Shawn woke up, groaning sleepily as he did so, his bed was a rickety old one, but there weren't any bedbugs, fleas, or termites, so it was a great bed in his opinion.
He heard the sound of growling outside and smelled the scent of rotting flesh.
He immediately got up and grabbed his hammer and gun, the hammer being a warhammer he'd gotten from a real blacksmith at a fair, before the apocalypse. The gun was an average Glock found in the average gun store, he didn't know what it was. The hammer, however, hand a long haft, with a pretty heavy, though small head with a pike, a speartip, and a hammerhead that had bladelike edges. It was a good walking stick, if nothing else.
The gun was for last options, as it was so loud that it attracted the creatures, and the muzzle flash was bright enough to get a few moving as well.

      He got to the fire escape, nobody was there, that was good, it meant that he could quickly move to the train station to find anyone who had traveled here through the train tracks, the city hadn't ever had a subway system, it was too small.

      While walking, he stopped by a grave, made of small, rounded stones: his dog had died trying to protect his master, and paid the price.

"I am going to kill every single one of these god damn things..." he had said, quietly, when he laid his dog to rest, and he had been doing just that as he scavenged, killing every one of the creatures that appeared near him with expert precision, as the hammer was easy to use and hard to miss with.

      He walked to the station only to find a train, as usual, but it was no longer covered with green, instead its black-and-red exterior was cleaned of vegetation, while smoke billowed from the smokestack over the engine. There were a couple of people around it, clearly working together to fix it. Shawn then heard someone yell to the others, meaning there were at least three, and he continued to walk.

"You! Who are you!" The clear leader shouted. He was a broad, tall guy, but by no means was he unintelligent if the fact he was holding a piston in his hands was any form of indication, he looked like a mechanic, is what I mean.

"I mean no harm," Shawn said calmly, hands up in a gesture of surrender.

     A slight, small figure ran up to the big mechanic, hiding behind him.

       The last of this group was a slender girl, with long, dark, flowing locks and ripped clothes like most survivors, her chocolate skin was marked by some lighter scars, but she looked rather attractive to Shawn, who was  thin, broad figure, though with muscle, and a rather attractive face, with a sharp chin, and in general sharp features, making him look like a model.

      Both the mechanic and girl seemed to be a similar age to Shawn, considering their height and statures.

"I didn't think people would be working on this thing," he said, impressed.

"It wasn't too bad, I'm changing the last piston now," the mechanic said.

     The dark-skinned woman looked at him, a strange look to her.

"Since we're calling each other friends, can I get closer to you guys?" Shawn asked, starting to sidle over.

"Let's introduce each other, I'm James," the mechanic said.

The girl sighed, clearly being more on-guard, "Alyss, my name's Alyss, and the scruffy kid here..."

      She gave the kid a look, and he sighed, peeking out from behind the older pair.

"I- I'm Michael..."

      Shawn noticed that Michael had a few bite and scratch marks on his arms and face, one looking somewhat fresh.
The rest looked at him meaningfully, and he remembered that he was supposed to say something.

"Right, sorry, I'm Shawn," he said, bowing a little.

     They heard the sound of zomboys, and James quickly dived under the train and started banging around under it, while Alyss and Michael jump into the train, Shawn got ready to fight the horde, but felt the strong hand of James pull him into the front engine, and close him in.

"We ain't leaving you behind, pal, best to stick together and stick it to the undead," the large male said, grinning.

     Shawn opens the back door, and then walked to the engine balcony, stepping to the next cart's balcony and entering.

      Michael was trying to make a paper crane, though the bumps in the tracks made it difficult to fold it well.

      Shawn sat next to Alyss, who was braiding her dark hair.

"So... how long have you been in this group?" He asked, trying to break the ice.

She looked at him, "four years."

      That was a year before the apocalypse, as it had been three years since the whole thing began.

"And Michael?"

"Let's just say we have a prodigy, a jock who's a mechanic, and the head of a school club. Also you," she said, still braiding those long, beautiful locks.

      Shawn moved to the corner, by the window. He was watching her as she kept on making those long braids, finishing soon after the small conversation began. Her dark-chocolate-colored hair shined beautifully, and when she turned to him, her fair, rounded face, though marked with some scars, was still beautiful, with her soft skin being a beautiful brown, those eyes were a pure green, and her lips-

      The train jolted him out of his thoughts, his appreciation for her stopping as James entered the car, grinning.

"We got enough fuel for a month, and there's farm plots up top, too. This train was made for our purposes, literally," the large guy said, noticing how Shawn was enamored with Alyss.

And they started to chat.