The fire burned at a low ember. For the first time in weeks it was quiet, but the people circling the pit knew better by now to think that made them safe. Despite the time of day, no one slept. They easily could have, letting one or two people stand guard, but none of did. A few weak attempts were made but they always ended in night terrors. Being awake wasn’t much better, everyone was plagued with dark thoughts as result of their recent traumas. It was a lot easier to suppress a scream while awake then when you were trapped in a terrible dream. Everyone was exhausted, everyone was hungry but worse still everyone was scared. Scared of the monster shambling around, scared of the people in their company and scared of their own selves. It had only been a few weeks prior that the world had fallen, but they all had done unthinkable things since then. They had all killed by now, they had stolen and plundered. Many of these things that they never thought they’d fall to. Julian poked a stick at the dying fire trying to get some warmth from it. His mind was dark. It was dark before shit hit the wall, but that wasn’t the same. That was an artistic, purposeful darkness. A darkness that lead to creative breakthroughs, he had created entire worlds and people with that darkness. It was beautiful. This though, this was anything but. In only a few short weeks he had gone from theater student and aspiring playwright to a killer. Murdering people in cold blood. Turning those away who needed help. Turns out that survival of the fittest is harder than it sounds.

When one of the women perched around the now dead fire got to her feet everyone’s gaze changed to her. She ignored them and went off into the trees. They all knew why. Even in their situation many of the group still opted for privacy when dealing with personal business, so to speak. Nobody thought much of it they’d only be a few feet away, what’s the worst that could happen? Julian was pulled from his reverie when a blood curdling scream ripped through the clearing. Darting to his feet he pulled his pistol to the ready. Everyone else seemed to have a similar idea. One man ran towards the scream, ignoring the protests of the group. Just as he reached the treeline their suspicions had proven correct. One of the dead came shambling towards him. He shot. He missed. Within seconds he laid on the ground screaming as it tore into his flesh.

“Watch out!” Someone shouted at Julian as he narrowly dodged another monster. The gunshot gave their location and in what felt like a minute they were surrounded. At this point more shooting would just make it worse, so Julian swapped out for his knife hoping he wouldn’t get close enough to need it. The three remaining members of the group cleared a small opening and they all began to run. Like scared rabbits they each went full hilt, jumping and swerving to avoid the many obstacles on the forest floor. Julian cursed himself mentally for not grabbing his bag before running, leaving behind what little supplies he owned. The groans of the dead grew increasingly distant as he came ever closer to the road when he heard a loud thump behind him. With a quick glance behind him he saw one of his teammates had fallen on a log, her leg twisted grotesquely beneath her. The other guy was nowhere to be seen. She shouted and reached out for Julian to help her. Ignoring a small pang in his chest he continued on, leaving her. A few moments later he heard the all too familiar scream of someone being consumed. Just like that, he was on his own again.

At long last he reached the road and began scouring the vehicles that amassed into a large roadblock. He came across a 1991 Chrysler Fifth Avenue and with a look inside he found it dead-free. Quickly he opened up the hatch for the trunk and was relieved to find a few day’s supply of food and some blankets. Had he been a religious man he would’ve fell to his knees and thanked the heavens. He nearly did when the damn thing started. Pulling a sharp U-turn he began barreling down the highway and headed for the border. He almost hoped that they’d ask him for a passport, but doubted anyone gave a care about illegal immigrants at this point.

It has now been 684 hours since the apocalypse had started and 672 since he had last heard from his son. This has been the longest 4 weeks of his life. His son was with Calvins sister at during his business vacation. It has been no easy journey to get where he is now given where he had started but there was nothing that was going to stop him from being reunited with Jeremy, his son. It wasn't even his idea to be away from home but it was what his company asked him to do.

On the day that the world changed forever Calvin had been down in Chicago, Illinois having an important series of business meetings about bringing the company and expanding it down into the United States. It would benefit the company by expanding their client base and also greater profits. The last day that he had meetings Calvin had decided to he was going to stay the night and have a little bit of relaxation. He had a round of golf, a full spa treatment, and a three course dinner at a 5 star restaurant. It had been the third greatest day of his entire life; right behind getting his promotion to Executive Sales Representative and the birth of his child but definitely the most relaxing day bar none. Calvin used to he a heavy sleeper, however that trait has now vanished. The day that world had changed Calvin had slept peacefully until he noticed that everything was eerily quite in the hotel, usually guests wondering the hallway on their way to checkout or housekeepers tidying up the rooms. Today was different, silent. When Calvin got all of his belongings together and made it down to the lobby he hadn't seen a single person, which was weird given how busy it was the day before.

When he looked around he finally seen someone, they had been standing outside of the hotel doors banging on the glass like he was a celebrity and they were his fan. A few moments later a second one of them joined along side the first, again banging on the glass. Calvin had to stop and see if there was a celebrity behind him, maybe all the guests and staff were occupied with them. Just when he looked over his shoulder the two banging on the door soon smashed through the glass, that was when he realized something was wrong. Once they breached the glass they started hobbling quickly towards him mumbling some gibberish. "Umm hello, can I help you guys" Calvin shouted out sort of confused as why they were coming towards him rapidly. He took one step backwards but tripped over his duffel bag and fell onto the ground, the two figures lunged at Calvin as he screamed at the top of his lungs. The attackers grabbed on to his legs and started to bite and rip off Calvins flesh.

Calvins eyes ripped wide open, pulse beating extremely fast and his breathing was erratic also. Jesus he wishes that he could stop having that nightmare of what would have happened if he hadn't defended himself. Would have been a darn zombie snack, since that day he really tried to avoid large populated areas as much as possible. Well he wasn't going to get back to his son just laying in the trunk of the car, he crawled through the backseat of the car and checked to make sure that no zombies were having a stroll near the car. After confirming he was alone he opened the door and took a few moments to stretch since he had no clue how far he was going to have to walk before he had an encounter or found a working vehicle. After stretching he followed his morning routine as usual; he took a half of an energy bar he had in his backpack and a mouthful of water. The next step was taking out his phone and turning it on for one minute, he punched in the same number as every other morning (539)554-4918, this was his sisters cell phone. However he got the same message that he has been getting time and time again "The person you are calling is not available, please try again later" He than checked out the time on the phone and than shut it off again. He then took out his map marking where he was, the time that he started walking and the date.

He wasn't nearly as far as he had hoped he would be. It probably wouldn't have taken him that long if he could find a decent working vehicle with some gas but the fact was that never happened. The furthest that he had ever made it one vehicle was 220km, which was almost half the way to the Canadian border via Detroit, MI. Just thinking about how many of them would be in Detroit was just disgusting, utterly disgusting. If only he hadn't decided to take that relaxation day in Chicago he would have been on a plane on the way home the morning before. No point beating himself up anymore, that wasn't going to get himself home safely. Calvin put in his sunglasses and carried his machete that he could in the front seat of a car and continued to walk towards the border.

Even with no one else driving the road wasn't exactly a safe place. Like a nervous tick Julian kept looking down at his meters. The old beater had about a half tank of gas left in her. If he kept at this speed, Julian estimated he could get a total day or two out of it. For the hundred time in as many minutes his eyes fell back to the meter, as if he was scared the gas would suddenly disappear. He held the steering wheel so fiercely he thought it might break. If he were the strongman type it probably would've. Getting to the border had proved more difficult than he had initially thought. Already he had had to change direction a few times. Having hit several roadblocks and almost driving straight into Toronto. He knew to stay clear of any big cities, but he stayed close enough to not get lost. The detour around Toronto was a long one though, and when he remembered that he'd also have to avoid Detroit he could only grumble in discontent. Though he knew it was that or be eaten.

It was daybreak before he even considered pulling over. Just about noon when he finally did. Stopping at the shoulder he looked out all the windows, to be sure no zombies were standing around. The sound of a running vehicle would draw them in pretty soon though. Carefully he got out of the car and leaving it running he quickly ran to the trunk. Popping it open he scooped up the box of supplies and deposited into the backseat. It didn't do him much good if he couldn't get to it after all. Whoever owned this car did seem to have some brains though. After removing the box, Julian returned to find a few tools that would be enormously useful: A tire iron, wrench, car-jack and a jerrycan. Pleased with his new treasure, Julian slammed the trunk door closed and went back to the drivers seat. Just in time too as he heard the groans of approaching zed.

"Pedal to the metal," He said beneath his breath as he floored it, enjoying the crunching noise as he drove through a few of the monsters. Shortly after he went across the border, flipping of the guard booth as he went. Normally he'd be scared shitless to go to Michigan, well he still was, but for different reasons. In a vehicle the dead really want that scary, though he tried not to get too comfortable with it. Back before the dead turned deadly, Detroit would get you with or without a car. Julian went on like this for a few more hours, thinking of how before this all started he would've died for a car like this.

That was when he saw it. A person. Not a dead one, but a living breathing person. He could tell by the way he walked. Julian it the brakes hard, and when he finally stopped half a yard away from the guy he looked over his shoulder to be sure. Definitely alive, but with the sun setting he wouldn't be much longer without help. And Julian knew that once this car broke down--and it would--that he'd be just as dead as this guy. There was a reason he stuck in a group, he had the brains to survive but not the brawn. So, he backed up until he was level with the man. He rolled down the, hovering his foot over the gas pedal in case he was wrong.

"Hey! Need a lift?" Julian spoke just loud enough for the other guy to hear him and waited for a response.

Calvin had been walking down the road for about half of the day now, since the sun was well overhead and had been starting it descend back down towards the horizon, the road had been slightly more populated than the rest of his journey so far. He had to deal with 6 zombies so far today, one team of two and four separate. However that was something he expected since he was now getting closer to the dreaded Detroit since they had quite a large population it was eminent that more would wonder away along the roadway. Every vehicle along the road that Calvin had passed by he took a quick second to peek in the windows to see if there was anything valuable that he could use to survive. He was fortunate that he hadn't come across a situation that required him to need a gun to survive because he would be out of luck for that scenario. That was one item that Calvin really wished that he had, it would make him feel quite a bit safer.

Calvin had never ventured very far from the interstate 94 since it was the easiest path to take, no worries about getting lost since he would just have to follow the road from Chicago straight through to Detroit. There were a few times that he had to get off the road because of a few hordes, luckily there had been some wooded area just to the side of the road that he had fully utilized avoiding a crisis situation. He was also thankful that he had a cellphone since he would feel pretty miserable not knowing how long he had been venturing along this highway, feeling like it was a never ending process. Just imagine if he didn't have this compass that he wore around his neck and a map. He had so much to be thankful for at the moment and was praying that he would make it back to his son rather than be a snack.

While walking along Calvin had heard something that he hasn't heard in quite some time, however it had been a car that could have someone looking for their next camp meal. Calvin had been fortunate to have a car that was close by so he decided that he would jump behind the door and hope that they hadn't noticed him. However when he heard the driver of the vehicle slam on the brakes of the car he knew that was not the case. He took a deep breath and held the machete out in front of him, ready to defend himself if need be. The driver had overshot him by a couple of feet at least, however put the car in reverse and pulled up so that he was level with the door that he was crouched down behind.
The driver rolled down the window in the car, that sounded quite beat up but Calvin didn't have a deep knowledge of vehicles. Only when he knew something sounded or felt wrong, than he would usually take it over to his buddy who was a mechanic in return for a favour since dealers and automobile mechanics charged ridiculous rates.

Hey! Need a lift?

Calvin looked around making sure that this giant noise box didn't have any friendly followers behind it, since the place was clear he stood up so that he would get a look of the driver. Why should I trust you? You just appear out of nowhere and casually offer me a ride, besides you are coming from the east driving west and I am coming from the west traveling east. It would be slightly irrelevant to go back the way I came. He didn't really mean to sound rude since it had been the first human that he had seen in quite some time but he wanted to be a little cautious, he didn't want to come all this way just to become a meal for a cannibal camp or something.

Calvin had started to take a small stretch and started to walk in-between the running vehicle and the parked car that he had used for cover. As he finished stretching he looked down the road and took a mental note of all the vehicles that were in front of him since he didn't want to get caught out in the open when the sun started to go down. Calvin was a little bummed, the first running vehicle and human that he had seen in days and they were going in the opposite direction. Just his luck, the only thing that stopped him from physically taking the car from the guy was that he could have been trying to do the same thing as he was, getting to someone he loved.

Julian just gave the man an incredulous look. He almost felt like laughing at the sap. Just from a glance, it didn’t seem like he much—or anything—on him. And his attempt to hide was pitiful at best. Julian had yet to see a zombie jump and duck for cover. That’s what ultimately gave the guy away as living. If he wanted to go unnoticed he should’ve pretend to be one of them, Julian thought to himself. He made a mental note that if ever needed to hide to not take hit advice from this shmuck. Given the man’s situation, he had expected an immediate yes. Perhaps he would’ve jumped right in the car. Julian probably would have. Instead he was met with resistance.
“Why should I trust you?” It was a reasonable concern. People go crazy when their lives are on the line. Julian had seen, no, experienced firsthand. With a flash of the previous night’s events, Julian didn’t really feel like he trusted himself too much at the moment. Years of acting experience stopped him from expressing it though. He knew better. If he was going to survive in this messed up world than he needed people. Muscle to back up his cunning. And, if need be, zed bait.

“Do you trust the dead then?” Julian gathered up all his charm for that sentence. With just the right mix of condescension and concern, he meant to make the man realise how desperate his situation really was. Nobody had a lot of options these days, being in a nice safe car with food and sleeping material was the closest thing to heaven at the moment. Really, Julian was being saintly in asking this guy to share it.

Then, “Besides you are coming from the east driving west and I am coming from the west traveling east. It would be slightly irrelevant to go back the way I came.” There was something else in between, but Julian hadn’t listened. This caught his attention a bit though. Mostly since this wasn’t the first person he met who was headed to the great white north. His last group had been, too. Of course Julian protested he tried to explain just how cold it really gets, but they insisted. Said there’d be less dead. All he could do was mumble about not wanting to be one of them. Julian knew he’d be just as dead if went off on his own though and figured freezing was the lesser of two evils.

“Dude, you do know that cars can turn around right?” He rested his arm on the open window, trucker style. Somewhere in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but think of how badass he looked. “I just don’t get what you’d wanna go up there for,” He tapped his fingers impatiently waiting for a response. A few seconds later, just to taunt the guy, he started pressing down on the gas. “No? Alright, good luck then,” Julian said mockingly as the car slowly moved forward, topping of at the same speed of a brisk walk. The worlds ended and I’m still having this much fun? , Julian thought, smirking at himself.

@Red_massa

Calvin didn't really have time to play the mind games that the gentleman in the car was playing at, the longer that he just stood there the more chances something could happen to his son and sister. When he started joking around and pulled his vehicle forward slowly Calvin started to continue walking forward however he only managed to make it 5 steps before he stopped analyzing his situation. Given where the sky had been in the sky he figured that he would be able to make it 20 kilometers tops before he would have to stop and search to a viable car to bunker down in for the night or he could get in the car and possibly make it a couple of hundred kilometers different scenarios pending. They could only make it 100 feet before this car broke down given how it sounded.

Calvin was stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment since he could make it closer to his final destination but the only thing that made him skeptical was the driver of the car. Why would someone be driving down the interstate, not only that but offering to turn the vehicle in the opposite direction when gas was such an extremely rare commodity. That was an excellent question and he figured that this would be the last test to determine whether or not he was even going to accept a ride.

Calvin turned to face the driver; "Why are you wasting the gas in your car fooling around, who knows the next time you will be able to find any" The conversation between Calvin and the stranger must have have been loud enough to warrant some unwanted attention. Right after those words left his lips Calvin would hear the low grunts and groans of a moving zombie breaking the tree line 50 feet away from where he stood. Calvin looked at the zombie and the zombie looked at Calvin. He looked at the remainder of the treeline near where the first one popped out to make sure there wasn't more than one. Calvin brought the machete parallel to his right ear then quite swiftly he took a small wind up and launched it at the zombies head. CRUNCH! The sound of breaking bones has never sounded so delightful, the hilt of the machete was right against the zombies forehead and the tip of its blade well extending out the back of its skull.

Thankfully he hit it right in the forehead because the only other weapon he had was a pen knife inside of his boot. After the zombie hit the ground not moving for a second Calvin walked over placing his boot on the zombies mouth and pulled the machete out of its head. After removing his machete from the zombie Calvin took a part of a white shirt from the front pouch of his backpack then cleaned off the weapon and sheathed it back on his waist. He walked back over to the zombie and placed the used t-shirt rag into the zombies mouth with the assistance of a nearby branch. This had become somewhat of a tradition to Calvin whenever he finished off a zombie, it was sort of to resemble them never eating again or something along those lines. Calvin had walked back over to the car that he had original tried to hide behind and sat on top of the hood looked at the idling car.

@eskimolander

This guy was clearly unimpressed with Julian’s antics. However the fact that followed the car, even if only for a few steps, meant that he was at least entertaining the idea. Looking up at the sky he saw that the night was approaching fast and he was beginning to wonder why he was still waiting around for. He couldn’t quite figure out why, but these fuckers loved the dark. They weren’t smart enough to understand camouflage, so it must have been instinct. Or at least that’s what he figured. Julian turned his attention back to the man who was now deep in thought. It only took him a moment to notice the zombie stumbling its way past the last few rows of trees lining the road. Shame the thinker in front of him didn’t. This was the perfect opportunity for Julian to see if this guy really was worth keeping around.

"Why are you wasting the gas in your car fooling around, who knows the next time you will be able to find any?" The man questioned him, sounding like a disappointed father lecturing a rebellious teen. Julian just smirked as the zombie finally rounded up on him. In the car, he was safe. This guy was only safe if he was strong enough. He crinkled his nose at the stench that came from it head when the machete cracked it open. Should be used to it by now, Julian chastised himself. He continued to watch as the man followed through with his ritual. Lot of people had them these days, Julian was no different. For the past month Julian had fallen into a ritual of finding group, having the group die then finding a new one. Rinse and repeat. It was what was keeping him alive. To him, that’s all that mattered. After the little display the guy sat on the hood of the car across from Julians own. Something about this felt odd, a bit too casual.

“It’s not my car.” Julian finally answered. “I’m just trying to stay alive. I did fine before the car, I’ll do fine after it.” He tapped his fingers anxiously, eyes flittering to the sun ever closer to setting. “It’s a lot easier to survive in groups,” He paused for a breath, “Look man, I’ve got some food, a gun and a few blankets for when the cold sets in. You’re obviously on a mission, and if staying alive means helping you with it than I don’t mind. Just get in already.” It was a bit long winded, and sounded more beggy than Julian had liked but with each minute they wasted they were both getting closer to becoming zombie chow.

@Red_massa

"I did fine before the car, I’ll do fine after it."

Calvin wasn't really one to be patient especially when he wanted to get back to his son, given that it has been four weeks so far he was ready to get home. Hopefully this guy will be able to get him there a little faster, sure he had a car that sounded like shit but he had the same sort of mentality that he did. He would make the best situation of the scenario that he is situated in. He was still skeptical but he was warming up to the idea of driving with him.

"Look man, I’ve got some food, a gun ... "

Nothing that left this mans mouth entered Calvins ears after he heard the word gun, during the past month he had not even once passed by a person with a gun or even one left behind by someone who became a zombie. As assured he was with his skills with his blade it would put his mind a little bit more at ease being in presence of a long range weapon. He wasn't even sure what kind of gun it was; handgun, shotgun or rifle however it truly didn't matter at this moment. He didn't even have to touch,hold or even use the gun just to be in the presence of one."I guess it wouldn't hurt to have company, I'll accept a drive as far as we are going that we have in common. I don't want to take you anywhere you don't want to be." Even though he assumed the driver had been driving the vehicle for a bit Calvin out of instinct checked the backseat to make sure it was safe. Calvin walked to the passenger side door tugging on the handle and it popped open with a horrible squeak. I don't imagine that this door is used often enough for it to be properly oiled. After Calvin sit in the front seat and buckled in he looked over to the driver and stuck out his hand offering a handshake "Hello, my name is Calvin. Nice to meet you."

@eskimolander

Julian breathed a sigh a relief when the man sat beside him. With both hands white-knuckled on the steering wheel, he pulled a u-turn so sharp that he scared himself a bit. He glanced at the man’s outstretched hand, but turned his sight back to the road. He was racing with the sun at this point. Casual conversation would just have to wait until they were somewhere safe for the night. Julian was sure that if enough zombies piled on the windshield that it would smash through. And he was in no hurry to find out what that number was.
“You’ll have to forgive me if my hands are a bit preoccupied,” Julian said somewhat sternly. He could feel the tightening of his muscles as he became increasingly anxious for the oncoming nightfall. Being caught in the middle of the road didn’t sound like a good idea to him. The forest was a bad option as well, given the area they were in. Stuck in between Toronto and Detroit, it was quite likely that the dead ones were swarming the area. It hadn’t taken long for them to start leaving the cities once they ran out of people to eat. “Name’s Julian, by the way,” He finally replied as an afterthought.

After several minutes of top-speed driving he finally slowed down to a reasonable rate. They were now in farmland and Julian was scoping for a place that could hold them for the night. It had to be out in the open, so they could spot any monsters from a distance. And the smaller the better, as it made it less likely to have unwanted guests on the inside. “Sorry about that.” He said, referring to both the nascar style driving and his silence during the ride. “I wanted to get out of there before it got dark,” Which was exactly what he had done. It was now dark with only the headlights leading the way, but at least they were in a more open area. In fact, Julian had been in this area only but a few days prior with his last group. This gave him a small confidence in its safety.

“Where’re you headed?” He took one hand of the wheel, much more relaxed than before. The drive almost became leisurely as he twisted up and down the dirt roads looking for house or barn to set up camp.

“You’ll have to forgive me if my hands are a bit preoccupied,”
"Name's Julian, by the way"

Given how this man has been driving he is slightly surprised how this guy is still alive and given how he was driving he figured it was best that he keep both hands on the wheel. He was all about moving quickly because it was getting dark out but it wouldn't matter if something happened and they crashed dying in a burning car. However he wasn't going to say anything because again he was thankful to be moving in a car with another living person.

"Sorry about that"
"I wanted to get out of there before it got dark"

Calvin wasn't really sure of where he was planning to go especially since he was always used to staying on the road, he was getting a little bit more uncomfortable since Julian wasn't communicating where they were going. All he really knew that they were driving into the middle of nowhere, he was starting to panic a little bit but he really wasn't really sure how to properly bring it up without throwing off the already rocky relationship that Calvin and Julian had newly developed. He was getting a little bit antsy not communicating, he fiddle with the machete that was sitting in his lap.

"Where’re you headed?"

"To be honest I was heading to back home in Canada to find my son but at the moment I have no idea where I am heading, wasn't really communicated to me but I have just been following you where ever you take me."Before Calvin could really process what words were coming out of his mouth it was all out there on the table now. He debated for a moment about apologizing immediately afterwords but he decided against it. He just looked forward watching the environment pass by as they drove along with nothing but the cars headlights illuminating his distraction.

@eskimolander

Julian watched the man from the corner of his eye. He was beginning to question if he really was better off with this guy. Since all this started, and even before if he was honest with himself, Julian had depended on safety in numbers. Ever since he was in grade school he had always thought it better to be a part of group. That ideology had proved itself after the dead began to rise. The more eyes you had watching, the harder it was to get caught off guard. And if you still managed to get stuck with a bunch of hungry zombies, you had plenty of distractions. Right now though, Julian was thinking that this Calvin guy would be distracting him instead of the zombies. Not being a talker, Julian was perfectly content driving in silence. That was apparently not the case for Calvin.

“Someone’s a bit passive aggressive,” Julian tutted, having to put in effort to not shake a finger at him. “We’ll get to your kid soon enough, in the meantime we need a place to camp up,” As if on cue Julian released an enormous yawn, slowing to a crawl as it went through his whole body. It was then that he remember it had been almost three days since he had last slept. He had spent the all of last night driving and the night before he had been on guard duty. He could feel his energy stretching itself thin, briefly wondering how bad he looked.

Having a significant amount more difficulty keeping his eyes open, Julian was even more desperate to find somewhere to park for the night. It took several more minutes before they came across a small-sized barn with the doors strewn open. Julian pulled into the drive and turned off the engine. And for a few moments he just sat there, waiting for something to come out. When nothing did, he took his gun from its holster and turned his attention to his passenger.

“We better make sure it’s clear first,” He said holding back yet another yawn. This was getting bad. Opening the door he stepped out and began inching his way towards the open barn, praying that Lady Luck was on his side.

@red_massa

“Someone’s a bit passive aggressive,”
“We’ll get to your kid soon enough, in the meantime we need a place to camp up,”

Calvin figured that he would get called out for his word vomit but he felt that was what need to be said, exactly what was on his mind. This might not have been the best course of action since this was the first thing that hasn't tried to kill him this trip so he should be slightly more polite during the very few times that they spoke. He hated traveling in the dark, because who knows what could be outside of light visible from the headlights of the car. For all he knew there could be a giant horde of zombies that were outside of the lights but close enough to follow the car as they drove to the destination that he soon realized was a small barn.

Calvin's mind has been doing a lot of negative wondering the last couple of days which didn't help his morale lately, he was starting to wonder if this was all for nothing. However he couldn't let himself think like that given that it was his own son that was on the other end of his journey and he vowed to never abandon his own flesh and blood. They had now sat there idling with the lights shining into the shed to see if anything was going to wonder out of the shed but nothing was moving on the inside.

"We better make sure it’s clear first."

This was the part that truly worried Calvin, who knows how many zombies were waiting on the inside of this barn or how many were converging on their location as they slowly but carefully examined this barn with its door wide open. He knew that if something was inside of that shed that he should accompany Julian in case things got hairy. Calvin opened his door right after Julian and followed right behind him into the barn looking over his shoulder every couple of seconds to make sure they didn't get ambushed from behind. He could hear a low raspy breathing which made Calvin a little on edge but he wasn't sure if it was a zombie or the nervous Julian shortly ahead of him. With each step that they took approaching the barn his heart rate slowly increased his body was preparing him for anything that could happen. Calvin was ready for a struggle, he had his machete drawn out from its protector raised just above his waist so that he could swing the moment anything unusual caught his eye. Strike first ask questions later.
@eskimolander

With his pistol at the ready Julian made his approach on the barn. The only light available to him were the headlights. This meant that the closer he got to the barn doors, the darker it became. His blood ran colder with every step as he began to regret his decision. The back of his mind kept screaming at him, this is where you die. As if it was a line in a play he kept forgetting. He shook his head, trying to ignore the recurring thought. This wouldn’t be the first time he did something stupid, and he’d be damned if it was the last. By now he was far enough that just about everything in front of him was pitch black. His steps had become more like shuffles, sliding his feet across the grass one by one. Begging that he wouldn’t bump into something. It had only been a few days since he had been this barn with his last group. They had left of their own will and not because of a herd, but he had no idea how quickly it could have filled up.

As he stepped inside the barn, he heard a growl and a lurch. Turning sharply to his left he saw the culprit, one of them had gotten it’s caught on a hook on the wall. With it unable to move he gave it a good whack with the butt of his gun, wincing at the sickening sound it made. With a glance behind him, he waved for Calvin to come further. Silent he went further in holding his gun from the wrong end, ready to hit something with it. At this point he could feel his veins pumping hard beneath his skin.

Continuing forward he slowly made his way across the barn to the other door. Once he was only a few feet away he made a mad dash to close it, tightening the latch.

“I think we’re good,” He was mostly reassuring himself, but it was easily taken as being towards Calvin. “Mind bringing the car closer, so we can see?” Julian asked, significantly less tense than he had been only a few moments ago when driving. Looking around he decided peer inside the pens, once upon a time animals would’ve been kept here, now he’d be likely to find a half rotted body of one. Finally he found the right one, a smaller one that was probably used for chickens before the world ended. There was a small fire pit inside it, the one he had helped build a little less than a week. For some reason, he got the feeling that he was going around in circles as he began searching for something to light it.

@red_massa

Calvin had quickly jumped into the drivers seat of the car so that they could get the vehicle into the barn and close the doors to hopefully clear out anything that was in this barn and try to close those barn doors before anything else comes in to attempt a little duo snack. Calvin had closed the door quietly to minimize the amount of sound made because he knew that the car would make a bit when he placed his foot on the gas pedal since the car was quite loud. Calvin looked behind him to make sure that nothing sneaked into the back seat while they were both focused on the inside of the barn a few moments ago. Thankfully nothing was inside because he had carelessly jumped into drivers seat before looking, which was could have been a disastrous situation. He had looked inside of the rear-view mirror to make sure no zombies were behind him again and than slide the car into drive and slowly brought the car inside of the barn giving light to Julian as he walked around looking like he had been looking for something reinforcing his thought that Julian had been familiar with this location.

Calvin brought the car into the barn just enough that he could close the front door of the barn. Once he opened the door to the car and seen that the brake lights were shining on the inside of the barn Calvin hopped out of the car than walked over to the front barn door as two zombies were slowly approaching the noise that they were making. Calvin had seen that Julian still wasn't much better for finding anything to light a fire with so he walked over to a lawnmower that he had seen sitting in the corner of the barn and pulled the spark plug from it and gave it a few clicks in a pile of hay that was part of an isolated fire pit until the hay caught on fire and placed a few small piece of wood that were nearby until the fire had gotten big enough to manage itself for a little bit. Calvin looked over at Julian who seemed to stop after the fight had been lit and he noticed that exhaustion on his face.

"How would you like to get a little bit of sleep, I had some last night so you can get some" After saying this Calvin sit in a corner in the barn so he could observe both of the doors.
@eskimolander