Chapter One

Kylie Grimes came from a large family. Her grandparents, being high school sweethearts, married weeks after graduation. and had their first child a year later. By the time the eldest Grimes' couple could no longer reproduce, they had seven children. Much like his parents before him, Kylie's father had his first and only child at the young age of seventeen.

In her early teens, Kylie found herself in with an unsavory crowd. And at sixteen, Kylie was kicked out of her parents house and was shipped off to live with her uncle. It was difficult at first, Rick, Kylie's uncle, had just started working for the King County Sheriff's department in order to support his wife and newborn son.

Even though it was hard, the family pulled through. Kylie finished high school, and she had maintained numerous dead end jobs all in the hopes of finding one that would stick. For years after her eighteenth birthday, Kylie stayed in King County to help her aunt and uncle.

Now a little over twelve years later, Kylie Grimes found herself sitting behind the counter of Gibbon's Convenience, a comic book on her lap and her pink converse covered feet tapping along to the soundtrack of The Little Mermaid. Her uncle always said that she would forever have the heart of a child.

At the thought of her uncle, Kylie's heart clenched painfully. The man who was roughly six years older than herself , the man who had tried his hardest to look out for her had been shot weeks prior. Almost two months or so in a coma. And in those weeks without her uncle, Kylie had heard terrifying things. Men and women all over the globe rising up from the dead to make a snack out of the living. She didn't want to believe it.

With a sigh, Kylie flipped her comic closed and grabbed the cherry flavored slushie off the counter. Business was slow, not many people coming into the convenience store. It wasn't unusual, however, and Kylie didn't mind.

Things were quiet for a while, the tune of 'Under The Sea' playing softly throughout the store. Kylie nearly jumped when she heard a crash coming from the back door of the store, followed by the sound of feet slowly shuffling across the linoleum floor. With her breath frozen in her lungs, Kylie grabbed the black and hot pink Sig Sauer P226, which she kept close to her at all times. But she stayed still, the gun trained on the back door, and she waited.

What Kylie wasn't expecting was to see the decaying body of her boss, Carter Gibbons, moving towards her. Without even thinking, Kylie squeezed the trigger twice, effectively implanting two bullets into her boss's head. And as soon as his body hit the floor, she let out a sigh of relief.

The store was eerily quiet, the sound of the shots ringing off the walls. With her nerves already on edge, Kylie plopped back down into her seat and sipped drink. Suddenly the bell above the front door chime, causing Kylie to jump and raise her gun once more before turning to face whomever had entered. Only to let out a sigh when she saw the face of her uncle's best friend, Shane Walsh.

"Scared me half to death, Shane" she said, placing her gun on the counter and running a hand through her highlighted locks.

"I heard shots, are you okay?" Shane asked her as he approached the counter.

"Yea" Kylie nodded. "Just had to put down Carter" she added quietly, nodding her head towards the corpse of her boss.

"We need to get out of here, Lee." Shane told her. "Grab whatever you can from here. Food, drinks, whatever, we need to go" he said a moment later when she didn't move.

"Shane what's going on?" she asked, standing from her chair with her white and black Mickey Mouse tote bag in hand.

"That virus that was on the news? Yea, well it's getting worse. Military's setting up safe zones, we need to get to Atlanta" the man said. At his words, Kylie's blue eyes widened before she rushed out from behind the counter and started throwing random snacks and canned foods into her bag while Shane grabbed a few plastic bags and filled them with soda's, waters and powdered juice mixes. "You got everything?" Shane asked, Kylie just nodded.

"Just gimme a minute?" she asked, "I'll meet you out in the car" the woman added. Shane just nodded his head and left the store. Once Kylie heard the door to Shane's Tucson slam closed, she darted back behind the counter and grabbed two cartons of cigarettes. Kylie didn't smoke all that much anymore, but she found the need for a cigarette would arise on occasion. And after clipping her holster and gun around her waist, Kylie darted out the door and into the car. "What about Lori and Carl?" she asked.

"Going there next" was all Shane said as he sped down the street.

Almost an hour later, Kylie was sitting in the back seat of the Tucson with her little cousin Carl and a heavy heart. Her uncle was dead. Or at least that's what Shane had told them when Lori asked.

"Do you think everything's going to be alright, Kylie?" Carl asked.

"I don't know kiddo. We'll know for sure when we get to Atlanta" she told the boy as she pushed back his short brown hair and placed a kiss on top of his head.

The road to Atlanta was long, and by the time the group of four had reached the outer limits of the city, it was dark and they were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic.

They waited in the car for almost a half an hour, until they saw people walking past their windows and sitting outside of their own cars.

"What do you think's going on?' Kylie asked as she leaned between the two front seats.

"Dunno, Why don't we get out and stretch our legs for a bit?" Shane suggested. Kylie and Lori nodded their heads before opening their respective doors and almost stumbling out of the car. With a stretch, Kylie reached back into the car and pulled a cigarette from her open pack before turning to her aunt.

"Lori, I'm gunna have a smoke, be right back" she told the other brunette. Lori just nodded and put a hand on Carl's shoulder. Kylie didn't like smoking around her cousin, so whenever she had a cigarette, she would go a distance away from him.

"Just don't go far" Lori warned "We might be back on the road before you know it" she added. Kylie just nodded her head before walking away.

For the next few hours, they all stayed on the highway. Carl had started playing a game of checkers with a blonde girl around his age, while Kylie watched them,waiting for her turn. Every now and again, someone would walk by or go into the woods. But for the most part it was quiet.

"Are we gunna go soon?" the little girl, Sophia, asked her mother.

"I don't know baby, I hope so" the woman answered.

"I'm hungry" Carl said a moment later, looking towards Lori, who was playing with the small chain around her neck.

"I know, Carl, we all are" she responded. They had exhausted the food Kylie had grabbed from her work hours ago and were running on fumes.

"Why don't I get him something to eat?" Sophia's mother asked, Kylie hadn't bothered to learn the woman's name. She was nice enough, but Kylie wasn't in the mood to be making friends at the moment "Ed's into all this survival stuff. We've got enough M.R.E's to fee a small army."

"I sure appreciate it" Lori said, sliding down from the hood of the car, while Kylie walked over to her.

"No trouble" the woman responded. With a glance in the other couple's direction, Kylie knew that something was wrong. And she had a strong feeling that the man, Ed, was not someone to be trusted.

"Let's go see what Shane's got" Kylie suggested, looping her arm through Lori's with a smile before turning to her cousin. "Stay here Carl" and the boy just nodded at his mother and cousin,

"You getting anything?" Lori asked Shane a minute later as she leaned against the open car door, her head sticking through the window. While Kylie leaned against the back door.

"There's nothing" Shane shook his head.

"Big surprise there" Kylie scoffed.

"No, Lee, I mean there's nothing. The Emergency Broadcast System stopped, and that recording about the refugee center." Shane paused for a moment before stepping out of the car. "It's all gone. I'm gunna go up the road, see what I can see" he said.

"We'll come with you" Kylie said as her and Lori trailed behind him.

"Ed must have forgot to pack those M.R.E's" Sophia's mother stopped them. "But I found these in my purse" she added, pulling out a small pack of peanut butter crackers.

"It's all right" Lori reassured her. "Listen, would you mind keeping an eye on Carl for a minute?" she asked. "Shane, Kylie and I are gunna scout up ahead a little bit and see if we can find someone that knows what's going on."

"I want to go with you" Carl responded, causing Lori to shake her head.

"We'll be back before you know it, dude. And then I'm kicking you little butt in checkers" Kylie joked, ruffling her cousins hair. And with that the three adults walked away.

"Why would they stop broadcasting about the refugee center?" Lori asked a minute later.

"I don't know" was Shane's answer.

"Think they're turning people away?" Kylie questioned. She knew that Shane wouldn't have the right answers, but asking seemed to make her feel better.

"They're gunna have a riot on their hands if they try" Shane told her, Kylie just nodded in agreement.

Minutes later, the trio had found themselves a good distance up the road, only to find no answers whatsoever. Causing them to turn back around. Kylie rolled her eyes when she saw a group of men fighting.

"What are we gunna do?" Lori asked.

"We're gunna do what Rick would have wanted us to do, get the three of you out of here" Shane told her. Suddenly they stopped walking, looking up in the sky to see five Black Hawk helicopters flying above them. Heading towards Atlanta.

"You two come with me now. Come on" Shane said, leading them past a few cars and into the woods, joined by a few others. They could hear explosions in the distance and Kylie had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Oh my god" Lori and Kylie said at the same time, as they looked over the city. Their voices quiet laced with shock and fear.

Five helicopters flew into the city, each one causing a line of explosions.

"They're dropping napalm in the streets" Shane said to the two of them. Kylie looked at the site. Her blue eyes wide with shock. She couldn't believe this was actually happening.

Kylie barely registered Lori crying in Shane's arms. She just stood still, watching the explosions. Watching the city fall.

AN: NEW STORY! Honestly, I was trying to put off posting this until I got more chapters written out (currently have two and a half done) but honestly i couldn't resist! So for those of you who had read some of my other stories then welcome back and for those who are new to my writing then welcome! lol. I hope I do a good job and don't disappoint you all :).

Anyways, I wanted to have a character that was strong on her own, and I figured that a girl who had spent so much time with Rick and Shane would know how to use a gun. But I also wanted to have a small amount of immaturity, just to keep things interesting ;p.

Also, be sure to check out my polyvore collection for this story, link on on my profile!

As Always, Leave Love

)0( Iris RainbowWolf )0(