Who can say why the wind blows so damn hard on nights like these? It was another cold one as they made their way through the seemingly endless woods.
The snow had heaped itself up in nice big piles against the shadows of the trees and occasionally a flurry would blow through the branches and catch some
one off guard, causing them to stop and mutter angrily to themselves as they brushed at their faces. Corey was leading them at this point. He had a bitter and
determined air about him as he stomped through the deep snow. They had gone days without food by this night, and weeks without rest or respite. On that
note it had been years since they had experienced any real comfort of any sort but that was another story. When Corey was fatigued as they all were, he
seemed to fight it with his whole body and it showed in the angry thrusts of his arms and legs against the driving snow, his posture stiffly erect and hotile. It
was nearly up to their knees now and there was no sign of it stopping or the snow letting up. How were they going to make it out of these woods before
daylight? Noreesh did not want to think about that. He didn't want to think about the Goonies as they called them. Even worse than the walking dead they
were. They were human and very much alive and unlike their goulish counterparts these people prefered the day. Unlike the dead they were very much
breathing but they had as much of a thirst for human blood and much more relish for it.
They were also more dangerous. Hunters of the daylight instead of the night. As his mind turned restlessly he
fingered the cold, comforting form of the hilt of his simatar through the leather of his glove. Whatever happened he thought grimly, looking up at the glint of a
star through the darkness of the trees, he would know he died with his heart at peace. He would die as he came into this world, a human. And he would be
damned if he didn't send anyone who tried to say otherwise to hell in a handbasket. He knew it was more than many could say and it gave him strength as
they pushed onward. An hour or more passed before Corey's dark figure up ahead came to a stiff halt, right arm raised. A hush fell over all as they came to
slow, soundless stop...the wind whispered and the snow seemed to fall carefully as if in silent warning. Then they heard it. A call. It was dim and indistinct but
unmistakeable in the deep quiet of the night. It started low and rose in a howling wail seeming to shiver on the air and creating a deep vast distance between
them. They all knew the sound instantly as if their bones had picked up the vibration and they had heard it and knew it before their ears were made aware. It
was the howl of a fire station klaxon and it meant only one thing. Walkers had been sighted in the town ahead of them. Someone had spotted them and raised
the alarm. Noreesh felt his heart begin to pound, his blood was racing through his body already, as if relishing the anticipation the sound brought. The
weakness that had been plaguing his limbs was forgotten in an instant and he felt anger and an evil glee fill his heart and flood him with strength. It was about
fucking time. He had never been readier in his life to feel his sword piercing the heavy bulk of a walkers body. To hear the snap and the subsequent thud as
the body of a decapitated walker hit the cold hard ground. He thought the ground itself would be glad to feel the lifeless corpse grow still and stiff for the last
time. He realized he was smiling as Corey turned to them all and he saw his own reflection in Corey's grin. It was cold and hard, like a sharks. They had all
been waiting for this for, my god, had it been weeks? It couldn't have been less. No words were spoken as they all stood for a moment hearing the klaxon
begin to die off again. It rippled away at last into silence. Corey began to signal them their movements. They were about to go into battle and they were far yet
from wherever death was about to come down in waves but they were now hunters, bloodlust was thundering in their veins and their eyes were as full of
death and hunger as the walkers they would take. So they would not speak again until it was over and this was understood among them all. Even eye contact
was questionable. Not that eye contact was very feasible in any case given they were all wearing night vision goggles over their eyes and they looked a bit like
a small group of dark shapes with glowing eyes. " You know, I could really use some fucking guns right now" A voice growled. It was Gantric. They all turned
and looked at him impatiently for a second. He was leaning against the closest tree, it looked like a pine in the shifting snow gusts, and he looked ill worn. He
had been favoring his right leg for the past few days after twisting his ankle at a creek bed crossing. At least that was Noreesh's guess. Gantric was quiet and
furtive, he would keep something like that to himself. But even he could not hide the way he grimaced when his full weight was on his right leg, and how often
it was not. Or how when they stopped for a short break he was the last to get up, holding himself carefully as he slowly walked after them. It made noreesh's
heart heavy to think the older man, war worn and tough as his hide was, may be about to meet his end at last. But it also affirmed what he felt he knew best
and most of all. Because weren't they all in for it in the long haul anyway? Noreesh had left his despair behind years ago when his closest family and friends
had been torn away in that first wave of horror that wiped out 80 percent of the worlds population. They were all in it to die, all that mattered was how you
died. Like a human being with your soul still your own, or like a walker, a mindless fiend roaming the earth endlessly in search of blood and flesh and death.
And never satisfied. Noreesh had long ago decided he would shoot himself if he ever got the short stick in a situation and he made sure to surround himself
with people who understood this and would do the same. When survival was on the line, and these days when was it not, things like what kind of person you
were, what kind of character you built for yourself, these things mattered as much as the mettle of the weapon you strapped to yourself. So Noreesh gave
Gantric a slight nod as if to reassure. To say, i'm here friend and if your end comes i'll see to it you're end comes right. If Gantric saw his motion he didn't give
any sign. He seemed to sigh and his head fell slightly. They turned back to Corey and he stood before them now with an air of confidence and almost relief. His
motions were loose and emphatic as he made a cutting motion towards the group with his left hand, then signaled their left side to move eastward and
Noreesh's side to move west. Noreesh took a slow deep breath, stole himself, nodded curtly and began to trot silently through the haze of the snow and the
night. He did not stop to see where his comrades were headed, they would flank him out further to the west, he knew. The trees closed around him and he
was alone. He didn't feel afraid he felt at home. This was as it should be, a hunter hunted best when there was nothing to interfere and he wouldn't see
anyone from his group again until they had found their walkers.