Atlanta

It was the strangest feeling, sitting around a campfire with a big bunch of strangers, eating cookies, cheeseburgers, sausage rolls and sandwiches, drinking fizzy juice, knowing that all around us, the world was ending. You would never have guessed that some of these people had lost everything in their lives, as they happily chomped on their food and chatted about the silliest things. Even Dani seemed reasonably happy, chatting away to Shane. I took another gulp of lemonade as I heard Amy address me.

"So Michelle, tell us a bit about yourself!" I looked up and noticed almost everyone had their attention on me, so I took a deep breath and sighed.

"Well, uh, I guess i'm just an average Scottish girl." They chuckled along and I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. "My name's Michelle Reid. I'm 19 years old, 20 in four months. I dropped out of high school, started working in a little local music shop. My parents divorced when I was 16, my mum moved to France, I lived with my dad until he died two years ago. Then I moved in with Dani-" I gestured toward her with a smile, "- and, well...here I am." The others nodded in understanding, when the attention moved to Dani.

"What about you Danielle?" She twiddled with her fingers and nodded.

"My name's Danielle Wilson, i'm 23. My mum and dad split when I was seven, but I don't have any hard feelings toward either of them. My dad was a pilot in the British Army, and he taught me the basics of flying a plane, as you already know. He wasn't around much, so I spent most of my time with my mum. She was a childminder. And strangely enough, her biggest fear was...well, a zombie apocalypse." She stopped there, and the survivors shared glances.

"When was the last time you saw your mom?" One of the guys asked. He wore a cap, and had a scruffy looking beard. Stereotypical lorry driver by looks, I went along with.

"Two days ago. She went to visit a friend in Ireland." She stopped again, and then smiled slightly. "She always told us that if it did come to the end of the world, she was going to Alaska." She looked around at everyone, her face bright from reminiscing about her mother. "She had this theory that the zombies wouldn't be able to survive the cold temperatures, since their bodily functions aren't the same as ours. That's actually where we were headed..." She ended it sadly, and I vividly remembered the journey we took.

"So what happened?" The brunette's son asked, and I scoffed lightly.

"I saw it on my way home from work. A guy I...didn't get on too well with. It ripped a chunk out of his shoulder, and I made a run for it. Got to our flat, explained to Dani that we had to get out as fast as we could. We packed everything we could, and just, left. We ran straight into the city - most of it seemed undisturbed, but there were some of them wandering around. It was even more terrifying, watching people react to seeing them for the first time; worse, seeing those who didn't react fast enough. We found a massive warehouse that sells big numbers of things for cheaper, nicked a couple of duffel bags and suitcases, and stuffed everything into it."

"Didn't people stop you? You know, if not everyone knew about the walkers?" The woman with the short hair interjected, and I looked at her, puzzled for a moment, until I realised what she was talking about.

"Walkers, yeah that makes a little more sense, doesn't it? When we first started taking things, we caused a big commotion, a lot of staff and security, but before we had time to explain, a herd of about five of them...walkers....burst through the doors and, well, people forgot about us." I looked around to see if that was a decent enough answer. "Our first thought was that no matter what direction we went, there would always be more, so we took the other option." Shane nodded, understanding.

"Up."

"That's right. We continued to run through the streets, which seemed to be unaffected as of then. It was in the early hours of the morning, so there weren't many people around, but those that were definitely knew something was up. I hope maybe we gave them some kind of warning." I sighed reminiscintly, before continuing. "We got to the airport via the runway, and found the smallest plane we could. We loaded everything on, and well...there."

"But how come you landed here? Weren't you headed for Alaska?" The boy asked again. It was Danielle's turn this time.

"Just as we reached the east coast, our fuel dropped, and we had to land as soon as possible. By the direction we were going - thanks to my poor sense of direction - we were headed straight for Atlanta, so we ended up landing there. Not as smooth as we'd hoped, but at least we're alive." We shared a smile, and the others seemed to warm up to us a little.

"So what about all of you? I only know two of your names," I chuckled slightly, and they went around in a circle, introducing themselves.

"Well you know me, i'm Amy," Amy said politely, and Shane merely nodded.

"I'm Carol. This is my daughter Sophia." The little blonde girl sitting next to her smiled shyly. "My, um...husband Ed is in his tent." She gave me a weak smile at the end, so I moved onto the next family.

"My name is Miranada and these are my children, Eliza and Louis. I nodded politely to them, secretly wondering where the children's father was. I couldn't bear to imagine that they had already lost him.

"I'm Jim." The lorry driver-looking guy introduced himself, and I smiled at him. The older looking man next to him introduced himself.

"I'm Dale. Anything you need, you don't hesitate to ask." I smiled politely in return. Next was the brunette woman and her son.

"I'm Lori, and this is Carl." She gave me a warm smile, which instantly made me feel comfortable around her. Since everyone had now introduced themselves, Shane raised his cup into the air.

"To Michelle and Danielle!"

"Cheers!"