We walked for nearly an hour.
Isaiah would occasionally point to some part of the structure that had been built to the original foundation. The playground was three stories high and was originally named Dowsberry Park; four weeks after the first outbreak some of the older children had found sanctuary at the playground where the undead could not reach them. Soon, the older kids started gathering scrap metal and adding on to the playground, reinforcing it, making it harder for the undead to get in. Not long after the fortress was built, children of all ages started finding their way to the playground. Isaiah was one of the first teens to help build this place.

    "We have escape routes. Two firemen poles, and three slides, all blocked off of course, to keep the undead from climbing up. But if we ever do need to we can use them as escape routes." Isaiah explained as we made our way back to Winston's alcove. We passed a by a person-sized tunnel. With a better look through, I was surprised to see children on top of a small set of monkey bars, just below their feet were the undead, reaching up in hopes to catch a child if they fell.

   "What are they doing?" I cried, I found myself walking towards the stairs that led to the monkey bars. 
Isaiah thrust an arm out to stop me, "Hey, its fine! They're fine, no need to get all riled up." Isaiah laughed. 
I rounded on him, "What if they fall?" 
Isaiah shrugged, "It's their fault if they fall. They know the risks about being out on the bars. Now come on, your friend will start to wonder where you are if we don't get back." And Isaiah led me away from the children taunting the undead below.

    I couldn't bring myself to look back when I heard the sound of a child scream in surprise and the sound of clothes and flesh being torn away from the body. Isaiah reassured me that it was a small price to pay for taunting a man-eater.

    Once we reached the familiar section beside the alcove, was I able to escape Isaiah's all to friendly smile. When I reached the alcove, Winston was inside, reapplying Ghost's bandages to his shoulder.

   "Hey there Red, nice of you to finally show up." Ghost winced when Winston tightened the fabric around his shoulder.

    "Yeah. Isaiah, the guy who let us in the other day, took me on a tour around the fortress." I said to him; I was still pretty shaken up after hearing the boy drop to his death. 
Ghost seemed to take notice and he gave me a questioning look. He opened his mouth to ask me what was bothering me, but I gave him a sharp look and he fell quiet. 
It felt like forever before Winston had finished dressing Ghost's wound.

   "There done, finally! That took, like forever!" Winston complained. I couldn't tell who looked more irritated; Ghost who had his shoulder pulled and jostled for a good twenty or so minutes, or Winston, who had messed up three of four times while redressing the wound. 
Winston stood up, brushed his hands on his jeans before saying, "I'm going to get dinner. I'll be back." He strode out of the alcove. Ghost waited until Winston was far enough away before he turned to me.

    "So what's up with you? You look pale... well paler than usual." Ghost remarked, looking me up and down.

   I couldn't keep the words from bubbling up. I told him everything, from the tour of the fortress, to the kids on the monkey bars taunting the undead, to the little boy who had lost his footing and plummeted into the swirling mass of hands and teeth below, and lastly of Isaiah's ominous justifications. A small price to pay for taunting a man-eater. By the time I finished my story, Ghost had stayed quiet, listening to every word and occasionally he would nod in understanding.

    "Something about this place doesn't feel right!" I whispered to him. 
Ghost shrugged, he didn't seem all too worried, "So some kids are acting very Children of the Corn. Don't bother me none what they do to themselves." 
I gave a groan of discontent and I opened my mouth to speak, when Ghost cut me off with a look.

A second later, Winston walked in carrying two paper plates. Each plate had a charred piece of meat on it.

    "Here you guys go, nice and toasty." Said Winston as he handed us our plates of food.

    "Where's yours Winston?" I asked, picking up the blackened pieces of meat; something about it didn't seem right. 
Winston shrugged, "I already eaten. Now eat before the scavengers come sniffing around." Winston said calmly.

    "Scavengers?" I asked with confusion; I had yet to take a bite.

   "Yeah, sometimes there's not enough foo to go around, so some people go hungry. That's usually the youngest, the weakest, the sick and injured." Explained Winston, like it wasn't a big deal that some kids go hungry.

    "Then why are we getting food?" I asked him with a raised eyebrow.

    "Isaiah wanted me to bring you guys food. So you can thank him." Winston said begrudgingly. I watched as Winston walked around the alcove, grabbed a couple of things off the shelf behind Ghost, before shuffling back to the entrance way. 
I felt suspicion rise to my chest. "What are you doing?" I asked him and Winston stopped in his tracks. Even Ghost had stopped eating to watch the two of us; his eyes narrowed when Winston didn't answer right away. From the corner of my eye, I could see Ghost's fingers inch closer to his rifle, that was leaning against the wall.

    "What are you doing, Winston?" I asked slowly, I was starting to climb to my feet. 
Winston's eyes flickered from me to Ghost, before he cracked a smile, "What's it look like?" and he showed us what was in his hand. Ghost laughed when he saw and I felt my cheeks go red when I saw the contents in his hand. In his hand was three over-stuffed joints.

    "Yeah... nothing really nefarious going on here." Said Winston, but it sounded forced. He had something to hide.

    "Can I go now?" Winston asked awkwardly, he shifted from one foot to the other. 
I nodded slowly and Winston was very quick to leave the alcove.

   "Can you freak the guy out more?" I heard Ghost laughed behind me, he continued eating. 
I picked up my own plate, "Just something about him didn't seem right."

    "Yeah, he's a freak that's what's wrong with him. Now stop worrying about some weird group of kids." Ghost continued eating, he was almost done.

    I bit the inside of my cheek, he was right it was silly of me to worry about a bunch of kids. I picked at the charred bits of meat on my plate. 
I heard Ghost sigh before saying, "Listen Edi... we're not staying, as soon as I'm able to move my arm, we'll leave. But until then, you'll have too deal with these people until than, okay?" His voice was soft and with understanding and I nodded in agreement.

    "Good, eat. It's actually pretty good. And you'll need your strength."

    I couldn't disagree with him there, he did have a point, if we were to leave, I would need to eat. I wouldn't know when the next time we would get a chance to eat. I took a bite of the meat and I was surprised, the meat was burnt but it didn't taste so bad.

    From the corner of my eye, I saw a small heart-shaped face and baby blue eyes. Hidden in the shadows, watching us, was a little girl. Her hair was blonde and frizzy. Her eyes were trained on the food on my plate. Her cheeks were sunken in, she was skinny, but I recognized her from the pictures from the house. Her eyes seemed hollowed and filled with starvation.

    With a sigh, I gathered up my plate and held it out to her. She eyed the plate with suspicion, she did not come forward.

    "Come on, you can take it. I don't want it." I spoke soothingly, trying to coax her into taking it from me.

The little girl took a couple steps towards the mouth of the alcove; from here I could see the drool escaping from the sides of her mouth. Her ribs poked out from her torn shirt and her hands and arms were nothing but skin wrapped tightly against bones.

    "It's okay, I don't want it. Have it." I whispered gently and the girl edged closer and closer, until she was close enough to grab the meat from the plate. Like a fearful dog, she snatched the meat from the plate, before retreating back into the corner of darkness, where I could see her starting to scarf down the meat, even eating the bone.

     I saw Ghost nod with approval. 
His eyes shone with anger. Even he couldn't believe how maltreated the little girl was.

    "As soon as I'm better, some body is going to die." He said, his eyes didn't leave the girl as she licked her fingers of grease. I couldn't help but agree, someone was going to die for the mistreatment of the little girl. I can promise you that.