Atlanta

It was getting into the late hours of the day, and I even felt my own eyes droop with tiredness. Dani was passed out next to me, but I was determined to get somewhere set up for us to rest for the night. My map showed me that I was on the hill up to a clearing at the quarry, and I nudged Dani excitedly, completely forgetting that she was asleep.

"Danielle! We're here!" After a couple of seconds, she rubbed her eyes and looked out of the front window.

"Oh god it's dark." I nodded, but put my hand on her shoulder.

"We can get some sleep now." I pushed on a little further to get to the top of the hill, but what I saw caused me to hit the brakes faster than I could blink. I gripped the steering wheel tightly, my brain not knowing what to make of the sight ahead.

"What the hell was that!?" Danielle asked, having lunged forward while trying to move a pillow from her back. I didn't say anything, I just looked forward. After a few seconds I heard her gasp, and her hand grasped mine. "Think they're gonna kill us?" She whispered. I cleared my throat and shifted myself, ready to move, though not taking my eyes off the big group of people, staring at us intently.

"There's only one way to find out." I slowly pushed open the door and slid out, trying not to cause too much noise. I had just shut it behind me, when I heard the harsh voice.

"Put your hands in the air!" A shiver went down my spine, and I froze. As I slowly turned around, I lifted my hands in surrender. Once I had completely faced the people again, my breath caught in my throat, seeing the guy in the middle at the front pointing a pistol at me. My legs suddenly turned to jelly, and I wanted to dive over to the other side of the van and protect Danielle, but I knew the slightest movement would trigger a fatal reaction from the man. I tried not to look at the gun he had pointed at me, but I couldn't help it. I was scared to even breathe the wrong way.

"Put down your weapons!" This voice came from a girl, and my eyes darted over to where a blonde girl around our age (or maybe a little older) was also pointing a pistol at us. From both of their accents, it was obvious that these guys were native.

"I -d-don't have a w-weapon." I stammered out, trying not to show my fear, but struggling. They seemed to notice that my accent was different, and seemed a little taken aback. It was now that I realised that there were at least fifteen people behind them - normal people. Families. Survivors? This comforted me somehow - were they likely to shoot two innocent women in front of those children? "I have a pole, inside the car." I added, and they both looked at each other. The guy lowered his gun slightly, and I let out a sigh of relief, but my heart started pounding again when he advanced toward us - more particularly me.

"Who are you both?" I glanced over to Danielle - who was looking calmer than I was - and then back to the guy.

"My name's Michelle. That's my best friend Danielle." Everyone looked at Danielle, who shifted uncomfortably. "We're from Scotland." Both him and the girl nodded, finally understanding our accent.

"If you're from Scotland, what are you doing in Georgia?" The girl asked, and I took a deep breath.

"It's a long story." Danielle interjected, and all attention was on her again. She nervously looked between the two people in front of us, and the others at the camp. "We flew." Everyone exchanged confused glances and Dani swallowed, preparing to speak again. "Our street was infected, we grabbed everything and ran, broke into a warehouse in the city and stole a bunch of stuff, and then we found the airport, and decided it was better to risk it in the sky than down there with...them."

"You can fly a plane?" The girl asked unsurely, and she nodded slightly.

"My dad's a pilot, so I know the basics. I'm not a very good flyer though."

"She did get us here." I added, and gave Dani an encouraging smile, and she replied with a weak one.

"So what is your business here?" The guy asked, and I searched my brain for an answer, but there was none. After a minute, all I could do was shrug.

"We don't know. We don't know what we're doing yet. We're just looking for somewhere to sleep," I confessed, and the people began talking amongst themselves. The two looked between each other unsurely. "We have our own tents and our own food." I added, and suddenly everyone's eyes widened.

"You have...food?" A woman called out, her voice wavering. She was a pretty brunette woman - couldn't be older than thirties - and was clutching a young boy. Her face was troubled, but her eyes showed a glimmer of hope. I opened my mouth to agree, but stopped myself suddenly.

This was the end of the world. No more government, no more relying on other people, no more backup plans. We had to take our own lives into our own hands, we had to cherish what we had, and never let it go. We were living for ourselves. Was it wise to share all this food we had worked so hard to eat., with people we didn't know? I looked over to Danille, who seemed to be experiencing similar thoughts. After a couple of moments, she nodded. I couldn't disagree.

"We have lots." I stated boldly. "Enough to feed all of you." The atmosphere changed drastically. The people that were huddled amongst themselves, at first nervous and almost fearful of us newcomers were now on their feet, approaching us carefully, begging the two to let us in.

"Shane!" The brunette woman called out to the guy with the gun, who turned around to face her. They shared a look for a second, before he nodded and turned to face me, putting his gun back into his holster.

"We're willing to let you stay with us..." He went on, and nodded to the van. "...if you're willing to share your supplies." Dani and I shared a smile and a nod, and the camp burst into cheers and cries of joy. Everyone came running forward, some to inspect the back of the van, but most to thank us. We received handshakes and hugs through tears and "thank you"s, and for the first time in a long time, I felt geniunely good about myself. Though it meant there would be less for us, we were giving all these people new hope to their lives. How long had they gone eating nothing, maybe animals and god knows what else?

Dani and I helped to unload a lot of the stuff from the back, and then took responsibility for our own bags, carrying our tents over to the clear space amongst the camp between a few tents. Once we had dumped our stuff into a nearby tent (the brunette woman had offered) we made our way back to the centre of the camp. An RV seemed to be a sort of rendevouz point, which was at the head of the big clearing in the middle. There was also a small a circle of rocks which seemed to be there to create a fire at night when it got cold, or to cook. I moved further along to see washing lines, and a motorbike, just sitting there. I wondered who's it was.

"Everyone! Gather round!" The man called Shane called out, and the survivors flocked around the centrepoint, where boxes and bottles of everything were scattered around. All the food. Dani and I stood toward the back, not wanting to stand out within the group. "All this here, this is ours. This is our food." The celebratory atmosphere continued, people's faces showing no other than huge smiles, and even tears. "And we have two people to thank." Shane pointed directly at the two of us. "In case none of you heard, Michelle and Danielle travelled here from Scotland to escape the shit that we faced months ago." He stopped, and the smiles died down, the memories returning. "But they're here now, and they will be staying with us for now, as far as we know, so please make them feel welcome. We've given them a place to stay, and they've given us hope. So in celebration of that, we're going to prepare dinner tonight, and I want everyone to take part somehow. Dress in your nicest clothes, head down to the quarry and go for a wash. If you want, you can even help us prepare the food." He stopped for a few moments, gazing around at the people. "We will make it people. We've hoped and we've prayed,and we've received. So lets make the most of it!" Everyone applauded and cheered, and scattered away to prepare for the party. Shane approached us with a big smile on his face.

"Thank you so much," Dani gave him a big hug, and I did after.

"No, it's you we need to thank. You've given all these people something they've not had in months." He smiled again, before the girl from earlier put her hand on his shoulder.

"Mind if I talk to them, Shane?"

"Sure." He wandered off into the RV, and the girl hugged us both.

"I am so sorry about earlier. It's just precautions we have to take. Sometimes the living can be as dangerous as the dead." This did not make any sense to me at all, but I understood that they had been living in the end of the world for months, we had only just started. "My name's Amy."

"I'm Michelle and that's Danielle." She smiled.

"So are you looking forward to the party later on?" We both nodded, and she grinned. "I can't wait for you to meet everyone."