Alyce hit the side of the truck, letting the driver know he could drive off. She watched the truck until it was out of sight. The young woman stretched and moved her neck from side to side, feeling the cracks in the vertebrae. It had been a long day. Her hands and arms hurt from lifting heavy boxes and her head pounded from all of the yelling she'd had to endure.
But now it was time to make the trek home.

The last sector they delivered to was actually quite a ways from her apartment. Thankfully she knew a back way to go in order to avoid seeing too many people. She had learned her lesson from her co-worker's mistake.
The young man had been jumped while walking home. He had been stripped, beaten to a pulp and hung upside down overnight. There were rumors that it was the work of the Fireflies, but Alyce had her doubts. Everything the group did had a point to it. What had happened to that poor bastard hadn't had any point except violent revenge.

Alyce slipped through an alleyway and heard the sounds of street fighting. The illegal fights were a haven of gambling and drugs. Damn it! They had cut off her normal route home!
Taking off her ID pass and stuffing it into her pocket, Alyce prayed that her jumpsuit rolled down to her waist the way it was would not be recognized as a Resource Distributors uniform. Putting on a confident face, she strode out into the open street.
It wasn't that busy, with people taking their supplies and heading into their homes. Alyce had to take quite a detour but ended up nearly back where she needed to be. The last bit was the scariest. She had to pass through an area that was known to be frequented by smugglers. But usually if she kept her head down and stayed against the wall no one bothered to noti-

A rough hand suddenly reached out from the open doorway of a run down building and snagged her, dragging her into the building. Alyce's scream was cut off but a smelly hand over her mouth.
"Government lackey!" a voice snarled into her ear.
"Think you could sneak past us you worthless hoarding scum!" another snapped.
Alyce felt herself being lifted up and slammed down onto a table. A light over it illuminated several dirty looking men surrounding her.
"We gotta do worse this time around," one of them said, cracking his knuckles. "Show 'em we mean business." He slammed his fist into her stomach while another man stuffed a greasy cloth in her mouth and held her down. A knife appeared, glinting in the light.
"I say we cut off this pretty hair, make her look like a shaved dog."
"I say we do some surgery on that face, make it not so pretty."
"And maybe without a few fingers she won't be able to steal from us anymore."

Alyce thrashed and kicked, trying to spit out the nasty cloth.

"And then, when we're finished with her," the biggest one said, running the point of the knife down her cheek to her throat. "We string her up outside the quarantine zone. Let the infected find her."
Alyce screamed as a blow to her face left her with what would be a black eye, while a strong hand grasped her fingers and jerked one out of it's socket.
Her screams of agony sounded like some kind of animal. For the first time in her life, she prayed for death as the knife pressed into the skin of her chest.

Pain. That was all she knew. The only reality in her mind.
She heard gun shots, but her mind couldn't process what they meant. She heard men shouting and yelling in pain, but couldn't make sense of it all. Then the shots stopped and someone grabbed her by her hurt hand. She screamed in agony, the cloth finally falling from her mouth. A rough hand grabbed her by her braid and dragged her across the floor. She was lifted up and her world turned upside down as she was tossed over someone's shoulder.
"Kill the crazy bitch!" her captor ordered as he ran out the door. "I'm dumping this one outside."

It took Alyce more then a few minutes to realize what he meant.
He was dumping her outside the QZ...

- Outside the QZ
She didn't know how they got out of the city and she couldn't get her bearings on her surroundings. The pain was still intense and all the blood had rushed to her head from being held upside down, making her dizzy and disoriented.

Suddenly she was slammed onto the ground. She coughed and tasted blood in her mouth. Hands roamed her body as her jumpsuit was removed, leaving her in just her tank top and underwear. She heard tearing sounds and managed to get her eyes open and focused enough to see him ripping her jumpsuit to shreds. He also took her ID pass. No doubt he was going to leave them for the soldiers to find in the city somewhere, a testimant to their cruelty and her murder.

A hand grabbed her face hard. "Hope the clickers enjoy chewing on you bitch," he snarled and shoved her face away. She heard his steps fade away.
Whimpers escaped her throat. She put her good hand over her mouth, trying to muffle them. The clickers hunted by sound. She had to keep quiet.
But her hand hurt so badly...
She dared to look at it and wished she hadn't. Two of her fingers were pulled out of joint and they were pointing the wrong way. Blood ran down from the cuts he had made in her chest and shoulders. Her lip was cut and there was a dark bruise forming under her right eye and more bruises on her arms and legs.
And they had been interrupted. She didn't even want to think about how badly she would had looked if they had done all they had planned.

Alyce struggled to get to her feet but fell back down, nearly screaming when she landed on her injured hand.
Then the sound that made her blood turn to ice:
Click... Click Click... Click...

Panicking, she scrambled underneath a piece of a building that had fallen over and had overgrown with vines. The clicks came closer until a single clicker appeared. Alyce told herself to be still, told herself to calm down, but inside she was terrified. She wanted to scream and run. She shook with the effort to remain hidden. The clicker came closer to her hiding place.
No... God, please... someone...

Summer sucks. decided Matt. Though he felth that way for quite a while, this was the first time he gave any serious thought to the matter. Other than the fact that it was too damn hot and muggy, even in Massachusets, but no one needed a guy to cut their fireword, which sucked for Matt. Everyday it was harder and harder to justify carrying this damn axe around, despite Karl's teachings.

Karl was big, strong, wise (or insane depending on your point of view), but none of that stopped him from dying in his sleep. After that, Matt buried the old man as best as he could, took his big axe and headed eastward. He used to get some work chopping firewood for the local settlements he ran into along the way, but in summer, who needed firewood?

Now Matt was wandering in upstate Massachusets, in the general direction of Boston, starving and feeling worn. He wanted to find a place to sleep, but nightfall was atleast 6 hours away. Before pondering what he should do next, he heard a noise coming from the bush's just off the dirt road he was on. Though he held his axe, he instinctivly reached for the handgun in his belt.

Matt thought maybe he was getting paranoid. He almost decided to let it go, but when he saw the glint of a steel knife shine in the sun, he knew his instincts had been correct. "Look, buddy, you're not fooling anyone." he said, pulling his Glock out of his holster. "Come out with your hand's up, and I'll let you go. If you keep hiding, If I have to come get you I'm gonna ki-"

Matt almost didn't hear them, but the unmistakable sound of Clickers kept rising and rising. He dropped his attention from whoever was in the bushes and started scanning his surroundings. Off in the distance, he saw the a few shambling forms in the distance. What the hell? How did they sneak up on me? Matt thought. Without thinking, he pointed his gun and squeezed off a round at the nearest Clicker. Not only did he miss, but the sound of the shot got the attention of the infected creatures. Feeling terrified, (and a bit embarrassed for his lack of self control), he turned back to the guy in the bushes. "Sorry! Run!" he said before hauling ass in the opposite direction.

He ran as fast as he could, as far away from the clickers as possible. He knew he would either have to try and lose them or kill him, because Clickers never get tired of chasing their targets. Before he could make his choice, one of them wandered into his path. Before Matt skidded to a halt, the creature lunged at Matt, arms reaching for him. Before the monster could get it's hands around him, Matt placed his gun under it's chin and pulled the trigger. The bullet broke through the creature's fleshy skull and came out of the top of it's skull. As the monster fell back, Matt dropped his pistol on the ground and took his axe in both hands. The creature, though severely injured, tried again to grab at him. With all the strength he could muster, Matt Schafer buried the smile of his axe blade into the creatures chest. The force of the impact sent the Clicker colliding into the ground onto it's back. Matt, quickly wrenching his axe free, gave the clicker a blow to it's neck, finally killing it.

Matt turned around, axe raised, and saw no Clicker's chasing him, and heard none of their distinctive clicking. I hope they found something better to chase. Still on edge, he almost jumped when he heard a quiet sigh, almost like a whimper, from behind. He was expecting another fight, but instead found someone crouched underneath a ruined piece of wall. By the sound's they were making, they were in very serious pain. Matt picked up his pistol and carefully walked towards the run down shelter.

When he arrived, he saw a woman, half naked and clearly injured. Matt holstered his pistol and placed his axe back into it's loop. "I'm not here to hurt you. Do you need help? Or pants, maybe?"

Alyce couldn't believe it when someone appeared. She was even more surprised when he attacked and killed the Clicker. He knew she was there because he offered her help. She didn't know if she could trust someone outside the QZ, but it was obvious she couldn't trust that many inside the QZ either. Plus he had a weapon, which would be useful in getting her back inside in one piece. And he offered clothes. Bonus.

Alyce crawled out from under her hiding place. "Yes," she sad, wincing in pain. "I need help."
She held up her hand to show him the two fingers out of joint. "Clothes would be nice, but please could you pop these back into place? It hurts so much."
She covered her mouth as he did it, to keep her scream of agony muffled. But once it was done the relief was amazing. And once that pain was gone she was able to feel others. She groaned in pain when she moved.
"Now... about those clothes?" she asked.

As she got dressed, slowly and painfully, she told him what happened. "I'm a Resource Distributer inside the QZ. Some of the locals are not happy with the dwindling supplies. They think we're keeping them for ourselves," she looked him in the eye. "It's not true. I swear it's not. We are suffering just as much as everyone else. But anyway, the new trend is to rough up RD's as some kind of revenge on the government. They don't give a rat's ass about us though, so it's all a waste. One of my co-workers was beaten badly and hung upside down naked. This is the first time I've ever heard of them leaving someone outside of the QZ."
She looked at herself and winced. "Guess I won't be winning any beauty contests for a while huh? And they were interrupted. I'd hate to think what I would have looked like if they had done everything they meant to."
She tried to smile, to make light of the situation in order to deal with it better, but winced at the pain in her cut lip. "Ow," she whimpered. Her fingers were sore and her body felt like it had been through a cement mixer.

"Thank you for the help. You saved my life," she told the strange man, praying he had meant to and wasn't about to either kill her or leave her. "I don't have anything to pay you with, but if you get me back into the city to my apartment, I've got a few ration cards saved and a small bottle of scotch I could give to you. It's not much, but it's all I have."

"Clothes would be nice, but please could you pop these back into place? It hurts so much." Said the girl, with a pleading look in her eyes. Matt looked at her fingers and cringed at how misshapen and out of place they were. "Allright, but its gonna hurt like hell." He took her fingers in his hands and after the count of three, he popped her fingers back into place. She screamed into her hand as he did it, but it seemed to have worked.

"Now... about those clothes?" she asked. Matt un-slung his backpack and gave her a pair of jeans that weren't really her size, as well as a sweatshirt with a zipper. "No shoes, i'm afraid. The girl took the offered clothes and started to put them on. She explained herself and her situation, but Matt found it hard to concentrate. Even cut up, bruised and battered, Matt could tell that she was beautiful. Red Hair, Blue Eyes, Freckles, you just don't see beauty like that anymore. Matt thought to himself. He was shaken out of his revery when she mentioned a co-worker that was hung upside down in the nude. Matt cringed at that.

"Thank you for the help. You saved my life," the girl said. Matt tried not to blush, but if the girl noticed, she didn't say anything. "I don't have anything to pay you with, but if you get me back into the city to my apartment, I've got a few ration cards saved and a small bottle of scotch I could give to you. It's not much, but it's all I have." Matt found himself nodding before realizing what he was saying yes to. "You don't have to pay me." he said What?! You're saying no to scotch and food? What the hell is wrong with you?! Matt's brain said. Ignoring this, Matt stuck his hand out. "I'm Matt, by the way."

Alyce smiled and shook his hand, then winced as she shook it with her sore hand. Changing hands, she tried again. "My name is Alyce. And you have to let me give you something. Especially since I'm going to need your help getting back in," she added, hugging herself and looking back towards the city. "I don't know how to get back in. And I really don't want to run into those guys again before I can get home."

She looked back at him. "Matt? I know it's a lot to ask, but could you please help me get to my apartment? I'll find a way to repay you. Please?"
If he didn't help her, she was as good as dead. She'd run into infected before she could get back in the city and even if she managed to get back in without getting shot by the guards she still ran the risk of running into the men who had attacked her. And in her current state she doubted she could outrun anyone and she certainly couldn't fight.

The jeans were big on her, she had to keep tugging them up. The sweatshirt was big on her too.
Matt was a big guy. Tall, muscular-looking, and he had a pair of very nice eyes...
She snapped herself out of that very fast. No ogling of the rescuer. All fantasies reserved for a safe area.

The going was slow. She felt bad for slowing him down, but she couldn't move fast with the pain she was in. Every move hurt.
"I am going to be soaking tonight," she said in a low voice, not wanting to draw Clickers.. "Probably use all my water ration for the week, but I don't care."

As they walked, something occurred to her. "By the way Matt... what were you doing outside of the QZ? You don't look infected."

"My name is Alyce." she said as she stuck out first her injured hand before switching to the other. Alyce? Or is it Alice? Adorable, either way. Matt thought to himself. Before he could say anything, she looked straight into his eyes. "Matt? I know it's a lot to ask, but could you please help me get to my apartment? I'll find a way to repay you. Please?" she asked. "Alright, I'll do it. But you don't have to pay me."

The two of them walked for a bit, and Matt focused on his surroundings. He had never been this close to a quarantine zone before, and he was worried that the closer they got to the city, the more infected they'd run into. Alyce kept talking, and he didn't blame her. She'd just been through hell, so she was probobly just trying to relax. Then Alyce said something that caught Matt's ear.

"By the way Matt... what were you doing outside of the QZ? You don't look infected." Matt really didn't have much of an answer for her other than "I don't really like big cities." Before he could say more, they found a body. Matt motioned for Alyce to stay back and prodded it with his axe. It didn't move, so Matt turned it over and saw that he was very, very dead. His rags looked like a soldier's BDUs but it was hard to tell. What did catch Matt's eye was a holstered pistol. "Hm... A Beretta." said Matt. Matt took the pistol and pulled the slide back. It looked clean enough, so he handed it to Alyce. "Here, It's not much, but it should be fine for now. And to answer more of your question, I've been on my own for a while."

Alyce took the Beretta, but she didn't really know how to shoot. She had never really handled a gun before. She supposed it was pretty simple, point and pull the trigger.
When he said he'd been on his own for a while she nodded. "So have I," she replied. "I imagine a lot of people have. But it's more difficult for you, being out here instead of inside surrounded by people."

As they got closer to the wall she got quieter. She didn't want to draw anything to them, either infected or otherwise.
She wondered if Matt was a member of the fireflies, or perhaps a smuggler. And if he was, as a city worker, she had a duty to report him.
But would she? Did she even want to?

Whoever or whatever he was, he had helped her when he hadn't been required to. He could have just passed on by and left her to her fate. She owed him her life and at the very least to keep his presence a secret.
They spotted some more people running about here and there, scavengers or smugglers. Did Matt know any of them? Would they bother Matt and Alyce? Try to rob them? Or would they just continue on their way?

Matt tried to act natural, but the sight of the people around the wall unnerved him a little. He was much more used to being by himself. Still, Alyce seemed reasonably comfortable (as comfortable as someone who was nearly beaten and stripped naked could be, anyway), so they pressed on. Arriving at the wall, Matt cringed when he saw the checkpoint. It was well guarded, at least 4 soldiers, armed with carbines and wearing flak jackets. One of the soldiers was checking passes and making sure the people walking through wern't carrying anything illegal. Matt was pretty sure walking through that checkpoint with an axe might cause some sort of alarm.

"What do you think, Alyce? Do you think they'd recognize y-" Before Matt could finish his sentence, he felt someone bumping into him from behind. "Sorry" said the older man as he walked pass. "It's alright." said Matt before he got a look at the old man's face. No way... thought Matt. The old man must have thought it too, because he picked up his pace and got to the checkpoint and into Boston. Matt was stunned, too stunned to move. The word "Dad" was all he could muster.

Alyce's jerked her head up when he started to talk, then cocked it in confusion when he was cut off. She moved aside to avoid the man walking by them.
Then she heard Matt mutter something and looked back at him. From the look on his face she wasn't sure if now was the time to ask if he was okay. He looked... shell-shocked was the only word she could think of. Had he recognized the man? Was he a friend or relative?

She swallowed and avoided questioning him right then. They had to get somewhere safe first.
Alyce approached the gate with her hands up. The guards immediately turned their weapons on her. She explained that she was an RD worker, described the attack and her attackers and told how Matt had helped her. Even though she had no identification they were able to take her picture and look her up in the system. They allowed her back into the city and provided an escort for her and Matt to her apartment. After telling her that some inspectors would be by the next day to talk to her about the attack, they left.

Alyce opened her door and stepped inside the modest apartment. It had one bedroom, a bathroom and a room that served as a living room / dining room / kitchen. Going into a cabinet, she pulled out a false back on it to reveal a cache of food tins and a half-full bottle of dark colored alcohol. "Here," she said, handing them to Matt. "Make yourself at home. If you don't mind, I'd like to have the shower first."
She went into her room and got out some clothes. The bathroom didn't have a door, just a sheet pinned above the doorway. So she was able to talk to him while she was in the shower.
"I don't know if you have a place to stay or not," she said over the water. "But, I wouldn't mind you staying here for a little bit... if you wanted to that is."

Once she was out of the shower she dried off and got dressed, coming out with the pants he had loaned her. "I'll wash these later," she promised before laying them over a chair. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and sighed. "I still look like a mess," she said, shaking her head. Her lip was cut and she had a cut on her forehead plus a black eye that was getting darker.

She looked at him, not really sure how to ask him anything without seeming like she was prying. "Listen," she finally said. "About that guy, the one who bumped into you? You seemed... stunned to see him. Is everything okay?"
He had helped her, she was more then willing to help him if she could.

Matt was at a complete loss. He didn't remember getting passed the checkpoint, entering Alyce's apartment, or her leaving the room and taking a shower. All he could remember what his dad told him before he and mom left to go get supplies. "We'll be back in a few days, son. Sit tight, and don't get into trouble." Except they didn't come back. Matt waited at their camp for nearly 2 weeks, but they never showed up. That was when he met Karl, wandering around mumbling about the Ragnarok, carrying a large axe. Karl taught Matt everything he knew about how to survive by himself, and Matt would have died without him. After that, he just assumed both his parents were dead. Why was he here in Boston? Why didn't he come back to Ohio to find me? Where was Mom? All of these questions tumbled in Matt's mind, but the biggest question was the one that hurt the most.

Why didn't he recognize me?

Matt was brought out of his revery when Alyce walked in. He didn't think it was possible, but she actually looked even more radiant now than before. She came over and sat on the sofa beside him.

"Listen," she finally said. "About that guy, the one who bumped into you? You seemed... stunned to see him. Is everything okay?" He told her everything. He had never met someone who he could unload to, but for some reason, he felt like he could trust Alyce. He told her about his parents, about Karl, about seeing him today.

"Look." he said. "I know this sounds crazy, but I need to find him. I need to know why." He looked right into her eyes. "You don't owe me anything, but I have no where else to go. If you want, I can get a job here while I try and find him. Please, help me."

Alyce listened as Matt talked. It was sad, but in a way mirrored what had happened to a lot of people since the outbreak. She felt really bad for him.
"You don't have to get a job," she told him, covering his hand with hers and patting it. "You can stay as long as you need to. I don't really eat much anyway so sharing rations with you won't be hard. Plus it will be nice you have a man around here in case... well, in case I run into those guys again."
She shivered at the thought of the men that had attacked her.

"I owe you my life," she told him. "But I would help you anyway. It's nothing to let you stay here. I've got room. And if you really want to work and get out into the city to find your father, their are usually curior jobs available, especially for someone who can handle themselves like you can. Who could deliver outside the walls to check points or watchtowers. The military will pay you in rations, while more... unofficial people will pay you in other things."

Basically if you weren't working for the military then you were a smuggler. That was how things worked.
The only other option was the be a criminal like the Fireflies.
Alyce went to a box in the corner near the bed and pulled out some old but clean looking men's clothes. "These were my brother's before he left," she explained. "If you want a shower, you could change into these."
She offered him the clothes. She had an extra blanket which she could use to make up the shabby couch. It wasn't much, but it was really all she had to offer him. It was either the couch or in the bed with her...
Alyce blushed heavily at that thought and pushed it away. He was extremely good looking, that was true. You'd have to be a corpse not to be interested in that strong body, but he was here because he needed help. She wasn't going to take advantage of the situation.

A few weeks later...

Matt pushed the door of Alyce's apartment and stumbled into the room. He tried not to get blood or rain water onto the semi nice floor, but his efforts seemed to be in vain. He went to the kitchen and grabbed the highly sophisticated med-kit (a bottle of whisky and some gauze), and plopped himself down onto the living room floor. His shirt was torn, but he managed to get it off. The bullet wound in his shoulder hurt like hell, but the wound itself was none threatening. The problem was the bullet still lodged in him. If he didn't get it out soon, it could become infected. Alyce wasn't home (he thought anyway), so he had no choice but to try and dig it out himself. As he clawed into his shoulder with a pair of plyers, he didn't think about what had just happened. It didn't hurt as much if he focused on the gunshot.

He heard the door swing open and saw Alyce walking in, stunned at the shirtless bloody Matt sitting in her living room. Matt took this time to say something creative, witty, and smart. "Hi..." was the best he could come up with.