Warning: In the future, there shall be pairings, and there shall be a couple crack pairings. Be wary of the fact that this is meant to be a challenge towards myself to attempt a zombie apocalypse story (which I have always been horrid at) and to test my ability to write romantic scenes (obviously not mature scenes).

He shivered.

It was cold, but Seto wasn't going to risk starting a fire. It would only make him worse off if he attracted zombies or people that would kill him and take what little he had, and it was dangerous to be on the ground at night. He wrapped his arms around himself, sniffling. Seto wished he had something warmer to wear instead of the light violet jacket he'd been wearing since everything started. He was, however, thankful for the grey sweatpants that kept his legs cosy- not to mention that they were very comfortable, minus the hard patches of dried blood that covered various areas from past misfortunes.

Seto shifted to possibly make himself more comfortable on the strong branch that he was prepared to sleep on. A sharp branch scraped against his hand. Seto cursed in pain and brought the injured hand in front of his face; it suffered a bleeding scratch, but he was fine. It hurt like Hell though. The young man reminded himself that it was stupid to be bothered by something so small, he'd been through much worse throughout the past months.

"Hey! Wanna come down? I won't hurt you."

Seto stilled, his breath stopping and his heart picking up speed. He was afraid of moving and alerting the other man of where exactly he was. He heard a huff below him and the crunching of dead leaves. Panic ensued, and Seto held his breath as the man walked below the try he resided in. This, Seto found, was a terrible decision. He was forced to take a large gulp of air to make up for what he had held back- and the crunching sounds halted. Seto looked down to see a pair of light brown eyes staring back at his own chocolate ones.

"Hey buddy! C'mon down," the other person said, "I don't want to make enemies during a time like this, I just want to help you."

He may have seemed sincere, but Seto knew from experience that during a time like that people were assholes. He'd come to lose trust in humanity even more so than before the apocalypse. However, Seto didn't have much choice. If the man truly had malicious intentions he could get to Seto either way. There was always a chance that he could get help from the stranger. Making the risky decision, Seto carefully climbed his way down from the tree. He stumbled as he jumped from a particularly flimsy and high-up branch, the man steadying him as he regained his balance. Seto felt uncomfortable as he was observed by the stranger.

"Do you have anything with you?" he asked after half a minute of standing silently.

"…No. I used to have a kitchen knife and some rations, but…" Seto shook his head, looking at the dead grass below him. He curled his hands into tight fists and glared at the dying ground. Seto looked back up when he felt a cold hand firmly on his shoulder. The man eyed him sympathetically.

"My name is Ryan. Me and some friends, we have a camp a little bit away from here. You can come back there with me if you want. I really think you should, when you don't have sh- crap. The others won't mind, we accept new people gladly as long as they can help out somehow." And would Seto be a fool or cautious to refuse Ryan's offer? He flinched away from Ryan, who's arm fell back to his side. Ryan shoved his hands inside of the pockets of his thick blue coat. "I know I can't force you to come with me…hey, how about you stick a bit behind me and come along? Just far enough that you can run if I try to pull enough and close enough to where I can fight off any zombies that try to attack you. You can make up your mind after you see the camp," Ryan suggested, talking quickly with a childish excitement. He hadn't earned Seto's trust- that would be hard to accomplish- but nevertheless Seto sighed and agreed to his terms.

"Alright," he muttered. Seto shivered and Ryan frowned. He nodded and took off away from the forest they stood in. Seto waited a few seconds before quietly following behind the older man.

With the moonlight shining on the two, Seto could see the condition that Ryan was in. His coat looked fresh out of a pre-apocalypse supermarket, unlike Seto's own tattered jacket. Though, the black skinny jeans that he wore were questionable. He seemed to be well-fed. Bandages were visible on his left hand, which would be a good resource for Seto to have in his grasp. Ryan wasn't too beaten up with a few cuts and bruises but nothing major. He glanced behind him and smiled back at where Seto stood following him.

So Seto walked several meters behind Ryan. The two walked along an unused road. Not many people used automobiles anymore, so roads were relatively save to walk upon. Reasonably, Seto and Ryan stuck close to the sides of the road in case a car came running by them.

Soon, the woods started fading and traces of what used to be a busy city full of people living their normal lives appeared. Ryan stopped in his tracks and turned back to Seto. 'Be careful,' he mouthed. Seto watched as he pulled out a long metal pipe and walked more slowly and cautiously. He also noticed the small handgun that was sticking impractically out of his back pocket. Seto crept along behind him, now a few paces closer in case they got in trouble with zombies. Seto felt uneasy going into a more open area with nothing to defend himself with.

Seto watched zombies walk around the place. He was thankful he wasn't back near home; he could barely stand seeing people he once knew in such a state. Seto bit his lip and glanced at Ryan. He then sucked in a large gulp of air and took a step back; Ryan had attracted the attention of a couple zombies. "Nothing I can't handle," Seto heard him say, the other survivor saying it just loud enough for Seto to hear it and for it not to attract any more zombies.

Ryan tightened his grip on his iron pipe and swung with all the force he could put forth. It bashed one zombie, which crumpled to the ground with a split head. Ryan jumped back to avoid an attack from the other zombie and quickly made it take the same fate as the other zombie had. He then looked up and waved a hand back at Seto before sprinting towards a large church. Seto swiftly followed his lead and stopped short of the stone steps leading up to the religious building. Rust-coloured stains covered the steps and drops of crimson littered where Ryan stood with his blood-covered pipe.

Ryan knocked on the doors in an old pattern that Seto knew but couldn't quite place. Perhaps it was a rhythm or song he'd learnt when he was younger. Without waiting for someone to answer, Ryan pulled with some effort on the metal loops that served as handles to open the large wooden doors. Seto stood back and looked warily into the building.

"Ryan!" shouted someone from inside, running over to him and wrapping him into a hug. A large dog bounded after him and barked happily. Seto cautiously walked up the stairs and stepped awkwardly inside, now seeing the assortment of people and the supplies they had around the base.

And he got a lot of uncertain looks from everyone else in the place.

"Double, who's that?" asked someone else leaning against a pew (*one of those long benches in church*) with an odd accent.

"Oh, hey, what's your name dude? Never asked," Ryan said, turning to Seto. Seto looked around at the odd group of people gathered in the church. He sighed, giving in to the idea of staying within the protection of the camp.

"My name is Seto."

"Alright Seto, it's pretty late, you should get to sleep," said one of the many members of the camp. He walked over to a large pile of blankets, took a couple, and made a sort of makeshift bed. The person motioned to the bed, but Seto turned to Ryan.

"Hey, why'd he call you Double?" Seto asked curiously. Instead of Ryan answering, the man that had greeted him earlier jumped in to answer.

"Eh, it's just a nickname the guys gave him. Long story," the dark brown haired man said with a shrug. Seto guessed he was satisfied with the answer and walked over to the "bed." He had to admit, it looked pretty comfortable. A lot more so than he would have been out in that tree. Thus, he brought himself down to the bed and curled up underneath one of the blankets, the other underneath him. He felt a hand run through his hair and heard an unrecognizable voice say "Goodnight" but didn't open his eyes back open. Instead he let himself drift off to sleep, without any worries for once.