Run. Just keep running, don't look back. Keep going. That was all that was running through Juniper's head as she sprinted down yet another street, looking for anywhere she could hide. Hide from them... She knew that she had already passed some. Surely. She'd been running for hours, but the hard part was stopping. Of course her exhausted body wanted nothing more than to stop, but her mind did not. Fight or flight instinct right? Funny, she'd always assumed it was one or the other, but her day had seen its fair share of both from her.

Her fists were still raw, and she was almost certain she had a broken knuckle, but she hadn't had a chance to look. She hadn't stopped running since her feet hit the pavement. In fact, she'd been running for so long that she wasn't even sure if she was still running away. She'd made that many turns that she'd lost track of where she was. Not that she had that much of a clue to begin with. The only part of Atlanta she was supposed to have seen was the inside of the airport while she waited for a connecting flight that never came.

She wasn't even from the States, and had only been there as she took a road trip with her friend, Alaska, flying all the way from the UK to enjoy a couple of months touring America, but naturally the damn apocalypse had started and fucked everything up.

Flash forward two months and there she was, still in Atlanta, running for her life. Well, she was. Now she was falling.

"Shit!" She cussed as her tired legs finally gave out on her as she jumped over a kerb, hitting the deck-her hands and knees screaming in protest. Okay, She admitted, Maybe it's time to stop running.

Scrambling to her feet, Juniper looked around quickly, seeing three rotters heading her way, but luckily no more than that. Not that she was even sure she could handle three of them. Weak, injured, and weaponless, she hardly stood a chance. Still, she looked around for a weapon, finding an abandoned baseball bat near the wheel of a burnt out car, blood staining the metal dark. Trying not to think too hard about it, she grabbed the bat and moved to meet the first rotter, swinging the bat at it's head hard enough to take it off it's feet. She had to hit it again to get the brain and stop it coming for her again. Luckily the other two stayed down after one hit, and she collapsed to her bloody knees, exhausted.

She knew she couldn't stop there. Rotters or people could come round the corners any second and she didn't have enough fight left to deal with them. Using the bat, she climbed to her feet, stumbling off the road and towards a store doorway, she glass in tact. She tried the handle, unsurprised when it didn't budge, so she barged it with her shoulder, trying not to cry out at the pain as she felt the door budge a little. It wasn't locked, just jammed. Three shoulder barges later, the door gave and she fell inside, landing on the cool tiles in a heap. The groan that left her lips as she got up was almost worthy of a rotter, and she listened carefully for any more authentic groans from inside the store.

Silence.

"Hello?" She called out quietly, mentally face-palming as she recreated every cliché horror film she'd ever seen. Unlike the horror films though, she was truly alone. The store didn't look like it had seen any of the horrors of the world outside. Closing the door, she did a quick sweep anyway, and when she was satisfied that she was alone and in no danger of having her face munched on by a rotter, blocked the exits. Almost too tired to look around, Juniper half debated piling some clothes from the rails onto the floor and getting some sleep, but her clothes were bloodstained and she needed some food and water. So she stripped out of the scrubs she'd been wearing for too long and walked into the rails of clothes.

Ten minutes later and she was dressed in a pair of black jeans with a dark grey tank top and faded red flannel shirt over them. Her feet were bare as she'd managed to break the pathetic trainers she'd been wearing, but she'd worry about that later. Her stomach growled and she headed for the cafe, finding eight bottles of water in the powerless fridge, two of which she downed straight away, leaving six to take with her when she left. All the food on display had spoiled, leaving a few bags of crisps and various chocolate bars and brownies in packets near the till. She took what ever was still good, even fizzy cans, knowing they'd be good for energy.

She piled the food and water together by the entrance to the cafe, leaving it there while she headed back into the darkening store to look for something to carry them in. Eventually she found a dark grey and orange 70l rucksack, putting a change of clothes in the bottom of it before heading back to the cafe, passing through the shoe section on her way. She found a pair of hiking boots in her size and then a pair of converse to wear should she need to run anywhere before she wore the hiking boots in. Once the food and water was in the bag and she had the converse on, she felt that she could relax some. She was safe, clothed and armed, ready to run at a moments notice if needed.

She didn't know where she was headed though. All she knew was that she had to get out of the city before they found her. Before that though, much as it pained her to admit it, she had to get some sleep. With her rucksack beneath her head, she settled down behind a customer service counter, asleep before she had time to worry about anything else.

She woke to the sound of gun fire, her eyes flying open and her hand reaching for her bat.

"They found me," she whispered to the darkness, her heart beating so fast that she wondered if someone had been with her, would they be able to hear it? She jumped at the sound of another shot, this time sounding further away, and she wondered if they had actually found her, or if they'd ran into a herd while searching. She hoped it was the latter, for once rooting for the rotters to win. Still, she knew she had to move. The limited light coming in from the window in the cafe told her that she'd slept right through the night and into the next day. She had to keep moving, and not waste any of the precious daylight hours she had.

Getting to her feet, she stretched her sore muscles before grabbing a protein bar from her pack and started eating it as she moved through the store, towards the staff only stairwell she'd blocked off the day before. Hopefully she'd be able to go on the roof and figure out where she was and what direction she needed to head in to get out of Atlanta, and away from them forever. Once she was on the roof, she blinked at the bright day and waited for her eyes to adjust. The roof was empty, except for a few vents, pipes, and benches for the smokers who had worked there, so Juniper walked to the edge and looked over the city.

Her stomach dropped and her knees went weak the closer to the edge she got, and she gripped onto the wall hard enough that it was a surprise it didn't crumble beneath her hands. "Great idea, June. Go up on the roof and ignore the fact you're terrified of heights. Yeah, good idea..." She muttered to herself, trying to ignore her fear as she peeked over the wall, looking for something-anything that she recognised.

"Damn it!" She swore, backing away. It all looked the same. She'd been so focused on escape that she didn't bother to look at anything, and now she had no idea which way would take her further away. Another couple of rounds went off, somewhere to her left and she ducked down, hoping she hadn't been spotted and those bullets weren't meant for her. She didn't even dare risk checking, and instead scurried back to the door she had come through, closing it behind her and pausing.

The shots had been pretty far off, so maybe they weren't meant for her. Maybe they were firing at rotters. After all, no bullets had even come close, and it would be pointless to shoot her from far away if they knew where she was. It'd be much easier to pin her down in the store and then drag her back. So either they weren't shooting at her, or it wasn't them.

Deciding she wasn't going to stick around and find out, she ran back down a few flights of stairs, stopping on the forth floor and running though some office looking rooms towards some big windows at the other end, one of which was propped slightly open. Leaning out of it, she saw that there was a tiny ledge she could hold onto and climb across to the next building where there was a fire escape. If she made it down that, she was gonna get out of the city. This is the hard part, one thing at a time, she told herself as she carefully pushed the window open further. She knew it was the only way she could risk getting out, but that didn't make her any happier about the drop that awaited her should she slip.

Once the window was open wide, she carefully climbed out, her toes and grip on the windowsill the only thing stopping her from falling to a probable painful death. Still, she somehow managed to let go with one hand, slowly pulling her pack off until it dangled from one arm by its strap. The added weight would only make her climb harder and more dangerous, so she held the strap in one hand and acted against every instinct in her body, leaning as far back as the length of her one handed grip would allow her. Trying not to look down, she focused on the fire escape on the other building, swinging the pack back and forth, gaining momentum until she finally released it, watching it sail through the air towards the metal stairs.

It almost didn't make it, the heavy pack harder to throw than she had thought, and she watched it start to drop, heading for the alley below. A strap snagged on a bit of metal that stuck out from one of the steps and she held her breath as it rocked, surely about to fall and alert any rotters in the alley below that she was up there, narrowing her escape chances. It stopped, hanging from the fire escape by one strap, but it was enough. As long as the wind didn't blow too hard, she'd be fine.

Now for the real challenge. Holding back onto the window with both hands, she looked for some way to get her hands where her feet were, without falling. Had she been a little taller and the buildings slightly closer, she would have jumped to the fire escape, but she knew she'd never make it. Not without a run up. The only other option was to get as low as she could and then drop, hopefully catching the edge before it was too late. She'd done it before, when Alaska had dragged her to climbing days with her, trying to get her to conquer her fear of heights. But on those occasions, she'd been in a harness, attached to a beefy guy on the ground who would stop her from falling if she missed the hand hold. If she missed this time, no one was going to save her, and she'd just been Juniper jam all over the alley.

Trying to forget the mental image her thoughts had conjured, she shook her head, but saw no other option. She'd have to try. Removing her toes from the tiny ledge, she carefully but them on the bricks beneath, walking slowly down the wall until she was dangling from her arms, almost able to reach the ledge if she let go with one hand. Her heart was pounding, both with fear and the exercise, but she knew there was no turning back now. She had to do it, and soon, before her arms grew too tired and she couldn't make the rest of the climb. Sighing through her nose, she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.

"You can do this," she whispered. Opening her eyes, she looked down and let go. She fell for less than a second, but to her it felt like a year, the ledge getting closer to her, if she missed it, she'd die. But then her hands were grabbing the ledge and her body slammed into the building hard enough that she almost lost her grip, but she held on, grunting with the effort and strain in her arms, but holding on. She'd done it. She wasn't going to be Juniper Jam. Not today...

Opening her eyes again, she stared at the bricks in front of her face, focusing on them for a few seconds before she finally looked up at the ledge and started moving, slowly edging along the wall and around the building. It became harder when she moved to the bridge connecting the two buildings as her feet were dangling in empty space, and she couldn't use them to help her along at all as she'd done before. Still, inch by inch, she kept moving, and soon enough her feet were on the wall again and the fire escape was closer.

"Why can't they just have shared the fire escape?!" She allowed herself to rant, mentally cursing the two building owners, and for not having a door between the buildings so she could walk inside the building instead of having to climb around the outside.

Her hands were covered in bird shit and god knows what else by the time she made it to the end of the second wall, only a few meters away from the fire escape. Only, there was a problem... June swore as she saw what she had overlooked before. The ledge she was using to climb around on, didn't continue on the building with the fire escape and there was nothing else for her to hold onto to get there.

Gritting her teeth, she growled, leaning back again to see if she could reach it if she stretched. No such luck, it was still a few feet out of her reach. She wanted to scream, but she refused to give up yet. There had to be something... Maybe she could climb back around, go the other way and try to kick in a window or something. She might lose her pack, but better than losing her life...

She was almost ready to do that when she felt it. Rain. There was the sound of thunder and then the skies opened up and the rain came down, heavier than should have been possible, and in a few seconds she was soaked. Of course the rain meant that trying to climb back around would be suicidal, so she was stuck, her arms feeling about ready to tear off, and too high to drop without dying...

She had to think fast...

She saw no other option. She had to jump. Looking at the gap between her and the fire escape, she knew it would be close, but she had literally no other options. If she missed, she'd die, but that was looking to be the only end result of everything else she could think of. At least she had a slim chance of making it. Even if the metal was slippery with rain... She didn't have the time to debate it, she had to act soon.

Letting go with one arm, she swung herself around so she was facing the fire escape, her arms straight behind her, and her feet flat against the wall. She had to push off with all the strength she had if she hoped to clear the gap... She didn't let herself doubt that she would make it. She didn't have time...

She gave herself to the count of three, but leapt before she even reached two, pushing off from the wall, arms outstretched for the metal railing of the fire escape, coming closer with each millisecond. She was going to make it, she could see it already, almost allowing herself to smile as her hands found the slick metal and closed around it. But then her body slammed into the railing too, and this time she slipped.

Crying out, she grabbed for anything to save herself, her hands finding the edge of the walkway and holding tight as her legs kicked in empty space. She gasped in her breath, scared of how close she'd been to death. But she made it. She was alive. So grunting, she slowly pulled herself up until she could climb over and then collapsed on the other side, the cold metal biting into her back. But she didn't care.

After a few more minutes of catching her breath, the rain let up just as quickly as it had started, and the sun came back, warming her wet face. She knew she had to move, so she got up, leaning over the railing to grab her pack and pulling it on before starting down the fire escape, ready for another day of running, so hopefully she'd be out of the city before nightfall.

No such luck. For some reason, the rotters were everywhere, more so than she'd ever seen, crowding every street she wanted to move down. So progress had been slow, and it took her all day and night to make it anywhere near the outskirts of the city. She eventually had to stop, just closing her eyes as the sun rose over the city.

Somehow she was even more exhausted when she woke up hours later, the sun telling her it was past noon, and she'd slept for too long. She needed to move. So she checked the street for rotters and climbed out of the van she'd slept in, shouldering her pack and taking off again, moving slower this time. She hadn't heard shots since the day before, and the rotters seemed to have spread out again, so she hardly had any trouble. She could afford to take it easy for a little while and save her strength for if she needed to run or fight.

It was nearing evening when she made it out of the city, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She just had to make it a couple of miles out and then they'd never find her. She could find somewhere to camp out for a while, maybe find a military base and hope that they were still operational and hopefully flying across to the UK... She knew it was unlikely. She hadn't seen or heard planes, choppers, or anything man made in the sky since the beginning.

She was so busy daydreaming about going home that she didn't hear the people behind her until they were already upon her, four men, all taller than her and armed with a lot of guns. Her bat was in her hands before any of them could open their mouths, though the leader lifted his gun, making her heart beat faster.

Still, she held the bat, deciding to hit him first if she needed to run.

She quickly looked at the other three, judging the guy with the crossbow to be the next biggest threat, but then the leader lifted his other hand, showing her that he meant no harm, telling the others to back up. They did as they were told, but Juniper didn't lower her bat.

"What do you want?" She asked carefully, addressing the one in charge, but it was the crossbow guy who spoke first, stepping forward and her grip tightened on her bat.

"You come from the city?"

She hesitated but nodded anyway, and he went on. "You see another guy come this way? In a van maybe. He has one hand..." She was already shaking her head no.

"No. I haven't seen anyone or anything except for rotters. Not until you lot showed up..." She turned back to the leader, who was watching her carefully.

"You by yourself out here?" He asked, and she weighed the odds of telling the truth. It could be dangerous if they knew she was alone. If they were bad news... So she shook her head and then gestured to the woods.

"No. My boyfriend is in there. He'll be back soon. He took the dogs hunting," she lied, hoping it didn't show on her face, but the leader just looked slightly amused, though he didn't call her out on her lie.

"Oh right. I only ask because we have a camp, further up in the woods. There's women and kids too. It's safe... Maybe you and..." She realised he was waiting for her to supply a name, so she quickly thought of one.

"Jake!" She offered a little nervously, and the guy smiled a little before continuing.

"Maybe you and Jake can join us... Safety in numbers and all that..."

She'd heard something like that before, which was how she'd ended up in that mess and on the run anyway, so even if the guy did seem trustworthy, she shook her head and stepped back. "Jake doesn't really like people... And we don't really need slowing down... So thanks for the offer, but no thanks..."

She knew she was unconvincing. She couldn't lie for shit, but that didn't mean she was going to stop. She hated lying and was always honest, but sometimes she had to lie to escape.

Unlike the leader, the crossbow guy didn't play along with her lie and stepped forward again, this time slower and put his gun on the ground between them before stepping back. "We ain't gonna hurt you, but it's stupid you being out here all by yourself when you could be safer with our group... Go ahead and hold onto that gun until you believe us, if you want... Just try not to shoot me in the back..."

Was it a trap? She couldn't be sure, so she acted quickly, grabbing the gun and pretending she knew what she was doing as she nodded to them to lead the way. Clearly the leader was impressed with his friend, though he looked at Juniper with some concern. Still, she held the gun and followed the four of them as they started jogging.

It was just getting dark when they heard the first screams, quickly followed by gunshots and more screaming. The leader, Rick, as he'd introduced himself, swore and the five of them started running through the trees, towards the sounds of rotters and screaming.

They burst from the trees together and Juniper froze at the sight before her. Bodies everywhere, rotters feeding on them while kids and people screamed and cried as they shot at the rotters. When one went towards a little boy, Juniper snapped out of her daze, aiming her gun with shaking hands and pulling the trigger. The shot went wide, so she ditched the gun, not wanting to accidentally hurt the living. Instead she ran at the rotters, swinging her bat at their heads and killing any that got in her way.

By the time they were all dead, she was panting, her bat limp in her hands as she looked around at the bodies that littered the ground and the survivors grouped together by an RV. Children were crying as they clutched onto their parents, and a lot of the adults just stood in shock, staring at what had become of their camp. One woman sat on the ground, sobbing and screaming for the younger woman who had just died in her arms.

What was it Rick had said about it being safe?