the morning after an unsuccessful forage, four men lay starved in their mats, outside the undead groaning. all of the groups eyes were open while they stared up to the chipped ceiling. one man sits up, brushing his long hair behind his ear followed by a sigh, "i'm going out," he says. the man's feet brush against the wooden floor as he walks down the steps of the torn farm house, almost losing his balance. the man meets himself to the front porch, breathing in the spores that surround him. he collapses to the ground taking in deeper breaths. he begins humming his favorite song to himself. he then is met with an abrupt knock on wood from behind him, his friend dempsey. his friend doesn't say anything but instead sits next to him. "are you not tired?" the man asks dempsey. his friend shifts his head over to the man with a slight grin, "no," he answers. the man waits for his friend to give more input but he doesn't. "i'm sorry if i woke you," the man speaks again. dempsey pushes back his tangled brown hair raising a quick eyebrow, "you didn't tak." tak looks away embarrassed and begins rubbing his hands together. "you seemed distant today," dempsey uttered. tak grasped his hands together finally looking back at dempsey, "oh sorry i didn't want to get in the way today with the hunt," he says with nervous laughter. dempsey stares as tak looked away and shifted further from him. dempsey felt himself frown, "i meant with me." tak frowned too while he said "oh" under his breath. dempsey began bouncing his foot as his breath shuddered, when he opened his mouth to speak he caught himself. "i'm sorry you feel uncomfortable around me." dempsey spoke nervously while began picking himself up off the floor, "i hope that's enough." dempsey soon went back inside the farm house with blurred vision as he stumbled back up the stairs. his stomach met a painful ache. his scarred face soon met his stiff pillow, pulling his torn blanket close to his mouth. as tak sat outside, he felt ashamed of letting himself become so far from his friend. he covered his mouth holding his breath. he then stood up and lead himself into the crisp lawn surrounding the farm, the sky was a neutral shade of brown and the moans of the undead grew more aggressive. tak crossed his arms across his naked chest when he started to shiver. he stayed awake until the night sky turned dark. it never did.
"where is takeo?" richtofen asked early morning as he rapped himself with his belt. nikolai looked up answering, "i haven't seen him." both nik and richtofen looked over to dempsey after that response. dempsey shrugged saying "i don't know." once dempsey said it, he looked away meeting that same feeling in his stomach from last night. "i'll look for him," nik said but dempsey turned back quickly saying, "no i will." nik squinted his eyes towards dempsey but soon brushed it off letting him go off. dempsey slipped on his combat boots and his rugged jacket followed by marching outside. "tak?" he called out on the front porch. his boots soon scraped the burnt grass and found himself walking through the barn. he calls out takeo's name again but there's still no answer. he finds himself up the stairs of the barn, where he sees his friends figure in the corner. he bends over next to him, shaking him gently. tak groans as his eyes meet with dempsey's. "here." dempsey says, holding out his hand to him. "i'm alright." tak declines propping his head off the floor. dempsey looks away. "i didn't realize i was out here all night." tak speaks. "yeah," dempsey laughs nervously, standing again. "what's going on?" tak asks him, sitting with his knees bent. "well, richtofen says he found a bus." "a bus?" tak repeats. "yeah, stupid right? i mean what engine have you heard of lately that works?" "it doesn't seem so unlikely." tak says. dempsey clears his throat, "no yeah, you're right of course." he looks away again. takeo stands himself up to dempsey, "i guess we should join them," he suggests. dempsey avoids eye contact but shakes his head; following behind his friend.
"so you've decided to join us." richtofen spoke as dempsey and takeo made their entrance. "i couldn't sleep." takeo says, sitting down on a broken chair. "i see, well i've found a bus and i figured that would be our best source of transportation; unless we all want to continue walking for days?" richtofen pauses, "none of us want that." dempsey speaks up, "how do you know how far it will get us?" richtofen laughs, "i am not sure dempsey, but i'm willing to guess that it'll get us far enough." "and which one of us is driving? is it you?" nikolai asks richtofen. he smirks announcing, "none of us! this bus is operated by a machine." "sorry?" dempsey remarks, "a machine?" "who knows? we should get going though, i think he can be a bit impatient." richtofen laughs to himself. dempsey scoffs following richtofen and the others out.
