Adam stared blankly at the rising smoke from one of the houses, if what they thought were right, it wouldn't be the first time they would meet someone like them.

  In fact, they already met quite a few, some are dead, some on the other hand decided to go their own ways and were more likely to be dead as well.

  Adam looked at Kate, before he could even speak, Kate nodded, already handing him the bag and his jacket.

  She walked past Adam heading towards the smoke.

  “Thanks, snow white” she said without looking back.

  Adam wore the jacket and slung the bag to his shoulders as he caught up to Kate.

  “How am I snow white when you were the one sleeping this whole time?” Explained Adam but Kate merely continued her walk without looking back.

  “Hey-“Adam was about to call Kate again but sighed instead.

  The walk took around 15 minutes before they arrived at the house where the smoke is coming from.

  It was a two-story house painted yellow and seemed to have a balcony at the back, Adam thought that is where the smoke was coming from.

  It was in excellent condition, even better than the one they stayed at. When Kate got closer to the door she tried to open it by twisting the knob. However, the knob didn’t budge as it appeared to be locked.

  “We should look for a different entra-“ Adam was saying when he was interrupted by glass shattering.

  It was Kate using the stock of her rifle to smash the glass of the door allowing her to turn the knob from inside.

  “You know? I liked you more when you had a hole in your abdomen,"said Adam.

  Kate didn’t reply, she simply smiled as she kicked the fragments of glass away from their path and unlocked the door.

  “You’re welcome,” said Kate.

  Adam was about to reply when they entered the house but suddenly, he saw a shadow of something moving towards the 2nd floor.

  Adam immediately tried to follow the shadow; he dashed towards the stairs and climbed until he reached the 2nd floor. When he finally arrived, he was surprised to see the entire floor clean and seemed to be well tended, with various rooms.

  “It was bigger than the one we got in too, also cleaner” said Kate that was now just behind Adam.

  Adam was not paying much attention; he tried to check if any of the room’s doors were unlocked. He noticed that there were a total of three rooms, two of which were locked when Adam opened the third, they saw a spacious room with a double bed, cabinet and a veranda.

  The entirety was well arranged and organized; Adam was sure someone was residing here.

  Adam realized that the smoke was coming from the veranda, there were a couple pieces of chopped wood in it that were being burned.

  Kate immediately stepped forward to check something in the veranda. Adam wondered why Kate seemed excited, he followed her and noticed that there was something being cooked in the fire.

  Kate then slowly touched a skewer feeling the slight heat as she showed Adam a small chicken thigh being roasted.

  She then pinched a part of the chicken and tasted it for herself.

  “Hey, that isn’t ours,” said Adam.

  Instead of stopping Kate replied with another bite at the chicken.

  Suddenly they hear a weak thud somewhere inside the room. Adam recognized that the sound came from the cabinet.

  Slowly he walked towards it, being followed by Kate with a skewer still in her hand.

  Adam meanwhile pulled the gun from his jacket and held its familiar weight as he tried to open the cabinet with his other hand.

  He slowly swung the cabinet door open and what they saw made Kate gasp, almost dropping the skewer from her hands, which by all means Adam didn’t think was possible.

  The cabinet was filled with brooms, mops and other cleaning tools but of course it wasn’t the reason for their surprise.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Someone was staring at them with green eyes, but it didn’t have the fierceness those creatures had. In fact, it was that of a child.

  It was a boy with messy brownish hair that looked as if it had been years since he had had a haircut, which Adam assumed wouldn’t be far from the truth.

  He seemed to be around ten or eleven years old, which Adam also thought was strange because that would mean he was just born when it all started.

  He can’t be alone.

  The boy wore an old oversized white printed shirt and cargo pants; he seemed to be one of the people who live here.

  “Hey” said Adam in a calm voice, hiding the gun back in his jacket.

  The boy shivered, he was afraid. Adam could see his hand shaking.

  Kate then crouched so she would be facing the boy’s eye level.

  “Hi, I’m Kate. What is your name?” she said in a voice that might been a different person than the one who broke the door’s glass.

  The boy looked reluctant but eventually replied in a thin, raspy voice.

  “k-kiel” he said, still uncomfortable with the new faces.

  “Really? you talk to her? She is the one who broke the door down and stole your food” Adam said crossing his arms.

  Kate smirked but didn’t reply.

  “Who are you here with?” Kate asked again.

  “My brother… he hasn’t returned in a week,” said Kiel.

  Kate suddenly stared at Adam and Adam understood it more than a stare should have meant.

  Kate then stood and held up her hand to Kiel helping him on getting down the cabinet.

  When he did, Kate pulled him closer to the veranda and Adam followed behind. The three sat round the fire.

  At first there was only the sound of fire crackling and the smell of burning wood but it was Adam who decided to break the silence.

  “I haven’t introduced myself, I'm Adam,” he said.

  Kiel nodded, seemingly calmed down a little.

  “Can I ask? What happened to your brother?” Questioned Adam.

  “I- don’t know, he left more than a week ago and never returned” Answered Kiel looking down at the fire.

  “Where did he go?” It was Kate who asked this time.

  “He used to patrol around every two weeks to see if he could find something we could use, he had always returned by the night”

  “And he hasn’t returned since then?” Kate asked?

  Kiel nodded again.

  Then there was another wave of silence, it took a few more minutes before someone finally spoke.

  “Wait, how do you even get those?” Adam said pointing at the skewer with the chicken that Kate returned to the fire.

  Kiel figured out what Adam meant, he stood up leaving the room.

  Adam and Kate exchange glances before finally following Kiel. When they caught up to the boy they saw him outside the room in front of a lock door.

  Kiel then took out keys from his pants and inserted one of them in the knob, He then twisted the key and swung the door open.

  The room was wide and emptied aside several cages that contained live chickens.

  Kate opened her mouth in awe.

  “How did you even get these many?” she said.

  “My brother got them when I was still little, there was a farm just near our old house and ever since then he kept breeding them” explained Kiel.

  Adam stepped closer to look at the chickens as he spoke.

  “What do you feed them?”

  “Lettuces and other vegetables in the garden, we have tomatoes, carrots potatoes and a few more”

  Adam slightly tilted his head before replying

  “Can I borrow some of the potatoes?”

  ….

  The trio headed to the garden where Adam took a handful of potatoes, before returning he also asked Kiel where they could get more chopped wood and a pot of clean water.

  Kiel then heads out to get the wood and the pot of water along with Kate.

  Adam on the other hand went to the kitchen to wash and peel the potatoes.

  After he was done, he headed straight to the veranda where he saw Kate and Kiel waiting for him.

  He heard the water already boiling, he then put the potatoes in the pot and waited a few minutes.

  The potatoes were eventually cooked; Adam then drained the water and mashed them adding salt (which was the only condiment available) and serve them in a bowl for each one of them.

  They all ate quietly at first until Adam decided to break the silence.

  “Hey, my score,” he said to Kate while still eating the potatoes.

  “I know, it's 386” answered Kate.

  “I still can’t believe that you are 3 points higher than me”

  Kate shrugged.

  “The first one definitely should be worth 5 points,” Adam said.

  Being confused, Kiel asked what they were talking about.

  “What was that? Like a kill count?”

  “No, we are just playing a game seeing who saves the other person more” Explained Kate.

  Kiel’s face lit up with a small smile.

  “Oh, what is the prize of the winner?” he asked.

  Kate and Adam exchanged glances.

  The truth is they never thought of them about having a winner because for that to happen the game must end.

  That or one of them can’t be saved.

  The meal then proceeded with an awkward silence.

  …

  After the three of them finished eating quietly Adam lied down the veranda with two of his hands on his head.

  He felt that the sleep wasn’t enough. He stared at the still dark skies before slowly closing his eyes.

  His sleep wasn’t very long this time either as Adam slowly woke with loud thunder.

  He scratched his still groggy eyes from the sleep and when he used his hand to support himself standing up, he realized that the floor was a little wet.

  When he finally got back to himself, he found out that the water came from the rain, not only rain but a thunderstorm.

  He saw sharp lightning that turned the dark night into pure white for almost every few seconds.

  He shook head , shaking some water off from his hair. The veranda was roofed but the angle of the rain made it so that they would still be hit.

  Adam also just noticed that Kiel and Kate seemed to just wake as well.

  Kate stretched and yawned as if to say she hadn’t had enough sleep and wanted more.

  Kiel on the other hand, headed inside where the rain wouldn’t hit him as much, he seemed a little cold as his shirt was wet from the rain.

  Then there was another clap of thunder.

  The house wasn’t hit but it still trembled from the lighting’s impact.

  Kate got near the railing of the veranda unfazed by the strong winds and heavy rain.

  She squinted to see farther in the heavy rain that was almost blocking her vision.

  “Crap…” She whispered as she slowly stepped back from the veranda.

  “What was that?” Adam asked.

  Before replying, Kate pulled Adam back inside the room where Kiel was sitting on the bed.

  “Your girl is here,” she said.

  Kiel looked confused and even Adam took a moment before realizing what Kate meant.

  “What? You mean Linda?” Asked Adam

  “Yes, and she brought friends I don’t know how they found us, but we should leave.”

  “The same way we found this house” Adam replied.

  “The smoke“ Kiel pointed out.

  Adam nodded.

  “The sound of thunder must have woken those nearby creatures. Regardless we should leave already”

  “Wait-wait… who is Linda first and why is she Adam’s girl?” asked Kiel confused.

  “Oh, we met her just yesterday, she was very lovely, wasn’t she?” Kate said sarcastically.

  Adam chuckled a little but quickly regained composure.

  “Enough about that. We need to get out of here quick. We need a vehicle of some sort.”

  “I-think… I have something We should go to the garage,” said Kiel.

  Adam and Kate exchanged glances.

  …

  The three of them arrived at the garage through a door in the kitchen.

  Apparently, Kiel’s “something” was a green mountain bike with an additional passenger seat in the back.

  Adam and Kate stared at Kiel, both of their arms crossed.

  “What?” he asked.

  Adam sighed before replying.

  “I mean what did I even expect?”

  “What do you mean? It's not like we could get a car, all the gasoline has been unusable now” Kiel asked confused.

  “Well, we had one before Adam modified it, but someone-“Kate paused and gestured something exploding.

  “I did it to save you, looking back I should have traded you for that junk” Adam said.

  Kate laughed at first, but they all turned serious remembering their current situation.

  The rain was pouring heavily outside; they could still hear several rain drops despite being inside the house.

  “You two take it,” said Adam.

  “What about you then?” argued Kate.

  “I have to look for more panels, also you must bring Kiel to the island, it's safer there” pointed Adam.

  “How could you even navigate without me then”

  “I’m sure Kiel got a map somewhere, right?” he said looking at Kiel.

  The boy thought at first but shyly nodded eventually.

  “If anything, I should be the one to get more panels” Kate said, her voice slowly raising.

  “Wrong” simply said Adam.

  “And why is that?”

  “I need to catch up with the points”