Dan finally began to come round after what felt like a lifetime of darkness. He had a splitting headache and the bright lights that were turned on above him did not help with the pain at all. But the thing is, Dan didn't recall having LED lights in his treehouse.

As he frowned at the ceiling, his attention was brought to the comfortable, soft mattress he was laying on. Not only did he not sleep on a mattress, but usually he would be pushed out onto the floor.

Dan was not in his treehouse, he thought for a moment and remembered the events that had happened in his family home. How he was shot and almost died. He thought he was heading into the afterlife and passing on peacefully. But he was stuck here, in this damaged and deranged world.

Frantically, he sat up. For a moment his mind went blank of all the physical injury that his body had sustained. So as he moved his upper body ungracefully, he felt the agonising electric currents rush down to his hip, sending him back down again.

This time he landed on the bed on his side, clutching it tightly, trying to rid it of any pain. But that wasn't working and it seems that his hissing and cries were not helping soothe it either. Dan's eyes shut tightly waiting for it to pass, but they were soon pulled open again by a voice.

"Be careful on that side of yours." A male voice greeted him. He was sat to the side of Dan's bed, a small wooden stool underneath him. It was obviously too small for his tall body, because his long legs were pulled up to his chest. His black raven hair was contrasting nicely with his crystal blue eyes. His face, unlike the last strangers he had run into, was kind looking. "You're lucky you're alive!"

"What happened?" Dan asked, propping himself up on his elbow slightly, holding his head.

"We found you bleeding out on the floor, bullet straight in your side. Looked painful, mind you. Chief found you there after taking out those bandits. Thought you might need some medical attention." The man explained, but Dan shot him a confused look, "How rude of me. I'm Jackson, Jackson Harper, I'm second in charge of this place."

Dan looked around the room slowly. This place? It wasn't much to look at, there were two comfortable looking beds to the right of Dan, which would come in handy for survival. On a sterile looking counter was a pile of medical supplies, a small amount of food and some bottles of water. It seemed to Dan that wherever he was, had the supplies to keep themselves alive for a while. Not to mention that back at his home, they were very protective.

"If you're second in charge here. Who’s first?" Dan asked, curiously.

If there were more people here, there had to be more to this small room. Dan presumed this was part of a building. But he didn't expect it to be too big, if there were only two people here, then a big building would mean a lot of protecting duties.

"That would be me." A voice called from the door, making Dan's head pull round.

He recognised that voice, it was the same one from the house. In the doorway stood a woman, her mouth was pressed into a firm line, showing the seriousness of her character. Looking at her closely, she was too clean to be part of an apocalypse, her lengthy blonde hair was down, soft and silky looking.

"Can he walk?" She turned and looked at Jackson, and Jackson looked back at Dan expectantly. So Dan slowly sat his body up from the bed, his side not hurting as much because of his slowly paced movements. He managed to swing his legs over the edge of the bed and put them on the floor. Steadily, he got to his feet and kept a good balance, "Great, now follow me."

Dan didn't hesitate, still gripping his side he hobbled out of the room and through the door that the woman had just disappeared around. Dan spotted her halfway down the hallway, already walking away from him. He had to limp quickly to catch up.

"My name is Sapphire Clark. My friends call me Saffy. But you will call me, Chief!" She said, her voice as soft as silk, "I am the founder of this place and do my best to run it."

"I'm Daniel Robbins," Dan replied to her, "But, what exactly is this place?"

Sapphire didn't reply for a moment but continued down the corridor towards a huge pair of doors. Dan was Six foot, Three Inches, and even these doors towered over him. Sapphire placed her hands on the doors to open them, but stopped to speak first.

"This, Daniel Robbins, is my community." She said before pushing open the doors.

Dan's jaw dropped as she revealed what was behind it. This place was so much bigger than he had imagined. He was exposed to a large room, the second floor was open planned. There were lots of people walking across the large space, coming in and out of the many rooms that were open. The whole building looked as though it used to be a shopping mall. All the signs had been taken down, however the contents of the shops were still accessible.

People holding massive guns wondered round, talking to each other, happily. Some walked around carrying crates of food, stocking them up into the shops. The whole thing was busy with workers and what looked like really good friends.

"You own this?" Dan asked, gobsmacked.

"Own it and run it." Sapphire stopped, and turned on her heels and faced Dan, "I found this place and protected it, just hours into the start of this war. I'll tell you it wasn't easy, I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this home. So you will respect it. Everyone that is in my community now, I have saved their life in some way."

Dan was nodding along as he stared around at everyone. Each person was wearing a similar looking belt. One side holding a knife, the other holding a radio. Dan guessed this was so they could report back to one another quickly and easily.

"We have one rule here, Dan. Always pull your weight. We don't like slackers." She informed him, her voice strict sounding, "That is if you want to stay of course. We won't force you to. But if you do stay, you will participate in jobs to help around the facility. This complex offers you running water, electricity and other facilities."

"Of course I want to stay." Dan said, looking around in amazement once more.

Sapphire pulled her radio out of her belt and mumbled something inaudible into it. Within a few seconds a tall man had come out of one of the closer shops, shoving his radio back into his belt. He greeted Sapphire as an old friend, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Carlton, you know Dan." Sapphire smiled at the man, and then turned back to Dan, “Carlton is our doctor here, he took the bullet out and patched you up. Jackson and I have been keeping watch on you while Carlton wasn't there."

"It's nice to see you're awake Dan!" Carlton said warmly, his green eyes smiling at him.

"Take Dan to the wash rooms. Get him some soap for his hair and body." Sapphire nodded towards the Doctor, "Also I'm sure he will be glad to see a razor and a working toilet."

"Yes, Chief!" Carlton mockingly saluted before placing a hand on Dan's back, "Let's go, buddy!"

"Oh and Dan." Sapphire called after him, "You're healthy enough to start working. Prepare yourself for an early start tomorrow."

Before Dan could question what was going on. Carlton had pulled him out of the manager's sight.