24 June 2026

(Since the 19 we've been driving non-stop. Only resting if we had to refill the tank, go use the "bathroom" or change driver. Yesterday we came across an abandoned motorhome, we checked it thoroughly. There was a couple in the driver and passenger seats, they were fully dead thanks to the way they crashed against the tree. The crash had totally fucked up the motorhome but we managed to take some food and other items with us. So far we are having luck on our trip)

The sound of the engine being turned off caught Isaak's attention, making him look up from his notebook. Joshua and Victoria were frowning at each other and then looking back to the road. A thud next to their vehicle startled the blonde but he realized that it had just been Duncan jumping off the roof of the car.

"What's wrong?" Madison asked when she saw the looks of the members of her group. "There's a sign over there" Joshua said pointing at a wood piece a few meters in front of them. It read in black paint 'Empty house. 2 miles to the right. Safe', the group couldn't tell if it sounded like a dream or a trap. And most likely, it was the latter.

"I could see it from the top of the van, I didn't see zombies outside and there wasn't any vehicle or people either" Duncan informed as he opened the back door of the van to get in. The five of them stayed in silence, the teenagers waited to see what the adults had in mind. Victoria found the situation suspicious, no one leaves their house and says 'Hi, go to my house, you'll be safe'. As nice as it sounded, no one in the right state of mind would do that, not in the apocalypse.

"Are you sure there wasn't anyone?" Victoria asked Duncan, he had great sight but it was obvious that the house was far and he could have seen wrong. "There was no movement outside, there weren't lights in the house either" The black-haired said, grabbing more bullets and reloading his snipper. 

"I say we try out, it wouldn't be the first time we stumble upon other humans. And we are pretty intimidating" he finished by cocking his rifle.

"So now we have to fight other people?" Isaak asked raising his eyebrows, somehow it sounded way more dangerous than the rottens. Because let's be real, a rotten can eat you if you are too close, but a human can shoot you from far away.

"If we are lucky, we won't have to. But don't lower your guard, and Duncan, don't go to the roof again we don't know what is waiting" Joshua said. He was already starting the car, turning in the right direction. The van was silent except for guns being loaded and knifes being cleaned. Isaak put his pen and notebook back in his bag before taking out the machete. He wasn't looking forward to an encounter with other people, because he had no idea what to do if something like that came down.

Ten minutes later the cabin was visible between the low trees. There was no one outside, the door was closed and the windows were mostly covered except for tiny spaces to see through. Joshua stopped the van to prevent unwanted attention to them. Victoria turned around to the three teenagers and nodded indicating them to leave the car. All five were out, their weapons ready as they positioned close to each other to prevent surprise attacks.

"There's another sign, guys" Isaak pointed out. Hanging next to the door was another piece of wood, this time it had the message carved. "Key under red rock" Madison read out loud. Everyone exchanged looks, it was all too suspicious. Either way, Victoria crouched to the rock and cautiously picked it up. There was the key that opened the front door. "Okay, guys, two guns pointing forward, Duncan and Isaak keep your eyes behind us" Victoria commanded quietly.

She put the key in the lock, Joshua's and Madison's guns pointing to the door. Duncan and Isaak had their eyes focused on the forest, there were no sounds, no movements. The click of the lock was accompanied by the creak of the door opening. "Fuck, what's that smell?" Madison scrunched her nose at it. Victoria frowned and moved her head to tell the ex-fireman and the red-haired girl to move inside with her. 

"Girls...I found the smell" Joshua announced in less than three minutes being in the cabin.

                                                           ***

"Apparently he had lost his family, he didn't want to waste his sources on his poor self so he prepared all this for someone who would need it" Victoria explained what she had read from the letter next to the corpse of a man with a bullet hole in his head. Duncan tried not to look at the dead man at all; the blonde boy frowned at his eerie behavior.

"Why are you so weird about the dead body?" Isaak asked and mentally told himself that sentence was the weirdest thing he had ever asked someone.

"He killed himself, it's pretty different from other dead people. Doesn't it disturb you?" Duncan asked sitting on a chair away from the living room where the corpse was. "It's not the first time that I see someone that killed themself" Isaak shrugged taking another chair and pulling it in front of the black-haired.

"You would have been one if I didn't find you" Duncan crossed his arms on the back of the chair, that he had to his front, and resting his head on top of them.

"Technically, that wasn't on purpose. And I would be a rotten, though" Isaak leaned on his chair to be more comfortable.

"I see that you've made yourselves comfortable while we took this bitch out" Madison said as she dragged the corpse to the front door with Victoria's help. "That's disrespectful, he is a dead person, Mads" Duncan told her off just like an older brother would, but the rest of his group all looked at him with blank expressions.

"Says the boy that yells 'Suck my dick you dead bitch' when he shoots zombies" Joshua deadpanned. Duncan tried to say it was not the same but he just ended up shutting his mouth and scratching the back of his head.

Once they got the dead man out of the house, Josh moved the van closer to the entry to get some of the blankets and pillows. There was food in the cabinets of the kitchen so they didn't bring in any of theirs. The sun would set soon and they had to think about the safety of sleeping in the cabin.

"The doors lock with the key that we have and every window is sealed. It's as safe as the van but comfier" Isaak said hitting the metal of one of the windows to give it some emphasis. "I don't think we have to watch overnight, guys"

"Don't you think it's putting too much trust?" Joshua asked. It could sound like it but there was no way that someone could have made a copy of the keys and then planned a horrible trap. It was the apocalypse, not a bad crime TV show.

"If we all sleep here in the living room with our weapons with us we shouldn't have a problem, we are next to the door in case we need to run away and if someone opened it while we sleep we'd hear it" Isaak suggested. It sounded about right, two of them could sleep on the couch, another one on the armchair, and the other two could get most of the blankets and pillows and take the floor.

"I get dibs on the couch!" Madison yelled as she jumped on it with a chuckle. Victoria dropped herself right next to Mads to claim it as well. It was only the three men left and all of them were gunning for the armchair. Both women watched as they kicked each other to get their place, Isaak and Duncan teaming up each time Josh seemed to get closer and then fighting each other for the armchair giving Joshua an advantage again. And like that the ex-fireman claimed the chair for himself. "Sucks to be you, boys!" Madison mocked them and both boys glared at her.

By the time they had arranged their sleeping places, the night had fallen. It was dark in the cabin, Joshua tried out the lights and surprisingly there was electricity. There must have been a generator somewhere in the house that was still running. Thanks to the bright light they could manage themselves in a real kitchen, it had been months since any of them came even close to one. In the cabinets, there was different canned food and, even better, pasta.

 Madison and Isaak were the ones in charge to cook that night while the rest put the blankets and pillows in the couches and floor. Victoria had said that it reminded her of the sleepovers she'd have when she was younger, sadly no one could agree with her. "What kind of sad childhoods did you all have? Ugh, my poor little kids" she said and no one really said anything about how she was including Joshua as 'poor little kid' they just chuckled softly.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning after we eat something, you can grab things if you think they are useful" Victoria announced before they went to sleep.

                                                         ***

Duncan was sleeping on his back, it always felt safer since the apocalypse started. But he jolted awake when something grabbed his shirt. He sat up, hand patting the floor to find his knife, and looked at his side, assuming he'd see a dead, pale hand. Yet he was greeted by something slightly different, one of Isaak's hands had fisted the hem of his shirt as if his life depended on it. Duncan rubbed his eyes to get a better look at the scene. Isaak was curled up, trembling very slightly and frowning consistently. The grey-eyed realized that his friend must have bad dreams, it wasn't the first time he'd see the blonde mutter or shake as he slept.

Duncan pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on his arms. There was no way to move Isaak's hand and he preferred to wait for the blonde to wake up in case he was freaked out. 

It didn't take long for Isaak to open his eyes abruptly as he took a shaky breath. He blinked in hopes his eyes would adapt to the darkness in the room. And as soon as he did he noticed the grey gaze that watched him directly. Duncan offered him a tired smile and Isaak returned it in an awkward way. The blonde could feel the fabric he was grabbing onto about a minute later when he was more aware of his surroundings. He quickly let go of Duncan's shirt apologizing for holding it on his sleep.

"You had a bad dream, I didn't mind, Izzy" Duncan chuckled at the nickname he gave to Isaak but the blonde stared at him with a look difficult to decipher. "You don't like that name? I thought it was cute" The grey-eyed added, a bit embarrassed.

"No, no, I do like it. My mother used to call me that when I was a kid, I guess it just caught me off guard." Isaak chuckled quietly. He didn't want to wake anyone up, he had done enough by waking up Duncan. "Sorry for waking you up, man" The black-haired shook his head, his way to reassure Isaak that he was okay with it.

Duncan waited to see if the guy by his side would fall asleep, but it didn't look like it. The blonde was facing up, his arms folded over his stomach, not even trying to close his eyes and rest. Isaak knew there was a little chance that he'd fall asleep after a nightmare, he had tried many times before and it rarely worked. It didn't matter if he knew he was safe or that he wasn't alone, that uneasy feeling wouldn't leave him. That feeling was visible to the outside world, not only to the insides of his mind. That's why his friend scooted closer, ready to talk without disturbing the rest of their group.

"Before all this, I used to tell my dad about the few nightmares that I would have. At first, I didn't like it because it was like reliving the dream, but soon I realized that once that I finished talking, that scary feeling would leave. If I was quiet about it, it felt like I had bottled up all my emotions."

"What a way to ask me about my dream" Isaak mocked him. It didn't offend the grey-eyed, though, because he could guess that the boy was just trying to downplay it. He smiled and answered, "I didn't know how to approach it". To which Isaak nodded and sighed.

"It's a recurrent dream" he started "Most of the time I can't see or I'm in a dark spooky room. I'm always alone until I feel cold boney hands grabbing me, I hear those horrible growls and people screaming in fear. It usually ends with me getting beaten or being shot in the head. The worst thing is the feeling of hopelessness that I have through it because I can't move or speak or yell. I just stand there until I die." The way Isaak spoke reminded Duncan of how Maddie would talk about the start of the end, no emotions as if he was reciting something trivial from school.

"Huh" Isaak turned to look at Duncan who was moving his head, "I thought your dreams would be full of explosions with some weird song on the background" The blonde was glad to hear that kind of comment. Because even if Duncan was right about how it was better to talk about his dream, he probably wouldn't stand to have a serious talk about it.

"Oh, come on. I bet you used to have bad dreams about having to choose between things" Isaak joked as well, getting a shocked faked face from his friend.

"That was really stereotypical...But true-"

It took an hour. An hour for Isaak to fall asleep as he listened to a hunting story that Duncan was telling him. It relieved the black-haired when there were just soft snores as answers to his little story, he had hoped that talking would calm his friend down. He laid back down and smiled at the ceiling before drifting off to sleep.