"Thank god, my legs were starting to hurt like hell" Isaak said jumping off the vehicle. Madison raised an eyebrow while looking at him. He had his legs occupying her space most of the time. The blonde boy shrugged and walked behind Duncan, not wanting to be left alone with only a catapult. Victoria had said that they would split up to cover more territory and be faster. Both women went together to check a bunch of cars that had crashed and even if they probably didn't work, they could have gasoline. Joshua was checking other cars as well, but he was trying to find one that was in a good state and that everyone could fit in. Because after having a puma in the back of their current car, it sounded way safer to get a family car.

Duncan usually was the one to keep an eye on everyone in case there were any threatening creatures. This time he didn't only have to do that but also keep the new guy close while they looked for ammo. The blonde kept looking around, not wanting to be surprised by a rotten or a puma if those animals had reached down to the city.

Both boys walked close to the buildings, looking for any stores that could have weapons. "Do you really think it's a good idea to split up" Isaak asked as he walked over a corpse. He looked down at it, it was a dead woman. He jumped over the body to follow the armed boy. Duncan held his rifle up, always ready to kill whatever that could try to eat them. It was a really reassuring gesture for Isaak, he would be okay if he stayed around.

"Not at all, but it's the fastest way to get this done" The black-haired answered his previous question sighing. He believed that it was dangerous. They could be way more protected in a group of five than duos, but after all, Victoria was the one that knew what strategies were the best for each moment. Isaak only nodded and then his gaze traveled towards a closed store. His eyes caught the sparkle of something. He made his way from behind Duncan towards the shop. The black-haired was facing the other direction, but he saw something moving from the corner of his eye. When he turned around there was nothing, but Isaak wasn't there either. So much for the sticking together thing.

The blonde walked fast to the door of the place, hoping he could open it without making much noise. He pushed it gently and it moved, letting him in easily. The store had three halls and a bunch of shelves at the end of the shop. Isaak walked carefully, he didn't see anything around but he didn't want to take the risk of leaving his guard down. He minded every step as he looked for what he had seen before, the thing that made him run towards the store. He couldn't see it yet but there was a tiny space in the cashier with multiple Russian and swiss knives, he didn't waste a second before grabbing a Russian one.

Duncan kept cursing as he whispered Isaak's name. He couldn't believe that the boy ditched him, he didn't have weapons. He was also worried that maybe something took the blonde. The black-haired definitely hated babysitting. But he had gotten himself into it, not that he really regretted saving the guy but at that moment his annoyed mind would have preferred if he hadn't.

 There was no sign of the blonde but luckily there weren't signs of zombies. If a rotten had gotten Isaak he would have heard it, seen it, so the most possible thing was that the idiot ran on his own. He saw Joshua from where he was, he was far away, checking a van that had a crack on the passenger seat aide of the glass. Snd the women seemed to be too far for Isaak to join them. He looked at the shops at his right, his eyes caught two open doors. The newbie could have gone inside one of those in the time that Duncan wasn't looking at him. The first place to check, the store with fancy lettering. The place was dark and it smelled kind of bad. Duncan heard shuffling in the back of the store, he put his gun up stepping closer. He was midway through the first hall when a bottle rolled over the floor slowly, it was blood over it. Duncan's pace quickened to the end, quickly pointing to his right when he reached the end of the hall. He felt a blade against his neck before he could see who he was threatening and being threatened by.

"Isaak? Are you dumb? Why the hell did you run away? Where did you get that?" Duncan asked putting down his weapon and grabbing Isaak's wrist to put the knife away from his neck.

"First, I'm not dumb. And I got this at the door if you didn't see the box full of these. Also I got something better, tada!" Isaak raised two bottles of alcohol, vodka, and whiskey. The black-haired looked at him with wide eyes. "You run away to get alcohol?" He exclaimed but kept it as a whisper to avoid rottens hearing them and coming their way. Isaak rolled his eyes and made Duncan turn around without minding his complaints about what he had done. He opened the backpack that the taller guy carried and put both bottles inside the bag.

"Just so you know alcohol helps sanitize wound, it helps gasoline to last longer and be more effective, you can start a bigger fire quicker than just waiting for things to burn, is good to cook and you can make that kind of bombs with it. Not to mention that rottens wouldn't be able to smell our essence if we poured whiskey over ourselves" The Russian boy explained to Duncan the reasons why he wanted to grab alcohol and that definitely left him speechless. The shooter looked at Isaak surprised after all that, and the blonde shrugged. "What? I can't shoot but I know some survival tricks"

Duncan scoffed and told him that they should get out of there, the blonde agreed but not before he grabbed the whole box of knives. The black-haired didn't complain about the idea, but he did at having to carry more weight on the bag. "As you are so good at finding things you should find yourself a bag" he told him once they were out of the store.

"There's literally a sports shop over there with bags showing on the front, you blind, Duncan?" Isaak said leaning forward and to the side to look at the other's grey eyes. "My eyes are perfectly fine" Duncan answered pushing him to the side. He motioned him to stay close and not leave again. They were quick to grab a bag and fill it. Once they made it they walked together towards Joshua who was pretty much damming the car next to him. 

The man couldn't turn it on but the car had looked pretty well so Isaak asked if he could try to open the car's hood for him to check the engine. Josh told him how he had already checked in but a second look wouldn't be so bad.

"It seems okay to me" Duncan said leaning over Isaak's shoulder to see the inside of the car. Everything looked like it should, but there was a horrible smell coming out of it. "It smells like rotten but it should work despite the odor"

Isaak looked at the front of the car from a few feet away, there was blood there. He came back to the engine and smelled around, Duncan and Joshua exchanged confused looks before the guy stuck his hand in the car. He made a surprised noise and pulled something out. Right after that, a hand was thrown to Josh's face and no, it wasn't someone slapping him.

"There was a fucking hand there, I think it disconnected a wire" Isaak said with a slight shudder, he put his hand inside again to pluck everything in "Okay, all set, I think it should work now. Give it a go" Duncan sat at the driver seat and put the wires there together to start the car which made a pleasing noise.

"Huh, he is useful after all, not just a tiny guy" Joshua joked and patted Isaak's shoulder friendly. The blonde blinked at him offended making Duncan laugh at him. For a second Isaak stopped just to look at him, there was a smile on the guys' face that he wouldn't expect from someone that spent months surrounded by zombies. It was because he hadn't been alone, he had a group and it was a good one. Everyone seemed to know each other well and treat everyone as family, and Isaak saw that in just one day of being with them. It was amazing how they had been through everything together and the blonde hoped that he could stay. 

"Guys! We got two gallons of gas and some soup cans. Oh, and blankets, dirty but warm" Victoria said cheerfully as she and Mads got to the car. "We also found this baby!" Maddison said with a huge smile that was also a bit creepy. Even worse when 'the baby' was a big machete that she was carrying. "I already have my knife so, who wants it? Newbie? I think stabbing is your thing" she said towards Isaak and gave the big ass knife to him.

"Well, thank you" he said very awkwardly but he appreciated it. He was not that good at aiming and if he had to stop to collect rocks each time he'd die. With that, he could just swing and chop some rotten's head off. Sounded like a better plan for him.

They didn't waste more time, they all got in the van, it was like a commercial one, it had a front seat and then everything behind it was empty. It was very ideal for them, they could put the blankets on the back and sleep on the van with the doors closed and be safe for the whole night. They started getting the other supplies that they had in the truck to put them in their new vehicle. It took less than ten minutes, Duncan shooted a pair of rottens that came through the main street and Mads stabbed one that crawled its way from a store. Once they were ready they settled in the new car, the adults sat at the front and the rest sat at back with their supplies. Isaak heard Victoria telling Josh to drive somewhere to the east, there was a clearing and they would be away from the town.

The whole trip over the mountains, the puma issue and finding everything they needed took many hours. They had eaten very few, but it was way more than Isaak had gotten from the bunker. Breakfast was some 'dried meat-strips' with cereal bars and then at some point in the trip, they ate cookies. But with the sun settling down soon they would get a fire to cook one of the soup cans and have a more consistent meal than the rest of the day.

"First thing we do once we get to a good place is to check the perimeter, then some will get the fire while others prepare where we'll sleep, got it?" Victoria informed and everyone made a noise to show they heard. Isaak was pleased by the organization, he had always appreciated making plans ahead and right now that kind of thing could save their lives.

"After dinner, I'll check that arm" Duncan told Isaak pointing at his bandage, there was a bit of blood in some places, the cuts weren't closing fast because they had looked pretty deep. The black-haired didn't even want to know how bad would that hurt, but he could imagine it was really bad. "It's fine, it feels okay and I'm not bleeding out" Isaak told him not wanting to bother the grey-eyed with taking care of his dumb arm. He had done that to himself and he could deal with it perfectly fine. "We need to clean it, you could catch an infection and die. I didn't waste bullets on those rottens for you to die" Duncan said sternly, it was faked but Isaak didn't see it that way. The guy had been out of the rottens' reach but he came out to the streets to save his stupid ass, he didn't have to do that and even less take Isaak with him to the group.

"Isaak, I'm joking, don't get all upset. My bullets weren't wasted and I totally don't regret using them" Duncan said chuckling softly and hitting the Russian boy's shoulder a bit to cheer him up. Isaak dragged his leg up to his chest and turned slightly to face him, he gave him a tiny smile. "That's better, man"

It didn't take long to get to that clearing that Victoria mentioned. It was by sundown and the place was big, it was like a circle in the middle of nowhere with probably a hundred feet of diameter. The trees that surrounded it weren't thick and if you stood at the border of the clearing you could perfectly see what was far away. Again just a few slow rottens were seen, this time Victoria killed them. Once there weren't things trying to eat them, Madison started the fire with some help from Isaak. Josh was putting some kind of very long string with cans all over the place, when the blonde asked what was he doing they explained that if anything touched it they would hear it and get ready to defend themselves. Duncan and Vic were putting the new blankets and the old ones on the van's floor, they dropped two pillows and rolled up clothes to make more for everyone to rest their heads on.

"Shit, this tastes good" Isaak said with the second spoon of soup that he had. Everyone turned to look at him and he felt embarrassed at all the eyes on him.

"When was the last time you ate something like this? Because this tastes pretty bad, boy" Joshua asked with concern in his voice. Isaak's shoulder dropped from their tensed up position, he tried to remember when was that, how long had it been since warm soup was in his diet. "In the bunker, there wasn't anything to cook and if we had started a fire we would have choked on the smoke. So I never had warm soup there and after two months there wasn't soup to eat either"

"Living there wasn't as good as we all thought then" Duncan said and patted his shoulder. Isaak scoffed and shook his head before speaking "Maybe for rich people, but it was as big as this clearing, it was more like a big storage room with supplies"

They stayed in silence for the rest of their meal, Isaak kept looking at the sky, it was beautiful, he didn't miss the concrete ceiling of the bunker at all. He didn't move from there even when the rest started getting ready to sleep. The blonde only looked down when Duncan approached him with the aid kit. The black-haired grabbed his arm carefully and undid the bandages.

"It seems okay, we could stitch them up but if we don't it isn't that big of a deal" Isaak shook his head at the stitches idea, he didn't need those. "Okay tough guy, let's clean that" this time the blonde didn't hiss at the touch of the cloth with alcohol. He was too busy looking at the top of Duncan's head, he had zoned out and wasn't aware of much. A pat on his wrist was what made him focus again, his arm was all bandaged again and all the supplies were back in the box.

"You told me to not thank you until we had lost the rottens. So, thank you for saving my ass" Isaak blurted out, he regretted not saying it before. The grey-eyed nodded and sat next to him, mimicking the other's posture before answering.

"Still, you don't need to thank me. That's what friends do"

(Friends. I don't remember the last time someone considered themselves a friend of mine. Probably it was before the first pandemic, before moving here. In the bunker, I didn't think that I'd ever make true friends after Wanda died. And I definitely thought I'd never even see anyone again when the zombies chased me around the town. But here we are, a kid that looks like a professional shooter calls me his friend. Not gonna lie, in the apocalypse that's probably the best thing that could happen to you)