AN: I would love feed back. This is my first try at a zombie story and I would like to know what people think of it, thank you very much.

The house down the street is empty. At least, that is what people keep telling me. But there are lights up in the upstairs every night. I can see them from the window in the school at night.

"No one would be there. It's been abandoned for so long. And even if there had been some one there, they would have ran out of food by now, maybe died of starvation. They wouldn't be able to keep roamers out if they broke in."

But every night, there it is. Glowing faintly in the darkness through some sort of curtain. If there was only a way that I could see in... Maybe, the light is a signal, some one's waiting to be rescued. I know it.

-BEGIN PART ONE-

(Day 1: The day the girl arrived)

The auditorium was scattered with people. Maybe a half a dozen families of three or more. Maybe a few more people than that. Their numbers were dwindling over the months. They had started with enough people to fill up the entire room, but due to attacks... Gregory looked around him from the podium at the people. Most of them were younger, the oldest in the room now, was himself, and he was only 60. Most of these families had agreed to stay here on the basis that the government was supposed to evacuate places like the schools and other government buildings, and take the people there to safety. However, it had already been eight months with no sign of any human life outside of the school. Roamers walked the street, attacked the fences when they were outside exercising. It was a good thing the school had supplies to last up to ten years as a stronghold. These people had books, movies, things that could entertain them, but that didn't stop one man from taking his family and trying to just walk back to their house. Needless to say it wasn't pretty. Torn apart just a block from the school. And that was before the radio stopped. Gregory sighed and looked at these people once again before beginning to speak.

"We can't live like this very much longer, Andrew." He said in a low voice to the man standing beside him.

"I know Greg, but the feds said that they would come, and these people are trusting that their government is going to save them." Andrew replied, as he handed Gregory a folder. The man who used to be the local post master and Gregory's underclassman in high school had quickly stepped up to the task of organizing and rationing the supplies.

"We hear nothing but static when we turn on the radio. Do you realize how hard it is to continue to give them false hopes? There are children here Drew. Children who have been fostered by other families because their parents are dead. They might have family still alive in a safe zone, but we'll never know because we're going to die in this school." Gregory said, his voice almost a growl.

"That may be. But how do you suggest we make it there? We're not even sure where one would be? We've only heard rumors of locations. Nothing else. And what are you going to do when we get out there? That is, assuming you have us take one of the buses. Do you expect us to be able to live in them?" Andrew asked. He wasn't trying to be condescending. He just was... skeptical that a man, even a great man like Gregory, could be able to keep this many people alive long enough to be able to get to a safe zone.

Gregory sighed. There was nothing they could do. At least for now. Andrew cleared his throat and snapped Gregory out of his thoughts. “We need to do something though. People are going stir crazy here.”

“Well,” Andrew said pausing to think. “We could reinforce the fence... Remember? That's what we were worried about when we noticed the amount of Roamers outside. One of the kids might wander to close the fence. But we could build a barrier couldn't we?”

Gregory thought about it and a slow smile spread across his face. “Like at the zoo. We could build it just out of arm reach. We've never seen one climb so we should be fine. And we have a guard. I could teach more people how to shoot. We have more guns than people after all.”

Jonas, ex-math teacher and excellent cook, even with no ingredients, came running up, looking out of breath. “Gregory...” he panted. “There's this girl... The fence... Headphones...” he paused trying to catch his breath. “Just come with me...”

“Girl?” Gregory frowned as he followed Jonas out of the auditorium. “Is it one of the children? Were they playing too close to the fence.”

“No. no, you'll see.” Jonas said, leading him to the cafeteria.

Sitting at one of the tables was a teen aged girl looking more than worse for wear. She glanced up at Gregory as the two men approached her. Obviously Tabitha, the old school nurse had been here. The girl had a large bandage on the left side of her jaw. “I fell on the fence.” she said, with a smirk. There was blood on her teeth.

“Who are you?” Gregory asked frowning. Where did this girl come from, she wasn't from their little group. “I thought everyone was evacuated to the school, or out of town.”

“They were,” the girl said, playing with something over her ears. “My parents refused to leave the house, so we stayed there.” It was quiet for a moment. Blood was seeping through her bandage.

Gregory had no idea what to think of this girl. She came from the outside, and besides a few cuts and bruises and that big wound on her chin, she looked perfectly fine. “How did you get here?”

“There were Runners. I was out with my family getting food... We ran. They were fast. My family wasn't. I was faster.” The things one her head were headphones, Gregory could see the cord now as she played with it a little while she spoke.

“Runners?” That was a new term he hadn't heard before. Jonas looked at Gregory looking worried.

“Yes. Runners.” She looked past him now out one of the windows. “Oh! You can see the light here too...”

“Light?” Jonas said, looking out the cafeteria window. The twilight sun was all that he could see and the rest of the the town silhouetted behind it. “Where?”

“I'm tired...” She said, ignoring the question and scooting off the table she was sitting on. “Where do I sleep here? Do we sleep in the classrooms? I used to want to sleep here when I was younger.”

Gregory frowned. Well, that was all he was going to get out of her for now. “Alright, I'll have Jonas show you to a place where you can sleep.” Jonas looked him, unsure. Gregory nodded and watched the other man lead the girl out towards the classrooms, where they did indeed have sleeping quarters set up.

What was with this girl? She seemed to have taken her family's death very well. And damn.... That cut on her chin seemed to bleed a lot. She had fallen on the fence? He winced thinking about it. What a terrible way that was to have injured herself. She probably did it, climbing over the fence to get there safely.

Gregory stuck his hands in his pockets and walked outside. He glanced at the fence. There were several Roamers at a point reaching through it, almost frenzied. They got like that every few days, but if they ignored them, they stopped, and went back to their soft moaning and wandering around the perimeter like they weren't even there. Once they got the boundaries up, the children could play outside at least, with out fear that they might wander too close to fence and be grabbed by one of those things. He sighed once more, and walked back inside. Jonas was cooking spaghetti and meatballs. Gregory's favorite.

-END PART ONE-