Joseph Young made his way down the sidewalk, blasting any zombie he could see. Every now and then, one would try to come up behind him, but when that happened, he would almost nonchalantly point his gun backwards over his shoulder and pull the trigger. The gun was proving to be dependable, and very good on ammo. He had killed close to forty zombies by now, and he had not had to reload yet. As he blasted three zombies in an alleyway, he heard a sound. It was a gunshot from some kind of pistol.

Joseph looked further up the sidewalk, and saw a young woman standing over the body of a zombie. As he moved closer, he saw a fresh gunshot wound to its head. He looked at her and nodded in appreciation of the kill. He then fired across the street at five zombies, killing all of them, before moving further down the sidewalk. He was glad to see that he was not the only one who had survived. This made him wonder just how many more had survived.

Rain walked put to the sidewalk waiting for the others. She saw a few more zombies coming from across the street and was reaching to take her colt out when several more gunshots were fired and all the zombies fell dead. A man was walking down the street on the opposite side, he was extremely well armed and had at least 7 guns on him including and M16 and probably more in the pack. Reaine was afraid of him but Rain pushed her out of the way. "Yo, nice shot there. You should grab some food over here. I'll share some with you. Us survivors need to stick together." Reaine was whimpering "rain......no........don't invite him......he scares me.......and he looks..........haunted." Rain sighed and shuffled her feet. "Reaine.......Reaine, I love you but GET SOME LOGIC....He's alive, the more people we have the safer we will all be."
"But......he's scary."
"Reaine.......were scary...... honestly what am I to do with you."

Rain looked back over at the guy. "Come on over, get something to eat and take a break from shooting things. Theres enough of us here to survive while you grab some food."

Joseph turned as the young woman addressed him. She complimented his shooting skills, then invited him to come eat with her. She seemed to be struggling with herself, which made him suspicious. He approached her and lifted her shirt up to just above her stomach, then examined her legs, arms, back, and neck. Letting go of her shirt, he could deduce that she had not been bitten. He was hungry, as he had not eaten since breakfast.

"All right, I'll share a meal with you."
He clipped his M16 onto his belt. Still, the fact that she had been struggling with herself bothered him. What was she hiding, if anything? More importantly, was she trustworthy?
"Are you alone?" he asked, inquiring about any other survivors.

Rain let him inspect her much to Reaine's discomfort. The main was interesting and extremely careful. but hey, You live in a world of zombies, maybe there could be smart ones. He began to eat and continued that way in relative silence. Reaine was very scared and visibly shaking. Rain growled at her "stop shaking."
"I'm so scared........"
"Reaine how many times have I told you. As long as I'm here no one will hurt you, and I'm always here."

The man was looking at her strangely but didn't comment.
"Are you alone?"

Rain was quick to respond, "No, were not alone. There's two more inside the store" She yelled back in "Will you two hurry up, we have another guest"
She extended her hand to the man "I'm Rain, Reaine would say Hi but she's afraid of you."

Joseph continued to eat, knowing that he would need to keep his strength up. Eating and sleeping were once again tasks to be done only when safety was assured, just like when he was in the Army. According to the young woman, she was with two other survivors. When the young woman extended her hand, she introduced herself as two people. He cocked an eyebrow, but what she did answered a question. She had been struggling with herself because of split-personality disorder.

When he was in the service, he saw a guy develop this disorder after experiencing extreme combat. When the zombies came, and everyone held the potential to become an enemy, he could see how she could have developed that. Taking it all in stride, he firmly took her hand and shook it.
"Just call me the Zombie Killer. It is a pleasure to meet you, Rain, and I can assure Reaine that I will not hurt her, so long as she is of the living."
Joseph almost chuckled, as he had just caught himself treating them like two different people.

Sitting back down, he continued to eat and keep a watchful eye out. What kept running through his mind now was what to do about these other survivors, as their goals were no doubt different. While he was fully intent on waging a one-man-war against these creatures, he was sure that they just wanted to get out of the city. Would he stay with them, or leave them at some point? He guessed for now that he could only stay with them and see how things went. He would end up killing zombies, anyway, so it would not be too much out of his way to look after them.

Andrew walked out the store, "For a little girl like you, you're pretty annoying.." he mumbled. He leaned against the building wall looking at the new survivor, wondering if there was more survivors here. Andrew let out a small yawn, due to lack of sleep. If only this was just all a terrible nightmare. He wondered where his family was... either a zombie larking around here.. or already dead. It didnt matter now. He didnt feel like eating, so he sat down on the sidewalk, looking around the surroundings, since you never know where these monsters will pop out.

Andrew let out a small sigh. At least there were more survivors. He took out his phone, sliding it up and down, just out of boredom. Even if they were to get out of this city, where would they go? Too many questions were running through his head, so he just shook them off. Right now, all he had to do was focus on getting out of this place.

Alchemy watched the others eat, about two buildings down. The boy sitting on the sidewalk reminded her of herself. She shook her head, cursing to herself. "Don't get attached, idiot."

Caden took his chair from the table and set it up next to the window. Grabbing his rifle, he sat down and cleaned off the scope. "Let's see what meat we have today." He set his rifle up on the windowsill, then peered through the scope. Spotting a zombie he lined up the shot, held his breath and fired. The bullet went straight through it's brain. "Bulls eye." This was his regular routine for several days, lucky to have enough ammunition. He knew one day he would have to leave, but he never thought about it. Spotting another one, he aimed down his scope, lined up his shot and fired. The zombie fell to the floor. "Where's some help when you need it." After a few minutes of waiting and seeing no more, and put his rifle down and put the chair back. He went to his fridge and looked at what was inside. "Beef. Why do I have so much beef, not the good kind but lunch beef, what was I thinking." He took out a package and sat down on his couch, eating the beef.

He grabbed his remote and turned on his TV. Nothing but snow. "What kind of life am I leaving behind when I die? No one will know if I'm dead or one of those things. It's time I did something, no more hiding, and if I die I'm taking this place with me." He quickly stood up, trying not to drop his only food source, and ran to his closet. He grabbed an old looking backpack and opened all the zippers. He ran back to his fridge and grabbed all his beef and put it in. Then he ran to his ammo supply and grabbed as many bullets as he could. "I'll need something in case I can't shoot them from afar." He grabbed one of his non-serrated knives and the case and knife tied around his waist. Before he left, he went back to his closet. He looked around for a second and grabbed his most prized possession, his only friend alive, his stuffed teddy bear that kept his safe when he was a child and would do the same now. Opening the window to the fire escape, he looked back, knowing he wouldn't be coming back and his life started anew right now. "This is it. I don't know what to say, but I hope I see in the afterlife." He directed that to the picture of his picture of him and his girlfriend, holding each other close and smiling.

He climbed out the window and went down the fire escape, trying not to make much noise. When he got down, he carefully walked down the alleyway, seeing if there were any zombies there. Seeing none, he turned the corner and started walking down the sidewalk staying alert.

Joseph looked to the side as a young boy sat down on the sidewalk. He must have been one of the survivors with Rain/Reaine. He seemed bored, but he guessed that that was better than having to be on constant alert. Joseph wished that he could feel any other feeling. But now that he was back to his militant self, he could only feel alert, and full of anticipation. As he finished his food, he leaned up against the building and unhooked his M16 from his belt; he was ready for action, once more.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw something move. Instantly he reached for his gun, ready to shoot if needed, but it was just one of the survivors. Andrew moved his hands away from his gun. It wasnt his fault he always had some kind of a reaction like that when he saw something.., damn those zombies. He liked it better when he was more laid back, and relaxed, not having to be alert all the time. Andrew stopped playing around with his phone and got up. He grabbed a can of soda and took a sip. As he drank, his gaze drifted on to all the dead zombies on the streets. Some of them.. were probably people he knew.

Joseph saw the kid getting jumpy and turned to him.
"Think about something else."
He turned away, and after a few minutes, he spoke again.
"In my second year in the Army, I was put on watch duty. I was young and scared out of my mind. I thought everything that moved was an enemy coming to take my life."

Joseph looked up at the sky.
"The watch duty was unbearable, but then, I started to pass the long hours by thinking about home. I thought about all the things I wanted to accomplish, and my plans for the future. It helped immensely, and I was no longer scared or jumpy on watch duty. So think about anything, no matter how trivial, and you'll forget all about being scared."
Joseph looked back down, and he gripped his M16 a little tighter.

"It's hard to think about something else when you dont even know when these things are going to pop out. Besides.. there is nothing to think about anymore." he mumbled the last words. After he was done drinking, he threw the can in a garbage bin that happened to be standing there. Andrew stared down at the ground, looking up every now and then when he heard something or saw something move. As far as he knew, he wanted to take a quick nap, but it was kind of impossible for him to do in this situation. Out of habit, Andrew took a look at his watch then watched the sky. The sun seemed to be setting now, which meant more zombies.. just great.

Tessa joined the rest of the survivors outside. She watched Andrew talk to a man that Rain had found. She slipped behind them, not wanting to interrupt. She gripped her paintball gun with tight fingers in the fading light. She pulled the trigger once and watched it shoot across the street and hit a window, not even flinching at the loud crash as the glass shattered into a million tiny shards. She got ready to fire more, flicking on the safety and loosening the trigger, dropping in a little but of oil she had found in the store. Once she was sure that the gun would fire at the slightest touch of the trigger, she flicked the safety and changed the setting to automatic, making sure the little pressurized air tank was full enough. She leaned against the brick wall of the store, banging her head on the "No Loitering" sign. She gave a humorless laugh, admitting to herself that is was kind of ironic. She picked at the rubber band around her wrist, and pulled back her hair, air drifted onto her neck and face, refreshing her and making her a little more comfortable. She unzipped the front of her leather jacket, relaxing for a moment since she didn't know when she'd get to just hang out again. She asked herself, Will anything ever be the same again?

Joseph shook his head.
"You're wrong. There is one thing left to think about: survival."
Another young woman joined them, the other survivor who was with the boy and Rain/Reaine. She was armed with a paintball gun, which made him wonder what she was thinking. Sure, a paintball to the face would hurt, but against a zombie, it was probably useless.

Unzipping the bag, he pulled a silver .45 caliber pistol out and approached her. He then held it out to her.
"Do yourself a favor. Ditch the toy and use this. If you rely on that paintball gun, you'll die for sure. Also, don't make any loud noises, as it just attracts the undead."

"Personaly I thought she was doing fine with a paintball gun." A cool female voice sain from behind Joseph. Chamyle, preferably Alchemy, was standing about ten feet from the group. After stalking them for a while, and making sure she wasn't actually dreaming, she had approached them. Two Magnuns glinted on her belt, and a sword hung over her back. Her waist-length green hair was an odd combination with all the black she wore, and her black trench coat she wore had no sleeves, reaveling bare arms, which were covered in teeth marks. Zombie teeth marks.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Caden was running from a group of zombies that saw him, and he was trying to no-scope shoot them, it wasn't really working. He turned a corner, and saw more zombies standing in front of a building, even though his death was near he thought that zombie with green hair was kind of odd. "What should I do, I can't run that way and I can't run the other way. Either way I'm dead, so I might as well take some with me." He took out his knife, running back to the ones that were chasing him first. Bringing his rifle up, he fired, hitting one in the eye. He tried firing one again, but his bullets were all out. He turned the gun around and decided to use it as a club. He stabbed one in the side of the head with his knife, bringing it in a sideways arc. He quickly dislodged it, and brought his temporary club down with enough force that it cracked the skull of another. Before he had time to react, one caught his club arm and tried to bite it, but he stabbed it through the temple just before it did. With only one left, he stood there proudly he knew he could take it. It charged at him, and he just held the knife out in front of its head and it ran into it.

When he was done remarking of his work, he heard footsteps behind him. He forgot about the other group that was there, and wondered why it took them so long. He turned around holding his club and knife in attack position. When he saw they didn't charge at him, he was clueless. He lowered his weapons a little, seeing what was wrong. What he saw left him speechless, humans.

Alchemy turned in Canden's direction. "What on earth is your problem?" She tossed her head. "Honestly. With all this running around and shooting, you'd think this is the apacalypse. You guys need to stop being so jumpy." She snorted, watching the new young man from the corner of her eye.

Tessa looked at the man who had addressed her.
"Hi to you, too," She mumbled under her breath. She looked up, shaking her head.
"I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why in the world I'd arm myself with a paintball gun in a zombie apocalypse, but what else is a thirteen year old girl going to use? I mean, only so many people can deal guns or have a hunting liscense in a modern metropolis. A big city. How many parents do you see carrying around guns and crap, other then bank robbers and military people." Tessa ended, she was growning tired of people ridiculing her for her choice of weapon, and it made her less and less willing to let it go.

The city’s power grid was gone and along with it, the streetlights. Franko walked down the sidewalk, staying close to the buildings for cover. He passed trashcans, newsstands, and other items that gave the alluring display of normality; but under that false pretense the city was dead, or undead, depending on how you looked at it.
Franko had been walking down Mainstreet for what seemed like days, but in reality had only an hour at max. The sky had darkened with the approach of night, and foreboding clouds billowed over themselves like an omen of doom. The SWAT officer gripped his MP5 tight in black-gloved hands. He had been counting bullets and unless he miscounted, had twenty two rounds left in the current clip. Nervously he padded his Kevlar vest, making sure the other four clips for the weapon were still there. They were.
There was a rustling of paper and trash up on the left, down a dark alleyway, and Franko readied the sub machinegun, bracing the stock up against his shoulder. As he approached the alleyway he hugged the wall and let the rubber soles of his combat boots absorbed the noise of his footsteps. He rounded the corner in true SWAT fashion, gun raised and feet planted firmly on the ground. Thirty paces was a figure stooped over a trashcan and rummaging through its contents. The figure seemed to shift, perhaps hearing Franko, but even if it did it had been too late.
The gun barked in his hands, the rubber butt thumping into his shoulder as the lead projectile exited the barrel and flew towards it’s target. The figure, who Franko could now see was a young man, buckled over in pain as the bullet caught him in the stomach. Franko pulled the trigger two more times in rapid succession. One of the bullets smashed into the man’s left eye, turning the white orb into a thick jelly, while the other hit him in the heart, shredding the precious organ. The bullet that caught the man in the eye spurted out the back of his head, sending a fine spray of brain matter and bits of broken skull onto the pavement. In all respects, the man was dead.
Franko lowered the weapon and turned away from the body, continuing down Mainstreet. He hadn’t bothered to see if the man was a Zombie or not, and for the matter he didn’t care. If he was human, the body would attract the Zombies and buy him some time, if it had been a Zombie it was one less enemy for Franko to worry about. Either way, it increased his odds of survival.
Ten minuets of continuous jogging later and Franko was forced to stopped, crouching down on one knee and taking a few deep breaths from recycled air of his gasmask. His dark eyes scanned the street in front of him, and then he turned doing the same to the street behind him. ‘Always look both ways’ had turned out to be a saying not limited to crossing the street. It was clear.
He only had a few more blocks until he hit Fifth street, which he could take down to Chestnut, which he could then take into the suburbs. It was a long walk, and there were faster ways to get there, but Franko had opted for the rout that would be less populated for safety reasons. Just a few more seconds of rest and he would continue on his journey.

Joseph could see that she was not going to take the gun, so he moved back to his bag and placed it in there before zipping it shut. One of the other young women, who seemed smug and arrogant, spoke to him. He turned to her, and the first thing he noticed were all the zombie bites on her arm. His eyes narrowed, and he deduced that that may have been the reason for her arrogance. He slung the bag over his shoulder and gripped his M16.
"You're going to turn into a zombie soon," he said to her, "And when that happens, you'd better expect a bullet to the head."

He moved past her and stopped in front of Rain/Reaine.
"Thanks for the meal, but I'm afraid that I can't waste time with a bunch of stupid kids. I have a war to fight, and I don't need dead weight slowing me down."
He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Look after them, though. But be wary of the one with all the zombie bites, or she'll be eating you before you know it."

Joseph began walking down the sidewalk, once again shooting down any zombies he could see. So far, he had only seen them in small groups or alone. He knew that the deeper he went into the city, the more that would change. Joseph still had a long way to go before he could wipe out his hated enemies. But that was what was driving him on. He would fight this one-man-war until the last zombie was gone.

Andrew looked at the girl with a bunch of bite marks. What that man said was probably true.. well unless she was immuned. He watched as the man walked off way from the group.. probably planning on surviving alone. He had called us a bunch of stupid kids.. but he seemed pretty stupid himself. Why did he care anyways. Andrew wanted to go for a walk.. but with all these zombies around he would probably have to stop every now and then. With a shrug he walked down the sidewalk looking around just in case. "This place is dead..." he mumbled looking at the ground, and trying to avoid any dead bodies. When he saw a zombie larking around an alley way, he shot it clear through the head without any missed. "At least my aim got better."

Joseph walked down the sidewalk, blasting zombies left and right. When he had cleared out the last group of zombie on the street, he realized that he was out of ammo. He hit the mag release and pulled a clip from his gunbelt to reload. Once his gun was ready again, he continued walking. Stopping, he saw the stairs leading down into the subway. That was surely a zombie lair.

However, with the power out, it would be suicide to walk in there unprepared.
"I guess the M16 isn't going to cut it, this time," he said to himself as he set his bag down.
He crouched down and pulled out an M4, a weapon based off the M16 model. The firing rate and ammo capacity were identical, and both could be switched from three-round-burst to full auto fire with the flick of a switch. However, this weapon had one advantage over the M16: it had a mounted flashlight. Switching it on, he descended the stairs into the subway.

The area was as cold and desolate as death itself. The dark was all-consuming, and every little sound put him on alert. He thought about something else to keep himself calm, and bent his knees, moving in the tactical way that SWAT teams and the military do. Joseph moved cautiously, not wanting to alert any zombies if they were there. He took cover behind a pillar, sweeping the area with his flashlight. When that was done, he prepared to move on.

Andrew was just about to go back, when he saw a little girl. She had her back facing him, so he didnt know if she was human or not. He held onto his gun just in case, but something caught his eyes. The girl had a bracelet on, that looked exactly like the one he gave his little sister. She wore the same clothing her sister loved to wear. Maybe.. it was his sister. She could have been hiding all this time.. alone. Hope sparked inside of Andrew. "Leah?" he asked taking a step foward. The girl didnt turn around, or say anything. "Leah?" he said a bit louder. Slowly, the little girl turned around, blood pouring from her mouth... she was a zombie. He knew for sure it was his sister.. but now she was nothing but a monster. Leah charged at Andrew with a hungry look. He wanted to fire, but couldnt bring himself to do it. When she jumped, Andrew ducked away, getting out from her reach. "Leah.. stop it.." he said as the little zombie tried getting to him again. He felt stupid, trying to talk to a zombie, but she was her sister. She's not Leah anymore.. kill her... now, he told himself. But everytime he aimed the gun to her, his hands shook.

Franko pushed himself up off his knee and looked around. In the distance he herd the very unique sound of an M16 discharging multiple rounds. It seemed to be coming from a few blocks to his left, down a darkened side street. Franko assumed it was a military unit either holding their position and waiting for an evac that would never arrive, or trying to make it out of the city themselves… Or maybe the zombies had learned to use firearms. The war torn SWAT officer shuddered at the thought of zombies with weapons.

Pushing his doubts and fears into the back of his mind, Franko took a step forwards and continued down Mainstreet. The quiet was starting to worry him; He hadn’t seen an undead for blocks. Franko idly chewed on his bottom lip as he continued to walk, gun braced on his shoulder, but barrel pointed at the ground.

There were two explanations for the absence of the undead horde, one was that the military still had a firm grip on the center of the city and the Zombies had moved to the fresh meat; or the Zombies were inside the buildings, seeking out survivors. Franko doubted the first option since his radio had been silent for hours.

“As long as their not by me, I don’t think I care.”

Franko chuckled to himself. But no sooner had the words left his mouth then a terrible roar echoed up from behind him and down the street. Turning, Frank saw a sight that nearly made him die of a heart attack. Hundreds, no thousands of Zombies ran down the street towards him, all flailing their arms and screaming their inhuman calls. Some couldn’t keep up the pace, or tripped on various items in the street, these unfortunates were mercilessly trampled by the others.

He wasn’t sure if they had seen him, for the wall of rotting flesh was at least three blocks away, but he wasn’t about to stop and find out. Franko legged it, running as fast as humanly possible down the street. Where could he go?! Where could he hide?! Surely they would find him if he hid in one of the shops that lined the street! He needed a place that was dark and empty, someplace they might not look or even see him. As Franko frantically tried to think and outrun the horde that was fast approaching, now only two blocks away, his eyes darted left and he saw his saving grace. Down the street to his left, a street which was named Saturday, a white and blue sign shone in the darkening light. ‘Subway’ it read in bold letters. Perfect!
The SWAT officer dashed for the opening, but even in his quick pace he couldn’t help but notice a discarded ammunition clip laying on the ground. He couldn’t stop to inspect the thing, but in the fleeting glance he thought it belonged to an M16, though he could have been wrong.

Descending the stairs, his boots thudding loudly with his quick pace, Franko stopped at the bottom of the stairwell and turned around. The Zombies sounded close, perhaps only a block away. He desperately looked around for some source of salvation and caught sight of the metal gate, used to cut the Subway off from public access during maintenance. Quickly, he grabbed the gate as well as the chain and padlock that were draped around it. Sliding the gate closed, he wrapped the chain around the gate and clamped the padlock shut. Franko immediately turn back around and descended into the subway, almost immediately being engulfed by darkness.

Stumbling around in the unholy dark, Franko thought he saw another source of light flickering around the opposite end of the platform. Fear pinched at his heart and he ducked behind a pillar. Shifting the MP5 onto his back he reached for his S&W along with the flashlight on his belt. He held the pistol in his right hand, and crossed his right arm over his left, so that the flashlight was under slung and both pointed in front of him. Franko repeatedly turned the flashlight on and off, three times, in a common military call-sign to locate allies. He didn’t want to risk calling to the light, for fear it may attract the horde upon the street. By the sound of the horde’s moans and screams, the Zombies were right outside the Subway entrance now.

Joseph was just about to move ahead when he heard the sounds of zombies behind him. They were moaning and groaning, and for the first time, he felt the icy hand of fear gripping his heart. Had the discharges of his M16 alerted them? Then, something took his mind off of the zombies. Another flashlight cut through the dark, flicking on and off three times. This was a military sign to locate allies when the position could not afford to be compromised.

Flicking his flashlight on and off three times in response, Joseph made his way to what he thought was another soldier. When he got to the man, he was surprised to discover that the man signalling him was a member of the SWAT team. Joseph looked up the tunnel, then back at him.
"I guess you must be taking refuge here," he whispered, then proceeded up the tunnel.
He stayed out of sight, and saw hundreds of zombies slamming themselves against the locked gate. He made his way back down and leaned against the pillar next to the SWAT member.

After a few minutes, Joseph turned to him.
"That gate's not going to hold them forever. I'm not sure I have enough firepower to take on that many, so we're going to have to go even deeper into the subway tunnels. Problem is, I don't know how many zombies are down here. We're going to have to try and make it to the surface, then we'll probably go our separate ways. I have no intention of just leaving that many zombies behind."

He got into a crouch position and held his M4 in a ready position. Not knowing what was ahead, he flicked his M4 switch to full auto fire capability.
"Let's move out, man."
Joseph then began moving deeper into the subway tunnel.