He was surrounded by dark, he screamed at the top of his lungs, but there was no one. Isaak kept moving from side to side but nothing ever changed. He stopped when he heard growling someone behind him, he turned around but the sound was still behind him somehow. Then he felt it, a bite on his shoulder. It didn't feel like a bite, actually, it was more like a hand grasping strongly.

"Come on man, wake up" a voice said making him jump up. Instead of standing, he had been laying down and the jump made him bump against something that definitely made an "ow" noise. His eyes opened and, even if he was trying to get used to the light, he could see the frame of Duncan by his side. He was asleep all along, it was just a nightmare.

"You were tossing around, are you ok?" Duncan asked rubbing his own forehead. That was the bump, he moved so fast he had hit the other guy with his head. "Apart from the headache that I'm gonna get, yeh, I'm fine" Isaak answered pulling the blankets away from his body. He felt dizzy as he stood up too fast, but he was able to get himself to be steady and not fall over. Duncan shot him a skeptical look, Isaak moved his hand lazily.

"I get dizzy when I stand up quickly, I'm anemic" he explained and the others chuckled relieved. The blonde shrugged and looked around them, the van was empty and the doors were open. "Well, that must suck in our situation, and it doesn't help all the blood you lost" Duncan said half-joking, he didn't want to make it serious but it could be a risk if Isaak lost more blood through the wounds. The Russian boy didn't say anything, he just jumped off the car and looked around. The black-haired explained to him that Madison and Josh had gone to a small affluent of the river that was about ten minutes away to get more water. Victoria was wandering around to keep rottens from coming closer.

"Morning, Isaak" Victoria exclaimed once she came back. Apparently, there weren't lots of rottens around, she had found some smashed bodies and you could bet that some bear had done it to defend itself. If there were only bears around they would be okay, those animals would only attack them if they were a threat.

"Good morning, Victoria. What are the plans for today?" Isaak asked curiously. They had gotten enough supplies for at least a few weeks in the past two days so there wasn't really a need to look for another town to hit. "Mads and Josh think that the zone around the affluent is good to camp at. There are fishes that we could try to catch and they would be a great meal. We could make a perimeter around the van and if everything goes well, we can stay here for a few days before hitting east again" Victoria explained and she seemed more relaxed than days prior.

"That sounds good but, why are we going east?" Isaak was curious about what was there a certain destination. Maybe there was a camp of refugees or a zombie-free zone, that would be great. "We are planning on going to North Dakota, the cold makes the zombies slower so they head towards warmer places. And apparently, they have settled in Nebraska mostly, so we have to border that zone" Duncan was the one to explain this time. Isaak agreed, it wasn't a camp but if up North the zombie population was lower they had to give it a try.

It wasn't long for the other two members of the group to arrive. They had left the water they collected to boil close to their new camping zone. The water looked pretty good but for their safety, they wanted to make it 100% potable. They also dug a not too deep circumference around the zone they would be camping at, like a trench. They would put some branches up to hung the can system around them to secure the place.

"Okay, so let's get in the van, once we are there we'll start working? All clear?" Victoria asked and a hum of 'all clear' was heard as everyone got in the vehicle ready to go to their new place. As mentioned before, the location was very close so the trip was merely five minutes in the car. The trench that Josh and Mads had dug wasn't fully finished, there was a space for the van to fit, it was like the 'gate' to their camp. Once the Van was in its place Victoria told everyone what would they do. Josh would look for good branches to put up in the trench, Victoria and Madison were going check the water and bottle it once it looked well enough, and then the boys left were in charge of finding a way to fish.

"Do any of you know how to make a fishing rod?" Mads asked them when she grabbed some canteens from the bags that were lying around in the back of the van. Duncan looked at Isaak with a questioning look and the blonde shrugged. "I'm pretty sure it would be easier to make a net or use sticks to catch them" he said and the red-haired nodded telling him it was a good idea before leaving with Victoria. "I actually know how to make a rod" Duncan said nudging at Isaak's side who mumbled a "not bad".

Both of them separated to grab the things they needed. Duncan went to get branches that would help him make the fishing rod. Meanwhile, Isaak looked over the bags searching for some rope, thread, or anything that could help to make a net. The closest thing he could find was sailcloth, it seemed old so it wasn't very rigid, he could fold it in many ways. So even if it wasn't the best it was the only option he had. 

Isaak walked back to where they were going to start fishing. It didn't take long for Duncan to come back with a pile of sticks in his arms, he dropped them all by his friend's side and sighed exhaustedly. "Didn't you bring too many sticks?" Isaak asked eyeing at the bunch of branches scattered over the rocks below their feet. 

"I don't really remember what kind of stick I need to be honest" Duncan answered scratching the back of his neck, the blonde shook his head and started moving the sticks to see them better. The other guy stood there watching him practically study the branches. "I'm pretty sure that a normal rod would need to bend but these are sticks, so you should use that one" Isaak said pointing at the thickest branch, it wouldn't break if the fishes or the small current were pulling too much. Duncan thanked him for the tip and asked if the blonde need help with his fishing method.

"We just need to make a blockade right there and put the sailcloth across. We let it there for some time and then we can come back and collect our dinner" Isaak explained before asking Duncan to grab the bunch of sticks that he didn't need for the rod. Both of them took off their shoes and socks and let them over the sore, each of them stood on one side of the affluent. There weren't more than four feet between them. They started putting the sticks right next to a small waterfall, it was just a difference of four inches. Once the blockade was up they put the sailcloth under the water. The fish would fall through the waterfall into the cloth and they would be able to continue due to the wall of sticks.

"Great, now I'm gonna try to make the rod for the fishes that are outside the blockade" Duncan said sitting on the floor surrounded by sticks and some...Dental cord, apparently. Isaak sat on a rock close to him, his small activity was over and he was left to either watch the waterfall or watch the grey-eyed work on his fishing rod. Either of them was boring after ten minutes of silence, he had missed being bored, to be honest. If you are bored at least it means that you aren't busy running away from rottens.

"Wanna play something?" He blurted out of boredom, Duncan raised his head and tilted slightly in confusion. "Like twenty questions? We barely know each other. I only know your name, nationality and that you have something for surviving thanks to alcohol" the black-haired suggested and it seemed like a good idea. They agreed that they would make as many questions as they wanted not twenty to be exact and that both of them would answer every question. They started once Duncan had a knife and a piece of a can.

"Okay, so how old are you? You can't be much younger than me" he asked Isaak, looking at him for a few seconds as to guess his age before he could even answer. "I'm seventeen, you?" The blonde answered, Duncan nodded proudly of because he had already guessed that. "Me too but I'm supposed to turn eighteen in a few weeks I think, I have no way to tell which day I live in" he chuckled but it was kind of a sad laughter, not knowing what day is it must suck. "It's June 10th" Isaak said taking off his watch from his wrist and throwing it to Duncan. This one looked at it and at the top of it there was the date, he smiled and tried to give it back to his owner. But Isaak told him to keep it until his birthday at least.

"Were you popular at school? I bet everyone liked the grey eyes and dark hair, so aesthetic" It was Isaak's turn to ask and Duncan frowned at the use of the last word. "Dude no one says that things are 'aesthetic' anymore. Anyway, I wasn't. I didn't go to school, you know, I lived up in the mountain so it would've been difficult to go down everyday" he explained with a sigh as he carved a hole in the biggest stick. Then he looked up at Isaak waiting for his answer. "Since I moved here I wasn't very welcomed, everyone thought I was a weirdo for being foreign, and my bad social skills didn't help me" the blonde said and the grey-eyed looked at him with sorry eyes. Again, he wasn't good with words but Isaak somehow was able to understand Duncan's sympathy, so he downplayed it.

"What music do you like?" Duncan asked as he finished making a hole in his stick. "I like My Chemical Romance, Lil Peep, The Neighbourhood..." The black-haired laughed cutting Isaak off before he could continue "Of course, you had listen to Lil Peep" he said shaking his head and turning back to his rod "I like things more like Kansas or Scorpions, I do listen to the Neighbourhood as well"

The questions kept going and Duncan was almost done with his job. He had put a shorter stick through the hole he carved and that same stick had another two on each side, the dental cord was rolled on that stick and it went up until it reached the top of the cord that had another hole for it to pass through. He was working on the end of the cord when he decided to ask one last question for the day.

"Did you ever have a girlfriend?" Duncan asked looking up to see the blonde's reaction, he was a bit surprised but he shook his head "And a boyfriend?" He asked again, this time the other's reaction was a bit more surprised "What? No, neither- Why woul-" he said quickly and Duncan frowned at him, they stayed like that looking at each other before the black-haired talked again.

 "Isaak...You aren't homophobic, right? Because we'd have an issue" Duncan asked and instead of how slightly angry he had looked before he was rather disappointed. "What? No, I didn't want it to sound that way. I know that you lived up in the mountains, but down here people were rather homophobic and having someone ask that kind of question never meant any good. I'm sorry, it seems like it made you upset" Isaak explained himself before standing up and sitting right next to Duncan.

"Good. I didn't know people there were like that, my dad always encouraged me to like whoever I liked" the grey-eyed sighed in relief and he felt Isaak's gaze on him. "Uh- and it upset me because I'm bi and it would've sucked if you didn't accept that" The blonde leaned to his side to bump his shoulder with Duncan's after he finished talking, to make him lookup.

 "It would be very hypocritical from me, I don't label myself because I haven't really experienced anything enough to know. But I'm open-minded and I don't really care" Isaak spoke and, by the time he finished, Duncan had the can piece twisted in a hook shape and it dangled from the end of the cord. "That's great, I would have hated if I had to be stuck with a homophobe" the grey-eyed laughed and stood up, he tried the mechanism of the rod and it seemed to work perfectly.

The rest of the group had finished their tasks already, Josh carried thick branches in his bag and the women were back with full bottles of water and some berries that Mads had found. It was time to pick up the sailcloth and see how much fish they got from that. Isaak asked Josh for help while the other three started building the 'fence' around the van. Once they lifted the cloth it had six fishes and they were bigger than their hands. They folded the sailcloth trapping the fish inside and dragging it to the rocks. They pulled out their knives to stop the fishes from suffering more. A cut in the head was all they needed and it was quick and without pain. 

All seven fishes were taken to the center of the camp where they would start the fire later on. Josh called Victoria to tell her about the fish. "Oh, this is great. Why don't you guys go help Mads with the fence? Duncan and I will clean the fish" she announced before whistling at the grey-eyed to join her in the middle of the camp.

Half of the fence was already up, it was just four -very big- branches but it was enough for that side because their function was mostly to hang the can system there. Isaak helped Mads put the strings around the branches and Joshua started digging a hole for the first branch on the other trench. Duncan sat next to Vic to clean the fish, which let me tell you was absolutely disgusting. They prepared them and cleaned them with the water that they had already boiled, then they cut the heads and kept them in a plastic bag because Victoria insisted that they could make soup with those later.

"I'm exhausted" Isaak dropped himself on the floor. He hadn't really moved in months and this past week had been horrible and tiring. But he didn't really complain about not being in that coffin underground, it would have been his death if he stayed there. "Welcome to the outside world, man. Get some of your whiskey, I'm sure you can come up with some way to use it and recharge" Duncan joked around as he started the fire to cook. Usually, they didn't cook for lunch but it was better if they ate the fish as soon as possible. That day dinner would be just some cereal bars and those dry meat strips. "Yeah, I could use it to drink my ass off and blackout"

"You would be wasted with the first sip" Josh added earning a glare from Isaak. Then he laughed and shook his head. "I'm a European, we start drinking at thirteen" Everyone's laughter was heard, it wasn't scandalous but it was nice. It was welcoming, and Isaak just looked at them, feeling like home.

(Maybe this isn't the perfect world, maybe it never will be, but this is the closest I've been in months. A group of friends, laughing quietly together, sharing food that we collected together...It is nice, we may not have all the food we used to before everything went down; and we may have to run from shit that wants to eat us, but this is genuine. And I feel safe because I'm surrounded by great people who definitely know how to keep everyone alive. That week running alone was worth it)