UFSW Hunger Games/Season 2 Issue 1

This is #1 of the second UFSW Hunger Games. The issue introduces Endangered, The Ones Who Remain, The Unforgettable Face, and World of Anarchy.

Issue 1
“I’m sorry.” He mutters in his sleep, rolling around while doing so. “I’m sorry.”

David Andrews sits up grasping for the air around him, rubbing his tired eyes while doing so. It was a long night for him judging by how he looks right now with sweat coming down his head, tired eyes and body, and some messed up hair. Truth be told it was a long day at the hotel; it was nothing he couldn’t handle, he has handled worse, but still bad. “Just another nightmare.” He said to himself, trying to calm down his nerves.

Nightmares. David was used to them at this point, in fact, one could consider them friends. They might when David was ten and had just gotten closer ever since. It was almost like a daily thing now.

David, still tired, simply just sighs and looks to his right, where like expected, he sees the beautiful brunette that he is lucky to call his girlfriend. Teresa Burch. They were classmates at UNT, or as known otherwise, the University of North Texas, both having met in their freshman year. They were a little close before all the outbreak went down, but afterwards, the two found themselves closer than ever before. He was glad to call her one of his only close friends.

However as David fell back, expecting to fall back onto the bed that he fell asleep on, he instead lands on a grassy landscape that was definitely not his bed. “The hell?” David jumps up onto his feet, finally taking a good look around the area. He must have been so tired that he failed to see that he’s not in a damn bedroom. The area is full of grass, dirt, trees and rocks like they were in a forest. Or woods. Or an island. But for damn sure they’re not in a hotel.

“What…?” He’s at a complete loss of words of the situation, and even when he looks down at himself he notices he’s no longer in the clothes he slept in. “The...what?”

He doesn’t even know what to say when he just then remembers Teresa and looks down at her, watching as she peacefully sleeps on the grassy ground, and like David, no longer wearing pajamas. “Hey, Teresa.” David says, kneeling down next to her and shaking her arm.

“W--what?” She moans still half-asleep, her eyes still even closed.

“Wake up.”

“Do you…..how early it is.”

“Teresa--”

“Just--five more minutes.”

“Teresa.” He says, with a little more force, to which she finally opens her eyes, while reluctant. She quickly sees the situation and stands to her feet, using David as support. Upon standing Teresa scans the area and David watches as her face turns worried and fearful. Unlike David, who people have called emotionless, Teresa was more clear when it came to showing her emotions.

“Where...what...where are we?” She asks panically, not knowing which question to start with.

“I don’t know.”

“How did we..”

“I don’t know.” He says, grabbing her by the shoulders in an effort to calm her down. “Teresa, I don’t know.” Neither of them know how they just got transferred from an hotel room to….here in the middle of the night, and none of them knew how it was possible. However, there were still itching questions.

“Where’s Amber?” She asks panicked about her older sister, her only family member left. They were lucky enough to find each other during all the chaos and she can’t just lose her now. “Where’s Chris?!”

Chris. Of all the people they were staying with, Amber included, Chris was probably both David and Teresa’s high priority. Chris was just a ten year old boy, who like many other people, was orphaned the night of the outbreak. David and Teresa luckily found him, but while getting him out of there, David killed his undead mother, unknown to him of course. Chris never looked at him the same, and David knew he had to be angry at him deep inside. David always felt a sense to protect Chris for those two reasons, but it went slightly deeper because he saw himself in Chris. Both were ten when they were orphaned, that’s a starter.

“David!” She calls him out of his trance, although she doesn’t expect him to know the answer, she just needs him to be fully with her right now. “We gotta search for them.”

“I don’t know.” David says. “I mean, how do we know if they’re even here?”

“That’s the point. We don’t know. So we find out by search for them.”

“Teresa--”

“David.” She grabs his hands. “Don’t you care?” She knew she did but she’s just so in the moment that she has to ask. The key thing about David is that he’s heavily reserved and withdrawn, so when it came to knowing how he felt, one would have to know him well.

“Of course I care.” David grips her hands tighter, before pulling her in for a deep hug. “I’m sorry, just this is all….confusing as hell. We’ll search for the others and--find out what’s going on here. Sound good?”

Teresa nods while separating herself from the embrace, and while doing so, David can see the fear in her eyes. “Hey,” David wipes some dirt off her cheek, “we’ll be fine.”

“I know, just...haven’t we suffered enough the past few months?” Teresa sighs. “Is that bad to ask for at least one good day?”

“Yep.” David smirks, before planting kissing her gently on the forehead and grabbing her hand. “Now lets go find them.”

“Sarah?” Michael mutters aloud, to which he gets no response. Only a moment ago he woke up in this ‘Wonderland’ type area. Filled with tall grass, dark trees, a soothing, blue sky, and a sun brighter Tate Levine’s eyes, Michael thought he was just in some weird dream. Sure he’s woke up in strange places a lot of times: A rooftop, near the river, a bridge, a bake palace, Sesame Street, and even the goddamn Strip Club, but never a forest.

The last thing Michael remembers was having lunch with his daughter, where after years, they finally made up. It was...such a great moment, like honestly, one of the best moments in his life She said the she loved him. Many others don’t appreciate the word but Michael appreciated with every aching bone in his body. So he has that great memory...only for him to wake-up in some different place that wasn’t the Franklin Mills Mall, which was one of the safest place in the riot filled Philadelphia.

“Tate?” He calls for his close friend, Tate Levine, while he stands up slightly, grabbing onto a tree for nearby support. He wasn’t drinking, he doesn’t drink at all, but he sure felt out of it.

“Sarah?!”

“James?!”

He called all three names, hoping one of them would respond. However, the closest thing he got to a response was a bird chirping; numerous of birds, to be more exact. He sighs, and in panic, rubs his hands through the hair on his head. First the outbreak, now he’s waking up in ‘Wonderland’. He should be complaining, but he probably did have this shit coming. Karma’s a bitch.

With not even a weapon to defend himself, Michael looks around the strange area. He is clearly in the middle of nowhere and is clearly alone. His environment and the people he was with just disappeared; his life is just getting weirder every day. Still, Michael kept his calm, and after a few breathes, knew he needed some sort of plan. There was so many questions to ask though; Where is he? Why is he there? What is there?

“Fuck…” He can’t help but mutter, while scratching his head. He could really use some soda, then again, he wouldn’t mind some water either.

After a few minutes Michael finally began to walk, choosing to follow the dirt road that sat next to him. With each footstep some dirt entered the area and went over the clothes Michael was wearing, which weren’t the ones he was wearing before he woke up here. That, and he was finding nothing the more he went on. He passed a sparkly, blue river, a dark, blooming tree, and grass just as dark as the Hulk, which looked sorta pretty, but no other people. Yet, Michael kept believing there was hope he could find people. After thirteen or something years Michael regained his hope when he tried finding Sarah, and he wasn’t gonna lose it now.

It was in that moment he saw something strange, out of the very corner of his eye. Nailed against some random tree was a note; a note written in big, red writing. Curious, Michael took a light jog over and yanked it off the tree. After holding it and reading it’s writing, he however, thought it was some joke written by some stupid ass kid.



Michael scratched his head. It seemed pretty serious, but his thought that some kid put it there to scare people. Why else would it be there? It’s not like Michael was apart of some Hunger Games shit. Then again, considering the shit he’s seen the past few days, he isn’t counting anything out. So instead of throwing it away he tucked it safely in his pocket, before going back down the dirt road. -

“Lara?” Vicky’s question echoes around the room once more, hoping this time she would get some response. However, like the four times she asked before, all she got was the silence that filled the house, minus the air breezing or the floor creaking. So Vicky gives a annoyed sigh and moan, and really, just feels like punching something.

It’s been about six minutes since Vicky woke up in that pink bedroom with a complete new wardrobe, and she had absolutely no idea how she woke up there or how she was in different clothes, although the latter made her more weirded out. She immediately expected it to be some prank by her friend, Lara Drake, but every minute was making her rethink that.

Her life has been going on a downhill lately, then again, her life has always been a downhill. After a rough childhood and even worse teenage years, Vicky had finally managed to get her life together and everything was looking up. She graduated high school, made friends, got over her...problems, and even got accepted into the University of Pennsylvania, or otherwise known as UPENN. For once in her life, she seemed to have everything going.

But then she lost her virginity in a drunken state, she witnessed an infected tearing people apart, the outbreak started and she witnessed more of that, she was forced to kill one of those things, and she is pretty sure her parents are dead. Just goes to show that her life can’t go good. Luckily she met up with her best friend, Lara, and the two took care of each other, and soon enough, they met up with other students from UPENN; McCoy Davis and Dre Ocean. But now, here she is, in some rundown house, and most likely alone.

Still, she couldn’t just be alone, right? Lara, or anybody really, had to be nearby. So she descends down the hallway once more, trying to find people. She checked the bathroom, bedrooms, and every other room practically, but is still met with nothing. This whole farmhouse, at least she thinks it’s some farm, is empty minus her and the mice crawling around.

Making her way downstairs and into the downstairs level, Vicky once again scans around. The downstairs level only had a few rooms that included the entry hallway, living room, kitchen, dining room, and a game-like room. Desperate to not be alone Vicky went on to search every single room, but every time, her search came short. The only things she found in the rooms, as well, were only trashy stuff. This house was completely dumped.

Yet, there was still a whole outside to check. With that in mind Vicky walked to the nearby window and peeked through the blinds, half expecting to see the ruined city of Philadelphia outside. Instead, however, she saw something much different. She was in fact at a farmhouse, as there was a farm like area outside. It was mostly all just grass, a fence, and the shed near the exit of the farm. Besides that it was empty, not a soul; and no trace of a city nearby. “What the hell…” Is all Vicky can muster to mumble, as the whole situation is weird.

Grabbing a green sweatshirt that sat on the bed Vicky threw it on, and made her way towards the door. She reaches for the knob to open the door but something stops her from doing so. Something strange. There was a note on the door, and the writing was in blood like colors.



Vicky looks at the note and shivers slightly, as the whole situation was getting creepier and creepier. However, since she desperately needed to find another person, Vicky just dropped it onto the floor and exited the house. Upon stepping out the door and onto the porch she could feel the mellow, amazing air breeze right onto her, and as her hair flies around, she can’t help but give a nice smile. The air felt nice, especially since that big house was hotter than anything.

Stepping down the stairs and onto the farm grounds, Vicky figured she’d check the next nearest structure, which in this case was a small, dark shed near the exit. It looked pretty small and was most likely empty but Vicky still went to check it, because anything could help in this situation.

Upon her arrival Vicky makes her way up the creaking stairs and rips open the shed door, and like expected, found it completely empty. Figures, it was just her luck. However while standing there, in the middle of the dark shed, Vicky couldn’t be more freaked out. She wasn’t even made for the outbreak, so being in this horror movie like situation, she couldn’t help but just want to sit down and wait for a knight in shining armor to save her. Of course she knew that wouldn’t work.

She half-expected her to close her eyes, knock her heels together, say the phrase “no place like home” three times, and then boom, she’ll be back in the mall; or better yet, back in her college dorm room and it turns out the outbreak never happened. Yet when she tries and finally opens her eyes, she’s still in that damn shed.

“Dammit….” She mutters out loud annoyed, although personally, she just wanted to hear some sort of voice, even if it was her own.

It was clear now that this wasn’t a dream, and for whatever fucking reason, she is here, and that she needs to find someone. She can’t be alone in this place, which from the looks of it, looked like some damn forrest, a big one. From her sight line from just the window-still she could see miles and miles of trees, and even a mountain.

Walking out of the shed, Vicky looks toward the exit gate and sees the outline of a human figure. She couldn’t see it fully well yet but it was curved and she heard noises from it. “Hey!” Vicky shouts over, hoping this dude is helpful, but then he turns toward her.

The “person” has long strain of dark hair and red-like eyes, but that’s not the point. The person has gray-like skin, ripped up clothing, and some blood scattered on him. Then, just like that, it makes a run for her, screaming. It was no person; it was some goddamn infected. The infected, as she knows them, were people infected with parasites who tended to...well, eat people; and this big boy had it’s eyes right on Vicky.

“Fuck...shit….fuck!.” Is all Vicky can say as she turns around and makes a run for it. She’s only killed two of those damn things, and each time she felt a part of her tearing away. Yet, she knew she was gonna have to kill it, but first all she needed was some weapon. Yeah, she may not be a fighter, but she wasn’t a person who just gave up either, and she wasn’t a fan of being eaten alive. Quickly running around the shed she picked up the first thing she saw as a weapon, which in this case, was a small flag pull. She quickly yanked the flag off and held the pole in a defensive stance as the infected charged her.

The infected lifted it’s arms up and Vicky was quick to swing her pole, knocking it right across the head. It staggers back a little, before Vicky gave it one more swing, this time knocking it to the ground. Once the infected hit the ground Vicky, although slightly reluctant, lifts up the sharpened end of the pole and smashed it down, ending it’s life.

Tyler, once again finding himself corner by infected, mutters angrily to himself before throwing his fist forward and punching an infected straight across the face, knocking the beast to the ground. Even with a little punch Tyler managed to almost kill it, there was no denying his strength thats for sure. With one of the infected out of his way Tyler saw this as his chance to run, so after taking a deep breath, runs through the small gap, using his bulking size to push some out of his way.

With his path clear of infected, minus the ones behind him, Tyler musters up his energy to make himself run, faster than the infected in fact. After only for running a few short minutes through the untamed forest he turns around, expecting the herd to still be after him, yet surprisingly finds himself clear. For now anyways. Tyler, taking that as a sign of resting, pants in relief and slows down his speed, reducing himself to only walking now.

Putting his hands on his waist he takes a look around the area, catching his breath while doing so, and notices a blue, shiny lake that sits a few meters away from him, down a small hill, and he smiles. He could sure use some water, that wasn’t his sweat. So taking the small walk down he soon arrives at the amazing find, drops onto his knees, and throwing water in his mouth like crazy; it almost looked like he never drank water before. After almost drowning himself in water Tyler finally took a break, backed away from the water, and instead sat on the ground, letting the water soak in. This was also a good moment for Tyler to actually think about what’s going on.

It had only been twenty minutes ago when he awoke on top of a rock, surrounded by infected, with no memory of how he got there. Then after lots of fighting, running, and sweating, Tyler found himself right by this lake. Still Tyler had no idea where he was, how far away he was from Millwoods, or where Adelaide was. Basically everything Tyler knew was gone.

It is in that moment Tyler reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out the crumpled up note he found upon waking up, and even now it made no sense to him. It was pretty useless to him, with only some ridiculous words on it, so he tosses it onto the ground without a single regret. He couldn’t focus on the note’s words, instead he had to focus on finding any others, especially Adelaide. She was all he had left after all….

So standing up onto his feet Tyler decides to go searching for someone, and after kicking the useless piece of paper in the trash, begins to make that his goal. His first idea was to go check the radio tower that sat over the hill, in fact it was the first thing he saw upon waking up, seeing as someone might be there. -

After about a ten minute peaceful walk, Tyler had finally arrived at the radio tower, and it was definitely bigger up close. The giant, rusty gray, tower loomed over the place and judging by the size of it, Tyler guessed he could see the whole area from the top floor, making getting up his top priority.

Walking through the bent front doors he looks around the lobby, and what he expected to be neat and organized was instead trashed and destroyed. Furniture lays upside down, ripped up, and scattered all around as does trash, and he also notices blood around a few places. The lights flicker on and off repeatedly causing Tyler to feel nervous, but not scared yet. He’s seen worse places that this.

Now walking through the lobby he first walks over to the elevators, and like what he expected they were broken, making the only other choice the stairs. Taking a look behind him, Tyler sees the bloody stair entrance to the far right and sighs. It was gonna be one long walk to the top, but he knew it was gonna be worth it. Hopefully.

Making his way toward the stairs he stops at first and instead looks at the map, which sits directly next to the stairs. According to the map, this tower had only five in building floors, then there was stairs on the roof leading to the top. It actually didn’t seem that bad. So he walks through the entrance and makes his way up the stairs.

It only took a few moments for Tyler to reach the ruined, once good looking fifth floor, and he immediately searched for the roof entrance. After scanning the floor he soon notices the roof entrance, but not in the way he wanted. Broken ceiling parts, furniture, and a few bodies cover the door to the roof, making it inaccessible. “Jesus,” Tyler mutters under his breath, “please help me out here.”

It was after saying that, he soon heard noises behind him and he turns immediately. Nothing in sight, but Tyler knew someone was there. “Come on out, I know you’re there.” Tyler kept staring back. “Are you armed?”

“No.” A young, feminine voice calls out. Happy to see someone Tyler makes his way over there, but stops short when the girl steps out. The girl had to have only be in her teens with the long, fluffy brown hair, and basic clothing teenagers wear. However he also notices a small, bloody blade in her hands.

“Not armed, eh?”

“Well I lied about that part.” The girl jokes loudly, smiling while doing so. “I just had to make sure you…..well, you know.”

“Yeah.” Tyler replies quietly, before looking at the blood. “Whose blood?”

“W-walkers.” The girl slightly stutters scared. “They were everywhere.”

“Still there?”

“I th-think so.” She once again stutters, and it was pretty obvious this girl was to innocent for stuff like this. “I mean I don’t know, maybe. I-”

“Relax.”

“My dad always taught me how to kill them but-”

“Relax.” Tyler says a little more loudly and the girl listens to him, while Tyler peaks around the corner. They seemed clear for now.

“Can I...come with you, maybe?” Tyler looks at her. “Please, I don’t wanna be alone.” Tyler looks directly into the girl’s innocent eyes while she speaks, and he can’t say no. She was just so innocent. So he extends his hand in the form of a handshake.

“Tyler.”

She gives him a weak handshake. “Omisha.”

“Well, Omisha, I think we should keep moving.”

“Hey. You okay?”

“Yeah,” he lies, “just great.”

“You suck at lying.”

“Really?” He asks, poking his head up. “I always thought I was pretty good.”

“Not to me.” Adrianna says, giving Mike Lee a nudge on the shoulder, to which he only gives a small smirk that goes away just as quickly. She can’t really blame him. He’s been through so much shit in the past few days that she’s shocked he didn’t try to...off himself yet, but luckily, Mike wasn’t like that.

The two had just bumped into each other while each respective one were calling for the people they were with before. She heard Mike call stuff like ‘Ally’, ‘Cameron’, and thought she heard a ‘Mom’, but she didn’t press on it. Both were equally as surprised to see them, considering Adrianna spent the past few days trying to find him, while Mike spent the past few days missing his friends. The two did their brief catching up with Adrianna telling Mike how they traveled to Jacksonville to try and plan a rescue mission for him, while Mike told her about his struggles in Echo to being brought to a mansion led by a girl named Cameron. Mike did, however, leave some certain stuff out.

“So Nikki is okay?” Mike asks once more about Nikki, his best friend who he clearly loves, just never acted upon.

“Yeah. She’s safe.”

“How safe?”

“Perfectly safe.” Adrianna says and can’t help but smile a little about how cute Mike is when it comes to the subject of Nikki.

“And what about--”

“Relax, Mike. Cal, Jared, they’re all safe.”

“Good. I just--can’t believe you guys went through all that trouble just to save me.”

“Hey, you’re important to us.” Mike still doesn’t look up. “Hear me?”

“Yeah, I heard you.”

“Then cheer up. You’re being a downer.”

“Cheer up? You honestly expect me to cheer up?” Mike finally looks up from the ground and into her eyes. “My auntie dies, I get taken by echo and….do you know what they did to me? I didn’t know what pain was until I stepped foot in that place. Then..I was taken to some mansion and…..and then….then I woke up in the middle of nowhere! So, I’m sorry Adrianna, but if I wanna be down I think I got a pretty damn good excuse.” Seeing how he took his rant too far, Mike leans farther back against the tree stump where he was sitting, taking a deep breath. Adrianna just stands there watching him, to which Mike notices, believing she’s giving him a look of sympathy. “I don’t want your pity.”

“And you’re not getting it.” Adrianna informs him, crossing her arms. “It’s great to see you're okay, Mike, really great. But we gotta focus on this right now.” Adrianna points around the area. “Most importantly, where, how and why.”

Mike sighs before standing to his feet, knowing that Adrianna is right. He’s in no way, shape or form a ‘battle ready survivor’ but he knows that he can’t focus on the past right now, only the present. “Alright….what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I--I went to sleep. You?”

“Same.” Mike says, and begins to find himself pacing back and forth, while the calm Adrianna leans against a tree. “Why us though? I only pissed of Echo, and this obviously isn’t them.”

“Oh, I pissed off a lot of people.” Adrianna smirks, trying to lighten the mood slightly. “None of them would go this far though.” Mike continues to pace.

“Fuck, man. Just--fuck.” Mike rubs his temple. “What do we do?”

“Scout around. Find where we are, shelter, food, and see if we’re alone.”

“You think the others are here?” Mike asks but Adrianna shakes her head.

“You think anyone can get the jump on Jared?”

“I didn’t think anyone could get the jump on you.”

“No, but if a big, strong man tried sneaking up on us, Jared would...notice, if you know what I mean.”

After getting out of the radio without much trouble, minus a few walkers which Tyler took care of, the newly formed duo walk across the rocky land, both of them silent. While Tyler keeps his eyes on the scared girl, he knows she won’t do anything. So he instead looks around the area itself and notices a few birds flying through the sky. This was place was beautiful.

Omisha, looking down the whole time, slowly rises her head to see Tyler just standing there, looking at the area. “It’s nice.” She remarks about the area, and she soon smiles, something Tyler notices.

“It is. God truly created a beautiful world.” Tyler says. He always did like to mention his faith. “To bad I have no idea where we are.”

“Neither do I.” The two than stand in silence after that, just staring. That and they had no idea what to even talk about, they weren’t exactly close in age and they seemed completely different. “Did you get a note?”

“Did it have big red words on it?” Omisha nods. “Threw it out.”

“Oh. Well what did you think of it?”

“I honestly don’t know what to even think of it. Either real or some cruel joke, haven’t decided yet.” Tyler looks back at her, seeing her just stand frozen. She was more confused and scared than he was. “You ever kill anyone?”

“Never.” She says it fast with such disgust at the thought of it. “You?”

“Once or twice.”

“Oh.”

“Relax, Omisha, eh?” She nods. “You’ll be fine with me, don’t worry. Maybe if this goes good, we, or I, won’t have to kill anyone at all.”

“Thank you.” She smiles brightly and he just chuckles before turning away.

“Let’s go find somewhere to stay the night.” Once saying this he begins to make his way forward while Omisha just stares at him, with a smile on her face. But this wasn’t the innocent smile she had earlier, no this was something else. Her eyes seemed darker and the smile was more wicked. Like a manipulative, dark look. She didn’t seem so innocent anymore, and she was nowhere near it.

Because she had just got another prey to fall in her trap.

“Twenty-two people. Kill to survive.” David reads out loud from the note he found. “Last one wins.” Upon finishing David scratches his head curiously, wondering what it meant. The two had been searching the area in hopes of finding their friends, and while there was no sign of them, they found this note hanging on a tree.

“Kill to survive?” Teresa asks. “We have to kill people?”

“Twenty, to be exact.” He corrects her, and he can see some panic in her eyes. Truth be told Teresa never killed anything, person or infected. Her hands were completely clean, unlike David’s, who had killed infected and people alike.

“And last one wins? Wins what?” Teresa asks, while pacing back and forth, being heavily panicked. “Is this--some sort of game?”

“I don’t know. Seems like it.”

“What kind--who would make a sick game like that?”

“There are a lot of messed up people out there.”

“And who are we even versing? This is so--so fucked up.” She stresses and tries twirling her hair to calm herself down. David, watching her stressed body language, can’t help but smirk. “What’s so funny?”

“I never seen you like this before.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. You’re cursing, pacing, twirling your hair, it’s a little funny to me.” Teresa doesn’t look amused. “Sorry.”

“How are you so calm about this?”

“Who said I was calm?” He shrugs. Teresa knew that inside David was just afraid as her, he had to be. He was always good at keeping a poker face and it’s a trait Teresa sorta envy’s, as right now she’s panicking her ass off. “So what do we do?”

“I don’t know. This is all just so overwhelming.” She sighs. “What do you think we should do?”

Truth was David didn’t know. He never exactly was apart of a death game before, and actually never thought he would. Most people would just go kill their competitors but David was a little iffy about that. He had to kill two people once and he felt absolutely nothing, which sorta scared him, and he doesn't want Teresa to see him do that or do it herself. But they can’t make alliances with others either because they may not be trustworthy. So he thought of a plan C. “Lets not play this game.”

“What?”

“There’s twenty other people, right? Like you said one of them might be someone we know. I say we go search for people we know and we’ll work our way up from there.” David suggests. “And besides, I think we need someone like Leo right now.”

“True that.” She smirks slightly, and to cheer her up lightly, David nudges her arm.

“Hey,” he speak to her, “we’ll be okay.”

“David, I love how you’re trying to cheer me up, but don’t bullshit me.” She sighs. “There are twenty people out there, and while I’d love to think otherwise, I think we both know that some won’t be as nice as others.”

“I know.” He sighs, scratching his head. “But lets not think ‘bout it, we’ll deal with it when it comes.”

Walking down the dirt road, Michael had his hands tucked in his pockets, and his eyes forward. He’s been walking for God knows how long now, and hasn’t found a thing. He’s beginning to think that he’s there alone, and that this was some version of hell he was sent too, where he had nothing but his mistakes to think about. Yet he kept walking, knowing that somehow he would find someone. It was strange for a man like Michael to have hope, but hell, he had it.

After another few moments of walking down the seemingly endless path, Michael felt he heard a noise. Like footsteps, and they were approaching quickly. Curious, Michael cranked his head, also making sure to be ready if it’s some infected. After a few seconds he saw the image of a young girl appear in front of him, with a bloody flag pole grasped in her hands. It took him a few moments be he soon recognized the girl, and she however, instantly recognized him.

“Well, would you look at that.” Vicky lowers her pole, and gives him a annoyed look. “This is pretty damn ironic, huh, Mr. Nicholson?” She said with a sneer, to which Michael just scratched the back of his head. Vicky and him had a complicated relationship, and he sighed. This was not going to turn out good for either of them.

“Yeah, suppose it is.”

“Suppose?”

“Alright, it is one.” The relationship between the two was very...complicated, would be the word Michael would use. Michael was always a ladies man, having a different girl at least every night; he sorta had an addiction to the act, made him feel good. But, back onto the point, he just so happened to bump into Vicky at a bar one night, who was drunk on alcohol. So, like usual, he took her to a motel and banged her, then left the next morning. Unfortunately, he left his ID there so Vicky easily tracked him down, where she pretty much told him off. “You mind lowering that thing?”

“I--I think I like it where it is.”

“C’mon, you think I’m gonna attack you or something? I may be an asshole but I think we both know I’m not some killer.” Vicky and him just stare at each other, both confused as hell about the situation, but keeping their straight faces on.

Truth was Vicky was no fighter, she was not one at all, and could probably not find it in her to attack a human being, but she didn’t trust a bastard like Michael. Still, she didn’t really have a choice about how to trust right now, and since Michael was the first person she’s seen, she has to trust him; so she reluctantly lowers her weapon. Once lowered Michael takes a step forward, but Vicky quickly stops that.

“You can stay there.” She states, not wanting him to get any closer. Michael, not wanting to fight, just nods. “So….did you--wake up here too?”

“Woke up some miles back. Guessing you did too?” Vicky nods, as Michael reached into the depths of his pockets and rips out a note. “You find this too?”

She instantly recognized it as the note she saw in the farm house. “Saw it a little bit back.” Michael nods, knowing at know at least he wasn’t the only one to find it. “What do you think it is?”

“Ms. Cummings, I think the words are pretty clear.” His straightforward response makes her sighs. She knew that there was probably no other meaning, but she still had to ask. She could barely kill infected; no way she wants human blood on her hands. “Alright, I know we’re not friends or anything--”

“Not even close.”

“Yes, not even close, but I say we--”

“No.”

“--stick together.”

“Us together? I’d rather be with Mr. Pinka.” Michael gives her a not understanding look. “Bad English teacher.”

“I get you don’t like me and all--”

“Don’t like you? You fucking used--”

“I’m sorry, alright? I honestly don’t know what you want me to say.” She sighs and folds her arms, as he goes on. “Look, none of us are exactly murderers and we’re trapped in who fuck knows where, with no idea why the hell we’re here. So I say we just put the past behind us, for now, until we figure this shit out.”

She hesitates to answer. “I can guarantee you that we’re not here alone, and some others out there may not be as nice, so unless you wanna go out there alone…” He lets the option dangle in the air.

She looks at him in the eyes, and sighs, while brushing some hair out of her face. She didn’t want anything to do with Michael, and didn’t even trust him enough to shine her shoes, but he was right. Like it or not, teaming up with this douche was her only option. “Alright, alright. Fine, we’ll stick together.” While saying this she holds her flag pole up, her grip extra tight. “But if you try anything, even as so much look at my ass, we’re fucking done.”

“No promises there.” He smirks with a devilish grin, but she only scolds him. Normally, Vicky was fine with joking around, but not with him. “I promise, I won’t try anything.”

Lowering her form of defense, Vicky walks in his direction, but still walks past him. “This way.”

“Kill to survive, last one wins.” Mike Lee laments while walking down the dirt road next to Adrianna, who holds the note they found in one hand and a branch in the other. Both had just stumbled across the note near their earlier position. “Why can’t shit ever be easy?”

“Because easy isn’t fun.”

“Ain’t fun when it’s hard either.” Mike reminds her while groaning. “So what do you think it means?”

“I think it means we’re in some deathmatch. You know like the Hunger Games.”

“Obviously, but why us?” Mike wonders aloud. “I mean, why me? I’m not some badass fighter.”

“Like me?”

“Yeah, like you.” He smirks slightly but it only goes away just as quickly. “I just wanna go home. After all the stuff I’ve seen the past few days I never missed shitty Livingston so much.”

“I know the feeling.” She smiles, before turning toward Mike, who was too busy on looking around the area to notice. The relationship between them was complicated at best, and the two had their problems, but made up recently. It goes beyond that, however. Adrianna... owes her life to this boy. When she was in her darkest moments he was there to pull her back out into the light; if it weren’t for him she probably would have offed herself by now. Ever since he helped her Adrianna has felt a sense of debt to him and now was a test to this loyalty. There was no way she could just let this boy die, no fucking way. If she dies then so be it but she’s not dying until she’s damn sure Mike wins and will be home safe.

Adrianna stretches her arm and puts it around Mike. “Relax, I got you.” She informs him. “You’ll be home safe in no time.”