CHAPTER 1.

The ashes of Atlanta carried on within a bitter grasp. The sky consisted of a dark embrace of smoke that covered the sky. Sirens and screams deafened the streets below. The dead unsteadily began to rise, it almost became impossible to compare the dead and the living. Chopper blades spiralled through the air, echoing loud patters within the sky. And for that citizens held onto hope that the military could take back the city. The Government failed to maintain both control over the public and the virus.

Emergency evacuations were broadcast, and evacuations were held within Fireside Stadium. The military was dispatched into the city, Atlanta's last hope to maintain the crisis that broke out within the streets. Echo's icy gaze gazed out the window next to her. She watched buildings smoke from the rooftops below her.

She contemplated the horror and bitter chaos spread through the streets. Tightly she gripped her rifle. Her jaw locked and her stomach twisted. Atlanta was the foundation of hope. One of the most popular cities other than New York. Atlanta was where she and her family lived. She pushed those unsettling thoughts to the back of her mind. Her family was strong, she prayed they would seek the safety they deserved. 

"The hell hasn't this been resolved yet? We're the sixteenth team sent in, not to mention a sniper." one of the solider's that was African American suggested.

Echo's lips formed into a straight line and she gave a nod.

"Haven't you been keeping up with the news? It's some type of virus, maybe it was a geological disturbance, or maybe it was leaked from a lab. All I know is that it turns the living into the dead." the soldier next to Echo implied very little information to the group.

"If this was God's plans, or the devil's, we better show 'em Earth isn't the most separate species." The dark-haired man motivated the group.

"Mother nature is a serial killer, and we're gonna show Atlanta what happens when danger comes knocking on our doorstep," Echo mumbled, while the team continued to talk, as they were preparing for an unsteady landing. The smoke on the streets was thick and began to clog the filters to the chopper's propellers.

"But how will we compare the living and the dead?" The youngest soldier questioned. Echo has always been with different teams. Seeing soldiers as old as eighteen reminded her of escaping the household she was beaten in. Echo wasn't proud in the beginning, she was the smallest, around one-hundred-twenty pounds, 5'8, and a terrible shot.

Every day she spent training herself to move up the ranks, both strength, and a great shot. That's why they promoted her position to become a sniper. One-shot, one kill. Steady breaths, exhale and pull the trigger. The hardest part was separating her job from her personal life.

"We're about to find out." Echo finally spoke, and the team finally acknowledged her. She was the smallest and was quiet. She observed more than spoke. She made it difficult for whoever wanted to get into her head. Her facial expression was calm but unreadable.

She watched as the chopper closed into the ground. The landing wasn't steady, it shook the living hell out of all of her comrades.

The dead became drawn towards the sound of the chopper and off of the citizens they feasted on. This was it. No going back on what will happen. She took one good look of each of her men, then back to the doors of the chopper. The first creature that locked eyes with Echo clawed on the door. Its eyes were hollow, its skin discoloured, and its fingers dragged along the window, making blood smears.

"Time to take back what was ours," Echo murmured. Echo drew open the door and kicked the creature, shooting it in the head in the process.

The stench of death was repulsive. Barrel fires lit the street up with very dim light, making it a very hostile environment.

The five of them started to open fire at the dead, who slowly lunged at the citizens. For that Echo easily identified the dead and the living. She wasn't used to being on the ground with her comrades. People scattered toward the soldiers. It was difficult to cease fire when people were mixed with the dead. Screams echoed through the streets, including cries of agony from men, women, and children. She recognize the soldiers shot at the dead's torso, but it didn't do any damage, besides gaining their attention.

"Go for the head!" Echo yelled to the soldier who was aiding a woman and a child. The child held onto the side of her mom.

She continued the kill count, it was a thing to get her mind off her family and into her objective. The count ascended up to twenty-six. 

*Click*

Echo quickly popped the magazine from her rifle and quickly reloaded it.

One approached Echo from behind.

Its fingers curled around the back of her vest and tugged her back. Echo had seconds of time to react before its teeth would sink into her neck or her shoulder. She took out her pistol and pulled the trigger. The blast nearly deafened Echo and from the weight of the dead pulling her back, she was sent onto the pavement. The blast from the gun was enough to make her lose a small amount of hearing, or if lucky none at all. Her vision withdraws from focus and soon becomes out of focus. Both relentlessly repeated. Her ears ringed. Slowly she followed her survival instinct while her senses slowly recovered. It was almost like slow motion, not all the soldiers heard her when she said 'Go for the head.' 

Three tackled the man she gave wisdom to, making the mother and child have no choice but to flee.

One of her comrades dragged her behind a vehicle.

There were just too many, and not enough to push back the dead. Anything that was alive and moving would be devoured down to bits, then turn in seconds. It was uncertain what made them change so swiftly. The Helicopter that dispatched them there left with immediate orders.

Some soldiers defended the citizens, giving them orders on what to do, and where to go, in a very orderly fashion. 

"Chambers. We must fall back. If you are married or have a family I suggest you get them out of here now! The city is gone." The soldier suggested, hopelessly abandoning the mission. Echo's leaned against the rim of the wheel. The soldier stood in a crouched position and stared at her, waiting for an answer. Echo twisted around onto her knees and raised her head with caution over the vehicle. She forced herself to focus, to focus on the ones in need.

She shook her head, "We can't just abandon these people- behind you!" Echo hollered, noticing a small woman that was discoloured. Half of her cheek was torn, and her limbs peaked through her skin. Drool and dried blood mixed on her chapped lips. 

The woman pulled the soldier back and took a chunk out of his neck, seconds before the bullet exited Echo's gun. The soldier screamed, attracting more of the dead that was nearby. The bullet pierced through the women's skull. Right between the eyes, she toppled onto the ground.

"Fuck!" The soldier screamed, keeping a decent amount of pressure on his wound. He collapsed onto his knees. He continued to yell in pain. Echo kept a close watch trying to aid him the best way she could.

Seeing people she cared about hurt, hurt her more than them feeling agonizing pain. It sickened her to see so many people in need of aid.

"You're going to be fine, we have to get you help," Echo reassured, she could feel the guilt, pile onto her shoulder like stones to a grave. Her heart swelled like a balloon and he popped that balloon.

Echo grabbed onto his arm and attempted to pull him up. She froze when more than one of the dead jumped a soldier that was reloading his gun. With horror, they started to shred his stomach open and feast on his flesh. The odds weren't even, the numbers of the dead began to ascend.

The images were horrifying.

Humanity was dying in front of her eyes and the dead recruited more numbers.

Echo froze when she saw a massive amount of walkers slowly striding down the streets. Their feet shuffled against the ground, limping like they were hurt. There were four of them left, out of twenty available aircraft. The military fought for days to maintain the spread and continue with evacuations. Echo became an exception for backup after all the numbers became too little.

One of the men stood open on the streets, no cover, the youngest, and he continued to shoot and hold them back. The youngest continued to fight until he got cornered.

"H-holy shit." Echo stuttered as they limped at a decent pace. 

"Get up!" She yelled at the soldier that refused to get up. He shook his head with hopeless intentions.

"I'm done for, kid." He replied with a growl.

Echo placed her rifle onto the trunk of the small car and aligned the cross-hair up with one of the dead. She watched the horror on the kid's face. He was only nineteen and the kid was about to stare death in the eyes.

Echo pulled the trigger as many times as she could, trying to give this kid some time to make a run for it. It was too late... 

They got to him before Echo did...

Echo felt fury crawl up her stomach and ignite a fire through her veins.

Echo shook with fury. She took out a grenade from the pouch on her side, pulled the pin, and chucked it at the crowd of the dead.

"Eat shit!" Echo screamed in anger, gritting her teeth. She ducked behind the car and plugged her ears. A loud blast occurred in seconds.

She started to study her thoughts. Whatever they were, they especially weren't Human. Their jaws would snap every so often, the flesh would hang from them, and their limbs and bones would peak through the skin. She just froze in disbelief. Through the confusion, she used her survival instinct.

The explosion took out not even a quarter of the dead. The feeling was dreadful, she wasn't going to succeed in taking back the city. Too many died that day, she left a path of destruction in her wake. No one could understand the feeling of failure any better than Echo. Being a soldier meant protecting the innocence, and taking down whoever got in their way. The gore left on the streets told a story, a story of terror. They suffered their demise, but they weren't alone. She bit her lip and shook her head.

This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening.

She never failed a mission, she vowed to protect them and to take back the city.

Echo wished they would have dropped her off on a rooftop of a building, where she would be able to watch everyone's back. Where she would become an invisible shield to her solider's backs. Humanities blind spots became a hazard, we all had to watch out for.

Echo slowly watched as the dead started to pack into the streets.

"Fall back!" One of the soldiers hollered from the distance.

Echo refused to allow the soldier to die. She grabbed onto his arm, believing the second time was the charm. He pushed her arm back and took out a pistol. A couple of the dead launched onto the man, and she turned her back...

She jumped hopped the trunk of the vehicle and popped the cap of a flare. The dead were swarming in, too close for comfort. She tossed the flare hoping it would buy her some time. She watched as the flare spun countless in the air, and ignited one of the dead's hair.

The feeling of devastation sat there like a bad omen, whispering into her ears. Echo took off running with the last soldier that was left on the street. The pulse of her heart refused to calm down. This was do or die.

She tried to keep her breathing under control while running, but that started to become impossible after all the threat surrounded them. It became impossible to aim, therefore to slow down, and aim. From both sides, the dead started to corner them. Echo split paths with the soldier and took a right, into a dark and narrow alleyway. Her limbs bounced while she started to slow down. 

Her lungs were torched, she could taste the bitter iron.

Echo didn't have a plan at this point, whether where or what to do. She looked behind her to see if the last soldier was on her heels or not. A pit sunk through the bottom of Echo's belly, he was nowhere to be found. Must have got cornered by the dead on the streets, or they might have split up.

Then she remembered the one soldier's suggestion.

'Get your family out.'

She only hoped the best that she would make it out alive. Echo didn't believe the rumours were true about the dead rising. She attempted to comprehend on what the best option to do at this point. This didn't seem real to her. The stench of death was repulsive. Echo stopped to catch her breath. Her mind became impossible to recover from what she saw. She could see it all replay, the way that woman took a chunk out of the man that saved her life. 

If she could only react quicker, he would still be alive.

But he chose his fate and refused to get up.

She continued to run after she heard a low moan echo throughout the alleyway. She refused to look back. Images continued to torture her mind, while she strategized what to do. The bottom of her boots screamed against the pavement as she ran into one of the dead. She shoved it to the side, hearing a scream of a man, and she exited the alleyway. She turned right and avoided the traffic jams of cars and the dead. She continued to push back through streets and follow down a familiar street, where she once sought sanctuary and laughter. That was where her Sister-in-law's bakery was. Engines, men, women, children, and sirens screamed through the streets. Echo briefly observed the riots of people charging at the S.W.A.T team.

Then she noticed blinding headlights in front of her, she slammed her hands onto the hood making the driver stop. She rounded the vehicle, recognizing the maroon-coloured, Mustang.

What a wonderful moment to run into someone she was just looking for.

Hannah.

She tossed the heavy equipment into the back and placed her gun in arm's reach. Hannah stared at Echo, like she was an entity of only memory. Hannah was a Caucasian woman, with a diamond-shaped jaw, blond, curly hair, that reached down to her shoulders, and dark- chocolate-coloured eyes.

"Echo what are you doing here?" Hannah shuddered.

"What are you devastated I'm here? I came here with the Military expecting to defend the city, we got ambushed, and everything went to shit..." Echo said with guilt. She directed her attention outside the window, leaning her head against the cool glass, while Hannah maneuvered around people.

"It's not that, I just haven't seen you in four years..." Hannah carefully chose her words with caution.

"Ya, it's sure time-consuming." Echo awkwardly replied. She was incredibly happy that she found Hannah, and that she didn't have to run four miles across the city, to her brother's neighbourhood.

"A lot has happened while you were gone." Hannah implied, hiding details on what happened.

"We should focus on finding Breanne and Myles-"

"Not happening." Hannah refused.

"Hannah, if this is about the fight you two had, then this is incredibly pointless to be motivated to leave your husband and my niece behind!" Echo yelled in anger. Why would she decide to leave them to die?

Atlanta has fallen, the dead have taken it, and it was only a matter of time before everything here was gone.

"Divorce papers are already filing through-"

"Turn around! You cannot let your only child stay here. Maybe Myles was a bit of a dick, but he means well. Please turn around, we can't leave them, Hannah." Echo reminded her. If they didn't turn around, the blood of their family would be sitting on Hannah's hands.

Even though Hannah was stubborn and acted like everything was hopeless, she had a heart, and she couldn't live with the blood of her family, and memories wash up like ash. And fade away into a distant memory.

"Oh my gosh, your right!" Hannah guiltily admitted, that she stopped at a red light. Echo gave her a nod, knowing she was able to convince her was an incredibly intoxicating feeling. Echo watched Hannah hit the breaks when the light turned red. She looked at Hannah in confusion. 

"Gun it, Hannah." Echo suggested.

"But-"

Echo placed a hand on her shoulder, "This is life or death, no one we care about is left behind. The longer we wait, the odder the odds get about getting our family to safety. There is no rules anymore, besides keeping the ones you love alive." Echo interrupted Hannah, talking some sense into her that if she gunned a red light, it wasn't going to be the end of the world-. 

Scratch that, it was the end of the world.

Hannah hit the gas and obediently gunned the light, Hannah gasped every time she nearly hit one of the dead or the living.

"What about the people? Should we try to save some?-"

"No, that's what the horn is for." Echo reached over and hit the horn. People scattered like ants when she hit the horn.

Hannah's jaw locked, as she kept focus on the road. Echo sat there silently reaching for the radio, turning it up to where anything on the street could hear what tune it was.

"Are you insane, turn that down! You'll attract those things-" 

"Noise attracts them?" Echo questioned with disbelief.

"Shut up and allow me to keep my eyes on the road." Hannah half-joked. Echo silently reloaded her rifle. She only had three more clips for her rifle. And over ten rounds for each handgun.

"Oh my god," Hannah whispered, tears welling up within her eyes when she drove up to her family's neighbourhood. She watched as a child became devoured by two of the dead. Hannah braked and wiped her eyes.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes, here." Echo suggests, unbuckling her seat belt and handing her a handgun.

Hannah placed her forehead against the steering wheel. "What happens if they're not there?" Hannah questioned, with a worried voice.

"Then it means they're out of the city. Don't worry we'll find them." Echo reassured Hannah. Echo raked her fingers through her dark brown hair, almost black.

"Come back safe." Hannah pleaded Echo, taking the gun from her hand.

"I will, I always come back. Whatever luck has kept me alive up to this point can't end here." Echo reminded Hannah. Hannah let out a scream when she heard a loud bang against her window. 

It was time to go, both Hannah and Echo knew that. They've already wasted enough time.

A/note: Hi everyone, the author here. Hope you enjoyed a very long and action-packed chapter. I'm starting it off with the fight in Atlanta, I wanted to do something a bit different than many fanfics.
I promise it will all fall into place on why I did this scene first. Thanks for reading, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter.

-Hayley.