Chapter 10

- Xenon -

I woke up around sunset, I noticed everyone was huddled up in a particular spot near the camp, so I went there. I was greeted by one of the most beautiful sights I've seen in both lives.

The sun dipped below the horizon in the distance, the fleeting colors of dusk began to fade away. The hazy green hills in the distance slowly touched the sun, bathing the wispy clouds in a burning red, the enamoring sight taking our breaths away.

"Well, that's one thing at least we can look forward to everyday." Said the old man Daryl cheerfully.

"Hey, new guy. We gotta talk." Glenn called for me.

"My name is Xenon, Glenn." If I bothered to remember your name, the least you can do is remember mine. Ok, having watched the show may have had a hand in it, but he doesn't need to know that.

"Alright, Xenon. We gotta talk about tomorrow." Glenn said a bit awkwardly. I nodded, following him to meet up with the rest of the team. To my surprise, Amy was there as well.

"Managed to convince your sister?" I chuckled, sitting next to her. She was the only one here around my age, and I would probably have an easier time making friends with her.

"It wasn't easy. She's a tough nut to crack." She smiled fondly at her sister. Though Andrea just rolled her eyes and ruffled her hair. "Hey, that's mean." She smirked and ignored her.

"Glad to have you on the team." I said innocently, though that earned me a raised eyebrow from Andrea. Weird.

"I'm a little scared, honestly. I never had to… you know… face them before." Amy said hesitantly.

"There is a first time for everything. We all have to deal with them at some point. This is our new reality." I said somberly, to which she nodded sadly. "Don't worry about it too much, we'll be there for you." I smiled at her.

"Thank you-"

"Alright lovebirds, you can flirt later." Said Jim, interrupting our wonderful budding friendship. I glared at him. Ass. "This time around, we're looking for food, clothes and medicine." He announced to the group.

"Food is running out from the convenience store we usually hit, so we'll be going a bit deeper this time. We'll get clothes first, prep them as they are in our way anyway. The problem is medicine. We don't know any drug store safe enough to visit." He explained, before turning to Glenn, who knew the city better than anyone of us.

"There is a pharmacy next to the residential area. Though we have quite the distance to cover to get there. At best, we'll have to deal with a few stragglers. At worse, a big horde of zombies." Glenn explained.

"Can we get there by car?" Jim asked

"No, street is blocked."

"Shit."

"We'll deal with it when get there." T-Dog said. "Food is more important right now. At worse, we'll just for another way or leave it. We don't need it right now."

"You never know when one of us gets sick. We don't even have antibiotics in camp."

"Talking about it right now won't solve the issue. We deal with it when we get there." Glenn interrupted their argument. "Besides, we gotta teach the Xenon and Amy how it goes in the city."

"Yeah." Jim and T-Dog nodded.

"A few things about the geeks first: they only die by caving their skulls. The brain is their weakness. If they have a vice-like grab, don't let them get near you. They are attracted to sounds, so don't make any noise and speak in a hushed tone, and that's only when you have something important to say, otherwise you wait till we reach a safe zone…." Glenn went on a tirade explaining to us the danger of zombies and how to deal with them, giving several to-dos and not-to-dos. Amy was nodding fervently, probably regretting her decision by now. Though she didn't back away. I too made sure to pay attention to his every word; I didn't want to give the impression that I wasn't taking this seriously. He even made us repeat the guidelines several times to make sure we got them, something we both appreciated.

"We depart at sunrise, so I'll see you guys tomorrow." He said, before leaving us.

"That's a lot of instructions…" Amy sighed dejectedly.

"Don't worry, we'll get the hang of it when we get there. We won't be alone, remember?" I said optimistically. I was pretty excited about tomorrow.

"Yeah." Her eyes were drawn to the side of my hips. "Is that a sword you got there?"

Following where her eyes went, I said: "Oh, you mean this? Nope, just a big ass knife." I grinned, before taking it out. I've got to admit: it was pretty impressive. I presented it to her. "Careful, it's really sharp."

"You use this to fight them?" she asked curiously, checking it out. "The dead, I mean."

"If I have to." I shrugged. "It's risky to get near them, so I prefer using my bat. But cracking a human skull is really difficult with a blunt object. Sticking them with the pointy end works better." She was clearly uncomfortable with the subject of breaking skulls, so I could tell it wasn't her cup of tea. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah…" she said vaguely. "I don't think I'm cut off for this, really…" she added.

"None of us are." I comforted her. "But we have to, if we want to survive. You'd think dying out there is the worst thing that could happen?"

"What do you mean?" Her sky blue eyes met mine, waiting for me to answer.

"When those you care about get chewed alive right in front of you, as you watch them die in screams of agony, death doesn't seem so bad anymore." She gasped, moving her hand moved to cover her gaping mouth.

She looked at me with looks of sympathy, before saying in a soft voice: "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Looking back at her, I said: "That's why I prefer to deal with them now, so that I am prepared when shit hits the fan. We can't run away forever." She nodded. I hope my words had the desired effect. I remember how devastated Andrea was in the show when she lost her sister, and while I wouldn't have cared if I didn't know them, but we were part of the same group. The more people we have, the more our chances of survival increase, especially in they were competent… something that's severely lacking in this camp.