Massive steel walls stretched as far as I could see, curving at the end of my vision's reach. They towered over my slender, tall figure. The giant steel was dented, with rust staining the metal. I gasped sharply, realizing that either this is too good to be true... Or perfect.

I sprinted towards the curve in the metal, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I barely panted, the adrenaline strengthening my lungs. I beamed, approaching what seemed to be the entrance gate. I could hear... I could hear children laughing.

I beat on the gates with all the force I could muster up. A few stiffs impended towards me from behind. I whipped out my duel-wielding katanas and kicked the gate, muttering a quiet, breathy 'Damn it.' The stiffs neared closer. I swung my right katana at the stiff closest to me, the gate making a loud clanking sound. I whipped around with my left katana out, slicing the second stiff's head in half. The gate slid open at the perfect time to see the top halves of the stiffs' skulls topple to the ground.

I spun around on the balls of my feet, catching a glimpse a person through the opening of the gates. There was an adult man with forever squinting bright blue eyes and dark brown curly hair standing at about six feet. He had a long, slender nose that held almost no dimension. He had slim, down facing light brown eyebrows and a slight shadowy mustache. He looked at me with a scowl.

"Y-You takin' any rescues?" I uttered semi-confidently squinting my eyes at the setting sun shining into my eyes. He slimmed his eyes even thinner as he flung open the gate even wider. I swiftly decapitated the other stiffs and sprinted into the gated community.

I stood there, dumbfounded, my mouth agape. The houses were pristine, with neat and tidy lawns. Tears sprung to my eyes as I looked to him, the salty tears stinging my arid eyes. I quickly blinked the tears from my eyes while the man nodded briskly towards an exceptionally large set of townhouses. I sheathed my weapons, following him cautiously.

We approached a white door, the man opening it with an emotionless expression. I followed him in, extremely cautious. Even more so than before. We entered a room with beautiful, expensive looking furniture, and an aged video camera set up on a tripod pointing towards a chair with a bookshelf behind it. A disassembled clarinet sat on the fourth shelf. I smiled, remembering the past I shared with the instrument.
-
My best friend and I entered the band room. She immediately crossed the vast room and set up the mallets. The green carpet and tan walls so familiar, I could draw a damn map of the place. I assembled my clarinet joint by joint, twisting on the bell. Isabella and I practiced for hours, just the two of us, the music acting as our means of conversation.
-
A meager tear slipped from my eye to my jawline, dripping onto my boots covered with a thick layer of grime, remembering what I had before the word turned to absolute shite. A shorter lady with light ash brown hair and unnaturally blue eyes, complimented by a wrinkled aged face. The woman's face was covered with a thin veil of foundation. There was... Influence radiated off of her like the aroma coming from a can of Febreze. I could instantly tell that she was born for a position of authority. She had the posture and aura of leadership, causing myself to automatically feel obliged to listen to her every command, but I ignored my instinct.

The lady gestures towards the victorian floral armchair for me to sit down. I lowered myself into the chair, glancing around the room, absorbing the entirety of my surroundings.

"Hello. I'm Deanna Monroe." She said with tight lips, her eyes focused on me.
I was completely reluctant to give her my name, so I nodded and gave her a fake name.

"Angel," I stated my new name firmly.

"Do you mind if I film our conversation, Angel?" Deanna asked, giving the man who let me enter the compound a signal to leave. Deanna crossed her legs as I straightened out my posture.

"Sorry?" I asked, a little confused.

"May I film our exchange?" I nodded hesitantly.

"Yea, sure," I answered, peeking out of the window.

"How long have you been out there?"

"Since the onset of the epidemic."

"How did you find us?"

"Road signs... There was a pack following me, so I ran. I ended up here after miles of running and walking."

"I was a congress person. Ohio, 15th District. You? Your parents?" She said, crossing her legs and crossing her hands over her right knee.

"My father was an agriculture teacher for a special needs school in downtown Tampa, Florida with a military background, which was useful for the apocalypse... If I knew where he was. My mom was a... My mo-mom was a substitute elementary t-teacher and she worked for a p-private storage company in my small hometown o-of Lutz.(*)" I choked out the last part of my statement, causing Deanna to shoot me an apologetic glance, nodding. I attempted to stay strong as my eyes welled up with tears. I blinked them away again.

"What happened to your group?"

-

"Isabella!!" I screamed a blood-curdling scream. It ripped through my throat, frantic glanced aimed towards the young girl. She was the same age as me, 14. She was the closest thing I had to a sister.
My brother tugged on my sleeve in an attempt to rip my attention away as I watching my best friend of 6 years get mercilessly ripped apart by walking stiffs. She looked at me one last time with wide, panicked eyes and a ghost of a smile flashed over her face before letting out the last horrified and pain stricken scream of her lifetime. "I love you, Bells.." I whispered to myself.

"Sissy! We need to go, please. We need to leave, now!" I nodded and kissed him on the head hastily, stiffs becoming bored with the teenage girl on the ground, and advancing towards us. I shot a silent arrow into Isabella's head and grasped my ten-year-old brother's somewhat chubby hand in mine, and sprinted off, far away from the herd of walkers that trudged their way through our camp, leaving their usual destruction behind.
-
"We... We hit a few roadblocks that ended up with me roaming the Eastern U.S. alone."

Don't forget to comment and vote. It lets me know that you enjoy my material and that I should make more of it. Not only that, but you can comment constructive criticism to help me improve my work.
Thank you all so much for reading this book and making it this far.
-sara

*UPDATE 11/26/15*

(i've realised how damn hard it's going to be to write angel's littler brother's death scene...)