A/N- It is decided! This shall be all Alec's POV because I said so. Thank you for your reviews, by the way, I really enjoyed reading them. You all are awesome.

Disclaimer- Mortal Instruments I do not own. Geez, I sound like Yoda.

"What candy do you want this week, Max?" I asked. My little brother was slowly and accurately sorting through the candy aisle in the Super Wal-Mart we were at. From the GPS system we had, that miraculously still worked, we were right at the edge of New York and Pennsylvania. Originally, I had been worried about making it out of the state but with no one to man the tolls we really had nothing to worry about. Honestly, I was trying to find my sister's university which was somewhere along the border. My older brother was in a completely different state.

Max shrugged adorably, pushing his too big glasses back up his nose. "I eliminated all of the candy that has peanuts in it and the ones I don't like already," he muttered. "So we're down to… M & M's, Skittles, Kit Kat bars, Hershey bars, Milky Ways, and Jolly Ranchers."

I thought for a minute. "Go with the Jolly Ranchers," I finally said. "There are more flavors and they turn your tongue funny colors."

He giggled a bit and grabbed the jumbo bag, tossing it in our basket. We walked along, him at ease and me completely on edge. Though I seemed pretty mellowed out, I was paranoid as all hell, always looking over the tops of aisles and expecting to see a scrambler there, craving my flesh and not my candy. With the rising zombie rate, every day I got more and more protective of Max. It took me nearly half an hour just to scope out the place and let him out of our car, which was not actually ours. I hotwired it awhile back because it was an SUV and not a convertible.

The way things went were so much different then, but after living it for weeks it was the norm for us. Max had adapted well, the thing he looked forward to being candy instead of toy cars or comic books, though I did occasionally buy him one. Whenever we went 'shopping' I always bought the healthiest things I could find, which was easier said than done in most stores. A lot of the healthy things we would need to cook and we had no way of doing so.

Every once in a while, in a nice shop filled with weapons that I knew we were safe in, I'd find something in the freezer aisle and go to where they had the microwaves. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. Again, Wal-Mart is the best place for this. Max and I would set up our own little picnic with our microwave meals and chow down until something spooked us and we booked it.

My brother, his mouth full of two different Jolly Ranchers, tugged on my sleeve. I barely understood him when he asked if I'd heard something.

I had been too lost in thought to hear anything but I was instantly on alert. I scanned our general area when I felt him pull my sleeve again. The look on his face scared me and I followed his gaze to the end of the store, where a lonely head was bobbing up and down at a leisurely pace. Scramblers usually went at about that speed.

"Max," I whispered, bending down to his level. "I want you to take this basket and run to the car, understand? Lock yourself in there and don't open it for anyone. I'll knock four times if it's me. Stay down, don't make any noise."

He nodded quickly and took the basket from me. His eyes were wide with fear, which was understandable because the last time we'd had a run in with a scrambler and his seven scrambler buddies, we'd almost died and barely escaped. Max was a hair away from being bitten by one.

I watched as his legs carried him away silently and took a deep breath, trying to find the scrambler again. Its head was gone from where it had been before so I knew it was moving fast, or at least fast for a scrambler. The hand gun I kept in my belt made an appearance and I held it at eye level to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I began thinking about Max and whether or not he was okay, or worrying about me, or if the scrambler had brought some friends with him. Sometimes there would be huge crowds of them like in suburbs and malls, but for the most part they were either alone or in small groups of two and three.

A noise to my left caught my attention and I immediately turned towards it. It was the front door swinging shut.

"Fuck me," I muttered to myself, running to the door and into the parking lot, gun held high.

By the time I got outside, I'd lost all track of the damn thing and decided to just leave it and run back to the car, scolding myself on the way out. I'd been worrying so much about where Max was that I'd put him in jeopardy. Good going, Alec.

I was pretty sure the thing had just run off when I got to the car and saw nothing there, but the trunk was open. Max was too small to lift the trunk and there was no automatic button for that so my mind went to the worst of all scenarios. The most awful part was the sound, the tiny little groans that were definitely scrambler-ish.

The strategy I'd been using forever was to find its blind spot and shoot it from the back, right in the head. Shooting it in the head was the most effective way to kill a scrambler and I found it to be the easiest as well, though you always make sure to shoot twice, just in case. Haven't you seen Zombieland? Geez.

Anyways, back to my situation, I was slowly making my way through random throngs of abandoned cars, trying to find a way to get to the scrambler without being seen. The fact that Max may or may not be zombie food was making my heart rate speed up and was causing sweat droplets to fall down my forehead in the middle of December.

Finally, I'd gotten around the blood craving once-human and was facing the back of his head. I cocked my gun, its soft clicking sound making the scrambler turn around to face me.

Saying I was shocked by what I saw was a ridiculous understatement. I was used to cocking that gun, getting the scrambler's attention, and shooting the poor bastard in its head until its brain leaked out, saying something witty and heroic as I did so. That's how you were supposed to do it and that's how it would always be done. But this time was much different.

"Now why are you pointing that thing at me?" he asked.

Scramblers didn't speak, I knew that for sure, but I still didn't lower my gun. I was suspicious of everyone but my brother and that was that.

My gun was pointing right between the eyes of a very human, very healthy looking young man, save for a bloody arm. He had the nerve to smirk at the confusion on my face and his eyebrow went up.

"Put that down, would you?" His voice was suave and silky… and condescending. I didn't trust him at all.

I swung the gun to the side, just a little, gesturing to his arm. "Is that a bite?"

He removed the hand he had been pressing to his arm and revealed a tiny gash. "Thankfully just a cut." Obviously, after learning that fact I figured out he'd been groaning from using that arm of his.

"Now," I continued. "What exactly are you doing rummaging through the trunk of my car?"

"Looking for bandages," he said. "I was trying to find some in there, but I think there are scramblers running around. Heard something moving."

"That was me."

He smiled, barely. "Ah."

After a ten second stare down, I put my gun down and ran to the side of the SUV, knocking four times on the passenger side door. It flew open at once, nearly hitting me in the face, and Max ran into my arms. His cheeks were wet so I figured he'd either been crying out of fear or because he had a few moments to think about all of the shit that's happened.

"Did you get it?" he asked pitifully.

"More or less." The man who I almost shot in the face cleared his throat and I pulled away from Max. "Can we help you with something?" I asked.

"Some gauze would be nice."

With a sigh, I left Max at the open door and went back to the trunk to find the stranger something for his arm. After a few moments, I found a roll of bandages and beckoned him over. He stood there quietly as I wrapped his arm for him, not even wincing when I tied it a little too tight. I was furious at him, a man I'd never met, for some random reason I'm sure. There was no reason for me to be mad at him, except for the fact that he scared the living shit out of me and made my little brother cry.

"Thanks," he said happily. "I'm Magnus."

"Alec," I muttered, not shaking his outstretched hand.

Magnus let his hand fall back down but didn't seem fazed by it. "Where are you two headed?" he asked kindly.

"Nowhere in particular," I half lied as I made my way back to Max. "Just trying to stay alive."

"You know," he said nonchalantly. "I heard there was a safe house in California before it all went to hell and the radios went down."

That's where Jace was, hopefully safe at his university. "Go on."

"If we stay on the road I bet we could get there in about a week."

"We?" I repeated.

"Why not?" he asked with a shrug. "Three lives would be spared and I'm sure you'd do anything to save your brother here."

"How did you know he was my brother?"

Magnus laughed like the condescending person I knew he was and shook his head at me. "Well you're a bit young to be a daddy aren't you?"

I swallowed thickly and looked from him to Max, contemplating my options. If it meant saving Max and possibly my other two siblings, I was willing to do anything.

"Do you have weapons?" I asked Magnus.

He gave me that laugh again. "More than I know what to do with. Got them in my car."

"Go get 'em. You're welcome to come with us." He smiled. "But, if you fall behind we leave you behind, and if I see any funny business I'm shooting in the head like I should have five minutes ago."

"You got yourself a deal." And we shook on it, finalizing the agreement in a big way. It was right then, as I was shaking his hand and looking straight into his eyes that I realized something- he was sexy as hell.

A/N- Wow, what a random ending xD But Magnus is hot, even I can't help myself. Please review, because we're gonna get to the good stuff pretty damn soon. I'm talkin action, baby. Action and Malec sexiness. Review for EXTRA sexiness (oh yes).
~Ella, who loved all of your previous reviews and hopes your new ones will be just as better.