It's been a week since I came into this god forsaken town and every time I try to leave I find myself stuck yet again. This time a group of about ten Z's swarmed me and forced me onto this roof. I've been here since yesterday evening and I'm getting antsy.

The sound of footsteps approaching has me up and armed, my cross bow held up as someone comes up the fire escape. I can't help but tense as a living boy steps onto the roof, unaware of me yet.

"I suggest you stop right there or I'll have to mercy you where you stand, do you understand?" I demand and his head snaps to face me, so I can see his startled face.

His bright blue-green eyes locked on me as his hands grip his sniper tightly, prepared to yank it up and shoot me. His messy black hair sticks to his forehead from the sweat and his stance is incredibly tense. Even from where I'm standing I can see his skinny form hides a tone body. He's much more attractive than I would have expected.

"State your business." I demand and after a moment he slowly lifts his hands up in a surrender position.

"I wanted a higher vantage point to kill Z's." He replies in a surprisingly soft tone and I pull the cross bow down slightly.

He's clearly a sniper of some kind, but the question is if I should believe him. He seems genuine, but last time I trusted a man I ended up with permeant scars. I'm not stupid, a woman in the apocalypse means I'll constantly be a target for men, but being a target doesn't mean I'll ever go down easy.

"How do I-"

The sound of a truck rumbling in makes me immediately drop down, my crossbow armed and ready as I peek over the side of the roof. I can hear the guy move in beside me, his sniper scope pressed to his eye as we both survey the newbies.

"I'm Ten Thousand by the way." He whispers and I shoot him a look before shaking my head.

"Finn, how many do you have?" I ask as I count seven people in the truck, at least one of them government considering his camo.  

"I've got seven, you?" He asks and I nod to signal the same.

We both watch as one moves about before they suddenly all pile out of the truck. I spot two woman and the rest being men. They don't appear to be hostile, but you can never know.

The sound of 10K moving beside me reminds me he's there and I never truly decided if he was safe, but my instincts decided for me since I've relaxed into a comfortable position. He's only about six inches to my left and it's honestly slightly distracting.

"Is that a baby?" I ask completely surprised to see them pull a baby out of the back seat of a car.

10K nods and I scoff while shaking my head. What are the chances, but considering the fact they are taking this baby in they seem to be good people. I glance at 10K to try and gauge his reaction, but all I see is concentration.

"Thoughts?" I ask quietly as I turn back to survey the group, three of their members turning a corner so we can't see them.

"They don't seem like threats to us, but they certainly aren't weak." He states and something about hearing him refer to the two of us as an us makes my heart skip a beat.

I haven't traveled with anyone for about a year so the idea of not being alone makes me feel all warm inside. Not to mention he's gotten this far so he must be able to handle himself because I'm not here to babysit, not even if it means I won't be alone.

"I don't like that we can't see the other three, do you wanna watch them or should I?" I ask after a moment, the trio still not back and not knowing where they are makes me antsy and I think 10k can tell from my shifting as he moves to get a better view to see them.

He ends up crouching and crawling, his sniper still aimed and ready and quickly moves to the other side and considering he pulls a hood up over his head and sits I guess he can see them now. I turn back to see the four in front of me move into the school building. They must not know what happened here.

A soft whistle catches my attention and I turn to 10k who is already looking at me, he gestures with his head for me to move beside him which I do, keeping my head down. I follow his gaze down to see the trio has added a member. Furrowing my eyebrows, I use my scope to look closer.

It's another female, but this one is dressed in a very impractical outfit for this scenario. She has too much skin exposed and everyone knows the more skin out, the more places Z's can bite.

"Where'd she come from?" I whisper and he points to a zombie cage surrounded by dead Z's and I let out an 'ah' under my breath.

The entire group moves into the school building and 10k and I nod at each other before we both stand and jog across the roof. I'm slightly ahead of him as I leap the short distance onto the roof beside us, a soft thud behind me telling me he's right on my heel.

I leap to the next building giving us a prefect view of the building and the main road, which is just in time as a group of Z's begins moving onto the main road towards the school.

I can hear some muffled yelling and I turn to 10k with raised eyebrows. We seem to have the same expression of disbelief that this group of people would really be yelling in an apocalypse, which surprise, surprise, draws the Z's in like a moth to a flame.

"Are they new to the apocalypse or something?" I mumble and I can hear 10k let out an airy chuckle from beside me that makes me smile.

The sound of another shout has me rolling my eyes as I glance at my companion with an 'Are you serious?' face and he shakes his head.

A moment later all of the people, except two slip out of the building and begin a Z massacre. We both ready our weapons as we keep our eyes glued to the two groups that are splitting up, only one seems to be specifically going after the Z's, the other scavenging.

10k suddenly tenses beside me and before I can ask why, panicked shouting catches my attention so I turn to see a Z has gotten a grip on one of the members, but they are moving too much for his team to assist him.

"If you get a shot, take it, the less Z's in this world the better." I whisper, knowing it's not worth it to waist an arrow, plus an arrow isn't nearly as fast as a bullet, especially from this distance.

Without a word 10k takes a shot and blasts through the Z, a gaping hole left in his wake as he grabs my arm and tugs me away, trying to keep us out of their view, but I lock eyes with the redheads woman before disappearing around the door to the roof.

"That was a killer shot!" I whisper as I smile at him and hold my fist up, which he hesitantly fist bumps, an awkward smile on his face.

I realize now just how much taller he is than me. Before a blush can spread across my face I peak around the corner to see the group moving on, so I turn back to face him.

"I never got to ask 10k, what's the deal with your name?" I ask and he tilts his head before pulling the hood down and leaning back against the wall, his hand coming up to tousle his hair.

"That's how many Z's I'm gonna kill." He states like it should be obvious and I shake my head with a small laugh.

"Somehow I know that's very fitting for you." I tease and he almost looks surprised before he smiles back, not a large smile, but still cute.

"Come on, let's get moving. I wanna get out of this fucking town." I state before raising my weapon to start heading back down to the ground, but I stop realizing firstly I don't know where he's going, but I also didn't ask if he wanted to go with me, "Sorry, I just assumed you'd come with me. Are you heading anywhere?"

"I'm going anywhere, but back. I could certainly use some cover out there." He replies almost timidly and I smile at him and nod.

"Works for me, but at least loose the scarf, you look like an elderly woman." I tease and he pulls it off his head before we both start moving again, this time off the roof.

~

After killing a few Z's on our way out, 10k counting out loud after each one, I slide my cross bow back into my bag and 10k slides his sniper over his shoulder. The sun is warm on our backs as we walk towards wherever it is we are going.

"Do you think those people will be alright?" I ask glancing at him as we walk and he shrugs without glancing my way.

"We can only hope so." He replies before the faint sound of rumbling makes me freeze and whip around, my crossbow instantly pulled from my bag and aimed, 10k following suit before we spot the truck the group was driving heading down the road.

I place my weapon down, but don't put it away. 10k seems more comfortable as he slings his gun back over his shoulder and keeps walking. I follow slightly after him, my ears locked onto the sound of the truck as it moves closer, but I don't look behind me. Surprisingly, 10k nudges me slightly ahead of him as the truck gets closer, exposing his back to the strangers.

I glance back at him curiously to see him side eyeing the truck as it begins slowing to a stop beside us. It almost seems to be instinct as he nudges me behind him, protecting me again without a thought. It seems strange to have someone protecting me, even when I was in a group, it was fend for yourself.

"Hey there! You're that sharpshooter who saved my ass, aren't you?" The older dude exclaims leaning out of the back window of the truck and I move slightly out from behind 10k to see the group, my eyes moving to the redhead I saw before, "Oh man! I want to thank you! Do you guys need a ride?"

10k seems to hesitate for a moment before I spell out yes on his back with my finger and he nods, the two in the back of the bed moving for us. 10k launches himself into the bed before holding a hand out to me, which I take, letting him pull me up beside him. We both sit down across from the redhead and the blonde boy.

The redhead smiles at me as 10k props his gun up against him as I place my crossbow in my lap. I smile back at her softly, she seems sweet, but the blonde beside her is staring us down, almost assessing us. I scoot closer to 10k so my leg is touching his, being close to him makes me feel just a little safer.

"Where are you guys heading?" The redhead asks and her voice is deeper than I expected, but there's a soothing lull to it.

"Anywhere." I answer as 10k glances to the side, watching the road zoom by us.

~

A/N: I know he is out of character in this chapter, but I figured he tends to be a little more bold when he is attracted to girls throughout the story, like the shooter girl, he introduces himself to her first. So I'm making that my excuse.