*Play Song*

Everything was just a blur, my brain unable to comprehend what was happening, and I wasn't alone in this feeling.

Everyone else was cemented in their stead, their expressions uncanny to the cliche jaw-dropped-to-the-floor.

The masked man scrutinizes the frozen, idiotic statue that was me, his bandanna stretching across his sharp, tanned cheekbones.

The Red Robin hood holds out a hand for me, intending for me to take it.

To my own surprise, I do it without hesitation.

I thank him almost silently, not even sure if he heard me, as I look around.

That was a mistake.

The surrounding ground was filthy with a massacre of rotting flesh and dismembered bodies, with just the girls standing around nervously.

Who was this guy?

As I stood next to the stranger, I noted our significant height difference. He was like a skyscraper to me, a doghouse in comparison.

His gaze doesn't leave me; he just stands there, our hands still lingering on the other. The calluses on his hands sending a shiver down my spine.

Then, as if catching himself, he abruptly lets my hand go and starts walking away, as if he didn't just save our lives and single handily kill a whole hoard of walkers.

"Hey!" I call out hoarsely.

He stops, angling himself halfway around, as if he was just giving me half his attention. The wind flaps his jacket and the excess of his tied bandanna.

Does he have somewhere better to be in a zombie apocalypse?

With no better words in my head, I ask. "What was that?" 

His bandana shifts, as if he lifted his eyebrows. "I'd call it saving your life. Most people would say thank you."

While he's got a point, I couldn't care much for his tone. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

He huffs a surprised laugh, shaking his head as he turns back around.

But I didn't want him to go yet. I could pass it off as being intrigued by the only other survivor we've met, but I knew it was something else. And I could care less in that moment. "Why did you save us?"

He pauses, turning around to face me fully now. He shrugs his massive shoulders. "Attention," He gestures to the deadly scene around them. "Saving damsels in distress...everybody loves a hero." His lips twitch, as if the action was now unfamiliar.

And despite the humor, something about it made my heart crack a little.

He finally regards the other ladies of the group. "Where you ladies heading?"

Lucinda answers. "PASA space station." She seems to hesitate a moment before saying. "We're hoping to take a ship to Elysium."

I mean, he did just save our lives. And maybe he'd know more about Elysium than the limited knowledge we collectedly had.

A troubled look works it's way onto the strangers half-covered face. "You're serious?"

"Yes?" Lucinda says, with not as much confidence as before.

"Well, I am too." The stranger's voice lowers, laced with intensity. "And believe me when I tell you, you don't want to go there."

Confusion weaves itself through the girls as growls sound off in the distance, all of us tensing up.

"Follow me," The mystery man says. "We'll talk somewhere safe."

Have a nice day my crystals!