She was at school when the war started. No one had expected it to really happen, this was the sort of thing that happened in other countries. It was bombs at first. Power outages. Looting. It was dangerous outside. And then school was cancelled. And food stopped being delivered. The phones went dead.

She didn't know if she was the first person to quit talking and start walking, but she may have been one of the most famous. She had been the most places it seemed. No one knew her name and she wouldn't break her silence to tell them. But when she walked through a town, or part of a city, a hush fell. It wasn't so much what she was, but what she stood for. What was lost.

Town and cities, after the first few, were easy. The walkers were given food and shelter by both sides. It was the roads between that made her think it was a mad plan. Jesse hadn't spoken to her in more than a year, since well before the war. She didn't know if he would come with her or let her stay. She was half starved and filthy. She walked because he was the only person she wanted to be with when world ended.

Reaching his city was like an endless haze. Wake up, pack blanket, drink, check gun, walk and walk and walk. She was lucky. She was only ambushed on the roads once. It was only one man, unarmed. He ripped her shirt and held her down. He was dirtier than she was and smelled like sweat and rot and sex. She kicked him in the crotch and shot him in the head while he rolled on the ground. Other walkers vanished.

One day she found herself standing in the sun and her legs had stopped moving. She blinked and squinted at the numbers on the side of the house and started. Jesse's house number. Was this his city? It had to be. She shouldn't have stopped otherwise.

She knocked on the door and waited. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. She knocked again. The same. She turned to leave, planning to come back the next day, and when she walked past the alley a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the shadows.

Another hand covered her mouth as she was shoved against a wall. A voice whispered "I'll let you go, just please don't scream." She relaxed and smiled against his hand. He released her and she turned to face him. Jesse's hair was too long and he was dirty, but he wasn't half as filthy as she was. He had a knife in his hand and a hard look in his eyes.