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Blaine lives in the sheltered community of Haven. But the shelter is slowly turning into a tomb. Supplies are running low and many are going hungry. The food and water have been rationed and the sick are left to die, a decision made by the elders to save the stronger of the citizens from starvation. Blaine is sickened by this and decides to sneak to the surface in search of supplies against her family's wishes. She has spent a week in the tunnels leading to the surface. She is famished and exhausted...and just about to emerge into the unknown.

The big metal door stands at the end of the tunnel, bulky and eerie. Most people say that the door is six feet thick and made of solid iron. Hopefully this massive door isn't too much of a problem. It would be completely embarrassing if she had to go back. Not that she could. Or would, for that matter. Blaine slowly glides toward it. So filled with triumph and determination, she hardly feels like she's walking. Everything is about to become better, easier. She'll show the Elders and her family. She'll be welcomed back a hero. She's not the weak little girl everyone thinks she is anymore. All she has to do is get to the surface, raid a few places of supplies, and leave. If she's quiet, there wouldn't be any trouble. She reaches the door and takes a jagged breath as her trembling hand takes hold of the big wheel to open the door. I'm so tired, thinks Blaine. Will I even be able to open this stupid thing? She has to. Has to. She can't go back. Not now. Not after all she's gone through. Not when people, her family included, are dying. She grips the wheel with her other hand. She grunts as she turns the wheel, her muscles bulging as she does, unable to get it to move. Frustrated, she catches her breath and tries again. The metal door groans and creeks once before the wheel finally gives, spinning easily. She pulls the door open. The world is silent, all except for the warm breeze that blows through, which carries the scent of rot. This was going to be a very long night, and from the warm oranges and pinks in the sky, Blaine could tell that this night hadn't even started.

Sam scans the terrain. Nothing moves. Even the wind keeps silent as it skims over the landscape stirring up dust. Something feels so wrong. The very ground beneath her seems to vibrate, like a giant machine of some sort rumbles to life somewhere underground. Her grip tightens around the hilt of her dagger. She hated up close kills, but they were running low on ammunition and the matron would've given her an extra watch shift or cut her rations if she'd taken even one bullet from the weapons cache. She swallows back her apprehension and starts to make her way across the highway. The husks of long dead vehicles crowd the entire width, bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see. She climbs over, under, and in between them, feeling undead eyes watching her. She'd bathed before leaving, doing her best to scrub away the scent of human from her skin. But she knew better. It helped, but their sense of smell was acutely accurate no matter what you did. If they were near enough, they always caught the scent.

Just as she made it to the halfway point, the sound of grinding metal froze her in place. She glances over her shoulder. The sound came from a stand of spindly, dead trees. Her blood runs cold. She pulls her pack off her shoulders and searches for her scope. She slinks her way to the last lane of cars between her and the tiny grove of trees, dropping to her stomach and crawling underneath a pickup truck. She lifts her sunglasses, perching them on her forehead. Placing the scope over her good eye, she waits.

Blaine glances around quickly. If anything had heard the sound, it would certainly come. Everyone's starving; even the mindless monsters she had been told stories of ever since she was a small child. After finding the area clear, she pushes the door shut. She hears it click into place and looks around. From her pack, she pulls out a small scrap of paper, which was once a label for some canned good. The pencil was light, and hard to make out, especially with the wind flapping it around. She looks over the list with a curt nod. She stalks as quietly as she can manage through the loose dirt. A map might have been helpful, but the Elders would have noticed it missing. She decides to travel to the right.

Apocalypse was certainly the term. It seems like it had happened so suddenly. Cars were crashed into poles, buildings completely falling apart, some seemingly bent, debris was scattered everywhere, street signs were bent, the sign itself squeaking as it swung from the one rivet holding it in place. Glass, plastic, bits of plaster and cement, and dirt. Lots of dirt. There wasn't any grass or green as Blaine had been told there once was, anything resembling plant life was dead, withered and brown. Everything was vacant, like the whole entire human race had disappeared. Blaine could hardly believe that there used to be billions. Now it was reduced to the small fraction that was Haven.

Sam watches the figure walk across the barren field. What the heck were they thinking? They were walking right into a shuffler nest. Sam bites her lip. She doesn’t have time for this. The sky is already darkening from pink to purple and Tinker would have her head on a platter if she didn’t find the part he needs. She shoves her scope back into her pack, zips it up, and crawls out from under the truck. Her hand slips into the front pocket of her pack and she examines the sketch of the part she needs to find. Most of these cars have been picked clean of parts. This isn’t going to be easy and she needs to work fast. She opens the hood of a small red sedan and winces as the hinges squeal loudly, echoing through the valley.

“Shut-up!” She whispers harshly to the car sitting innocently in front of her.

It doesn’t take her more than a few seconds to see that this car has been completely stripped. Great. She starts to lower the hood when a deep moan makes every muscle in her body freeze involuntarily. The metal slips from her fingers and car's hood slams shut to reveal a shuffler just to her left.

She stumbles back, reaching for her dagger, but it’s not in her belt. Where is it? No! The thing lurches forward. Thank the stars it isn’t a rusher. She has a chance if she can get to the open field, she could outrun it. She whirls around only to come face to face with another. A scream escapes her lips as its rotted hand clutches at her clothing.

Blaine stops in her tracks at the sound of a scream.

A scream? Out here? She must be out of her mind. Humans didn't live up here anymore, did they? From the way the door was difficult to open, it couldn't have been someone from Haven. Still, unable to help herself, she glances around. In the distance there are three figures. Two being the dreaded Shufflers she had been told story after story about. The other was the one who let out the scream. Blaine searches for something to help with. She picks up a broken sign, which was now just a twisted pole. This would help get them off at least.

Blaine ran to aid the figure. When close enough, she screams "duck!" and swings the pole. It hits the Shuffler behind the figure (now that Blaine was close enough, it was clear the figure was a girl), knocking it to the ground, she watches the girl a moment, half debating giving her the pole.

Sam sweeps the legs out from under the shuffler and grabs the twisted pole from the girl.

"Run!" She yelps. Shufflers are crawling out from under cars. From inside cars. They. Are. Everywhere.

The girl stares at her blankly and Sam motions wildly in the direction of the tower. The girl seems confused, but starts to run in the general direction. She climbs up onto a car and comes down on the shuffler with the heavy pole, splitting its skull and spilling its rotted contents all over the other. The remaining shuffler turns on its companion, tearing it apart as the others nearby descend upon it.

She drops the pole with a heavy clang and takes off after the girl.

"Don't stop!" She screams. "Who knows what else is coming!"

She takes the lead, glancing behind her to make sure the girl is keeping up. Normally, she wouldn't give a care, but the girl had saved her life. The tower bounces around in her field of vision as she runs as fast as she can. There's no time. A few rushers had picked up on their trail and were closing in fast.

"Open the gates! We got rushers!" She yells, hoping the one assigned gatewatch is alert. The tinny taste of adrenaline fills her mouth and her side throbs from the effort of running too fast for too long. The gate, only a hundred feet away now, is still closed, and there is no sign of movement anywhere.

She cries out, her fear and anger fueling her voice. "Help! Please! Help us!"

Blaine feels a sense of dread and panic. This was supposed to be easy. This was supposed to be a go-out-go-back-in sort of deal. She was too tired and hungry to want to have to deal with the Shufflers or running or anything that required her to have to exert too much energy.

The other girl continues to call for help. This tower had to have been empty for ages. Why was she calling for help? What if she is crazy? What if the girl was turning herself. Blaine keeps her eyes on the girl, now suspicious. There was a reason humans didn't live up here. What if they began to evolve just like the the fast ones had? What if they got smart too? No... this girl seemed too human.

Blaine glances back. If the gate wasn't opened soon... everything Blaine had fought for... Jamie... little Jamie would die if Blaine didn't get the supplies. She can't die here. Not here. Not while she came this far.

"Please!" Blaine croaks. She swallows and tries again. "HEY!"

The gates squeal as they start to move back on their tracks. Sam fights back the instinct to squeeze through, knowing the exact amount of electric charge flowing through the metal. A rusher comes at her and she braces for its attack when its head explodes just feet in front of her. And the other...splunch...dead too. Her knees buckle, but she keeps herself standing somehow. She turns to the girl.

"We're safe now. Come on." She motions for the girl to follow her inside. "And don't touch the gate. It's got like 200,000 volts running through it."

The moment the gates shut safely behind them she crumples to the ground. That was way too close.

"What the hell are you playing at, Sam? Matron is going to have you hanging from a yard-arm!"

Sam scowls at Jack. "Yeah. I led them here on purpose, because there just isn't enough excitement in my life..."

Jack motions to the girl. "And her?"

"She saved me. I couldn't just leave her out there."

Jack shakes his head. "That was two bullets. A whole hell of a lot of battery power. And a new mouth to feed. I don't think excitement is the exact thing you're going to get."

Sam grunts and looks to the girl. "This is Jack. I like to call him Prince Charming behind his back. I'm sure you can see why. I didn't get your name, you know, while we were being chased down by a horde of undead wanting to feast on our brains." She narrows her eyes at Jack as she says the last part.

Blaine keeps her eyes on Jack, wiping her palms on her pants then she looks down at Sam. She had never met any girls named Sam. Nor had she imagined that there could have been any people here. Yet, here two were. From the sounds of it, there was more than these three.

"I'm... um... Blaine Thatcher," says Blaine, putting her hand out to the girl. "H-how long have you been here?" she asks, unable to help herself, glancing between Jack and Sam. "How many people are here? I didn't think anyone lived on the surface anymore. You're not some sort of super evolved Shufflers are you?"

Sam and Jack exchange a glance. "Uh...no...and what are you talking about? Surface?" She only looks at Blaine's hand, not offering her own in return. She pushes up off the ground and brushes the dust off her pants.

Jack clears his throat. "If we were shufflers, you'd be eaten already. They are pure instinct."

Sam blows out a sigh. "As riveting as I find this conversation, I need to face my fate. You should come with me and meet the others. They're at the top of the tower. I hope you like stairs. It's forty stories to the top."

Blaine lowers her hand, continuing to look between Jack and Sam. "The Surface. Where you live?" Blaine offers. She looks back to Sam. "Forty stories?" She asks incredulously. She looks up as if that would help her snuff out Sam's possible bluff. "Forty?" She looks between them again, waiting for them to laugh or do something that would help Blaine make sense of any of this. How could people be living on the Surface? And so many? The Elders always said that all that was left had escaped into the the Tunnels to create Haven. The more she did things on her own, the less sense the Elders were starting to make. Blaine lets out a defeated sigh, then nods. "To the stairs," she says with a slight laugh.

Sam smirks. "You can keep Jack here company instead...if you want."

"Um," says Blaine. "I don't think he particularly wants my company. I'll just follow you if that's all right."

Sam snorts. "Alright then. Follow me."

She lifts her middle finger for the security camera and a series of locks release. Flashing Blaine a smile, she enters the building. Sam waves to two dark figures warming their hands over a fire. Both acknowledge her and then freeze, their gazes seemingly fixed on Blaine.

She rolls her eyes. "You'd think they've never seen a girl before..."

Blaine only offers a half smile. Her small, very clean hands tighten over the straps of her pack and she pulls it up further onto her shoulders. Sam looks away. What was this girl doing out here? And where did she come from? She didn't look like she would last a day, let alone 6,000 of them. She pushes open the heavy reinforced steel door leading to the stairwell.

Holding it open for Blaine, she eyes her up and down. "So...what's your story?"

"My story?" asks Blaine. "I don't have a story." She cowers when Sam gives her a look. "W-well... I'm from this place called Haven, and that's really it... I have a mom and a dad and a little sister named Jamie."

Sam's eyebrows stitch together. "And this place...this Haven...it's underground?"

Blaine nods. "There are a connection of confusing tunnels underground... I think only the Elders really know the tunnels well enough to get in and out... Things got kind of bad, though.... I came up to get supplies..."

Sam skids to a halt and turns to face Blaine. "Are you telling me that there's a whole group of people down there?"

She stares at the girl, trying to process what she's heard. Supplies? But...

She turns away and continues up the narrow stairwell. "You aren't going to find supplies up here. The whole area has been picked clean. We sent out a scouting party two days ago. We have to move on. There's nothing left here."

Blaine laughs.

"Of course there are supplies." She grows pale. "I mean, there has to be..." Blaine slows her pace, Sam easily making a distance between them. Jamie... Jamie would die... not just Jamie, but all the sick and hungry...

"How far is the next city?" Blaine nearly leaps up the steps to be behind Sam again, looking at the back of her blonde head hopefully.