New story. Hope you all enjoy it. This is going to be my first story where all the characters are human, so if you do not like that, then I am sorry. Anyways, remember to leave a comment or review (Because I love getting comments and reviews) and stay tuned. More chapters to follow soon. Thanks, and as always, be safe and make smart choices. -Asianpon3-

The year is 2025. It has been two years since a disease has spread across America, crippling the American population to a low of less than one percent. Only an estimated three million people remain, immune to this mysterious disease. Other countries have quarantined the United States, destroying aircraft and boats in an attempt to contain the disease. The law system that once governed the land is now nonexistent. Gangs and raiders roam freely; looting, killing, and raping anything or anyone they see fit. You are a survivor of this fatal disease and now scavenge the land for food and supplies that will help you survive. This is where your journey begins.

Somewhere in Georgia

"Whoa yeah," I yelled, driving down the highway at about sixty miles an hour; my hands thumping on the steering wheel in sync with the song that is playing through the speakers of the car. I continued to blaze down the highway, stopping occasionally to avoid collisions with abandoned cars. After continuing down the highway for an hour or so, I came across a peculiar scene. In the middle of the road was an old, 2012 Ford Mustang with the word helped painted on the side. Being cautious, I pulled off to the side of the road and turned off my Hummer. I took the keys out of the ignition and slid them into my pocket. I undid my seatbelt and leaned over the passenger's seat, grabbing my AR-15 that was nuzzled on the floorboard of the car. Stepping out of the Hummer, I took in my surroundings and searched for any signs of life. After surveying the area, I deemed it clear and proceeded towards the Mustang with my weapon drawn. After thoroughly searching the Mustang, I could not find any indication of life. Continuing to search the area, I noticed a semi that had run off the road and into the woods. With curiosity getting the better of me, I slowly crept up to the edge of the semi and searched the area. After a minute, I turned my attention towards the back of the semi, which was closed and locked. I smiled to myself and held my AR-15 towards the lock. With the pull of a trigger, a loud bang was heard and then the sound of metal on metal. Looking towards the lock, I was surprised to see it in two pieces on the ground.

"Well that works," I said, walking over to the semi and lifting the back door of the semi up. Once open, I stepped inside and allowed the light from the sun to fill the back of the semi. Piled to the roof of the semi were boxes upon boxes of random supplies. Unsheathing the knife from my leg, I opened a few boxes and reared back from what I saw. Expired meat filled all the boxes. Taking a whiff of the contents of the box, I quickly ran outside of the semi and began to vomit. After a minute of vomiting, I began to regain myself before I felt a cold metal object on the back of my head. I froze in fear before I heard a voice from behind me.

"Drop your gun and stand up slowly," the voice said. I was slightly caught off guard by the sound of the voice. Instead of a man's voice, I heard a women's voice, mostly likely in their late teens. I did as she said and threw my AR-15 to the ground. I slowly stood up, the gun still pressed against my head.

"Now, I want you too..." she tried to say before I spun around and grabbed the gun out of her hand. She was so startled that there was almost no resistance taking the gun from her. Now having the gun, I quickly pointed it at her and took a good look at my assailant. She was a thin girl with short rainbow colored hair, with a sky blue t-shirt and shorts on. She was around the age of 19 and looked terrified. I slowly picked up my AR-15 from the ground and swung it around my shoulder, still holding the gun towards the girl. After I secured my AR-15 I looked towards the girl with a small smile. She noticed my smile and fell onto her flank in fear. I slowly approached the downed girl so that I was only a few feet away from her. Her eyes were filled with terror as the gun slowly lowered towards her. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. After a few moments she opened an eye and looked up at me. She was met with the sight of me unloading the magazine in the gun and discharging the round in the chamber. I then threw the gun to her feet, but kept the magazine. She stared at me in disbelief before I slowly started to walk away from her. She quickly got to her feet and began to follow behind me.

"Hey. Hey, wait up," she yelled, trying to get my attention.

"What do you want?" I asked, continuing to walk away from the semi and towards my Hummer.

"I want to know why you didn't hurt me. Most people would have killed me or...?" she didn't finish her sentence.

"Or rape you?" I responded bluntly, finally reaching the open highway where my Hummer was. She was silent but continued to follow behind me.

"For the answer to your question, I don't like killing or hurting people unless it's necessary. As for the rape part, well unlike most people left in this world, I still have morals," I said, reaching my Hummer. I opened the driver's door and set my AR-15 on the dashboard. I pulled the keys out of my pocket and slid them into the ignition. With a turn of the keys, the engine roared to life. I rolled down the driver's side window and turned towards the rainbow haired girl.

"May I help you?" I asked, not looking amused.

"Umm, I was wondering if I could... come with you?" she asked.

"Why should I let you come with me? You tried to kill me a few minutes ago," I responded. The rainbow haired girl blushed slightly before clasping her hands together.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't going to hurt you. I just wanted another weapon in case I had to defend myself," she quickly responded. I studied her for a few moments before another small smile crept across my face.

"I knew you weren't going to hurt me. You don't seem like someone who likes violence," I said, shocking the girl. I nodded my head and motioned for her to get in. She quickly perked up and ran around the front of Hummer. She quickly got into the passenger side of the car and smiled brightly at me.

"Alright, if you are going to be traveling with me, there are two things we need to discuss. One, I am not your mom or dad. You can come and go as you please; all that I ask is that you listen to what I have to say without argument. Two, I am terrible with names, so I am going to give you a nickname that I will remember." The girl looked puzzled as I studied her again. My eyes fell to her rainbow colored hair and a smile crept across my face.

"Alright, your new nickname is Skittles," I responded, putting an end to my previous dilemma of remembering her name. Skittles stared at me for a few moments with a confused expression on her face.

"Skittles?" she asked, skeptical of her new nickname. I laughed and nodded my head.

"Yeah, is something wrong with Skittles?" I asked, causing her to blush slightly.

"No, it's just that," was all she could say before I cut her off.

"Wonderful, then off we go," I loudly proclaimed, putting the car into drive and continuing down the highway with a new companion.

Several Hours Later (Nighttime)

"What are we doing here?" Skittles asked, the sound of the Hummer shutting off.

"Well, we need some gas. Just wait in the car; I will be right back. Hopefully the pumps are working," I finished, grabbing my AR-15 off the dashboard and securing the strap around my shoulder and neck. I opened the driver side door and got out of the Hummer. I walked towards the passenger side of the car and undid the gas cap. I reached out for the gas pump and slid the nozzle into the fuel tank. I pushed the diesel button and luckily, the gas began to flow. I leaned up against the black Hummer and smiled. I was patiently waiting for my tank to fully fill before something caught my eye. I quickly raised my rifle and moved towards the front of the Humvee. When I got to the passenger door I opened it slightly to see Skittles staring at me with a concerned look.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked. I nodded my head and without taking my eyes away from the corner of the small gas station, I calmly told Skittles what to do.

"Skittles, I want you to do exactly as I say ok." She nodded her head in understanding.

"Good, I need you to do absolutely nothing. Just stay here and don't move. I'm going to investigate what I saw." Before she could object, I was already making my way towards the edge of the store. A few minutes went by while Skittles continued to wait in the car, anxious and worried about her new friend. Another minute or so went by before a barrage of gunfire was heard. Skittles covered her ears and hid herself in the front seat of the car. After a few seconds, Skittle poked her head up and stared out the window. From inside the gas station, a man casually strolled up from within and made his way towards the car. Skittles sat motionless in the car, afraid to move as the man continued to stroll up to the passenger side window. A moment later the passenger door opened to reveal a slightly overweight man with dirty blonde hair and dressed in plaid, holding a single barrel shotgun.

"Well aren't you a pertty thang," the man said, a typical southern accent apparent in his voice. Skittles stared blankly and fearful at the man in front of her.

"Don't worry there sweetheart, I don't bite... much," he finished stepping back with the gun still aimed at Skittles.

"Now get outta the car," the man demanded.

"What did you do to my friend," Skittles blurted out, much to the dissatisfaction of the man.

"Well, your dear friend is dead. I had my boys lure him away and well... I tink you heard the rest for yerself dhere," the mane said, a smug smile on his face. Skittles had a few tears in her eyes, knowing that her only friend had just died. The man soon lost his patience with Skittles and quickly approached the car again.

"I said, get outta the car," the man yelled, grabbing Skittles by the arm and forcing her out of the car and onto the ground. She hit the ground and a large gash formed on her upper right leg. The man smiled evilly as he took a step closer to her, his gun now by his side.

"I'm gonna enjoy this," he said, taking another step closer to her before a loud gunshot was heard and the man fell to the ground only inches away from Skittles. Skittles quickly searched the area for the source of the gunshot and saw me quickly running towards her with my AR-15 aimed at the man. Once I was next to Skittles I quickly kicked the shotgun away from the man on the ground and rolled him over onto his back. He let out a large grunt as blood poured from the wound in his chest. I dropped to a knee and inspected the man's wounds before I gave a slow shake of my head.

"I'm sorry," I said, taking out a 9mm from my back pants and aiming it at the man. With the squeeze of the trigger, the man's body went completely limp. I slid the 9mm into my back pants again and lowered my head. A few moments of silence went by before I lifted my head and stared at Skittles. A gentle smile was visible on my face before I saw the large gash on Skittles leg.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked, holding out a hand to help her up. Skittles nodded her head and as she stood up, grunted slightly in pain from her injury.

"That looks like a pretty nasty cut you got there," I said, looking at her leg.

"It's not so bad," she said, taking a step before gritting her teeth. I laughed slightly and helped Skittles into the passenger side of the Hummer.

"Alright, I will be right back. Let me run inside the gas station to see if I can find a first aid kit for your leg." I then closed the passenger side door and quickly ran inside of the gas station. After a few minutes I came out with a large cardboard box and a grin on my face. After loading the cardboard box into the trunk, I took out two empty gas cans and hastily filled them up. I then screwed the caps onto both gas cans and placed them in the trunk of the car with my other supplies. After closing the trunk, I walked around to the driver's side of the Hummer and got in. Once I got in, I set my AR-15 on the dashboard and pulled out the 9mm and placed it in the center compartment. I turned towards Skittles and gave a radiant smile.

"So how about we find a nice hotel tonight. I think we both deserve it," I said, causing Skittles to smile and nod her head.

"All right, to the Marriot," I yelled, starting up the hummer and driving to the nearest Marriot I could find.

Half an Hour Later (Inside the Marriot)

"Alright, now show me your leg," I asked, causing Skittles to blush slightly.

"Why... why do you need to see my leg?" she quickly responded.

"So I can treat it of course. I don't want it to get infected," I said, causing her to blush again and before she outstretched her right leg so I could see the full damage. I set the gasoline lamp on the small end table next to her and opened the first aid kit. I grabbed the hand sanitizer and cleaned my hands before reaching for some disinfectant.

"Now this may sting a little, but it wont be that bad," I said, dipping a cotton ball in the disinfectant. Skittles nodded her head and I proceeded to lower the cotton ball onto the wound. When we made contact, Skittles gritted her teeth and clenched her fists from the burning sensation of the disinfectant killing the bacteria in the wound.

"Almost done, and there," I said, pulling the cotton ball away from her wound and throwing it off to the side. I reached into to the first aid kit and grabbed a roll of gauze with a clean cloth coated in Neosporin.

"Ok, this shouldn't hurt at all. I just need you to hold this cloth to your leg while I wrap it up. Then you should be good to go." Skittles nodded her head and held the cloth in place. I quickly and carefully rolled the gauze around her leg.

"And done," I said, putting the left over materials back into the first aid kit.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" I asked, Skittles shaking her head and looking over the handy work I did.

"Wonderful, and since you were such a great patient, I got a little something for you." I reached into the cardboard box I had gotten at the gas station and pulled out a bag a candy. I gently set it in front of Skittles and waited for her to read the label.

"Skittles... really?" she asked, playfully slugging me in the arm with a laugh.

"What can I say, I think you of all people would enjoy them," I finished. We both laughed for a few more minutes before Skittles grew silent. I looked towards her and could tell she had something on her mind.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" I asked, causing Skittles to look up at me spastically shake her head.

"No, no, no. It's just... I want to thank you. I mean for not leaving me back there and for saving me," she said, the blush on her face now visible again.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure if you were in my position, you would have done the same. And besides, I like a company every once in a while. Keeps me from going insane, if you know what I mean," I replied. Skittles nodded her head and let out a large yawn.

"Well it looks like you are tired. You had a rough day, so why don't you get some sleep. I'm going to stay up for a little while longer." Skittles nodded her head and pulled back the covers to her bed. She quickly got underneath them and fell asleep. I looked back towards Skittles to see that she was out cold. I chuckled slightly and walked over to AR-15. I inspected my rifle, before disassembling it; cleaning it, and then putting it back together. The process took around half an hour and once finished, I looked towards the bed to see Skittles still fast asleep. I smiled and walked towards the second bed in the room. I placed my AR-15 next to the bed and took off my shirt. I threw my shirt on the floor and got under the covers, sleep quickly taking hold of me from the eventful day.