Chapter One

-Day Sixty Four-

Living life day to day, it's easy to forget exactly how much time has passed. When the days start to bleed together, you start to ask yourself. When was the last time I ate? The last time I slept? Can I survive for just one more day? These are the questions that I suppose everyone started asking the moment the dead started eating the living.

That was about sixty-four days ago. You see, I'm one of the few who count the days. Because I know that my number could be up at any moment.

For the past few months, I've done nothing but run. From both the living and the dead. But it wasn't like I was running towards anything. I didn't have anyone. No family, and any friend I had in the old world was long since dead.

I tried the 'group thing' once, tried making a connection with other people. They were nice and decent at first, but after a month with the dead they easily turned poisonous. The men had a darkness in them, a type of darkness that turned off any regards to human life. It didn't take long for them to start taking whatever frustrations they had out on the women in the group.

It was rough, but I stayed on guard. I fought when I could, but took the beatings when I had to. A little over a month later, when the groups 'leader' decided to sneak into my tent, I was ready for him. I took my hunting knife and jammed it into his throat. I didn't spare a second as I grabbed my pack and stole back the rest of my weapons before running off into the night.

I avoided people like the plague after that. Not that I really ran into all that many people as I made my way into Atlanta.

This was life now. And everyone's days were numbered.

There had been an explosion earlier this morning, I didn't know where it had come from. And I didn't really care. That loud of a noise would draw every single walker for miles. Getting caught in that shit storm was not something I wanted to do. So I made my way as far away from the hot zone as I possibly could. There was no way I could make it out of the city before nightfall.

So I had holed myself up in an abandoned nursing home. The only thing that left in this entire building was me and the dead ones. The real dead ones, the dead that didn't rise back up again. Something bad had happened here, judging from the execution style killing of the elderly people on the floor. It was sickening, but at least it was safe for now. After clearing as much of the building as I could, I stashed myself away in a small room.

After making myself comfortable on my sleeping bag, I pulled out one of the few books I still owned. I really wasn't much of a reader, not until almost three months ago. My old boss had wanted me to learn everything I could about the hunting gear we sold, which meant reading. Lots of it. When the world ended, the literature turned from weaponry to all around survival.

Turns out I was a learning-by-reading pro.

An hour later, I finally gave up on my book and pulled out a can of spaghetti-O's and a bag of cheeto's. Feast of kings. However, my meal was interrupted by the sound of gunshots. Gunshots and voices. Fuck.

I was on my feet in an instant, hunting knife in hand.

Silently I listened to the groups footsteps as they drew closer. With each step they took, my breathing slowed more and more. By the time the reachd the door to my room, I think my breathing stopped all together.

Slowly the sets of footsteps continued walking passed the room I was in, but I could see the shadow of one of the people from under the door. I had locked the door, but it really wasn't that difficult to pick a lock. Which was exactly what the stranger did.

On instinct I sunk back down to the ground, trying to make myself as small as possible. With my knife out in front of me, I watched as the door swung open. Revealing a large black crossbow in it's wake.

"Rick, we got a live one!" the man called out, his voice carrying an obvious southern twang. Not even a full minute later, two men were rushing to the door. My heart was pounding in my chest as the three of them approached, weapons still raised. As if I was the threat.

"What happened here?" one of the new comers asked, a black rifle pointed at my face. I didn't dare to bat it away. "WHAT HAPPENED HERE!?" the man all but shouted as he cocked the gun. Almost instantly the other newcomer came forward and pushed the gun down.

"Ma'am..." he started, his voice a lot kinder than his friends.

"I have no clue what happened" I told them. "It was like this when I got here a few hours ago."

"My name is Rick Grimes" the third man introduced. "This is Shane and Daryl" Rick added, pointing to each man respectively. "We're with a larger group, you got anybody around here that we should be worried about?"

I automatically didn't like Shane, he had the same kind of darkness in him that the men in my old group had. I could see it in his eyes. But the other two, Rick and Daryl, seemed all right to me. Not that I trust them.

"Tally McDonough" I responded, finally putting away my knife. Slowly, I started to rise back up to my full height. Only to get the shot gun pointed at me once more. "I'm just standing up." I told him, raising my hands up in a surrender of sorts. "And no, It's just me. Has been for a while."

"Bullshit" Shane scoffed, obviously not believing me.

"You're welcome to join us, if you want to" Rick offered, ignoring his friends protests. Daryl was still silent, looking at the weaponry I had near my sleeping bag. The man was right to be cautious.

"I don't know..." I really didn't want to take a chance being with a group. Even if it were just for a night. For all I knew, Ricks 'nice-guy' act was just that. A ploy to get my guard down. It wasn't though, and I soon found my self inviting the group to stay in the room with me, since I had already cleaned it out.

I met everybody a short while later. There was one deciding factor that told me that these were good people. They had two young children with them. At first I was worried, and almost ran out of the room when I saw that the little girl and her mother both had bruises on them. But I was instantly reassured that the man who hurt them was gone, eaten. He wasn't coming back.

On day sixty five, I found myself sitting in the back of the RV with the others. We were on our way to Fort Benning.

AN: Okay, so I know I probably shouldn't be starting another story. But I've been tweaking this idea for quite a while now, the man issue that I had was my OC's name. I could never decide on it. Also at first Tally was going to e Lori's sister, but honestly since I (first off) cant stand Lori, and I already have a story where the OC is related to the Grimes family (In The End) I decided to make Tally not related to them lol.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I do apologize if it seems kind of...ramble-y, or if Tally seems like she's contradicting herself. I promise It'll get better.

So, let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is always welcome, and if you guys have any idea, let me know. I'd be glad to hear them. If they get used, I'll be sure to credit you. :)

As Always, Leave Love

)0( Iris RainbowWolf )0(