired. Jake brought him back to reality by yelling out, Alex looked over too see the horde converging around them, he tossed the noise maker attracting just enough of the horde for them too get out of it.

"Move your asses!!" he called to Lydia and Jake than began running down the street, going around and over cars that sat cluttered around it. The horde consisted of mostly walkers, it shouldn't be too hard to escape there pursuit.

The gunfire in the distance grew closer and more intense, Keith began to hustle and hurry. He saw a small group of survivors being assaulted by quite a few Rotters. "Damn, these guys are in worse shape than I am" he silently cursed. He was still a cop, even though the world had gone to shit, and it was his job to protect those in need. He pulled out his shotgun and cursed loudly. Only 4 shots, hopefully I only need one to help. He went into a full sprint, getting behind the Rotters. He called ahead to the survivors "Move, I'll draw their attention!" He shot a Rotter through the skull with his shotgun and pumped it, the loud boom echoing through the area. Most of the Rotters turned to face him and he cursed himself for being caring in this world as he turned to run, quickly spotting a one story house, climbing atop of the roof, looking around to see what he could do next.

Lydia ran with Alex, she made the foul mistake of screaming in horror, attracting walkers to her. As several of the dead tried to grab her she split from the group, shooting one right through the eye. She began to panick "Alex! Help!" she yelled, but it was too late. Lydia looked around and couldn't see much, so she ran down the street as fast as she could, the undead pursuing her. As she turned around the corner she hid behind a car, succesfully removing herself from the walkers eyeline. Yet it was a shallow victory, she looked around and Alex and Jake were missing. "No, no, no!" she cried to herself, she was alone again.

Suddenly from the wrecked car one of the undead spewed out, it tried to grab her but Lydia kicked it. While she tried to get the thing off her it just tightened its grip, Lydia's heart froze in fear, she could feel it turning to stone. Wrestling the walker harder she whacked its face with the butt of her gun, knocking it back, and hopefully killed it. Lydia crawled away in horror into a back alley, there she layed next to a dumpster and softly wept. She prayed once more everything would be alright, even though in the back of her mind she knew her God had abandoned her.

She checked her bullets in the gun, 5 bullets in her barrel, and a few more in her backpack. To her delight she saw a man standing on a rooftop. She was urged to call out to him, but then she saw the horde around him. They were desperate for a living meal, their rotting flesh dripping in the beating sunlight. Lydia wiped the sweat off her brow with a brush of the hand and waved to the man, hoping he would see her.

Keith saw two men drop into a sewer, one of them appeared to be injured, although at this distance he could not tell from what. He saw the woman in the group run off into a back alley. He considered his options and realized that there was little he could do. He checked his mags, 7 in his current mag, with 2 more full mags. He had 3 slugs left in his shotgun, not enough to be much use. He pounded his hands against his head and thought for a few minutes. He took out his tazer and set it to drive stun mode, making the electric current arc between the two electrodes on it, making a loud audible noise. He shouted at the Rotters and cursed as he jumped down on the side of the building, holding his tazer's trigger down thus making noise. He really hoped this works. He had a rather large lead on the Rotters, so he ducked around a fence and quickly juryrigged his tazer's trigger to be held down, dropping it on the ground, still sparking and making noise. And he started ran, going around to the other side of the fence. He layed low for a few minutes and holy fuck it worked.

The Rotters had associated the tazer's noise with their prey. They were pawing at the tazer on the ground. Shit, he was out of a tazer, but it saved his life. He quickly determined the best route to get to the woman and did so, sneaking past a few Rotters until he crept into the alley. "Hey, are you alright?" he quietly called to the woman.