Chapter One.

It was quiet out. There were a few birds here and there, perched on the small trees and abandoned buildings. Every now and again another animal could be heard making a call, but in this huge city there were no humans.

The buildings were all run-down from years of neglect and they had run into disrepair. Plants were pushing their way up from the underused pavement and parts of the city had been flooded. Vines had grown up around the buildings and a few cars.

For such a huge city, New York City was completely devoid of human life. It had been for nearly two years.

Suddenly, the silence was cut through by the roar of an engine. A red sports car appeared, accelerating dangerously down the center of the broken road. The driver, one Dr. Robert Neville, turned sharply around a corner. In the seat next to him was his three-year-old German Shepherd, Samantha.

He had been out in this ghost town for several hours, hunting and scavenging and trying to find other survivors. It had been years since he had met the last survivor, and they were still together. A girl named Alexis Banes.

But she wasn't out with him. She never went out during the day. She had been bitten during the first outbreak by an Infected and had, in turn, also been infected with KV-Virus.

However, she was neither immune to the virus, nor did it kill her like it killed so many. There was a third option for those who contracted the virus, though, and that was to change into vicious, inhuman creatures that lived off flesh and bone.

That hadn't happened to Alexis, either.

She had been turned into something different. She was, in fact, an Infected, but she had somehow managed to retain her humanity. She did not crave the flesh of living creatures like the Infected, but she needed meat more than a normal human and she had an extreme allergic reaction to sunlight.

So she never went out during the day. But she went out at night and did all the errands Robert Neville asked of her. She was never bothered by the Infected, because for some reason they feared her.

That was a mystery even Dr. Robert Neville could not figure out.

Samantha stared at Robert with a pleading look and he glanced at her, then turned to his door and pressed the window button. Samantha's window rolled down and she stuck her head outside.

Suddenly, a huge flock of birds took flight as the red Mustang came within reach. They chirruped fearfully and scattered. Samantha and Robert both watched them fly off into the sky.

Robert swerved up onto the sidewalk as a street packed with cars came into view. He drove under a walkway covered in plastic tarp, then reappeared on the other side and swerved back onto the street.

Suddenly, Samantha became attentive. Her ears rotated forward and she leaned toward the windshield, fidgeting slightly.

Robert glanced at his dog and slowed down a little bit to try and see what the German Shepherd was seeing. "Whatchu see, whatchu see?" he whispered.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a herd of deer leaped into the road in front of his car. He turned the steering wheel sharply to one side and caused the car to spiral out of control. It stopped and Robert forced the car into reverse, backed up, then shifted back into drive and gave chase.

Samantha gave a bark of excitement as Robert followed the deer. The herd darted around him and changed directions, but he managed to chase a good chunk of the herd toward the main streets.

His window rolled down with the flick of the switch and Robert stuck the tip of his M4 rifle out the window and took aim. He was driving parallel to the deer herd now and had a good chance of shooting at least one of them.

Abruptly, the deer leaped onto the sidewalks and disappeared into the subway tunnels.

"Damn," Robert cursed and gunned the engine, pulling his rifle back into the car. He would just have to try to make it to the other side of that tunnel before the deer. Maybe then he could just run one of them over. Sure would save him the ammunition.

The deer were already emerging from the tunnel when he reached the entrance. His new Ford Shelby Mustang just wasn't fast enough. Or maybe the deer were just as fast as his car.

He turned sharply and Samantha nearly fell into the dash board, but she regained her balance in time. The car nearly missed running down the last deer to emerge.

That movement had now cut off more deer from the rest of the herd.

However, he had to stop seconds later when a police barricade came into view. He slammed on his breaks and the car swerved slightly, turning so that it was parallel to the barricades. The deer leaped agilely between the cars, disappearing from sight.

Whimpering, Samantha leaned forward then started to bark. Robert held out a hand and started to rub her chest, making shushing noises. She quieted, but continued to whine.

Robert looked around, then got out of the car. Samantha followed him out and he picked up his M4 and started to hunt the deer on foot. He tracked them, and with Sam's help managed to find one lone deer.

He eventually followed it into an open field. Well, it had been a parking lot but was now overgrown with two-foot long grasses. He and Samantha pushed through, keeping their heads low so as not to alert the deer of their presence.

Suddenly, Robert put his hand out in front of Samantha and she obediently stopped walking. Robert lifted the sniper scope to his eye and took aim at the deer, but before he could get off a shot it walked behind a set of red bleachers sitting in the middle of Time Square.

Cursing quietly to himself, Robert lowered the gun started to walk around the other side of the overpass to head the deer off. The sun had started to set and the skies were turning a strange orange color.

When they reached the overpass, Robert crept out from around the stands and behind another car. He could hear the hoof falls against the concrete walkway.

He ducked down and saw from the windows that the deer had walked out from under the overpass. It was completely unaware of the man's presence.

Slowly, Robert started to stand. The deer was grazing on a small patch of grass in the middle of the large parking lot. It was completely open to attack, and his heart started to pump as he took aim at his quarry.

There was loud snarl and a lioness leapt out of nowhere, pouncing on her unsuspecting prey. The buck squealed loudly as he and the lioness wrestled on the ground, but he soon succumbed to death.

Samantha, upon hearing the vicious cat, ran to her master's side, barking loudly as if to ward off the lion. Robert stepped away from the car he had been hiding behind and pointed the gun at the lioness, contemplating shooting her as well.

Little growls sounded off seconds later and two lion cubs appeared from behind another decrepit car. A majestic male lion was padding along behind them, giving Robert a wary look.

For a few more seconds Robert thought about shooting them all down, but then his watch started to beep.

He lowered his gun, glowering at the lion family, but kept it aimed and ready to fire in case the little pride felt that the deer would not be enough food. He lifted his arm to look at one of the watches he wore. One for each wrist.

"Let's go Sam," he said, turning off his watch alarm. The dog whimpered, but followed orders and trotted after Robert as he headed back for his car. "C'mon."

They would just have to go without meat for a little longer. Until Alexis could hunt down one of those deer, at least. She hadn't had much luck in that department either, though. The deer were getting more crafty and had learned that traveling at night was not a good idea.

He had long since become numb to the biohazard signs that adorned the plastic draping several buildings on his way home. They had just become part of the scenery after that first year.

With no one else on the roads, no cops to pull him over, and red lights that held no authority—or electricity—any more, Robert reached his house in little under twenty minutes

That was even after stopping to switch out cars. He parked his Shelby halfway to his house in the dealership where he found the car, and drove his Ford Explorer. All of his equipment was in that SUV. He only used the Mustang when he went out hunting. It still had all of the price stickers in the windshield.

When he got home, Robert got into the back of his car and pulled out a bottle of vinegar. He walked backwards up his stoop, splashing the foul-smelling liquid on the steps and landing. He glanced around, then opened his front door to let Samantha inside.

For a few seconds he glanced around the neighborhood. There were a few birds chirping, but he knew they would all quiet before the night fell. There was only ever one creature out at night.

He squirted some more vinegar on the stairs, stepped inside the house and splashed some where he'd been standing then closed the door behind him.

Robert moved about quietly, putting away all of his scavenged items and equipment. He put some old news tapes on in the dining room and start to cook some dinner. There was no meat, so the entrée was mashed potatoes. There was an array of vegetables he had grown himself, and he made two plates, one for him and one for Samantha.

Samantha jumped up and put her front paws on the counter, smelling the food. Robert had taken a jar of spaghetti sauce from a cupboard full of jars of the same brand and other jarred foods.

"There you go, just the way you like it. Disgusting," he said, setting the jar down. His counters were stuffed full of food stuffs, so there wasn't much room.

"Excuse me, excuse me," he said, taking off the apron he had been wearing and leaning over his dog to hang it up.

He picked up the two plates and walked around a group of Honda generators, the source of his house's power, then got in the fridge to grab something to drink. He set the sauce-slathered plate on the floor text to the table and his own plate next to his small bottle of apple juice.

They watched the news while they ate. It was something about snow reaching twenty inches, but Robert had seen the broadcast before. On several occasions, actually. There was nothing else to watch with no one running the stations.

"Uh-uh. Nope, nope, nope. Eat your vegetables," he said, glancing down at Samantha. "Don't just push 'em around. I'm not playing. Eat your vegetables."

Samantha ignored him and pawed at her plate, moving the different veggies away from her potatoes. They were buttered down and had marinara sauce all over them, so she didn't think of them as a veggie.

He shook his head and took a bite from his own plate. "Alright. You're gonna eat your vegetables. We'll stay down here all night," he threatened.

She didn't heed his warning, though. Robert sighed and cleaned up the dishes when he was finished eating and turned off the television, leading Samantha up the stairs into the bathroom. "Alright. You're taking a bath, then," he said, picking his dog up and putting her in the bathtub. "Sit. Stay."

Whining, Samantha did as she was told. Robert turned on the shower head hose and a generator kicked into life. He sprayed down her coat and turned the water off again while he shampooed her. He lathered the soap up good, getting her entire coat, and she quietly whimpered.

"Whatchu whining for?" Robert demanded, tilting Samantha's head up. You should've eaten your vegetables!"

She whimpered again and Robert gently took her muzzle in her hand. "Alright look, I'll make you a deal. You'll eat twice as many vegetables tomorrow, alright? Deal?" he asked, turning Sam's head when she looked away from him. "Deal?"

Samantha whimpered again and Robert turned around to click the iPod sitting behind him. Bob Marley's Three Little Birds started to play.

Robert turned back to Samantha and started to clean her again. "Feels good, don't it?" he murmured as he scratched the top of her head. She looked up at him with an expression that said "Why me?"

Smiling, Robert started to mumble along with the words to the song. He picked up the shower head hose and started to rinse Samantha's coat. She shook herself and droplets of soap and water went everywhere. "Ah! Sam!"

The alarm on Robert's watch started to go off.

He voice droned off and his smile faded to a blank expression as he stared at something very far. Samantha started to whimper and move restlessly about in the tub. She could sense something wrong and started to bark at Robert to snap him out of his trance.

But Robert couldn't hear anything. He had gone off to a different time. The sounds around him dimmed while he spaced out and he sat like that for several more seconds. He finally started to come back to reality.

Samantha was still barking at him and growling every now and again until Robert shushed her. He finished rinsing her off then turned off the water and got to his feet.

Slowly he walked over to the window, turning the alarm on his watch off. He took hold of the metal shudders on either side of the glass and took a second to look outside, then he slammed them shut and locked the shutters tight.

He traveled through the entire house, going to each window to lock them down. He paused for a few seconds at a closed bedroom door and listened for any noises, but the only sound was that of heavy breathing. Robert swallowed then continued to lock down his house, including the front door.

After a few minutes he had everything closed up. He then went about turning off his generators. The less sound coming from the house, the better.

Then the house fell into darkness.

Well looky here. I got the first chapter of part one up! This will no longer be from the point of view of Alexis, but rather from an outside source. . . AKA, third person. XD Don't worry, Alexis is still here but I figured you might as well see things from Neville's point of view, as well. Alexis will show up, you just won't see as much of her. Why? Because we already got to see enough of what Alexis' life was like. Now we need to see what Neville's like is life and if it's changed at all with Alexis there. Unlike part one, I don't have this part finished. I've got like eight chapters done, and I don't know how many more there will be. I'll try to keep updating, promise.