Chapter 2

The one closest to me took a step forward, and he waved his gun threateningly. It's long, sleek, black, and it looks deadly. I've never really been a gun person, and in fact I haven't fired one in years, but even I know that at this close it'll be impossible for him to miss what he's aiming at.

And what he's aiming at is my heart.

I looked up into his face, looking for any sign of compassion or restraint, and come up empty-handed. His eyes are blue-gray and hard as they stare at me. His jaw is covered in a thick, black beard that hides his mouth from view. I can't be sure, but it looks like he's smiling. Is he thinking of some disgusting, perverse, deranged thing to do to punish me?

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here, boys. Is this a little fly I've caught in my web?"

For a minute, I just stared at him, surprised by how completely moronic he sounds. However, his companions start to laugh, and I get a painful feeling deep in my gut. This is not going to end anytime soon. They have plans for me, plans that will take a very long time before the suffering ends.

He took another step forward. "Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Frank Schultz. I lead the Zombie Warriors and I must say, you've been quite difficult to get a hold of."

"What do you want with me?" I forced myself to keep my voice as calm and even as possible.

He tilted his head to the side, as if pondering my question. "What do I want from you? I want revenge for the man of mine that you bludgeoned to death. Does he not get justice?"

"He was trying to hurt me! I had every right to defend myself. Just let me go, please," I beg, hoping to get some sort of sympathetic reaction from him.

Frank sighed, and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't do that. You see, we have this rule in our camp. A life for a life. You killed one of my men, and now I'm forced to do the same. Fair is fair, Sweetheart. But, before all of this goes down, I'd be interested to know the name of the girl that's been causing me so much trouble..."

I frowned. Why doesn't he just kill me and get it over with?

"Come on, darling, tell us your name," One of them men says.

"Yeah, I need to know what name to moan," Another said with a laugh.

I winced, and back away a few steps, instinctively crossing my arms over my chest.

"I'll make you a deal, Sweetheart," Frank said gently. "Give me your name and where you've been staying, and I promise it'll be quick and as painless as possible."

I swallowed nervously. "Samantha. Samantha Hoffman."

"Samantha. That doesn't sound like the name of a fighter. Where have you been hiding from me all these weeks?"

"Around" I said, refusing to give him everything that I'd worked so hard for.

"Hmm, you choose to play games now? All I did was ask you a simple question. I think that deserves an answer, don't you?"

"I have an apartment nearby," I said, knowing that that's a complete lie. My apartment is near the other side of town, and it'll stay mine until the day I die.

He nodded. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? All you have to do is cooperate," He said, pleading with me. "Just answer my questions, and you'll be fine."

I don't believe him, but I nodded anyways. "Alright."

"Smart girl, you know-"

"Come on, Frank! Let's just get this over with. I want my turn."

Frank turned and glared. "I will take all the time I want! It's not like she's going anywhere."

"I know, but come on, Frank. Just get it over with. I don't wanna go back in the dark. Those things are still all over the city."

Frank nodded and turned back to me. His hand goes to the gun at his hip, and he frowned. "I've never been one for killing children, but times have changed. I'm sorry," He said, drawing his weapon.

One of his men moves forward a few steps. It's the one in the boots and sleeveless shirt. He has a powerful looking assault rifle in his hands, and I wonder if he's planning to kill me before Frank gets the chance.

Before Frank can raise his weapon, the man in the sleeveless shirt turned his weapon and fires. The man closest to him drops to the ground. A blossom of red spreads over his stomach, and as he reaches for his own weapon, he's shot a second time.

The man with the sleeveless shirt turned and fires again as the other soldiers begin to draw their own weapons. I throw myself down to the ground as bullet after bullet pops off. Every few seconds I heard one hit the cement of the building, or a grunt of pain from one of the men, and I wanted to look up.

But I can't.

After what feels like hours, the shooting stops, and the entire roof is as silent as a graveyard. I'm tempted to look up, but if they're about to kill me, I don't want to see it coming. Sure enough, a pair of boots steps into my view.

They just stood there in front of me, waiting. Finally, someone sighs. "Are you gonna get up, or what?"

I lifted my eyes, and find the man in the sleeveless shirt staring down at me. From this close, I can see his clear, blue eyes staring down at me. Instead of concern, I detected a bit of annoyance, probably because I'm still lying on my stomach with my hands over my ears.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

He snickered. "How in the hell did a coward like you survive this long?"

I glared at him and get to my feet, just to show him that he's wrong. "I'm not a coward; I just don't like watching people slaughter each other. Is that so bad?"

He frowned and rubbed a hand over his strong jaw; I heard the bristles on his chin scratch as he moves his hand back and forth. It looks like he hasn't shaved in a few days and, as scruffy as he looks, it almost hides the fact that it looks like he hasn't showered in a good week or so.

He sticked his hand out to me, and I slowly took it. He shook my hand and says, "I'm Ryder."

"Sam."

He nodded once, and dropped my hand as if it were on fire. "What the hell is a kid like you doing out here, alone?"

I looked at him, just now noticing that he's a few years older than me. Jeez, he could be almost thirty! He's almost a decade older than me, but that doesn't give him the right to call me a kid.

"I'm not a kid, I'm nineteen. And I'm out here alone because I am alone. I'm like the only one left."

He frowned, and I noticed his eyes shifted to the bodies on the ground, which I refused to look at. "Not entirely alone, I guessed. Who are they?"

"You don't know about the Zombie Warriors?"

Ryder shakes his head. "Nope, I just arrived this morning. I've been wandering around, looking for a good place to stay before nightfall. I just happened to spot you, fleeing for you life, and thought I'd do what I could."

"Where did you come from?" I asked, curious about this stranger.

"Around," he said, looking away. "My brother and I are the only survivors of our family."

My heart speeds up. "You have someone else with you?" Maybe he wasn't going to make the greatest company, but either way, I wouldn't have to spend my days talking to my plants anymore.

He nodded once. "Yeah, my little brother, Reese," he said, pointing to the roof across from us. It's on the opposite side of the street, and I can just barely make out a lone figure standing there. He's just under six feet in height, a couple of inches shorter than Ryder, and from this distance, they could have passed for twins, if Reese wasn't a few years younger.

Reese motioned to the street, and Ryder nodded. "We have to go. I don't wanna get caught out in the dark with nowhere to hide," He said, looking down at me. "Do you have a place we can hole up for a while?"

I hesitated. Even though this man just saved my life, I still don't know anything about him other than his name and the fact that he doesn't exactly look trustworthy. In fact, he looks more like a redneck than a person to bring home with me.

Plus, there are two of them, and only one of me. I don't like those odds; if something happens, I'll be just as doomed as earlier.

"Alright," I finally said. "But if you ever tell anyone about my place, I will hunt you down and kill you myself, got it?"

He chuckled. "You've got some spunk in you after all."

I take that as a yes, and Ryder followed me down through the apartment careful not to lose me. He doesn't speak until we get to the fire escape I'd climbed up to get into the apartment building.

"Why can't we just go through the front door?"

"I dropped my weapon, and I need to get it back. I don't have enough of them that I can just afford to lose one."

He sighed, but doesn't argue with me again. He insisted on going first, since he's the only one with a weapon and, surprisingly, when he reaches the street, he offers me his hand to help me down. I graciously took it, dropping it the second my feet are firmly planted on the ground.

My bat is resting against the leg of a dumpster, and I quickly retrieved it, careful to keep an eye out for zombies or Warriors. Ryder moved ahead of me, and I followed him around to the other side of the building, where Reese is waiting for us.

Up close, I noticed a few differences between the two brothers. They both have shaggy brown hair, but Reese's is a few shades darker. His eyes are also a darker blue, and he's a good couple of inches shorter than his older brother, just barely under six feet tall. Reese's body is thinner, whereas Ryder has a more muscular build.

Reese gave me a friendly smile and extends his hand for me to shake. As I do, he says, "Hey, my name's Reese."

"Sam." I let go of his hand. "I guess I owe you guy's thanks for saving my life."

Reese shrugged. "It was nothing."

Ryder snorted annoyingly. "Says you, maybe. I had to knock out one of their men, take his weapons, and follow them up there, careful to hang back and not be noticed."

"I thought it was weird that you weren't standing with them." I looking between the two. "How did you take on five men and survive?"

"I had the element of surprise; that took care of two of them right off the bat. The third went down a second later, and the fourth and fifth scattered once Reese started shooting."

"So, who got away?"

"The leader, Frank. He made it off the roof in one piece. I think his friend was wounded in the leg though."

"Then I'm sure he's bleeding to death out here somewhere. The Zombie Warrior's don't take kindly to injured men. Most of the times they just get put out of their misery, or they're left to die."

"He's that careless with his men that he would allow them to just die? There are so few of us left, it seems stupid," Reese says, searching the streets for any signs of a wounded man.

"Can we take this conversation somewhere else, please?" Ryder demanded, tightening his grip on his gun. "I don't like feeling so exposed."

"Where are we going?" Reese asked, looking down at me. "Do you have a place nearby?"

"It's not really nearby, but that's where we're going, I guess."

"Alright," Reese said with a smile and a wink. "Lead the way, cutie."

I felt my face began to heat up, and I'm sure that I heard Ryder groan in annoyance. "Um, alright, it's this way."

Ryder and Reese both follow me carefully; it's getting darker by the minute, and we need to be extra careful to take cover whenever necessary. When we reach an empty grocery store, I held them back for a minute.

"Alright, my apartment is just up the street, on the corner. But from here to there is pretty much open space; there's very little to hide behind if we get pinned down. How much ammunition do you two have with you?"

"Enough," Ryder commanded, stepping around me and into the street. "Let's go."

I glared at his backside, and Reese shrugged. "He gets that way sometimes. It's best just to ignore it and do what he says."

I nodded and followed Reese out into the street. He stayed close to me, and with the two of them I feel oddly safe, considering that I know what lives on the streets, waiting for its next meal. But, they're both survivors, and they're both probably skilled with their weapons, or they wouldn't have made it as far as they had.

I quickly catch up to Ryder so I can show him my safe entrance, and he rolled his eyes when he saw the fire escape, but doesn't say anything. Reese followed me up, with Ryder standing guard in the alley until we're both safely in the apartment.

We wait in the gore-covered room for Ryder to appear and, when he finally does, I showed them the way into my apartment. At first, neither of them says anything, and I wondered if they're not as impressed as I thought they would be.

Finally, Reese whistled. "Wow, this place doesn't even look like it knows the zombie apocalypse happened."

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

"Well, it's clean. There's no blood or dead and decomposing bodies. And you actually have what looks like fresh vegetables."

I glanced over at the countertop where one of the cucumbers is still sitting, and smile. "Yeah, I have a miniature garden on the roof."

Reese smiled. "Yeah? I'd like to see it."

I smiled back, and looked over at Ryder. "Would you like to see it, too?"

He shook  his head, and plopped down on the couch. He set his gun on the cushion beside him, and he kicked his feet up on my coffee table. I bite my tongue to keep from lashing out at him for his horrible manners, because I don't want to run off the only person aside from the Warriors I've met.

I looked at Reese again. "Alright, I guess I can take you up in a minute. First, I have to finish getting my water ready."

He looked confused, so I walked over to the fridge and take out the three containers that have finished purifying my rainwater. There are six empty bottles in the fridge as well, and I started to fill them with the purified water, using a funnel.

When I'm done, I put one of the water bottles in my backpack, and take out the empty one that I used today. After filling that one again, I put the rest of the water bottles back in the fridge until I need them.

"Alright, come on."

Reese followed me to the door, stopping only to look back at his brother. "Last chance, man."

Ryder grunted, but doesn't say anything. I'm starting to think he might be the strong, silent type. I don't care to find out right now though. Reese is waiting by the door for me, and I grabbed my baseball bat and join him.

I peeked out through the peephole and, deeming the hallway to be safe, opened the door and lead Reese up to the roof. At first, he just stared, and I get the feeling that he's silently amazed, and I don't blame him. My little garden gave me hope that I might be able to start rebuilding my life, and it looks like he feels the same way.

"This is amazing," he said, walking around to look at the vegetable boxes. "I can't believe you actually managed to grow anything."

"It isn't much, especially for three people, but it makes me hopeful."

He nodded. "Yeah, I understand. You've actually managed to make something, instead of just tearing it down. When all of this started, so many people just burned and stole and took whatever they wanted. Nobody stopped to think about the future. What they'd eat, what they'd wear, what they'd do to protect themselves."

"Well, I've always been one for planning ahead. I knew that the food in the grocery stores would either go bad or get used up eventually, and I didn't feel like slowly starving to death. So the first thing I did after barricading myself in was to work on fresh food and clean water."

Reese nodded toward the buckets of water. "How much of that stuff goes to taking care of those plants?"

"A lot of it. There are six vegetable boxes, and each one takes like an entire bucket of water. Then the rest of it goes for washing and purifying into drinking water."

"Purifying?"

"I can only run it through a water filter, so it's not one hundred percent clean, but it's better than nothing."

Neither of us speak for a bit. We just stand there staring at so little, but both thinking about how much it really is. So many other people that survived the initial outbreak either starved or died through their own stupidity. To find two other level-headed survivors makes me think that I might have a chance after all. And I don't have to be alone anymore.