Nathan sighed with a big relief. It was a great weight lifted off his shoulders as he noticed it was only Amelia and not a flesh eater that approached him. Ignoring her sarcastic question, he continued with observating their vicinity. ‘’You decided to take a shift on Christmas eve? That’s depressing,’’ he said wishing he was already over with his shift and at the camp with others. 

“No, you didn’t.” Layla admits easily even though she was completely irritated by Nathaniel’s answer. “But if someone were out here without a weapon to defend themselves they wouldn’t exactly be the brightest. You didn’t call me stupid, I’m just saying that I’m not.”  She explains. Layla rolled her tongue against her cheek while looking over the male while he spoke. She wasn’t sure where she went wrong, truthfully. Her top lip got caught in her teeth. She was tired. Nathaniel was probably tired too from staying up during his session, but it annoyed the female greatly that she was just trying to be decent, possibly stay with Nathaniel during the last bit of his time guarding and all she was getting back was sass. “Yeah, fine. I’ll take your post. Go warm up. Good luck finding something that isn’t stale, though.” Layla says bluntly and sits down on a nearby log and unwraps the granola bar before taking ripping off a peice and stuffing it into her mouth.

‘’I’m glad we sorted this out,’’ he said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. ‘’I can never know whether you are carrying a weapon or not. It happens that people just leave it somewhere so they are usually grateful when I remind them.’’ Nathan gasped as he was trying to not start a fight with such an impulsive person. However, he decided to stay a little longer on his watch as it seemed that Layla might be just having a bad day, or night. ‘’Giving up so easily? I told you I’m leaving when the sun rises.'’ He chuckled at the blonde, stuffing the chocolate bar into her mouth and without hesistation sat on the log beside her. 

“I was out alone, I should have mentioned that. I don’t usually go runs with people. In case something goes wrong.” J.D assured quickly, he went runs with Kit occasionally but the majority of the time he went solo. “Nah, don’t worry about it. I was getting Lily, that’s my daughter her Christmas presents. Well as good a present as I could, it’s just some dolls and a teddy bear. Nothing great but it’s something.” He smiled slightly.

‘’Well I’m sure she will be happy to even get anything. You can’t expect much living in a time like this,’’ Nathan remarked as he carefully opened up the bottle. ‘’ ... As grateful as I am for this liquor of Gods.’’ 

“Kinda.” Gavin chuckled a little as he shook his head. “It’s cause he only comes once a year. Terrible joke, I know.” He chuckled humourlessly before letting out a short sigh, “You on watch later?”

“They’re loud and noisy,” Evelina countered, not budging. “The dead are loud and noisy and you’ll hear them coming from a ways away. Bears can wander right by you and you wouldn’t notice until it’s too late. They’re predators and hunters, just like humans. These things?” She gestured around herself, even though there were no fungus-infested monsters there. “They’re–…,” she trailed off slightly, looking for the right words. “Most of them give away their position immediately and they have no tactics. Most of them just go for what they see and don’t think twice about it – presumably because they can’t think.” She shrugged, the smile on her lips not entirely gone. “It’s a lot easier to fight off a dead human being who doesn’t know your weak spots, and who’s only interested in sinking their teeth in you.” Evelina turned her gaze upwards, eyes searching for the night sky. “They outnumber us, yeah, but we outsmart them. We’re stronger, faster, we have more powerful weapons… I’m not stupid,” she said, and glanced at the guy, her smile still patiently on her lips. “I wouldn’t go walking into a forest I knew was infested with these things.” She nudged his shoulder with hers, her smile growing a little. “And I’m not naive. You think I’ve never come in close contact with one of these before? I can’t be too afraid of them. I can’t let them get under my skin and make me lose my focus. I need to see them for what they are – prey. And I’m the hunter.” She shrugged. “If I don’t look at myself as stronger and more superior than these things, then what’s the point? I can’t fight something on fear alone. That’ll get me killed. It needs to be at the back of my mind, so everything else can be at the front.” They were her father’s words, although he’d said them a smudge differently – urging her to push her fear to the back of her mind in a situation where the prey turned the hunter into prey, too. It’s what had made her sprint up that tree, all those years ago. 

She had a point. These dead people literally had the IQ of a room temperature. Their brain probably all rotten inside was no longer functioning and they were really easily spotted. The problem arised when there were a lot of them. One person could possibly be fighting face to face with two or maybe three of them at once. If you didn’t have any backup you were screwed.

“I know I’m blonde, but being stupid and blonde is a stereotype. I guess not all things die when the rest of the world does.” Layla response deadpan while opening the flap to her satchel and shifting though it. Seconds later she pulled out a thick piece of wood with a sharpened end. If they were in the light, Nathan would be able to see that it was stained red. Followed by the makeshift weapon is a chocolate granola bar. “It’s probably stale but it’ll keep you somewhat satisfied until you leave.” She steps closer to Nathan and hands the food over. “If you’re leaving early who’s going to take your spot?” Layla asks, brows furrowing lightly in confusion before one quickly arched. Surly he wouldn’t leave his post unattended.

‘’Oh dear, but did I say you’re stupid? Maybe you should start carrying some cotton buds since you seem prepared for anything but going deaf,’’ Nathan remarked with quite serious expression since Layla wasn’t really the best people pleaser. The chocolate granola bar looked tempting but he didn’t reach for it on purpose. Layla seemed like one of the people who offer you something and then eat it in front of you just to torture you. ‘’Are you offering yourself to take my spot? If you want, you can and in case you’re hungry you can eat your stale chocolate.’’ 

J.D had an amused look on his face at Nathan’s reaction, he raised an eyebrow at the question of his sanity and he simply shrugged, probably. “I was out all day, I got caught up with a pretty big group of them. I drew them into the city and started to head back an hour ago.” He informed the other man, the last thing he wanted was a group of the undead arriving at their camp so delaying his time out of camp by a few hours didn’t matter as long as it kept the group safe, mainly his daughter. “I got stuff people needed, some food, stuff for my kid and the others.” He replied as he shrugged the back pack off his shoulder, unzipping it as he rummaged around for a small bottle of whiskey before holding it out to the other man. “Here, consider it an early Christmas present.”

‘’I’d lose my mind if I were you,’’ he said as he listened to what happened. ‘’And the others returned without you?’’ Nathan couldn’t believe that others have just left him there and returned alone. What kind of people would just leave him alone to fight a group of flesh eating monsters? They were suppose to be in this together. Nathan reached for the bottle of whiskey with kind of a bad feeling. ‘’Don’t say you got caught up just because you were looking for this ... I will forever live with the thought you almost got killed because of me.’’ Nathan would never forgive himself if that happened. And he would never be able to look at J.D’s daughter without feeling guilty again. 

Gavin nodded with a thin smile on his face, he didn’t really care for the group’s morale or making people happy, just keeping them safe and making sure they didn’t die. Maybe he was a little heartless but lately he’d been numb to anything and everything. “My jokes are bad, just a warning. Why is Santa’s sack so heavy?”

Nathan sat down on one of the trunks, making a gesture with his hands as he was trying to think. ‘’Because he carried children not gifts?’’ He knew he had already heard this joke before, but really couldn’t remember the answer to it.

“I’ve been attacked in the woods before,” she murmured with a shrug, and walked up to stand next to him so that she could better meet his eye. “But instead of it being some dead guy, it was a bear. My father, my brother, and I were out hunting in the usual area, which was supposed to be bear-free, but…” Evelina shrugged. “Animals have their free will, and a bear had wandered over the borders, probably looking for food. And it found us.” The memory flashed before her eyes as if it had just happened the other day – stumbling through the bushes, seeing the bear just a few meters ahead, the tense pause between the two of them before Evelina sprinted up a tree…  “Let me tell you,” she continued, the lightness of her demeanor gone as the faces of her father and her brother flashed before her eyes, taking a shot at the bear from a safe distance as it came roaring through the woods, headed for them, “bears are a lot more dangerous than those things. They’re faster, stronger, angrier… you can’t win over them one-on-one.” Evelina shrugged. “I can handle a couple of fungus-infested corpses. There’s a lot of worse things out there.” She looked him over, and smiled gently. “I know what you’re trying to do. I’ll go back soon, I promise. But I gotta just… get some air first, okay? Besides, we’re safer together, anyways.” 

Her story drew Nathan’s full attention. He has never been out of the city let alone hunting or having a moment with a wild bear on the loose just a few steps away. She really impressed him, but then again he wasn’t that sure about the feebleness of the new kind of creatures that were wandering around, slowly taking over the world. ‘’I don’t know how you managed to survive your little get-together with the bear, but I wouldn’t want to get in any contact with these dead people. I won’t be that naive and then again you shouldn’t underrate them either. It’s like you don’t want to see that there’s only around fifty of us and like seven billion of them. When you’re the only one left alive will you still think you can handle the situation?’’ She was making him irritated, but mostly because he just cared too much to keep this complete stranger safe. He took a quick look behind his back again agreed that staying together might be a better option than letting her go back alone when she can be easily attacked. ‘People who undersetimate the opponent are the easiest to kill.’ he thought.

“It’s not hard to find supplies if you know where to look,” she said sheepishly. “Wool? Probably not around here, at least, not at this time of year. But there are other means.”

‘’You think people actually had kept these materials at home? Think about it, nowdays, or at least a few months ago people bought clothes in a store, they didn’t just make it at home. I doubt we will find anything useful.’’ 

Everyday was a struggle. Everyday, everyone was vulnerable. Anytime of day. No matter where you or who you were with and just that thought alone would always leave Layla on edge. Yet, she still found herself out in the middle of the night making round around camp. It wasn’t her turn to keep guard and she was planning on going on a quick scouting mission when morning broke, but it was difficult to find sleep when nightmare plagued the subconscious which in turn made her heavily aware and sensitive to the fact that she was more than likely about to go on a mental snap. Observent eyes noticed a silhouette. Just to make sure it wasn’t a flesh eater, Layla made herself known in the general surronding, far enough to get ready to put a small blade through its head when it came for her. With her luck that hopefully wasn’t running out, the figure happened to be someone from the group, and she let out a heavy sigh a relief. Unfortunately the other party wasn’t too happy. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” She says in a whisper to keep her voice down from any potential threats. “I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d do my own round,” Layla explains with a shrug. “You, ah, want some company?”

Nathan almost fell asleep at some point, but the cold kept him awake. And the fear of getting eaten, of course. However, he really didn’t mind someone else to keep him sane. He looked behind his back and listened to peaceful, but terrifying sound of the night, then turned back to the woman. ‘’My round ends when the sun rises, but you can keep me company if you want. I mean ... If you are armed, of course,’’ he quickly corrected himself. ‘’I plan on leaving early though. I’m too hungry to function.’’

Evelina could barely suppress the smile on her lips; even though she fought it, it spread wide, amusement crinkling the corners of her eyes. “Please leave the worrying to my best friend,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s what best friends are there for; underestimating you, treating you like a child… I don’t need all that from other people – it’s why I allow it from her.” Evelina cocked her head to the side. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. If I didn’t know I would be, I wouldn’t have gone out here in the first place.” She paused. “There’s no need to be nervous.”

‘’How can you be so sure?’’ Nathan wanted to believe her. He wanted to be so confident like her, so sure that he will be safe. That they all will be safe. But if the two three were attacked at that moment, the other survivors would probably blame it on him since it was his job to keep everyone else safe. He didn’t want to die knowing that he didn’t do his part. He didn’t want to die knowing that he failed one more time. The feeling was familiar. Ever since Nathan met Evelina he knew she will remind him of his failure everytime he would see her. ‘’Haven’t you considered that your friend might be right? But if not for you and the baby, go back to safety for me,’’ he whispered jittery.

“That,” she said with a slight frown, “among other things, of course. It’s a surprisingly nice skill to have.” She simply shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe because you’ve never seen me in action.”

‘’It’s a nice skill to have if you have supplies to work with,’’ he remarked. ‘’I doubt we will find enough balls of wool, if any, if you want to make socks for all of us.’’ 

Whoever called it “morning sickness” needed to get a serious boot in the behind – Evelina hadn’t felt the slightest bit morning sickness in all her four or five months so far; instead, she’d awoken in the middle of the night, feeling nauseous and spending at least an hour in the bathroom before it got better. On the road, however, there were no bathrooms with heated tiles – Evelina had to walk the sickness off. She hadn’t noticed the guard on duty until he spoke in a low voice, which caused her to jump slightly. “Jävlar–,” she cursed, putting a hand on her chest; though once she got a good look of the figure, she relaxed, and let out a small, silent chuckle. “I’m sorry!” she whispered, and stepped closer so they could hear each other better. “I’m…,” she hesitated, then shook her head. “I’m just going for a walk, sorry. I couldn’t sleep.” She looked him up and down quickly. “You alright?”

Nathan was not prepared to look after a pregnant woman outside the safe walls where they could have been attacked any minute. With a young heart beating underneath hers, the blondie seemed more vulnerable than any other normal person which made Nathan felt way more pressured for keeping her safe. ‘’I’m alright, but you won’t be if you stay here. It was a crazy idea for you to go for a walk through these woods. You should go back, you know you aren’t safe here,’’ he murmured with a slight worried voice. It was one of the rare moments when Nathaniel actually cared about another person more than he cared about himself. 

If one were to know Hadley well, and most people don’t, they would know that she’s not a people-pleaser. She much prefer to not deal with people in general. So when saying, “If you want a beer you can just take one” to a passerbyer, she is saying that they can take one as long as they don’t bother her.

Nathaniel couldn’t help but notice the brunette sitting all alone outside the building where they were staying. The only thing that kept her warm was cheep beer and there were a few bottles already empty laying on cold ground. ‘’If you’re trying to keep yourself warm by drinking alcohol I’d advise you that you at least drink something stronger than beer. Drinking the whole six-pack won’t help you keep warm when you fall asleep here.’’