The bright rays of the sun struck Caden's face when he woke up. He was forced to shut his eyes and let out a soft groan. His home was always shielded by curtains; by the looks of it, Renee's rooms had no curtains.

"She's taking this nature thing too far" He mumbled to himself and went to the bathroom. After two days, being in a real house made him remember his previous routines. It also reminded him of one more thing, he hadn't brushed or showered for days, which meant he was probably stinking. 

He immediately felt uneasy and locked the door of the bathroom. 

He got out, wearing one of Renee's hoodies feeling fresh and followed the scent of eggs to the kitchen.

"Wouldn't your cooking attract attention?" He asked.

"Good morning to you too," Renee said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm being serious, we could just eat plain bread or something" He continued.

"I thought of that too, those creatures did seem to have a good sense of smell," Renee said "But, if we relocate, I'm not sure if we'll have any gas there which means we'll have to save plain bread for later"

Caden couldn't argue with that, so he just nodded his head. 

"Here you go," She said, cheerfully handing him his plate. 

"Thanks," He said and started eating as Renee turned off the stove. They were in silence until Renee spoke up. 

"We should go to my barn after this"

"Why would we do that?" Caden asked.

"We need better weapons" She replied "Sure, your gun is useful. But it's noisy, I have some sharp items in there that are more useful than a baseball bat" 

"True, we'll need it if you ever stick a knife into one of them and just leave it there," Caden said mockingly. 

"Sure, I'll pluck knives out of their hearts even if there's a horde behind us" She replied, cheekily.

Caden laughed, as Renee motioned for him to follow her. She unlocked the door as Caden grabbed a knife and followed her to the barn.

"This isn't really 'my' barn" She started "But I don't think anyone else is coming here"

"Whose barn is it?" He questioned. 

"Everyone who lives here," She said pointing towards the other houses "Built these together and stored their stuff" 

"Is anything in there even yours?" He asked amused.

"Not really, but as I said, I think everyone already fled," She said as she opened the doors to the barn and reached her hands out to turn on the lights. 

She felt her hands come in contact with something muddy, and she had a good guess as to what it was. She immediately jerked back, which alerted Caden that something was wrong. 

He put his hand around Renee's waist and pulled her back and then blindly swung his bat around and after a few seconds, they heard the bat hit something along with a low growl. 

Renee leapt to the lights and turned them on, and they saw the creature on the floor. It wasn't dead, but in no position to fight either. Still, she didn't want to risk getting bitten so she took a step back and signalled for Caden to kill it. 

Seconds later, she felt blood trickle under the sole of her feet. It was supposed to be a terrifying moment, a corpse, blood, and murder weapon. 

But it felt so normal. 

»»————-　☠　————-««

"We all die, the goal isn't to live forever but to create something that will"

That was the military's way of preparing soldiers for death every day. 

"We're not exactly 'creating' anything" Janelle, another soldier said coming out of the shower. Gabriella scoffed and put the card aside.

"I'm gonna check up on the vans," She said and left. She tried to keep herself occupied with work, to forget Caden. She didn't have to do much, her job was demanding on its own. But with every black-haired man that was being rescued, she couldn't help imagining if it was Caden. How it would put her mind at ease, to see him alive and go for her next mission knowing he was safe. 

But alas, it seemed like a wish that would not be fulfilled. 

She clapped her hands, which was a signal for her team that everything was as planned and they could go. 

As usual, they got in and the van began moving. The only thing that changed in the last two days was the safe house they stayed in. 

"Why are we headed for the woods?" Janelle asked, "Shouldn't we be headed for some of the neighbourhoods?" 

Gabriella shrugged and gave a look that said "beats me". 

"There are other vans which will hit those" Arthur replied. That was pretty much the only conversation that took place. Gabriella couldn't understand if it was too awkward to speak in front of Arthur, or if they were miserable worrying about their family. 

She looked out the window, hoping to see Caden just walking by. All she needed was a glimpse, and she'd recognize him. 

The van stopped after about 45 minutes, which let everyone know that they had arrived. 

"Do we need to climb the entire way up?" Gabriella asked, worried about them all not having enough energy to fight the undead. 

"Unfortunately, yes" Arthur replied. "This campsite has many permanent residents, going without vehicles will help us find more of them"

That took Gabriella by surprise. She expected him to either not reply, or end it with a one-worded 'yes'. To get a full explanation from him, was uncalled for but she appreciated it nonetheless. 

No one complained about the hike, they were trained to do much worse. Surprisingly, they hadn't spotted any of the undead yet, or any living humans which made them doubt any population here at all. 

Arthur was back to being stoic and no one questioned it, after all, Arthur had never led them to the wrong place before.

The shift of scenery was good, instead of a gunshot-filled rescue, Gabriella found some relaxation walking in the quiet and she secretly hoped it wouldn't end. But immediately, scratched that thought out for that would mean a failed mission. 

»»————-　☠　————-««

"You okay?" Caden asked as they walked out of the barn, holding an axe and a spear. 

"Why wouldn't I be?" She replied. 

"Just- after witnessing all that.." He trailed off not knowing how to finish. 

"It's honestly nothing. If we didn't kill it, it would've killed us" Renee said. He nodded as he opened the door. 

"Hey, wait!" She called out to him before he could go in. 

"What's wrong?" He asked trying to follow her gaze. 

"Look over there," She said pointing to a van. 

"You wanna steal a van?" He asked.

"No, idiot, look at the logo on it," She said. Caden squinted his eyes, but couldn't make it out. 

"Is that Starbucks?" He asked. She looked at him in utter confusion and realized she'd have to spell it out for him.

"It's the military logo," She said matter-of-factly. 

"Ok, I think I see the resemblance," He said, taking a closer look.

"We have to go there!" She exclaimed. "They will protect us" 

"Are you sure?" He asked, unconvinced. Renee was too excited to argue with him about this, so she went for the easiest method that was sure to work. 

"If we go, we could ask about your sister's whereabouts," She said. That was enough to convince him. 

"Ok, you're right," He said. 

"I'll take some of our essential supplies, it shouldn't be as though we're a liability," Renee said and went inside the house. Luckily, they hadn't touched the bags they got and there was no assembling to be done. 

"Let's go," He said. They were not willing to lose this opportunity, even if Caden didn't get to see Gabriella he'd still be safe.

 And at that moment, it's all that mattered.