Nathan took a cautious step closer to the broken door, muffled noises of what sounded like doors opening and falling shut before loud footsteps hurried towards the door, towards them.

Rolen nearly jumped out of his skin when a head suddenly popped through the ragged hole in the doorframe where the infected had been clawing through. It was a woman, she had Bright orange curled hair and Bright emerald green eyes.

“Holy Hell, finally! Do you two have any idea how long I’ve been stuffed in a goddamn broom cupboard trying not to sneeze while those assholes prowled around down here?!”
The stranger’s voice was surprisingly rather cheerful and relieved at once. She shoved the toppled corpse of the old man aside like it was an old box stacked in the pathway and ducked further through the hole.

“Oh my God, I thought I was gonna die from starvation serounded-” She stopped mid-rant, eyes landing on the two of them, more specifically on the red glowing eyes that belonged to Nathan.

The change was instant. Her hand darted to the blade strapped across her thigh, yanking it free. She dropped into a low stance, green eyes flashing with feral alertness.

“Okay red eyes, ready to dance?!” she snapped, blade raised.

Rolen’s heart lurched. “Wait! No—no, don’t!” He scrambled between them, both hands out. “He’s not a threat! A-at least I don't think he is..” The engineer trailed off, glancing up at Nathan, he hadn’t moved, but his stance had shifted just slightly predatory, shoulders squared. His glowing eyes didn’t waver from the stranger.

The woman and Nathan continued to glare at each other while Rolen stood in the middle of them, the tension thick and for a second the only sound that echoed through the manor was the rumbling of the thunder crashing outside.

"Look.." the goth breathed out. "Nathan here.. turned?" He questions not sure how else to put it. "And instead of seeing me as his new snack, he killed those two infected and hasn't made a move to touch me. I believe he's safe." Rolen continued.

The girl glanced at the splattered corpses, then back at Nathan, then at Rolen again. She moved like a pendulum between all three points, her breath sharp and uneven.

Finally, she straightened, lowering the blade—but not putting it away. “Right. Fine. Sure. Totally normal red-eyed soldier guy. Not terrifying at all.”

Her voice was thick with sarcasm, but her body language loosened. She shoved the blade back into its sheath and finally grinned at them like she hadn’t just threatened murder two seconds earlier, before fully crawling through the hole in the doorway and entering the room in full.

“Name’s Lexa,” she said breezily. “Nice rescue. Really appreciate it. So demon eyes over there is Called Nathan, which i still don't believe won't eat my ass while i show my ass.” she started and pointed at Nathan with the hilt of her blade lazily before focusing her gaze on Rolen. "And who is pretty white haired boy?" She asked tilting her head sideways to emphasise her curiosity.

Nathan clenched his jaw and crossed his arms over his chest, not appreciating how this woman is talking to them.

Rolen blinked but shook his head, focusing on answering instead. "I'm Rolen.. Say.. how long have you been.." He looked back through the broken door for a moment. "Stuck here..?"

Lexa instantly started talking, a large grin spreading on her face. "Oh not long after hell broke loose" she stated placing a hand on her hip. "This manor has been abandoned for years so when Mr and Mrs creepy over there" she gestured to the dead bodies of the infected on the other side of the door. "Started chasing me I thought that this was the best place to go, you know, every apocalypse movie needs a home to come back to" she said grinning, she spread her arms up in the air gesturing to the building. "Home sweet home! Well—minus the psycho undead roommates and the zero heating, but hey, a girl’s gotta make do"

Nathan let out a deep sigh, his hand pressing against the bridge of his nose in a attempt to calm the growing anger in his gut before looking Lexa in the eyes once more.

"Are there more?" He suddenly asked, his deep voice cutting through her chatty bubble like pushing a needle into a balloon.

"Oh my god!" Lexa gasps. "It speaks!"  Her surprise seems genuine too, making Nathan suck in a breath and Rolen stare at her like she had grown an extra head.

"Yes.. I can speak.." Nathan said unsure about this woman's usefullness in this apocalypse. "Are there more?" He asks again

"More of what?"

"More infected"

"You mean other than you?"

"Yes now answer the question."

"I dunno" she answered, earning a annoyed groan from Nathan, he was about to strangle this woman.

"Ookaayy, how about we check out the rest of the building together?" Rolen eventually said from in between them, breaking the tension and for both sets of eyes to turn his way.

Nathan felt himself instantly relax a little bit when his gaze landed on the young engineer, the anger quickly dying down while he responded with a nod.

"Ah good idea! The first one to find the bedroom gets the bed!" She said,  earning another glare from Nathan. He grit his teeth, a slight twitch of the shoulder catching the attention of the goth.

"Yes, you need to rest, there is food in the car but not enough for the 3 of us." The combat medic stated, looking at Rolen and walked over to the wardrobe, the wood screeched loudly as he shoved it away from the door with ease.

"Rolen stay close to me, we will first clear the building for more infected." the soldiers command weren't up for debate and Rolen didn’t argue either, he just followed in silence as the soldier opened the door and moved the corpses aside. leading them into the living room first. The place smelled of damp wood and mold, the storm outside dripping through holes in the ceiling. Faded wallpaper sagged from the walls like peeling skin. The old furniture still in place as if frozen in time, yet covered in mold and rain water.

Lexa trailed behind them, completely ignoring the tension. “You know, for an abandoned haunted-mansion-of-death, this place has some real charm.” She picked up a cracked picture frame from a dusty table and squinted at the faded photo inside. “Huh. Creepy family portrait. Ten outta ten. Definitely cursed.”

“Put it down,” Nathan snapped, sweeping the next doorway with one hand on his gun.

“Jeez, relax.” Lexa set the frame down with exaggerated care and twirled her knife between her fingers. “If Mr and Mrs creepy over there had their cousins over I'm sure we'd know by now."

They passed through another hall. Rain dripped through the ceiling in slow taps that echoed like footsteps. Every shadow stretched too long, every doorway looked like a mouth waiting to swallow them whole.

Rolen, looked around the manor with a uneasy feeling forming in his gut, he made sure to stick close to Nathan, despite it all, he still felt safer with the combat medic.

Lexa followed behind them, but she didn't bother to stay silent. Her footsteps were loud as she rushed upstairs, knife in hand. The goth held his breath, He half expected the next sound to be her throat tearing open.

"FOUND THE BEDROOM!" She yelled triumphantly, her shout rang out from upstairs, her footsteps loud enough to make small pieces of moldy debris fall from the ceiling.

"That woman is gonna get us killed." Nathan growled with a sigh before storming upstairs after her.

Rolen let out a sigh of relief, maybe for once they were safe, at least for a little while. The engineer rubbed his eyes, exhaustion setting in. To be fair he hasn't had a wink of sleep since this whole ordeal started.

Following the others upstairs, Rolen flinched hearing the wooden floorboards creak beneath his feet although it didn’t stop him from making it all the way upstairs.

Once he reached the first floor, he could already hear Nathan looking his cool and Lexa teasing him but he didn’t pay any attention to that, his eyes scanned the hallway, 2 sets of doors on either side of the narrow passage with a bathroom door at the end. All either covered with mold or the wood is partially rotten, all in all the stench up here was worse than downstairs, even without the corpses.

The goths gaze eventually landed upon a old dressoir, it stood against the wall in between 2 bedroom doors. Walling over to it, Rolen picked up one of the fallen over old pictures frames covered in dust and debris.

Blowing some of the dust off,  a old black and white picture came into view. A bunch of military soldiers in camouflage gear standing together with a tank on the background, smiling in front of the cameraman.

A bittersweet smile came onto Rolens exhausted face, he placed the picture down and picked up another one, dusting it off to make it visible once more, this one was similar but with a lot less people in it. The soldiers had a less bright expression too, like they just came from the war.

His smile quickly faded though when he took a closer look at the image, a look of confusion washed over him when he recognised someone from the picture. His head buzzed faintly, static crawling behind his eyes, like the photo itself was trying to whisper something he couldn’t quite hear

Moments later Nathan showed up from the bedroom, worried where Rolen was since he didn't show up in the bedroom. His face full of relief when he saw the other standing there, although the worry quickly edged back on his face when he noticed Rolen staring at the picture with a look that he couldn't place.

"Hey, you okay?" The combat medic asked ans moved in a little closer, looking over rolens shoulders to see the photo.
"See someone you recognise?"

Rolen pointed at the man in the far right corner, his eyes never leaving the picture. "That's my dad.."