The Infected [A Zombie Story] {COMPLETE}

2. Treading Through Wastlands

The continuous rain hadn't yet stopped, as the outside weather became chilly . Inside the train, though, was freezing. There was no real way of keeping us all warm, other than huddling together. We were all complete strangers though, so doing that was more awkward than comforting. I kept near Gabe mostly, my hoodie keeping me warm the most.

I had just came in from a long time outside. Andy and Jason started working on a small roof connecting the train and the train station together, we also made some makeshift walls around the station. They needed a bit of help with it, so I volunteered. Walking in, I started to look around at every person doing their thing. Pepper and Saddie had been bonding over making a little paper calendar to keep ourselves up to date. They circled the 27th day of November under the 2018. It seriously had already been a month since our world turned to the dark side? Those roamers, as we now called them, had already been eating people for a month and 27 days?

I looked over to Gabe, sitting over at the table adjacent to Saddie and Pepper's. He was quiet a lot, he seemed to be always thinking. I think about a lot of stuff too, like how did he meet Saddie and Andy? For a while, I guessed that they had just been friends for a long time, but I'm not so sure anymore. I also wondered about how trust worthy these people were. Pepper seemed harmless of course, but it seemed as if Jason could lash out at any second. About Brian, I barely knew much about him. We first spoke a few days after moving in.

Speaking of Brian, I hadn't really payed attention to most of what he looks like. I figured my eyes onto him at the back of the train. I know for a fact that Pepper and Saddie had been able to get him to talk, so I was thinking of consulting them. "What're you staring at?" A voice asked in a whisper. I escaped my thought and realized that I'd been staring at the poor guy for a minute or two.

"Sorry, I was just... in deep thought." I replied. I kept staring though, for some odd reason. He kinda scooted over to another side and took his legs off of the set. I guess I had nothing else to do, so why not bond with someone other than Gabe. He had a guitar in his hands, kind of picking at it. I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by the door shaking. Gabe stood up and opened the door, letting Jason in.

"Damn thing always gets stuck. Anyways guys, we're going low on food. We're going to need to go out and find something." Jason explained. It got a little quiet, I guess everyone was thinking the same thing. Thinking the thought that kept our mouths shut and our minds rushing for an answer. Who would go out?

"How are we gonna decide who goes?" Brian asked.

"We're picking by the strongest members of the group, so Kate, your coming with Andy and I." Jason said. I slowly stood up and walked outside. I'm surprised they chose me, I feel like I'm kinda useless. I haven't been making the big choices recently. The freezing cold wind flew past me, throwing my hair around. I jumped over the walls, landing into fallen leaves. Andy and Jason quickly following.

We started along a thin path. "I'm pretty sure this leads to the city, but I might be wrong." Jason explained. We treaded through a large forest, opposite the way Andy and I came in. The sunlight shone through the leaves and branches, hitting the ground and melting some of the already forming snow. It always got cold very early in Oregon.

"So, what were you doing before the world became like this?" I asked Jason.
"I just got out of college, so I never had the chance to live an adult life. I thought life would be better if I worked hard, and ignored fun. It was a mistake." Jason sighed. Suddenly, a gunshot rang throughout the forest. Soon followed by another. We rushed in the direction immediately.

A large yellow crane appeared in the horizon. We had reached a small construction sight near the coast. The water was dark, a sort of navy blue. We went through the only entrance, which was a small building that had barbed wire fences connect to each side of it, wrapping around the entire site. We started to explore, quietly. Jason held his pistol close. Little old me had no weapon.