Chapter Text
It had been two years since it all started. since the first one of them had crawled through someone's front yard and created more. Nobody knew what they were, what caused them to become what they had. People learned, though. They were monsters. Monsters who lost all humanity. Monsters who proceeded to kill- and eat- their own families.
Zombies. That's what they were. Everyone was terrified, no one actually thought anything like that could ever happen. That the dead could rise again, and not just that. That the newly risen dead would eat anything that moved and breathed.
At first, people were dying left and right. It took almost a month for people to figure out how to kill them to the point where they wouldn't rise again. Not much later, every weapon supply store to be raided and emptied of everything. Guns, knives, ammunition, protection…. If you could think of it, it was gone.
As all supplies were raided, as all doors became locked, the gravity of the situation began to settle in people's minds. Some people only grew harder, tougher, while others quickly lost what shreds of sanity they still clung to. Everyone had lost friends, family, loved ones, and neighbors. Some lost everything, some lost family, and far too many lost their lives.
Dirk and his brother had managed to stick together, saving a great many lives before leaving them to fend for themselves once again. Roxy lost her mother on a raid, and barely escaped with her life. Jake lost his grandmother, as well as his left leg. They all lost Jane early on- and none of them could stand to end her. For all they knew, she was still roaming around with pieces of flesh falling off of her.
The four who survived managed to group up, to survive together. They found an empty warehouse- Roxy's doing, really- and cleared it of the dead. They settled in, using the Strider's locks on all the doors, and Jake's trapping ability to set traps for zombies and possible wildlife.
It was just their small group, for a while. They would eat what they could find, rationing it out. Roxy had run out of alcohol within a week of their stay in the warehouse, and the withdrawals were hitting her hard. Back when she first tried to become sober, Jane had been there to help her. But not anymore, which just made it worse. Dave had nearly killed her in those next few weeks (she was "bitchin' abut withdrawals and he could barely stand it"), but Dirk stayed his hand.
"Bro, she's practically my best friend. If she has to die, it won't be because of you. Besides, I won't let her die. I won't." Dirk had pulled his brother off to the side after a particularly loud (and nearly violent) outburst. Dave reluctantly nodded and worked to compose himself around her.
Eventually, Roxy got over the lack of alcohol. Things were back to normal, well, as normal as things got anymore. Dirk had taken the leadership role, even with his brother there. Jake was silent for the first several weeks. The whole situation had severely damaged his lust for adventure and brought him back to what can happen in reality. The rest of the group guessed that Jane's death also had something to do with it, but he didn't mention it and neither did they.
Jake started to warm up again, though. It happened while he was checking a small buck he had caught for infection.
"Dirk, do you think this splotch is a bite or just a spot in the fur?" They all stopped for a moment at the almost forgotten voice, and Dave briefly thought it was someone breaking into the warehouse. Dirk popped out of the shocked stupor first. He walked over and inspected the spot before nodding.
"Uh, yeah. Okay. I think it's probably alright, as long as we skin it right. I think it's probably just some dried blood that fell on him. At least, we can hope that's all it is," Dirk muttered, shaking his head. They were almost out of food, and they were all hungry for something fresher than beef jerky and trail mix. Fresh meat, tainted or not, sounded appealing to all of them.
So Jake nodded, and set to work skinning it. The could inspect it deeper when just the flesh was bared- and they could hope it was edible. Dirk sat nearby, in case Jake needed him for anything. Roxy sat herself in the corner, running through the radio stations to see if she could pick up anything but static. They had once before picked up someone's voice, panicked, asking for help. But the transmission tuned out before they could catch a place. It had become Roxy's pastime, trying to find those she could help.
But she hadn't found anyone for at least a week. The radio was just static, and it made them all wonder if anyone was still out there.
The buck turned out to be clean, and the group had their first real meal in weeks. If Dirk hadn't stopped them, they would have eaten all of it that night. Dirk portioned off half of it to keep for later, but it would spoil quickly without ice to keep it cold. Still, at least they'd be able to eat it the next day and enjoy it a little more.