How I came to find the love of my life

Chapter one

{Dani}

I had been running down the streets of Atlanta for quite some time now, not exactly sure of where I was going. Then I turned a corner and saw the cause of this whole thing. Walkers. Hundreds of em. I walked back really fast, but it was to late. They smelt me. I turned around and ran as fast as I could. I could hear the moans from behind me, and how they kept getting louder and louder. I heard a horse neighing somewhere, but that couldn't be right, could it?

Convinced it was my ears playing tricks on me, I checked my surrounding to see if there was any way I could escape this hellhole. And I saw it. There was a ladder that went to the top of a large building. I ran straight for it. As soon as I got to it I started to climb. I didn't look back until I got about halfway up the ladder. And what I saw shocked me. The once empty street was now filled with walkers, waiting for their next meal, and it sure as hell wasn't gonna be me. Then some of the ones on the outside were gone, and more followed along behind them, and soon I was left with only the dozen or so at my feet. I heard the neighing again, followed by gunshots, and human screams. That must be what they left for. I started climbing again. I finally reached the top, and caught my breath. I was looking down at the ground, then I heard someone say, "Well, what do we have here?"

Whoever it was had a scratchy southern voice. I reached for my knife on my belt until I heard the sound of a gun cocking. The guy said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Just put down all your weapons, nice and slow," I took out my knife and handgun and sat it down, but not the pocket knife. I left it in my front pants pocket.

"Alright, now get up," he said. I stood up and started to turn around until he pushed me and said, "Did I say turn around? Stay like you are and put your arms up," I did what he said, and he gave me a very uncomfortable pat down. He found my pocketknife and said, "What ya gonna do with this? Give me a paper cut? Haha," he then grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me towards an air shaft thingie and let me go.

"Sit down. We need to talk," I turned around as looked at him. I didn't see what I expected to. He was a man in his mid-forties, and had a biker jacket on with the sleeves cut off. He looked tough, and had a look about him that said he could take anyone down at a moments notice.

I needed to get away.

"What's your name?" he asked me.

"Dani. Yours?"

"Merle," he said, looking me up and down. He licked his lips and said "Damn. I ain't seen an ass like that in a while,"

I could feel my cheeks turning red.

"Well, that doesn't mean you're gonna get any of it," I said, then walked over to the edge of the roof. The ledge went up to my waist. I felt a hand go on the back of my neck, pushing the top part of my body on the ledge. He held both of my hands behind my back and pushed hisself against me. He laughed then leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Got you now, don't I?" I felt something sharp go into my side.

I brought my head back really fast, and it made contact with his ear. He jerked back and yelled. As soon as he did I tried to move off of the ledge, but he said "Oh no you don't," and pushed me back down. "Little bitch. Yer a feisty one, ain't ya? Well, that's ok. I like the one who put up a lil fight. I know how to handle em,"

I heard him start undoing his pants.

"Let me go!!" I said angrily, trying to get my hands out of his grasps.

"Quite yer squirmin! I'm bout ta teach ya a lesson ya won't soon forget," he said angrily.

Right after he said that I heard a door bust open. He was off of me two seconds later. There was a man in a sheriffs outfit on top of him now, punching him. Merle was hitting him back. The sheriff pulled out a gun and pointed it at Merle. Merle stopped hitting him and held his hands up. The sheriff pulled out some handcuffs and handcuffed him to a metal bar that was sticking out of the roof. Merle wiped some blood off of his lip and stared at me. I shuddered. He just laughed. The sheriff walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder.