Chapter 1

It was almost the middle of the night, the time where Dreadful's are the most active. What is a Dreadful? In short, they're more advanced than just the normal everyday walking corpses. Alexia didn't like to think of them much. Not after the first breakout. The full moon shined down upon the city's destroyed buildings, creating shadows that intertwined with each other due to destruction of bombs that were dropped when the first outbreak happened. Alexia crouched on top of an abandoned hospital roof, well, what was left of the roof, looking down upon the Dreadful's racing around the streets, looking like ants on a dark pavement. The fall was only a few stories down, but Alexia knew that she would either have to go back down through the hospital, or she would jump. She knew that she was in the restricted zone of the city and that her group would deeply disapprove if they ever found out, but the hunting instincts ran in her blood. The most supplies were stored here; food, weapons, water, and medicine.

But checking the hospital was too late. Alexia tried to convince the others that the hospital should be the first thing that they check, but they waited too long. What a coincidence; there were no supplies in the only hospital in the entire city. The government or perhaps other groups raided the hospital for medicine and first aid kits. Alexia was irritated that she would have to get back down where the Dreadful's ran. A loud bang from the trapdoor got her attention as that was the only way back through the hospital.

"Damn," She cursed underneath her breath. Taking out a silver dagger that was hung around her belt, she casually walked over to the trapdoor, the banging noise and the snarls of the Dreadful's becoming louder in her ears. The latch on the door kept going up rapidly, the buckle looking like it was about to break. A smirk spread on lips.

"I haven't had any action all day." Alexia told her herself as she decided it was no use of going back down that way. The latch on the door broke and coming out with their rotten hands first, the Dreadful's emerged, some of them had blood running down their cheeks from their eyes. She brought her mask over her nose, as to not breathe in any of the virus. One by one, they charged towards her at full speed, their arms and hands were stretched out, waiting to grab hold of her and take a chunk of her body in their mouths. With one single blow with her dagger, she slashed their throats, each body dropping like flies on top of the roof. Blood hardly stained her shirt and pants as she did a quick turn at the heel, avoiding the blood splurging out. After she stabbed the head of one Dreadful, she didn't notice one of the Dreadful's that she thought was dead, grabbed hold of her heel, bringing her down onto her stomach, and dropping her dagger along the way.

With a yelp, the Dreadful kept dragging her closer; its mouth kept opening and closing, letting out snarls of hunger. The face of this Dreadful wasn't fully skinned as the whole face was practically a skeleton, with patches of blood red muscles scattered throughout. On her heel, she could feel the boney fingers starting to dig into her skin. Alexia had to think of something as the dagger was now completely out of reach. A hard rock from the debris of the roof was lying next to a dead corpse. Turning her body around, she ignored the pain of her muscle stretching into an uncomfortable position as she grabbed the rock, and with a single tug of her leg, she brought the Dreadful closer to her. Alexia bit her lip at the pain as she twisted her leg back around and sat on top of the hungry zombie. She raised the rock above her head and slammed in right on top of the Dreadful's face, the blood splashing just above her cheek. The noise of bones breaking and seeing a headless Dreadful wasn't a pleasant one.

Wiping away the blood, she got up and looked down at the Dreadful that captured her. At the base of the neck was a slash mark the shape of a sun. There was no denying what it meant. A frown caught on Alexia's lips. Sympathy is not a simple emotion when it's towards Dreadful's. But seeing the scar made her feel like not all Dreadful's are the same. Out of all the Dreadful's she ran into, never has she seen a good mark on one of them.

From what she can decipher from the mark, whoever this person was in their past life, they liked to take warm walks on a summer day. Maybe hang in the park with their friends, having a good laugh, sharing memories that would last a life time. Most of the time, when Normal's turn into Dreadful's, those good marks fade away, along with their humanity. If you could say that Normal's have humanity, or what's left of it.

It's like they've been driven mad and don't want to have any memories of their past life. This Dreadful must've still had kept good hold of those memories because the mark was still as clear as day. Alexia has been paying too much attention to the Dreadful that she didn't notice that someone else climbed through the little trapdoor, examining her.

"Well, isn't this an unusual sight," the deep male voice broke through her thoughts. "It isn't everyday that you see Alexia, who hates Dreadful's with a burning passion, look at one sympathetic." He shrugged after she gave him a look. "Just stating the obvious. I'm not even going to ask why you are up here. I think I already know the answer."

It was none other than her closest teammate in the group, Jackson. Alexia had a hunch that Jaebum, the leader of their group, would notice that she was gone and have one of the other members go out and look for her. His strong arms crossed his chest, she could imagine a little playful smirk on his lips behind his mask. Alexia rolled her eyes, as she picked up her dagger and put it in her belt buckle.

"Shut up, Jackson." She lightly hissed. "You don't need to let the world know. I was just looking for supplies. I just got stuck by damn Dreadful's."

"You know that we have supplies back at the hideout." He tried to get his point out. "There's no need to go out on your own, almost getting yourself killed."

"Stop treating me like I need to be protected all the time." Alexia glared at him, then looked down the trapdoor to see that there were some dead Dreadful's. "You didn't have to do that. I could've handled it."

Jackson looked at her bruised ankle and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, while you were dealing with one Dreadful that got you, others could've come up and had you while you were struggling." He looked down at the trapdoor and cleared his throat.

Alexia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "Yes?"

"You might want to thank me."

She sighed walking towards him as she started to walk down the ladder again, saddened that she couldn't find any supplies that night because someone had to be following her and bring her back. Jackson slowly followed behind her, combat ready just in case any more Dreadful's came in from the front of the building. "I told you, I had it."

"Doubt it. If I wasn't there, we both know where you'd be."

This received a slap to the arm from Alexia. She didn't like how he sometimes doubted her. Alexia did this way more than Jackson did on his own. "I always find a way, Jackson."

"Look," Jackson had them both stop in the middle of the staircase, his hand on her shoulder. When they were far away from the recent dead bodies, Jackson removed his mask. It made her get a better image of what he was really feeling. "There are always going to be situations where you can't find a way out. What do you think you'll do if I wasn't here tonight?"

Alexia looked at him and pondered that same question. Starting to come to realization, the smashing of a window from above them got out of their reverie and snapped them back to reality.

"Hurry, before we get into another bloody mess," Jackson quickly and safely got both of them out of the building. He took the same way Alexia always took to get to the restricted section.

"How long have you been following me here?! Only I know this way!" Alexia called to Jackson while they ran the route that was all too familiar to her that she can do it with her eyes closed. But instead Jackson just looked behind him and smirked. As they were on their way back, taking the path in the woods, Alexia stopped a few times, hand on her dagger. Taking in her surroundings, she looked at the trees and the bushes. She could've sworn that she heard some rustling, and it wasn't your everyday bird or deer that made it. If there were any animals left.

"What are you doing?" He asked, catching his breath. Alexia thought he was actually thankful that they stopped just to take a breather.

"You don't hear that?" Her grip on the dagger tightened.

Whoosh

Alexia turned on her heals and stared up at the trees above her. If the moon wasn't behind clouds now, she could see more clearly as to who was up there following them.

Jackson came over to her and grabbed her hand. "Ally, we don't have time for this! Let's go!"

Alexia ignored that dreaded nickname that he came up with as she released her hand on the dagger. She knew that he was right. Alexia's mind went back to focusing on getting back to the hideout without having being followed. But she couldn't shake off the feeling that a pair of eyes was watching their every move. Coming out of the forest, not ten feet in front of them, laid a large metal gate. Jaebum declared it as their hideout since no one dared to go into the forest or even past the Dreadful's main spot in the city. The only time that they ever gather people is when they go on missions. Once they went over the fence, since the there were no watchers out tonight the only way to the building was climbing over the fence, Jackson whispered to Alexia, noticing a big crowd at the entrance of the middle apartment building. And they weren't happy.

"You're in deep shit."

"You will be, too, if you stop calling me Ally."

"Here we go," Alexia thought. "What is he going to yell at me, now?"

"What were you thinking?!" Jaebum yelled at Alexia.

All of them gathered in the main entrance of the building, everyone was wearing their pajamas circled around the two like they were the entertainment. Since the main entrance was like a hotel lobby, some people actually sat on some chairs and on top of the main desk to get a better view at what was going down. She knew that she was going to get the talk from him. The moment that they returned, everyone was practically pissed.

"What do you think I was doing?! I was getting supplies for the group!" Alexia hated arguing with him because he was the one that put her with his group...and he can easily take her out of it.

Jackson stood in the back, arms folded, his eyes going back and forth between the two. If he kicked Alexia out, she knew that he would most likely go with her, resulting in losing two of the best fighters that he has.

"We have supplies!" He argued. "We have electricity, food, water, rooms, and-"

"But for how long?!" Alexia made her point. "JB, we are stocked, I know that, but with us continuing to gather more people, how much longer will it last?"

Jaebum stepped back and stood taller, trying to tell her who's boss. "You're saying that we should stop bringing people in?"

"I'm saying that we should limit our handouts on supplies!" Whispers were starting to go around each person, but she couldn't tell if it was good or bad. "With the portion that everyone is getting right now, we'll be out of food before we know it! And where else would we get the food from? You know that the markets are all raided. It could take us days, if not, months before we find food again!"

"If there weren't enough supplies, they would've told me!"

She stared up at Jaebum's gaze. "Or maybe they're afraid."

"What?"

"Who knows, Jaebum. Maybe the way that you're running things might be a little too controlling that it's scaring everyone into thinking of what's on their mind."

Maybe that was the wrong thing to admit because without a warning, Jaebum grabbed his knife that he held in his belt buckle, and positioned it at her neck. Alexia forcefully swallowed down her nervousness as she felt the edge of the blade just barely touching her neck. This was the first time that Jaebum lost his control in front of her and most of the group. She could see Jackson flinch forward, but knowing Jaebum, it was better to not interfere.

"I brought you in this group. Don't make me force you out." He snarled.

"But there was a reason why you brought me in this group. Think of how your group will be if you threw me out. Do you want to go back to the way things were again?"

Jaebum's eyes were still fixated on her, and she knew that he was wrong if he threw her out of the group. Slowly, he withdrew his knife from her neck and slid it back in its sheath. Alexia did a tiny sigh of relief.

"Sorry you had to see this," Jaebum told them.

"If nothing scared them before, then that just did," Alexia whispered as the people in the group began to walk away, whispering to each other.

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing." She elongated the word in a cute fashion as she moved out of his way and made her way up to her apartment room before Jaebum could come up with another way of fighting with her. Entering the tiny kitchen, she opened up the refrigerator and opened up a beer.

"Hey!" an unexpected voice called out. Jackson ran in front of her and grabbed the can before she could take a sip. "You don't even like beer, remember?"

"It's just one drink, Jackson." She explained. "Besides, with Jaebum, I would need it."

She tried to reach it, but Jackson dumped it down the sink drain. Alexia shot daggers at his head as she got out water instead.

"That was our last one, too." She said before taking a sip. "Now we probably will need to get supplies."

"You know that what just happened down there was a shocker to everyone, not just you. I would've stepped right in-between you two when he did, if he didn't do it so fast." Jackson said as he threw out the can in the garbage.

"Hey!" Alexia said ignoring what he just said, although she clearly listened to him. She retrieved the can, crushed it with both hands and put it in another garbage bag that was also filled with cans. "Recycling!"

"Like the world isn't already turned to shit already! I'm sure that recycling isn't going to make it any better!" Jackson rolled his eyes. "Hey, did you hear a word I said?"

Alexia leaned against the refrigerator door and put the top of the water bottle to her lips, pretending to be in a thinking pose. "I'm not quite sure."

"Alexia!"

"Ok! Fine!" She looked down to the ground and thought back to what it felt like having a knife to her neck. Alexia knew that he wasn't going to go any further and that it was an act to scare her off, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he might have done it. No one has ever seen him that mad before. After being with the group for almost six months, she finally saw him at his worst. "Yes, what he did was..."

"Unthinkable?" Jackson finished her sentence.

"Not just that," she started to twirl the water bottle in her hands, thinking of more appropriate words. "There's no denying that he is a good leader."

Jackson furrowed his eyebrows at her words. "Uh, I think you mean, was a good leader."

"Ok, was, but...lately he's been acting too strict."

"So you're saying that you should be leader?" Jackson asked all of a sudden.

This thought has crossed Alexia's mind more than just a few times before since she came to the group. But there was no way that Jaebum would give up his role. From what she could tell, he loved being in charge. She didn't know if it was the feeling of making all of the decisions or just the power of control itself, but he wasn't going to give it up anytime soon.

"Well maybe it is better that we have no leader at all, if that's the case." A male voice came from the opening of the door. There was Mark, another close friend to Alexia, his blonde hair looking freshly washed as it stuck to his face. Alexia never told anyone, but his eye color always stuck out more when he did take showers. She could see his green eyes from where she was standing. Jackson and Mark were close friends too, they could be called brothers. Although Jackson would make it a joke that they were called Markson as a ship to get the other survivors talking.

"Who invited you in?" Alexia asked, being back in her mood.

Mark raised his hands in defense. "I thought we were all friends here."

"Relax Mark; she's just in one of her moods." Jackson looked at her and glared as he went over to the couch and plopped on it.

"Fight with Jaebum again?"

"You had to ask?" She questioned him as she followed Jackson and sat on the arm rest of the couch.

"I would have been there if it wasn't for my shower that I was taking." Mark sighed.

Jackson laughed. "So that's why I didn't see my husband when we arrived."

Alexia was tempted not to laugh as she wasn't in any mood, but a small crack flashed across her face before biting her lip and returning to a frown.

"It's not like you have to know my every move! I, too, like some privacy!" Mark teased back before receiving a hit on the arm by Jackson.

"You know that you're doing this on purpose." Alexia rolled her eyes.

Mark sat down next to Jackson on the couch. He playfully put his arm around his shoulders and rested his head on his shoulder.

"You really have to do that after you just took a shower?"

"Yep," Mark smiled. His eyes went to Alexia, worriedly. "What did you do now?"

Alexia fake smiled. "I made cakes and put unicorns and rainbows on them to cheer him up."

"That might actually make him madder." Jackson said before taking Alexia's water bottle and taking a sip.

She slapped him against the head as he gave up and gave back her beverage. "What do you think? I went out again. I would've succeeded, too, if it wasn't for somebody coming to get me."

"Just thinking of your safety, can you blame me?" Jackson whispered.

Alexia bit her lip thinking of what to say to Mark about her fight with Jaebum this time.

"But if Jaebum didn't put a knife to your neck, your safety might be better out there." Jackson blurted out.

Shit. Another hit to the arm was given to him. "You know that I didn't want Mark to know about that!"

"Now I do."

"He did what?!" Mark got up from the couch and came around to look at Alexia's neck. She just shooed him away.

"I'm fine, Mark," Alexia rolled her eyes. "It's just that he acted out of control."

"You know that it wasn't just today that he acted out of control. He's been doing it a lot lately; you just haven't seen it because you're out all the time. BamBam is starting to get scared of him now." Mark said quietly as he leaned against the back of the kitchen counter.

"BamBam? But he's not that little kid anymore. He-" Jackson started.

"Yeah, well, ever since..." Mark looked at Alexia and stopped speaking. It was as if she knew what he was going to say, so she just raised her arms, urging him to go on.

"Go ahead, say it. Ever since I got here and pissed Jaebum off is when it started." She sighed. "Am I right?"

He didn't answer, which, to Alexia, spoke the loudest yes. "Look, I don't mean to piss him off, it's just in my nature to go out there and find more stuff for our group. Ever since I came here, less people have died. You said so yourselves. Now if you excuse me, I need to get a breather since somebody didn't let me get my stress out."

Alexia headed to the door, but when Jackson spoke, she stopped in the door frame.

"Be back soon. You know that it's almost midnight, daily checkups from your favorite person." He added to remind her.

She smiled. "Tell him I'm taking a nice, peaceful walk."